Transcription
First thing we're going to consider is if you have any bad habits that are causing asymmetry. So, one bad habit would be that you tend to sleep on one side and not the other. If one side feels really comfy for you, I know that's really tempting to want to only be on that side. But there might be a reason that it's more comfortable for you because you have shifted your body to be asymmetrical. And if the whole body is asymmetrical, that's going to carry up to the face. It absolutely will.
I noticed that a habit for me is that I stand on my right leg all the time. I really favor standing on my right leg when I'm at the sink doing dishes or whatever it may be. So, you really need to work on that. Long term, that can cause injuries actually, overuse of one leg or the other. So, this is just a habit. But you also need to stretch. And when you stretch different parts of your body, you're stretching your hips, your legs, whatever, your back. Notice if one side feels more tight than the other. That is probably because you have that imbalance in the body. You have those bad posture habits. So, when you're doing your stretches, hold for longer on those tight sides, those tense sides. And also make sure that you're not just targeting where that tightness feels like it's located, but you're stretching the whole body and you're really holding it for a long time. I know it's really hard to hold a stretch for a long time, but if you can hold it for two minutes, you you will see your results drastically improve for postural imbalances, for any tightness in the body. And then, like I said, that carries up the chain to the neck, to the traps, to the face.
Okay, so number two, what you might have going on is some facial habits that have caused over-activation in one side of the face versus the other. So, that's what we're going to work on today. We're going to work on facial awareness. We're going to work on locating where muscles are over-activating. And then we're going to do some tension release. And I'm going to teach you how to feel for muscles that are over-activated.
My first task for you is I want you to record yourself speaking. And if you can recruit somebody to record you when you are unaware that you're being recorded, it sounds creepy, but we don't really know how we carry our face and how we carry ourselves. So, if you can get somebody to take some, like, secret shots of you, some videos where you are speaking, you're interacting, you're emoting in the face, then that can just be a diagnostic tool for you. Don't be hard on yourself. We all have weird little habits and ways of carrying ourselves. We are trying to learn how to be non-judgmentally, objectively aware of how we carry ourselves because this can change your life. It can change your life if you can carry yourself, you know, in a calmer way and have that calmness in the face. So, this is key. And then you'll notice, do I have any asymmetrical habits? For me, for example, I tend to when I get anxious or nervous speaking, this part of my mouth pulls down a lot more. I'm like, ah, it just, she just likes to to go wild. So now that I'm aware of it, I not only can just be like, okay, I don't have to do that, you know, you just tell yourself, all right, it's good, release the tension. Not only can I do that, I also can focus on that when I'm doing my tension release methods.
Even before you get somebody to record you or you record yourself, we still can figure out what's going on in the face to a good degree. So, what you're gonna do is first, you're going to activate on one side, your dowel, and then the other side. One side and the other. Which one feels more natural for you? Do you have one that feels like, like for me, this one, she loves it. This one is like, what, what are we doing? So, take note of that. Okay, moving on to the next section. You are going to smirk on one side, now the other. What is the difference? For me, this side pulls in and back more. This one just kind of pulls up. Okay, so we're going to take note of that. So, now you're going to wink on both sides. What's the difference? Do you have more activation here in the sneering muscles on one side than the other? Okay. And now all the eyebrows. Can you raise one eyebrow and not the other? This side activates a little less for me than this side. Okay. Feel, feel that out. Feel if you can make them work differently. All right, so those are the main parts of our face.
So, now we're going to go through and we're going to release tension of the the different areas. And then depending on where you located the tension for yourself, you need to focus more on that side that tended to really rubber band kind of activate where you can feel the muscle go, wow, and it really works hard, a little bit harder than the other side. So, I'm going to start on the neck. You can still do this on both sides. It's not saying that you only focus on the over-activated side, but we are just going to, just like stretches in the body, we're going to notice and give a little bit more TLC to those muscles that are very hyped up, have a lot of energy behind them. Okay, so because the dowel pulls down into this part of the neck here, that's why we're working on the neck. Even though we're worried about facial asymmetry, do you pinch on whatever side was more activated for you? And then you can pinch and hold. It's good to hold. You can turn the hand like this as well. Hold those muscles. You can go all the way back to the suboccipitals, which is here. Let's do that on both sides. Does something feel different on each side when we're worn the back of the neck? See how I'm pinching like this? Give that tense side a little more attention.
And now the dowels. So, I have oil on my face. You need oil or moisturizer on. And you also can put some on your fingers. So, to make sure that it really glides. So, we're going to start out just generally massaging this area, getting them warm. And then we'll move on to a more targeted release of them. Warm them up a little. And now take your thumb into that tense one. Slowly go across. Good. Other side to balance it out, even if you have an over-activated side.
And now I'm going to come back. I'm going to take my knuckle and I'm going to give this one a little more tension. Take your knuckle like this. A little more. Okay. And now that you feel that feeling of relaxation in your face, hold on to that. And then you can return to that when you feel your habits coming back.
Now we're going to move on to the cheeks. So, we are going to take the knuckles up under the cheekbones, down the face. It's okay, you're not gonna drag your face down, that's not how skin works. We're just getting into that meaty tissue, the muscles and ligaments. Both sides. And then we're going to focus on the side that tended to go a little crazier. If they're different on each side, then just take note of that. That's something that you can just work to develop those muscles where you know, if like I pulled in too much on this side, like this. So, try to smile more relaxed. Obviously, I'm storing nervous energy, kind of like an anxious energy on this side of my face, in the dowel and the cheek. So, it's like, so I'm just gonna work on letting it be free. Okay, going down. And now on your side that activated a lot, just take the hands, the fingers, and kind of freestyle it open. See how I'm pulling open opposite directions? This is going to give that feeling of the muscle unbinding itself, opening up. And we're going to carry that feeling with us throughout the day.
While we're here, our jaws also can cause asymmetry. We didn't test for that because we don't really want to clamp those up too much. I'm gonna have a separate video for the jaws. If you feel like you have jaw asymmetry and bulkiness on one side or the other, that's a whole different, uh, whole different thing. So, I'll have another video for that.
So, we're going to move on to the eyes. So, we're going to take the knuckles like this. A lot of slip on, a lot of oil or moisturizer massaging. I prefer that you come in rather than out. There's less, less drag on the skin. Feel if you can feel that one is a little more squinted up than the other. Okay. And then when we did that, we also were noticing the sneering difference. So, mine sneers more on the right, directly into the eye. And then this one goes more like this. So, just massage in this area, release it. And then give more attention to your side that could really pull on its own, straight up into the sky. We're always going to have asymmetries. I still have my imbalances that I'm showing you here, but they are much improved from what they were. It used to be a really, really stark difference and they would show up in my everyday life when I'm conversating and things like that. No, they're a little, a little more fluid and looser. So, it's helped a lot.
Okay, and now with the brows. We're going to hook the finger here and we're going to pull across with the knuckle. Take it all the way out the forehead. Massage up a little bit. Just feel that you're opening everything up up here. Those muscles that have gone a little bit knotted and contracted from imbalanced use, overuse. We're letting them be free and fluid again. Other side. And you go ahead and work on whatever side, whatever imbalance that you have in this area. So, like I said, do both sides. Open it all up in the area. And then give a little love to the ones that have been overworked. Massage the temples because it feels good. Finishes off that relaxing feeling.
Now, can you feel the openness in your face? That is what you know is possible. And that is what you can return to. Just take note and kind of sink into this feeling in your body right now. And then when you're practicing facial awareness, non-judgmental, objective facial awareness, how am I carrying my face? How am I holding it? You know what to return to. You have a good alternative. If this was helpful for you, please give me a thumbs up. You can subscribe to learn more about face tension, how we carry our face, how to release that tension to truly put your best face forward. I also have 30-day programs that are total face resets where, you know, we go through and we commit for the 30 days. And at the end of it, your muscles will be fully rehabilitated. I have a fully guided program and I also have a self-guided one. And you can check those out below.