Growing up in the United States, my basic oral care has included a trip to the dentist every 6 months for a checkup and cleaning, along with brushing my teeth every morning and every night. Occasional periods of gargling with mouthwash or oil pulling, and of course flossing whenever I happened to remember;-)
Since becoming a student of Ayurveda, another daily practice has come into my rotation, and it’s so simple, quick, and effective I just had to share with you, too. Enter: tongue scraping.
How To Scrape Our Tongue
Upon rising each morning, grab your tongue scraper (I use this copper one, nothing fancy!) and do 3 gentle pulls from the back of the tongue to the front, removing any coating or build up that has accumulated overnight. The key word here is GENTLE. When I first began tongue scraping I went much too aggressively, which did more harm than good—don’t make that mistake!
For maximum effectiveness, tongue scraping should be done before you brush your teeth for the day, gargle, oil pull, or any other oral care.
Tip: It’s important to note that tongue scraping is NOT the same as brushing your tongue with your toothbrush. By scraping, we are taking the toxins out of our mouth, but if we rub our toothbrush bristles around on our tongue we’re really just rubbing those yucky toxins further in. Not ideal:-)
The Benefits Of Tongue Scraping
Each day, our bodies are exposed to toxins. Toxins from the foods and beverages we consume, the environment we’re in, even emotions that haven’t been processed and resolved. When these toxins aren’t properly digested and eliminated, they begin to build up in our bodies, which will effect our health and immunity.
By tongue scraping, we can easily rid our mouths of toxins that have surfaced over night. It’s honestly pretty cool to see the build up come out of our bodies (when we’re ridding toxins) OR a really clean tongue (when we’re in an ideal state of balance.) Tongue scraping provides a really good picture of our state of health that particular day.
Other benefits of tongue scraping besides saying goodbye to toxins include: preventing bad breath, enhancing our sense of taste, and giving ourselves an awareness of our overall health so we have the knowledge we need to do something about it, if needed.
How We Can Use Tongue Scraping To Tune Into Our Health
Lately when I’ve been scraping, I noticed a light white coating coming off my tongue. What does this mean? Well, according to Ayurveda it’s safe to look first at our diet. I’m pretty aware of what goes in and out of my body, and can easily look back and say “Oh yes, we had a cookout this weekend and I had chips and ice cream covered with chocolate fudge and a glass of wine to cap it off.” (Not something you’d think to read in a yoga + ayurveda newsletter, but this is real life and the yogi in me believes it’s good to be honest;-) This indulgence in sugary and factory made “foods” will be reflected on my tongue in the following days, and once I slide back into my normal eating patterns, I notice the white coating goes away, too. Fascinating stuff to observe!
This is a really simple article with illustrations about diagnosing your own tongue after scraping.
What is your tongue telling you these days, yogis? Would love for you to share in the comments below!
A Little Something Holistic Health
If you’re curious about the man who brought Ayurveda from India to the United States in the 1970’s (hi, Dr. Lad!), check out the documentary called The Doctor From India. I loved watching him in action with patients—it’s so inspiring to see the lives he’s touched with this simple way of healthcare. (p.s. he’s also recently moved his school and clinic from New Mexico to Asheville, North Carolina, so if you’re in that corner of the world it’s definitely worth checking out in person!)
A Cozy Quote To Leave You With
“Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or reservation.”—W.H. Sheldon
I started tongue scraping after reading Nadine's book Holistic Dental Care. You might like my latest newsletter on dental care. https://marlayoung.substack.com/p/15-dental-care-jacksonville-city?r=90bk&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email