When I could not put my tongue on the roof of my mouth, naturally closing the mouth for me meant closing the lips. I came to understand that the tongue closed the mouth and the lips were not much more than curtains. As I progressed the point of closure moved backwards and also I noticed that it was not just a question of the tongue closing to a static roof of the mouth, but that it also tended downwards to the rising tongue to effect the close.

There is an exercise, useful when your tongue is well up to expand the back of the palate, which is to contract the palatoglossus muscle. I do it in rhythmic bursts. From here I found that similar contractions down the back of the throat are also productive of movement in the maxilla. The movements are achieved by trying to move the back of the throat (down to a level with the bottom of my jaw) forward to meet the front of the throat/base of the tongue. I pulse this movement too but it also works as a static hold. It feels like a yet lower closure of the mouth, but it is an energetic closure. That is to say I can still breathe and swallow spit with the lock engaged. I note it is not in any description I have found what the yogins call jalandara bandha. I will persist with it as an exercise, but also as an aspect of posture because it gives a pleasing lift and lightness to whole cranium. I would be interested to know if others have had similar experiences. Perhaps it is just my particular deformity that makes this a fruitful action.