A sword swallower, downing multiple swords at once

Sword Swallowing is a technique that when seen often leaves its viewers in a momentary state of shock and awe. The audience simply cannot believe what they are viewing, after all, who in their right mind would stick sharp and dangerous objects directly into their body?

After watching a sword swallower perform, I am sure that many of you like me wondered, "just how in the world do they do that?" Well, luckily for you I am about to tell you right now! Sword Swallowing, like many other techniques has a specific science to it that sword swallowers must master before they can successfully swallow swords. You can not just simply stick a sword down your throat in order to learn. Sword Swallowing is a technique that requires quite a bit of training and time to perfect.

In order to learn sword swallowing, one must first completely desensitize one's gag reflex.To do this, one must vigorously practice sticking objects down one's throat in order to suppress the gag reflex. Usually, beginners start with sticking their fingers down their throats and they gradually begin to move on to other, larger objects such as spoons, paint brushes, and even knitting needles! Once they can down all that, they can move onto swallowing a bent coat wire before downing stainless steel swords.

Besides suppressing their gag reflexes, sword swallowers must also how to perfectly align a sword with their upper esophageal sphincter, a muscular ring at the upper end of the esophagus, and they must also learn how to relax muscles in their esophagus and their pharynx. The problem with relaxing muscles in the pharynx and the esophagus is that these muscles are usually not under voluntary control.

Sword Swallowers also use saliva to ease the swords that they use down their throats by first lubricating the blade with saliva and then sending it down the hatch.

Dan Meyer Sword Swallowing

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