Jaw / head work is driving me nuts

[stargazer]

I have some blockages in my cheeks and behind my ears that I've been working on for the past few months and I'm finding this to be one of the most difficult places to work.. perhaps because it's so close to the seat of awareness. I find that the process of focusing on jaw / head / cheeks induces a lot of tension in those areas... one time my jaw muscles were so tense that when I yawned, one muscle cramped extremely painfully, almost as bad as a sprain.

It doesn't seem to matter how hard I try to relax my jaw / face while working... even if I'm working in the temples, energy starts moving and pulsing in that whole area and causing pain and tightness in the jaws.

I'm trying to view this as acceptable hardship as part of the gains of energy work, but darnit the sensations are extremely annoying... one constant sensation in particular feels like when you push your tongue inside your cheek and cause a point of pressure to poke out ("tongue in cheek")... only I feel that up in my cheekbones or up near the temple. It has a sort of "suctioning" feeling to it.

If I widen an awareness action to include say the whole head, the sensation pretty much solidifies to an "iron bar" like feeling from throat chakra to brow chakra.

On the one hand it's interesting to feel such dynamic physical sensations... just the very act of moving awareness causes a physical reaction, beit pain or pressure or throbbing... but on the other hand... it's driving me NUTS!

[Korpo]

Hello, Andrea.

Energy work in the head area can hurt a lot, I know. I went through severe headaches, head pressure and was in cold sweat all the time when I started working on those heavy "head blockages" of mine.

Sadly this is one of the signs of success. Increased awareness is a two-edged sword, enabling deeper energy work, but also highlighting issues with pain, as pain is the body's language.

I also read that the area between mouth, throat and upper chestbone is usually very clogged up, don't ask me why, though Nnonnth recently presented an idea in a different thread, though the reason may not be as important for you now, and it is still in theory. It's in the thread sono started.

Back to you...

What I am doing is pretty good against those long-standing, hard and deep blockages, that can highlight as pain most. Now I am bugged much less, and the pain hasn't returned (toi, toi, toi - knock on wood ). RB has a pretty similar technique, and you should focus on it.

All the Bounce and Sponge actions I think in such cases only again and again highlight pain. What I'd do is Etheric Wrap. Locate a hard, painful area. Wrap it in a ball of awareness. Let that awareness sink in as far as it can go, until you either feel there is nothing hard left or you are making any more progress (say after 5 mins of nothing more happening). Then take all the energy released and used therein and take it below your feet and ground it.

This exercise is pretty about balancing and focussing. You focus on the place, but do not try to tense up too much. Concentration should stay relaxed, and maybe slightly unfocused. Not a laser point, but a ball of soft awareness wrapping the place you work on. If the point you work on gets to tight, release your "grip". If you start to lose contact, tighten your "grip" a little. You want to keep the blockage in focus, but you don't want to magnify so much that the pain the nervous system feels gets unbearable. It's a skill you need to hone.

During having the Etheric Wrap in place just keep focus. You may feel a soft, airy stream of energy emanating, Ground it, if you can. You may feel the hard places get soft or liquid. Keep going until all feels airy or empty. And don't forget to ground what you find, because else the blockage may reform more easily there or elsewhere. Think of it as process to aid toxin release and exchanging your energy with a less agitated and more healing kind thereof.

This has been highly effectively for me and is the core practise of what I am doing personally, and it helps a lot.

BTW, the jaw we store a lot of our every-day tension, this is for example why we grind teeth - muscles of the jaw try to release all this stagnated energy and tension. It helps if you smile, even during exercises. Smiling is not compatible with jaw tension, or any tension, establishes a positive mood, releases positive energy into the system, and - well - makes you feel good. Just putting a smile on your face any time you can think of will make anything better.

BTW, I mean the soft smile with raised edges of mouth, not the toothy grin of "May I sell you a burger".

Wish you the best,
Oliver

[Nnonnth]

BTW, I mean the soft smile with raised edges of mouth, not the toothy grin of "May I sell you a burger".

lol! NN

[feileacan]

good advice! the smile does take some tension away.

love and light,
feileacan

[Dsmoke]

I used to get facial tension a lot. The two things that help most are wearing sunglasses and facial massage with very firm pressure. These are more physical sensations than energetic, but it made a huge difference for me.

[Beekeeper]

Dsmoke's post has reminded me of a very weird thing that happened in my first few months of posting here.

I was awakened out of non-dreaming sleep by two very firm thumbs massaging my face around the sinuses. It was very pleasant and relaxing. It was still happening when I realised it was my own hands. It actually freaked me out a bit and I pmed Aunt Claire to ask if she thought it might be a neg-related thing (since I wasn't consciously aware of what my own limbs were doing). She said no and that gave me great relief.

Nothing like it has happened again.

[stargazer]

Sounds a bit like my spine grabbing eh, Beekeeper? Sometimes I come to awareness in the middle of something like that going on, like my energy is off somewhere with its own agenda, and I'm like "Just what is going on here, Missy???" Hee.

Korpo, Thanks for the insightful and informative post. The smile suggestion was very helpful. I have not really noticed jaw tension in general but it has apparently been a fairly recent problem for me as I was purportedly grinding my teeth at night, which caused one tooth to break and buckle, causing me pain while eating anything sweet. I was afeared of the dentist thinking I was in for a root canal, but it was only the pain of having to pay $250 for fixing a broken tooth. (this was a few months back) I also found out while starting practicing meditation that many times while in deep relaxation, my jaw would instinctively snap shut causing my teeth to of course slam together. I have a mouthguard but have also noticed a cessation of the random jaw snaps and less headaches and pain in general. The last week or so has really been a lot better and more bearable working in that area... there's still a lot of pressure and sensation but at the least there's no longer pain. Just a lot of throbbing / pressure, especially in the temple area.

You know it's weird, the nature of energy work, as you mentioned in re: deeper energy work... I had no idea previously the extent of the blockages in the cheek / temple / jaw area; they were never before as intense or perhaps as highlighted. More intense energy work seems to herald MORE strange pain / pressure, which psychologically can reverse you into thinking that it's the attention that's causing the problem. I try to keep at the forefront of my mind the concept that you mentioned.. that this is a sign of success and deeper awareness. Previously the blockages had suggested perhaps a thread-like area that needed attention... now it feels like everything from jaw line to temple is throbbing, pulsing, aching, "heavy" or tingling. An awareness movement is practically the same thing as a physical movement, it is so keenly felt passing through the muscles. This can make it challenging to work through, as a motion so easily slows and stops as if passing through mud. However... while energy is moving heavy and slow, it's moving better and without that painful "inflamed" response in my jaws. Keen awareness / feeling of a motion as if it were physical also makes it easier to set into motion idly while going through the other parts of my day. I did find, before you mentioned it, that etheric wrap got the most dynamic response.. in a counterclockwise "undoing" direction. I can't wait til things are moving clearly and strongly through this area.

[Korpo]

stargazer, your post reminded me of so many things I experienced myself - like "Is it the work that does harm?". For quite some time I felt like nothing getting better, until one day I realised every time I was working a different layer of tissue at a spot, the blockage was simply deep. This can feel awkward, but as long as you ground energy you encounter this should make stuff energy.

About the stored tension - had this a lot, too, heavy tooth grinder. Did wear nightly protection for years, as I had grinded "canals" into my teeth. This process of "working through the jaw" should alleviate that a lot.

BTW, the lower jaw has four energy gates/ports - two at the "hinges" and two at the former "corners". Working on opening those can also unravel some things, as they drive the energy exchange system there. Just ground carefully, and this may be your ticket to no longer grind!

Blockages, if you feel them closely, can run deep, many layers of tissue, etc. Reviving those nerves and tissues is often not that nice a thing at first. But when the problem stays gone it can be extremely nice, soft and airy somewhere down the road.

Hope you continue on the "road of success",
Oliver

[Korpo]

BTW, I would not have mentioned that the "deeper feeling" can be beneficial in the long run, if I had not experienced it myself. At first, for me, it was days of living hell, with headache, pressure, etc. These strong blockages need to be worked on, but I guess rather carefully in the start - I tended to rush in, and that "backlashed".

But I have stabilised and roadtested my practise, and in these cases you mentioned it works extremely well in the long run, so I do recommend it, especially since it is so closely related to the somewhat a little bit less known "Etheric Wrap".

Oliver