It's a CEU year for me, so I'm doing a recap of some of the courses I'm studying for this Continuing Education cycle - partly to share what I've learned, and partly to help me retain and remember what I've learned!
Sometimes you need to step outside your comfort zone to see what you're missing. Such as I learned with my latest Continuing Education class. For my hands-on training this year I decided to step away from my usual modalities and try something new. I spent 2 days learning an assortment of massage techniques for the face. The class was designed to teach a full 75-minute treatment that was made up of several different massage modalities.
One thing I learned was a spa-like facial treatment made up mostly of products containing honey. Honey is an amazing product that has many health benefits, both when eaten, but also for the skin. Honey can detoxify the skin and calm irritation. Additionally. the stickiness of the honey can help with the final end-technique of the the entire sequence which the instructor called "honey lift" in which a series of quick hand movements uses the sticky honey to physically lift the skin of the face. The intention is to help to tighten and smooth skin, and reduce the appearance of puffiness and wrinkles. It was a fascinating procedure. I liked it, however I am not really set up like a spa, so I don't know how well I'll be able to do this whole treatment. Nonetheless, it has made me re-think how I do my regular facials and I may have to change things up a bit.
Within the span of the Honey Lift Facial, I also learned several other face massage techniques. One was face cupping and lymphatic drainage of the face. I studied Manual Lymphatic Drainage in the last CE cycle, but that was geared towards the whole body, and this lesson focused pretty exclusively on the face, and how it complimented and enhanced using face cupping. Cupping has steadily been gaining popularity since the 2016 Olympics when people noticed red suction cup looking marks all over swimmers' bodies. The premise of cupping is that a glass or silicone cup is placed over an area of the body, and either using heat or suction, a vacuum is created which then helps separate layers of muscle tissue allowing for better circulation which then helps muscles operate more efficiently as well as helping facilitate the removal and draining of nasty stuff like inflammation and not-so-nasty stuff like excess lymph fluid. When lymph fluid drains, it can also reduce puffiness and create not only better ability to breathe, but it also helps the face look cosmetically better due to reducing fine lines and wrinkles, making the skin more supple, and helping the skin glow.
Another part of the process was a combination of warm and cold stone face massage. I am already very familiar with hot stone massage, but warm stone massage is a little different. Hot stones are heated to 135-140 degrees and used all over the body to create a deep relaxation of tight muscles. That temperature is a little too warm to be used on the delicate skin of the face. Warm stones are heated to about 120 degrees and are used to relax tight facial muscles and encourage an increase of circulation which will in turn help encourage a flushing of lymph and other fluids that may be causing puffiness or that "clogged" feeling in the face.
The warm stone massage is immediately followed by the cold stone massage which was a very new thing for me. The cold stones are made of marble as opposed to the basalt warm/hot stones. Marble naturally stays below body temperature so it automatically provides a cooling effect when used on the skin, so when chilled or made colder, the stones create a strong effect as far as relieving inflammation, tightening pores, decreasing wrinkles, and soothing irritation. The cold stones are used on specific acupressure points on the face to continue encouraging lymphatic drainage and clearing out clogged areas in the sinuses. The cold also creates a cooling and refreshing feeling that invigorates the skin and makes the face feel tighter and brighter. Additionally, it is very beneficial for relieving sinus pain and pressure, and since I live in an area where seasonal allergies are very bad, it was very enlightening. I really enjoyed learning about the cold stones and plan to incorporate them into my service menu in several ways.
Overall, this was a really fun class. I learned a lot of things that were designed as a whole procedure, but each individual portion or facet of the procedure also had great benefits on their own that I can take and use independently or combined with other parts of the procedure. It was almost like having 4-5 classes in one! I wasn't expecting to get as much out of this class as I did, and I highly recommend it for all therapists who want to increase their skills in a multitude of ways. I'm looking forward to integrating these techniques into my regular massage practice - stay tuned to find out how!
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