Yawning - A Spiritual Awakening?
445199
This is one of the best responses that I have seen in the questions that I have read regarding yawning.  Those you opine that there is nothing but the physical automatically exclude themselves from understanding so much about life.\nOne of the functions of yawning is to release energy from the back of the head, or occipital region.  The entire body has negative and positive polarized areas, and the negative areas allow for release of energy that comes in through the positive receptor locations.  Major positive areas are the head and heart.  Major negative areas are the jaw, the pelvis and the feet.  Negative does not mean "bad", just that it is a place where spent energy is released.  The phenomenon of "catching" a yawn is in my own observation, related to the matching of energy by individuals.  Whatever is heing matched in terms of thoughts and feelings cycles or releases itself from the back of the head.  The explanations given by brianarnold12 are also good, as there are various nuances and dimensions dealt with.  Understanding the importance of matching energy, and understanding the value of release are major spiritual steps! :0)
345570
Yawn while opening your mouth wide open. Wide as possible.
56870
The dictionary tells us that yawning is caused by being fatigued, drowsy or bored, scientists are discovering that there is more to yawning than what most people think. Not much is known about why we yawn or if it serves any useful function, and very little research has been done on the subject. However, there are several theories about why we yawn.\nThe Physiological Theory -- Our bodies induce yawning to drawn in more oxygen or remove a build-up of carbon dioxide. This theory helps explain why we yawn in groups. Larger groups produce more carbon dioxide, which means our bodies would act to draw in more oxygen and get rid of the excess carbon dioxide. However, if our bodies make us yawn to drawn in needed oxygen, wouldn't we yawn during exercise? Robert Provine, a psychologist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a leading expert on yawning, has tested this theory. Giving people additional oxygen didn't decrease yawning and decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in a subject's environment also didn't prevent yawning. \nThe Evolution Theory -- Some think that yawning is something that began with our ancestors, who used yawning to show their teeth and intimidate others. An offshoot of this theory is the idea that yawning developed from early man as a signal for us to change activities. \nThe Boredom Theory -- In the dictionary, yawning is said to be caused by boredom, fatigue or drowsiness. Although we do tend to yawn when bored or tired.
1049703
Good question!\nMany people believe that we yawns are the cause of to get rid of extra carbon dioxide and to take in more oxygen. Not entirely true (see ref 1 and 3). Sometimes we yawn as we shift phases from being awaken, to feeling sleepy, and anytime during our awakened state. And sometimes they simply are contagious(2).\n\n"Giving people additional oxygen didn't decrease yawning and decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide in a subject's environment also didn't prevent yawning. "(3)
304410
I can't remember where I heard this but someone told me it's an empathetic response. Like the more in tune you are to others feelings, the more likely you are to yawn when you see someone else do it.
213862
Why we yawn when we see others yawning has baffled scientists for ages and a number of suggestions have been put forward to explain this phenomenon. What we do know is that yawning is an involuntary action- our brain does it without us thinking about it, even very young babies yawn showing that it's a built in action (Chimps do it too by the way). Just thinking about yawning can trigger the bit of the brain that causes a yawn.  http://www.ratlab.co.uk/yawn.htm\n\nMore theories can be found at the links below:
40340
An indication of tiredness, stress, over-work or boredom. \nAn action indicating psychological decompression after a state of high alert. \nA means of expressing powerful emotions like anger, rejection or apathy. \n\nYou see someone yawning.  You hear someone yawning.  You read about yawning. You think about yawning. \nNow, you want to yawn. If this describes you, then you have just "caught" a yawn. Between 40 and 60% of the population is susceptible to contagious yawns, but the reason why yawns are catching is unknown. Steven Platek, Ph.D. suggests that being aware of one's own mental state ("self-recognition") and the ability to see things from another person's point of view ("mental state attribution") may make people susceptible to contagious yawns.
288559
A yawn is a reflex of deep inhalation and exhalation associated with being tired, with a need to sleep, or from boredom. \n\nThe yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn. The reasons for this are unclear; however, recent research suggests that yawning might be a herd instinct.\n\nHerd instinct\n------------\nThe so-called herding instinct is a social tendency in humans to identify with and model many behaviors and beliefs after a larger group of individuals with whom they identify.\n\n\nOther theories suggest that the yawn serves to synchronize mood behavior among gregarious animals, similar to the howling of the wolf pack during a full moon. It signals tiredness to other members of the group in order to synchronize sleeping patterns and periods of activity. It can serve as a warning in displaying large, canine teeth, thus proclaiming, "don't attack while I am sleeping...
814479
Yawn.....................
410453
we yawn b/c our body is craving more oxygen.. this is fact
361765
Not really sure---but just seeing the word yawn made me yawn--Thanks alot---yawns again---wonders about yawns--yawns again-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yawn Why are yawns contagious? Getting kind of tired-- http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_309.html-- Why do we yawn? http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/yawning.html A yawn reasearcher? http://psychology.drexel.edu/ECNL/  Huh? Sorry must be groggy--Pictures of animals yawning --Oh No-- yawning out of control-- http://www.animalyawns.com/ all this reading about yawning ---YAWNS deeply--- I'm getting so sleepy ---  It's hard to keep my eyes open--z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z
526472
I learned somewhere that this is a survival thing--if you are yawning, there might be a lack of oxygen or you are about to need a lot of oxygen.  Your yawn alerts others so they supply themselves with oxygen as well.
406589
One theory says that it is a vestige of the group behavioural aspect of human evolution. This theory was put forth following observations of communal yawning in apes. The leader in an ape group yawns, and the rest follow suit. \n\nApart from the theories, consider this: \nTo some extent, yawning is indicative of one's state of mind, and can be physiologically linked to cerebral activity. It usually comes when all novelty in an idea or concept being explored has been temporarily exhausted. So it may happen that when an idea is being explored in a group, a statistical majority would always hit a 'low' (or an intellectually lean) patch in the exploration simultaneously . Hence yawning results. \n\nThe other type of yawning is when there is no group activity involved, and one yawns just by looking at another person yawning. This has to do with empathizing, as has been explained.
365189
The popular theory is that yawning is for oxygen boosting/carbon dioxine expulsion. Hwoever, this is contended, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yawning for some other theories.\nThe fact that it is contagious is far more interesting though.\nThere were theories that it was related to the environment being the same, or even an exchange of chemicals. However, there is more debate now, as if you have a video conversation with someone on a webcam: same thing happens. You could be on different sides of the world, at different times of day, and you're still both yawning.\nAnother theory is that it's a subconscious psychological effect. You see someone yawning, and your subconscious thinks that it would rather like to do that, Interestingly, I have yawned quite a lot whilst I've been writing this, and I'm not tired at all.\nThere's a similar question to yours here http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_309.html\nBut the truth is, no-one really knows the answer.
222830
There could be a multitude of reasons. Yawning is caused by a lack of oxygen to the lungs. You yawn because it allows an immense amount of oxygen to your lungs.
204275
Yawning or "pandiculation," is still pretty much a mystery to psychologists. (I just asked a friend in the trade.) Aside from the obvious observations of how it's related to boredom and how it gets "contagious" after a certain period of development in people, there isn't that much information on it. Sorry. (Hey, this is info from an old friend, so you might want to check newer sources.)
75237
I'm a registered sleep technologist.  There is no known cause to yawning. It is still a mystery. There are many, many theories, but none proven, thus far.