Ultimate Jaw & Nervous System Relaxation

For many of us, the jaw clenches and tightens when we feel stressed in daily life. The resulting tension ain't no fun - and can ripple in our body and life, far beyond the jaw! Over time, this protection mechanism can become ingrained and habitual.

In this meditation, we’ll gently invite the jaw and nervous system to feel safe, so more calm can naturally unfold.

Much love, Felix

Music by: Matthias Wichtrup
Mix & Master: Felix New

Transcript

Yeah just finding a position right now that feels comfortable if there's any adjustments you need to make just start tuning into your body and what it needs what feels good right now what feels relaxing you don't have to have your eyes closed but it can be helpful to have your eyes closed for this session but if at any time you feel like looking around or seeing what's there you can always do that and as you're starting to notice what feels comfortable for you you might also start to notice things like your breathing maybe even some areas of tension and areas that feel pretty good and the in-between and just see if you can just be there with what you're sensing right now here ultimately just coming back to sensing what is going on in your body and check in with those feet how the feet are doing what they're in contact with if both feet are feeling the same or if there's any difference between the two of them just starting to awaken that curiosity within you and also checking in with your hands how your hands are feeling the left and the right one and then as you've become more aware of your body you might also be aware of the things that you're sensing outside of your body like what you're hearing around you or maybe not much what you can smell what you can taste all of these things might seem quite trivial not like big things but all of them combined and each one is signaling to your body to your nervous system to your brain that you are safe right now in this moment which is a beautiful thing and that can allow the body to relax a little bit,

Sink a little bit deeper and as you've communicated to your body,

Your brain,

Your nervous system that you are safe right here also check in with your jaw how your jaw is feeling right now and it might be remembering past moments where you didn't feel that safe so it might still be carrying some of that tension so just letting your jaw catch up to this moment as well sometimes it can help to just check in again with the feet and anything that anchors you in this moment just so your jaw can catch up and unclench a little bit some people like to send some gentle breaths into their jaw just to make sure the jaw doesn't get left behind and can also just enjoy this moment not work so hard but you could also check in if there is any reason why your jaw doesn't feel like it can yet feel safe and what if it still feels like it needs to work hard and if there is just acknowledging that if not then that's great and if there is any reason for why your jaw can't let go right now just reassuring it that you can pick things up again later you can work at this thing later but for now you're just spending this time for you so that you can have more capacity more energy just some time to nourish yourself so that you can make better decisions later and just check in with your posture sometimes we can get a little bit into our mind thinking about our jaw and what it needs that we can forget about the rest of our body and get carried away so just check in if your posture feels aligned and your breath in your belly all of it supporting you and nourishing you and then just check in with yourself overall if there's anything that would like to be heard right now from your inner world your emotions and just being with that a little bit as your grounded presence knowing that you can take any actions needed later this is just a really important time of acknowledging what's here within you and allowing the body to rest to consciously relax and nudge you in the direction of health and it could also be that it's not just emotions that want to be witnessed but maybe your body as a whole wants to also tell you something like i wish you'd slow down a bit more i wish you'd take care of me better or something just see if there's something like that and how would you like to respond to any requests that you might hear even if there wasn't that much that came up for you this kind of check-in is really important because if we show our body and our emotions that we're listening or at least that we're moving in that direction then the jaw has to work much less hard because the jaw tends to step in when it feels like things are not going in the direction that they need to go so it tenses up to make sure make sure we get there make sure that we're okay somehow maybe not even knowing how but just pushing and pushing and pushing just to make sure but you are here you are here seeing everything that's going on within you and trying your best setting intentions of health self-care and resilience can be really helpful also to give your jaw a bit of support so do some doing some micro movements can be really supportive so for example moving slightly to the left and back to center and to the right just exploring a few movements that feel good for you that can just help to loosen things up a little bit but make sure to be slow because a lot of us have the tendency to rush this to finally loosen up but instead just be playful and see what feels good for you right now maybe even let go of any goal to achieve relaxation just see what feels good maybe even holding a position for a little bit longer or not depending on what feels good for you what your system can work with and then just coming back to center and tuning into your breath calmly through the nose into the belly checking in with the feet just anything that anchors you here just checking in with that again contact with surfaces any sounds any sensations allowing your shoulders to drop allowing your hands to be soft and unclenched allowing your jaw to be unclenched and also allowing your eyes to be soft especially the edges of your eyes and checking with your tongue resting position where is your tongue resting right now where is the tip of your tongue is it touching your teeth or is it just a little bit behind them where is the middle of your tongue and the back part and remembering this is not like in school where it's like oh you only have 70 percent or it's not like that you just see what things are like right now and know that you will improve if things are not perfect but awareness is so important and a really beautiful thing but maybe you would like to invite your tongue just to take its position at the palate in a way that feels right for your system because countless experts again and again say how important it is for the tongue to rest at the palate so that the jaw can relax and see if you can feel that connection sometimes it can be just really subtle and almost feel like you're wasting your time with the tongue but as it's resting at the palate a little bit more see if you feel a connection with the jaw there how your jaw can just let go a bit not work so hard but also check in with your your whole body because sometimes we may then move the tension somewhere else like into our hands or into our feet just knowing that the tension that the jaw was holding can just leave with the breath doesn't need to stay right now because we've checked in for this whole time to show that we are safe so i can guarantee you that you are safe and you've messaged your body many many times that you are safe right now so the jaw can relax and with your breath any tension it may have been holding is allowed to go if it likes to and if not that's okay just enjoying this time and these last five minutes and when i say five minutes don't feel rushed in any way it's going to be some generous five minutes not a short five minutes so then just check in if there's anything else that you need right now and maybe just spend some time giving yourself that like a stretch or just holding a bit of space for any thoughts or feelings that want to come up as we'll just enjoy a little bit of silence and just one more minute and then check in with your body and your jaw how you're feeling right now maybe your emotions too just your whole the whole you it's good to have a reference point of before and after but not to what you have in front of you how relaxed you are just how aware you are so if you say well my attention hasn't really shifted i'm sorry to hear that but what's really important is just how aware of you of how things feel within you because that's the most important step for the tension to shift and maybe it will shift later even if it hasn't right now but maybe something has shifted maybe you feel a bit different to when we started there's no right or wrong it's just what's there for you and maybe there's an intention that you would like to set going forward how you want to go about your day or any upcoming thing or what you'd like to do more of and just placing that intention into your heart to be carried forward then as we slowly come out just bring attention back into your feet becoming aware of where you're sitting how you're sitting your breath in your belly expanding and contracting your shoulders your neck and your throat your jaw your face and your whole body here in this moment doing anything that you need to awaken shaking fingers wiggling toes whatever it is have a beautiful day or night much love soak up these soothing vibes

Reviews

This meditation worked well to relax my jaw. Thank you