Lymphatic Face Massage

Settle into a comfy seat for lymphatic self massage. This sequence helps bolster your immune system, while reducing fluid and inflammation in your face and neck. Practice regularly for greater benefits!

Transcript

Today I'm switching up our quote-unquote yoga class for a lymphatic massage sequence for the neck and the face. And I'm doing this for many reasons. Number one, At the time of this recording, It's January, Deep into cold and flu season. If we, If you can do this sequence consistently and regularly, It has the potential to keep. Are you healthy? It prevents you getting the flu or a cold. But at the same time, Even when it's not this kind of a cold and flu season and done regularly, You know, You have the ability to keep your immune system functioning at a higher level. And then just some extra little bonuses is that it helps to reduce puffiness in the face. Congestion and it just helps for an overall ease of freedom and feeling in the face. So. I'll talk a little bit about why we're doing what we're doing as we go along. So first, I want you to find the hollow of the collarbone. So locate the collarbone. And then put your fingers like. Behind it. So we're going to. Have very light little strokes here And so this is my left hand. I'm drawing the letter J. And my right hand is drawing the letter L. I'm not moving it down below the collarbone. It's staying. At the same place I'm gently moving the skin. Down and out to each side. So we begin and end with our massage sequences here. Because this is where all of the lymphatic fluid from the arms, From the neck, From the lower body, They all drain right here. So our light, Our touch is going to be light the entire time. So when we say massage, It is not the kind of traditional massage that you think of. So it feels like you're not really doing a whole lot, But the lymphatic vessels are right underneath the skin. That is why our touch is light. Okay, So now we're going to use the pinky side of the hand and we're going to gently coax from behind the ears down the neck. So we're clearing the space from kind of bottom to top. And by that, You know, If we were wanting to clear the ears and the chin and we try to get this fluid to drain, It has nowhere to go. It's going to get clogged up. So we have to clear here. Then here. So as you do this, You can start to move the hand around toward the front of the neck. And if this is awkward for you, You can cross the hands and then lightly use the pads of the fingers. I do it both ways. It just depends on how I'm feeling that day. When I first began this, This was really awkward for the wrist. So I did this. So you can interchange it as you need. Let's do three or four more. Make sure you're breathing as you do this. And we'll almost always, After several different techniques, We'll always come back here just to continue this. This opening. So now you're going to take Spock or peace fingers, Whatever feels the most comfortable to you. So you're going in front of the ear and behind, And then you're drawing a letter C. So from top to bottom. Lightly drawing the skin down. We don't want to go up and down. You're going to confuse the limbs. Only down or in the direction of your heart. So this is a good place. To swallow a couple of times. So I'm kind of picking my hand up. Drawing that letter C down. And then release the skin and hand wounds. Up and off again. Couple more. Okay, And then just a few times down the neck. To the collarbones once more. Okay. So now we're gonna take that C stroke that we did behind the ear and we're gonna flip it. So it's like a rainbow. I'm using the pads of my fingers. I'm doing about three times across. From my chin really gentle. So let me come a little closer. So I don't know how much you can see. You can see I'm kind of moving the skin back and then when I release it, The skin bounces back. So extremely light, But you know, Enough that the skin only is moving. When I mean skin only, Like not the muscle underneath it. So around here. I go like below the chin a little bit. And those I usually do one at a time because it's just really awkward to do both. As you do this continue to swallow. This is around the time where people start to feel some drainage. So at this point, Everything we're doing, We're going to kind of divide the face in half and we're bringing all of this fluid toward the ears. And we've created this now open pathway to drain. It drains behind your ears, Down your neck and into the collarbones. We're gonna do two more right here. Now, I'm spending a lot more time on this with you. However, When I'm doing this in the morning, A minute. Maybe a minute and a half if I have the time. This is not something I spend a lot of time doing. At each application. So now same thing, But above your list. I will say I've also started doing it at night when I'm laying in bed, Listening to a podcast. Lights are off. And I'm doing this. And I do that if I forgot to do it in the morning. Or just simply didn't have time. So something like this, It's. There's no right time. It's do when you have those two or three minutes. And I say three, Just think in the beginning, It's nice to spend a little extra time for you to get the motion. In the rhythm and the pressure down. One more. Okay, We're gonna go behind the ear again, Just three or four times. Swallow. And then down the neck. And collarbones. So we're going to swipe down the nose a couple of times. And then same thing. From the nose, Cheekbones. Out to the temples. Keep the touch light. Two more. Okay. We swipe up the forehead a couple of times. And then we bring it out. So this skin, It's a lot thinner. It doesn't, It feels like it's not moving. That's okay. Don't go harder. You know, I want to offer to, I should have said this at the beginning. You don't want to do this when you're sick, When you're actively have a cold or a flu or an infection. At that point, You want to wait for the infection to pass. So this is. . . Purely preventative. And, You know, If you're at that point where you're not quite sure if you're sick and you think you might be. Do it, But go lighter. You know, Because once you're sick, You kind of just have to let the lymphatic system do its thing and clear out. The six cells. Right, One more. Right. And then we go behind the ears. And because. . . We're taking a little longer with this sequence. We'll do a few extra things that. . . I don't. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. It all depends on the timing. Maybe how I feel, How tired I think I feel or look. So we're going to pinch the eyebrows. And this, You know. Firm, But a little more firm than the massage we've been doing. So just bringing the fluid. Out. Kind of swipe. A little bit. Okay, Then you could. . . So I've got my thumbs very gently holding down below my eyes and I'm kind of lifting my eyes up with the index finger. Move the index fingers over out to the side a little bit. So you're moving out to the edge of the eye. You can move the eyes left and right. I would not do this at night. This is really nice to do in the morning time. Just help wake yourself up a little bit. Okay. Just a couple of swipes along the eyebrows. And then lastly, I play with under the eyes because everyone knows that's where a lot of fluid collects, The darker spot. So I change it up. Sometimes I do like a little waterfall because, Again, You want the fluid to move. Out toward the ear so i do like ring middle index and i kind of drum it But you know, When I say drum, It is extremely light. So I do three passes from the middle, And then I kind of move my hands over a little bit. Sometimes. So that's one technique. I don't do all of these together. So that's one technique. Another is take those tiny C's that we've been doing and I go even like half as light as we were because the under eye is so sensitive. You definitely don't want to pull at that skin. So I do this when I feel like the bags are bigger. And there's more fluid in there. And then lastly, I just kind of just to wake up the eyes. Just a little tapping this is just added i wouldn't necessarily consider this lymphatic Okay, So we cleared the face. Let's go behind the ears. Down the neck. We're almost done. Two more things here. So what I want you to do is bring your fingertips on your traps. Your elbows are high. You're going to take a breath in. And on your exhale, You're just going to drop your elbows and your hands slide forward. So you're bringing the fluid from the back of the neck. Forward into this area where it's going to drain at the collarbones. So let's do that a few times. So you're not digging the hands in. You're just letting your elbows drop on an exhale. Take a breath in. And exhale, Elbows drop, Hands just lightly slide over the skin to the collarbones. Two more. And then the hands are basically at the end position where we do a few of those J and L strokes in the hollow of the collarbone. And then lower your hands, Adjust your seated position. Going to sound funny, But you feel the feeling. All over your face. There's just simply more sensation. Hopefully you're more alert. Also more calm and more focused. Let's take five deep breaths here together. No clutter your eyes open. OK, So we spend a good chunk of time on this, Even though this is a short class. It's considerably longer than. My lymphatic massages every day. My suggestion, If you would like to add this to a near daily routine. Do. Maybe four passes for J and L's. Four strokes down the neck. Four behind the ear. Just do four of everything. And that'll give you a couple of minutes. I think that making it a quicker routine will make it more accessible for you and you'll do it more often because this is something you definitely benefit from. I guess just like yoga and most things, If you do it consistently. So. . . Thank you for your time. Thank you for trying something new or maybe this isn't new because I've been adding it to our classes. But thank you for being here and for continuing to be here to do this work with me. Thank you so much.