Learning my body’s habits: Jaw Tension
Friday, 21 September 2007
I’ve always known that I clench my teeth while I sleep if I’m stressed. Knowing this, I always tried to consciously keep my jaws slightly open even when I have my mouth closed.
One day after a Dahn Yoga class, I was doing some extra Dahn Mu Do training with another member, and she said to me, “Try to keep your jaws open to relax some of the tension.”
I responded, “I know I tend to clench my jaws, so I’m usually good about keeping them loose more consciously.”
A few months later, I discovered…I don’t clench my jaws, but in place of clenching, I push my jaw out forward!
This had been creating large amounts of jaw tension, giving me neck tension and endless headaches…But now that I’ve been aware, whenever I feel my jaws tense up, I just focus on my Dahn jon or do some Dahnjon exercises to bring the energy down, rather than focusing just on trying to “relax” my jaws by themselves.
