Tongue Placement

Since the beginning of this journey, I have been discussing proper alignment of the tongue. It wasn’t something I read but happened upon one day when on vacation.

I was renting a cabin for a much needed 2-week holiday. At the time I was seeing 8-10 patients/day, working long hours bent over a massage table. As a result of this and many other reasons, I had a chronic, nagging neck pain.

Every morning I would get up and do some yoga on the deck. I was in a forward bend and immediately that pain surfaced. For some reason, I placed my tongue up against the roof of the mouth and the pain disappeared. I relaxed the tongue, and the pain came back. This action became my habit to explore and soon became an integral part of the Block Therapy process.

A year ago, I launched the Gum Health Virtual Intensive. I was dealing with some changes due to having a growing wisdom tooth and the molar beside it removed, as well as I was struggling with receding gums from my overly aggressive approach to cleaning my teeth. This program uses your hands in your mouth and is designed to put the space back into the palate, as well as to help align the jaw and bring blood and oxygen to the gums. I was so excited from the work at the roof of the mouth as it didn’t only change what was happening inside the mouth, but I also noticed changes to the wrinkles around my mouth and my eyes, and my right eye which had been a little cloudy released toxins and the vision improved.

When I observe pictures of people when they are young compared to when they are adults, one of the things I notice is that the shape of the head changes with age. It often becomes compressed at the sides of the head, narrowing the face. I have seen this in myself and the changes I have made from my work, creating a broader and more symmetrical face. I have also seen this in my community. Recently we had a Facelift Challenge, and the 3 winners all showed this amazing shifting in their heads’ shape

One of our wonderful community members sent me a video that shares how many years ago, before we began eating processed and soft foods, the shape of the head was broad, and the tongue aligned at the palate. It mentions that from having to chew raw meat and fibrous foods, the chewing action was much different than today. It also shares that when digging up skulls from the past, although the teeth are worn down, they were aligned and didn’t have cavities that are now common.

Another interesting point they present is that the tongue placement changes the alignment of the jaw. Comparing twins, both aged differently, one with a square and pronounced jaw, the other with a weak jaw. The boy with the weak jaw had allergies and therefore was a mouth breather which changed the alignment of the tongue. We often talk about how having a double chin is really a weak and displaced tongue as you will see in the video.

The bones in the head migrate. Gravity is the driving force of the changes, but alignment is the deciding factor in how those changes take place. They share that they have a process to help the bones migrate back to better alignment, but it can take years to see even minimal changes.

Fortunately, with Block Therapy, you can see those changes occurring rapidly.