In this post I want to explore some practical ways that may help to loosen your jaws and stop you from grinding your teeth.

Yoga is all about cultivating awareness. The first thing you can learn is to become very observant during the day. You need to become aware when you press your teeth together or even start grinding them slightly. Check out when it happens, what situations are causing you to react this way?

When your jaw is completely relaxed your bottom and upper teeth should barely have any contact. Whenever you feel your teeth clenching or your jaws tightening, try and “catch” yourself and deliberately relax them. The more often you practise this, the more of a habit it will become. You will start noticing sooner and sooner when you are tightening up again and relaxing will become easier. The relaxed intervals will become longer and longer and will hopefully eventually extend into the night.

Here are a couple of physical exercises you may want to try:

Try and have your lips really loose and make a “brrrrrr” sound. Only the lips should vibrate, don’t tense your neck or shoulders. Keep trying till your lips are really loose.

Massage the area around your jaws and cheeks, especially before you go to bed.

When lying in bed, use your tongue to touch the inside surface of every tooth – start at the bottom row, moving from the front teeth all along to the last tooth on one side, come back to the front, do the other side. Then do the top row the same way. Take your time and do it as slowly as possible.

Pout your lips like a fish and then pull them into a wide grin. Alternate a few times, then tap your jaw and cheeks lightly with your fingertips. It should feel like heavy rain coming down on your face.

I really hope that the exercises are helpful. Remember – no change happens until you take action!

Till next time,

Connie Your Yoga Partner

from

http://yogainahurry.com

Tooth grinding seems to be caused by various stresses which haven’t been dealt with during the day.

As a first aid measure there are some mechanical aids available which physically make the grinding impossible. What is available will depend on which part of the world you live in. It might be necessary to get some mechanical implement as a “first aid measure”.

It is cheaper and healthier in the long term to deal with the underlying cause. This will not happen overnight, but like with everything else – persistence and perseverance will lead to success.

Let us start at the beginning. You are feeling so stressed out and have not got a spare minute to even think about what is causing you stress?

Start by using the times when you are doing something that does not require your mind to be “present”. Examples are washing the dishes, washing the floor, standing in a queue at the bank or the supermarket cash register, while waiting to see the doctor, at the hairdresser…..

Start by asking yourself some questions:
What is causing you stress? Can you do anything to change the situation? Are you too hard on yourself, are you a perfectionist and cause a lot of the stress yourself? Is the pressure coming from within yourself or is it caused by external circumstances?

If this all seems to hard, you may want to see a counsellor or talk to a trusted friend.

Other things you can do to help you relax and cope with your stress:
Yoga, getting a massage, learn how to do a facial massage to relax the jaws and face, see a physiotherapist……

In my next post I will talk about some specific exercises you can do that might be of benefit.

Connie,

Your Yoga Partner

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com

Are you grinding your teeth during the night? A lot of people have no idea that they are grinding their teeth during the night. Especially if you are living by yourself you may not be aware that you are grinding your teeth while you are asleep.

Some of the symptoms may include headaches, neck pain, painful jaws or teeth. In some cases the grinding causes tinnitus (ringing in the ears). All sorts of tooth and gum problems eventually start to happen.

When you do your first yawn in the morning – is it painful to open your mouth?
Eventually your dentist may notice some typical signs on your teeth.

The grinding sound can be very loud and can be squealing, rattling or anything in between. Your partner might wake up from it. The pressure exerted by the teeth is anywhere between 300 to 400 kg.

It seems that the problem is usually caused by stress that has not been dealt with during the day.

There seem to be two types of “grinders”:

People grinding mainly their front teeth seem to be unable to deal with aggression and angry feelings during the day. They show a “poker face” all day long while “boiling” on the inside. Overnight they push the bottom jaw forward and then grind their front teeth.

The second group grinds their back teeth. They seem to be people searching for inner strength. They are often insecure, introverted and they don’t want to talk to anybody about their fears.

In my next post I will talk about how you can tackle the problem.

See you then,

Connie Your Yoga Partner

from

http://www.yogainahurry.com