Jaw Meditation - Tension In A New Light

What if the tension in your life and body was trying to help you? What if you found a way to stop fighting it and start working together with it?

This meditation is a powerful opportunity to re-frame your relationship with tension in the jaw and all areas of life that make you feel contracted, which has a direct effect on the jaw.

Be gentle. Be kind. Listen.

...and be open to what wants to present itself to you.

We hope you enjoy this track! It is from a live jaw meditation session.

All the best,
Your Jaw Yoga by Kieferfreund Team

Music by Doczky

Transcript

Welcome to this new way of relating to tension.

So as you arrive in this moment,

Really feeling the surfaces that are supporting you,

Your feet on the floor or however they are resting,

Just feeling the sensations here.

Noticing and feeling the sensations as your breath comes in and out.

What does it feel like to breathe?

Knowing that any distractions can go on.

But you're here more focused on what's going on within you and how you're supported and held in this moment.

And quite simply one of the easiest ways of noticing that is just noticing what your body is in contact with and what that feels like.

Temperature,

Texture,

Knowing that things don't need to be perfect,

Even thoughts can go on.

But as you set your intention to be more grounded here in this moment,

Present in this moment,

You notice how your system settles down a little bit and that opens up possibilities.

Take a few moments to open your eyes and look around the room that you're in or the space that you're in.

Again,

Signaling safety and presence.

What is here around you?

Without needing to make sense,

Just looking gently,

With ease.

And as you're starting to notice what is actually here,

Just as you were noticing what is actually within your body and what the contact with surfaces feels like,

Your system also gets to settle.

And then taking a slower and deeper breath and closing your eyes,

Feeling where your tongue is resting and putting it in the correct resting position at the palate.

As you feel your eyes relaxing,

You notice that your breathing comes in and out of your nose.

You notice that your breathing comes in and out of your nose and your jaw relaxes.

You notice how your shoulders drop.

Just let your shoulders drop and relax.

Just working with whatever is here,

Again,

Doesn't need to be perfect.

Doesn't need to be perfect relaxation in your shoulders.

And then just notice how your belly is expanding and contracting as you breathe here naturally.

What a gift to be here alive in this moment,

Breathing.

And the purpose of this practice today is to meet tension in our life and in our body,

Possibly in our jaw,

Or areas of our body connected to the jaw.

Meet tension in a new way.

So pick a form of tension in your life.

That can be physical or emotional,

Or both.

And as you're aware of this tension that you'd like to relate to in a slightly more helpful way,

Possibly,

Just become aware of what's there around this in your system.

Knowing that thoughts can be there,

But also being aware that that is the outer layer of this tension.

And seeing if you can let your focus sink.

And let your focus sink into the outer layer of this tension.

And seeing if you can let your focus sink into the body.

Seeing what you're feeling here in relation to this tension.

And just letting it know that you see it.

You're here to listen.

You're not here to judge.

As you pay attention to the subtle changes moment to moment.

Some of them could feel a bit uncomfortable,

Contracted.

That's okay.

We're just here to listen.

Listening to the conversation of your body.

And seeing what happens when you're not resisting,

But you're really letting this sensation,

Emotion,

Energy,

Letting it know that you see it.

Emotion,

Energy,

Letting it know that you see it as good as you can.

You see it with all the beautiful bits and all the ugly bits.

That doesn't even have meaning for you because you're not judging.

You just see it in all that it is.

It's all part of the same coin.

I see you and I hear you.

Thank you for looking out for me in this way.

There might be parts of me that are still resisting you.

But thank you for looking out for me in this way,

Trying to keep me safe.

I know it's hard.

I know it's tricky.

Thank you.

And really staying with the sensations in the body that are changing moment to moment.

Maybe they're a bit less now,

Or maybe they're ebbing and flowing.

As your system may not yet feel safe around you,

As your system may not yet feel safe around this tension.

And that's okay.

Our goal is not to make this part be quiet.

We're just looking to relate in a different way,

Which may create a more peaceful way of being in this world and within ourself.

The goal is just to listen,

To understand,

To hold compassion.

And as you're paying close attention to this tension,

It's funny how attention to a tension in the body to a tension in the body.

As you're paying attention to that,

Seeing what's still here from that initial contraction,

Let yourself become this sensation,

This feeling.

That is,

Of course,

Part of me,

But it's also me.

And let yourself sink into this becoming.

Becoming.

And what happens when you recognize this is me?

Even in just small ways,

You don't need to be completely,

Fully immersed in this.

It can just be a glimpse,

Just be open to whatever is unfolding and present for you.

And see what it feels like when you realize this tension,

Everything connected to this tension.

It's also me.

It's not some foreign thing in me trying to cause me harm.

It's also me.

And watch the conversation in your body as you realize this.

If tears want to flow,

Just letting it all flow.

Just flowing with waves.

Just flowing with waves.

Opening potential to tuning into your core,

Your wider awareness.

As this tension and these feelings merge into your wider awareness,

Into your core that is always here beneath whatever is going on in your life.

Even when the thought level is very active and making you think there is only these thoughts,

These battles,

Thoughts,

These battles,

There is always the wider awareness gently rippling underneath everything.

And even the thoughts,

Even the thoughts on me,

They're all somehow part of this wider awareness.

I may not fully understand how and why and to what degree,

But somehow everything is harmoniously connected.

All doing its best to help me thrive.

And how would you describe the qualities of this wider awareness of you?

However much you're able to sense this.

Steady,

Quiet,

Calm,

Grounded,

Powerful,

Accepting,

And fearless,

Ultimately peaceful,

Present,

And surrendered to life.

And take a few more enjoyable breaths here in this space,

Knowing that underneath all tension,

This is always here.

And when there are parts of your body that are still in resistance,

That are still very much contracted,

You can always go back into this tension and repeat the process.

I see you.

I hear you.

I'm listening to the conversation of my body.

Maybe that's a pull,

A pinch,

A contracting in one area.

The next moment it's a gurgling,

A coldness,

A warmth.

In another area.

Just as we never know how a conversation will go,

It's the same here.

Just being open,

Flowing with it.

Thank you for what you do.

Trying to keep me safe.

And if there's parts that are very much still fighting this tension,

Also let them know.

Thank you for what you do.

I see you.

I hear you.

Thank you for trying to keep me safe.

And then let yourself become these sensations,

These feelings.

This is me.

And this is also me.

And this opens up the potential for tuning into your wider awareness,

The core of who you are.

And from this place,

How would you like to relate to this initial tension and concern that you had?

Just being open for the wisdom of your wider awareness to present you with an answer.

Knowing that this is unique for you,

This is your inner wisdom.

Knowing that this is unique for you,

This is your inner wisdom.

And just placing that into your heart,

Knowing that you can carry this forward.

For whatever is to come,

It will be there to support you and guide your steps and actions and reactions to.

Taking some deeper breaths to let all of that integrate.

And there's really no need to be perfect or to hold an expectation of yourself to be perfect at this,

Or to be more connected to your wider awareness and your core.

Or to be more connected to your wider awareness and your core.

Just showing up is perfect.

And as you come back again and again,

And these different parts of the whole can start to develop more trust in yourself to be able to hold what they may want to share.

To be able to hold what they may want to share.

And find a place of peace together.

So that you can experience life and peace more deeply.

A new way of relating to tension.

Tension in a new light.

And as you slowly come back to the environment that you're in,

Really feeling the feet on the floor or whatever contact they have.

Feeling your belly grounded,

Breathing.

As your breath grounds you in this moment.

You relax your shoulders.

You relax your jaw.

Check in with your tongue resting against the palate.

Your lips loosely closed.

Your jaw is unclenched.

And you're breathing slowly and calmly through the nose.

And you're breathing slowly and calmly through the nose.

Awake alive in this moment.

From top to toe.

Nourished in your own energy.

Nothing external.

This is all you.

A more grounded version of you.

We hope you enjoyed this meditation.

All the best,

The Kiefer Floyd team.

Reviews

Very well done! I too have a very active part that experiences great tension, I valued your approach here to find the value in what this part brings to me and the effort to not villainize it! Blessings! Your work on this meditation is very thoughtful and tender!!

This is so simple and yet profound. It doesn't matter how much I try to release tension in my jaw, it just comes back, because I'm not addressing the emotional reasons for the tension. Thank you, I will return to this!