5-minute letting go meditation for jaw tension, after a bad day

About this practice

When jaw tension shows up after a bad day, this 5-minute letting go session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: jaw tension

The jaw is a stress-holding site for many people, often without awareness until it aches. Grinding at night and clenching by day are the same response.

It tends to show up as:

• Clenched teeth, especially in the evening
• Aching or clicking jaw joints
• A dull headache at the temples

Repeatedly checking and softening the jaw through a session teaches you to catch the clench during the day.

Doing this after a bad day

• Do not review the day during it — that is what tomorrow is for
• Something physical first, then this
• Keep it short and end it deliberately

A bad day does not need a verdict. Closing it without a post-mortem is allowed.

How letting go works

Letting go is about loosening grip rather than dropping things. It works on the effort attached to a problem — the holding, rehearsing and bracing — which is separable from the problem itself.

• Pick one thing you are gripping and loosen a single finger
• Release the effort with the exhale, not the issue
• Set down temporarily; you can pick it up again after

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Let your belly be soft. Not sucked in. Just soft.
2. 0:12There's no need to try harder than this.
3. 0:23Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
4. 0:39If some part of you is resisting this, that resistance is worth noticing too.
5. 0:53Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
6. 1:07Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
7. 1:20Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
8. 1:30Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
9. 1:44Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
10. 1:57Stay with it.
11. 2:05I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
12. 2:17We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
13. 2:27If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
14. 2:40Picture the clenched teeth at night as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
15. 2:59You have been carrying the tight jaw that speaks for your stress for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
16. 3:21Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
17. 3:34If you catch yourself fighting the grinding that follows worry, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
18. 3:52Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
19. 4:04I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
20. 4:16Let this be easy, if easy is available.
21. 4:27Notice the room again: the sounds, the temperature, the light.
22. 4:39No rush to move on.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.