Lymphatic drainage for puffy eyes

A gift from Cecily Braden: a routine you can complete with your hands.

Skincare products can definitely help tired, puffy eyes look less so — but puffiness around the eyes tends to be related to broader challenges with lymphatic drainage, too.

So I called Cecily Braden, my favorite facial lymphatic massage expert, to see if she could put together a no-tools-required lymphatic drainage massage routine for all of us. Needless to say, when she replied, “Sure, I’ve been thinking about doing that myself,” I was thrilled. THRILLED. (And even more thrilled when she built it around the Eye Serum!)

We first introduced this routine together during an Instagram Live last weekend, when Cecily mentioned, “Puffiness around the eyes is almost never about the eyes. It’s usually an indication of a blockage, or an accumulation, or some type of stagnation below that area: all of that has to flow down your neck.” I tried to keep it together and not interrupt her, but inwardly, I was jumping up and down and making excited, “Yes! 100%!!” squeaking noises.

She then spent about an hour taking me through a no-tools-required routine that has inspired me to start gently massaging the living daylights out of my neck and jaw on the regular. It feels FANTASTIC, and it’s my new favorite healthy addiction.

You can now find that recording on my Instagram — but in case you’d like something a little shorter, you’ll find the still detailed, but significantly more abbreviated version below. It’s about 16 minutes long: all you’ll need to get started, and easier to follow on a more regular basis.

Side note: you can also do this routine with Cecily’s Lymphatic Brushes, pictured above, which are so good that we have trouble keeping them in stock. You’ll find them here along with my other favorites for this routine (don’t miss out on the Mushroom Tension Tamers to loosen up a tight jaw).

I found it helpful to do this type of massage with the brushes first to figure out what type of pressure works best with my hands: these motions are smooth and sweeping, relying mainly on the pads of the fingers for a sense of connection without too much pulling on the skin. But the magical thing about doing it with your hands is that you can more easily feel where there’s some excess fluid — it’ll feel a little spongy — and figure out where you could use a bit more attention. It’s a beautiful way to understand yourself a little better.

I’ll post this on YouTube eventually, but wonderful Substack readers, this one’s for you first! Enormous thanks to Cecily for generously putting this routine together for us.

I hope this was helpful! If it was, please like it, subscribe, or share it with your friends — Substack is a new experiment for me and I appreciate all the support.

PS Any topic discussed in this post is not intended as medical advice. If you have a medical concern, please check with your doctor.