Mewing is the weird and wonderful practice of positioning your tongue against the roof of your mouth, and it’s been taking the internet by storm lately. In this guide, I’ll teach you how to mew with easy instructions.
How to Mew: Step-By-Step Instructions
Mewing is all about holding correct tongue posture throughout the day. Unfortunately, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Here are my step-by-step instructions on how to mew correctly:
- Make an “N” sound with your mouth
One of the biggest challenges people face with mewing is finding the right tongue position. Here’s an easy hack for doing so: make the sound of the letter “N” and hold it for a few seconds.
You should find that your tongue naturally pushes up against the roof of your mouth while you do this. - Get familiar with that tongue position
Practice making the “N” sound for a few minutes. With any luck, you’ll get used to moving your tongue around your mouth. Now, see if you can make that same tongue position without actually making the “N” sound.
Don’t worry if you can’t get this right away. It took me a few days of regular practice to be able to control my tongue. Once you get it, you’ll be surprised at just how easy it is. - Raise the back of your tongue by swallowing
The next step is to get the back of your tongue up against the palate. If you’re like me, you might find this pretty difficult. Thankfully, I have another trick that can help: swallowing!
That’s right. Find the tongue position you practised earlier and try swallowing deeply a few times. You should feel the back of your tongue push up against the palate as you do so.
Like before, continue practicing this technique and you should eventually be able to raise the back of your tongue against the palate without having to constantly swallow. - Repeat until it becomes second nature
Finally, you need to get used to holding this tongue position throughout the entire day.
My approach was to adopt correct tongue posture whenever I remembered about it. With time, I found myself holding the mewing tongue position more and more without even thinking about it.
A more practical approach for most people is to set daily or hourly smartphone reminders. If my approach of mewing-whenever-you-remember doesn’t work for you, this is what I’d suggest. - Be patient before expecting results
As I explain in 30 Days to a More Attractive Face, mewing is not the technique to rely on if you want fast improvement to your facial appearance.
Expect to mew for several months before you notice any changes. During this time, you’ll have to be quite patient, remembering to mew for as much of the day as possible.
Congratulations! At this point, you should be able to raise your entire tongue against the palate at will. You’ll know you’re mewing correctly if you can feel a vacuum-like sensation between your tongue and palate — which Dr. Mike Mew calls the “suction hold.”
Got braces? Read this article for additional insight.
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How to Mew While Sleeping
The mewing tongue position should be held for as much of the day as possible. This includes while sleeping! In addition to the general benefits of mewing, mewing while sleeping is said to reduce snoring and sleep apnea.
Initially, you will find it near impossible to mew while sleeping. This is simply because your body is new to mewing and doesn’t hold the correct tongue position subconsciously, like when you’re asleep.
Another reason you might struggle with mewing while sleeping is mouth breathing. If you typically breathe through your mouth, you’ll be unable to breathe while mewing.
The solution to both of these problems is to continue practicing mewing! Not only will your body grow to subconsciously maintain the correct tongue position, but — according to Dr. Mike Mew — your nasal airways will open up, allowing you to better breathe through the nose.
Mewing Tips and Tricks
Here are a few tips and tricks you might want to bear in mind when you start mewing:
- When doing mewing correctly, you might find that you can’t breathe through your mouth. This is because mewing will force you to breathe through your nose. Anyway, breathing through your nose is better for you, so this is a hidden benefit you will soon grow to appreciate.
- You may find your tongue getting sore initially, but that’s OK. You can expect some soreness because you’re ‘working out’ your tongue. It’s like working out any other muscle: you get sore initially. With that said, read my article on common mewing problems if you’re having serious trouble.
- Applying the full force of your tongue on your palate is called hard mewing and I would suggesting staying away from that for beginners. Instead, stretch your entire tongue on the roof of your mouth and apply light force. You will feel the force more strongly while swallowing, which brings us to our next section.
How to Swallow While Mewing
Keeping your tongue posture correct throughout the day is one aspect of mewing, but the other aspect is eating and swallowing while mewing. This is where people usually get confused.
When it comes to swallowing while mewing, this is the correct way to do it as explained by Dr. Mike Mew in his many videos.
- Press the tongue firmly against your palate even while swallowing.
- Your face expression should remain the same while swallowing.
- You will feel your thyroid rise.
Use this same technique while swallowing liquids. You don’t want to chug liquids. Instead, with your tongue on your palate, swallow liquids at a steady pace.
To practice proper swallowing with mewing, try these steps.
1. Take a small sip of water and hold it in your mouth.
2. Lean forwards with your mouth directly pointing to the floor.
3. Make a cheesy smile.
Aha! You may think you will spill the water, but you will actually find that your tongue raises to your palate to prevent the water from choking you. In doing this technique, you have created the perfect seal for your palate and tongue.
4. Swallow the water without bringing the lips together.
Repeat this process a few more times and be conscious of your tongue’s position.
Do you see how it naturally forms a seal? The mid-back of your tongue will push firmly against your palate.
Now try to replicate this same swallowing technique standing up normally. Can you do it? Congrats, you now know how to have proper tongue posture and swallow properly with it.
Dr. Mike Mew has many videos on YouTube where he explains proper swallowing with mewing. They’re definitely worth a watch.
Without proper swallowing, you are only doing part of mewing correctly. If you can’t maintain proper tongue posture while eating and drinking, you are only halfway there. So practice, practice, practice.
How to Chew While Mewing
Chewing properly when mewing is a little different than swallowing. Don’t use your cheeks to move food around the mouth. Instead, chew food with your teeth until it is completely broken down.
How Do I Know If I’m Mewing Right?
Although the explanation for mewing seems pretty straightforward, it can be surprisingly difficult to get just right. Based on surveys of individuals who practice mewing, there seem to be many misconceptions.
It is critical that the back third of your tongue (yes, the very back of it) is firmly pressed against the palate of your mouth. Your tongue should fit snugly between your back teeth.
Doing this properly should be tiring: it’s not easy to maintain and will require conscious effort. It may even feel like your tongue will fall out of this position any second, but don’t worry: it will strengthen over time.
You might even feel that your palate is too small to properly do mewing. However, as you keep mewing, your palate will naturally expand due to the pressure applied by your tongue. So keep at it, even if it is tiring at first. Eventually it will become subconscious.
If you do mewing correctly, you might see impressive results within as little as a month.
Visual Guide to Mewing
If you want to be specific about mewing, you’re going to need to know what muscles you are employing. Let’s take a tour of the mouth.
First, feel the area directly between your front teeth. This is what we’re calling the “tip.” This is where your the tip of your tongue should be while mewing.
Your tongue will rest from the tip down the mid-palate ridge and should end somewhere around the soft palate. Your tongue should fit snugly in your mid-palate ridge. Make sure to fit your entire tongue on the roof of your mouth.
The Importance of Posture
Mewing is more than just tongue posture. To really change your facial appearance, Dr. Mike Mew believes correct upper body posture is also incredibly important.
I’m not convinced that upper body posture has a direct impact on facial appearance; however, I absolutely believe that it can affect your perceived facial appearance, which is why I recommend postural exercises in 30 Days to a More Attractive Face.
There are many videos on the topic of proper, good posture. You need to keep your back erect while sitting especially, since we all have a tendency to lean over our computers. An upright posture while sitting and walking will work hand-in-hand with proper mewing.
However, don’t forget about sleep posture too which is just as important. None of that sleeping like a fetus stuff: Make sure you’re sleeping on your back. This will go a long way towards maintaining proper tongue posture even while sleeping.
Final Thoughts
In short, mewing is easy to explain but hard to do consistently. What was once a natural tongue position has become a tiring, conscious act we need to retrain ourselves to do. Yet, in time, your mind will adopt mewing as muscle memory. And that’s when you might see the full benefit of mewing in your own life!
What are your experiences with mewing? Have you seen significant benefits in your own life? Is there anything else you would like to see added to this guide? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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