3.8 Barefoot Running as a Mewing Catalyst
This is Chapter 3.8 of the JawHacks ebook. See the full Table of Contents here.
A Daily Running Habit
Barefoot running is an excellent Mewing catalyst. I recommend running two miles per day barefoot on a treadmill, or outdoors wearing Vibram FiveFingers toe shoes.
This short jog is a 20 minute window you can dedicate to high intensity nasal breathing, suction Mewing, and full body posture work.
You Must Nasal Breathe
10-minute miles may seem slow but the first rule of barefoot running is that you must exclusively nasal breathe. You must run “within your breath.” If you are mouth breathing at all, you are doing it wrong.
If you can run faster while nasal breathing, then go for it. But remember too that running must be something you enjoy if you are to do it every day for the rest of your life.
Be sure to savor the sites and smells of the changing seasons each morning.
Sprinting Once Per Week
One way to incorporate higher intensity into your jog is to sprint for a few hundred yards on the home stretch of your route once or twice per week. Sprinting is incredible for the body and mind and will get you feeling like a million bucks for the rest of the day.
Sprinting will definitely push your nasal breathing to the limit. But don’t succumb to the temptation to open your mouth.
Instead, it may be enough for you to jut your lower jaw forward, putting yourself temporarily into an underbite.
This will open your pharyngeal airway significantly, and is good foreshadowing of how an orthognathic jaw advancement would allow you to breathe at all times.
Your 20 minute daily jog will be more of a boon to your Mewing practice than hours spent Mewing at leisure. If you can become adapted to Mewing while running, then Mewing at rest becomes that much more effortless and habitual.
You Must Run Barefoot
People think running sucks, and it does, but only if you run the way most people do, which is traditional heel striking. I don’t advocate heel striking as it is a high impact activity that prematurely wears the knees, back and neck.
Heel striking while barefoot is impossible because it is too painful.
That’s part of the beauty of barefoot running—it forces you into a proper forefoot or midfoot strike (depending on your speed).