On this episode of Build Better Brands, Danielle Clarke is joined by Karese Laguerre, an orofacial myologist and myofunctional therapist, to talk about and explain her profession. KEY TAKEAWAYS I describe myofunctional therapy in a simple way as kind of like personal training, but for all the muscles below your eyes and above your shoulders. We work with the group of muscles that comprise your lower face and your throat. No one ever thinks about these muscles and why you would ever need to give them a work out, but these muscles surround your upper respiratory system and so having dysfunction anywhere in the chain there can create a lot of problem with you sleep, digestion, breathing, facial development, stability in terms of your teeth and how they shift, there’s a lot of influence these soft tissues have. Working with a myotherapist really helps to amplify that upper respiratory health into overall health. I never though that my son’s ADHD could be about sleep. You think it’s neurological and you have to get medication and that’s the only way to treat that. What we don’t talk about is that there’s a 70% overlap between the symptoms and manifestations of ADHD and those of sleep disorders in children. Children who are sleep deprived aren’t like sleep deprived adults, we get lethargic, fatigued and drag through the day, children get more ramped up, their bodies can’t slow down or focus their attention.  If muscles aren’t activating when they should in the neck or throat they’re under-developed, so I have to work on strengthening and training so we can get them to become stronger and learn to co-ordinate so we can use that muscle appropriately. People who grind or clench their teeth may have over-developed muscles in their jaw, so we have to relax those muscles and teach them to engage other muscles. It’s about finding a harmonious balance that’s going to leave all the hard structures well supported. The way that we breathe seems to be the least thought about thing when it comes to health and wellness. We focus on diet and fluid intake, but the way that we breathe is so impactful on our body. Sometimes it’s the simplest of things that we take for granted, how we breathe matters more than anything else.   BEST MOMENTS ‘There’s a lot of things parents don’t say about their kids when they talk to other people because of shame, we say they’re great. But, I was in the principle’s office all the time with my son who had ADHD, my daughter had every sleep issue under the sun for 10 straight years every single night. My littlest two had a lot of upper respiratory infections. All that stuff from all my kids came back to how they were using their facial muscles. Optimising that with myotherapy really changed my family.’ ‘I love working with children because they’re so mailable and you see change rapidly. It’s incredibly rewarding.’ ‘Every failure is an opportunity for us to learn and to move forward and be better.’ ‘We can go weeks without food and days without water, but we can’t last a few minutes without air.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Karese Laguerre: As an EDUCATOR/SPEAKER I offer lectures that challenge dental professionals to re-discover their passion, achieve sustained productivity, and enhance their clinical perspective.  As a MYOFUNCTIONAL THERAPIST I work with patient's of all ages on natural resolution of sleep, breathing and digestive issues.  As a HUMAN I strive for excellence in all things I put effort towards and am in constant pursuit of the best opportunities to utilize my skills and knowledge to make a difference in the lives of others; while providing valuable service to my community. I have various digital resources for learning more about myofunctional therapy and its benefits. My blog website, www.airwaymatters.blog, has many guides and free downloadable content, as does my practice website, www.themyospot.com. Amazon has both print and digital copies