If you’ve ever taken a yoga class or gotten a massage, you may have heard that stress is stored in specific parts of the body: Emotion in the hips. Strain in the shoulders. Anxiety in the gut. And, it seems lately, particularly online, trauma in the jaw.
On social media, videos abound of young women lying face up on massage tables with someone’s hands in their mouths. Labeled as a “buccal massage,” “jaw release,” or “intraoral massage,” the videos depict clients weeping after having their cheeks and jaws manipulated from the inside of their mouths. The caption of one recent video read: “A lot of the time when we work on the jaw, we see deep emotional releases from anger to grief and sadness. It’s as if every time we don’t express ourselves, the emotions move up through the body and end at the mouth.” “While other massages work surface-level, buccal massage reaches the deep facial muscles where we store our unspoken words, unexpressed grief, and unprocessed trauma,” said another. Recently, the singer LeAnn Rimes went viral for appearing in such a video herself, crying after a “deep jaw release.”
Experiencing tension in the jaw isn’t a new phenomenon, though, Dan Ginader, a physical therapist in New York, told Vox. Jaw pain is easily identifiable — maybe you’re a lifelong grinder — and once you notice it (or become aware of it through social media), the ache is hard to ignore. The fact that so many people are talking about the jaw’s association with emotional release right now could be rooted in the particularly stressful state of the world.
Our minds and bodies are connected, but do our jaws (or any specific body part) really hold “trauma,” as these practitioners claim? Probably not. People do experience real relief when their jaw muscles are massaged, experts say, but the intense emotional reaction happening on social media is actually fairly uncommon in the real world.
Stress impacts nearly every aspect of your body; it’s a well-established cause of muscle tension, shortness of breath, increased heart rate and cortisol production, and gastrointestinal distress. These reactions are your body’s way of fighting off or fleeing from threats.
Without a signal that the threat has passed, your body can hold onto the stress. “Over time, the brain and body begin treating tension like a baseline instead of a short term reaction,” Cheryl Groskopf, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Los Angeles, told Vox in an email. “When you hear the phrase ‘our bodies store tension,’ it’s really about the nervous system repeatedly practicing certain survival responses.”
This stress might cause you to activate your shoulders, grind your teeth, and clench your jaw, all of which contribute to jaw pain. “People can store tension or store stress in all different parts of their body, the most common being the head and neck area,” Ginader said. “You hunch up your shoulders and that can create a lot of tension in your upper traps and any sort of tension that drifts into the neck will also drift into the jaw. One of my favorite physical therapy professors said that if you don’t know what to do with a case of jaw pain, just treat the neck and likely the jaw will follow suit.”
The stress can be rooted in something physical, too, according to Robert Kerstein, a retired prosthodontist whose career centered on bite alignment and muscle tension. For example, pain related to your teeth can be incredibly stressful and negatively affect your mental health. In a recent paper, Kerstein and his co-authors found that patients with jaw pain had lower cortisol levels after their teeth were slightly adjusted to reduce the amount of time their teeth were in contact when their jaw was moving. In another study, patients had lower levels of depression after their teeth were adjusted. In other words, “reshaping the teeth so that they have a lot less friction and create a lot less muscle activity” makes people less stressed and depressed, Kerstein said.
The mental relief people feel after having their teeth adjusted isn’t due to unlocking trauma. “The depression went away, because they were no longer living in chronic pain,” Kerstein said. And, once you feel physically better, you might feel less stressed.
In his physical therapy practice, Ginader has seen patients experience an overwhelming emotional response similar to those he’s observed online, but it’s very rare and people shouldn’t expect to shed tears during a jaw massage, he said. A general sense of relief is much more common. “They oftentimes didn’t even realize how tight and tense and stressed they were until you remove it,” Ginader said.
People who use their mouth and jaw frequently for work — musicians, actors — may have a bigger rush of feelings because their facial muscles are directly connected to their ability to earn a living, Ginader said. “There’s another layer of emotion, because you can start to become worried that you’re losing the way that you make money and you’re losing the thing that brings you life, and then, all of a sudden, somebody has given you the relief that you felt like you needed to get back to doing that thing,” he said.
Performers — and people who share their lives on social media — are also used to being vulnerable and in touch with their emotions, which may also explain the over-the-top reactions online, Ginader said.
“In some of the cases I think they might be hamming it up for the camera or they are just caught up in the moment,” Ginader said. “There is an emotional release to having longtime tension resolved but a lot of the reactions do seem to be a little over the top.”
Massage is beneficial, of course, but it doesn’t entirely address the underlying cause of the tension, which is either stress- or muscular-related. For Ginader’s patients who work office jobs, stress is typically the root issue, while performers often have tension due to physical overuse.
If the source is stress, Ginader recommended practices that regulate your nervous system, like breathing exercises, meditation, gentle stretching, or yoga. For physical causes, Ginader suggested looking at your form in the gym to see if you’re overusing your trapezius (the muscle in your shoulder and upper back). If it’s becoming a chronic problem, you may also want to see a doctor, dentist, or both. Regardless of the specific cause, you may benefit from a massage of your jaw muscles, too. Ginader also recommended setting periodic reminders on your phone to check in on your body and posture: Are you clenching your jaw or shrugging your shoulders? If so, “just take a few deep breaths and allow everything to relax,” Ginader said.
Ultimately, the jaw does relate to emotions, since grinding your teeth is a common stress response, Kerstein, the retired prosthodontist, said. And a facial massage feels good in the moment. “There’s an emotional elation of positivity, but the symptoms will come back,” Kerstein said. “They’ll return, which is very well-documented, and none of the external therapies have any true longevity. … So the person will have an emotional relief because they feel better, but then they’ll also have the downside of it getting worse, returning, and having to deal with those emotions as well.”
US authorities on Wednesday seized 13 internet domains they suspect were used by Chinese agents to obtain classified information from Americans with security clearances.
Last week, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance — composed of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand — issued a rare warning that Chinese military intelligence services were using LinkedIn and other job platforms to pry secret information.
In a statement on Wednesday, the US Department of Justice announced the seizure of domain names allegedly used by sham consulting sites to target Americans with access to classified information.
“Today’s seizures send a clear message that any attempts to exploit Americans trusted with access to our nation’s most sensitive information will be exposed and dismantled,” said US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.
Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said the seizures illustrate “the lengths the Chinese government’s intelligence services will go to as they try to use AI-generated content to trick, recruit, or coerce current and former US security clearance holders into sharing sensitive information.”
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg warned Americans they should treat any offers of quick income for vague consulting “with extreme caution and remain vigilant for warning signs of malicious targeting.”
The unnamed conspirators behind the websites “have denied any involvement by any foreign government,” according to the Justice Department statement.
Hong Kong’s top decision-making body has proposed a flat 2 per cent pay rise for civil servants across all salary bands this year, lower than the suggested rates for middle-tier and senior government staff.
Secretary for Civil Service Ingrid Yeung said on Tuesday that the chief executive and the Executive Council (ExCo) made the offer, which would take effect retrospectively from April 1 this year, based on a “prudent” approach to public finance.
Yeung said she would meet with staff representatives of the civil service on Wednesday to listen to their feedback regarding the proposed pay rise and report to the ExCo for a final decision.
The proposed pay rise, if finalised, will incur additional government spending of HK$6 billion, Yeung said.
“The government’s finances have improved in the 2025-26 fiscal year, but there are still huge financial undertakings for Hong Kong’s future development,” Yeung said in Cantonese during a press conference.
“Geopolitical changes can also affect residents’ livelihoods within a short period of time, warranting timely government intervention,” she said. “Due to the continued uncertainty in geopolitics, the government must be extra prudent in its approach to public finance.”
The 2026 Pay Trend Survey recommended a 4.12 per cent pay rise for senior staff and 2.64 per cent for mid-level government employees. It suggested a 1.17 per cent pay rise for junior civil servants.
Yeung said the ExCo had given “balanced” consideration to the matter when making the offer, and that the Pay Trend Survey was only one of the factors taken into account.
When asked whether the deadly Tai Po fire in November had affected the proposed pay rise, Yeung said it was difficult to isolate the impact of an individual incident on the ExCo’s decision, which she described as “holistic.”
The government resumed pay rises for civil servants this year following a salary freeze in 2025 amid a three-year fiscal deficit that strained public finances.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan estimated in his annual budget speech in February that the government could see a HK$2.9 billion surplus in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The civil service last received an across-the-board pay rise, of 3 per cent, in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
The internet is full of ambitious people, particularly when it comes to home improvement. You will find people installing an entire kitchen themselves, buying and renovating an abandoned house, or even digging a series of tunnels under their home. And even renters are getting in on the DIY game.
Take Imani Keal: The Washington, DC-based influencer has transformed just about every corner of her apartment almost entirely by herself. “I have painted every room — I installed new peel and stick floor tiles in the kitchen; I did most of the light fixtures,” she told Vox. “For most of the things in here, if it is required to be built, I built it. I do everything.”
Some of those changes happened by necessity — like her kitchen cabinets. As she says, “There was a colony of mice living in the wall behind my kitchen. And because there was a little teeny tiny hole, they were able to come through there and play hopscotch in my kitchen and I wasn’t having that anymore.” She ended up renovating her entire kitchen.
For all of that work, though, Keal is still only renting her apartment. So how do you decide how much to invest in your living space? And when should you leave a home improvement project to the experts? We discuss that and more on this week’s episode of Explain It to Me, Vox’s weekly call-in podcast.
Below is an excerpt of my conversation with Keal, edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full episode, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you’d like to submit a question, send an email to askvox@vox.com or call 1-800-618-8545.
How is your landlord cool with this?
Let me be very clear. They weren’t, but if there is a significant mice problem and you are not addressing it, we have to go forward. It became a situation where they said, “We’ll give you a credit to fix the problem and then you can fix it yourself.” And I said, fine. They rebuilt the floors and rebuilt the wall. Then I came in and purchased the cabinetry, painted it, purchased the fridge, put everything back on the wall, and made it look how it looks today.
You’ve invested a good amount of your own money into your apartment. How much?
Over three years — and a lot of this is stuff that I will take with me — maybe $30,000 or $35,000.
Some people are going to hear that and be shocked. What do you say to them about why you’re pouring so much investment into a thing you don’t own?
Number one, I live here and I think that I deserve to have a beautiful space to live in. I’m not going to sit in something that’s ugly just because other people would be upset about how I spend my money.
Number two, I was able to turn this into a career. I have made significantly more money by doing all of these things than I have spent on the apartment.
And number three, some people have hobbies where they will go out and tinker with a car. Some people want to go to a run club. Some people want to play pickleball. I want to learn how to use a circular saw and build furniture in my apartment. This is my hobby.
What’s the hardest task you’ve done?
Plumbing. To me, the potential for damage that can come from water is a lot greater than other things.Years ago, when I was doing a DIY project at my mother’s house, I accidentally turned the stop valve and the water just was shooting out. It was dripping down the chandelier in her living room and she had to replace all the hardwood floor.
How skilled were you when you first started doing DIY projects? Was this just something you always had in your skill bank?
No. In fact, it’s so funny. My sister was really known as the kid that would come and put an Ikea thing together. Then as I got older, I wanted a certain look and I could not find it. When the pandemic happened I was working at two different restaurants and I had a full-time job. I got laid off from my two restaurant jobs and then hours got cut for the main job that I was working.
I went from being out a lot to being in the house, and there were so many things that I wanted that I couldn’t afford, that I couldn’t just go to the store to buy because nobody was open. Ace Hardware was an essential business, so I would spend a lot of time going to Ace Hardware because that was the only place you could go.
You poured all this time and money into an apartment, but on the way out, you’re going to have to undo so much of it. How do you think about that? How does that feel?
It feels fine, because we all know people who get so excited about buying a house, then they buy the house and the house is hideous. They keep the same teeny tiny Ikea couch. They never get a bigger rug. They never move in. Even after spending all of this money, you are still not living in your home to the fullest so that you can make sure that your home will be nice for the person that you might sell it to in 25 years.
I have every intention of living the life that I was granted to the fullest. I’m going to do everything that I want, everything that is within my means and is possible for me to have a good life. And if that means that I have to spend a couple of days after five years of enjoying the same apartment, taking the wallpaper down, okay, sure. Whatever.
A lot of things that I put up here can very easily be taken apart. I built this entertainment system, but I built it in five pieces that can easily be taken apart and walked out of this apartment and then moved into wherever I moved next.
This fresh, yet homey, vegan rice bowl gets a hefty dose of flavor from an almond-basil pesto and fresh lemon slices. It’s a prime example of how healthy food can be tempting.
Active time: 25 minutes | Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
Brown Rice:
Roasted Asparagus:
Vegan Pesto:
Toppings (optional):
Directions
Roasted Asparagus:
Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C).
Prep the asparagus by washing and drying the stalks. On a baking sheet lined with tin foil or parchment paper, spread out the asparagus stalks. Drizzle with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and the minced garlic. Using a spoon (or hands), mix the asparagus stalks so everything is evenly coated, and then reassemble in a neat row. Top asparagus with the lemon slices.
Bake asparagus in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until slightly tender. Discard lemon slices.
Vegan Pesto:
While the asparagus is roasting, make the pesto. Add all pesto ingredients into a food processor or high-speed blender and process on high until the pesto is smooth.
Putting it all Together:
In a mixing bowl, combine cooked brown rice with the pesto.
To assemble the bowls, add a cup of the pesto rice into each. Add in half the asparagus, and top with the dry-toasted almonds, black pepper, and additional fresh lemon slices, if desired. Serve and enjoy!
Serves: 2 | Serving Size: 1 bowl
Nutrition (per serving, without toppings): Calories: 575; Total Fat: 32g; Saturated Fat: 4g; Monounsaturated Fat: 21g; Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 605mg; Carbohydrate: 64g; Dietary Fiber: 10g; Sugar: 4g; Protein: 13g
Nutrition Bonus: Potassium: 703mg; Iron: 21%; Vitamin A: 21%; Vitamin C: 79%; Calcium: 14%
Originally published April 5, 2019; Updated June 2026
The post Asparagus Rice Bowl with Almond Pesto appeared first on MyFitnessPal Blog.
Chandana Witharanage posted a photo:
Macro Mondays - Textures
Less than 3"
Small section of a Vintage Fossilized Brain Coral
This is a natural white brain coral skeleton often used for nautical or coastal home decor. It is composed of a hard calcium carbonate skeleton secreted by marine polyps. These specimens are frequently found washed ashore on beaches or sourced from shallow tropical reefs. You might consider using it as a decorative element in a book case or display cabinet.
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on this photo, it's very much appreciated!
KOTA TINGGI, June 13 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said will seek an allocation under Budget 2027 to expand the establishment of Legal Aid Department (JBG) satellite offices to rural areas nationwide.
She said the move is important to ensure that the public, particularly those in remote and rural areas, have easier access to legal aid services and are aware of their rights to legal protection and assistance.
“When we talk about legal aid, we must provide protection to the people so that they know they have the right to obtain legal assistance.
“That is why I will apply for an allocation in next year’s budget. If we can establish more satellite offices in districts located far from state offices, it will make it easier for the public to access legal aid services,” she told reporters after officiating the JBG Satellite Office at the Pengerang Court in Bandar Penawar here today.
Elaborating further, Azalina, who is also the Member of Parliament for Pengerang, said the service would be further strengthened through the use of JBG mobile vans under the Justice on Wheels (JOW) programme, which can reach villages and remote areas, including in Sabah and Sarawak.
Azalina said the approach is in line with the government’s aspiration to bring legal aid services directly to the people rather than waiting for them to visit JBG offices.
“For me, there is no point amending the Legal Aid and Public Defence Bill if people do not know where to seek protection and assistance.
“I have also instructed the Director-General (of the department) to ensure that these services are provided in all areas, including constituencies represented by the opposition. We will send letters to every Member of Parliament so that they can choose suitable dates according to their respective states,” she said.
Earlier in her speech, Azalina said the opening of the JBG Pengerang Satellite Office marked a strategic step by the Madani Government in strengthening access to justice through legal aid services that are closer, more accessible and more responsive to the needs of the people.
She said the establishment of the satellite office would reduce the need for members of the public to travel long distances to obtain legal aid services, thereby saving time and costs.
The minister said the establishment of the JBG Pengerang Satellite Office was the result of collaboration among various stakeholders within the justice sector, particularly the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court of Malaysia.
She said the synergy among the relevant agencies demonstrated that efforts to expand access to justice require continuous commitment and cooperation to ensure that the services provided genuinely benefit the community.
“The opening of the JBG Pengerang Satellite Office will bring legal aid services closer to the people, in line with the Madani Government’s commitment to enhancing access to justice, because justice is not a privilege but a right of every citizen, ensuring that no one is left behind by the nation’s justice system,” she said. — Bernama
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