>*But my habit of trying to go hard on that ‘pa’ is ingrained in my brain and so when I try and say it using light contact, it feels wrong saying it with light contact when I’m facing someone.* When I was in primary school I also tensed by lips or tongue for example on the 'pa' of pathology. The negative effect of the tension is that it gives me the impression that my lips or tongue is stuck in a speech block, it's not actually stuck but it only gives that impression so what I did was, no matter how much I stutter, I don't tense my lips, tongue and jaw anymore and instead I do light articulatory contacts always. The negative effect of easy onset is that we only do light contacts in the anticipation of a stutter, but this could make the anticipation worse the next time 'as if I need to do light contacts to speak fluently'. However, I found that if I always apply light contacts (not only when I anticipate, but always when speaking) then I find only positive effects. So, in short, the physical tension itself doesn't create a speech block, but it can mess our minds and give the impression to lose faith in the forward flow. > *it feels wrong saying it with light contact when I’m facing someone.* It's okay to feel uncomfortable with light contacts, it's okay that it feels wrong, but still prioritize light contact (if you want to remove this symptom of tension). Regardless of feelings or thoughts, still apply light contact like I did when I was in primary school. > *that the other person will judge me because MY perception of it is that my mouth is moving not normally when I do light contact* It's okay that your are perceiving moving your mouth weird when doing light contact. It's okay that other people will judge you. It's okay that you fear other people judging you, it's okay to feel this fear, regardless of these thoughts, still prioritize light contact. >So I can say it when someone doesn’t look at my mouth (not facing in front of me). Yes, but you get triggered if you notice that people look at your mouth. So, yes absolutely evoke anxiety by letting others look at your mouth, and regardless of your unhelpful thoughts and emotions, still prioritize light contact. Your exercise that I give you is: don't reduce anxiety, instead, evoke more anxiety and still prioritize light contact and make a new definition that this is 'gaining confidence'. So in this context, confidence is not a thought or feeling, but an action 'doing'. Makes sense? >Again I’m holding myself back and the whole forward flow is probably what I need to focus on? Yes, prioritize forward flow regardless of any feedback or disruption (instead of blaming/excusing unhelpful thoughts, feelings and senses). If you want, you can use my forward flow [strategy](https://drive.google.com/file/d/19w2ytoperOcaD-0rhhoLipb6JRG7WAQ1/view?usp=sharing) (PDF document). > I realised that I tend to stretch the word before a word I find hard to say Above PDF (strategy) recommends to not use: stretching, pausing or hesitating. Because, firstly, 'stretching or pausing' doesn't maintain forward flow, and secondly, it's unnecessary and will most likely result in disrupting the forward flow (causing a speech block) or it will at the very least maintain the stutter cycle, or worsen feedback, disruptions or anticipation in my opinion.