10 Seconds of Focus
Take a moment and stop.
Stop the moving, the thinking, the searching, the wondering—just stop.
Hold still and find a very small point of focus in front of you—not too close and not too far away.
Place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and press it gently upwards until you feel your whole body begin to relax.
Now hold your focal point and your tongue position for 10 seconds.
Okay, go.
Ten seconds of focus.
An interruption, an intervention to break the grip in the nervous system. To stop and soften to what’s here right now.
What does that feel like?
Did you stop thinking? Or were you thinking while counting?
Now do it again, but this time soften your gaze. Let your eyes relax while your tongue continues to hug the roof of your mouth. Hold steady.
Okay, go. How was it the second time? Take particular notice to your solar plexus to see if you have a little more energy there. A little more connection to your vitality.
In my classes, one of the first things we do is exactly this—to find a stillness in the body, which is the instrument the singing voice will move through and resonate within.
I like to say: we need to hold the building steady so that the elevator—the voice—can move. Let the voice do the movement, not us.
To break it down further:
The eyes help stabilize the flickering candle of the mind. Think of the word stabilize, or rather, stable-eyes. When there’s constant thinking and worry, that anxiety creates an excess of movement—a kind of hum or buzzing that runs through the whole system.
In response, we search for safety, for connection, for something that will calm the flickering candle-mind.
Holding the tongue creates physical stability, while the eyes help hold the mind—and the visual surroundings—steady. You could call it “holding space.”
Using the tongue in this way is one of the best ways to connect to your core.
You may have heard this from dentists who ask if you mouth-breathe.
When we hold the tongue up, it activates the fascial rudder of the body, which runs all the way down into the instep of the feet.
It’s an amazing way to ground yourself—fast.
“A rudder is something that guides and holds a course. It is the piece that matters most when steering something in the direction you want—and even more so, need—it to go. The tongue is the rudder for the human body when it comes to posture, airway, and facial development.”
— From the RDH Newsletter (Royal Dental Hygienists)
I just love that: the tongue as rudder, guiding and holding a course.
Of course it is. It speaks for us, it articulates, it tastes—and in a pinch, it can steady us.
Together with the eyes, it can bring us back into the moment and into the stability we might be longing for.