Facial massages to relieve stress and tension

Do you ever wake up in the morning feeling tension or tightness in your face? Or even throughout the day? Well, I definitely do. We don’t realize how much stress we can put on the muscles of the face.

Pay attention to your facial muscles while you are driving, working, cooking meals, and when you are in conversation.

Are these muscles tense?

Feel for those knots or trigger points. Mine get tight and I work on them. I do encourage you to be aware of the muscles of your face throughout your day. See if this helps you.

If you need more help releasing tension and stress in your face, consider booking a facial massage with me at Divinitude!

In Health & Service,

Natalie Clark, LMT

Recently, I fell directly on the ground from a standing position when I lost my balance on my porch, injuring the sacral foramen above my tailbone. Bone pain is excruciating. This affected walking, sleeping, moving in any direction, sitting, standing, and my mood.

The first part of the treatment did not go as I had planned, and not for any reason caused by Restore, as they explained everything in detail before I entered, and they stayed throughout the experience to guide me the entire time. I forgot that I was claustrophobic. I had a strategy for handling cold, not small. While the cryochamber therapy lasts three minutes, I couldn't make it through the first thirty seconds because I hadn't prepared myself for being in a small space. The employee attending me let me out immediately when I asked her to, allowed me to sit and develop a strategy, and absolutely celebrated the moment I made it through three minutes.

The cryochamber stays at a temperature around -168 degrees. They take your skin temperature before you enter: mine was 86 degrees upon entry, 54 degrees upon exit. You are dressed in a towel or a robe, if you choose. You may enter without these things as well. However, you will be required (and will want and be glad) to wear their gloves, long socks and slippers while in the chamber. While I typically have a deep breathing strategy for my claustrophobia, breathing in temperatures that negative produces more of your breath in the chamber. It's difficult to see, and can be disorienting. I switched gears to 4-7-8 breathing (a breathing technique I use in situations that I might panic in...a natural tranquilizer for the body,) breathing in for 4 counts, holding for 7 beats, and breathing out slowly for 8 counts. The counting occupied my mind, as my requested music in the first round didn't allow me to think. The counting helped me. I believe most people will be appreciative that they can play anything you want inside the chamber to help pass the time. 

When asking into the emotions of my coaching clients, the one thing they all seem to WORRY about is their finances right now. They FEAR losing all they have worked hard for and VALUE. They are GRIEVING the loss of their own American dream as they watch the world get more expensive and less equitable every day.

In a world that has removed us from nature in a way that most of us must depend on the convenience we have been sold to believe is the best option, when it is merely the best way to keep us working within the systems they have provided us, what do we do when the convenience is no longer comfortable or sustainable? When our neighbors suffer in silence, can we overcome the division the world has encouraged and fomented long enough

Americans across the nation are waking up to the notion that the life they were told to pursue isn't resulting in the promised rewards. They are also realizing how inequitable the systems are that dictate the terms of participation and benefits. They see the bailouts of large corporations, while student loan interest rates have soared since the government decided to handle and outsource the processing to companies with portfolios handled by Blackrock and Vanguard. They now understand that there are only a select few that reap the rewards of a rigged game, while millions suffer to keep up lifestyles of people they will never meet in their own communities.to really see the people in front of us and care enough to help? Can we make the necessary adjustments to handle materialistic lack for the sake of tending to the spirits of those we love, those we are acquainted with, live next to, and interact with in our own communities?

Can we find it in our hearts to work together, help each other, and value our communities in the same way we value our own families? Can we value ourselves for the help we extend to others as much as we place value on the amount of money we make (or don't, these days, given our current affairs.)

At Divinitude, we have an entire page devoted to changing the way you look at food based on thermal nature (hot, cold, warm, cool, neutral,) flavor (sour, salty, sweet, pungent or bitter,) and embodied effects. We encourage everyone to see if this changes the way you process your food. For reference, there is a list of food properties to help.

On a body level, it's important to move in order to shift things internally. Twisting yoga poses drain the phlegm trapped in the channels that hold excess pain and unprocessed emotions. Yoga poses like cow pose, sitting spinal twists, and camel pose twist, stretch and open the middle of the body, easing flow and digestion.

On a mind and spirit level, aromatherapy is often used to ease stress, calm tension, and regulate emotions to help elevate our moods. Divinitude's Natalie Clark offers aromatherapy in all of her therapy sessions as an add-on service. For home use, the solar plexus is eased by clary sage, juniper and geranium essential oils.

On a soul level, coaching around the places we get stuck in life can help us see things from different perspectives, dig deeper into how we actually feel and act accordingly, rather than continuing to move through and engage in the world feeling as though we are incapable of making the changes necessary to be happy with ourselves and happy in our relationships with the world. When self care is not enough, know that the Divinitude Community is here to help! It is our goal and mission to help every client learn to love themselves fully, exactly as they are, so they can love within community too.