How to Do the Tanaka Face Massage

The Tanaka massage uses specific lymphatic drainage movements with your hands to reduce puffiness and sculpt facial contours in about 5 minutes daily.

1. Prepare your face. Start with clean hands and a freshly cleansed face. Apply a facial oil or serum to create slip—this prevents tugging on delicate skin. The technique requires smooth gliding movements, not friction.
2. Begin with the forehead sweep. Place both palms flat against your forehead, fingers pointing toward each other. Press gently and sweep outward toward your temples, then down to your ears. This drains fluid that pools overnight and creates immediate lifting.
3. Work the eye area. Use your ring fingers to trace gentle circles around your orbital bone, starting at the inner corners and moving outward. The pressure should be feather-light—you're moving lymph, not kneading muscle.
4. Sculpt the cheekbones. Create loose fists and use your knuckles to sweep from the center of your cheeks up and out toward your ears. This movement defines cheekbones while draining puffiness from the mid-face area.
5. Define the jawline. Using the same knuckle technique, sweep along your jawline from chin to ears. Follow with upward strokes from jaw to temples to lift everything you just loosened.
6. Finish with neck drainage. Place both hands at the base of your neck and sweep upward to your jawline, then down the sides of your neck toward your collarbones. This completes the lymphatic drainage pathway.