Jaw tension

Yoga Discussion Structural Yoga Therapy
#1

My 17-year-old daughter is experiencing considerable tension in her jaw; grinding her teeth at night and tightness during the day. She’s not overly stressed but is relatively busy with school, friends, snowboarding (3 times per week with training in freestyle) and working in a coffee shop – one shift per week. Overall she is easy going and cheerful. She doesn’t have a lot of interest, or perhaps patience, in practicing much yoga (I’ve overdone it in the past with teaching her too many poses!) I think she might be receptive to just a few strategies or poses. I was wondering about the neck series of the JFS - Joint Freeing Series from your book Structural Yoga Therapy and your neck strengthening exercise (on page 180) since some of the muscles are contracting and tight – would it help to give them some work to do with the accompanying release and sense of relaxation? I’ve suggested she check in with the jaw throughout the day and let it drop slightly.

I appreciate your thoughts on this. H

#2

H - Tension in the jaw is the sign of suppressed emotions and accumulating ongoing stress. To lessen stress she needs to have a close friends or parent to talk things out with and also watch the coffee if she is drinking more than a cup a day. The thoughts you have are good for a teenager, definitely not too many asanas. If she will begin with those that would be great. While doing the JFS she should be encouraged to occasionally breath in and out with mouth and sigh to release more effectively. This can also be done in bed at night. She can do the relaxation pose in bed with this breathing pattern as well. Later it would be more ideal to do the entire series.