How to Give Yourself a Facial Pressure Points Massage.

This post originally appeared in 2018 but I wanted to recirculate it as I’ve been doing more face massages – it’s such a nice, easy (free!) thing that you can do for yourself.

Facial Pressure Points Massage

I thought it would be nice to end the week with something fun and relaxing. A little trick that you can add to your arsenal to help you feel a little bit less stressed!

It’s a newer thing for me, but whenever I feel stressed (or puffy), I have been doing a little facial pressure points massage. It’s amazing. As background, I have gotten really into facial massage over the past couple years… it started with my trip to Asia two years ago – every massage I had always ended with a facial pressure points massage and it was DIVINE. We’ve also talked about facial gua sha quite a bit but today’s post is a little different as you can use your fingertips… or a jade roller if you’d like. This type of massage all about acupressure, and stimulating the pressure points on your face!

Today we are going to talk about where your facial pressure points are and what their benefits are… plus how you can give yourself a quick facial pressure point massage! I remember being little and watching my mom massage her temples when she was congested or stressed out but there is so much more you that you can do. It’s amazing how much doing this one small step can accomplish: from improving circulation and relieving stress to helping with lymphatic drainage and even improving skin problems, fine lines, and wrinkles! Yes please.

Facial Pressure Points

What Are They?

For centuries, Chinese medicine has used acupressure points to help restore balance. Acupressure is the practice of helping to restore energy flow within the body. Your acupressure points lie along energy channels (meridians)… beginning at your fingertips, connecting to your brain and then a specific organ associated with that meridian. There are points along your face that you can press to relieve anything from insomnia and stress to skin conditions. (Speaking of acupressure – my acupresssure mat! I am obsessed with it… it’s helped me quite a bit with both insomnia and stress this year.)

Where Are The Acupressure Points On Your Face?

This is best explained with a diagram and I really like the one above. I think of the acupressure points on your face as almost a heart shape. The above diagram helps to point out where they are exactly.

How to Give Yourself a Facial Pressure Points Massage

This doesn’t need to be stressful or overcomplicated. I like to use a little bit of oil and my fingertips. You don’t need any tools, though you could use a jade roller or gua sha tool. You can just push down, or you can use circular motions. It’s about doing what feels best on your skin and for your facial muscles. This is a really nice, easy pressure point massage that you can do every day.

For any type of facial massage and reflexology, just make sure that you use clean hands, and that you apply something (an oil, a face mist) with a little slip. You never want to feel like you’re pulling on your skin!

Facial Pressure Points for Anxiety and Stress Relief

The best way to relieve stress and anxiety is by massaging your temples. (It also helps to relieve tension headaches!) Apply pressure and rub in small but firm circles. I like to also use a bit of this minty Aveda treatment for this!

Sinus Drainage

This is great for allergies or if you have a cold. The best way to relieve sinus pressure is to massage the pressure point at mid eyebrow. This one is a sensitive spot for me (and funny enough it makes me sneeze sometimes!) I’ll spend 30 seconds massaging this spot applying pressure using a circular motion.

Increase Energy

Facial massage is a great way to increase your energy, especially after a long day/if you are experiencing brain fog! If I am exhausted I will do a few spritzes of my beloved Caudalie beauty elixir (it’s so energizing!) and then do a light pressure point massage, focusing particularly on my temples and jaw area. Another trick I have (that I actually learned in yoga class of all places) is to use the fleshy pads of my middle fingers to press down somewhat firmly on the inner corner of my eye socket. I will close my eyes and press down for three seconds exhaling; inhaling as I release. It’s a small trick but it always leaves me feeling focused and more energy.

Relaxation Or Before Bedtime Facial Massage

I love a facial massage before bedtime. And it’s perfect because you are dewy AF. My skin is always oiled up before bed (I live for oils after my nighttime cleansing routine). I’ll spend 2-3 minutes massaging my face, tracing that heart shape from above, working in circular motions. I pay extra attention at my jaw line (to help with puffiness), and just below my cheekbones as I find I store quite a bit of tension there.

Beauty and Healthy Skin

My face has a tendency to get bloated/puffy pretty easily – alcohol, too much sodium, a long flight, heck – even a short flight! I was joking with one of my girlfriends about this. Eat one potato chip: boom, puffy face. I find that facial massage is particularly great when my skin is puffy. It stimulates lymphatic drainage. My favorite is to do a little massage using Vintner’s Daughter (for a more affordable oil I also LOVE Everyday Oil!). I apply the oil to my skin first and then perform a little massage, pressing each of the pressure points and using circular motions to help with lymphatic drainage.

There are a few specific points to stimulate for beauty (I make no claims that these actually work, but they certainly feel good! In particular, stimulating your third eye (right between your brows, between where the bridge of the nose meets the forehead) is supposed to be great for your skin. We stimulate this point quite a bit in my yoga class. Applying pressure here for 6o seconds with your pointer thing helps to stimulate your pituitary gland which can help with skin concerns, particularly texture.

For Wrinkles

Doing a facial massage is particularly beneficial to the eye area as it helps release pressure caused by frowning and squinting. It’s all about releasing and relaxing those muscles which can get so tight.

Benefits of Facial Reflexology

Facial reflexology helps to eliminate toxins via lymphatic drainage, and relax tension in the face muscles. The movements work along the lymphatic points of the face, in turn reducing puffiness. It’s also very soothing and relaxing and such a nice way to rebalance your energy after a long day! It also helps to improve circulation and skin problems. As with most Chinese medicine, there isn’t scientific evidence to back this up, but to me the fact that it feels good and relaxes me is more than enough reason to do it regularly.

I hope you’ll give this a try – it’s really so wonderful, for so many reasons!

Top image by Trent Bailey.