Joy Kong, MD, teaches a tongue-posture exercise called "the spot," where you push the base of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth. She walks through breath, swallow, and smile progressions to build awareness and strengthen the position.
So is there a proper tongue posture that can enhance everything?
Absolutely there is. They call it the spot. The spot is where the base of your tongue is more pushed up towards the roof of your mouth. This is where your gums become your teeth. Your tongue should be just here where the tip of your tongue is just back from your teeth, not touching it. And the back of your tongue is up towards the back of your mouth. So you want to do some tongue push ups with me, Dr. Joey?
Yes, sounds great.
Breathe out. If you breathe out and you pause, you're naturally going to take a deep breath in. We want to do this before we do any kind of tongue fitness. And after we breathe out for tongue push ups, all you have to do is swallow and feel where did your tongue go in your mouth and in what order. It's just a game of awareness. You don't have to say, you don't have to articulate it. You're just sitting with, where did this tongue go when I did this? So after you swallow, you're going to gently smile. And now try swallowing again. And notice it got a little bit harder, didn't it? Yes. Now I'm going to up you to the next level and I want you to gently smile. With enough teeth showing, just a little bit of teeth, it's a little different. Even harder. Now the final test is can you do a big cheesy grin? And then the final test is if you can get to the point to where you can do tongue push ups with a full big grin.
Oh, my God.
This is a diagnostic for your current level of fitness when it comes to your tongue.
