Self-Improvement Month: How To Self Massage

Wellbeing: it’s something people travel the world for. Whether it’s visiting the best retreats and spas, or seeking the most tranquil of outdoor spaces, we all love to invest in our health. As we enter National Self-Improvement Month, it’s worth asking ourselves if it really needs to cost the earth? Or can it be done at home?

As a therapist, I have visited some of the most luxurious high end spas for work purposes, and sure, they have a quiet atmosphere that’s hard to recreate if you have a home full of lively children. But the promises the treatment lists promote (such as leaving your skin feeling softer, rejuvenated and de-stressed) can also be done at home. All you need is the right products, some spare time, and possibly a lock on the door!

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Body

Treating your body to a relaxing ritual once a week at home will not only help your skin to look its best and improve circulation, but it’ll also help to relax and ease tired muscles. When your muscles are relaxed, you will instantly notice an improvement in your posture and stance, making you feel (and look!) less tense.

Your Body Ritual:

Here are a few steps to follow for the perfect body ritual…

Body Brush: This should be done first on dry skin and is a great addition to your morning routine every day. You want a apply a light sweeping movement so you can help move the lymph fluid that is just under the skins surface and move it towards the heart, this will aid the lymphatic system at removing any fluid retention and brush off dead skin cells.

Exfoliate: My personal favourites are salt and oil scrubs, I find they provide a much better exfoliation. With a warm damp cloth pat your skin to moisten it and then apply your chosen scrub. You need to apply a brisk and firm movement in circles from the feet upwards covering your whole body. Salt scrub can be quite messy but embrace it; it will be well worth it! The best place to use the scrub is in the bathroom either place a towel on the floor to stand on or stand in the bath/shower.

Quick tip: don’t let your skin get too wet, otherwise the salt will dissolve. When your skin is buffed to perfection, shower it all off. This can be like a body treatment in itself, you can either blot the skin dry and get dressed or if you want a full skin makeover, remove the oil with skin wash and follow the below steps to lock in moisture.

Body mask layering: Your very own body wrap! This is adapted from treatments that I performed in the spas for clients. It’s a way of locking in the most moisture for your skin and layering it so it is absorbed slowly and fed with nutrients over a period of time, its perfect to sleep in and is best done just before bed. You might also want to wear some loose cotton clothing over it to ensure full absorption.

Method:

Apply a body serum first as this is water based delivering the quickest surge of nutrients straight to your skin and its absorbed the easiest.
Body oil is the second one to apply. Massage the oil into the skin, and remember it needs to be a natural oil from pressed plants and nuts as this will have essential fatty acids that work in sync with your skin, which pass easily into the upper layers of the skin.
Lastly,apply a thin layer of moisturizer over the oil. This now becomes a layer lock with the easily absorbed products applied first drawing in the next layer and so on.

I can guarantee your skin will feel loved and pampered without feeling heavy or greasy

Face

Products that you use on the face are undoubtedly super important as they hydrate, protect and restore the skin, using ingredients you would struggle to locate at home. Once you have found the ideal facial skincare products which suit your needs, there’s something extra you can do to make them more effective, and that is facial massage.

Facial massage helps to stimulate blood circulation, delivering essential nutrients to the blood vessels which then feed the skin.

Method:

After cleansing, apply an eye moisturizer. You want it to be about the size of a grain of rice evenly spread around the top of the cheekbone, just underneath the delicate skin of the eye.
Don’t be afraid to spread it out- massage it in towards the ears gently sweeping over where the crows feet would set in. With any excess, sweep it under the eyebrow, rolling your brow between your thumb and index finger.
The next product to apply after eye cream would be a facial serum. Apply a few pumps to your hands, rub gently together and pat onto skin. Keep lightly patting all over your face but removing your hands in a peeling motion. This will create a very gentle suction movement providing deeper absorption of the product.
Oil or moisturizer can be applied next. If you’re applying both apply oil first. This is now the time to perform your facial massage.
Apply the product to the skin in the same method as above, once your product is applied on both face and décolleté use gentle sweeping movements from décolleté up to chin and repeat this about five times.
Next, slide you thumbs along your jawline up to your ears, followed by sliding you index finger under your cheekbone towards the ear. These movements will gently push fluid from the face to the nearest lymph nodes.
Next, divide the forehead into three horizontal sections. Starting in the middle closest to the eyes, use your thumbs to slide out towards the ears and then move onto the second and third, always draining outwards.