Hi,
Beautiful people.
So good to be back with you again.
I know it's been a long time,
But I have.
A series of stealth somatic tricks that I'm looking forward to sharing with you over the coming weeks.
Each week I'm going to post a video with a very short and sweet subtle somatic trick that you can use in the moment anytime without anyone else noticing around you.
I think that some of the most powerful ways that we can use somatic tools to really help our daily experience through life is to somehow integrate and incorporate these somatic exercises all the time throughout our daily movements from work to the grocery store to home with the family to when you're by yourself.
There's a lot of different options for when to actually incorporate somatic tools to help shift your physiological state inside your body,
To help shift your mood,
To help make you a little more present.
Despite what kind of wild,
Busy day you might be having.
So the first somatic.
Stealth trick that I'm going to share with you is called the tongue drop.
And this exercise is really basic.
We're just going to be softening and relaxing the tongue and the jaw in the mouth.
It's done.
Subtly,
So no one will know that you're doing it.
But when we relax the tongue,
The tongue is actually connected to the vagus nerve.
And several other nerves that are important with our social engagement system.
So when we relax the tongue intentionally and we soften the jaw,
The throat.
When we relax these structures that are innervated by the vagus nerve.
It helps shift the message that the vagus nerve is sending up to the brain from the body.
The vagus nerve registers if there's a lot of tension and tightness,
A freeze,
Holding.
Energy and activation in these structures.
And if there is that,
It sends messages up to the brain that say,
Body's feeling unsafe,
Something's off,
It's going to shift you into not so good of a mood,
Make you feel anxious or shut down.
So when we stimulate that vagus nerve in a new way,
A different way,
When we bring in softening.
Relaxation,
Something soothing,
That message changes.
The message the vagus nerve sends to the brain suddenly says,
Your body's not in freeze,
Your body's not in fight or flight,
Things are more okay,
And then the brain is able to help the body to continue to relax and settle.
So that's the background of the tongue drop exercise.
And it's super fast and easy.
All you're gonna do is just release your teeth,
Slightly separate your teeth in your mouth so your jaw can relax,
And you're just gonna let your tongue melt toward the floor of your mouth.
Sometimes it helps to do a little exhale or even exaggerate this movement a bit the first time you're doing it.
You'll learn how to do this with your mouth closed and no sign outwardly that this is happening.
But for right now,
Just let your tongue drop,
Let your jaw relax.
Now,
For some people,
It's hard to feel the tongue relax.
So one way that we can help that process is first,
Push your tongue firmly up against the roof of your mouth.
So you'll feel some tension coming in.
It'll kind of be that lifting energy.
And then after a few seconds of engaging your tongue,
Let it melt,
Let it ooze toward the floor of your mouth and relax.
And extra bonus points here,
You can carry that relaxation response down through your central channel.
You can,
As you soften your tongue,
See if you can soften your belly and your pelvic floor just a little bit,
Just a little more of a release and a settling down through that midline is going to continue stimulating that vagus nerve to register safety in the body,
Softness under the surface.
So let's do it one more time together.
Firmly press tongue against the roof of your mouth.
And then let it lull and relax in your mouth.
And take a few moments just to notice.
What subtly shifted in your body or your mind.
Now there should be almost an immediate,
Some kind of a subtle immediate effect here of a greater sense perhaps of relaxation,
Release,
Or presence.
