Adjusting your lips with your own fingers. [Letters to the Hand God ④]

Now, today, there is something I would like you to try using your own hands.
It is a simple method for secreting serotonin.

Serotonin is one of the so-called happiness hormones, and it is said that when it is properly secreted, your mind is kept in a calm state.
It is a hormone supplied by carefully performing very daily actions such as walking, chewing well, and basking in the sun, but it is also secreted bygently lifting your face line.

First, please try placing your fingers gently on the sides of your face, as if sandwiching your ears with both hands.

Place three fingers, from the little finger to the middle finger, in front of your ears, and try to lift your face line upward smoothly, mainly focusing on your middle finger.
As a guide for where to place your hands, the nail of your middle finger should be just in front of the tragus (the protrusion at the entrance of the ear canal). Please refer to the illustration above.

The point is todo it with the lightest, lightest touch possible.
It feels likegently lifting only the single layer of skinthat your fingers are touching.
Slowly, slowly, take about 10 seconds to lift it as far as it will go.
Close your eyes and imagine that only the skin of your cheeks, which your fingers are touching, is sliding up over the flesh.
When your fingers stop at the top, please continue to breathe quietly in that position.
It is effective even for a short time, but keeping that state for a few minutes is also recommended.
Doesn't a somewhat nostalgic, indescribable sense of security begin to emerge around the pit of your stomach?

And the same effect can be produced without using your hands, by the act of lifting your face line with your facial muscles... in other words, by smiling.

Without being taught by anyone, we know that smiling lightens the heart.
But perhaps not many people can clearly recall what shape their lips are in at that time.

If you would like, please observe your lips in front of a mirror for a moment.

First, the normal shape of your lips.
Then, the shape of your lips when you smile without showing your teeth.

At this time, please pay attention to the corners of your mouth on both sides.
If both ends of your lips are lifted high in the same way, it means you are "smiling well," but it is by no means rare to have a difference between the left and right sides.
Some people may even notice that one side of their lip is hardly lifted at all.
If so, pleasegently press your finger against the corner of the mouth that is lifting weakly, and while pulling it toward your ear, shake it lightly.

The illustration below is a simplified drawing of the muscles that lift the upper lip.

A is for lifting the corners of the mouth, and C is mainly for creating the beautiful M-shape of the lips.
While observing your own lips, gently press with your finger where you feel it is not lifting, and try shaking it while pulling it diagonally along the muscle.
Just by doing that, the shape of your lips will be adjusted surprisingly well.
Since they are small muscles to begin with, it is easy for them to regain their original function by adding just a slight stimulation.

The effect will not last long at first, but as you continue every day, the beautiful lip shape will become fixed.
And by being able to lift the corners of your mouth smoothly, serotonin will also be secreted more easily.
Just by adjusting your lips, your heart is adjusted... that is what it means.

Of course, there is also a visually pleasing lift-up effect, so please try it in combination with the method at the beginning to lift your face line.

Now, today is the beginning of spring.
The call for articles related to "#hands" came to a close with yesterday's Setsubun.
The number of submissions received was exactly 70.
Everyone, thank you very much for your hard work.
Reading those articles and thinking about "hands" was a daily joy as I savored the unfolding of myself.

The 70 articles are being collected in the "Letters to the Hand God" magazine, and I have been introducing them little by little since the beginning of the year.
This time, I will introduce four of them.
These are submissions regarding "adjusting and healing the body with hands."

First, here is this one.

Blue hand's, "I'll teach you my hand-healing [Essay]."

Blue hand, who uses the word "hand" in their creator name.
They originally valued "healing people with hands," but last year, they encountered an internal organ therapy called Chi Nei Tsang.

Since it is said that 90% of the aforementioned happiness hormone, serotonin, is secreted in the intestines, it goes without saying that abdominal care is important for mind and body care, but I will excerpt from Blue hand's article the part written about how internal organs are perceived in Chi Nei Tsang.

Emotions accumulate in the stomach.
This is not a metaphor—it means that the internal organs are not only organs that digest food, but also organs that process emotions.
If digestion and absorption are not done properly there, emotions, like food, will accumulate in the stomach.
What Blue hand is attempting is a treatment that heals such heavy, accumulated emotions with the power of hand-healing.

If you search for "Chi Nei Tsang" on the internet, I think you will also find illustrations that specifically show "which emotions accumulate in which internal organs." If you are interested, please use them as a reference.

Next, here is an article that shares the experience of having one's stomach healed by a father's hands.

Luca's, "Father's Hands."

In the article, Luca unexpectedly shares this about their own stomachaches as a child.

｜A sensation that also aligns with the concept of Chi Nei Tsang.
And it seems that stomachache was always healed by "Father's hands."

Luca says they had complex feelings and conflicts toward their father.
But only when having their stomach rubbed, they could be held in their father's lap, simply feel at ease, and experience the warmth of those hands.

Even if there were various feelings, it was conveyed that for Luca, their father was someone to whom they could "entrust their precious stomach." And, in the conclusion, these words.

Luca.
Thank you for your heartfelt article.

Next is,

Ajisai's, "Palms to the Sun."

First, let me introduce an episode from the article.

People may think differently about this experience of Ajisai's, but I also felt that there are surprisingly many people who have had similar experiences.
While defenseless lives are trying hard to grow, it is difficult to completely avoid unexpected dangers and troubles.
Growing up is actually a accumulation of miracles.

In those days, if you accidentally hurt your own child... but if you wished strongly and selflessly in that instant, the injury might have disappeared as if it were an illusion.
Even if the severity of the injuries varies, I wonder if many people have had experiences where, looking back, they felt they were "protected by some kind of power at that time."

If Ajisai's article brings a past event to mind, please take the time to reflect on it with care.

Finally, this article.

blanche's, "🖐️There must be a mysterious power."

As it begins with this opening, it is a precious memory of blanche's that was revived by reading the article by Ajisai above.

When blanche was in elementary school, they were scheduled to have surgery for otitis media.
One day, with that surgery approaching, they met a distant relative at a family gathering.

In the end, the surgery was called off, and to this day, there has been almost no recurrence of the otitis media.

Blanche, who was still a child, never found out who that distant relative actually was... and she never had the chance to meet him again.
"Now that I think about it, I wish I had thanked him properly," says Blanche.
I hope that this article, included in the "Letters to the Hand God" magazine, reaches that gentleman like a letter—I humbly fold my hands and pray for it.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who supported this project.

I plan to continue introducing the articles you have contributed, one by one, while following a single theme each time as much as possible.
It will take some time to introduce all the articles, but I would be very grateful if you could wait patiently and look forward to them.
Also, if there is anyone who intended to participate in the project but whose article has not been included in the magazine, please take the trouble to let Crystal-ru know. Any article's comment section will do.

This is the magazine that contains your "#Hand" articles. ↓↓↓

The first article I wrote about "Tegami-sama" (The Hand God) is here. ↓↓↓

The recruitment article for "#Hand" is here. ↓↓↓

The series of introduction articles for "Letters to the Hand God" is here. ↓↓↓