Have you wondered how easy it could be to just push a button that would magically change the world around you, from everything being wrong to all things being right?
Well it turns out that button is near at hand, as close as the skin on your face. In Alex Scrimgeour’s new book, you can acquire the techniques needed to alleviate the mental anguish and physical distress of a past trauma. To do this, you’ll find the connections between your face and body. Like with acupuncture, but without needles, Dien Chan is a way of getting to emotional stability or wellbeing by touching or massaging the points on your face.
Facial Reflexology for Emotional Wellbeing: healing and sensory self-care with Dien Chan by Alex Scrimgeour, 2023. Published by Healing Arts Press, Rochester, Vermont.
Complete with clearly rendered diagrams, the text is a collection of essays about a technique that was developed in Vietnam in the 20th century. Dien Chan has much older roots, and could be especially relevant in today’s world.
This book review seeks that relevance in the most accessible places discussed in Facial Reflexology.
What does ‘Facial Reflexology’ mean?
We know that reflexology is a method of stimulating points on the body, usually on the surface of the ears, feet or hands which transfer energy to specific organs. But there are also points on the face. In Alex’s book, facial reflexology is paired with the philosophy of Classical Chinese medicine and the mind-body disciplines of Qi Gong. Over 300 points of resonance have been located and are accessible from ear to ear and from forehead to chin. Communicating with the body, the facial points can also influence emotional health. Known as correspondences or resonances, the facial reflexology points can be stimulated to cause relaxation and wellbeing.
‘Dien Chan’ is Facial Reflexology developed in Vietnam
With its roots in acupuncture and the Chinese concept of energy in the body, Dien Chan was developed as a means of coping in the aftermath of trauma in 1970s Vietnam. It’s a branch of reflexology, relating points on the face to parts of the interior body in a system of correspondences. Evidently, the emotions we hold in our faces can be released, offering a clear pathway to relief from the disturbing afflictions that are trauma-based.
For those burdened with the wounds of trauma, Scrimgeour recommends the practice of Dien Chan, a system of certain points that can be palpitated to effect changes in bodily reactions and mood.
Stress vs Trauma
Not long ago, the feeling of estrangement between an individual and their world, resulting in “fight or flight” was covered by a single word. The word is “stress”. Upon hearing this word in relationship to anything in our personal or work life, etc., all of us nod our heads in agreement. Stress is something we are all familiar with.
And yet, these days we’ve gotten more particular about stress, and we want to figure out the cause of it. And so, a less-familiar, but more exact word than stress, the word trauma has taken its place. People are coming to terms with the notion that every single one of us has experienced trauma, to one degree or another.
Many working theories and methods have been generated from recent scholarship and work in the area of neurobiology. These theories and methods are the basis for Scrimgeour’s essays. In the book, he explains what is going on between a past trauma and our continued reactions to it.
The author says, “… a regular Dien Chan self-care practice can create a positive feedback loop that strengthens our ability to remain calm in the face of adversity… “. p 156
As those familiar with trauma research are already aware, it’s the circular feed-back between the psyche and the body or sensory organs that keep a person chained to the negative. It’s as if the power of a particular memory has run away with reason. Thus the lack of presence, or lack of mindfulness, causes a current of perpetuated misery.
Cultural Orientation and Our Minds
One of the basic themes in Scrimgeour’s essays is that in our modern times, we are culturally inclined towards thinking rather than feeling. And further, once we are there in our heads, we are predisposed towards the negative resolution of emotions much more than the positive.
“In the West, we have become so hyper-individualized that we have lost the wisdom of our relational nature… we have collectively come to regard competition and rivalry as inherently superior to collaboration and dialog.” p 193
Thus we can’t handle trauma easily, we can’t easily self-regulate. We need a proven program such as Dien Chan to establish transference and thereby resolve the pain.
Scrimgeour recommends training our emotions by sending our them backward and downward. He recommends learning about where we deposit our emotions and rediscovering “our sensitivity to the world”. He says we might explore the face as “a medium between our emotions and our body”, p 220 as an “alchemy of perception” of ourselves and the world around us. By re-regulating these pathways, we can sort out a memory which has no resolution of its own.
My Conclusions
Within the space of alternative therapies in the media, interest in touch therapies for the face or the face, neck and shoulders has been gaining momentum. Thus Dien Chan may be more familiar now, than earlier in this century when several books were first written about it. The work of Marie-France Muller, Facial Reflexology: A Self-Care Manual, c2007, was mentioned by Scrimgeour in his introductory statements.
Facial Reflexology for Emotional Well-Being turns out to be a journey into the connections between East Asian philosophies, the ideas of Chinese medicine and Qi Gong, and the Western scientists who’ve been working to unravel the meaning of trauma over the past half-century. The author’s explanation that touching points on the face prompts healing in the body and resolution of the senses and the heart is believable. He examines topics such as the dynamic of bodily energy, the function of the vagus nerve, the phenomena of embodiment and disembodiment in light of the attention we can give to our wounded selves.
Illustrated healing programs with diagrams and descriptive text on how to do touch therapies are the norm in the space of alternative therapies. Facial Reflexology for Emotional Well-Being is however, more about the reasons why you might find Dien Chan and the process of feeling into or examining the senses very helpful. Dien Chan, as the author explains, works to unite the mind and body, to put trauma in perspective or reframe trauma so it has less power over you. The author’s way of bridging of cultures and healing methods is unique, owing to his experience of Eastern and Western medicinal philosophies. As well, he carries the meaning in Chinese and Buddhist philosophies and medicine pathways to meet the Western experience, which is really helpful towards a vision of community in today’s world.
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