Self-Massage For Vocal Tension Relief

Envelop your tissues in loving awareness by taking in this guided self-massage for the face, neck, and jaw. This massage helps to relieve tension in the vocal tract to support clearer, easeful communication. Find yourself some "me-time", and I'll meet you there with this guided self-massage.

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

This is a face,

Throat,

And jaw massage for singers,

Speakers,

And anybody who wants to give some love to their body.

To begin,

Find a comfortable place to sit and ground down by taking a deep breath in.

Invite gentleness and curiosity into this practice of self-care as you relax and nourish the tissues of your throat,

Face,

And head with attention and gratitude.

Be aware that there is a bone called the hyoid bone at the top of the throat,

Just below the jaw.

Be careful not to massage this bone.

Rub the hands together and run them through your scalp and hair.

Imagine you are pulling away any unwanted energy,

Making space for new energy to flow in.

Spray some water or hydrosol over your skin and breathe deeply.

Take a face oil of choice and rub it all over your face and neck,

Familiarizing your hands to the surface of your body and feeling for any points of tension.

Take your hand into a clam shape and begin to make small outward circles along the muscles surrounding your larynx.

Starting from the top of your throat and moving down towards your chest,

You can close your eyes here and really sink into the feeling of your throat.

So now gently pull down the throat a few times with your index finger and thumb,

Relaxing the tongue and jaw as you do so.

Hold the hands over your upper chest and inhale deeply.

Exhale,

Tilting your head up and sigh,

Releasing the tongue and jaw.

Inhale,

Pull the hands down the throat,

Bringing your chin to a neutral position and exhale,

Tilt the head up and sigh out.

Repeat a few times and feel the fascia in your throat and jaw releasing.

Now we move to the ropey side muscles of the neck.

With whichever hand is most comfortable for you,

Locate the large muscle at the side of your neck.

It runs up behind your ear and down into your clavicle.

Starting at the top,

Gently tug this muscle out and give it a wiggle.

Continue this motion down the neck,

Keeping the chin as neutral as possible.

So following the channel of the lymph,

Run your fingers up behind your ear and down your neck.

Now repeat on the other side,

Feeling how this release encourages more relaxation in your body.

Loosen the jaw and the tongue if they are not already relaxed.

Pulling the lymph fluid up behind the ear and down the back of the neck,

Clearing the channels.

So so holding the top of the neck and the back of the skull,

Inhale deeply and gently pull the hands down towards the chest and exhale.

So with soft fingers locate your larynx.

You may wish to swallow to find how it moves in your throat.

So being very mindful,

We are going to now move the larynx side to side,

Caring for it like you would a newborn baby.

Ensure your chin is in a neutral position and refrain from making any sound or swallowing while you manipulate the larynx.

Note that this area of the body is surrounded in cartilage that may pop or click if you are dehydrated or have not massaged this area before.

Take your finger to either side and breathe in.

As you exhale,

Slowly move the larynx to one side.

Inhale,

Move it to the other side.

To the other side.

And in your own time,

With whatever breathing pattern suits you,

Continue to move your larynx back and forth.

As you continue remembering to relax the jaw and the tongue.

So now just gently pull the larynx down towards the chest.

Chest.

And let's move on to the jaw.

With the outer edge of your wrist,

Locate the jaw hinge and pull down towards your chin along the jaw line,

Remembering to relax your jaw and tongue as you pull down towards your chin.

Now begin to make nice big circles wherever on your jaw hinge feels best for you,

Working the circles towards your mouth and chin.

You can make the circles as big or as small as you like.

This is your body,

Just feeling the tension melting away as you give your awareness to your body.

Now at the jawline,

Press the fingers into the gums and push up,

Applying as much pressure as you need.

And then doing the same at the cheeks,

Pulling downward.

And now we're going to do some pressure point therapy for the face.

When I'm looking for pressure points,

I search for a feeling of a subtle dip in the skin.

It's very subtle,

But once you find the point,

You'll know as it begins to make an impact quickly and each of the points mirror each other on the face.

Find the first point at the beginning of your eyebrows.

Now moving to the mid eyebrows,

Taking time to search for that subtle dip in the skin.

Now moving to the temples,

Pressing with whatever pressure feels right for you.

Moving under the eyes,

Inhaling fresh energy into the point.

Beside the nose,

The outer lips,

The top lip,

The bottom lip,

And the jaw hinge.

And then just brush all that energy away again,

Clearing the lymph.

And now we will do the bonus exercise,

The tongue.

Find yourself a clean cloth to begin.

Pull the tongue out of the mouth and work your fingers from the tip of the tongue back down the sides,

Lightly tugging at this muscle.

Holding the tongue out,

Say,

Ahhhhh.

Take the thumbs on the underside of the tongue and pull the tongue up and down,

Up and down.

Continue to release your tongue in whatever way feels natural for you,

Getting curious about what feels good and what feels releasing.

And when you're done,

Take a deep breath and exhale your tongue out naturally without the cloth.

So now you can play with the lip area as well,

Again very gently pulling the lips out,

Pressing them,

Moving them from side to side.

Sending the body so much love and feeling the tension melt away.

And once you're done with the lips,

Going back to any area that feels like it needs a little more attention.

And give yourself a rinse with vital energy.

Now we will close the massage with a brief meditation.

Close your eyes,

Send your awareness into your hands.

Imagine your hands filling with warm golden light,

Imagine they are glowing.

Your hands send this golden light into your throat,

Jaw,

Mouth and face.

Soon your entire head is warm and glowing with the golden light of your loving awareness.

Say thank you to this part of your body which has worked since the moment you were born to help you communicate your truth into the world around you.

Send your gratitude and love deep into the tissues,

Acknowledging them and everything they do for you.

Imagine the golden light spreading into the space around your throat and head.

Imagine yourself glowing in the light of unconditional love.

Slowly let the hands come off of your throat and feel the space around you glowing with this golden light,

An aura around your whole being glowing with the light of love,

Glowing with the light of gratitude.

This light is always with you deep in your tissues.

Slowly come back to awareness of your breath,

To the place you are resting and take a moment of acknowledgement for yourself.

Thank you for taking this time to nourish and give yourself some love.

Reviews

Thank you for the amazing experience!
Everything from start to finish is perfectly fluid and balanced.
My face feels lighter, jawline relaxed, and a practice that I will definitely be using often, didn't realize how tense my jaw was.

This is great! Excellent pacing, easy to follow, perfect length, and soothing chimes. Even bonus with the tongue was helpful. Very calming and tension releasing. Thank you for this gift! 🙌🏼🙏🏼

Outstanding. Would just suggest giving the listener a heads up in the beginning that they will need a spray bottle and a cloth.

This was absolutely splendid experience. Highly recommend for tension relief. Many thanks!

FABULOUS..!!..