What is Tongue Scraping?
Tongue scraping is an ancient Ayurvedic practice used as part of a daily routine. It basically helps remove undigested particles, debris, bacteria, dead cells and toxins from your tongue. It has amazing benefits and can improve your overall oral and general health.
Scraping the tongue boosts the immune system because it prevents toxins from being reabsorbed into the body. According to Ayurveda, the root of all diseases begins with an impaired digestion/ poor digestive fire, and build-up of toxins.
The tongue can be used as a diagnostic tool to figure out imbalances in the body. The tongue has a direct connection to the digestive system. The taste signals from various areas of the tongue are picked up by nerve fibers from one of four cranial nerves, and these impulses travel to the brain, which begins the digestive process & gets the digestive organs ready to process food.
When poor dietary habits are involved, nutrients of the food may not be absorbed, and this causes low digestive fire, which in turn causes the body to start developing undigested toxins (ama). Over time the toxins accumulate and clog the channels of the body, which can cause many different conditions.
When toxins accumulate on the tongue, this is the first stage of toxins accumulating elsewhere in the body. If we take care of our oral health, this in turn helps the digestive system, and creates a healthy digestive fire/agni.
When you scrape your tongue this not only reduces the bacteria in your mouth but it can also help overall gum and teeth health, and eliminate bad breath. Tongue scraping can also get rid of false cravings because it gets rid of coating that is blocking the taste buds. When the coating is accumulated it is hard to even taste, especially the six tastes that are mentioned in Ayurveda.
So how do you crape the tongue?
It is best to scrape the tongue in the morning on an empty stomach, before brushing the teeth.
A tongue scraper is a flat piece of metal (silver, stainless steel, gold, copper) that is bent in a “U” shape.
1. Stand in front a mirror with your tongue sticking out.
2. Place the scraper as far as back on your tongue as you can, with holding both ends of the scraper with both of your hands.
3. Pull the tongue scraper toward the tip of the tongue (one long stroke). Use a firm but gentle pressure.
4. Rinse the scraper, and repeat until the tongue feels clean and is free of coating (usually 5-10 times).
5. After tongue scraping, rinse your mouth with warm water.
6. You may now do oil pulling, and continue on to brushing your teeth.
So in summary the benefits of scraping your tongue are:
• Promotes overall oral & digestive health
• Eliminates undigested food particles/ toxins from tongue
• Removes anaerobic bacteria on the tongue that cause bad breath & other problems
• Enhances sense of taste. Digestion begins with taste, and this in turn supports the entire digestive process.
• Stimulates, massages, and cleanses organs and deep tissues, because different parts of the tongue are related to different organs.
So what are you waiting for? Come on give it a go!
