Hello everyone, Tutu Mora here with the Y
bringing you tools to feel well in your body, mind and spirit.
So, today we're taking five minutes to relieve some of the pressure
and tension that can build in the jaw and the neck that can accumulate into a
headache later on in the day. You won't need any props, you can sit or
stand, and we're just going to get right to it. So, today we're just going to start
with a little bit of self massage. We're going to start
right at the bridge of the nose here, just gently massaging this space.
And then we're going to slide down the nose to the throat.
Once, twice and three times.
Then, we're gonna take it right behind the ears,
just massaging that whole space behind the ears.
Then we're gonna also take that down to the neck.
Once, twice and three times. Then we're gonna take it
right at the base of the skull here, those two
little dimples that you feel right where the
the skull meets the top of the spine. And again we're just going to massage that
space.
Nice and gentle. Noticing what tension might exist there.
Then once again, massaging here, and we're going to bring it down
once, twice and three times. So, we're going to
stretch out the jaw a little bit right now. So, you can either bring your hands
to your temples here supporting your head
or you can just bring your fingertips to your jaw - whatever you find most
supportive. And we're just going to open the jaw
as much as feels comfortable. So, stopping wherever you feel any tension or
tightness.
And closing it again. Let's do that two more times.
Last time.
Nice. And if you're prone to clenching your jaw a little bit, see if you can
bring your tongue to the roof of your mouth,
right between your two front teeth, and put a little bit of pressure there
so you have just a little bit of space between your upper and lower rack of
teeth. And just let it hang out there and see
if you can make that a habit of having that position of your
tongue to avoid putting that pressure on your
teeth. So, something to think about as you sit
at your desk, as you go about your day. So, what we're going to do next is a
little bit of a stretch for the cervical spine here and you're, again,
going to bring your hands around to the base of your skull -
supporting right underneath your cheekbones here.
And you're going to want to bring your head
back. So, imagine thinking of your throat sitting slightly behind your heart space.
So, tucking the chin here, you're going to tuck that chin into your neck and you're
just going to gently lengthen through the crown of your head.
And you're not necessarily pulling your fingers, but rather, you're supporting
that lengthening through the crown of your
head.
And releasing here. And we'll take that a couple more times. Perhaps inhaling as
you lengthen. And of course this is a very small
movement.
And I'll just show you, also, to the side that your head is quite tucked,
chin to the throat and you're really just
gently lengthening.
Last time.
And release.
So, last thing that we're going to do here, is we're going to bring one arm out
to the side. And you might want to think about where
you feel the most stretch. It could be slightly in front of you, it could be
slightly behind you, could be above or below - kind of
your shoulder line - but feel into where that most
feeling of stretch is. And once you find it, you're going to let your shoulder
drop. Think about that throat again, resting
behind the heart. And let's just reach through the
fingertips. Bringing that ear towards that same
shoulder, deepen that reach.
And then ear towards the opposite shoulder. Breathing into that stretch.
Let that shoulder rest, keeping that throat behind the heart.
And we'll take little head circles here.
In one direction and then the other direction.
Letting that arm rest and let's take that to the other side.
Finding that degree of stretch that feels the most,
almost where you find it all the way down your arm. So again, this could be
slightly above or below your shoulder, it could be in front or behind the midline
of your body. Find where that is and then reach
through the fingers. Ear towards that same side, deepen that
reach, let that shoulder drop. Again, take that throat behind the heart
space.
And then, ear towards opposite shoulder.
Breathing. Finding those little head circles.
In one direction and the other direction.
Head back to center. Drop that arm. Notice
the difference. And I hope you found this supportive and
I'll see you back here next time on the Y's YouTube channel.
Take care.