Look after your hands (like they look after you)

Words Jessica Booth

Writing, carrying, typing, driving, creating, cleaning, achieving – day after day after day. Ever thought how your eight fingers, two opposable thumbs and palms work tirelessly without complaining?

Opening and closing up to 25 million times in our lives, our hands are also essential communicators when it comes to expressing ourselves with others, secret detectives when it comes to understanding the world around us, and integral to every loving act.

From the unifying power of touch and lifting heavy loads, to threading cotton through the tiniest eye of a needle and producing world-changing music and art – our hands are exceptional and integral. Yet we can easily take our miracle mitts for granted and often overlook and neglect them. Stress, work and even the weather can all affect our hands and therefore how the rest of us feels, meaning they can hold tension we never knew was there.

Hand massage benefits go way beyond just making our hands feel deeply relaxed. Throughout history, civilisations have worked on hands, feet and ears to improve general body health and wellbeing. Thanks to the reflexology points in the hands having a direct link to our muscles, organs and nerves, hand massage is now known to potentially reduce anxiety, clear energetic channels, boost mood, improve sleep and even reduce headaches.

And what’s more, you can learn to do it yourself with our seven easy steps:

1. Warm your hand and arm muscles with a warmed towel (or a bath or shower);

2. Warm some drops of Equilibrium between your palms, taking time to breathe in the scent as you centre yourself and take a moment to appreciate all that your hands do for you;

3. Apply your warmed Equilibrium to your hands and arms using soft strokes of one palm – up to your elbows or shoulders and down on each arm three times to further warm up the muscles (it is sometimes easier to do this with one hand resting on a table as the other hand strokes up and down);

4. Lovingly cup your hand around your forearm just above your wrist, with your thumb underneath. Squeeze and work your way slowly up to your elbow and back down again, repeat three times on each arm;

5. Start to move your thumb and fingers up and down your forearm and hand, as you press in a circular or back-and-forth motion with moderate pressure three times on each arm;

6. Press your thumb in a circular motion with moderate pressure all around the back of your hand and then your palm. Continue pressure with your thumb along both sides of each finger. Use your thumb to massage the area between your thumb and forefinger;

7. Put your hands in your lap, let their weight drop, close your eyes breathe for a few moments as you give thanks for all the work they do.

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