Facial massage

They say you can tell a lot about a person by the expression on their face. What does your expression say to us about you? Are you being properly represented or is your body still showing us past emotions? Everyone used to ask my father what was wrong as he sat with a never ending scowl on his face. His response was always the same, “Nothing, why?” He always looked mad. These micro expressions can have a dramatic effect on our lives from not getting a job, attracting the wrong people, scaring away the right people and people just making judgement against us thinking we’re angry, sad, giddy, spacey, etc. We’ve all seen them and we’ve all done it.

I was prompted to write this article after seeing a commercial on television for an anti-wrinkle cream about how “Parentheses have a place, just not on your face.” I thought, “Why not?”  Too me it’s a sign someone smiles a lot and is possibly a happy person!

Mom was right to some degree when she said “If you make that face long enough, it’s gonna stay that way.” Our internal emotions reflect on our faces via signals sent to the muscles from the brain, so why would your face be any different than your shoulders or back. The most common phrase I hear from people is “I hold all my stress in my neck & shoulders” or wherever they feel the most tension. I and always reply “Why do you hold on to it?” And of course 99% of the time we’re not consciously aware we’re doing it. Actions such as sitting at a computer all day holding your shoulders up, leaning over your work, not breathing, and moving or twisting in the wrong direction are just a few things we do that we can bring awareness to, modify and relieve pain ourselves.

Above is a colored example of muscles in the face responsible for expression. Those wonderful little lines between the brow can result in deep wrinkles from things like constant squinting, anger, judgement, resentment, or those always in deep thought. Tight mouth? Perhaps you’re afraid to speak your mind, habit, ex or current smoker or an amazing whistler. My point being muscles hold memory and some things just need to be let go of before your face literally stays that way.

Facial creams, lotions and potions are fine to remove surface wrinkles. If it shows on the surface then something deeper internally has irrupted. A Buddhist monk once told me to learn to smile on the inside and the micro expressions on the outside will surface. Wrinkles and lines appear for many reasons. The most common are  over exposure to the sun, dehydration, emotional or mechanical expression, and age. Taking care of your skin with simple cleansing and moisturizing is a must, drinking plenty of water cleanses not only the body but brings water to the cells plumping them up. Emotional and mechanical expression can be changed through awareness of expressions. In other words, stop frowning and squinting. Age, well we can’t change that. There’s nothing more beautiful than a happy smiling senior, not a gumpy old man as they portray on tv to sell us that age is a bad thing.

If what’s in our head shows on our face, can what show’s on our face change how we feel? Endless studies have shown how just smiling and laughing can lighten our mood and release endorphins. You can feel more at ease and “light” just by relaxing those facial muscles. Try it during a stressful day.

1. Bring blood and circulation to the skin which aides in cell turn over and moving fluid reducing puffiness.

2. Stimulates your bodies own natural oil production relieving dry, oily and combination skin.

3. Loosens tight muscles holding our faces in those awkward expressions.

4. Tones the muscles. As we get older we don’t make goofy faces like when we were kids exercising those muscles. We get stuck in a few expressions because we’re stressed all the time.

5. Goodbye Botox! Botox freezes the muscles on the face so we don’t make the expressions that caused the wrinkles. WHY!!?! It could be used as a inhibitor to help break a squinting problem but it gets absorbed into the body and the wrinkles come back. Massage & relax that muscle & take a deep breathe.

The first place stress appears on the face is between the eyes. Using your middle and ring finger place the pads of your fingers over that muscle. Press firmly and move in a circular direction without gliding on the skin about 10x each direction. Then using your middle finger, glide slowly and firmly over that muscle stretching it in an upward movement. Move up to the area over the brow, this time use the pads of all 8 fingers and repeat.You can repeat this method all over the face adjusting pressure according to area and comfort level. No oil or lotion is needed since we are addressing the muscles not the skin per say.

For optimum results a light (weight of a nickle) pressure, circular cleansing of the face and neck is best 1st thing in the morning to stimulate the lymphatic system to drain puffiness away from the face and stimulate blood circulation to the skin. After a good nights rest the delicate filaments of the lymphatic system in the face have restored themselves and a firm pressure can damage them leading to prolonged puffiness. Massaging the face muscles is best done during the day when you feel tension setting in and right before bed. Massage, cleanse, sleep or cleans then massage with clean hands if your face is oily, dirty or you’re wearing make-up.

Let the world see who you really are, a loving human being. Drink plenty of water, get plenty of rest, let go of old negative emotions, learn to relax. Growing up and being responsible doesn’t mean being so serious that we forget to laugh, smile and be a little goofy. Make goofy faces at home, exercise those muscle. Add some funny noises too, it’s a great stress reliever.