How Speech Therapy Helped Me As a Business Owner
Several months ago my allergist referred me to speech therapy in an attempt to solve an ongoing breathing issue. After meeting with Alex Roper, Speech-Language Pathologist, M.S. CCC-SLP, she quickly ruled out vocal chord disfunction but we found a surprising number of ways that working together could help me as a small business owner. Now that we’ve practiced for a while, I’m excited to share they happy side effects that working with a speech therapist has had on my life and business!
Building New Habits
One of the first things I did was put a daily reminder on my Google calendar to stop for 10 minutes and practice my new breathing exercises. These include box breathing, myofunctional therapy (pressing the top of your tongue to the roof of your mouth to improve air intake) and focusing on my posture. It’s amazing how often I feel like it’s been hours since I took a deep breath and how much better I feel afterwards. And everyone who works at a desk understands how easy it is to slip into “vulture posture” instead of sitting up tall with our feet on the floor. Building it into my daily routine has made it easier to remember these techniques when I’m struggling to breathe deeply (on a challenging hike or because of nerves for example) and when I’m under stress. Which leads us to…
Managing Stress
I love that I can use my new habits pretty much anywhere—at my desk, when I’m going for a walk, while exercising, in a meeting—it’s been really easy to incorporate them into my existing routine and is really cool how quickly it works. I’ve noticed that practicing these habits regularly has lowered my stress level overall and made taking a deep diaphragmatic breath when things get tough the first thing that comes to mind now. Like many things in life, actually making time and practicing something REALLY WORKS (who knew, right? 😉).
Better Speech for Zooms, Meetings, and Interviews
A concrete example of these techniques in action was the preparation I had been doing for my first podcast interview (as well as working on my ongoing desire to be a better speaker in sales calls and client meetings). Alex introduced me to the metronome and taught me how to better use my breath to slow down, speak clearly, and reduce filler words (“like,” “um,” etc.). Through a lot of practice and repetition I can see a big difference in my speech patterns once I’m dialed in and thinking about it. It’s been amazing!
Tips from My Speech Therapist
I was so thrilled with how my sessions have been going, I asked my therapist Alex to share some tips on how small business owners can utilize techniques to help improve their day-to-day experience:
What common issues do you see in adults that can be treated through speech therapy and/or breathwork?
I've incorporated breathwork into my treatment sessions for a variety of diagnoses! Voice disorders, Speech sound disorders, Fluency & Cluttering (or stuttering as it is more commonly referred to...)
How do breathing techniques help us reduce stress and anxiety?
There is a direct correlation between breathing and our parasympathetic nervous system. Breathing effectively with maximum inspiratory and expiratory efficiency helps to calm the nervous system and brings us back to a neutral space. Diaphragmatic breathing specifically helps us to: relax, improve muscle function during exercises, increase the amount of oxygen in our blood, reduce blood pressure and heart rate.
What are some of your favorite exercises or practices to help adults improve their speech (for public speaking, work conversations, etc.)?
Diaphragmatic breathing is my go to exercise! Being mindful of the way we breath can really have a lasting effect on our speech and interactions in our daily lives.
Posture awareness. Typically, I make sure my patient's posture is in check before beginning an exercise. Sitting or standing, this looks like having both feet planted on the floor while ears, shoulders, and hips are in alignment. I use an analogy I learned from my pilates professor back in college to help my patients visualize their posture. "Pretend you are a puppet and there is a string running from the top of your head through your tail bone, connected via your spine.” If someone were to pull up on the string, your head would be raised (eyes straight ahead, focused on your audience/listeners) and ears, shoulders, and hips would be in alignment.
What other advice would you give someone in the business world seeking to improve their stress levels, breathing, and speech patterns?
Take mini breaks throughout your day to incorporate good breathing patterns and essentially re-set! Mindfulness of speech and breathing is so important! Also to give yourself grace and permission to begin again.
Alex Roper, Speech-Language Pathologist, M.S CCC-SLP
Thanks for reading along! Do you have experience with speech therapy or breathwork? I’d love to hear about how it’s helped you, or maybe this has inspired you to re-incorporate some habits into your routine! Reach out anytime at hello@duewestdesign.com.
