Before you start – ENJOY the KNOWING that you CAN beat this thing. It IS possible and YOU can, in fact, do it.
Knowing what I know now, and that I’ve wasted years on relying on others to cure this thing for me, as well as often pursuing blind alleys in my quest to find solutions for it on my own – I can tell you that I firmly believe you can all-but-eliminate your Tourettes in under a year.
Now that you know and accept this – internalize this conviction – accept also that the way to cure your Tourettes will involve DOMINATING your body along with your wandering mind. But true domination is not an act of force. It’s an act of cunning.
You need to find TOOLS to help you “trick” Tourettes – NOT into disappearing, but into DOING WHAT YOU WANT.
Why don’t you want it to totally disappear? Well, if I’m right and Tourettes is an electrical super-charge, then it’s like a river. You don’t want to make it disappear. You want it to power your watermill!
So just keep this in the back of your mind. Your first mission is to get this thing to obey you – not to kill it. It’s part of you for better or for worse. It might as well be a NICE part!
And remember also that Tourettes is a cloud with unbelievable silver lining. Your whole personality, your intelligence, your wisdom and your physical reflexes will out-do most people you’ll ever meet if you can conquer it. I base this statement not merely on my immodest assertion about myself but also upon a few case studies I’ve conducted in the past. Not only Tourettes has this incredible transformative power – other illnesses and conditions do as well – but what’s special about Tourettes is that it’s a direct GATEWAY to your soul!
So here’s what you do:
- Adjust your mindset
- Begin each day with a sense of gratitude. Be happy that your fate put this challenge in front of you. Be grateful for the opportunity to prove yourself. Not everyone has an opportunity like that!
- Think of your Tourettes as you might of an unruly puppy or a spoiled – but cute – child, if you prefer. You want to slowly but surely teach it some manners.
- Get excited about the prospect of becoming the master or your domain. Know that you won’t achieve this overnight – but also know that you WILL eventually get the darned thing.
- Smile and laugh to yourself. Little does this unruly villain know what you’ve got in store for it.
- Calm your mind
- You can learn how to meditate from any course online or from a book – or by visiting a nearby “guru”. But you can also do it yourself. You just need to have a few tricks up your sleeve.
- There are a few simple methods you can try – and pick the one you think will work for you. If it doesn’t after 10 days or so, try another method. Start by sitting down comfortably – but not too comfortably. Perhaps on a soft pillow, on the floor in a cross-legged position. You can also lean against the wall while sitting, if it helps.
- Method 1: Put a plant or a flower in front of you and contemplate it. Your mission is to ONLY focus on it and on nothing else. If you catch a stray thought – laugh it off and remind yourself that you’re ONLY supposed to be admiring the flower. Look closely. How are those petals aligned? Are there any special marks on them? Don’t analyze – just notice. Appreciate. Enjoy. If you feel yourself ticking – ignore it. Don’t think about it. If you’re able to do 5-10 minutes without giving in to distractions – you’ve mastered this technique.
- Method 2: Close your eyes and think of a body of calm blue water or an empty green field. Don’t allow any other objects into view. No bird flybys, no stray thoughts. Just take in all that vast emptiness. It’s not really empty – it’s a field. Or it’s a lake. But that’s ALL there is. If you can hold that image for 5-10 minutes without ANY other thoughts – you’ve mastered this technique.
- Method 3: Imagine a basic shape like a triangle or a square or a circle. Now make it transform slowly into another shape – and then back again. But silently count out the time it takes and make sure it doesn’t change quicker or slower than you decided. Make sure you see each step in the transformation. Become engrossed in the mechanics of it. NO other thoughts allowed. If they come, brush them aside good-naturedly (NEVER impatiently) and keep on going.
- If you do these exercises daily for 10, 15 up to 20 minutes, you will reach a degree of mastery after 2-3 weeks. Don’t be angry with yourself if you can’t help but have other thoughts. Accept them, dismiss them, and keep trying. You will eventually manage to control your calmness.
- Practice a martial art. If you don’t have a trainer nearby, don’t worry. If you’re starting today and know that you won’t find a teacher for many more weeks or months INVENT your own martial art if you have to, or buy a book about it. Just do what you think is a martial art. Nobody’s watching. Naturally, it will be MUCH better if you have a real trainer who can push you and teach you how it’s really done. Failing that, make sure you do physical exercises daily. Push-ups, sit-ups, jogging in place, stretching, kicking, punching, ducking and diving, shifting balance from one leg to the other, assuming strange and unfamiliar positions and postures. Expressive movements with your hands, arms, legs, feet, head, neck.
- Punch the air in front of you. Stop exactly 2 feet in front. Don’t go past that point no matter how much power you put into your punch. Now slow that punch right down. But don’t just slow it down – tense up your entire body from toes to your head, tense up your arm muscles until they quiver and shake and now push that fist through air made of something incredibly dense – so dense it takes all your energy just to push that fist those lousy 2 feet. Once you’ve arrived, pull your arm back at the same insanely slow and tense speed. How long did it take you? Can you stretch a punch over 1 minute? How about 2? How about 5? You’ll be sweating and exhausted after this exercise, if you do it right.
- Change the character of your tics. If that arm twitches “this” way – make it twitch “that” way instead. If you’re making an “ooo” sound, make an “aaa” sound. It’s all about control – YOU must decide what comes out of you!
- Decide where you want your next tic to occur. Make your arm tic now. Let it tic away for 15 seconds. No, don’t stop it after 10 seconds because it “wants to” stop. MAKE it go 15 seconds exactly. Now stop it for 15 seconds. And now make your face – or any other part of your body – to the same. You might feel like twitching your arm – but no – make your face do it instead. Master tic transference. You’re not trying to stop the tics – you’re just trying to direct them. If they want to twitch, ok, let them twitch – but twitch the way YOU want.
- Convert a fast tic into a slow one. If your head bobs up and down real fast, slow it down. Wait for it, here it comes – slow the bugger right down. Tension. Remember the tension punch? Do that with your tic. The trick is to control the thing – not to eliminate it.
That’s your phase 1.
If I remember correctly, I learned the tic-slowdown technique really quickly. It was one of my best tricks and it had the added benefit that I could now much more confidently mingle with people and they might not even notice that I’m twitching like an s.o.b. right in front of their eyes – but all they see is me “stretching” in a weird-but-not-entirely-unappealing way!
I also learned the tic redirection quite quickly. I specialized in transforming tics into grunts and then grunts into little puffs of air, usually somewhere at the back of my nose. I eventually managed to do this really discretely, so you had to be very close to me to be able to hear I’m ticking away like a little machine, hehe! But you couldn’t readily see it from the outside. I know, because people often complimented me on having finally “gotten better”.
Phase 2 is more fun. You might get there really fast – or it might take you a few months. It took me a couple of years, but I didn’t know what I was doing and had no method like the one above.
Phase 2 is all about asking your tics to… wait.
First you delay by seconds. Then by minutes. Eventually you delay them by hours. They just sit there waiting to jump back out, but you’re keeping them at bay. I remember sometimes “sitting on my tics” for hours, only to run to the bathroom and letting go – I would shake and twitch for minutes on end… until it was time to go back out.
Once you’ve learned phase 2, phase 3 will be a lot easier.
Phase 3 is all about NOT keeping your promises and changing goal-posts.
You promised yourself you’ll let yourself tic in an hour. But when the hour comes, you delay the gratification by another hour. When that hour passes as well – you delay yet again. Your Tourettes might scream at you: “but you promised!” – and you might reply “sure, but I’m the boss and you tic when I say”.
Phase 4 is freedom.
It took me up to maybe 10 years to get there, but I feel confident you’ll get there in a tenth of that time just by following the above steps.
But this freedom is NOT absolute. You’ll still have your Tourettes, except it will be a good little Tourettes now and it will not dare come out without your say-so. In fact, my Tourettes only comes out when it thinks I’m too tired or too sick to care. And when it does – I stop it.
Sometimes, I don’t. Sometimes, knowing I have all the power, I let it out when I’m all by myself. I tire of its antics in seconds, sometimes minutes. And I make it go back to its dog-house in the back of my mind where it belongs.
What Else Works
In my book, Tourettes is a “bio-electric grid overload disorder” (hehe – you heard it here first). This means that anything which helps you discharge will bring relief. Full body massage may be a helpful thing, but it won’t work really well unless the masseur knows precisely which points to address and which order to proceed in. Probably Shiatzu would be the closest thing. I also wouldn’t be too surprised if some kind of a magnet-related therapy could be worked out for this. Also – foods. Your “diet” is definitely a seriously important key. All things have electric charges, you know, and so does anything you ingest. When you meditate, you just might develop a higher sensitivity to what your body needs. “It” might help you choose foods which “discharge” your excess electricity. But don’t forget that it’s your brain – the electric control mechanism – that really holds the key to this. Additionally, by training it using the methods I outline, you’ll build your soul!
Yes, my friend. You CAN do this thing.
Tourettes will open your mind and strengthen your body. It will make you achieve more than most people you know. Be grateful for the opportunity and thank your lucky stars.
Now get practicing!
29 Responses to “Managing Tourettes Step By Step”
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About Me
I'm a music producer / songwriter and have also been doing syndicated radio on ABC, Stateside. I'm also an entrepreneur...
As a child, I had this condition now known as "Tourette's Syndrome" and I managed to conquer it to a point where you would never know it looking at me. I have always considered Tourettes as one of the main driving forces in my life. It's a blessing in disguise!
Wanna know more?
Got to your blog by way of watching “The town that caught Tourettes.”
I’m in my 50s and still struggle with tics and toots. I love your “Mastering tic transference.” I’ve done this through out the years and have taught it to a few children encountered in my travels.
cheers, Victor
Thanks Victor! Sorry, I missed this comment and only just saw it. Yep, the “transference” – or rather “redirection” – works! 🙂
Great to know! Thanks 🙂
This article is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you so much. I hope it helps me overcome my tics 🙂
Best of luck to you! I CAN be done – with a little patience. 🙂
This helped me so much.Its been about a month since I started using this method and my tics have reduced to almost nothing. Thank you so much
Thank u big time . Magnesium…Epsom salt… green drink… Comedy albums… Hypnosis…omega Juicer or vita mix … Howard Stern … Tom leykis… Tony robins … Rsd nation… Yes almost any martial art minus the monthly contract… Disconnected kids … Sonrise… Spark… I could go on & on … Thank u big time. I’d love to practice martial arts with u some time ! But ether way Thank u !
& yogic breathing . richard bandler . cure your child’s tics naturally . acupuncture . lots o fart jokes . yoga . jed mckenna . drink distilled water . the music sold in the book disconnected kids . il come back when i think of more . but this is exactly what i needed ! thanx big time
Another thing is touch most people don’t know how to do it in a way that helps. A few can but it Seems to be rare though. Ur calming energy will rub off on the person ur hugging or touching . With enuff practice it should be a big help . U can copy the feeling then rinse & repeat .
im looking forward to practicing this technique. lol, i wonder what modern psychiatrist would think of this!
I actually submitted these pages to a couple of medical journals – knowing it’s an “anecdotal” and not a “scientific” hypothesis. Needless to say, it was rejected every time. I have since spoken to a couple of other TS sufferers and they said it made sense (what I said here). They tried it and are (reportedly) beginning to gain a measure of control over TS now. I don’t have details, but I’m assuming they’re trying some of the exercises I described here. Fingers crossed for them! If they get back to me with something conclusive, I’ll post it.
Ya most professional healers / doctors won’t hug u . Bcuz it inappropriate! Fuckin stupid. That’s what most people need but bcuz were all soooo smart we complicate it .
The other thing that will help ( & please listen to me I know what I’m talking about) become ok with cuss words sassy talkback filthy language… If u fight anything it’ll just get stronger. Listen to Howard Stern if u need to . But stop punishing kids & adults for words it’s fucking retarded !
IV been censored on other forums bcuz of this but I promise u . If u love & support the people around u with or without tics we can all get better . even if there sayin weird ass shit or twichin .
it works am also sufering from complex tics but after trying this and little bit of meditation makes my mind free for tics now am trying this everyday tourette is such a bad thing
my recomendation is to do meditation 2 hours a day it may gives you confident to controll your tic in crowdy areas
Awesome to hear yet another confirmation that we’re on the right track here! Thanks 🙂 p
My son is almost 10 years old. He has complex tics for about 3 years now. Motor and vocal, I presume with the length of time and the complexity it is Tourette’s. I am really trying as a parent to understand but it is very difficult. As he can’t explain it either. He tells me he just has to do it til it feels right. We have taken him to a chineses medicine doctor who says animal protein is causing the tics. So we do the best we can with reducing the animal protein but also give him supplements for his body type. Can you explain to me what it feels like soni can better understand what he is going through. I have read your step by step and will do my best to teach him. Thank you for any help you can provide.
Animal protein? Hmm… So he’s basically saying to stay off meat etc. Perhaps. I don’t eat much meat, but don’t ban it altogether either. But – it could be.
As for how it “feels” – your son said it just right “”till it feels right”. I forgot that about my own experience. It had to “feel right” -and then I’d stop. Except I didn’t. Not until I figured out the technique described in here, slowly – but surely. Have your son read this site. IF it resonates with him and makes sense to him, he’ll be self-motivated to try it. Best of luck!
As for “how it feels” – it’s an “extreme compulsion”. I think that’s the best way to describe it. If you’ve ever been super thirsty or super hungry, then got your drink/food offered and tried to resist… that’s a very light-weight comparison. What makes it worse, is that the compulsion to tic is never satisfied. So, once you decide to go ahead and do it, you “want” to do another one, and another – and there’s never enough. That is why the approach I’ve worked out is a kind of a “brute force hack.” I never figured out what really caused it. In my case it probably wasn’t anything to do with my diet (although picking what you eat is something that you “learn” through extensive meditation – I know this sounds new-agey and wishy-washy, but you do develop that certain sense for that is good for you and what is not), and it “could have” been a hundred different causes. The thing that helped me overcome all this was a mental discipline and “tricking” my tics into “obeying” my commends. Once I could “re-direct” them, the road from there to “postponing” them was a lot easier, and from there to stopping them entirely. It worked for me. I don’t know if it will work for anyone else, but the logic of it seems very compelling to me. If your son decides to try the redirection technique and if it works for him – he’ll probably be able to beat this thing quickly. Fingers crossed for you and him! Best.
Do you have a solution for moving your tongue in your mouth non-stop?
I never had those particular symptoms, but I did – at times – experience OCD-like traits, i.e. compulsively doing something over and over. Not. in my case, with the tongue, but – again, in my case – with fingers, pushing on something (anything!) and pushing and pushing. In my case, I only had it really bad a couple of times and each time, once I broke whatever it was I was pushing on, I eventually managed to diffuse that compulsion. Other times I had much lighter bouts of obsessive actions like that, but if I remember right, that was already by the time I was gradually beginning to gain control over my tics, so controlling those OCD tics was relatively easy. Not sure if this helps, but it’s just a re-statement of my belief that these things CAN be controlled by your own mind. Best of luck beating this thing sooner rather than later!
Wow thanks for the tips. I heard from someone that maybe pinching myself after doing the tic may help slow it down. Is this true? I have tried it and my tics have slowed down a bit after pinching myself. But I dont want to do it if its not going to help at all.
I’m not sure about pinching yourself, but the principle itself isn’t that far off from what I’ve been saying on this site. It’s a form of distraction – and as such it DOES work. But pinching is more reflexive than the exercise I recommend here, which demand some will power, and thus they won’t have nearly as powerful effect in the end.
My name is Rob 53 years old and have tourettes since around 7, various neck shoulder shrugging, eyes, nose, mouth throat clearing, gulping etc. My family was light hearted about my tics and used to call them “my habits” as no one knew what they were back in the 70s. When I starting working in my late teens the tics slowed down as I found myself concentrating on work and I played competitive sport which took my mind away from ticking. Then through my 20s a starting drinking a lot of alcohol and a lot of socializing plus i was still playing heaps of sport and working a managers position. The ticks almost disapeared for 20 years. When I gave up alcohol and sport and the tics started coming back, I was kinda thinking “what the hell!?” so now I find myself at 53 dealing with tics again however they are mild in comparison to when i had them as a child. I meditate and have a spiritual concept of reality and believe the tics are one of my life challenges maybe the biggest one! I look at my tourettes from a spiritual perspective and this keeps me sane and helps to control them. I joined the New Zealand tourettes and will do what I can to help the kids here with TS. Cheers Rob
I am just looking at these sites as yesterday I developed a really painful tic , I have had tics since I was around 6-7 I am now nearly 12 , the main one that has stuck with me out of loads is where I have to tense my stomache , as you can imagine it starts to hurt AFTER A WHILE , but as I said yesterday I developed a different one that gets painful it’s where I suck my belly in hard . It feels like I’m crushing my insides , I really want it to stop because it hurts , any advice ? 😞
Hi Chloe, really sorry to hear that. I don’t recall my tics ever actually hurting (except in the way that after hundreds of tics the whoe general area might be tired or even mildly painful. I also don’t think I ever had “internal tics”. So, from what you describe, it may just be a coincidence and most likely not related to Tourettes. I’d advise you see a doctor!
There is, of course, a possibility that by over-tensing your muscles you can cause them to cramp. This can occur in almost any muscle. Perhaps try not tensing and see if it helps. Either way, seeing a doc may be a good idea!
Best of luck, cheers 🙂 Paul
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Hello. Ive been struggling with tourettes for quite a while. I have been able to control the sadness it makes me feel for a while and overcame depression. For some reason its gotten worse and my depression has been hitting me harder than ever. Just wanted to say thank you for making this article. It was exactly what i was looking or, and I’m already starting to work on it using your methods.
Depression can be a very slippery slope and can adversely affect all manner of physical conditions. Whatever you can do to dominate it and master it – do it. Perhaps a series of sessions with an experienced psychologist (NOT a psychiatrist – NO MEDS!) is an idea?
I remember having brief bouts with depression back in the day, but my method of combating TS turned out to be so successful for me that it, in a way, empowered me not to yield to negative feelings too easily, if at all.
There’s more to depression than just feeling sad, of course. But if it’s not a clinical depression caused by some chemical imbalance, you should be able to manage and master it as part of your overall effort to manage and conquer your Touretttes. Am quite certain of it. But you need to reinforce your “psychological framework” somewhat. For me, this “reinforcement” was the combined effect of not just meditating and thinking but also all my little victories adding up. Chief among them, my eventual “win” over TS.
Thanks for letting me know you’re considering applying the methods outlined on this site. I have now heard from at least half a dozen people who visited here that they can clearly see improvement ever since they started their exercises with tic transference, etc.
All the best of luck to ya!
My son is 11… he was diagnosed at age 8. He had a few mild tics and they went away shortly afterwards. We’ve had no signs of them until 3 weeks ago. He started doing a CONSTANT loud “huh’ sound. It is so exhausting for all of us… to the point where when he is asleep I sit in my kitchen and admire all the sounds I can no longer hear during the day.. even so much as the refrigerator runnning, and the air conditioner running… it is total chaos in our home bc this loud ticcing! And every time I hear it, it breaks my heart a little more for him and what he is going thru! He is laying in bed reading your article now bc he is supposed to try to go back to school tomorrow. Which he is already crying saying he can’t. Do you think this particular tic will ever let up… typically how long did your tic spells last? I feel like it is not letting up at all! Oh and to top it off, his name is Rhett! Imagine the irony! And what I hear people say about people with Tourette’s being smarter is so spot on! His brain functions in a way like I’ve never seen any other child! He is WAY smarter than me lol! Has a wonderful personality to top it off! He’s a popular, athletic kid and to see how this tic is covering it all up and who he is as a person, is the hardest part!
Thanks for the great article. My 10 year old son has TS diagnosed at age 6. We have attempted CBIT twice with him refusing to even try some of the competing responses. If he will listen I’m going to read your article to him. This school year he has missed over 30 days due to severe tics. For the last month he has had coprolalia which is horrible for him. We are homeschooling from here on and stopping all meds. I have had tics since I was very young and I always tell my son that with work he can learn to reduce his tics. I have for years. Your plan sounds realistic to someone like me with my own history of tics. CBD oil has helped some. Thanks