Using Your Tongue as a Strangely Surprising Strategy to De-Stress

​USING YOUR TONGUE AS A STRANGELY SURPRISING STRATEGY TO DE-STRESS

Yes, you read it right… Your tongue can be used to help you release stress! How? Read on to find out.

First, though, I would like to give you a little bit of background on the Chimp Brain. If you have read either of HappiMe’s children’s books, ‘How to Stop Worrying’ and ‘Oscar Meets His Worry Chimp’, you will have already learned all about your pesky monkey-mind!

Your chimp is the part of the brain in charge of survival. It is constantly scanning the horizon, taking in up to 4 million pieces of data per second! Your chimp is in control of your Fight or Flight responses, which often develop into emotions like anger, annoyance and frustration. Ultimately, the Chimp Brain’s job is to keep you safe and out of danger. Unfortunately, your chimp brain often mistakes small risks, new challenges and disagreements with loved-ones as life-threatening, which sometimes evoke the same fight or flight response that we may experience when we are in real danger, like when a bear is about to attack!

Once your chimp has reacted, an inner-monologue ensues, where we often vent to ourselves or relive the event whilst thinking about the 101 things we could have done or said differently. This inner-monologue can only take place with the use of our tongues – as despite us not speaking aloud, the tongue twitches along with our thoughts – we are talking to ourselves after all!

Do you see where I am going with this?

By practising effective tongue-relaxing techniques, you can put a stop to the self-talk that may be keeping you in a state of stress or rage. Therefore, your body is able to release the stress and let go of the emotional build up much quicker.

A great strategy we use at HappiMe is imagining you have a sweet balancing on your tongue. Sense the sweetness – are you salivating yet? Of course you are! By focusing your attention on the imaginary sweet (or perhaps an olive if you don’t have a sweet-tooth!) your mind is able to refocus, whilst your tongue tenses. Once you have focused on this for 30-seconds, relax your tongue and take a deep breath.

I know that is the heat of anger, or when you are stressed, this may not be the first thing you think of doing, which is why I suggest you start practising 4-5 times (it takes less than 30-seconds) each day. This way, you will start to develop a habit, which will make you much more likely to call upon this strategy when you are next in a Fight or Flight state.
 
Good luck!