Tongue Cleaning
The Tongue is such a Unique Organ
Lying between your interior and exterior worlds, it gives a sneak peak into digestive health. Looking at the tonuge can provide information about the stomach, small intestine, and the large intestine. Basically, a map of the internal, without the need for x-rays or MRIs.
The tongue is also an incredible sensory organ, detecting the taste (sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent) of all the nourishment you take in. It then makes automatic calculations about dosages, quantities, and desires, sending this information to the brain to state the entire digestive process.
It also provides the means to express your internal thoughts to the outside world.
Agni, also known as digestive fire, depends on the strength of the digestive system to support health and vitality. It is thought of as the key to a long and healthy life.
Ama (toxicity) builds up in the body when angi is weak, usually from poor dietary habits (such as eating on the run), stress, and eating nutrient poor foods.
Over time, ama tends to accumulate in the system and build congestion, leading to fatigue, aches and pains, heartburn, constipation, autoimmune conditions and even cancer. In fact, there is not one chronic illness I know of that does not include weak agni with ama build up.
Tongue Scraping/Cleaning
Ever see a white or yellowish or even greenish coating on your tongue, especially first thing in the morning? That is ama.
Scraping, aka cleaning the tongue, removes that coating of toxins from being reabsorbed into the body. It also stimulates the taste buds and reflexively moves the bowels. Having a healthy bowel movement in the morning is one of Naturopathic medicine's indications of overall health.
Tongue scraping also reduces the bacteria in your mouth that can compromise oral health and lead to bad breath.
If this ama coating isn’t removed, taste buds can become blocked, leading to false cravings and the inability to recognize the six tastes, which then affects digestion and causes the build-up of more ama.
Bottom line, keeping a clean tongue helps to improve digestion and therefore, health.
How To
A tongue cleaner is a long, thin, flat piece of metal or plastic that is bent in a U-like shape. These are inexpensive and can be purchased in stores — they are usually located near the toothbrushes.
This simple practice should be done at least one per day, even before brushing your teeth.
To use, stand in front of a mirror and stick out your tongue. Place the scraper as far back on your tongue as possible and pull it toward the tip of the tongue (don't worry, despite the name "scraping" this should not feel uncomfortable). Rinse the scraper and repeat until your tongue feels clean and is free of coating (usually 5–10 times).
Finish by drinking a glass of warm lemon water, which will hydrate and flush the body to further wake up the digestive system.
😛,
Dr. Laura Neville