lessons in self-love with beata
I signed up for facial massage classes by Beata Aleksandrowicz and found myself learning to love my face. It turns out, lessons in self-love, like faces, come in all shapes and sizes.
Self-love is one of the hardest lessons we get to learn on this planet, and it’s surely the most important too. If – or rather when – you start to love yourself, life falls into place, challenges fade in importance, the path forward becomes clear, you live your most authentic and natural life. It’s truly transforming, but how do you even start the journey?
Try just one of Beata’s classes and you’ll be on the way.
Her lessons in facial massage not only teach you how to massage your own face for more tone and radiance – just what the doctor ordered during this winter’s lockdown when spas are closed and skin’s looking dull – they also teach you to be present with yourself and up close with your face in a refreshingly positive way. No criticisms, no judgement. Just love.
Because while learning how to massage and lift your facial muscles, what you’re actually doing is nurturing your skin, your psyche and your soul.
Beata Aleksandrowicz
Anyone who knows her will understand what I mean when I say that one of the most valuable aspects of the classes is to spend time with the beautiful, inspiring and joyous Beata Aleksandrowicz herself.
Founder of Face Massage with Beata online classes, she is the former founder of Pure Massage Spa Training Method, which combines injury-free massage techniques, communication and other skills that help therapists avoid burn-out. She’s also an author and was a member of the Mental Wellness Initiative for the Global Wellness Institute.
While normal life sees her travelling the world training therapists, over the last months she’s been grounded like the rest of us, and she created Face Workout and Face Spa as a result. The two classes offer accessible yet powerful self-massage for in-home use during the lockdown when we are craving touch – the mother of all our senses, says Beata – more than ever before.
They came at the perfect time for me. Feeling trapped and suffocated by the monotony of everyday life under lockdown restrictions, the classes were uplifting and educational, and hugely enjoyable, with Beata’s positive energy and smiling face filling the screen and the senses.
Beata’s classes
Thursday’s Face Workout (30 minutes) is a stimulating bootcamp for the skin while Sunday’s Face Spa (45 minutes) is more relaxed, designed to add emotional balance.
I logged on with her emailed zoom link and a group of women appeared in thumbnails on my screen. Mostly women flying solo, there were a few mothers and daughters too. All from different places and time zones, we were all unclothed from the shoulders up, hair scraped back from our faces, no makeup. It was a very levelling experience, and one that created a sense of relaxed intimacy too.
Beata greeted us all with her enchanting smile and uplifting energy: “It is so much more fun to do this together, no?”
She started with breathing techniques to relax and let the shoulders drop. Our hands moved to our hearts, connecting with the centre of emotional healing. Beata asked us to visualize breathing in white light, to feel gratitude for all we have and to be ready to heal.
“You have this amazing opportunity to be so soft and nice and nurturing to yourself,” she said, as she started demonstrating how to glide the hands over the face. “Use light movement on the skin; this is gentle stroking, this is self-love.”
Watching her fingers caress and cocoon her youthful face and clear complexion, my own hands inexpertly tried to copy her, my new Zoom friends doing the same.
Thursday – Face Workout
“Your hands are alive; this is a face celebration and salutation. Connect with the whole face and make it alive again,” enthused Beata.
Our hands slid from the shoulders to the neck, along the jawline to the cheeks, up the nose and smoothing the forehead from the centre to the temples. Head down, hands light, tempo building. We were gently boosting the circulation, increasing the oxygen to the cells, creating a radiant facial glow for ourselves.
“Imagine a swan neck,” said Beata, “that’s what we all want.” I tried not to dwell on how un-swan-like I felt, instead focusing on helping my double chin defy gravity while channelling some of Beata’s poise.
We also added in a bit of gentle pinching and some sliding of the knuckles, designed to stimulate and tone the skin. Gentle but firm, I was beginning to feel the difference, opening my face up, feeling more coordinated and free, my skin warm and energised.
We started working on the eyes. “When you look at your face, your eyes look for the wrinkles. This is psychology,” said Beata. “But be proud of the lines around your eyes. They mean you have a sense of humour, you’re able to approach many difficult moments with laughter and positivity. We don’t want to remove them just gently stroke the face and relax them.”
We worked for some time between the eyebrows. “This is where we store so much unspoken frustration, sometimes even anger, that we can’t express. Breathe out any remaining tension, release the tension as soon as you can, otherwise you create a blockage.”
She led us in lightly tapping our faces with our fingertips. “Fingers like raindrops, like a monsoon on your face, refreshing and calming.”
Finally, she asked us to cover our faces with our whole hands, feeling the warmth, the energy, the love. And then, “Look at your face, your eyes. Say, ‘Hello my beautiful face’,” she told us. We rather self-consciously greeted our faces. She got us to do it again.
“See your beautiful, blossoming face glowing again!” she insisted.
And I was surprised to find that I really could.
Sunday – Face Spa
Sunday’s class used a very light touch to stimulate the detoxifying lymphatic system, which sits just below the skin. It was more relaxed, slow, steady.
“Try to stop thinking about anything outside of this class,” said Beata. “Allow yourself this time, the luxury of letting it all go, and just being here.”
We started stroking the shoulders. My instinct, as it had been during the Thursday class, was to try to massage strongly, force the muscles to relax. Again I needed to lighten up, using what she called a self-nurturing stroke to sweeps away the fluid from the face.
“It’s like a meditation,” she advised. “There’s no pressure, nothing to prove here, no competition. It’s like waking up a child; lovingly, slowly. Lymphatic face massage is about opening, lengthening, keeping the hands as light as possible.”
We moved up the face, to the forehead and again down towards the temples, around the eyes, nose and mouth, cheeks and cheekbones. It was so therapeutic, alongside flushing away toxins I felt like I was smoothing layers of stress from the face in a most gentle and loving way.
“This is a ritual. Take your time. There is something sacred about it. Keep your eyes closed and feel the self-healing.”
And finally, “Drink water,” she said at the end of both classes. “Have a toast for eternal beauty!”
According to Beata…
When done regularly, these classes help lift the shape of your face, improve the texture of your skin and the tone of the muscles. And at the same time, you get to spend time caring for, accepting and loving your face.
You’ll see the brightness and tone improve first. After a handful of sessions you’ll start to see improvement around the eyes, the skin becomes more refined, more relaxed.
You only need to actually massage the face twice a week to see differences appearing, but everyday caring and nurturing helps too. “We must all be more gentle and more slow when carrying out our daily skincare regimes,” cautions Beata.
How I felt…
After each class I walked back into my so-called monotonous life feeling lighter and energised. Having given myself that time, that care, that love, I appreciated my face like never before, even with all of its so-called imperfections. I also felt I’d received a little gift of peace and contentment.
Each class had my face glowing and radiant, but were my facial muscles more taught and toned? I honestly couldn’t tell after only two classes. But physically my face was feeling stimulated, emotionally I felt more positive, and my spirit had definitely lifted.
Find her…
The easiest way to book a class with Beata is to visit: www.beata.website
You can also see what she’s up to on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Beatas.Page/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beata_aleksandrowicz/?hl=en
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Nfz83O4VE
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