Facial Relaxation Meditation

Hi there, welcome back. Let's continue our journey towards ease within. So step one, be comfortable. Be in the seat that works for you. And to help land together, let's find two deep breaths releasing with audible sighs.

So inhale deeply, and exhale, let's do that again. Inhale deeply, and eventually exhale. Let your eyes either close or softly focus in front of you. Let yourself feel grounded, supported. Let your heart feel generous, and allow your skull to feel buoyant.

Bring that upper soft palate dome. Usually when the upper soft palate domes, there's a natural expansion right at the base of the occiput. The occiput being the fancy name for the base of the skull. And the chin naturally drops just a little bit. Let your attention come to the base of the skull.

And can you find out how to let this area feel wider? Just like we did with the ears. Can you feel this area expand? Yes. And within this area, a very special nerve of the parasympathetic emanates, known as the vagus nerve, sometimes referred to as the tenth cranial.

And while one of her routes is down into the torso, touching almost every internal organ â?? the lungs, the heart, the stomach, whole digestive system, the kidneys â?? another one of her destinations is towards each of the sense organs in the face â?? the eyes, the nose, the ears, the mouth. And so when our face is relaxed, it directly communicates back in through the vagus nerve to the nervous system that it's going to be okay. So let's use that information and we'll start with the mouth and the jaw. So with the base of the skull wide, begin to let your attention come to the hinges of your jaw. If you're not sure where they are, just right back below the ears.

Let the jaw hinge go slack, even letting your jaw hang open. Let it feel heavy, let the tongue be heavy. It's an infinite project here. With the jaw heavy, hanging open, can you have a sense of letting your gums soften? Can you feel your teeth lose their bite?

Allow your lips to feel more kissable, receptive, fluffy. Yes, extra credit if you start to drool a little bit. And I find that this is actually a lot easier if your eyes are slightly open with your gaze forward than with eyes closed, but you decide. And with the jaw this heavy, it's very hard to have a lot to say when your mouth is in this position. Start to simultaneously let the eyes feel kinder, let the sockets of the eyes feel deeper, let all the small little muscles holding the eyes relax.

Let your gaze be softer. Wide at the base of the skull, heavy, soft in the mouth, kind in the eyes, easy, so not ready to speak and not really looking. Let's be here like this together for two minutes. Good. Thank you.

Thank you. For the last half minute, can you find out where you can let even more unnecessary tension drop? Beautiful. If your eyes are closed, let them open. Thank you.