Work on this segment is of two types: movement of the mouth and jaw and the making of sounds. Sounds are important since there is a "feedback loop" between uttering sounds from the mouth and listening to them. Generally, a person will only be able to hear those frequencies of sound which are present in his or her voice. The voice contains frequencies over a very large range, but mainly between one thousand and four thousand Hertz, though within this range there are sometimes gaps in which certain frequencies are both absent from the voice and incapable of being heard. In therapy, the ears are considered part of the oral segment. This is logical in view of the distribution of the nerves to mouth and ears, which run along the jaw.

Oral segment work also involves the whole breathing. For example, to form a sucking shape with the lips and draw air in sharply creates vigorous movement through all segments down to the abdomen. In making sounds, particularly, the main block is a tightening of the throat so it is almost impossible to work on the oral segment without involving the throat segment.

2:1 Ask the explorer to begin by making faces and grimaces involving the mouth to the maximum extent, to open the mouth as wide as possible, then close it tight, pressing the lips together, sticking them forward, drawing them back to expose the teeth, pulling the jaw back, sticking it forward. And all the time to keep breathing. If you notice a particular expression tending to dominate, such as sucking or a snarl, point it out and ask the person to exaggerate it for a while. Ask the explorer how they feel with this expression, but do not stop for discussion, move on to the next phase.

2:2 If you have noticed that the explorer's mouth seems tight, or the jaw rigid, try these interventions: press down on the jaw just between the lower lip and the point of the chin, and ask them to breathe out fully and sigh as openly as possible. There is no need to apply heavy pressure. The idea is simply to hold the jaw open. Ask the explorer to push the jaw forward on your finger and make a sound. Explore this for a minute or so, or longer if it evokes feelings that the explorer wants to continue exploring.

Another way of holding the explorer's jaw open while they continue breathing audibly, is to hook one finger just behind the bottom teeth and pull the jaw downward. This may produce an impulse to bite, though. Careful!

2:3 Have the explorer bite down hard on a wadded towel while simultaneously breathing out very vigorously, squeezing the eyes shut and clenching the fists. As they breathe in, they should let go of the squeezing in eyes, hands, and teeth, then resume it each time they breathe out.

This maneuver may create a very vigorous expression of anger. If the explorer seems frightened by this, take their hand and ask them to look at you and to "come back" and explain their feelings to you. (This is why eye mobility is a necessary precondition: the person has to be able to come back to you in their eyes).

2:4 After this, or any other similar "hard" expression of anger, encourage a softer expression by asking the explorer to lie breathing quietly, looking around or at you, and gently moving the lips, mouth and jaw. A gentle wa-wa-wa-wa sound moves the jaw open and shut as they breathe.

2:5 Finally, see whether the person can scream deliberately. As before, ask them to squeeze the eyes shut, get them to raise their hands in the air and keep them open while shaking them, and open the mouth in a big square shape. You may help them by pushing down sharply on the upper chest each time they breathe out and yell. Do not force this or anything else to do with screaming or yelling. Make sure the head is tilted back as the explorer yells or screams.

2:6 Afterward, be su re to make eye contact.