Welcome to this guided meditation for relaxation through softening and releasing the jaw.
Jaw tension is incredibly common and often a sign of stress.
The jaw will hold automatically even while we're sleeping.
The jaw is also intimately connected to the breath and the pelvic floor,
And when we release this whole apparatus the nervous system softens and relaxes.
If you haven't already,
Please lie down in a comfortable position.
If possible,
Rest with a towel or a blanket rolled behind your neck,
Supporting the natural curve of your neck.
Have a bolster under your legs or keep your knees bent with your feet on the floor and allow the knees to rest together.
If it's comfortable for you,
Let your hands rest on your belly.
Take a few deep breaths in through your nose,
Out through your mouth.
Rinse through whatever's been happening for you today and give yourself a chance to settle into this shape,
To settle into our meditation practice.
Take a moment to acknowledge the land beneath your body,
The earth that holds and witnesses you.
Acknowledge your relationship with this land,
Both personally and historically.
If you know the names of the traditional people of this land,
Call them up now.
Now take a moment to relax your body as much as you can.
Let the shoulders drop.
Soften the shape of your hands.
You could even wiggle your toes a little to let them settle into stillness.
And now we'll focus on relaxing your jaw.
Often when we hold tension in the jaw,
It's because we're holding back an emotion.
When we're trying not to feel something we're feeling,
We tend to hold the breath and the jaw helps us do that.
When we release the jaw and the breath together,
Sometimes we release emotion as well.
It doesn't matter what that emotion is or what it's about.
We're not here to fix,
Judge,
Or analyze.
If emotion arises during this meditation,
Just allow it.
Keep breathing.
Notice your belly rising and falling as you breathe.
Allow the belly to expand up into your hands or toward the sky as you inhale,
And gently fall back as you exhale.
If your belly was the front of a soft balloon,
Your pelvic floor would be the bottom of that balloon.
So this,
The pelvic floor,
Is a net of muscles around your genitals that supports your pelvic organs.
It's shaped a little like a diaphragm,
Similar to the one under your ribs that helps you inhale and exhale.
Notice if you're holding tension in this area around your genitals and see if you can let that go.
As you inhale,
The soft balloon fills and the pelvic floor expands toward your feet.
As you exhale,
It gently,
Naturally contracts toward your heart.
You can also imagine that there's a diaphragm at the back of your throat around where your soft palate is.
As you relax,
Imagine the back of your throat rising and falling with your breath.
It doesn't matter which direction you feel the movement rising on inhale and exhale.
Just imagine the back of the throat soft enough to move with your breath.
Now,
These three diaphragms can move together,
The throat,
The one around the low ribs,
And the pelvic floor.
The inhale draws air in,
Filling the diaphragms like sails on a beautiful day.
On the exhale,
The sails gently shift,
Moving in the opposite direction.
Allow the winds of your breath to move these parts of your body,
Your belly gently lifting and releasing with each breath.
Stay soft.
Notice that emotions or thoughts might be arising.
Allow them to flow with your breath as well.
Don't fight them.
No need to resist.
It's safe to feel whatever you feel right now.
If you allow yourself to feel the emotions,
They can flow through you on the waves of your breath.
Notice if thoughts are coming up related to the emotions,
Especially thoughts about the future or the meaning of your emotions.
You can't read the future.
It doesn't matter what these emotions might mean.
Let the thoughts be present,
But adjust your attention back to your breath.
Keep focusing on softening the jaw,
Softening the pelvic floor.
Allow the channel of energy to run freely from your throat to your pelvic floor.
Simply allow this energy to move through.
Now take a moment to notice how you feel.
How do you feel in your body?
How is your mood?
Whatever it is,
Is okay.
Take as long as you'd like to rest here.
You may like to return to this meditation tomorrow or daily while you're working on repatterning the tension response in your jaw and pelvic floor.
When you do feel ready to move out of this meditation,
Take a few deep breaths.
Wiggle and stretch as you like and eventually roll over to one side.
Perhaps you'd like to drift away to sleep now or move on to a wonderful,
Soft,
Relaxed rest of your day.
Thank you for listening.
