 Welcome to Physical Therapy for a Better Life. I'm your host, Christine Linders, Physical Therapy Specialist. Do you have dark circles under your eyes or puffiness? Are you suffering rosacea or acne? Our skin gives us signs of what may be going on inside our body. In this episode, holistic esthetician Ivy Delane teaches us how to keep things flowing in the neck and face to keep our skin glowing and looking its best. Welcome Ivy, and thank you for joining us. Hi, thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. I can't wait for this show. I've been looking forward to it since I met you a few months back, so tell me about yourself. OK, well, I'm Ivy, and I am from Hawaii. And I have been an esthetician since 2007. And so I started my career just not really sure which direction I wanted to go. So a lot of people, new estheticians, they kind of follow the norm. You do the peels. You do what you think people want. And so I did that for many years. And in 2018, my whole aesthetics career changed. And it was when I went to a holistic retreat in Santa Cruz, a holistic weekend for estheticians. And I learned so much. And it's all everything that I thought that I knew for the past 11 years of doing aesthetics changed that weekend. And it was really amazing. And it just everything kind of clicked. And I almost had to unlearn what I knew or what I thought I knew about skin. And so I just took this different approach. In 2015, I had been diagnosed with cancer. And so I really wanted to do to be more holistic, be healthier. And so going to that retreat really kind of solved that. Wow. So you, yeah, with that diagnosis and then this holistic conference, what clicked for you that made you shift? Or how did it change how you do skincare? So a lot of what we learned was about movement and movement in the face. And that including lymphatic drainage. So we have our lymph system that runs through our whole body. And so it's talked about a lot. And so what I learned is that the lymph system actually keeps us healthy. It is like what takes, let's say, garbage out of our cells and releases it. And so when you keep things flowing, your body is healthy. Now the lymph system is like the circulatory system, which has the heart to pump it. It doesn't have anything to pump it. So in our everyday life, when we walk around, we exercise, we get enough lymph movement to kind of keep things going. But in our chest, neck, and face, it's a low circulation area. So we just don't get a lot of movement in those areas. That's fascinating. So a lot of what I learned was like, yeah. Yeah, people don't really realize it or even think about it or even understand it at all. I talk to a lot of people and I can talk for hours about it. But once I start explaining it, people are like, that makes a lot of sense. So it's been really an amazing journey. And I feel like I found my niche in that. And so yeah, so I do a lot of lymph work in the neck and face. And so what that does is it really, I mean, in one session, I can take away a lot of puffiness. I can contour the face. A lot of times dark circles will be gone instantly. And it's funny as I'm doing my facial a lot of times I'll do one side of the face just to see it, you know? And I'm watching just the puffiness literally disappear. And actually it's not disappearing. It's just it's really interesting and fascinating. And I show people the mirror and one side of their face is the left lines, the circles. The belt line has way more contour. And it's almost like people are like, my face looks skinnier on this side. And it's because I'm making that fluid out. That's amazing. So I remember asking you all these questions while you were doing my face. And I'm like, wow, this is really different. This, what are you doing and why? And I'm very inquisitive because I love to learn about everything. And so if I was going to, and since then I've kind of been trying to massage my face because of everything I learned with you, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm trying to move fluid in this low circulation area, which you never thought you'd talk and you blink and you smile and you think there's so much movement happening, you don't realize it stagnates. And I know all of us men, women, I talk to people all day long in my job. We all talk about what's happening to our face and when we're stressed and you look tired and now you look better, did you rest and this is happening and that's happening. And I'll wait till you're 60 and wait till you're 70 and what can we do at home to treat ourselves, to treat our face and neck because this is what you see. I mean, now that we're coming out of masks, we're going to see more of it. Right, right now. What can we do to like at home or at all to improve the circulation in this area? I always call it our moneymaker, you know, what you greet people with is you gotta protect the moneymaker, you know, it's the fear face and you. Right, it's for sure. It's, you know, the first thing that people see. So yeah, just to go back on something you said and then I'll talk about that. I feel like a lot of people are just, I hear it all the time. I'm just getting old, this is just what happens, you know and for me, yes, we can't defy age, we can't defy gravity but there are so many things that we can do to really age gracefully and that's what I tell my clients, you know, I'm not here to make you look 20 if you're 60 but what I can do is I can really help you to age gracefully and you know, so I just wanted to mention that. I think that's so, that's important, that's important because we all, I know for a fact my mom used to always say, oh, you have grandma's skin and I have, you know, she had her dad's skin and she's beautiful and she has aged amazingly. I look at her and I'm like, why do you look so good, mom? I can't believe it, you're, she's 79 and I'm baffling with how it looks like but some of it's aged so my grandmother was 89 and had no wrinkles on her face and you know, and other people get it early and regardless of son, I know too, just genetics and so that is important. We're all aging, it's not a personal thing or it doesn't mean anything bad against us, it just happens, we just wanna do it gracefully and feel our best. I think it's about feeling, feeling your best when you look your best, you feel your best, you're empowered and you feel more confident, right? Right, right, no, yes, absolutely, that's well put. So okay, so back to the question. So things that you can do to keep circulation going. I always tell my clients, massage your face whenever you have a chance. So like for me, I start in the morning. So when I wake up, I, you know, I'll rinse my face and then I use a gel cleanser. I don't recommend foaming cleansers for this if they're too stripping, I just have to say that. So good, either a milky or gel cleanser and I really start, you know, on the neck going up and down. You know, a lot of people just wash their face like real quick, you know, I take at least a few minutes and I really start at my neck and I work up all the way, you know but I really am intentional with getting things moving in the morning. We are usually our puffiest in the morning, right? So that's the way that I, my first thing that I do, you know, to get going in the morning. And it actually, it feels really good when you like really take the time to create a routine that feels good. It's a great way to start the day. So that, you know, that's a perfect first thing to do in the morning. Oh yeah, good. I just want to tell you something. I remember I was in Connecticut and I was neglecting myself and I was talking to a patient about something and I said, oh my gosh, I used to in San Diego I would, you know, have this routine in the morning. I washed my face, I put my moisturizer and then I came home and I did the same thing before bed and it was great and I hadn't done that in months. And I remember telling her, I can't wait to go home and wash my face. And I went home and I just washed my face. I washed my face and I did massage it because, you know, I want to really clean everything off. But that day, I never forget it because my best friend jokes about it all the time. I can't wait to go home and wash my face. I felt so cared for and this was after work. And so I started doing it again then. So I love just watching you do this and taking a few minutes to massage your face. It's very, I don't know, it feels so rewarding to yourself like a self-care thing, something I just treated myself. Absolutely, you know, it's all about self-care and self-love and honestly, when you develop a routine like that, you do feel, you know, you feel better about yourself. And, you know, just doing that movement is gonna bring also an instant glow. When you're glowing, you know. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. Okay, so you wash with the gel cleanser and then what's your next step? Yes. So then my next step is I always spritz my face. So I have like a very hydrating spritz. So I spritz my face, you know, it's kind of a small step. People call it toner. I call it spritzing because toner to me, I don't know, I just have this thing that it maybe is like contains alcohol and drying. So no, no, no, I like to just, so I have a hydrating spritz. A lot of people like rose water. And that's a great thing that you can get. And so spritzing your face and then right away I put on a serum. So by spritzing first, and then while your skin is a little bit damp, putting that serum on, it really helps to bind together and helps to hydrate the skin. And then, you know, my moisturizer and I always use sunscreen and then yeah, that's, and I'm good, you know, for the morning. That's my morning routine. That's a great routine. I like that. I had heard that it was important to hydrate or something. I'm sorry, my cat wants to know how to take care of her. She has a little allergies right now. So she's itching. I'll have to ask her when we're done with this show. Okay. But yeah, I've heard about that. It's important to, or I think I heard something like you put the moisture on then you put the serum and it helps to maybe, I don't know, does it help to activate the benefits of the serum or is that just? Yes, well, I think it like the hydration, like what I use it, there's lots of antioxidants and like plant, you know. So by pushing it together, it helps to kind of bind them both together, but it also helps your skin to kind of hold on to that serum, right? So if you apply a serum to a dry face, I mean, that's still good, you know, but it's just an extra like, you know, bonus to like push that into, and then they kind of bind to the skin and it just feels really good. Oh, that sounds great. So now let's say like you did your morning thing and you're ready for your day and you go to work and then you come home later, like now gravity has taken its hole on our face and everything as we age. And so is there like an evening limp thing to do? Or like, I don't know, like let's say, I got to have a photo shoot and my eyes are super puffy and there's some things to do, like. Yeah, well, the most important part, I do have to say is the neck, okay? Because when you think of the lymphatic, let's say I wanted to, you know, I had puffyness and I wanted to clear my puffiness. Now, if I start doing some lymphatic work or movement, it has nowhere to go because I haven't cleared my neck. So I always, you have to kind of start here and work your way up. So, you know, just doing this, here's a move that I like, it's called the Spock Move. You take these two fingers like this and you kind of just pull your ear down a little bit. That's helping opening the neck. And I guess I should be more clear so we have a really important lymph node right behind this art ear. Okay. And then it drains into a lymph node right in our clavicle, okay? Oh yeah. So that's where you wanna go from, from here and just, you can do little circles down. And you're moving down, is that right? Yes, and you're using a feather light pressure. Oh, oh, oh, okay, I'm going to. Okay, so a lot of people like really wanna get in there. So it's nice to get in there, but if you do your massage in the muscles, if you, and you're just bypassing the lymph system, right? Because it's right at the surface of the skin. So like when I do it, I literally like, I'm just going so slow. It's kind of a slow process, but it's worth it. And just kind of going down the neck and then into the clavicle, you know? And that's the first place to start. And you do like a minute or two of just like gentle here, gentle here. Yes, yeah, yeah. And then you kind of like it can go underneath the chin. You know, you can kind of do this kind of a movement just a bit lightly. Feather, feather pressure. Feather and then always to your ear. And then, okay. Oh yeah, so that it can drain here and then go down. Yes, yeah. Good, good, good. Okay, this is good. And then like you can just kind of go up your face, you know? Like here, down. Oh, I like this. It's great, Ivy. So then my favorite part to do on my clients, because this is when I'm like, oh, but you know, the heavens open is when I get to like by the nose. So these folds here. And a lot of times the puffiness really just, it just kind of bags up like right here, right? And, but you have to go near the nose, right? So you just really, I work this probably the longest ones, you know, everything else is drained and I really get in there. And then I'm just slowly bringing it down, okay? And then to make sure. And then over. I like that, because I would have been inclined to pull it back. Do you know what I mean? So we have passageways to go here. Okay. So you always want to, from the eye down, you want to go here and over. Okay. From the forehead. We also have passageways along the hairline and then you bring it to the ear there. This is amazing. It's amazing. No, it really is. Yeah. And is this something that you do every day or treat yourself to once a week or? I do it. I try to do it every day. And even if it's just like a two minute thing, you know, like when I do my routine, let's say in the morning or at night, I have a nice oil. I just, and I quickly just, you know, do a little bit. I also have a fun tool. I don't know if you guys have, or if anyone's ever seen like the Jade Rollers or. Yes. I have so many of my friends who are like, here, look at this Jade Roller. And I saw something online once and they're popping up everywhere. My friend on a trip. She just brought out her, she got it at Ross. And she's like, this thing, I don't know. She's 25. She's like, I don't know. It just feels really good after I put this on my skin. So I wanted to know like, what oil are you using? What roller? Ella. Yeah. So, I know it's really funny because a lot of people, I start saying, have you seen the Jade Roller? Cause most people have. And they're like, yes, I have one. And I have no idea what to do. And I just say, you know, get a nice space oil. Get a nice space oil. So my favorite is by Plissoma. And they have an Omega miracle oil, which is a miracle. And so what I do is I, you know, I'll just kind of spread it around. Okay. If you have the Jade Roller, I mean, just go up and down your neck. Yep. Kind of just, you know, you actually can't go wrong with the Jade Roller unless you don't really want to pull. The only time you ever really want to pull down is it when you're going really light and doing glitz movement. Okay. Now the Jade Roller can be used for circulation. Like if you want to just go do any kind of movements as long as you're not pulling really hard down. That's bringing blood flow. When you bring blood flow, you're bringing nutrients, oxygen, you know, right into the skin immediately, which we need, you know? Even little movements, if you don't have a Jade Roller, tapping. It's called tepotment. You know, all of that is bringing in blood flow, fresh, limp, fresh, you know, all of that. And we just, I had a teacher once and I always tell my clients this and it's, she had a saying is no flow, no glow. All right. So I just say no flow, no glow. And then they're like, oh, okay. You know, so just trying to get things moving, it doesn't have to be like, you know, I mean, I'm a professional. I've been, I've studied this, I have certifications, but, you know, for just every day, just get some movement. You know, I like to do some of this. Oh yeah. You know. I love it when I'm getting a facial. Uh-huh. It's always my favorite part. I do not get them very often. I, every four years or something. And I always say, I'm gonna go more often and I somehow I don't get on the routine, but I love at the end when they do that, you know, whatever thing with their fingers and they're doing like, like what you're doing. It just, it feels so good. The fingers, it almost feels like it's a different texture. And I think your skin is like, oh yeah, that's good, like blood flow. It's like not tapping, but you get that sensation of that little lip, lip, lip, lip, lip, lip, and it feels so nice. It does feel nice, but it's also so beneficial. And it's, you know, it's, it's funny. It's just not, a lot of people call that a fluffy facial. That's what I have heard in the, and I think to myself, no, that's not a, that's like, that's how you get glowing skin. That's how you remove that puffiness, get, you know, dark circles. And I'm telling you, even your texture by keeping your lymph flowing, the texture of your skin starts to change, you know, people with rosacea, acne, by moving that lymph, that's taking out the toxins out of, you know, the cells. And you just, you know, I mean, you have to kind of be consistent with it, but moving the lymph can take away acne, rosacea, redness, puffiness, dark circles. Those are just to like name a few. I mean, fine lines and wrinkles is too, you know, it's pretty amazing. I love it. I actually was just at the dermatologist this morning. I know I have a couple of questions in mind from what you just said, but I was at the dermatologist this morning and I just had her check a couple, like my driving hand spa. And she asked me for the first time, I think I've been twice, do you have any other questions? And I said, you know what? Yeah, actually, like when I watched my face, I noticed like the last two months that my forehead feels kind of rough and I don't see anything there, but it feels kind of rough. And you mentioned the texture and I have been stressed and furrowing my brow and all that. And I wonder, I'm going to try this every day because he said consistency. I'm going to try this every day to work on, I'll do here first and work on the light pressure. I'll get a Jane Roller, but I'm curious. I'm going to write down this day and see as I notice like the texture improved because I really believe in these things. And then the loaded part of that question is, I wonder, I had some friends growing up that had very bad acne. And I wonder if they don't want to touch it, could they just use the roller to get some circulation or? So yeah, you don't ever want to be, do anything on active breakouts or active skin. The neck is the best place to work for that. I mean, it is for everyone, but I just, I really tell people just open up your neck and they can go lightly around just very, very light. Yeah, like pressure, but yeah, again, that's bringing a lot of times acne patients or clients and rosacea, it is caused from stagnation. It's just been kind of sitting in there for a long time. And it's just kind of manifesting in there. And it's amazing what it can do to just bring some flow in. Yeah, I think that's great. I'm very eye-opened. And I think my biggest problem as a physical therapist is making sure I go very light. And I know, I remember when I learned myofascial release 25 years ago, they were saying to massage deeply gets the superficial levels and like the light touch kind of gets the deeper, like the drainage and all that stuff. And I remember thinking, I don't understand what that means, but then as I over the years of a physical therapy and learning more about the skin and the matrix sees underneath that the flow happens underneath, you can see how this light stuff really gets to deeper drainage and systems things. Which is the deep, like you said, deep pressure, you're just massaging the muscle. And when you work on the lighter level, my biggest challenge would be to make sure I go light enough, like feather light, to drain my olymp and not massage my muscle. Yes. Yeah, so it's, there's two different things, right? Yeah. And a lot of, like I have, it's a little bit of explaining, like when you're going a little bit lighter and you have the intention that you are moving your lymph. Then you can, so I always recommend doing that first. When you get all of that puffiness and that fluid out, you can kind of go in and actually sculpt the muscles. So in my facials, that's what I do. I move the lymph, I do some fascia release as well. And then move the lymph. Now they don't have this level of, you know, fluid that has been kind of hanging out. So I can actually go in and sculpt the muscles, like the cheekbone pop and, you know, kind of give some contour to the chin, raise the eyebrows. Oh, I need that. So many different things. It's really fun. No, I love it. This is great. So we have like two or three minutes left. And I want to know like, yeah, what else do you want to share? I know you have a tool there. I don't know if you want to get into that, but what else do you want to share with us? Anything, you're so, this is great. Thank you. Well, I do have my wash-off stone. So I'll just kind of show you, you know, with a little bit of oil, if you have your roller, if you don't have either, your fingers are fine, start here. And this is about how you want to just move into your clavicle. That's the most important. And a lot of tight, you know, we even have lymph nodes on the back of our neck. So I tell people, open up your neck all the way around. So that's, you know, a great place to start. That I think people can just, you know, like, if you want to say, oh, I think commit to that, do that for a month, you know, and then, you know, you can do some other movement. I mean, it is a little bit, kind of want to know where the lymph glands are. There are pictures that I've showed people, like all of this map, it's a little bit of a map, but it's, the neck is the most important part. I love that. I love that you're emphasizing that, because I keep thinking, okay, I got to remember everything she's saying, but of course I'll watch this time to learn. But the neck, the neck, the neck, it is not, it's not the face, it's the neck. Like get things uncontested for lack of word binding in your neck, so that there can be flow in your face. It's not something that I even think of, just I massage my neck out of tension, but I'm not doing anything to the lymph. Right, and so that's why I always say the neck, because if I started to try to tell people, oh, then you go, you know, it's too much. So just start there, so you can commit to that, even that you're gonna get results. This is amazing. Okay, so we need to wrap it up, but how can people find you? Where are you? How can people come get a facial? I'm gonna be booking mine right after we're done with the show. I know you gotta come back. I do. So I'm in Kailua at Satori Salon and Spa, and so I have a room here, and I also, if you wanted to find me on Instagram, I am Hawaii underscore holistic skin. And so actually, I do tutorials on there. I talk a lot about this. So yeah, and different things as well, but yes, that's kind of what my whole Instagram is about. That's great. So it's Hawaii underscore holistic skin on Instagram, and then Satori at S-A-T-O-R-I Salon in Kailua. Satori Salon in Kailua, and Spa. Satori Salon. This is love it. I go there for my baseball. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. So this is great. Oh, well Ivy, thank you so much. Thank you. This has been lovely. It's been so fun. I love talking about it. So thank you for giving me the opportunity. We'll have to do a part two. Look at my face and we'll see what it looks like in a couple months and we'll check it out. Yes, let's do it. Yes, and I have other things I can talk about as well. I would love to. So thanks so much for coming and thanks everyone for joining us here. Okay, thank you so much. For a better life. Aloha everyone. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. 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