Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - Unclench Your Jaw | Bonus Meditation with Jay Michaelson

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Jay shares the most effective tool in his meditation toolkit. This targeted release can create huge physiological benefit and relaxation.About Jay Michaelson:Jay Michaelson is a writer & journalist, rabbi & meditation teacher, keynote speaker, and scholar of religion. Jay is the author of ten books, most recently The Secret That Is Not A Secret: Ten Heretical Tales. His 2022 book, The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth, won the National Jewish Book Award for scholarship. He holds a JD from Yale, a PhD in Jewish Thought from Hebrew University, and nondenominational rabbinic ordination.To find this meditation in the Happier Meditation app, you can search for “Unravel Jaw Tension.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to 10% happier early and ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. It's the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hello everybody. Time for a bonus meditation. Today, we're going to focus on the body, specifically the jaw, which is a place many of us hold tension, even when we're not aware of it. Our meditation teacher, Du Jour, my great friend Jay Mickelson, is going to walk you through the different points of the jaw where you may be clenching. And you may find that this relaxes your mind as well. A little bit more about Jay. He's a writer

and journalist, rabbi and meditation teacher, keynote speaker and scholar of religion. He really does it all. He's also written 10 books. Most recently, The Secret That Is Not a Secret, 10 Heretical Tales. His 2022 book, The Heresy of Jacob Frank, won the National Jewish Book Award for scholarship. He holds a JD from Yale, a PhD in Jewish Thought from Hebrew University, and a non-denominational rabbinic ordination. Here we go now with the polymaths, Jay Michelson.

Hi, this is Jay. A lot of time in meditation, it's the little things. In this guided meditation, I'm going to show you a very little thing, relaxing tension in the jaw, that is the single most effective tool in my personal meditation toolkit. Now, in this meditation, we're going to move very slowly, so try not to jump ahead. We'll begin by settling into the present moment. Find a comfortable, still posture. Maybe close the eyes, or not as you prefer.

Feel the physical sensations of the body in stillness, the breath and up the body to the jaw. Again, try not to change anything just yet. Just check out the physical sensations along the jawbone. Start at the center. Are you gritting your teeth? Maybe gently relax there. Then move just a bit toward the left side, kind of underneath your left cheekbone. Any tension there? Any holding?

Just gently relax. And now to the right side, same spot but on the other side of the face. See if you can let go a little bit more. How does that feel? Finally, to the hinge of the jaw just underneath your left ear. Almost every time I meditate, I notice tension here. Whatever the reason, let go. Unclench. Notice if there's been any shift in the mind, if more relaxation is present or ease. And one more time, bringing the attention back up to the jaw to see if you may have And letting go again. Finally, when you're ready, you can open your eyes if they've been closed. Have a great day. Thank you, Jay. You can find more meditations like this one over on the Happier Meditation app. And you can learn more about Jay and me over on Substack, where we both have active newsletters and communities. If you like 10% happier, and I hope you do, you can listen early and ad free right now

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