How To: Self Massage

Self massage is an incredible tool for self-discovery, anxiety relief, and physical health. There are many tools and techniques of self massage, but here we’ll explore five types of self massage to relieve anxiety and soothe your body:

Get hands on

Use your own hands to work out any knots or tension you notice in your body. Explore your muscles and learn more about your body and where, and how, you hold tension. This is a great place to start because your hands will give you more information than any tool.

Start with your forearms, shoulders, hands, and feet — we commonly hold tension in these areas. Notice how it feels to use your knuckles versus your thumbs, how much pressure you can apply in different areas, and how different motions feel. Work on your IT bands, calves, chest, face, or any other area that’s bothering you. As you explore, you’ll start to see which areas have recurring tension that you might need to get into with a specific tool.

Roll it out

It’s hard to get deep into the leg muscles with just your hands. A foam roller allows you to use your body weight to put pressure on the right areas. This tool is great for tight quads, hips, and to relieve tension in your lower back (which is often caused from your hips and hamstrings).

I love the GRID foam roller from TriggerPoint. It’s firmer than a true foam roller.

And REI has some great foam roller video tutorials and explanations from a real personal trainer.

Apply precise pressure

Massage balls can help pinpoint areas of focus and again, use your body weight to help you. Use these on your shoulders, chest, and other hard-to-reach areas — these are a lifesaver for that spot under your shoulder blade. You can also use tennis or lacrosse balls.

The WikiHow article on choosing and using massage balls is surprisingly good!

Focus on your face

There are 42 muscles just in your face. Specialized facial massage tools (like a gua sha tool or jade roller) and techniques keep the oil from your hands off your face and can even improve lymphatic drainage.

Facial massage can also help drain your sinuses and bring relief from sinus pressure. Gua sha works on a lot of the sinus areas, but you can also massage your sinuses with your hands.

I love Mount Lai’s gua sha tool and facial roller - and they have amazing facial massage tutorials on their site as well.

Stretch

Stretching is another form of massage. The right stretches, held for long periods of time, can ease tension and relax your body without external pressure. Try to hold stretches for at least 20 seconds, and up to 3 minutes.

There are so many streches you can do - just search for what you need. I’ll share this great article about stretches to counteract sitting all day, just because that’s what a lot of us are doing right now.

Respect your body

Make sure to watch video tutorials or have an instructor show you massage techniques before you try them at home, especially on your neck and back. Always listen to your body and ease pressure or stop if you feel pain.

Read & share this post on Instagram

Cover photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash