Milking the tongue – an ancient cleansing technique

The role of the tongue

The tongue is the gateway between the gross and subtle bodies. It is so unique it is a muscle and an organ! Its functions operate in several vital systems and so taking care of your tongue is like taking care of the doorman. With proper care and attention, what goes in and out is more closely monitored and physical and energetic benefits emerge.  

Milking the tongue

This class tutorial on “Milking the Tongue” requires you to step out of your comfort zone a little and take on a different aspect of your yoga practice. As so much of yoga focuses on poses and the body, it is extremely important that we realise the more subtle elements of yoga and how they affect our daily lives. When we keep a clean mouth and tongue, the physical action can translate into a new way of speaking and eventually living in our deepest truth.

The yogic principle called Satya is the second value we are asked to follow after “Ahimsa” / non-violence and it is often times easier to think about in theory than put into action.  How many times have you not said something and later regretted “holding your tongue?”.

The muscles of the neck, throat and tongue are the warehouses of these unspoken communications; all those things we wish we had said but didn’t.

It is important to release those energies to make way for future opportunities to speak your truth! It may also be true that these muscles and the tongue itself hold the vibrations of any lies we have told. For certain, we want to get rid of those and move on… to speaking our truth (with peaceful intentions first!) and standing our ground!

Try it in class:  Milking the tongue

I am always grateful to read the comments that many of you write underneath my classes and I often receive appreciation for my clear instructions and voice.  As many of you know, I am also a musician and singer (sing along with a Mantra class with me) and from my own personal experience, taking care of my mouth has had great benefits. There was a noticeable shift after I learned these practices almost 8 years ago and started practicing them daily.  I also have become extremely sensitive to how and when to speak the truth and trust my tongue to the gatekeeper.  

So just as you practice backbends to open the chest area and may feel “an open heart”… or practice standing poses and have the feeling of stability and steadiness… or arm balances to get a rush of adrenaline and power… I invite you ‘exercise’ your tongue!  Stretch it!  Pull it! Clean it! LOVE IT!  And behold the feeling of a clear and conscious channel for communication.  

I recommend trying this daily for at least 30 days to allow the benefits to unfold and I welcome any comments / questions (or even self-videos of you cleaning your tongue and looking as silly as me :))

David