Facial Palsy: A Ray of Hope
Emotional Expression
You Can Look And Feel Like You Again
The face has automatic emotional input which means it responds to the emotions we are feeling. No other muscles in the body do this.
The newest research has uncovered that we use a combination of the emotional centre and the motor centre of the brain to create the myriad of facial expressions.
You may even be able to feel the inability to create expressions, such as areas that seem dense and non-responsive during movement... until those areas become alive and free again.
Emotional Release
Our tissues hold our pain. Memories, emotions, traumas. Yoga and the healing therapies I practice and teach have proven this concept without a doubt. Through the science of somatics it is understood that people can hold embedded memories of traumatic events in the body as well as the brain.
Whenever we have a chronic condition there is always an emotional or traumatic component that needs to be addressed for healing on all levels to be achieved.
When letting go of the tension in the facial muscles you may experience the release of any subconscious emotional pain connected to those areas that your body has been physically holding onto.
Know that this is normal and just allow yourself to feel it momentarily and let it go. Do not stuff it back down.
In the Additional Growth package I share how to manage and transform any emotions that may arise while caring for your face.
Natural Emotional Responses
The newest research has uncovered that we use a combination of the emotional centre and the motor centre of the brain to create the myriad of facial expressions.
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It is through the co-ordination of facial exercises while intentionally activating the emotional centre, that true or full control is developed and repatterning is the result. Eventually with practice, emotion based exercises become natural and effortless. This is the key to recovery from synkinesis.
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At 1st you may be more aware of the old patterns but you will "get it" with a little time spent in front of the mirror or your devices camera with guided instruction.
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Mirror Therapy
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The idea here is to work in front of the mirror, intentionally invoking a list of natural emotional responses associated with certain reactions such as:
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Disgust
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Happy to see you
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Fear
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That's adorable
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Embarrassment
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Concern
I have created a guided practice with visual representations that invoke emotional responses to be used in front of a mirror to both view the results and activate both the emotional and motor centres of the brain.