Oral Cavity Guided Meditation Sit in a comfortable posture.
Begin to notice that you are breathing.
Feel the way your belly stretches as you breathe in and releases as you breathe out.
Let your mind rest here following the movement of your belly for several breaths.
The gentle expansion and release of the in and out breath.
Once you feel settled,
Bring your attention to your oral cavity.
Let's begin to study what is happening inside your mouth.
Are your upper and lower teeth touching?
If this is the case,
Then release your lower jaw down and away.
The upper and lower teeth should never touch unless you are actively chewing food.
So as we go through this meditation,
This is the one correction we're going to make.
For the most part,
You'll be simply observing your experience.
Allowing your mouth to open may help to create some space between the upper and lower teeth.
This is a simple change you can make any time you notice yourself clenching.
Now let's investigate your tongue.
Notice what your tongue is doing right now.
For example,
Is it resting on the lower palate,
Soft and expanded?
Is it pressing against the roof of your mouth or against the teeth at the front?
Or perhaps it's hovering somewhere in between all of these,
Tense and alert.
The tongue is the guardian of the mouth.
Its job is to check out any object that enters the oral cavity and decide whether it should be there or not.
For example,
If you bite down on something hard while you're chewing,
The tongue will find the object and push it to the front of your mouth,
Allowing you to spit it out.
Additionally,
The tongue is the first stage of digestion.
So it's responsible for moving the food around within your mouth to ensure it's all evenly masticated.
This is a very important task that we often take for granted.
The tongue is a strong and powerful muscle.
It's instrumental to drinking,
Eating,
Nursing,
Suckling,
Kissing,
And talking.
If you even think about talking,
The tongue gets activated.
If your tongue does not function properly,
This can be a factor in your health and well-being,
Your survival even.
As with any good guard,
The tongue will tend to have some tension.
Notice the tonal quality of your tongue right now.
Is it rigid,
Tight,
Or soft?
Without any judgment,
Let your mind rest in the awareness of your tongue.
Notice how your tongue changes moment by moment.
The tongue attaches at the base of the throat.
Follow your tongue down your throat and perceive where it attaches.
How does your throat feel right now?
Is it soft,
Long,
Spacious,
Or short,
Narrow,
Contracted?
Notice the quality of the tissues.
Is there ease or dis-ease?
Often emotion can linger in the throat.
Do you feel free to speak your truth in life,
Or are your words held back,
Swallowed,
Or suppressed?
Follow your tongue back up to the oral cavity,
And now let's notice the teeth.
How do your teeth feel?
We can say the teeth are hard because they are enamel,
But still,
There's a distinct quality of feeling to the teeth.
How do they feel to you today,
Right now?
Take a moment to run your tongue across your teeth and get a sense of it.
Do they feel compacted,
Pressed against one another,
Tense,
Rigid,
Or do they feel spacious at ease?
Do the upper teeth feel different from the lower teeth?
Is there an individual tooth that stands out and feels different from its neighbors?
What do you notice?
Now let's examine the gums.
Again,
We can say the gum tissue is soft,
But still,
There's a quality of feeling to the tissues.
Run your tongue across your upper gums and then across your lower gums.
Do they feel taut,
Rigid,
Or perhaps painful,
Sensitive,
Or are they cushiony at ease?
Do the upper and lower gums feel similar or different?
Perhaps the right side feels tight and the left side fluid?
What's your experience right now?
And what about your lips?
What is the quality of feeling in the tissues of your lips today?
Do they feel stiff,
Narrow,
Tight,
Or soft and supple?
Is the quality of the tissues changing right now as you investigate?
Now let your mind once again fill the oral cavity.
Experience the oral cavity as a whole.
Does the inside of your mouth feel spacious,
Calm,
At ease,
Or tight,
Tense?
What words come to mind to describe your experience?
When you're ready,
Allow your investigation to expand out to include your face.
How do your cheeks feel?
Tired,
Tight,
Rigid,
Soft,
Open,
Expanded.
What about your eyes?
What about your forehead?
Allow your awareness to move across the top of your head,
Down into your neck and shoulders.
And finally,
Open up to the sensation of your entire body sitting.
Return to awareness of your breath,
A gentle expansion and release,
The in and out breath.
When you're finished,
Take a few notes in your moon journal.
