Your tongue can be formed into many different shapes, and just like the rest of the body, most people habitually move their tongue into shortened and narrowed configurations. In this video we get acquainted with the tongue and what movements will lengthen and widen the tongue so that it can be efficiently used in speaking and in swallowing. I offer lessons in the Initial Alexander Technique, which are conducted one-on-one with a teacher over Zoom. They are designed to help you gain conscious control over how you move your body. Most people have no idea what they’re doing with their body, and as they misuse their body, they end up with discomfort, pain, and other issues that they may not even realize are caused by what they’re doing to themselves. But how do you figure out what you’re doing wrong? And how do you change what you're doing and overcome lifelong habits? In an Initial Alexander Technique lesson, you will record yourself through Zoom, so you will be able to see and understand what you are doing when you stand, sit, walk, and perform other simple gestures. With the assistance of your teacher, you will come to understand how you are misusing the mechanisms of your body, and you will gain the ability to choose to use yourself in a more sensible way. You can learn how to use your body without pain. You can break free from long held habits. All you need is a system that works. For more information or to book a lesson, please visit my website: mechanicsofpoise.com/ You can contact me at: DelsarteAlexanderMasoeroYou@protonmail.com "But the children I saw commonly sat or stood in positions of the worst mechanical advantage, and the manner in which they held their pencils or their tools demonstrated very clearly that until their management of such instruments was corrected, they could never hope to produce anything but the most clumsy results. Worse still, these children were forming physical habits which would develop in a large majority of cases into positive physical ills. A child who tries to guide its pencil by futile movements of its head, tongue, and shoulders may be preparing the way to ills so far-reaching that their origin is often lost sight of." F.M. Alexander
I automatically put my tongue up and forward since i see your videos about posture and head position, before the videos i have to remember move my tongue.
Is the idea of keeping tongue low and flat in the mouth stems from Alexander technique? I highly disagree, because without providing pressure, maxilla will recess. Look at Alexander himself, he has rather recessed maxilla. (Although I don't know if it was better or worse before) But another example is musician Robert Fripp. He follows and apparently teaches Alexander technique. Look at the interview with him from 80-90s and now. His jaws very much recessed.
I’m not teaching the Alexander Technique as it’s commonly taught today, and I would agree that AT in the common sense will not prevent or correct recession of the maxilla. What are you using as your criteria of recession of the maxilla? I would say Alexander does have a somewhat retracted mandible, but I don’t see his maxilla as noticeably recessed. Why do you believe that only the tongue can influence the position of the maxilla? What about all the other muscles that attach directly to the maxilla? Why is the tongue better suited than those muscles to change the relative position of the maxilla?
Interesting that this tongue position is the exact opposite of what Dr John Mew advocates. He insists the tongue should rest at the roof of the mouth with importance given to ensuring the posterior third is also elevated.
I'll have a video going in depth on Mewing and Orthotropics sometime in the near future. I like John Mew a lot, but I think the idea of having the tongue on the roof of the mouth is a misguided way of approaching the problems it's claimed to solve. I would expect someone who kept their tongue on the roof of their mouth to ultimately have breathing and even speaking problems. It might be better than nothing, but I think there are much better ways to improve the condition of the face and the oral/nasal posture.
Yes, most people would have breathing issues (as I do) but he claims that is because of insufficient growth in the jaw/palette as a consequence of incorrect chewing/swallowing and tongue posture during early year development when the skull facial bones are more malleable. I respect both your works tremendously so its a bit of a pain that your school of thoughts are at odds on this. I eagerly await your video on the topic. And I have said this before but I want to repeat it. Thank you so much for this content. My body just could not function correctly (anterior pelvic tilt, weak core/glutes). I feel the almost all videos online that are designed to address body movement dysfunction, are aimed at people with recently functioning bodies who are just developing weaknesses. For someone like me who sat in a gaming chair for 10 years with no exercise. Nothing working. But alas your content has fixed the issue in a matter of months. Elongating the torso as you have instructed led to my forgotten core muscles coming back to life. This started a cascade of my glutes and back turning and this is allowing me to learn how to control my extremities. BUT I have one problem with you, you should have warned me about this. There is no were I can look without noticing how dysfunction the average persons body is. The horror. @@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147
@@danielgraham1271 I look forward to people’s reaction to the video I will do on Orthotropics and Mewing. Like I said, I respect what they’ve done a lot, I think they’re just missing out on some important things concerning general body posture. Everything I’ve heard Mike Mew say about body posture (except aspects of mouth posture) is totally wrong and just based on the average advice out there. He knows traditional orthodontics are wrong, he should know traditional postural advice is wrong. When it comes to the body, if you don't understand the whole, it’s quite difficult to make sense of any individual part. And yes, once you’re able to recognize postural dysfunction, you will see pain and confusion everywhere. A lot of problems in the world make more sense when you see that so many people are completely contorted and distorted down to their bones.
Thank you for making these videos. These are some of the most valuable teachings, and I hope more people find out abou them. Eagerly waiting for your video on Mewing.
@@danielgraham1271 I can tell you as an VERY EARLY ADAPTER of the mewing technique it's very limited if you have serious issues. I'm sure i will reach a similar point with alexander sometime in the future but i still belief i already experience more benefit from this school of thought then mewing ever brought me
I've been mewing for 2 months now, I was a mouth breathing my whole life and a I saw improvements on my face. Should I stop doing it? I understand your point about the breathe, just by lowing my tongue I can breathe better. I also understand that Mike Mew neglected some crucial points about the body in general, but I'm not sure which way should I choose. To be honest, I don't care if I will have more difficult to breathe if that gonna make face face better, lol. But I really wanna know your opinion.
You have to judge what is working for you. I wouldn’t tell someone to not do something they think is helping them, but it’s also possible that something is half helpful and half harmful, so sometimes we must discard a half-solution for a better solution. I would just say try experimenting with the ideas I’ve presented along side mewing if you continue with it. If you get your torso lengthened and your fascia working, I would expect that you would see many benefits including to the appearance of the face. So if you want to go the other way on the tongue, I would still recommend following the general postural advice I've presented (if you find the arguments convincing and their practical application effective.)
You should keep your tongue on the roof of the mouth at all times. You will notice that you can have your tongue on the roof of your mouth while keeping your larynx in the appropriate position, so long as youre not pushing.
Can you explain what convinced you that that is true? Why do believe the tongue should stay suctioned against the palate? It’s not that you can’t breathe with your tongue on the roof of your mouth, but it will restrict your airway because you will be lifting the larynx along with the tongue. That will also tend to open the esophagus, which is not ideal for breathing.
If I imagine I am pulling the tongue in two directions, so tip behind the lower teeth and pulling the back of the tongue backwards, I seem to get better results than imaging to keep the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth then pulling the larynx back and down as it seems to pull my mandibular angle back at the same time. Would my first method still get to the end goal of what we want? Am I still activating the larynx down and back movement by pulling the tongue in a backwards direction?
I disagree with the classic mewing style. But it differs from your. In defense of classical mewing, the larynx is at the same position as long as you keep a mewing position and not swallowing position, in that the back third if the tongue is what mostly controls the larynx. Trying to engage that part is stupid and one won’t be able to breath, an actual mewing position should do nothing to ones breathing capacity. But i disagree with the normal with the suction style, where one gets the tongue up on the roof via a suction/swallowing motion. Trying to vacuum it up there unnaturally The way I think makes more sense is one where you get aware of your tongue during breath, and that the tongue moves up with inhales. By knowing that most will begin subconsciously without swallowing to place the tongue on the roof and engage the fascia and muscles in a new manner. Would love to hear your thoughts on this type of mewing that focus on fascia made by whole body breathing
As far as I’m aware, in mewing, raising the back third of the tongue is considered ideal. It seems we would both agree that is not desirable. I’m not sure I follow why you would want your tongue to move up with each inhale. If you have a partial vacuum in your lungs from exhaling, you don’t need to make a muscular action for air to fill that partial vacuum. So why would you want to develop a coordination where you lift your tongue every time you inhale and presumably lower the tongue with each exhale? I’m not really a fan of mewing, though I think the Mews do have some interesting ideas more generally.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 The tongue movement is not active. I just heard "Watch your tongue with breaths" and noticed my tongue would want to push up. On inhales I just felt it want to go up there, and I believe listening to what ones body does in combination with theory is a good model. But I'll admit I'm not too educated on the theory Also some mew guys when they say back switch their definition. Some want you to go as far back but maintaining breath. While others believe having a elevated larynx is good? Even though it literally makes it impossible without extreme force, makes no sense in theory, and in practice it closes off breath??? But I might change my mind. Still early on the journey and there are so many avenues of posture and different approaches to health to learn. Also just realizing some mainstream advice is backwards or totally wrong.
@@CakeManeThor Something to consider is that our feeling sense is highly conditioned by our habits. While listening to your body sounds good in the abstract, I think in practice you’ll find that what feels right is often totally wrong. Because what you feel to be right is what you typically do. If you want to change your posture for the better, in my experience, you have to be willing to do what feels wrong at first. If you restrict yourself from doing what feels wrong, you will only do what’s comfortable and familiar. That will make genuine change essentially impossible. But it sounds like you are questioning people’s claims and reasoning out the effects of movements. That is the best way to figure out a path forward. The more you’re reasoning about these things, the less you will have to rely on your feeling sense, and the less likely you will be to accept wrong ideas.
No, I disagree with the idea that the tongue should press against the roof of the mouth. There are other muscles that can widen and lift the palate. The tongue has other jobs it must do. It's possible to lift the palate with the tongue, but then you are not fixing the original problem.
My current tongue posture is my tip pushes up on the incisive papilla and the rest of the tongue is down. Do i take my down and rest it behind the lower teeth? By doing that my eyes dont feel supported?
I would say it’s better to lower the tongue. I understand what you’re saying about your eyes, but that’s because you’ve allowed your tongue to do the job that the muscles and fascia in your neck, head, and torso are supposed to do. So as you lower your tongue, give yourself the directions to lift the corner of the eye spots forward and up. You can also lift both the mandibular angle and the chin up. Also consider if your torso is properly organized, because if it’s not, it will be difficult to sustain the head where it should be.
You can try putting your hand on your larynx/hyoid bone. You have muscles all in that area, it’s just a matter of getting the signal to the right place.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 I think i get it now. it relaxes the whole pelvic floor and abs, im sold lol. Mew never felt right to me, always made me tense af and anxious. Another question tho, is the tip of tongue supposed to push the lower teeth or just sorta touch it? It feels more "natural" to just rest on it. (But i learned from this channel to not go by feeling lol 😆)
Wholebodybreathing says back of the tongue and soft palate should be vacuumed but they should go slightly down when inhaling and still be vacuumed to each other
In my view that's a bad idea. The tongue goes to the palate when you swallow. When you swallow, you close your airway and open your esophagus. So you don't want to be in a swallowing mode with your tongue and larynx lifted while breathing.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 your perspective is incorrect, you can have your tongue on the roof of the mouth without affecting the position of the larynx. Anyone who struggles with this is pushing and pulling their tongue, the tongue should be lightly set on the roof, it will NOT pull the larynx if done correctly.
@@simontapiarios If you believe that the tongue should not really support the maxilla, but should just lightly touch it, then why do believe that the tongue needs to be on the roof of the mouth at all? What purpose does it serve there? You might say that it helps signal to the surrounding muscles and to the maxilla to stay up. If that’s the case, then couldn’t someone keep their maxilla up with the surrounding muscles while keeping their tongue widened and low in the mouth? Maybe the tongue is used as a crutch to activate this part of the mouth, but do you need a crutch forever? The tongue should be at the roof of the mouth when you swallow, but you don’t want to always be in swallowing mode. If you don’t think the tongue should support the maxilla, then I don’t understand why you would want in on the roof of the mouth in the first place.
Your tongue can be formed into many different shapes, and just like the rest of the body, most people habitually move their tongue into shortened and narrowed configurations. In this video we get acquainted with the tongue and what movements will lengthen and widen the tongue so that it can be efficiently used in speaking and in swallowing.
I offer lessons in the Initial Alexander Technique, which are conducted one-on-one with a teacher over Zoom. They are designed to help you gain conscious control over how you move your body. Most people have no idea what they’re doing with their body, and as they misuse their body, they end up with discomfort, pain, and other issues that they may not even realize are caused by what they’re doing to themselves. But how do you figure out what you’re doing wrong? And how do you change what you're doing and overcome lifelong habits?
In an Initial Alexander Technique lesson, you will record yourself through Zoom, so you will be able to see and understand what you are doing when you stand, sit, walk, and perform other simple gestures. With the assistance of your teacher, you will come to understand how you are misusing the mechanisms of your body, and you will gain the ability to choose to use yourself in a more sensible way. You can learn how to use your body without pain. You can break free from long held habits. All you need is a system that works.
For more information or to book a lesson, please visit my website: mechanicsofpoise.com/
You can contact me at: DelsarteAlexanderMasoeroYou@protonmail.com
"But the children I saw commonly sat or stood in positions of the worst mechanical advantage, and the manner in which they held their pencils or their tools demonstrated very clearly that until their management of such instruments was corrected, they could never hope to produce anything but the most clumsy results. Worse still, these children were forming physical habits which would develop in a large majority of cases into positive physical ills. A child who tries to guide its pencil by futile movements of its head, tongue, and shoulders may be preparing the way to ills so far-reaching that their origin is often lost sight of."
F.M. Alexander
As you pull your larynx back, i recommend pushing your 1st thoracic forward to counter the backwards movement of the neck
Would you mind providing citations for FMA talking about the tongue against the lower teeth? I can't find mention of that in the four books.
I automatically put my tongue up and forward since i see your videos about posture and head position, before the videos i have to remember move my tongue.
Is the idea of keeping tongue low and flat in the mouth stems from Alexander technique?
I highly disagree, because without providing pressure, maxilla will recess.
Look at Alexander himself, he has rather recessed maxilla. (Although I don't know if it was better or worse before)
But another example is musician Robert Fripp. He follows and apparently teaches Alexander technique. Look at the interview with him from 80-90s and now. His jaws very much recessed.
I’m not teaching the Alexander Technique as it’s commonly taught today, and I would agree that AT in the common sense will not prevent or correct recession of the maxilla.
What are you using as your criteria of recession of the maxilla? I would say Alexander does have a somewhat retracted mandible, but I don’t see his maxilla as noticeably recessed.
Why do you believe that only the tongue can influence the position of the maxilla? What about all the other muscles that attach directly to the maxilla? Why is the tongue better suited than those muscles to change the relative position of the maxilla?
Interesting that this tongue position is the exact opposite of what Dr John Mew advocates. He insists the tongue should rest at the roof of the mouth with importance given to ensuring the posterior third is also elevated.
I'll have a video going in depth on Mewing and Orthotropics sometime in the near future. I like John Mew a lot, but I think the idea of having the tongue on the roof of the mouth is a misguided way of approaching the problems it's claimed to solve. I would expect someone who kept their tongue on the roof of their mouth to ultimately have breathing and even speaking problems. It might be better than nothing, but I think there are much better ways to improve the condition of the face and the oral/nasal posture.
Yes, most people would have breathing issues (as I do) but he claims that is because of insufficient growth in the jaw/palette as a consequence of incorrect chewing/swallowing and tongue posture during early year development when the skull facial bones are more malleable.
I respect both your works tremendously so its a bit of a pain that your school of thoughts are at odds on this. I eagerly await your video on the topic.
And I have said this before but I want to repeat it. Thank you so much for this content. My body just could not function correctly (anterior pelvic tilt, weak core/glutes). I feel the almost all videos online that are designed to address body movement dysfunction, are aimed at people with recently functioning bodies who are just developing weaknesses.
For someone like me who sat in a gaming chair for 10 years with no exercise. Nothing working. But alas your content has fixed the issue in a matter of months. Elongating the torso as you have instructed led to my forgotten core muscles coming back to life. This started a cascade of my glutes and back turning and this is allowing me to learn how to control my extremities.
BUT I have one problem with you, you should have warned me about this. There is no were I can look without noticing how dysfunction the average persons body is. The horror.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147
@@danielgraham1271 I look forward to people’s reaction to the video I will do on Orthotropics and Mewing. Like I said, I respect what they’ve done a lot, I think they’re just missing out on some important things concerning general body posture. Everything I’ve heard Mike Mew say about body posture (except aspects of mouth posture) is totally wrong and just based on the average advice out there. He knows traditional orthodontics are wrong, he should know traditional postural advice is wrong.
When it comes to the body, if you don't understand the whole, it’s quite difficult to make sense of any individual part.
And yes, once you’re able to recognize postural dysfunction, you will see pain and confusion everywhere. A lot of problems in the world make more sense when you see that so many people are completely contorted and distorted down to their bones.
Thank you for making these videos. These are some of the most valuable teachings, and I hope more people find out abou them.
Eagerly waiting for your video on Mewing.
@@danielgraham1271 I can tell you as an VERY EARLY ADAPTER of the mewing technique it's very limited if you have serious issues. I'm sure i will reach a similar point with alexander sometime in the future but i still belief i already experience more benefit from this school of thought then mewing ever brought me
I've been mewing for 2 months now, I was a mouth breathing my whole life and a I saw improvements on my face. Should I stop doing it? I understand your point about the breathe, just by lowing my tongue I can breathe better. I also understand that Mike Mew neglected some crucial points about the body in general, but I'm not sure which way should I choose.
To be honest, I don't care if I will have more difficult to breathe if that gonna make face face better, lol. But I really wanna know your opinion.
You have to judge what is working for you. I wouldn’t tell someone to not do something they think is helping them, but it’s also possible that something is half helpful and half harmful, so sometimes we must discard a half-solution for a better solution. I would just say try experimenting with the ideas I’ve presented along side mewing if you continue with it. If you get your torso lengthened and your fascia working, I would expect that you would see many benefits including to the appearance of the face. So if you want to go the other way on the tongue, I would still recommend following the general postural advice I've presented (if you find the arguments convincing and their practical application effective.)
You should keep your tongue on the roof of the mouth at all times. You will notice that you can have your tongue on the roof of your mouth while keeping your larynx in the appropriate position, so long as youre not pushing.
whole tongue should stay up and suctioned to the palate, if you can't breathe while doing that it just means you have underdeveloped jaws
Can you explain what convinced you that that is true? Why do believe the tongue should stay suctioned against the palate?
It’s not that you can’t breathe with your tongue on the roof of your mouth, but it will restrict your airway because you will be lifting the larynx along with the tongue. That will also tend to open the esophagus, which is not ideal for breathing.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147to shape your skull
Meanwhile John still has a full head of hair as a grandpa while Mike looks like a rat with a large Mandible.
You are speaking with way to much confidence lmao, you just regurgitating what another expert told you but you CLEARLY have no clue yourself lmao
@@joshuakohn4408 I could say the same thing about you, but the difference is I don't give a sh*t
If I imagine I am pulling the tongue in two directions, so tip behind the lower teeth and pulling the back of the tongue backwards, I seem to get better results than imaging to keep the tip of the tongue behind the lower teeth then pulling the larynx back and down as it seems to pull my mandibular angle back at the same time. Would my first method still get to the end goal of what we want? Am I still activating the larynx down and back movement by pulling the tongue in a backwards direction?
I disagree with the classic mewing style. But it differs from your.
In defense of classical mewing, the larynx is at the same position as long as you keep a mewing position and not swallowing position, in that the back third if the tongue is what mostly controls the larynx. Trying to engage that part is stupid and one won’t be able to breath, an actual mewing position should do nothing to ones breathing capacity.
But i disagree with the normal with the suction style, where one gets the tongue up on the roof via a suction/swallowing motion. Trying to vacuum it up there unnaturally
The way I think makes more sense is one where you get aware of your tongue during breath, and that the tongue moves up with inhales. By knowing that most will begin subconsciously without swallowing to place the tongue on the roof and engage the fascia and muscles in a new manner.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this type of mewing that focus on fascia made by whole body breathing
As far as I’m aware, in mewing, raising the back third of the tongue is considered ideal. It seems we would both agree that is not desirable.
I’m not sure I follow why you would want your tongue to move up with each inhale. If you have a partial vacuum in your lungs from exhaling, you don’t need to make a muscular action for air to fill that partial vacuum. So why would you want to develop a coordination where you lift your tongue every time you inhale and presumably lower the tongue with each exhale?
I’m not really a fan of mewing, though I think the Mews do have some interesting ideas more generally.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 The tongue movement is not active. I just heard "Watch your tongue with breaths" and noticed my tongue would want to push up.
On inhales I just felt it want to go up there, and I believe listening to what ones body does in combination with theory is a good model. But I'll admit I'm not too educated on the theory
Also some mew guys when they say back switch their definition. Some want you to go as far back but maintaining breath. While others believe having a elevated larynx is good? Even though it literally makes it impossible without extreme force, makes no sense in theory, and in practice it closes off breath???
But I might change my mind. Still early on the journey and there are so many avenues of posture and different approaches to health to learn. Also just realizing some mainstream advice is backwards or totally wrong.
@@CakeManeThor Something to consider is that our feeling sense is highly conditioned by our habits. While listening to your body sounds good in the abstract, I think in practice you’ll find that what feels right is often totally wrong. Because what you feel to be right is what you typically do. If you want to change your posture for the better, in my experience, you have to be willing to do what feels wrong at first. If you restrict yourself from doing what feels wrong, you will only do what’s comfortable and familiar. That will make genuine change essentially impossible.
But it sounds like you are questioning people’s claims and reasoning out the effects of movements. That is the best way to figure out a path forward. The more you’re reasoning about these things, the less you will have to rely on your feeling sense, and the less likely you will be to accept wrong ideas.
So are you saying that the middle of the tongue should be pressed on the roof of the mouth?
No, I disagree with the idea that the tongue should press against the roof of the mouth. There are other muscles that can widen and lift the palate. The tongue has other jobs it must do. It's possible to lift the palate with the tongue, but then you are not fixing the original problem.
My current tongue posture is my tip pushes up on the incisive papilla and the rest of the tongue is down.
Do i take my down and rest it behind the lower teeth? By doing that my eyes dont feel supported?
I would say it’s better to lower the tongue. I understand what you’re saying about your eyes, but that’s because you’ve allowed your tongue to do the job that the muscles and fascia in your neck, head, and torso are supposed to do. So as you lower your tongue, give yourself the directions to lift the corner of the eye spots forward and up. You can also lift both the mandibular angle and the chin up. Also consider if your torso is properly organized, because if it’s not, it will be difficult to sustain the head where it should be.
how do u pull the tongue back and down , its like i cant control that area
You can try putting your hand on your larynx/hyoid bone. You have muscles all in that area, it’s just a matter of getting the signal to the right place.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 I think i get it now. it relaxes the whole pelvic floor and abs, im sold lol. Mew never felt right to me, always made me tense af and anxious.
Another question tho, is the tip of tongue supposed to push the lower teeth or just sorta touch it? It feels more "natural" to just rest on it. (But i learned from this channel to not go by feeling lol 😆)
You don't want to push the lower teeth. To engage the tongue you want to widen it.
Thanx
Wholebodybreathing says back of the tongue and soft palate should be vacuumed but they should go slightly down when inhaling and still be vacuumed to each other
In my view that's a bad idea. The tongue goes to the palate when you swallow. When you swallow, you close your airway and open your esophagus. So you don't want to be in a swallowing mode with your tongue and larynx lifted while breathing.
@@delsartealexandermasoeroyo9147 your perspective is incorrect, you can have your tongue on the roof of the mouth without affecting the position of the larynx. Anyone who struggles with this is pushing and pulling their tongue, the tongue should be lightly set on the roof, it will NOT pull the larynx if done correctly.
@@simontapiarios If you believe that the tongue should not really support the maxilla, but should just lightly touch it, then why do believe that the tongue needs to be on the roof of the mouth at all? What purpose does it serve there?
You might say that it helps signal to the surrounding muscles and to the maxilla to stay up. If that’s the case, then couldn’t someone keep their maxilla up with the surrounding muscles while keeping their tongue widened and low in the mouth? Maybe the tongue is used as a crutch to activate this part of the mouth, but do you need a crutch forever?
The tongue should be at the roof of the mouth when you swallow, but you don’t want to always be in swallowing mode. If you don’t think the tongue should support the maxilla, then I don’t understand why you would want in on the roof of the mouth in the first place.