Anyone who has experienced jaw tension will know just how painful it can be. It can impact your sleep, lead to headaches, and the pain—which can range from mild to severe—may impact your quality of life.
If you've tried a night guard or have quit chewing gum and you're still clenching your jaw or feeling tension and pain, then stress could be the culprit. Yoga is one way of addressing the root cause of stress.
Not only can yoga help lower stress levels and give you the tools to manage the demands of everyday life, but it can also actively relax and soothe your jaw muscles too. Regular practice can reduce the frequency and intensity of jaw clenching and the pain associated with it.
Serena Arora, a yoga therapist with over 20 years of experience, says there's a link between the jaw and the sacrum—the bone at the base of your spine.
"The sacrum and the jaw are intricately connected and mirror each other. When one is tight or rigid, chances are the other is too," Arora says.
While research on this phenomenon is still limited, one small study found that people who have chronic temporomandibular disorders (TMD), which causes jaw pain, had significantly different sacral positions compared with healthy individuals.
"This functional yoga therapy sequence will target and release both the sacrum and jaw," says Arora. "The focus is really to stabilize and strengthen gently.
Yoga to help soothe your jaw and sacrum
To do this routine, you'll need a tennis ball and a mat or a blanket to lie on.
1. Side and hip lengthening
Reps: 4-5 each side
- Lie on your back with your legs extended.
- Breathe slowly and feel your body in contact with the floor.
- Experience your breath, and try to soften your body with every exhalation.
- After a few rounds of breath, inhale and reach your right arm overhead while lengthening your right foot and leg away.
- Lengthen the entire right side of your body, especially around the hip and pelvis.
- Exhale and release.
- Inhale and repeat on the left side.
2. Spinal undulation
Reps: 4-5 each side
- Lie on your back and bend your knees, placing your feet on the floor hip-width apart.
- Place your arms on either side of your head on the floor with your elbows bent at 90°.
- Inhale and arch your spine, open your chest and bring your chin to your chest.
- Exhale and round your spine, pressing your sacrum into the floor and roll your chin and head back.
- Open your mouth to exhale “ha” loudly.
3. Windshield wiper sacral release
Reps: 4-5 each side
- Lie on your back with your arms by the sides of your head, knees bent and feet on the floor wider than hip-distance apart.
- Inhale and drop both knees to your right side, as you turn your chin to the left and reach your left arm overhead.
- Exhale and return to center.
- Inhale and repeat on the other side.
4. Half frog with jaw release
Reps: 4-5 each side
- Lie on your front, holding a tennis ball in your left hand.
- Slide your right knee out to your side, bending it at 90° angle.
- Using your hand, gently push your right buttock cheek down toward your heel, relaxing your right hip.
- Turn your head to the left, with your right facial cheek on the floor.
- Place the tennis ball at your temporal mandibular joint (TMJ), located where your jaw meets your skull next to your ear.
- Keep your jaw slightly open and relax your head into the ball.
- Roll the ball slowly from your TMJ to your right earlobe and back again. Breathe.
- Explore other parts of your jaw by rolling the ball around slowly.
- Repeat on the other side.
Optional progressions:
- Lift your torso enough to slide your left arm under your right armpit.
- Move your right arm behind your back, twisting through your torso to release through your sacrum.
- Breathe and repeat four or five times.
5. Neck release
Reps: 4-5
- Lie on your back and bend your knees, placing your feet on the floor hip-width apart.
- Place a tennis ball behind your neck, just below the base of your skull where your head meets your neck.
- Drop your chin toward your chest and return to the starting position slowly and gently.
- Repeat and breathe, focusing on unclenching your jaw.
- Lower your chin and hold while you slowly turn your your head side to side.
- Return to center and repeat the sequence.
6. Savasana
Hold: 4-5 breaths
- Lie on your back with your legs extended straight on the floor and your arms by your sides, palms facing up.
- Soften every part of your body from the crown of your head to your toes, focusing on your jaw, hips, sacrum, legs and arms.
- Hold for at least four to five breaths but stay for as long as you have time.
“The association between temporomandibular disorders and kinematics of the sacroiliac joint: a 3D motion analysis study” in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
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