Ready for Lymphatic Vitality? Uncover the Root of Your Motivation

This blog is an invitation to cultivate a new lymphatic drainage ritual for 2024 to sustain you throughout the year and beyond.

One of my January intentions is to not wish the world be different. 

To embrace the totality of human experience. There is suffering and agony. There is beauty and love. All of it exists. Exists now and has always existed. I intend to cast my lot with love. Contribute to this force on earth.

And accept it all. Find the place in my belly that says yes. I can be at peace with this. There is pain. And I know that other things are also possible. Love. Human depth. Kindness.

One small way to take this intention into each day is through my own body. Touching my own skin. Not wishing it be different.

How many of us have self-care routines we do every day?

Every single one of us. We brush our teeth. Dress. Bathe. Make our meals. Maybe we have a daily lymphatic drainage sequence we do.

How many of us have self-care rituals we do every day?​

​Our habits put us more than halfway to ritual. We are already doing these activities. Today we can choose to make them sacred acts, loving moments of radical acceptance.

One important aspect of lymphatic ritual is its intrinsic challenge: Keep doing it.

Do it daily. For ritual to nourish us, we must nourish ritual. We must establish a practice.

Another important aspect of lymphatic ritual is its root: Our motivation.

And at the root of this practice, for it to be lasting, must live our deep motivation. One that outlasts freedom from the pain and fear associated with a diagnosis. Without a vision that is deeper than relief from symptoms, the ritual falls away.

Today’s invitation to explore: What is the root of our motivation? 

Our reason for living fully, our purpose in this lifetime? A cancer diagnosis will scare a human into self-care, pain will cause immediate behavior shifts, but as years pass and pain and fear fall away, so do the fear-induced behavior changes.

What is your Why for self-love? It could be as simple as wanting to be able to play with your grandchildren. Or wanting to embrace all of human experience, every day, throughout the day.

This blog is an invitation to cultivating a new ritual for 2024. A self-care ritual to start the new year. Maybe each one of you already has a self-lymphatic drainage practice taught to you by your lymphatic therapist. If so, this will be an invitation to turn that habit into ritual. If you don’t have a self-drainage sequence, consider adopting the one that follows.

As human beings with inflammation, whether it be from lymphedema or the inflammation that can come as a result of grief or loss or living in a beautiful and dirty world, a daily manual lymphatic drainage routine is a gift. Done lovingly, with insight into our root motivation, it becomes ritual. Ritual is habit made holy.

• Take a moment to pause, feel into your breath. Notice the tension and holding, letting it go. Relax and open. Come into a position that feels appropriate for you. Hold the space for both comfort and discomfort. Not wanting anything to be different. Finding that place in the belly that says yes. I can be at peace with this.
• Allow the question: What is my deep why? My deep motivation for wanting to heal and be healthy. Offer yourself permission to look deeper than cancer-free, pain-free, grief-free. To the rooted place beneath, the deep place that gives your life a sense of purpose. The answer can be so simple you might mistake it as not being enough. To love without distraction, to see my children get married, to write that book, to forgive my father. To love myself and find freedom in that. 
• The practice sequence: I touch my own skin, and it tells me that before there was any harm, there was miracle.
  • Let’s begin
    • Start with the breath, allowing it to gently deepen. Rest your left hand on your right ribs, your right hand on your left ribs in a gentle hug, and feel the ribs expand with your inhale and gentle fall away with your exhale. Breathe in this expansive way 10-20 times.
    • Move next to the neck, below the ears, above the collar bones. Stroke gently down from the left ear to the left collarbone with your right hand, the web space of the thumb gently contacting the throat, the fingers of the right hand firmly stroking the side of the neck toward its base, stopped by the bony clavicle, 10-20 times. Then switch hands and do the other side of the neck.
    • Move now to the armpits. Place the right hand in the left armpit, stroking up and into the armpit, in the direction of the neck, to clear the axillary lymph nodes, the hand never leaving the armpit, glued to the area where you shave or put deodorant if you do these practices. Do this 10-20 times. Then switch hands and clear the right armpit 10-20 times.
    • Move again to the neck, below the ears, above the collar bones. Stroke gently down from the left ear to the left collarbone with your right hand, the web space of the thumb gently contacting the throat, the fingers of the right hand firmly stroking the side of the neck toward its base, stopped by the bony clavicle, 10-20 times. Then switch hands and do the other side of the neck.
    • Move now to the groin. Place the right hand in the right hip crease, the left hand on the left hip crease, stroking up and in, toward the umbilicus, to clear the inguinal lymph nodes, the hand never leaving the groin/hip crease, glued to the panty line. Do this 10-20 times.
    • Move again to the neck, below the ears, above the collar bones. Stroke gently down from the left ear to the left collarbone with your right hand, the web space of the thumb gently contacting the throat, the fingers of the right hand firmly stroking the side of the neck toward its base, stopped by the bony clavicle, 10-20 times. Then switch hands and do the other side of the neck.
    • Return to the breath, allowing it to gently deepen. Rest your left hand on your right ribs, your right hand on your left ribs in a gentle hug, and feel the ribs expand with your inhale and gentle fall away with your exhale. Breathe in this expansive way 10-20 times.
• Pause to collect and connect, feeling into the yes in your belly.

The invisible river of your lymphatic immunity is always flowing through you. Small blockages– maybe from cancer treatment or some other inflammation-causing disruptor– act like dams along the river of flow. Swelling is when the river overflows its banks. The intentional touch of a loving manual drainage sequence like the one above is an opportunity to clear away the debris and invite free flow.

At some point in establishing a practice almost everyone needs support—a mentor, a class structure, a community. Enjoy the videos available on my website and consider booking a healing session to better understand your own lymphatic flow, possible blockages, and develop a lasting ritual of loving self care.

Disclaimer – This blog is for general information purposes only. Furthermore, the information contained in this blog is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult your licensed healthcare professional for advice on your specific condition.