state and mental abilities. The more you nurture yourself and learn to balance your inner and outer selves, the more insight you have on the world. Beauty evolves with age. As you get older, you learn to tap into a new source of beauty that comes from personal experience.
Ayurvedic facial massage gives amazing results. It relieves tension from areas that you had no idea were tense. After a massage you are left with a terrific feeling of well-being; your whole body feels totally relaxed and soothed. We owe a great deal to Ayurveda for the particular form of massage that we have developed. But we have also incorporated other therapies. Our system of facial massage includes other techniques that have now become separate modalities. These are yoga, polarity therapy, acupressure, and Swedish-style massage. Yoga, like Ayurveda, has its origins in ancient Hindu scriptures called the Vedas. It is a system for life that uses postures, special breathing methods, meditation, and other techniques to release and channel energy through the body. Polarity therapy stimulates and balances human energy fields – subtle patterns of electro-magnetic energy that surround the body. In polarity therapy, illness is viewed as a disturbance in these patterns and so health is restored by rebalancing the energy fields.
Reiki is a Japanese word meaning “universal life force energy”. The “ki” part of the word is the same as “prana” in Hindi and “qi” or “chi” in Chinese and is the term used to describe the form of energy that underlies everything in the universe. Reiki is a system for channeling universal energy to others for the purpose of healing and is similar to the chakra energy balancing used in Ayurveda. Compared with many Eastern healing systems, Reiki is relatively new as it was only developed just over a hundred years ago.
Acupressure is closely related to acupuncture but instead of applying needles, practitioners use tapping, pressing, and rubbing actions to stimulate and rebalance energy pathways in the body.
Swedish-style massage involves more rigorous stroking and twisting actions of the hands to stimulate the skin, underlying tissues, and muscles. This form of massage works on specific areas to improve the condition of the skin, lift up the face, and relax the whole body. By combining all of these disciplines, we have developed a form of massage that is perfectly tailored to tackle the stresses and strains of our modern, fast-paced, Western lives.
benefits of face lift massage
Face lift massage proves that you don’t need cosmetic surgery to look younger. You can work towards reversing the aging process by yourself, by getting a friend to help you, or by visiting a qualified therapist regularly – and there isn’t a snip or tuck to be seen! Nor is there a need to use any of the expensive cosmetics that claim to offer the elixir of youth in a bottle. Wrinkles and expression lines are reduced to give you a more vibrant and youthful appearance. Your skin becomes softer, complexion and skin tone improve, bagginess, sagginess, and puffiness are reduced, and you’ll notice the elasticity returning to your face.
These are the visible benefits. But you’ll also notice that you feel more relaxed as tension is released from facial muscles and the adjacent tissues, leaving your face feeling more mobile and your mental attitude much more positive. Headaches and other tension-related symptoms often disappear. In addition, as your body’s energy flow is improved, you are left with a sense of general well-being, confidence, and joy. Be prepared – you may well feel like hugging the people around you!
CHAPTER 2 know your facial muscles
the force behind the face
The muscles of the face and neck vary in size and shape from the small, delicate structures around the upper lip to the large and powerful muscles of the neck and jaw.
All the muscles of the body are made up of long cords known as muscle fibers. These, in turn, are formed from smaller threads called myofibrils, which comprise even smaller strands, or filaments. The filaments slide past each other to contract the muscle and so exert a force. Your facial muscles play an important role in the way you look. They nestle closely together, sometimes even overlapping, and are joined to the skin in such a way that when they contract they pull the face into shape. By acting in combination they create the myriad expressions you use to reveal your conscious and unconscious feelings and interact with the world around you.
All muscles maintain a slight tension at all times to hold your position against the force of gravity. This is called muscle tone. However, when you’re tense you tend to tighten the muscles for long periods, which impedes the flow of blood and starves them of oxygen and nutrients. For example, when driving a car in heavy traffic you tend to hunch over the wheel, developing tight, knotted muscles. Over time, the muscles become painfully tense and increasingly stiff. The best way to relax the muscles and restore their mobility is through massage and exercise. This is as true for the muscles of the face as it is for the rest of the body.
Facial muscles contract to reveal different expressions. If those expressions become habitual the muscles may stiffen up. Through massage you can release muscular tension and restore mobility to the face, so helping to restore your youthful features.
muscles of the face and neck
Before we go any further, you should get to know your face in more detail. It may help to find out about some of the muscles that lie underneath your skin and learn the names of a few of the major ones. The following are some of the most important muscles worked in facial massage.
muscles of the face and neck
muscles around the eyes
muscles of the nose
