Wake up face massage
Brayden Olsen
Just like your body benefits from a 2-hour rubdown after a long work week, your face benefits tremendously from a massage. We’re not suggesting you give yourself a 2-hour facial massage every morning but just 3-4 minutes can have remarkable effects on the glow, puffiness, clarity and overall aging process of your face. If you suffer from acne, signs of aging or experience swollen eyes when you wake up in the morning – this daily practice is for you. Each step of the massage detailed below focuses on specific areas of the face to provide different benefits, from relieving acne and wrinkles to preventing teeth grinding etc. Below are just a few of the most noteworthy benefits of integrating a self facial massage to your daily routine.
BENEFITS OF A FACE MASSAGE
It depuffs a morning face & under-eyes by draining the lymph (read: Self-body massage with oil).
It purifies, nourishes, and tones the skin on a deep cellular level.
It brings oxygen to the area increasing collagen production and natural glowing complexion.
It minimizes breakouts. The lymphatic system is responsible for carrying white blood cells throughout the body, clearing away toxins so that stimulating the movement of lymph fluid with massage will support the skin’s natural cleansing processes and clear out acne.
It relaxes the look of fine lines.
It offers relief from allergies, sinus congestion and headaches from congestion.
It relaxes muscle tension such as TMJ (pain in the temporomandibular joint - jaw joint & surrounding muscles).
HOW TO DO A FACE MASSAGE
Try this on both days of a weekend so come Monday, you’ve got the hang of things and can implement it in your routine quick and easy.
You will want to apply gentle pressure, you don’t want to push too hard to avoid crushing your lymphatic vessels. The only pressure you really need is enough to gently move the skin. In the steps below, we guide you towards applying pressure at strategic locations where lymph nodes & marma are… Marma points are sites where flesh, veins, arteries, tendons, bones and joints meet up. Massaging these energy pathways also helps to tone your facial muscles and helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines. It is incredibly calming and relaxing.
1. START AT THE BASE OF YOUR NECK
Apply & rub any face oil into the palms of your hands. Now place your 3 middle fingers in the soft tissue right above each side of your collar bone, right where your neck and your color bone meet, and slowly pump 40 times. Again, don’t press hard or go too quickly here, it’s a soft practice.
2. UNDERNEATH YOUR EARS
Now place the flat part of your fingers and top of palm underneath the ears and massage by pumping and pulling down slowing. You want to do this 5 times.
3. BACK OF YOUR NECK
Cup your hands together and put your fingers on the back of the neck and pull downward. Do that 10 times.
4. YOUR CHIN
Move to your chin and massage with both hands, using your 3 middle fingers. You have tons of lymph nodes right there so if you break out here a lot, you’re going to want to do this massage in particular because this will help clear up those breakouts.
5. YOUR MOUTH
Move to the corner of your mouth, massage it in circular motion 3 times. Do the same between your nose and upper lip, on your cupid’s bow dimple (the dip on top of your lip).
6. YOUR JAW
Make 2 fists with both hands and roll the knuckles of your fists at the back of the jaw to release the muscles. If you grind your teeth during sleep, this is for you.
7. YOUR CHEEKS
Using the flat part of your fingers and top of the palm, stroke your cheeks from chin to cheekbone, lifting the side of your cheeks in an upwards manner. Coming from the neck upwards. Repeat this 5 times on each side.
8. YOUR EYES
Massage right under the eyes using your 3 middle fingers along your nose. This is a great massage for puffy eyes and dark circles. Now, move to where the cheekbone and corner of the eyes meet and iron out existing crows feet by using both middle fingers and massaging the side of your eyes in an upwards manner.
9. YOUR FOREHEAD
Using your two middle fingers, massage your forehead by zig zagging your fingers across its surface. In circular motions, massage the third eye a few times.
Illustrations by Faustine Badrichani
NOTE FOR FIRST TIMERS
When you do this facial massage, you will feel the fluids moving, a slight tickle in the back of your throat or even mucus that you’ll want to spit out or blow in a tissue. You can experience teary eyes – all of these reactions are normal, that’s the lymphatic system draining its excess fluids and toxins.
