Mumbai Miracle

Hi All,

Today's Mumbai SHG meet was organised at Neptune mall, Bhandup and we had four attendees for the day: Ameya, Wasim, Mustafa and myself.

The session started with 15-20 mins of general discussion about stuttering, how it effects our mind, Bramhavidya, breathing techniques etc. Then we had a introductory session where one had to stand and speak for 3 mins about himself. The other 3 members were asked to observe and give feedback on specific areas eg. me on body language, Ameya on content and Mustafa on speech. We started with Wasim followed by Mustafa, Ameya and myself, in the same order. It was a different experience than normal sitting introductions. Due to the corporate style of introduction, we felt butterflies in out stomach even though there were just four of us. The activity and the specific feedback given by other members was really appreicated. Then we had a reverse introduction round where a member was asked to repeat key points about the other member. Eg Mustafa reintroducing Ameya.

This was followed by Story board building session where one member starts a story with a few lines and another has to quickly add the next few lines to continue the story and so on. Again Wasim did the honours and the story started with a road trip to satara and ended with me waking up in bed and finding out that its a dream. I'll skip Mustafa's pink underwear story ;)

Next, random topics were assigned to members for a 3 min speech on the same. The sequence was decided by draw of lots and again Wasim set the ball rolling with a speech on facebook. Then Ameya spoke on Quality Walls icecream followed be me on Subway and it ended with Mustafa's speech on Samsung mobiles. Again specific observations and feedback was shared by members which was very helpful.

Members realised the importance of structuring the thoughts in the mind before speaking and positive body language through this activity. 

The last activity was a simple one. Members were asked simple questions in a rapid fire round and had to give answers after a gap of five seconds. This was make us aware about the importance of a deep breath before we start speaking and stop the habit of rushing to give answers.

Mustafa and Wasim then briefed us about their experiences with speech therapists. We further discussed the behaviour of a stammerer, MBTI personality types etc. 

The meet ended with a happy meal at Mcdonalds to reward ourselves and to celebrate the successful session. :)

We plan to have a Toastmasters style session in the next SHG meet. Keep watching this space for more details in the next couple of days.

Regards

Gulshan 

9819482643

Mumbai