Here’s one of my (many) face massages – designed to soften, not firm… maybe you want a firm face but to me, that sounds no fun… I want to be soft. My wrinkles and lines (smiles and frowns!) are hard won, showing my journey and life. I’m ok with that (for now, never say never, I’m still trying to love the space between my eyebrows which creases in a way I’m less than keen on!). This routine aims to help your face feel nice (soft, relaxed, ease in the jaw and forehead), has the added benefit of helping you to sleep, bringing more blood flow (aka “glow”) and improving lymphatic drainage (aka reducing puffiness). If you come to me for a massage, we can always include your face – I use a variety of specific techniques to ease facial tension, tight jaws, headaches etc. Book your massage here, available Monday, Wednesday & Thursday daytimes.
- Rubbing the hands together to create some heat. You can do this with/without any kind of oil/face moisturiser
- Placing the hands across the eyes, cupping them to allow the eyes to rest: big inhale, big exhale, soften your jaw, relax your shoulders (remind yourself of this throughout the massage)
- Making peace signs with the first finger and middle finger and placing them either side of the ears – a gentle stroke up and down a few times. Use the pressure you would use to stroke a kitten
- Use the fingers to stroke down the opposite side of the neck and across the top of the shoulders
- Use the the fingers to curl into the muscles in the top of the shoulders at the sides of the neck. You might need a little more pressure here. It might feel tight and tender (if so, book a massage with me!). Don’t work too hard here as we don’t want to bruise or cause further pain
- Use your peace fingers to stroke either side of the collarbone towards the shoulders
- Stroke over the tops of the shoulders and place both sets of fingers on the back of the neck
- Pause and just compassionately and tenderly hold your neck here before stroking up and down a few times
- Coming to the face:
- Take your peace fingers and bend them, taking the finger knuckles to the centre of the chin and sweeping up towards the ears
- Take the heel of your hands towards the jaw bone on either side of the chin and sweep gently upwards towards the cheek bones. Do this a few times.
- Take your first finger, bent and using the back of your fingers place either side of the nose and sweep out towards the ears, under the cheek bones, a few times
- Stroke your peace fingers either side of the ears again and hands down either side of the neck a few times each
- Bring your bent peace fingers to the inner point of each eyebrow and gently sweep outwards a few times
- Take the pads of your fingers and sweep them from the centre to the outer edeges of the forehead, to the hairline
- Peace fingers back across the eyebrows a few times
- Peace knuckles of the first fingers sweep back across the underneath of the cheek bones a few times (from the nose, working towards the ears)
- Heel of the hands sweep upwards from the jaw to the cheekbones again
- Peace knuckles either side of the jaw, from the centre of the chin, towards each ear, a few times
- Peace fingers either side of the ears a few times
- Sweeping hands down either side of the neck
- Peace fingers across the collarbones towards the shoulders
- Big inhale, big exhale
- Give yourself a hug