Letting go for jaw tension: 7 minutes, on a break

About this practice

7 minutes to meet jaw tension with less of a fight. A letting go practice, on a break. A guided session of about 7 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 on a break

• Leave the room if you can
• Do not start anything else in the same gap
• Set a timer so the break has an end

A break spent half-engaged with a screen is not much of a break. Guard the whole five minutes.

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. 0:00Take a moment to notice the room behind you, without turning around.
2. 0:13You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
3. 0:28This is not a performance. Nobody is listening to how well you're doing it.
4. 0:42Let the rhythm of your breathing set the pace, not the words.
5. 0:55Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
6. 1:06Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
7. 1:18Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
8. 1:32Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
9. 1:45Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
10. 1:59Nothing about the grinding that follows worry has to be explained or justified in this room.
11. 2:14Each time your mind hands you the clenched teeth at night, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
12. 2:33Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
13. 2:44Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
14. 2:54Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
15. 3:05Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
16. 3:17I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
17. 3:29Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
18. 3:45If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
19. 4:00Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
20. 4:14A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
21. 4:25This is not the last time the tight jaw that speaks for your stress will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
22. 4:45You do not have to solve the grinding that follows worry in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
23. 5:04Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
24. 5:16If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
25. 5:30If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
26. 5:43A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
27. 5:54Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
28. 6:09Take one more breath at your own pace, then let your attention come back to the room.
29. 6:24Let the last minute of quiet be the last minute of quiet.
30. 6:37Let this one be unhurried.

Questions people ask

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