The Jaw as a Gateway to Sensory Awareness
Structural and psychological tension loves to burrow a home in the connective tissues surrounding the scalp, cranial bones, muscles in the face, and jaw.
When muscular tension causes the jaw to track asymmetrically, it also causes distress to the delicate architecture of the skull.
Physiologically, the jaw is the gatekeeper of the vital structures of the brain and throat. It’s also a multitasker in the body performing roles related to digestion, respiration and immunity.
Energetically your jaw is one of the major hiding places of emotional stressors. In addition to the daily stresses of life related to work, money, and relationship demands. The jaw bears the brunt of emotional pain that stems from a lack of love, protection or intimacy. Holding emotionally charged tension in the jaw can physically change the look of the face. That’s the power of the musculature of the jaw.
Energetically supporting the jaw is one of the fastest ways to support the entire nervous system.
How to release the jaw
Here’s how you can release your jaw and support your systems in a quick minute. You can do this from wherever you are:
Take a deep inhale breath through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Repeat 2x. Allow the muscles of cervical spine to soften back allowing the weight of the head to fall back slightly and be softly cradled by the chair behind you or simply the space surrounding you. Allow your tongue to drop to the floor of your mouth behind your lower teeth. Feel a sense of release from the skin below the ears, at the base of the chin and across the upper lip. Let the jaw fall a little slack so you can feel your back molars and upper and lower teeth move away from one another. Let the lips part ever so slightly. Feel your tongue drop and spread wide across the floor of the mouth. Feel the sensation of spaciousness and softness running alongside the jaw through the base of the ears, across the front of the throat, and wrapped around the entire front and backside of the skull.
