Facial lymphatic drainage: the 5-minute routine, step by step.

Eight steps and five minutes: you breathe, open the collarbone and the sides of the neck, work the face from the centre outwards and come back down the neck. Here is every step with its seconds, to do at your own pace or guided.

Do it guided now 5 min

Free, no sign-up. The gesture on video, the direction drawn over it and the pace, step by step.

8 steps · 5:00 Reviewed on October 11, 2026 Sources ↓

Edited by José Antonio Neto Not clinically reviewed

Guided routine Morning · Fresh face Breathing, neck and face 5:00

8 steps Breathe · Neck · Face · Neck · Breathe

When

In the morning, with your face clean and dry, in front of a mirror. That is when the face tends to be puffiest.

What you may notice

Lighter skin and a feeling of a fresher face. In healthy people no study has measured how much it reduces puffiness, so we do not promise it: it is a comfort routine.

What you need

Clean hands and dry skin, without cream or oil: otherwise your fingers slide instead of stretching the skin.

The routine

8 steps, 5:00

01

Belly breathing

Your hands do nothing: they rise with your belly as you breathe in and fall as you breathe out. Your shoulders stay still.

0:40
02

Open the collarbone

Down and in, tracing a J towards the centre, always above the collarbone. The skin moves only as far as it naturally goes. Target: the supraclavicular lymph nodes.

0:45
03

Sides of the neck

Stretch the skin back and down, then release. Target: the cervical lymph nodes and, from there, the collarbone.

0:25
04

Lips to ears

Move the skin outwards across your cheeks, in short stages, to the sideburn area in front of your ear. Your fingers carry the skin; they don't rub.

0:25
05

Nose to ears

Move the skin outwards across your cheeks to just in front of your ears, in short stages.

0:45
06

Under the eyes

Move the skin along the edge of the bone, from the inside outwards, towards your temple and the front of your ear. Almost no weight.

0:45
07

Down the neck

Stretch the skin down, towards your shoulders and collarbone. Halfway through, move your hands lower to cover the lower part of your neck. Target: the supraclavicular lymph nodes.

0:25
08

Belly breathing

Your hands do nothing: they rise with your belly as you breathe in and fall as you breathe out. Your shoulders stay still.

0:50

Before you start

There are times not to do it: new or one-sided swelling, a fever, a warm or painful calf. Side effects and contraindications

The guide

Every move explained, with why it is done that way: Lymphatic drainage face massage: a 5-minute routine · Rinpa

Sources