Guided Self Massage: Face & Head

Rejuvenate your entire body through compassionate self-massage. I will talk you through a meditative practice to improve circulation and release tension in the face and head. Have some face oil or lotion nearby if you like in case you need it, though not required. Recorded live on Insight Timer.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome.

So as we arrive it's always nice to start the practice by washing the hands,

Setting up your space.

This is a guided self massage as you probably saw from the title.

So there's a few things that you might want.

You might want to have some oil that you are comfortable putting on your face.

You might want a cup of water for drinking and for additional moisture on the face as you work.

So arriving,

Transitioning from your busy morning,

Your busy day,

Landing in the space,

Setting the intention for self-care,

For healing,

For letting go,

For whatever it is that you need.

Taking a moment,

A few breaths to set that intention for yourself.

And right away bringing the hands together,

Warming the hands by squeezing each hand,

Alternating,

Squeezing the fingers,

Pressing the palms together,

And bring the hands to the face,

The neck,

Wherever they land is just right.

And breathing that intention from the hands to the face,

Healing,

Release,

Gentle self-care.

And just begin by gently resting the fingertips on the sides of the jaw,

Maybe at the back of the head,

Just resting gently and lightly letting them fall,

Tracing the jawline with the fingertips.

There's really no way to do anything wrong really.

Do what feels right to you if I make a suggestion and it's not working.

Just return here,

Return to the fingertips of the jawline and just letting gravity pull.

Just introducing the hands to the face in this new way.

If you haven't joined us before this is maybe something new for you.

Just decide that you are your massage therapist today.

And we're still just tracing the jawline lightly pulling the fingertips down,

Letting them fall really with gravity.

And when you're ready returning to that starting position,

Resting the fingertips,

All five fingertips somewhere at the back of the neck,

The back of the head,

Probably at the cheekbones or the jawline,

Wherever they are,

It's just fine.

And starting the small circular motions and right away you'll notice the pressure that you want is different with each area.

So giving your focus to each finger separately,

Deciding the level of pressure that feels good to you.

When we're working on the neck we never apply pressure at the front of the neck.

That is sensitive area.

So when we're using pressure make sure you feel the muscle,

Make sure you're checking in with yourself.

Be gentle to start.

And right away noticing the effects,

Right away noticing it changes your breath,

It changes the way you feel.

You might notice right at the back of the skull,

Right at the back of the neck,

Those muscles can use more pressure.

So give that if that feels good.

And we're doing small circular motions where you're resting the fingertip on the surface of the skin and pushing the muscles beneath.

So you're pushing the skin over the muscles beneath.

We're not gliding and creating friction at the surface.

We're resting the fingertips,

Applying light to deep pressure and moving around the muscles beneath.

And so then we adjust the fingers.

We just move them to another place along the jawline and small circular motions.

And again avoiding any heavy pressure at the front of the neck.

And every so often adjust the fingertips covering all the area along the jawline,

Probably working into the cheeks a bit.

Wherever your fingertips land is right,

Just trying to cover the whole area of the cheeks,

The jawline,

Up to the ears,

With the pressure that feels right to you.

So once you know what you're doing,

Just sort of let go of the doing.

Be the receiver of the work.

Close the eyes and breathe.

And it's the same motion,

Fingertips,

Small circular motions coming around the mouth.

Maybe you're down to two to four fingertips that can fit in the area,

But adjust your pressure and you can cover any area.

Beneath the nose,

And getting into the cheek muscles.

They're working hard,

Chewing,

Talking.

They get very tight.

You'll notice once you get in there,

You might be able to give a little more pressure there.

Just check in.

Give yourself a break.

Let that go.

Shake out the hands right away,

Taking a break.

This is potentially new for you,

New for your body.

So you might already be a little tired in the hands or the back.

Adjust your seat if you need to.

If you decided now I'm holding these hands up,

I would like something to rest my elbows on in front of me.

Find that new position and come back when you're ready.

And anytime the hand,

The fingers are working,

Try to relax them all.

Whether they're applying pressure or not,

Just give them a rest as opposed to holding them tight or holding the elbows out.

Just relax everything that you can.

And so we'll quiet the muscles by stroking again.

So we started with this motion,

Fingertips at the ears,

Gently gliding down to the chin,

And that will quiet the muscles,

Signaling that we're done in this area.

And then we're moving up to the sides of the head,

Maybe around the temples,

The cheekbones.

Same motion.

So we can go away on to autopilot sooner.

If you have glasses,

This is a good time to remove them.

And so the skin around the eyes is very sensitive,

So that it will be very light pressure or avoid the area completely.

You can get in over the sinuses,

Over the cheekbones,

Small circular motions with the fingertips,

Working now on the mid face,

Tracing the bones.

Maybe when you get to the side of the face,

You feel you have the option to go a little deeper with the pressure.

You're the therapist,

Do what feels right to you.

Remembering to breathe and receive this work.

And as you get closer to the sides of the head again,

You could probably spend a whole session here.

But we're focused on the face first,

We will come back to the head and the scalp.

Small circular motions tracing from the nose out to the temples.

Pressure's up to you.

Checking in with how the skin feels if you would like to use some lotion or oil at this point that might feel nice.

A lot of times the natural oils of the face can guide you.

And when that feels good,

Just a light brushing,

Like sliding the fingertips over the sides.

Now you can use maybe the whole hand,

Rest them over the face and brushing out.

And hold for a moment when you get to the ears,

When you get to the sides of the head,

Just hold.

And repeat that.

We're brushing the hands,

The whole hand rests,

And just slide out gently.

One or two more times.

And let that go.

Again,

Shake out the hands,

Give yourself a break,

Stretch.

Give all our focus to the face,

We may start to build tension somewhere else in the body,

So we check in often to try to avoid that.

Shake it out.

And when you're ready,

Coming back,

We'll do again the same motion now on the forehead,

Starting wherever the hands lie.

Small circular motions,

Working with the pressure that feels good to you.

We're working the muscles beneath the skin.

Here you mostly feel bone likely.

There's certainly muscles under there,

Connective tissues.

And when you're ready,

Go on autopilot,

Just relax,

Feel how this releases the whole body.

This is your self-care session.

Every so often adjusting the fingertips to cover the whole area of the forehead,

Including the eyebrows,

Still avoiding the skin right around the eyes,

It's very sensitive.

Focused on the forehead,

Small circular motions.

And when that feels good,

Resting the fingertips at the forehead,

Circling,

Tracing the bone,

The eye socket coming around the nose,

The bridge of the nose up,

Circling around.

So we're essentially tracing the eye socket,

The bone right along the bridge.

When you get to the cheekbones,

It might be less easy,

So go slow.

The slower you go,

The easier it is to glide over the skin without oil.

And if it doesn't feel good,

Return to something else we did earlier.

We'll make the circles bigger,

Or just go in half circles.

The full circle doesn't feel good,

Half circles feel wonderful as well.

Working from the bridge of the nose up into the forehead and around to the temples.

Again,

Relaxing the shoulders down,

Relaxing the elbows,

All the fingers that aren't working,

Just relax.

Breathe and receive this work.

One or two more turns.

And let that go,

Shaking out the hands,

Relaxing,

Taking a break,

Resting the hands down,

Feeling the relaxation throughout the body.

And when you're ready,

Coming back,

Moving on to the head.

And again,

It's the same motion.

We're starting with the fingertips resting on the scalp,

Pushing the muscles around,

Small circular motion.

And you can offer more pressure here,

Most likely.

Wherever you start is perfect.

When you feel complete in that area,

Just pick up the fingertips,

Adjust to a new spot,

Small circular motions.

And here,

Even if your hair is tied up,

You can work over since you are putting the fingertips down and moving.

We're not doing a like a hair washing motion,

So shouldn't be too messy.

And you can go as slow or as fast as you want with the circles.

If you started at the top of the head,

Just start moving back.

If you started at the base of the skull,

Start moving up.

And for this motion,

It might feel better to lie down if you can.

You can relax the arms back or rest the elbows on something in front of you.

Just keep moving around the head,

Covering all the areas.

I really let go here and go on autopilot.

There's no way to do it wrong,

Just don't hurt yourself.

Remembering to breathe and receive this work,

Letting go of the work,

Letting go of the doing.

Coming back to your intention as you move around the head,

Infusing that healing,

Infusing that release into the body.

If you feel like you've covered the area that you want to cover,

Come back to something we did earlier that you wanted more of.

And when you're ready,

Let that go,

Resting the arms down,

Relaxing.

One more step here.

So taking both hands and making Vulcan hands or two and two fingers,

And in that open space,

Place the ears.

I said differently,

Putting the hands on the sides of the head with fingers in front of and behind the ears.

And we're just running the fingertips up and down in front of and behind the ears.

A few glasses once again,

Take them off.

And really trace all around the ears,

Pushing up,

Pushing down.

For me,

I can apply a good amount of pressure here,

But check in with yourself,

Do what feels good to you.

Pause and hold in places that are maybe sore.

Again,

If you wear glasses,

Wherever they rest might be your sore spot or not.

And pause and do small circular motions if that feels good.

Releasing the elbows,

Releasing the hands,

Any fingers not working,

Relax them.

Tracing in front of and behind the ears,

And then coming into the jaw,

Small circular motions.

And give the full attention to the ears,

Finishing that area.

And let that go.

And to close our session,

Lightly brush the hands from the ears down to the jaw.

So just rest the fingertips at the ears and allow them to gently trace the jawline just as we started.

And continue for the face,

Starting at the forehead,

Allowing the fingertips just light as a feather,

Drift down the face,

Closing.

Calming the muscles,

Tracing the neck,

Also light fingertips,

Quieting the muscles,

Signaling that this is closed.

And bring the hands together at your lap or wherever they land,

Pausing to receive this work,

Absorbing the beautiful energy you've created,

You've released,

You've found in this self-care space.

Holding that for just a few more breaths before we move on.

And when you're ready,

Coming back slowly,

Release the hands,

Shake out the arms.

They worked hard today,

In a beautiful way.

Shaking up arms,

Give a stretch.

Stretch the back,

Stretch the neck.

And thank yourself for this time.

Thank you for joining.

Take care.

Reviews

What a lovely Practice! Thank you so much for this gift! I will definitely be doing it over and over again

Amazing, thank you!