You know how to yawn, right? Nope! You don't know the first thing about yawning. But don't worry! Gwyneth Paltrow is here to help.
The actress posted a lengthy article to her lifestyle blog Goop detailing the most effective steps for a perfect yawn.
That's right! There are steps. Also, there are two different kinds of yawning!
According to Paltrow, she learned this steps from Michael Lear, who
she says is "a wonderful yogi and important quarterback for mindfulness
and meditation in this country."
Lear says that yawning in an "important mechanism for releasing
stress" and so you have to be very specific with how you participate in
this involuntarily reflex of the autonomic nervous system.
The first step is to "gently tilt your head back to a comfortable
position and allow your mouth to hang open widely while you gently
extend into it." So, the first step is to yawn, basically. But we're not
done yet! The remaining steps include "Ujjayi breathing," allowing your
shoulders to get in on the action, and "riding the yawn to stretch the
jaw muscles."
Apparently, the last step is to "repeat 8-10 times until tearing
starts." Tearing as in tears, not as in tearing open your jaw muscles.
That's a tricky word when you're reading it.
The second type of yawn is mostly the same as the first time, but
instead of opening your mouth, you keep your lips closed tightly while
keeping your teeth separated.
"Creating this shape with your mouth as you yawn will take out more
slack in the throat muscles to bring the lengthening and relaxation
around the base of the tongue, and further stretch and relax the neck,
jaw, and occipital regions."
Then "repeat 8-10 times until you begin to tear."
Just take a second to imagine what that would look like if someone
you were sitting with suddenly pursed their lips while trying to stretch
their jaw and then began flexing the muscles in their neck over and
over. It seems like that would be terrifying and confusing.
While a lot of these steps don't sound anything like what most people
would consider yawning, it's hard to argue with someone who can put
"quarterback for mindfulness and meditation" on a job resume. So it
looks like we have a lot of yawning exercises to try and perfect.
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