Mind Your Tongue
AN UNDERAPPRECIATED BODY PART CAN HELP WITH STRESS MANAGEMENT
You probably don’t give your tongue much thought. However, what would come to mind if you stopped now and turned your attention to your tongue and its purpose?
You’d probably think about how it helps you taste, swallow, and speak. It actually does much more than that, though – for example, playing a role in breathing, chewing, and digestion and having effects on other parts of the body seemingly unrelated to the oral cavity, such as lower limb muscle strength and posture.
The tongue influences and interacts with the entire body through its muscular actions and role in releasing chemical messengers.
Many people hold a lot of tension in the tongue, and given its interconnectedness with the rest of the body, that tension tends to spread to other body parts such as your jaw, face, throat, and neck.
The tongue is part of the involuntary (autonomic) nervous system, which means it handles its various functions on autopilot, so we are typically unaware of the tension we hold there. Interestingly, the tongue is also part of our voluntary nervous system, which means we can consciously control it as well. It is possible to become aware of the tension we hold in the tongue and practice releasing it on purpose.
BENEFITS OF RELAXING THE TONGUE
Relaxing the tongue is a technique that yogis have practiced for a long time. Ancient yogis discovered that consciously relaxing the tongue helps to spread relaxation throughout the body while also quieting the mind.
The resulting widespread physical relaxation and quiet mind support brain health by helping reduce stress’s physiological and psychological effects. (Stress management is one of the Six Pillars of Brain Health.)
BY REDUCING BODY-WIDE MUSCLE TENSION, RELAXING THE TONGUE CAN HELP ALLEVIATE MANY ISSUES THROUGHOUT THE BODY, INCLUDING HEADACHES, JAW PAIN, AND EVEN DIGESTIVE ISSUES. ALSO, A QUIET MIND CAN ENHANCE FOCUS AND CLARITY.
Sally Miller is an experienced yoga and meditation teacher based in the United States who has been personally practicing and teaching others to relax the tongue for about 20 years. She first learned the practice from her teacher, Yogini Adept Parvathi Nanda Nath Saraswati, who had learned it at a young age in India from her teachers. (Yoga has a long history of oral teachings through various lineages.)
Ms. Miller’s modern-day experience with relaxing the tongue aligns with what the ancient yogis discovered. She has found it to be an extremely helpful technique that works very quickly. “For me, it feels like a switch,” she explained. “Once I relax my tongue, I can feel my whole body begin to relax. I get out of my head. I feel more spacious, open, and at ease. Many of my students have similar experiences.”
HOW TO RELAX YOUR TONGUE DURING MEDITATION
Relaxing your tongue might sound like a simple task, but it can be surprisingly hard in practice. Here are the basic steps:
Find a comfortable seated position. Relaxing the tongue works best when seated rather than lying down, particularly if you’re new to the practice. You can be sitting in any meditation posture on the floor or in a chair with your spine upright and feet flat on the floor.
Bring awareness to the tongue. Close your eyes (or allow them to soften and shift your gaze downward), turning your attention inward. Notice where your tongue is positioned and whether it feels tight or tense in any way. Notice the current state of your tongue for now, without trying to change anything yet.
Soften the tongue. Now, consciously relax the tongue, allowing the entire tongue to go down to the bottom palate of your mouth and spread out there. As you do this, you might find your jaw releases, and you start to salivate more. This is common and a good sign.
If you find it hard to rest your tongue down in the bottom palate, you could see if it will float in the middle of your mouth instead. Regardless of whether the tongue rests at the bottom or floats in the middle, the key is to soften.
Breathe deeply and slowly, relaxing the tongue even more. With each breath out, release any remaining tension in the tongue and allow that feeling of deep relaxation to spread through the rest of your body.
Maintain awareness. Throughout your meditation, keep your attention on the tongue, noticing how it feels now that it’s resting in a relaxed state in your mouth. Concentrated focus on the tongue will be like an anchor that helps ground your attention in the present moment. Any time you notice your attention has drifted to something else, bring your focus back to the tongue again.
The exact techniques used to relax the tongue can vary and may sometimes be more nuanced or complex than what's just been described.
“With repeated practice, relaxing your tongue during meditation usually gets easier and begins to feel more natural. However, every day is different, and some days may still be challenging, even for experienced meditators. But the end result is well worth the effort,” said Ms. Miller. “Relaxing the tongue has been so helpful for me and my students. Most people say the practice is absolutely life changing.”
WHY DOES RELAXING THE TONGUE HELP QUIET THE MIND?
“The tongue is connected to the thoughts. When we relax our tongue, we relax our thoughts and find more space between the thoughts,” explained Ms. Miller. “When the tongue is pushing firmly on the roof of the mouth or the back of the teeth (instead of being relaxed), you might notice that you’re overthinking or stuck in a habitual thought loop.”
What’s behind the connection between thoughts and the tongue?
A busy mind creates tension in the tongue because, for most people, thinking involves mentally talking to ourselves.
This internal verbalization is referred to as sub-vocalization. We may not even be aware of this running commentary going on in the mind, but the tongue is aware.
It tends to engage in tiny movements, as the tongue is essentially “saying” the words of our inner monologue. So, when we consciously relax the tongue, that inner monologue stops, and we unhook from the thoughts.
Beyond quieting subvocalization, relaxing the tongue also helps quiet the mind simply because it is a form of mindfulness practice. Relaxing the tongue during meditation requires focused concentration, and mindful focus on the tongue helps to displace thoughts.
It gives you something else to think about, i.e., relaxing the tongue and noticing how it feels without judgement. Returning to that focus again and again any time you notice your mind has wandered helps to keep the mind quiet.
WHY DOES RELAXING THE TONGUE HELP RELAX THE WHOLE BODY?
The tongue is located deep in the centre of the head and neck area and is a powerful muscular organ. Because of the interconnectedness of body parts, relaxing the tongue has a ripple effect on the body, spreading relaxation from the tongue to the jaw, face, head, neck, throat, shoulders, chest, and beyond. It is a form of relaxing from the inside out.
Relaxing the tongue during meditation promotes mind-body connection, helping build somatic awareness. Placing your attention on any part of your body and noticing how it feels can be a helpful practice.
It doesn’t have to be the tongue. Still, the tongue, in particular, does seem to hold some special “magic,” according to people who regularly practice relaxing the tongue as a form of meditation.
Any time you pay attention to a particular part of the body, whether that’s the tongue or another body part, and deeply focus on feeling that part, it’s so helpful,” explained Ms. Miller.
“It wakes up interoception, helping you develop a better connection with your body signals overall. For example, it helps you be more in tune with when you feel full, thirsty, or sleepy. Many of us are quite disconnected from our bodies and bodily signals, from spending so much time immersed in thought.”
So, the next time you sit down to meditate, mind your tongue and embrace its hidden potential for relaxation. By incorporating this “relax your tongue” technique into your meditation practice, you can experience widespread relaxation and a quiet mind and help support your brain health in the process.