Has anyone else had these issues when meditating?
 

Hi all :hug3:

This might be a bit gross but-

For a while now I have had this happen when meditating, I can't seem to relax my jaw and I constantly produce saliva which I need to swallow. For the most part I just solider on but I'm wondering if anyone else had this and if they know why?

If you search online for meditation producing saliva then it seems as if this is quite a common topic in discussion groups.

One reply which seemed useful was:

Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, just at the point where the gumline sinks down to the palate. There's a point slightly further back which is used in, I think, certain Taoist techniques, but it's not necessary for this purpose and not swallowing your tongue can become a distraction. Allow the tongue to bend slightly, as if you're trying to lick peanut butter from that spot in your mouth and relax.

It takes some practice at first because the gag reflex can kick it automatically causing you to swallow. What happens after a while is that any saliva generated will run unnoticed down your throat and you can continue. Something worth knowing is that it's the movement of the tongue in the mouth that generates saliva, so learning to let your tongue rest at the point I mentioned above should take care of that anyway.

It's not a big deal if you salivate, or if you need to swallow saliva as long as you're mindful of it happening; if you're doing concentration practice just return to the breath or whatever object you're using. Don't let this become a distraction in itself.

This particular technique of rolling back the tongue is called kechari mudra. (Or to be more precise, rolling back the tongue to the soft palate is baby kechari. Full kechari involves rolling the tongue even further back.)

Peace.

It's a relief knowing it isn't just me. I will give this technique a try. Thank you for finding that information for me, it is appreciated :hug2:

Just to add to a post that doesn't need adding to :smile: it's a very common issue.

:smile:

JL

iamthat...I forgot you knew about this. ;) Common? I wish, JL. :wink:

Well, since you gave such a good answer, let me share a poignant story about saliva ...
I don't get many chances to use this story as you can imagine...hard to fit into a conversation.

There was a French photographer...he became a quadriplegic....something he said...oh my...
that puts things into perspective.

"I would be the happiest man if I could only swallow my own saliva."


My eyes tear whenever I say these words.

Reminds me of this one:

'I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet'

...

I heard that moslims are meditating regularly besides their 5 daily prayers, they call it "zikr" , could their be a connection with the moslim violence from the past years and their meditation? (I remember/I saw on tv Buddhist monks burning themselves to death a long time ago.)
I hope we can talk about it in a mature way without hurting anyone's feelings.

I've always associated zikr (or dhikr) with Sufism. The word means remembrance, and usually involves the use of a mantra such as Allah. On a deeper level we can consider zikr as meditation on the true Name of God. No connection with any violence.

“First you do the zikr and then the zikr does you.”— Sufi saying

Peace.

Thanks, Miss H. A poignant story indeed.

Regarding kechari mudra, I cannot do full kechari but I recently read the book on Kriya Yoga by Ennio Nimis (available free on his website), where he describes doing a preparatory process called Talabya Kriya for three months, after which he succeeded in doing full kechari.

There are youtubes available showing how to do Talabya Kriya, if you don't mind close-ups of peoples' mouths.

Peace.

Reminds me of a Zen fellow who said something similar (in effect) about "zazen" - zen meditation

JL