Vagus Nerve Jaw Releasing Practice

This practice offers preventative and relief techniques for jaw tension. Jaw discomfort can be associated with emotions that we are biting back and not expressing. Symptoms include clinching the teeth, pain, TMJ, & headaches. Stress is a big culprit in jaw tension. This is linked to the Vagus Nerve that can move us toward rest and digest or fight/flight. We will do self-massage, a somatic yoga technique for releasing the jaw, and a Donna Eden energy medicine practice to calm the nervous system.

Transcript

Let's begin in a comfortable seated position.

Our practice offers preventative and relief techniques for jaw tension.

Jaw discomfort is almost always associated with emotions like anger,

Fear,

Anxiety,

Or even pain that we're biting back and not expressing.

How many times have we swallowed back exactly what we've wanted to say?

Stress is a big culprit for jaw discomfort,

Creating the stress response in the body.

When this happens,

We're often not breathing deeply enough and clenching our teeth.

To put this simply,

The vagus nerve teams with another nerve in our face to send the brain signals to go into the stress response or the relaxation response.

These practices will help soothe the vagus nerve.

Let's begin.

This is a super gentle approach to getting the muscles to relax,

So be gentle.

Open your mouth slightly,

Just noticing how the jaw feels today.

Take a big inhale in through your nose,

And with a forceful exhale,

Make the ha sound on that exhalation.

Two more times,

Inhaling deeply,

Do it at your own pace,

And exhale a big forceful ha.

And one last time,

As you're ready,

As you're exhaling,

Notice how to make the ha sound,

You have to move your belly toward your spine.

Yeah,

Now continue to breathe deeply and soften your jaw as you put your hands on your face in front of your ears.

Move to where you feel the joint of the jaw.

Open your mouth slightly and feel the V that the jaw makes,

Pointing toward the ears.

Take a moment and find that,

And allow your mouth to just go slack as you take your hands in front of that V shape,

And gently massage in a circular manner in any way that feels good.

Continuing to breathe deeply.

Good,

Now soften your jaw,

But keep it slightly open as you take your fingers together in front of the ear.

Push into the skin in front of the ear and push upward.

Yeah,

There may be some tender places there.

Let's do that two more times.

Push into the skin and move upward,

Going right in front of the ears.

May feel tension releasing.

Now go behind the ears with your fingers together.

Start at the earlobe.

Gently press in and push upward on that bony ridge right behind the ear.

We're doing this two more times.

Being sure to breathe deeply.

If you need another releasing breath,

Go ahead and do that.

There's often tender spots and that's okay.

That's just a little stuck energy.

Now we're going to take the fingers again behind the base of the ear,

But this time we're going to move backward and trace along,

Pressing into that ridge right underneath the skull at the top of the neck.

When the fingers come completely together,

Find the top of the spine and then move upward.

So let's do that again.

Move behind the ear,

Right behind the earlobe,

And then move back along that bony ridge,

Which is the base of the skull.

When the fingers come together,

Push upward right there at the top of the spine.

You'll feel the little knot there.

Good.

This should feel really good.

Let's do this one more time.

I always feel so much tension releasing as I do this.

Nice,

Nice.

Relax your shoulders and now bring your fingers together at your temples and just slowly begin to make gentle circles right there at the temples.

Be gentle in this area.

Now let your fingers just rest there on the temples as you open your mouth and notice how the jaw muscles and the muscles of the temples are connected.

Move your fingers closer to the eye and find that little bony ridge there close to the eye.

We're going to press in gently and move upward.

Just do that yourself three times.

Just noticing the tension releasing.

Very good.

Now rest your hands.

Take some deep breaths and just relax.

Relax across the shoulders.

Soften the jaw.

Now we're moving right into the jaw releasing practice.

Make a fist with one hand and put it under your chin.

The fist will provide resistance with your hand.

As you're ready,

Slowly begin to open your jaw.

Remember the hand is providing light resistance.

Be gentle and when you feel your mouth is fully open,

Release your hand into your lap and slowly let the jaw close.

Most important part,

Just go slowly with closing the mouth.

When the lips feel like they're about to meet,

Just soften.

Take a full breath.

Now we'll do that again.

As you're ready,

Make your fist below the bottom of your chin.

Begin to slowly part your lips,

Providing a light resistance with your hand.

Note if you can go smoothly this time and when you sense that your mouth is all the way open,

Release your hand and slowly allow the lips to close toward one another.

The slower the better.

The lips can touch or not,

Just keeping a softness in the jaw as you take a deep breath.

You may notice warming sensations there in the jaw.

Next we will do the opposite practice.

Begin with your mouth open,

Making your fist and placing it below your chin.

Begin to slowly close your mouth using the hand as resistance.

It may be choppy at first.

When the lips come close to touching,

Release your hand,

Pause and breathe.

One final time,

Starting with the mouth open,

Placing the fist below the chin and helping the mouth gradually close.

When the lips are close together,

Release your hand,

Close your eyes and as you breathe deeply,

Noticing any warming sensations there in the jaw.

Now moving right into Adana Eden Energy Medicine practice,

Place your thumbs behind your earlobes in that little hollow there.

Let your hands relax flat on either side of your face with the fingertips on the temples.

Your eyes are closed.

This is a time to relax and let go.

Let your jaw be nice and slack,

The mouth softly open.

And we're going to return to a deep breathing practice.

Inhaling through your nose and this time as you exhale slowly,

Make the ha sound soft,

Long and slow.

So it's inhaling through your nose and exhaling with a ha sound through that slightly opened mouth.

Continue to breathe in this manner and let your nervous system know that it's safe and it's okay to relax.

This is a time for everything to slow way down,

For you to be able to relax,

To release and soften.

Let your body release completely into the support of the chair.

Letting the back of the chair support you and your buttocks firmly flat in the chair,

Fully inviting in the relaxation response.

Now let go of the breath,

Release your hands and notice your jaw.

Notice the back of your throat,

Any saliva,

Swallowing,

Sighing or even yawning can tell you that you're in that rest and digest state.

Let your body know that you appreciate it with a sense of love and kindness.

Wonderful,

My friends,

Thank you for practicing with me.

Wishing you deep peace.

Namaste.

Reviews

Such a great tool to use anytime, especially during the workday when I find myself clenching my jaw. Thank you so much.

Best jaw release practice for me so far ! Thank you !

This is a,really excellent way to release that jaw tension we carry around so often. Works every time .

I was speaking with such anger before I did this meditation, now I understand why and I'm crying a little bit. Thank you for this creation and thank you for making it available to all.

Excellent. Released deep grief with this practice. Thank you 💗

Nice practice, also its crazy how much you sound like Parker Posey in white lotus 🤯

This was excellent thank you - it’s great to discover these practices

Love the techniques and will definitely be doing them again and revisiting this track. Definitely feel a little more relaxed afterwards 💖

Wow I found these practices so effective. Good direction and easy to follow. Will come back to this meditation when I feel tension.

A lovely practice to release jaw tension. Clear instructions. Felt a tangeable difference afterwards. Thank you.

I noticed impatience with myself while practicing. 🩵

I do feel that my rest / digest mode is activated!💚

I love your vagus nerve guided meditations. Thank you💜💐

What a gift this was. Clear guidance and made a big difference in my jaw tension. Thank you.

Thank you for your clear, well-timed guidance through this meditation. Very releasing and effective.

Thank you wonderful practice . I’m just realizing how much tension lives in my jaw !thank you IT for the wonderful teachers you provide us with 💓true medice 🫶🫶🫶💓💓💓💓

That was wonderful, thank you for the guidance and grace. 🙏🏼✨💗

Excellent! Very relaxing. Helped with the tension in my jaw as promised. Thanks!

Fantastic, thank you. I hadn’t realised how tense my jaw was before but now it’s very relaxed.

That was fabulous! I was ready to meditate after the jaw release!

I tend to hold stress in my jaw. This practice has been very helpful. I’ve bookmarked it and also forwarded it to my husband . Thank you

This one is SO good!!! I look forward to practicing it more! Again, I’m
Just so grateful for you and these marvelous meditations. 🙏🌻♥️