What your jaw is holding

Ask someone whether their shoulders are tight and they will usually know. Ask about the jaw and there is a pause, then a small, surprised adjustment as they notice it for the first time that day.

The jaw holds tension well because it is designed to work constantly and without conscious attention. It is also structurally connected to the neck, the base of the skull and the breath, which is why work there tends to travel.

Morning tightness that eases by mid-afternoon. Headaches that arrive at the temples rather than the forehead. A sense that your teeth do not quite meet the same way after a long week.

None of this is unusual and none of it is cause for alarm — but it is worth noticing, because it is information about a state you may not have registered any other way.

Let the tongue rest wide on the floor of the mouth rather than pressed to the roof. Let the back teeth part very slightly. Exhale longer than you inhale for a minute or two.

It is a small correction and it does not last, which is fine. The practice is the noticing, repeated, not the holding of a perfect position.