Lymphatic Drainage Self Massage

Self-manual lymphatic drainage (sMLD) relies on light, rhythmic skin-stretching strokes designed to stimulate initial lymph capillaries just under the dermis. Because the lymphatic system depends on smooth muscle contractions (lymphangion pumping) and external movement rather than a central pump like the heart, targeted self-care strokes offer both therapeutic and wellness benefits.

Transcript

Okay, So before you go in and you practice your lymphatic drainage treatment, On someone or you're doing a lymphedema treatment, You'd want to practice on yourself first. This is something you can give as self-care to someone who has lymphedema or for just relaxation, General health and wellness, And also for overall skin health. OK, So what we're going to do here is we're going to start first. With deep breathing. We want to open up those deep lymphatic nodes in the abdomen. So you're going to take a nice deep breath in through the nose. And then your belly is gonna rise as you're breathing in. You're going to bring it up through the chest and then out through the nose and repeat. Chest. And then out through the nose. So you're creating this pump. In your body and you're starting to get the fluid moving. Okay so let's do three. Deep breath in through the nose. And out. Deep breath in, Belly rises. Chest rises out through the nose. One more, Deep breath in. And out. Everything is pumping through. You can do this three to five times to begin any lymphatic drainage treatment. Now what we're gonna do is we're gonna open up in the auxiliary space. The collarbones and then just below the ears. So take a whole hand, Not just fingertips in this space. And what you're going to do is you're going to kind of imagine it as a pump. So just a gentle skin drag. And then relax your hand, Allow the skin to go back to normal. So there's a push phase and a relaxation phase. So push one Mississippi. And relax. Push, One Mississippi. And relax. You don't want to press down into the skin, You kind of want to feel like you're moving fluid. In that area. So it's kind of a subtle thing and it's a very patient art lymphatic drainage. But that's what's kind of nice about it. It's very relaxing. It helps you to stop in your day and do something that's really fun. Slow pace which we're not used to. In modern life. OK, So you want to do that five times, Five to eight times in each area. And one Mississippi skin drag. And then allow the tissue to relax. And then we're gonna move on to the other armpit. Place your whole hand down gently. Skin drag creating a little bit of a pump. Allow your hand to relax five times. Relax. Three. And relax for 10. And relax. Five. And relax. Then we're going to open up around the neck. So you can do this one side at a time or both sides. It's up to you. We'll do one side at a time since we're just practicing here. So just above the collarbone, Take your whole hand, The flat of your hand, And then Create a nice little skin drag there. To Three. For and five Let's do the other side. Place the flat of your hand down. Hopefully you guys can see this. Too. Three. For and 5. Then you're going to kind of pitchfork your fingers. You're going to place them in front of and behind your ear. And you're also going to have your hands flat. On the surface of the skin gently. And you're going to drag the skin down. In front of and behind the ear. And you're going to do this five times. So we're opening up all of these lymphatic watersheds where all the lymph nodes are first. And just try to get your rhythm down. One Mississippi, Drag down. Relax your hand. One Mississippi, Drag down, Pumping motions, Pumping the fluid. With a little bit of a torque. And back. And back. Okay, So we've opened up all of those channels. Now we're going to go in and treat the area. So you can start in the neck. I like to do both sides. Place both flats of your hands down. Try to keep your chin back and then. Pump down. Down towards the collarbones, Creating a little bit of a skin drag. Pump down. You could even place this part of your hand in the back of your neck. And then you could kind of pump it forward like this. As you're pumping, Just to get the back of your neck as well. Okay so One. Too. Debris for And five. You could do a little bit of effleurage to just pump and encourage some of that fluid down, Just gently. Okay, So now we're going to do in the chin. Some people get swelling there. In this area. So what I like to do here is I'll kind of use my whole hand just underneath the chin. Just hop and drag out. And we're going to do that five times. You're feeling the fluid kind of dip. Pump and drag out and relax. Hump and drag out and relax. It's important to kind of let go so you pump. And then you let go and allow the skin to return to its normal position. And we'll do that a couple times. We'll move up. Up a level here into the the chin, The cheek, The jawline. And we're doing this five times. And you're going towards the ears. So in the face you're moving from the midline towards those limp nodes. Beside the years. Five times, You can do around the lips, So here you can use fingertips. 1. To Three. For Five. Move a little bit more. One. Too. Three. For And five. As you guys can see, This is a very patient process. It's kind of a nice one. I feel like when you do this, It kind of brings you into this flow state because you're so focused. On feeling the fluid kind of pushing out. And pumping everything. That it feels really nice and grounding. Okay, So then go in the crow's feet area. And move. Towards dragging down. Slightly and to the side towards the ears. Five times. Here you can go. Just below in the eyelids. Here you want to make sure to be very sensitive because it's very thin in this area. And we're just doing that five times, Nice circles. You can move. Slightly to the side and do five more. Wee. Four. And five. Move up into the forehead. And here you can get quite a broad contact. And pump with your whole hand just to save time. And you're dragging out towards the side and slightly down. So you're in the midline and you're dragging, You're pumping out towards. The sides of the forehead in towards the ears. And you're doing that five times. You can even go up one level a little bit higher towards the hairline. And pump. Down and away, And we're gonna do that five times. Okay, So now we've gone to the top. We've opened up all the channels. And now what we're going to do is we're going to go back down draining the fluid back down. We'll do five more on the forehead here. Dragging down. And away towards the ears. Three. War. Five, We'll go down one more level. One. Two. Three. Four. And five. Below the eyebrows, One. Two. Three. Floor. Bye. Crow's feet, One. Too. Three. Four. And five. We're going to go in the cheeks, Get a nice broad contact. Too. Three. War. Five and then in the lower jaw region one too. Three. Four. And five. Now on the neck. One. You could even move this into the kind of below the chin to. . . Three. Four. And five. You wanna go below. Just above the collarbones, You can place your fingertips or you can place kind of broad hands down and do five. Humps. Yeah. Three. Or Bye. Then we'll go in the armpits again. This time I'm going to do both sides at the same time. Take a nice broad contact, Skin drag. One, Try to relax your muscles as you're doing this, If you're doing both sides at the same time. Try to use your body as kind of just this. . . A little bit of a pump. Dragging the skin, Relax. Little bit of pressure down, Drag the skin down. And relax. Little bit of pressure down, Drag the skin down. Relax, You're pumping the fluid. Through. And finally, We're gonna finish. With some deep breaths to end. The treatment. So deep breath in through the nose. Belly rises. Chest rises. Out through the nose, Creating the pump. Deep breath in through the nose. Belly rises. Chest rises. Out through the nose, One more. So take a moment, Notice how do you feel. How did you feel, Sorry, Before the treatment? How do you feel now? Does it feel, You should feel kind of like things are moving, Almost like a little bit of a tingly sensation, I would say. Like everything's a little bit more relaxed. Pliable and fluid in your body. Let's take a moment. Notice the sensations. This is how it's going to kind of feel for someone if you're doing a lymphatic drainage massage. Of course if someone had lymphedema it's going to feel a lot different than someone who does a health and wellness regime. But I would say if you want to do this and see if it improves your skin or the feeling of your face or even just makes you feel more relaxed on a daily basis, Try this once a day for a week. See how you feel afterwards and that will be a good gauge to see hey does lymphatic drainage massage work, Can I feel it, The difference, And if you feel the difference and you want to be a practitioner in this it's going to make so much of a difference because you're really going to believe in what you're doing and you're going to know hey this stuff really works.