an Alexander Technique practice with cranial nerves 9 and 10

This week’s video guides you through a gentle, immersive practice for greater ease and fluidity in both swallowing and speaking. The focus is on cranial nerves 9 (the glossopharyngeal) and 10 (the vagus) but also included is a quick warm up journey through cranial nerves 0 (sometimes called the terminal nerve) to 8 (the vestibulocochlear nerve), even though I don’t name each nerve.

It’s from a longer 6 week version of the live retreat I’ll be leading on March 28^th for the Alexander Technique Teachers of Greater Philadelphia.

Writing this newsletter brought up two themes for me: slowing down to decide what you take in to yourself; and the balance between giving and receiving.

Slow down to feel before taking things in

You decide what to swallow based on what you smell and what your tongue feels and tastes. We could all use a bit of slowing down around this act of taking something into our body. If it’s good – enjoy it more! If it’s not – there’s still time to spit it out.

The vagus says “mmmm….give me time to digest that!” once we swallow food. Resting and digesting time are an absolute necessity to produce energy from what you have taken in.

Our face and mouth both give and receive; what is a good balance between the two?

Making sound and speaking could be thought of as giving; feeling, listening, and swallowing could be thought of as receiving. Giving and receiving is a big theme for us humans. We are physiologically designed for it and we have a deep need for balance between the two.

Speaking and swallowing are not isolated actions, but connected whole-body experiences. When we allow ourselves to sense deeply and move gently, we support clearer speech and easier swallowing, and a felt sense of embodied presence in all our communications.

We can feel and speak at the same time. I know that sounds obvious, but in real life we often stop feeling when we are “doing.”

Have you ever been really tired, like a baby can get, but been unable to stop and rest until you just cry yourself into full exhaustion? That’s what I’m talking about. When we are stressed out and our mind is spinning, our face can freeze, our neck tighten, our breathing catch and hold, yet we just push through anyway. Until we can’t any more.

We will have more choices when we are stressed out if we practice mindfully when we are not!

This week’s practice has the following elements:

Invitation to sensory awareness

Begin by finding comfort and support for your back, settling into support that allows for subtle movements. Allow your breath to take center stage. You shift from thinking into sensing—tuning in to the flow of air through your nostrils, the play of light on your eyelids, and the fluidity and ease around your eyes.

Exploring the inner landscape

The practice then turns inward: you can notice the velvety inner skin of your mouth, gentle micro-movements of your tongue, and the connection between the tongue, throat, and voice.

Natural salivation and swallowing may arise as you awaken sensation in the soft palate and the root of the tongue. This is a sign that the whole system is responding with more calm, freedom and ease.

Integrating inner and outer through movement and sound

You can initiate movement from the base of the your tongue, and your tongue can be supported by jaw, lips, and torso. You discover that movement and vocalization are deeply connected. Humming or voicing simple sounds like “a – u – m” or “ng” reveals how the freedom of your tongue supports balanced posture and easeful sound.

Why this matters

Some of us just keep on giving, giving, giving, until we are exhausted and our body forces us to stop.

Or we just keep taking, taking, taking in, and become bloated, stuck, shut down and disconnected from reality. I still catch myself in this state sometimes – reading three books at once, while listening to the news on the radio! It’s nuts – yet it can seem comforting when I am overwhelmed.

This practice helps me to take time and be discerning around what I take into my body, be it food, news, imagery or even sound.

An invitation to practice

Set aside a few minutes this week to revisit the practice before:

• Looking at your phone
• Reading the news
• Teaching or meeting with co-workers and clients

Want more? Check out this upcoming live workshop in Philadelphia March 28th!