If you’re a girl, you probably have all kinds of masks, creams, and other facial care
stuff that’s crowding your bathroom shelf. But did you know that you can effectively
lift your face and improve your skin tone with nothing more than your own hands? The
technique I’m talking about is called Korugi, and it’s a face massage that works wonders.
Korugi massage was invented by a Japanese therapist Chiyo Hayashi, and it targets not
just the skin itself but the layers of fat and muscle tissue beneath. You see, with age,
the fat in your face redistributes itself, accumulating in some areas more than in others.
Also, your facial muscles start to sag with time — like any other muscle in your body,
they need exercise to stay toned. These factors contribute to changes in how your face looks
when you age. So it’s not all collagen inside your skin!
What Korugi massage does is tone your facial muscles and dissipate the fat under your skin.
In other words, it targets both of the factors I just mentioned, and by the end of the course,
you’ll see definite changes in the shape of your face.
But before we proceed with this fascinating routine itself, make sure your health actually
allows it. Korugi massage is quite intense, and it requires rather energetic friction
to be applied to your face. That’s why you should first and foremost consider whether
you have ENT diseases, lymphatic system disorders, chronic skin conditions, or facial wounds.
If you do, then Korugi isn’t for you. Also, it’s crucial to consult your doctor before
doing this massage because you may damage your skin or muscles in the process.
But enough talk, let’s get down to business already! The massage takes 7 steps. Wash your
hands, take some massage oil, grab a mirror to look at how you’re doing, and get started!
1. Cheek lifting Clench your fists and put your elbows on the
table. Place your fists against your cheekbones with your fingers looking inside. Relax your
face muscles completely and gently press your knuckles against them. Stay like this for
5 seconds. This is a basic routine, so don’t be surprised
it’s that easy. You always start with something simple, right? Anyway, when applying pressure,
don’t overdo it: the press should be firm but not painful.
2. Forehead slide Raise your head and tilt it back a little
bit. Clench your fists again and press your middle finger knuckles on your forehead along
the hairline. Relax your face and let it you’re your fingers. Without lifting the pressure,
slide your knuckles towards your temples and then further to earlobes. Continue sliding
and pressing down along your neck until you reach the collarbones.
3. Cheek work Lock your hands together with your thumbs
joined but straight. This movement is done with their help, so you’ll need them free.
Put the tip of your right thumb right under the inner corner of your left eye, beside
the nose. Apply pressure and slide the thumb to the left, towards the ear. When you get
there, press and slide down the neck to the collarbone. Repeat that last part 2 or 3 more
times. Now do the same for the right part of your face, pressing and sliding with the
tip of your left thumb.
4. Forehead smoothing This movement is done with the help of your
fists again. Put your forearms together with the fingers of your both hands looking at
you. Place your knuckles slightly above your eyebrows, press, and rub them toward your
hairline. Now bring your hands back to the eyebrows but slightly apart this time, and
repeat the upwards rubbing motion. Continue until your whole forehead has been smoothed
this way.
5. Eye rubbing Clench your fists once more (see the pattern
yet?) and raise your eyebrows. Close your eyes, stick out the knuckles of your index
and middle fingers, and rub your brows with them. You should start at the inner part of
the brow, moving outwards, and keeping the brow in-between the knuckles.
6. Pulling up the lower parts Keep your hands the way you held them for
the previous movement, with two of your fingers sticking out from the fist. Relax your face,
especially your jaw line, and don’t create any resistance. Now put the two sticking out
knuckles of your both hands on your chin, just below the corners of the mouth. Press
and pull the skin from the chin upwards, towards your temples. Apply some force, but don’t
forget not to make it painful. Repeat this movement 7-8 times in total.
7. Finishing touches Now all this stress you’ve just applied
to your face needs to be relieved, right? Open up your palms and join the tips of your
fingers on your forehead. Smoothly slide your hands down to your temples, and from there
move towards your neck and finally your collarbones. You should feel the tension going away as
you do this. Repeat the motion until your face feels relaxed again.
And this is it for the 7-step facial massage! So, do you want to know what exactly you’ve
done just now? Let me break it down for you, then.
Like I said at the beginning, Korugi massage tones your muscles and redistributes the fat,
making your face look youthful. But that’s far from the only benefit it has! In fact,
Japanese and Korean adepts of this technique say that, if performed correctly, Korugi can
even reshape your bone structure. Now don’t get all “Whaaat?!” — that’s
not me who’s saying that! But the fact’s a fact: with age, your facial bones might
become slightly displaced, changing your overall looks. What Korugi allegedly does is return
them to their initial position, making you look as young and beautiful as you’ve ever
been. Unfortunately, you can’t really check it without a full-blown medical examination
and probably an X-ray, so you’ll have to trust the massage therapists’ words.
Anyway, the results of the massage are still rather obvious, and there’s much more to
it than bone setting and muscle toning. First of all, while pulling and pressing on your
skin like this, you make the lymphatic fluid move, which removes any signs of swelling
and puffiness from your face. That includes those dark circles and bags under your eyes
too! Secondly, your blood flow increases thanks
to all this exercise, which is beneficial for your skin. Good blood supply is necessary
for that healthy, rose-cheeked look, and it also helps get the necessary vitamins and
nutrients to your face. They’re carried by blood, you know, so making your vessels
work is one of the best things you can do for your face!
Thirdly, your skin becomes more elastic as it is pulled and filled with a healthy amount
of lymph and blood. Elasticity is normally attributed to collagen, and that’s quite
correct, but you don’t really have to buy all the collagen-containing masks in your
local store to look younger. Your body produces this protein on its own, you just need to
activate it and make it work. Korugi massage does that well enough, and your skin becomes
free of small wrinkles in no time. In fact, if you do it at least once a week, it can
even get you rid of deeper wrinkles too! Buh-bye, expression lines!
And finally, Korugi massage helps reshape your face oval, making your features look
sharper. This happens because, as you age, your skin starts sagging, making your face
sort of blurred. Facial muscles that you don’t use every day also become lax, and we all
know what happens when we don’t train other muscles in our body, right? Well, facial ones
are no exception. So when you press and pull on your skin with some force, you wake them
up and they start working for your benefit. As a result, your face stops sliding down
with age and retains its original features for much longer.
Just one thing to note, though: don’t be surprised if your face starts aching the day
after you’ve done the massage. That’s a common reaction of your muscles that haven’t
seen any exercise for a while. Continue doing this massage on a regular basis, and your
face will stop hurting, promise. So would you like to give the Korugi massage
a try? Let me know down in the comments! If you learned something new today, then give
this video a like and share it with a friend.
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Stay on the Bright Side of life!