THE JAW, PART 1
The Jaw
How often do we think about exercising or releasing the jaw and the surrounding ligaments and muscles?
The jaw is a powerful part of the body; its primary function is to hold the teeth and chew food. Its secondary role is to act as a gateway that allows us to express and communicate ideas, stories, emotions and much more. Most students who come through the music studio have never paid much attention to this powerful gateway. Those who are aware of their jaw usually connect with it through the pain and dysfunction they experience.
What is your relationship with your jaw? Do you allow yourself to speak openly and honestly? What can cause pain or dysfunction?
A misaligned jaw can cause chewing, speech, and breathing issues
Stress and Anxiety - leading to grinding or clenching teeth
Injury - whiplash, a blow to the face or other impacts
Various types of arthritis
Sleeping position
Holding onto emotions
Not speaking honestly and openly
Fear of being heard
Most people hold tension in their body and jaw very unconsciously. The first step to releasing tension is to become aware of it. Gently close your eyes, scan the body and notice where you are holding tension. A big key is not to push the tension or uncomfortable sensations away but to gently meet them with your sweet kindness, breath and be. Allow yourself to feel what arises from this presence, and slowly, you will be aware of the space in the body and the holding in the body. Awareness is the first step.
The second step, how do we access a released jaw?
First, we need to have a grounded, embodied relationship with our breath. So that the wrong muscles aren’t falsely supporting the voice. If you would like to learn about breathing for singing and speaking, follow the link to my December The Breath: An Ocean of Love blog post.
Now we are ready to explore what an opened relaxed jaw position feels like for us. The jaw is a pair of bones connected by a moveable hinge on either side of your skull. To feel this movement, gently place your pointer fingers in your ears and open and close your mouth a few times. The dropping and lifting movement you feel is the hinge of the jaw. This sensation is what you should focus on when someone asks you to open your mouth.
The correct position for a relaxed and open jaw is down and a little back like a swing. The sounds that help release the jaw are Mah or Yah; say these a few times and allow the mouth to naturally open as wide as possible.
What do you feel?
This openness is our natural instinctive reflex. It allows the front of the mouth to open, in turn releasing and making space in the throat and pharynx, giving freedom to our sound and emotional expression. Remember when you were a child running around in the playground laughing, yelling and crying. Not fearful or ashamed or being heard or seen. Your jaw was happy and wide open!
One of the most therapeutic and natural ways to stretch the jaw is by yawning. Yawning also has its implications in society and can be seen as rude, creating more tension. So I invite you all to go out and reclaim the yawn!
The exercises below are just the beginning to release and relax the jaw area. In March’s blog, I will continue sharing more about the jaw with some powerful vocal exercises you can do at home.
Massage Temporal and Masseter muscles - bringing blood flow to the areas.
Open and Closing Jaw with fingers on TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint) - slowly open and close the jaw from the TMJ’s hinge, fingers resting on the joint. If you have a click, open it till just before the click.
Knuckles under Cheeks - bring your hands into a fist and place under the cheekbones. Slowly open and close the mouth like you are saying, Mah! It may be tender there! Be kind and allow the body to soften and sigh as it lets go.
Chewing Circles - both directions
Chin Shakes - place your thumb under your chin and your pointer finger on top of your chin. Give all weight of the chin and jaw to your fingers, allowing it to melt like honey. Allow the fingers to open the jaw and mouth. Notice if the muscles of the jaw become active and try to open and close the jaw. Keep opening and closing till the muscles have softened and all the jaw has surrendered to the fingers.
Below is a voice recording of the written exercises.
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Jaw Release Exercises 1
In Love and Song,
The Sound Weaver