Facial Tension: Differentiating the Eyes, Head, Tongue, and Jaw

A client, let’s call her Jane, came to my Kirkland studio last week complaining of tension in her face. People come in wanting the tension to go away, and they might expect Feldenkrais® face exercises, e.g., something to stretch, something to massage, or a routine to do in the mirror every morning. A Feldenkrais lesson is a form of movement education. A person pays attention to how they are already moving and explores alternatives they may not have noticed.

Jane and I spent her lesson exploring how she moved her eyes in relation to her head, and her tongue in relation to her jaw. At the end of the lesson, Jane felt less tension and her head was sitting more comfortably on her spine.

Movement lessons are not a substitute for medical or dental care. See a doctor or dentist if the problem might be medical, e.g., your jaw locks or symptoms persist. Sudden facial numbness, weakness, or vision changes may need urgent attention.

Facial tension and Jane’s movement habits

When Jane described where she felt the tension, her hands traced a path from the back of her neck, up her throat and jaw, and into her eyes. Jane moves all those areas all day long. For example, she spends at least four hours at her computer, and her eyes cross a line of text and come back to the start of the next one, over and over.

Moshé Feldenkrais said,

If you know what you are doing, you can do what you want.¹

For example, my neck was persistently tight for years, and it got worse driving my car. I thought I knew exactly what I was doing: I was sitting in my car driving. What I could not sense at that time was my habit of bracing my neck as I moved the steering wheel. So, I could not do what I wanted, i.e., to drive without bracing. Similarly, Jane needed to learn more about what she was doing with her eyes, head, tongue, and jaw.

Differentiation: moving parts together and separately

In plain language, differentiation is the ability to vary the relationship between two body parts. Take two fingers. They can move together. The first can move while the second stays quiet. The second can move while the first stays quiet. They can move in opposite directions. That is four combinations, and which one you want depends on what you are doing. Playing the piano requires highly differentiated fingers.²

The eyes, head, tongue, and jaw are similar. Usually, it makes sense for the eyes and head to move together. Sometimes, it doesn’t. The example I give students comes from my days of playing racquetball. Often, the ball moved powerfully toward the back wall. I had to keep my eyes on it while I moved to the front of the court where it would land after the bounce. My eyes and head had two different jobs at that moment.

Case study: Jane’s eyes, head, tongue, and jaw

Jane and I started by creating a clearer map of her body, then worked on differentiating her eyes from her head, and her tongue from her jaw.

A clearer map

Feldenkrais lessons are mostly experiential. You feel what you are doing and what the alternatives are. However, I often begin by helping a person develop a clearer map of their skeleton: where the bones and joints are and how they relate to one another. That map is one part of what Moshé Feldenkrais called the self-image. He put it this way:

Each one of us speaks, moves, thinks, and feels in a different way, each according to the image of himself that he has built up over the years. In order to change our mode of action, we must change the image of ourselves that we carry within us.³

Jane and I began by looking at the life-sized skeleton hanging in my studio. Two things surprised her. Jane had pictured her head resting on top of her spine, like the head of a stick figure. On the skeleton, she could see that the top of the spine was roughly level with the back of the roof of the mouth. She had also pictured opening her mouth as something her mouth did. The skeleton showed her where her two jaw joints were, one just in front of each ear.

I then had Jane lie on her back on my table, fully clothed. Using a light touch, I traced her skull, the sides of her neck, her jaw, and her eye sockets. We explored what Jane could feel moving when she opened her mouth. I wanted to help Jane relate what she saw on the skeleton to what she could feel as she moved her jaw.

Differentiating eyes and head

I asked Jane to turn her head slowly from side to side and notice what her eyes did. They moved together with her head. That is her habit, and one I often see. Which of the four combinations I ask for next depends on the person. With Jane, we varied the movement three ways:

• Jane kept her head still and moved just her eyes. They jumped as they went. She had never slowed down enough to feel that before, and after a few minutes the movement smoothed out.
• Jane kept her eyes on one spot on the ceiling while her head moved underneath them. Moving her head to the left came naturally. Moving it to the right took effort, which surprised her.
• Jane moved her eyes and head in opposite directions, her eyes going left as her head rolled right. This took concentration, but it got easier after a few repetitions.

Differentiating tongue and jaw

We took the same approach with her tongue and jaw. Jane had trouble sensing her jaw, so she rested a hand lightly on her chin to get more feedback about what it was doing.

We then varied the movement in three ways:

• Jane’s tongue moved side to side while her jaw remained still. At first, this felt close to impossible, but then she could do it.
• Jane’s jaw moved side to side, without any movement of her tongue.
• Jane’s tongue and jaw moved in opposite directions. Jane could tell her jaw was moving, but not which way, left or right. Though she tried to keep them going opposite, they would quickly return to moving together.

That difficulty showed us an opportunity. I look for movements a person can barely do: hard enough to require their full attention but easy enough that they don’t give up. When we repeat one of those a few times, it often gets easier. In my experience, some of the unnecessary muscular holding quiets down too.

Lighter and taller, without being told to relax

When Jane sat up, she said she felt lighter and taller. At no point in the lesson did I ask her to relax anything.

A Feldenkrais lesson you can try at your desk

This lesson uses the same approach I used with Jane. Here, we vary the relationship between your tongue and your eyes. It takes a few minutes. Go slowly and keep the movements small. Stop if anything strains.

Sit back from the screen and let your teeth come apart. Move your tongue slowly to the left inside your mouth, then to the right. Do it a few times and notice what else goes along. Does your jaw drift? Do your eyes travel with it? Have you stopped breathing?

Try all four combinations:

• Let your eyes travel with your tongue, both to the left, both to the right, so the two move as one. Notice whether this feels familiar or awkward.
• Pick a spot on your screen and keep your eyes there while your tongue moves left and right.
• Now the reverse. Let your tongue stay quiet while your eyes travel left and right.
• Send your tongue left as your eyes go right, then your tongue right as your eyes go left. In my experience, many people find this one awkward.

Sit for a moment afterward and notice your jaw, your temples, and the back of your neck.

Why work with a Feldenkrais practitioner

It is difficult to notice our own movement habits because we do not always know what to pay attention to. In a session, I ask questions and use touch to bring useful distinctions into focus. Part of my expertise is knowing which distinctions will help a person learn more about their own movement. As they notice more and have more choices, they often move with less strain.

If you want to find out whether this work fits your situation, schedule a free consultation.