24 Mar The Tongue, The Knee and Other Surprises

What connects all these parts?

Now for my OMG moment with a client of mine….She came in with a swollen right knee due to a mis-step in exercise class and in the end we discovered that her tongue position was making her jaw and head shift to the left.

Every time she stepped on her right leg, her head stayed stuck to the left, which caused her knee to buckle inward a bit. Once her tongue became more relaxed and resting in the middle of her jaw the stuckness of her neck disappeared as well as the tension around her right leg.

Well… we both had an eye widening OMG moment!

What makes the tongue so fascinating? This hidden muscle influences your breathing, digestion, speech, jaw, and neck orientation. Wow, that is a lot for a little muscle to do!

While reading (Chapter 7: A Device That Resets the Brain)  “The Brain’s Way of Healing” by Dr. Doidge, I was astounded to find out that there can be up to 50,000 nerve fibres on the tip of the tongue. There are 48 different kinds of sensory receptors on the tongue that send information to the brain! Your tongue is smarter than you think!

My mind goes to other clients who had to learn to re-orient and relax their tongue to help them with: swallowing, choking, restricted breathing, tmj problems, headaches, sinus pressure… the list is long.

But, to see such a dramatic change in the tension of a knee, that brought my ADD brain to remember Michael Jordon. He was the king at sticking out his tongue to finish a spectacular slam dunk! His relaxed tongue helped him maximize his airways, and free his neck to move forward and upward. His ability to launch himself upward was a beautiful sight to see!

Check out my other article “Stick your Tongue out Darling”, about how to sense your own powerful tongue!