Have you heard of tongue scraping? Let’s talk about a tongue scraper, how to use it, how not to use it, and the benefits of tongue scraping.
What This Has to Do with Herbal Medicine
You might be wondering, what does this have to do with herbal medicine? Using herbs is not just about the plants and making the medicines. It’s also about knowing your body. The more you can get in touch with your body and learn how to listen to your body, the better you are able to understand if the herbs are working and how you can use the herbal medicines better.
Were you raised to pay attention to your body? I wasn’t. I was taught to brush my teeth and hair and take a shower. But I was never really taught to pay attention to different parts of my body and the way that my body speaks.
Then I had the very good fortune of studying Ayurveda since mid 1990s with Dr. Vasant Lad and Candis Cantin. Tongue scraping is an incredible Ayurvedic tool that has really helped me. I know it will help you learn more about your body too.
Does It Hurt?
Before we get to the benefits of tongue scraping, I know some people are thinking, “Scraping, that sounds like it would hurt!” The tongue scraper you see in this video is not sharp at all. Even if I press really hard, I can’t hurt myself on it. You can get tongue scraping tools made of stainless steel or copper.
You can also do tongue scraping with a spoon that doesn’t have a sharp edge to it. I’ve heard that some people use their toothbrush to brush their tongue, but that doesn’t get as much off your tongue as a scraper or spoon does.
Avoid putting the scraper so far back that you gag. Just take it to the back of your tongue and do a gentle scraping. This should not hurt.
Tongue Scraping: How to Do It
You don’t have to be an expert to experience the benefits of tongue scraping. Scraping your tongue helps you tap in. You’ll start to notice things like, “Wow, this morning the stuff I’m scraping off is thicker than normal” or “It’s more yellow” or “There’s hardly anything.”
You want to look at the gunk that you pull off your tongue, so that you can see a difference in the quality and what’s happening. Like I said, you don’t have to start out knowing how to read your tongue. If you just start paying attention, then you’ll see the changes. It can be a slow, gentle process.
After you look at what’s on the tongue scraper, then you want to clean off any bacteria and food debris. Use soap and rinse it off. I keep the tongue scraper in a glass in the bathroom cabinet and pull it out every morning.
Benefits of Scraping Your Tongue
Again, when we use herbs, it’s about being able to pay attention to our body and bringing in simple self-care tools.
Recently, my son and I have been cooking dinner together. He has been wanting to cook out my mom’s old Betty Crocker cookbook. We’ve been cooking macaroni and cheese and things that I don’t normally eat. After eating that food, when I scrape my tongue for the next couple of days, what comes off my tongue is thicker and whiter.
You don’t want a thick white or thick yellow coating. The more gunk you pull off your tongue, the more that tells you, “Hmm, maybe my diet is not so great right now,” and it helps you really pay attention to which foods create a thicker coating.
Tongue scraping takes less than a minute, but it’s something that helps me that first thing in the morning. I look at it and I go, “Okay, there’s not a lot there. I’ve been doing pretty good with my food.” Or maybe, “Oh, my gosh, that’s a lot of thick white stuff. What have I been eating?”
Tongue scraping is a wonderful self-care tool that benefits you in being able to pay attention to your body and how well you are digesting and eliminating.
It’s super simple. Just start using it and watching what’s on your tongue.
I would love to hear from you! Have you heard of tongue scraping? Do you already use a tongue scraper? Let me know what you think in the comments.
