Down the neck: from your face to your collarbone

How to do it

Position. Hands flat on the sides of your neck, little fingers just under your earlobes.

Direction. 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.

Reps and rhythm. 10 times (between 5 and 15), split across two heights, in 4-second cycles.

Your fingers stay on the same spot of skin: they never slide or lift off. They move the skin with them as far as it naturally goes, pause for a moment and relax, and the skin springs back on its own.

Why it comes after the face

What you move from your face towards your ears needs to carry on: down your neck to the collarbone. The Royal Devon leaflet teaches it that way, first the face towards the ears and then down the neck.² That is why, in “Fresh face”, this move comes after the three face moves and before the final breathing.

At two heights

Start with your little finger just below your earlobe and your hand flat on your neck. Move the skin down, towards your shoulders, and let go. Halfway through the repetitions, move your hands lower to cover the bottom of your neck and repeat. It is the sequence in the Lymphoedema Network Northern Ireland leaflet, which does it five times at each height.¹

The mouse study that went viral

In 2025, a study published in Nature found that gently manipulating the lymph vessels in the necks of mice increased drainage of the fluid around the brain.³ The pattern resembles this move, which is why it has been shared so much. But it is a study in mice: nobody has shown the same happens in people with self-massage. We mention it as context, not as a promise.

Common mistakes

• Doing it without opening the collarbone first. That is where lymph arrives: it is opened first.
• Going fast. Each stretch lasts about 4 seconds, with its pause.
• Sliding your hands down, rubbing. The skin is stretched and released; your hands do not slip.

Questions

Can I do it on its own, without the face?

Yes, but always after opening the collarbone. On its own it is a minute for your neck; it makes full sense when it closes the face work.

Does it help you sleep or “clean” the brain?

There are no studies in people. The Nature one was in mice.³ If it relaxes you before bed, good, but we promise no more than that.

The cues, step by step

They are the ones shown on screen in the Rinpa guided version, in time with the move.

“Hands flat on your neck, little finger just under your ear.”

“Move the skin down towards your shoulders.”

“And release.”

“Move your hands a little lower.”

In these routines

Sources

1. 1.CSP NI · little finger under the earlobe, towards the shoulders 5 times, then lower down.
2. 2.Royal Devon · the face first, then down the neck.
3. 3.Nature 2025 · The pattern resembles the one in the Nature 2025 mouse study. It's context, not a guideline.