News Drop offers principles and practices for living in alignment with nature. For living osteopathically, in flow.

When we align with the forces of the natural world there is no limit to the sanity, ease and grace we can experience regardless of what is happening.

I can’t think of a more relevant conversation. Ready to dive in?

Many of you have heard me say, “A well functioning tongue is like having an osteopath living in your head.”

Years ago I first shared this idea in humor, and as the truth in it has continued to reveal itself ongoing, I’ve been repeating it ever since!

Allow me to provide context for my cheeky humor (pun intended). Years ago when I began studying how tongue function supports structural and energetic integrity in our bodies, my students started noticing amazing things.

A fellow osteopath noticed that when he asked patients to rest their tongue on their palate during treatment, they relaxed and became more responsive to manual therapy. Another gal similarly shared that when her psychotherapy patients learned where their tongue belongs, their sessions began to go deeper.

A teenager shared that since training her tongue to remember to default on her palate, she is more grounded, and the different therapies she does like acupuncture and massage last longer. Another thing she said was the suction exercise we practice to reset the tongue-palate connection was becoming painful. She had been suctioning all day, not just the minute or two a day needed. That had us all revisit the primacy of checking in with our bodies about the amount that feels right.

Our bodies are intelligent, and we’re learning to listen!

The benefits of a well functioning tongue run deep. Aside from the known effects of creating balanced facial anatomy and creating space for the breath, right tongue action helps us shift toward the rest & digest setting of our nervous systems. To my hands, the tongue feels like it grounds and brightens the life force flow through the central channel (our midline river of vital energy) and beyond.

Vedic teachings say the upward pressure of the tongue is essential to the health of the Lalana chakra in the roof of the mouth. Their belief is that with the tongue’s help, the chakra remains tuned and the heart can more easily communicate with the higher energy centers, including the pineal, third eye and crown. The belief is that with the heart in charge, intuition is more forthcoming. I told you this tongue topic runs deep!

When I gave a lecture on tongue function and full body breathing to doctors and patients a few months ago I left out these metaphysical aspects, but what the talk does do is challenge our idea that our bodies are solid, and that only young people can reshape their anatomy. The truth is less-dense/more-fluid anatomy is moldable and that we can embody this possibility at any stage of life. One need only watch 100 year old yogis and chi gong masters in action to realize this truth. It’s all about flow!