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We spend hours moving our bodies, but what about the system that moves everything else inside us?

In this episode, I’m joined by Leah Levitan, founder of Lymph Love Club and a certified lymphedema therapist. She started out as a massage therapist frustrated by clients who weren’t improving, and her curiosity led her deep into the world of lymphatic health. Today, she’s one of the most approachable teachers in this space, making complex physiology feel simple, funny, and doable.

We unpack what the lymphatic system actually does, why it matters for women’s health, and how small, daily actions like breath, movement, touch, and hydration can completely shift how we feel. It’s not about gadgets or perfection; it’s about reconnecting with what your body already knows how to do, and you’ll see why gentle, consistent care beats any quick fix.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction
[01:06] How Leah discovered lymphatic work after realizing some clients weren’t healing the same way
[03:39] What your lymphatic system actually does and why it’s essential for immune and detox health
[09:36] The daily habits that quietly block lymph flow, and why you should remove them before adding more routines
[15:24] The two-minute ‘Big Six’ sequence that helps your body clear fluid efficiently
[18:04] Why gentle joint movement and bouncing can restore natural circulation without fancy tools
[24:12] How to do Leah’s five-step facial drainage routine at home, no oils or gadgets required
[36:27] Simple fascia-release moves to open the neck and chest for better flow and less tension
[44:20] The truth about tattoos, ink buildup, and what it really means for your lymph nodes

Resources Mentioned:

Stop Chasing Pain with Dr. Perry Nicholson | Website
The Big Six Lymphatic Drainage Routine | Website
The Feminine Periodical Newsletter | Website
Hormone Healing podcast episode on Intro to Lymph Flow with Leah | Website
The Morning Lymph Practice Leah Shares With All My Clients | Youtube
Paleovalley Electrolytes (use code HORMONEHEALINGRD10) | Website
Join Leah in her Lymph Love Club Community!

Learn about helpful nutrition habits, the different phases of your cycle, how to track, signs of good metabolic health, and so much more in my Free Healthy Period Starter Guide.

Find more from Leah:

Lymph Love Club | Instagram
Lymph Love Club | YouTube
Lymph Love Club | Head & Neck Course

Find more from Amanda:

Hormone Healing RD | Instagram
Hormone Healing RD | Website
Hormone Healing RD | Facebook
Hormone Healing RD | YouTube
Hormone Healing RD | TikTok

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Thank you so much for being here, Leah. I am honored. I’m happy we get to connect again. I’m like, I just, we’re emailing, I’m like, I can’t wait to just see your face again. You know, even if it’s online. Agreed. Thank you so much for having me. I feel like it’s a full circle moment. I know, I know it’s, it’s been a few years, but it’s really been so cool to see how Lymph Love Club has grown, how you’ve grown and just.

[00:00:24] You know, you’re just the best teacher. And I, I was like, I really wanna do a limp episode. It’s very trendy right now. And I think there’s a lot of confusion around it. ’cause people do things differently. People teach things differently. I don’t think there’s one perfect way to do everything, but, um, just so that people can learn, okay, how can I, how does this relate to me?

[00:00:41] And how can I actually try to incorporate this? And I’m like, there’s no better person to do this with than Leah. Yeah. Thank you so much for thinking of me. Of course. Do you wanna share how you got into. Lymph work to begin with. Sure. So Dr. Perry Nicholson, he’s like the lymph guy, [00:01:00] right? I think so many people find the system thanks to him.

[00:01:03] He’s been doing this stuff for a lot longer. So just as more of a, uh, like a junior massage therapist, I was just like, wait, why are some of my clients just not getting better? Or like, why are, why am I not getting the same results with some clients? When I’m using the same techniques on everybody. So I was kind of doing deeper tissue work, you know, just like a little more, um, I don’t know.

[00:01:29] A little more intense. And so some of my more sensitive clients, I just was not really sure I was missing a piece there. And I think it was that chronic inflammation piece, like pain. How does that work? A little more about the nervous system. So, um, I got certified in athletic taping, which kinesiology tape is so good for lymphatic drainage.

[00:01:48] So I actually, that was sort of like my window in was, that’s how I found Perry. He used to be an instructor for this class. And so it just opened my eyes to this whole new world of approaching the body. [00:02:00] And so that really motivated me to go back to school and to get certified as a lymphedema therapist.

[00:02:06] So working with the lymphatic system has been really incredible and it’s just changed the types of people that I work with, even though lymphatic drainage is great for athletes and recovery and injury prevention and just, you know. Injury recovery too. Um, it’s just been really cool to come into this world.

[00:02:27] And so then I started teaching it because I found that there wasn’t a whole lot of resources, especially outside of Perry and Perry wasn’t, wasn’t like super into like the women’s health. He was just sort of like for everyone. And so I was like, wait, what about like breast health and reproductive health and all the things?

[00:02:44] So it was nice to kind of come in there as like the lady version, you know, to be like, all right, cool. Perry and I can sort of spread the message and it’s just felt really awesome to share that message. Yeah. And you’re really good at it. And if you guys don’t [00:03:00] follow Leah on Instagram, I’m telling you it’s, you have like, you’ll learn, but you’ll laugh.

[00:03:05] And to me, like that’s when I remember stuff, you know, when people teach it in a way where I’m like, there’s like a song or a joke or it’s just so like broken down. So simply it, you can’t help but be like, oh. That makes so much sense. I know how my adrenal glands work now. Like when you do stuff like that, it’s just like, it’s so cool.

[00:03:24] So if you don’t follow Leah at Lymph Love Club, I highly recommend it. I’ll put all her links and everything in the show notes as well. Um, let’s, let’s get into what is our lymphatic system? Why should women care about it? Why is it important for our health? Yeah, so I think most of us are familiar with the cardiovascular system, you know, that.

[00:03:45] That fluid that’s pumping through our body to nourish our cells and running right alongside of that system. ’cause there’s a lot of little squishy fluid pipes that are kind of moving this fluid around. There’s the lymphatic system, so the cardiovascular [00:04:00] system and the lymphatic system make up our circulatory system because our body’s mostly made of water and mostly made of fluid.

[00:04:06] So we have this fluid layer that’s sort of creating this environment for. Every single cell in our body, we’ve got trillions of cells in our body. So unlike the cardiovascular system, which has the heart, you know, that central pumping to like move that stuff around, the lymphatic system doesn’t have that.

[00:04:26] And so what often happens in our sedentary culture. Is that we’re not really moving the way that we used to hundreds of thousands of years ago when we were sort of hunting and gathering and squatting and you know, bashing rocks together and grinding up seeds and all the things that we used to do. I mean, even think about rolling a window down, we used to manually roll the window down in our car.

[00:04:49] And brush our teeth and now we’ve gone all electric. Oh, that’s so true when you think about it. Yeah. So it’s like there’s all these movements that have sort of been taken out of our existence [00:05:00] as as a human. And so I think that our function really can suffer sometimes, you know? ’cause it’s like exercise is great and I love moving my body and I try to do it like three or four times a week and I’ve got this allotted time to do it, but it’s all the other.

[00:05:19] Things that we’re doing throughout the day, and I do a lot of computering and sitting, and so this fluid can slow down and because it’s sort of sweeping away the things that don’t belong in our body, whether it’s metabolic waste or environmental chemicals that are coming from the outside, those things can start to circulate.

[00:05:38] They’re not getting out as quickly as they could. So the lymphatic system is sort of filtering this fluid, this like overrun of fluid that’s kind of bathed our cells. And so it picks up the remaining fluid, puts it into circulation, and it’s filtered through our lymph nodes. These like little tiny organs of our lymphatic system.

[00:05:57] And so it’s a huge part of our immune system [00:06:00] ’cause there are immune cells flowing through this fluid. There’s also nutrients flowing through it. So it’s not just like toxic sludge. It’s um. It’s really making sure that the good stuff is circulating around too. But all of that, all of that fluid actually goes back into circulation in our cardiovascular system so that our detox organs can filter that blood and then do their detox thing to like remove that stuff from our body.

[00:06:24] But when we are. You know, maybe overrun with stress and that piece of like, not moving enough and maybe we’ve got some nutritional deficiencies, which is like your beautiful area of expertise, um, where we’re, where our cells aren’t getting what they need or our body isn’t able to absorb them. And, and so we just sort of get this like domino effect.

[00:06:50] And because the lymphatic system is so body wide. Well, I mean, we have a lymphatic system in our brain, so think about that [00:07:00] neurological or nervous system aspect where people are, I have a lot of clients that have brain fog myself. I deal with it too. And so I’m just like, Ooh, brain fog. It’s like brain fog.

[00:07:10] Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. And there’s a ton of lymph in our gut, ton of lymph in our gut, and so that brain gut connection is huge. And so it’s just, you know. It’s one of the most powerful and influential systems in the body, which I think is something that Perry is so good at driving home. He’s just like, this is, this is it you guys?

[00:07:32] He is like the mad scientist of like, this is why we should care. It’s because it’s how our body does anything. Well, you know? And so we wanna, we wanna be able to take care of that system. But we have to first become aware of it. So that’s like step one. And then from there it’s, it’s actually like pretty easy to take care of.

[00:07:52] But it’s one of those things where, you know, there’s so much information out there and everybody’s teaching things a little bit [00:08:00] differently. And so you and I talked about that, just like the overrun of, of. Commodifying health and all these gadgets that are available and like you can buy your way into lymphatic health.

[00:08:11] And so it’s sort of like a, a remembering to like, ah, just come back to the body and touch and movement and hydration and all the foundations of health that we know we need. That are that true north, you know, and then the tools are extra and they’re great and yes. Yeah, they’re definitely like the cherry on top, you know, because like if you don’t, and ’cause if you think about it.

[00:08:36] It’s like when do most people feel their best? Not when they do something like once a day for 10 minutes or however long you’re gonna rebound or stand in your vibration plate or whatever. It’s typically when you’re working it in little increments throughout your day and you’re kind of taking it with you.

[00:08:52] So it’s like if you sat all day, if you’re sending all day, but you jump on your rebounder for 10 minutes, is it better than not doing it? Yes. But [00:09:00] is it gonna completely shift your health? Probably not. It’s probably not gonna have as big of an impact versus you digging into like all the foundations. Um, can we talk a little bit more?

[00:09:10] So, so sitting, uh, what else can hinder. The lymphatic system, what are like the big things that you’re like, okay, because before we’re gonna like try to support something, it’s like what are things that maybe we, instead of adding something in, could we just take it out? Um, when it comes to like, what can make it not function as optimally?

[00:09:30] Yeah. Well, there’s a. That movement piece is huge because that is one of the primary ways that our lymphatic system gets, that fluid gets circulating. Uh, breath is a really big one. I think. You know, when we’re stressed, we’re breathing really shallowly. Our breathing mechanics actually change. When we breathe, our diaphragm is supposed to extend down and really massage our visceral organs and pump that main lymphatic channel that runs right through it.

[00:09:57] It’s called the thoracic duct. There’s like a little [00:10:00] passageway. It’s about the width of a pencil that runs right through it, and that’s all the lymphatic fluid from the lower body as well as the digestive tract. And so every time you breathe, you’re getting that massage, but. If say like your rib cage isn’t fully expanding and that diaphragm is not moving as fully as it could, that’s a huge hindrance.

[00:10:22] So tapping into the breath is a huge part of our lymphatic health. Another one, let’s see. We got movement, breath. Um. Our fascia, our connective tissue that sort of creates this structure for our body. The scaffolding. Scaffolding for our lymphatic system. That is something that’s gonna contract separately from muscle, even though it’s like sort of weaved into all of our tissues and it’s holding everything together and separating everything that can become a little bit shortened and constricted.

[00:10:59] And [00:11:00] part of that stress piece, it sort of fits into there because our connective tissue is hardwired to our nervous system. And when we’re stressed, things sort of contract and constrict. You know, things get smaller, we get smaller, we start to even like curl forward in the fetal position. And that’s a huge one because our lymphatic vessels are constricting and so that can slow flow as well.

[00:11:24] Scar tissue is another one. Um, also that’s. Connective tissue, that’s the body creating a permanent suture to close something that’s sort of, you know, punctured in to the tissue. And so a lot of clients that I’m working with that are either recovering from breast cancer or they’ve had some sort of surgery, that scar tissue is something that we wanna work on and soften.

[00:11:49] You know, even an old C-section scar, we’ll have women come in, maybe they’ve got a little something going on where they’ve. Just the fluid has never really been able to like [00:12:00] circulate the way that it did before, uh, before pregnancy. And so I was sort of optimizing that and, and getting in the belly and working on some fascial adhesions and just exploring that tissue and seeing where we can soften it.

[00:12:12] Do you get a lot of endometriosis clients? Mm-hmm. Yes. We sure do. Because I think scar tissue, I think endo from like laparoscopic surgery and stuff, and like all the adhesions that can form. Um, and I’m like, oh, they would do so well with lymphatic support, you know, get like that manual kind of support. Um, and like, I know hydration’s a big one.

[00:12:35] Typically they, that obviously can support it. But if you’re dehydrated. That can affect how nothing’s working. Well. Yeah, I know. I know. Literally nothing in the body’s just gonna work, right? Like nothing’s gonna work. We’re mostly made of water, so if we don’t drink water. Things are not gonna go as you want them to.

[00:12:52] Yeah. And the min and minerals and stuff. And I’m gonna do a little bonus episode that’s got where I get more into, like minerals that support your [00:13:00] lymphatic system. Um, ’cause I can see, usually I can look at someone’s hair test if they have a lot of liver stress. Of course it can be. I’m like, all right.

[00:13:07] That’s, that’s part of drainage, right? Is like supporting our lymphatic system. But um. Even just very low minerals. It’s like they can really, people can really struggle with that detoxification and limb support. Yeah, and those two just go hand in hand too. It’s like if we’re not able to eliminate things.

[00:13:25] Then that’s gonna be a huge problem ’cause it’s all gonna kinda kick back into the lymphatic system. So yeah, so those are the big areas. Um, and then as far as like, so we’ll get into like building, uh, daily lymphatic routine and it’s like, it’s short. It doesn’t, it doesn’t have to be anything crazy. And, uh, Leah has a lot of really great content on this.

[00:13:47] So if you’re, if you just even go to her Instagram. You’ll find like little snippets of like, you could put lotion on this way, or you could do it this way. Like even like these tiny little micro habits, I believe you called them, that you [00:14:00] can work it into what you’re already doing. It doesn’t have to be like, okay, I need another 30 minutes every morning to do.

[00:14:06] A limb for routine like it GU treatment. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn’t have, I mean, I do it every single day and I have two little kids with me and they jump, they do the jumps and everything with me. It’s like they love it. So you can make it work and you can also like shorten it and we’ll talk about that. But, um, I’m curious, like, what, what are different aspects you’d be looking for if someone’s like, all right, I wanna start supporting my lymphatic system.

[00:14:32] What should I consider? Like what should I consider having in my routine? Well, I think this is something that we teach all of our clients that are coming into Align here in Austin. It’s like we want to do the lymphatic stuff, but we also want to teach people how to be with their body and to be with that system and to support it.

[00:14:50] So it’s like there’s every level, every tear that you could imagine. You just grab whichever one’s gonna suit you that day. Like if you [00:15:00] have a little less time. I feel like the foundation for me is making sure to have a nice glass of water. To get those fluids kind of circulating. It’s like, doesn’t that water absorb just so fast?

[00:15:15] Right? It’s like hydration is kind of happening in real time, so it’s like you can get hydrated and then start moving your lymphatic fluid and it’s good to go. And so I usually will do Dr. Perry’s big six, and that’s, that’s sort of like the entry level it takes. What, like two minutes to do all six of the points.

[00:15:37] You do them in a particular order. You can find that tutorial anywhere. If you type in the big six, Dr. Perry, it’ll come right up and in a million different way and in a million different ways. I’m sure even I teach it a little bit differently than he does and that’s just like the way that I like to teach it.

[00:15:56] I’m like, I just wanna put like a little stank on it. You know? I want like a little bit more in the [00:16:00] neck, but. So you do like that little two minute thing and stay hydrated. And I’ve got my own little thing like for the face, so it’s sort of a big six for the face, and I like to stack those two together.

[00:16:13] And that’s either the five face framework. Or the Fab Five. They’re both the same. They’re both the same thing, but people, people have, people have different names for them, but those are the top two. It’s like Fab five Big Six, and it’s just easy to, it’s easy to remember. And once you memorize those 11 points, your golden and, and you’re golden in like less than five minutes.

[00:16:38] If that’s all you can do for your lymphatic system that day, that’s amazing. And then that’s where you can sort of add and, you know, pick and choose what’s gonna be. Good for you. What’s necessary for you? So I will usually go, I have like, my morning routine is that I, I, I wanna get hydrated first thing in the morning.

[00:16:57] ’cause those lymphatic, the lymphatic fluid is a little [00:17:00] bit thicker. It’s like a little bit stickier because we’ve not drank anything all night. Our breathing gets really shallow and we haven’t moved a lot. So we gotta like, ugh, get it going and then I’ll kind of go outside. And the sun is rising. Usually, sometimes I’m late, sometimes I’m early, it’s fine.

[00:17:17] But I try to get outside just to get a little bit of nature, get my bare feet into the dirt, do like a little bit of grounding, and, and then that’s when I’m doing like get the fluid circulating with the big six. So the fab five or both. And then I’ll add in like a little bit of joint movement. You know, we wanna.

[00:17:38] The joints are where our lymphatic fluid gets stuck most often because those joints, again, sort of circling back to that sedentary culture, we’re not getting as much movement in our joints as we as we need to by design. And so moving all of your joints in like little joint circles, you could kind of start with.

[00:17:58] Like the a, a [00:18:00] circular motion, and that can be true for almost every joint in your body. You could do like neck circles and spinal spirals and shoulder circles and wrist circles and knee circles, and, and you can just work from the top of your body and go all the way down. And then after you’ve kind of pumped some of the fluid through the joints, just with that muscle activation and joint movement, then we bring in a little bit of like bouncing.

[00:18:25] And so I know a lot of people will use vibration plates or rebounders. Um, you don’t really need either of those things to move your lymphatic fluid because once you’ve changed the pressure, the lymphatic system is a, is a pressure system. The lowest point of pressure is behind the collar bones, which is why the big six and the fab five start with point number one at the collar bones.

[00:18:48] So it’s like once you. Change that pressure and you’ve got things circulating. Then when you create that, bouncing that up and down, well you’re also activating your calf muscle. So it’s like your [00:19:00] second heart, right? Your lymphatic heart. And so that’s helping, bringing the, bringing the fluid from the lower body back up towards the heart, but also that movement that up and down, that elevator kind of movement, um, works with the, like the design of the lymphatic vessels.

[00:19:17] They have these little flaps that. Prevent backflow. And so that just helps to sort of like, uh, uh, uh, push the lymph back up like one, one valve at a time. And so when we’re starting with, I have so many logistical questions I know people are gonna have, so I’ll get there. But when we’re starting with the big six, um.

[00:19:38] And kind of activating things. You’re doing that to get the lymph nodes ready, right? To like turn things on again. And because I see a lot of people skip this or they don’t understand it and I’m like even just a little bit, just like a little bit, you know, it doesn’t have to be anything crazy to like really wake things up so that it does it help things.

[00:19:59] Yeah, it helps [00:20:00] things drain properly before you start moving around. Like bouncing and joint work and stuff like that. Yes, absolutely. So it’s like, you know, there’s fluid that’s gonna be sitting in the system when you wake up, and so when you’re stimulating those major lymph node clusters, what you’re doing is you’re sort of prepping those lymph nodes and preparing them to receive more fluid because when you pump behind the collarbone.

[00:20:23] That’s gonna change. When I say change the pressure, I’m realizing I didn’t clarify that. It’s creating like a, a very subtle vacuuming. So then it starts to sort of pull that lymphatic fluid back into circulation and, and it speeds up the smooth muscle contraction that lines the inside of our lymphatic vessel.

[00:20:42] So just like our gut has muscle that sort of pushes feces along the digestive track, we also have that same type of muscle that’s sort of. Slowly, you know, pushes and contracts the lymphatic fluid through the valves. And so you’re just, you’re [00:21:00] assisting the body, but you’re also telling the body like, Hey, we’re gonna do a little bit more now.

[00:21:05] And you’re using touch to communicate that. So then, you know. Just our physiology and the nervous system being like, okay, here we go. We’re contracting these muscles a little bit more. I notice a big shift in my nervous system when I’m doing my kinda like supportive routine. I also do it outside, uh, just to get that morning light.

[00:21:24] You can support your circadian rhythm, get do your lymphatic work all at all at once and get time outside. Um, it’s, I think it’s like the most beautiful. Thing you can do to support yourself, especially when you start your day like that. Uh, I noticed a big shift in just like, I feel calmer, you know? And I, I definitely notice versus like, if I skip it, I’m too busy, I have too much to do, or like someone needs something.

[00:21:48] It’s like, no, it’s never, it’s never worth, never worth skipping it. Uh, my question is about the face. So I, this is probably the question. We can go through it. Also like when you [00:22:00] go, when you’re doing it, so say you’re getting up, you’re drinking your water, you’re getting outside, and you’re like, time to do mye, lymphatic support.

[00:22:06] Are you using oil when you do it outside in the morning? I don’t either, but people always ask. They’re like, when you do a do need to do, use oil. So, and would you want to answer that one for people? Yeah. Uh, so the superficial lymphatic system, if you just pick up. The tissue on your forearm, just pick up, pinch your arm.

[00:22:27] Anything that you can pinch and pick up is your superficial lymphatic system. So that’s like, you know, that outer layer. And so when we’re work, we’re, we’re working with our skin, not like on our skin. So it’s like whenever you’re sort of massaging oil into the skin, you’re probably slight more sliding along the surface of the skin versus getting traction on the skin.

[00:22:51] It’s really the mobilization of that skin that’s pumping those lymphatic vessels. Like that’s what makes it more effective. [00:23:00] Um, and not to say that oil doesn’t belong in a ritual, you know, it’s like a self, it’s, if it’s a beautiful oil and it makes you feel great and it’s good for your skin, awesome. But for the limp, you know, it’s like it’s good to be able to make surface contact with your hand and the skin.

[00:23:20] And just like really be able to move it, move that skin. Yeah. When, because I’m like, I don’t, I, when I do my skincare at nighttime, I do, obviously my face is all greased up. So there’s definitely oil in that situation, but I’m like, you know, I’m like, I didn’t even think about it in the morning. I’m just kind of like, I, like I learned from you that I, I always.

[00:23:38] Start, I always start like with my face before I do any sort of like jumping or anything. And it do, I feel like it does make a significant difference in how I feel after. Um, ’cause we wanna, and just like the, you know, your collarbone, like you wanna get that all activated since that’s like. The number one place where it’s gonna be draining.

[00:23:55] Um, but I’m like, I never really thought about that, I guess, and people ask a lot, so hopefully that [00:24:00] makes people feel better, that you don’t have to put oil on your face to do it if you don’t want to. Um, do you wanna go through what the face. How to do a lymphatic drainage in interface. Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:24:12] And this is like a little quickie drainage, so if you want like a deeper dive, I have like a head and neck drainage course that kind of, that starts basically and works in this order. So it’s sort of picking through all of these five phases that we’re gonna go through of drainage. So for the anatomy piece.

[00:24:33] That collarbone area, that triangular space at the top of your shoulder, the base of your neck, you can just, you know, you can see it and you can feel it. And so that’s point number one. So that’s where all that lymphatic fluid’s going back in a third of the lymph nodes in our body are actually located in our head and neck.

[00:24:50] And the way that they exit or the way that they drain, there are two major chains that run down the sides of the neck. And so. [00:25:00] That those lymph nodes are receiving all of the fluid that’s draining from above. Underneath the jaw, we have lymph nodes that are draining our teeth and our tongue and uh, a portion of our face.

[00:25:15] And so, you know, we’re gonna work under here. And then we have lymph nodes in front of them, behind the ears, and we also have some just on either side of our sinuses. And so we’re gonna address those in the order that that. Is gonna help sort of shuffle that fluid in the most efficient way possible. So if you wanna, you’re gonna follow along with me.

[00:25:37] Oh yeah. We’re gonna do it. Okay. So we’re just gonna, I like to crisscross my hands and just sort of place them over my collarbone, but sometimes this can be a little hard on the wrist. So if you just wanna do one side and then the other, you can, you can alternate between your hand positions, but I usually just do them at the same time and I’m just.

[00:25:56] Kinda pumping in a circular motion towards the base of my neck [00:26:00] and just kind of pressing my fingers down into that space. This is a great opportunity to just like, take a breath, you know, like, okay, drop into this practice. Like find your, find your source of inspiration. Like here, we just need a moment for ourselves.

[00:26:17] I have my affirmations, I say every day. Oh, nice. Okay. Let’s say, let’s hear it, give me, give me an affirmation. Mine are all like, uh, stress and mom related. Excellent. Uh, well, my favorite one is something amazing is gonna happen to me today. I say that every day. Always does. I love that. Okay. And then I say I have all the time to get my most important work done.

[00:26:40] Aw, I love that both mom work and work work. Uh, ’cause there’s so many things I wanna accomplish in a day, and sometimes it just gets overwhelming and I’m like, it’s all, I don’t have to know how it’s gonna get done. It’s gonna get done. I love that. So we’ve got, we’ve changed the pressure. We have set our affirmations.

[00:26:56] We are ready to move on to number two. [00:27:00] So I like to take my wrist together and I like put, put your wrist together, open your hands and create like a little u say a U-shaped seat. Now you can hug your neck. Just put your hands on the side. And you’re gonna press backwards and down. So we’re just getting some full neck coverage.

[00:27:19] We’re trying to get a little stretch on the skin. There’s no oil, so we’re not kind of sliding and gliding. We’re really pushing that skin backwards just very gently and then pumping downwards. So that might look like a backwards, you know, circular motion. And so this is gonna help clear out the lymph that’s kind of sitting in these lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels to create.

[00:27:43] Space for the fluid that’s gonna drain from above. And this particular location is important because we’ve got our vagus nerve here. So this is very stimulating for relaxation, communicating safety to our nervous system so that we feel safe in our body in this [00:28:00] moment. And, um, the lymphatic fluid that’s draining from our brain also drains into these lymph nodes.

[00:28:07] You might actually notice some saliva production when you’re here. Because again, we’re kind of, we’re creating some physiological change with touch, and that’s so cool. So that’s point number two. Point number three is gonna be on the lymph nodes underneath the jaw. I don’t know if you’ve ever, ever wake up with just kind of some fullness around the jaw, some puffiness around the jaw.

[00:28:29] This is a very common area for congestion. I think it has a lot to do with our tongue posture. A lot of times our tongue is just kind of hanging out on the floor of our mouth and this is kind of a diaphragm. If we can, uh, suction our tongue up to the roof of our mouth, that’s gonna help change the pressure and create sort of better flow mechanics in the face.

[00:28:49] But that’s another podcast episode, right? So. So we’re gonna take just the tips of our thumbs and we’re just gonna put them right at the tip of the chin. [00:29:00] And here we’re gonna sort of trace the inside border of our jawbone. And so we’re just gonna push all the way back until we get to our ears. You could give it a little wiggle if you’d like while you’re back there.

[00:29:13] And then we’re gonna repeat this process. So as Dr. Perry says, there’s no magic number. The reason that he says that is ’cause it’s just like. Just do it already. You wanna do it five you. If you can do it five times today, and that’s how much time you have. Great. If you could do it 20 times today, ’cause that’s how much time you have, great.

[00:29:33] You’re not gonna break it. It’s not not gonna work. It’s not ever not good enough. Um, so just show up however you can.

[00:29:44] But for my Type A people, if you need a number, five to seven times is great. Okay. So we’ve got the jaw open and flowy, and now we’re gonna move on to point number four, which is the lymph nodes in front of and behind the ear. So the lymph nodes [00:30:00] in front of the ear are actually receiving a lot of the fluid from the face, which drains laterally.

[00:30:05] So from this, if you draw like an imaginary line down the center of your face and neck. Everything’s gonna sort of, it’s like a, the roof of your house and that fluid’s gonna flow down the sides and into the gutters. And so what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna take, either you could do a peace sign where you’re just using one finger in front of the ear and one behind you kind of sandwich your ear in between your fingers.

[00:30:27] There are other methods. One of them is Spock hands, which is two fingers. So you could try two fingers, one finger, whatever. I often find that I will do. One finger because I don’t know, I just, that’s just what I do. So you can do this sort of like the neck where you’re pressing backwards and down and that circular pumping motion moving towards the heart.

[00:30:52] But you could also just rub up and down if that felt good. So we’re just really stimulating these lymph nodes and how you [00:31:00] stimulate them isn’t, uh, of much concern to your lymph nodes as long as you’re not causing pain. And it feels like you’re mobilizing the skin. You’re doing it right.

[00:31:16] And then point number five, we’ve got these little lymph nodes that sit right on top of our sinus cavities. And so you can take a, a single finger or you can use your knuckle, whatever feels best for you, and you can just press into this, this squishy space. You might even be able to feel like a little spot that feels kind of more tender.

[00:31:39] There’s a little hole there for vasculature to pass through and that lymph node sits right on top. So pressing into this area is really gonna help open the sinuses, um, and. If you ever wake up with fluid underneath your eyes like I do, sometimes that fluid actually drains down to these lymph nodes. So by [00:32:00] pressing into these, this particular area, it’ll help kind of clear out some of the fluid from underneath the eyes, and you can prioritize breathing in and out through your nose while you’re here.

[00:32:13] You could do some little circular motion if you want. You can rub, or you can really just like let it be. Um, if holding your arms up is, is difficult for you or pressing into the tissue space, feels just a little bit too demanding, you can actually use the weight of your head and a surf a flat surface in front of you.

[00:32:34] You can put, you can put your elbows down, um, on the table in front of you, and then just like lean your head forward so that you can do it a little bit easier if you need to. And so those are the five. Points in the five phases of lymphatic drainage, and that’s how, that’s the order that we move in. We’re sort of just like emptying, draining, emptying, draining, and just [00:33:00] working step by step.

[00:33:01] So yeah, I hopefully, and you guys, obviously this is on YouTube as well, you can watch this. If you do it a few times, I feel like you, I dunno, I remember this stuff so quick and I, I’m not always that way with things. I tend to have to like reference it. So I still do the same like routine that I learned from you a million years ago from my face.

[00:33:19] ’cause I’m like, it works. Why change it? Um, okay, so we don’t need any, oh wait, the other thing I wanna talk about, ’cause this is probably one of my favorite things about the way that you teach, is. The fascia piece, how you’re like, it feels a little tight here and you’re trying to get in there. You, you kind of like, you give ways to like loosen up, reduce the tension in the fascia in some ways.

[00:33:44] Like I always, what’s the one you do under here? It’s like you’re just like kind of. Loosening up, like especially like if you get tension here, like, or even like in your neck. I’ve noticed for me, when I started incorporating that, before I get [00:34:00] into the routine, I’m like, wow, this makes a big difference. And I’m not like incredibly tight.

[00:34:04] So I imagine like for most people, I. That maybe they’ve tried to do some lymphatic stuff. That’s usually what I hear. Well, I tried, it didn’t work for me. It’s like, I, I wonder for a lot of people, if it’s a fascia thing, yeah, it so can be, because a lot of the people that hit my table that I’m actually putting my hands on and working with, um, I’m finding things where it’s like, oh, I don’t, I don’t know if that tissue is able to actually drain properly just because of the.

[00:34:31] The tension in there. And it’s not necessarily like muscular, it’s, it’s like our wrapping our packaging. And so it can be more superficial. Um, I mean, it can be deep as well. Like sometimes I’m getting deep into the armpit area to like help, uh, the armpit drain. ’cause sometimes people have kinda like tender armpits and the lymph nodes can get swollen in there during certain parts of the cycle.

[00:34:56] I’m kind of in there like, alright, how are your shoulders gliding up against your [00:35:00] rib cage? How well, how well are your collarbone able to rise and lower when you lift your shoulders? It’s going back to that sedentary piece where we’re not really lifting our arms up and above our head as much as we used to, and we’re.

[00:35:14] Certainly not doing a lot of hanging, you know, to kind of open that connective tissue. So there’s so many little things that we can do and tools can be helpful here, but you can also use your hands. So if you want it just like a little. We could do like a little opening stretch for the front of the neck if you’d like.

[00:35:31] ’cause yeah, I think that would be so nice for people. There’s so many like little techniques, so I’m like, I don’t even know where to start. I know. Even just like super simple, like if you’re feeling tight when you’re doing this and you’re kind of like, I don’t know if. Like I need to do anything else first.

[00:35:46] Like the first time I did this, I was like, oh, okay, this is how it’s supposed to feel. Yeah. So let’s just get a feel for our connective tissue and how connected everything is. So we’re gonna just like open up the front of the neck. And so from like a [00:36:00] muscular standpoint, we have this really crazy muscle.

[00:36:03] It’s called the pma, and it just sort of, it attaches to the jaw, but it also attaches to the collarbone. It’s just like a giant sheet. This thin sheet muscle, it’s gonna get a little bit jammed up sometimes, and so we’re gonna stretch that since it’s right over the collarbone, that’s gonna help our collarbones move a little bit better, fluid drain a little bit better.

[00:36:27] So what you can do, we need to get some compression. So we need to sort of pin our connective tissue before we can try to stretch it. And we’re not really trying to stretch it to elongate it. We’re trying to stretch it to create like some fluid flow in there because the superficial emphatic system is in there.

[00:36:45] So let’s just take our palm and place it over our breast bone over your sternum. And what you can do is just traction down, sort of pull your skin just down towards your belly button. Now take the other hand, and we’re just gonna sort of [00:37:00] re reassure this, this, uh, pin that we’ve got before we stretch. So let’s lower our chin towards our chest, see if we can sink down into that gentle stretch a little bit more.

[00:37:13] And then from here, let’s slowly bring our chin up towards the ceiling so you can just slowly open. The front of the throat here trying to relax the throat as you do this. And you will probably feel that pulling in your jaw, maybe even behind your ear. And then you can take your chin and sort of point it up and over, like to the right side.

[00:37:44] And then the left and the last little ush that you could do is just open your jaw and jut your chin out to get an even deeper stretch.[00:38:00] 

[00:38:00] How’s that feel? Feels so good. My jaw cracked and I did that. Yes. Not responsible for cracking jaws. Okay. Self-care is your own risk. But yeah, it’s, I think to me like those little, it’s, it’s not anything crazy. It’s, you know, but it’s like doing something like that, especially if you feel like tighter or I feel like, especially when you first wake up in the morning and stuff, it’s, it can just make a big difference.

[00:38:25] And you can move that pin from the center of the chest. You could do the side and then, and then like bladder, you know, open it from the other side, open it from that side, and then. There’s also like a little something like that for every part of our body, from our fingers and toes to our armpits. Scalp I, and it’s always, it’s like, do what feels good.

[00:38:49] You know, it, it feels good. I feel like that’s, it’s a good guide and that’s why I always love how you’re encouraging people to like, just try to really be there in your body and like, how do you feel? How are you [00:39:00] breathing? All these little things and just like taking a moment for yourself. So, all right, so the parts of Lymph fortine, hydrate.

[00:39:07] Go outside if you can. Big six and I’ll, I’ll link to a video. Do you have your own video? I do, yeah. Yeah. I’ve got one on our YouTube channel. Okay. I’ll grab that. And it, it actually is like how to build a morning routine and so it, it kind of touches on a lot of these points and then I do like a follow along.

[00:39:25] Cool. Cool. I’ll, I’ll make sure that I link that. We did the fab five for the face. Um, and then that’s when you can bring in joint movement, circular motions in your joints, get those opened up since a lot of lymph gets clogged up there. Um, and then bouncing, which when it comes to like bouncing, are your feet, whether it’s on a rebound or not, are your feet supposed to leave the ground or is it just like very gentle bounces that is up to the individual and the like living in their body?

[00:39:56] Because sometimes. Your feet do not have to leave the ground [00:40:00] to get the benefits. You can really just bounce gently. You could do it like really slowly to engage your calf muscles to like really just sort of tune more into that muscular pumping. Or you could shake really quickly and kind of create like your own vibration plate.

[00:40:18] You know what I mean? So, um, my friend Kara taught me that, uh, she calls it jitterbug. So you can just like shake your whole body and like shake it out and, and that shaking is really, um, our body loves that. Like our nervous system loves that. It’s very relaxing because you’re just sort of actively trying to release any tension that you might be holding.

[00:40:41] And I find that we hold a lot of tension in our shoulders and our belly. We just sort of like guard our belly and so just like let everything shake. Let your belly go and your glutes. I feel like women are always squeezing their glutes, especially after you have kids or if you’re pregnant. It’s like your glutes are just, and which means your pelvic floor is also very tight.

[00:40:59] [00:41:00] Yeah. So shaking is up for interpretation. Okay. I, I love that. So those are kind of like the components. You, if you can’t do all of them, it’s not the end of the world. Uh, definitely not. And like for the most part, I feel like it doesn’t take me any longer than 10 minutes. Usually much less. ’cause I’m on side with my kids doing it, but, oh, for the face, I have to say this moms learn the face and when your kids get sick, do it on their face.

[00:41:25] It’s like my youngest one, she’s like 18 months, she’s been sick. Like all just congested and everything. And like I do it throughout the day. I do it before bed in the morning time. The amount of boogers that come outta this baby. But then she’s like totally good and they, my, I’ve noticed that it clears things up a lot quicker versus if I forget to do it or if I’m just not being as consistent.

[00:41:48] Um, but oh my gosh, and they learn to love it. My, my oldest is. Like your textbook first child couldn’t be easier. My second is your standard, like [00:42:00] stereotypical second child, just a wild child. But if I do things in a routine over and over for her, she does really well eventually. And so, ’cause I know that’s like usually the pushback.

[00:42:08] My kid’s not gonna sit there. It’s like, then just do two things and, and like explain to them what you’re doing. Like I make funny little stories up while I’m doing stuff on her face and everything’s like an animal or something and like that’s all I get her to lay there. She will just lay down and she massage.

[00:42:26] Massage, you know, ’cause she knows it makes her feel better. Kids are amazing. If you like the things that my kids know, I’m like, do you know how easy your life’s gonna be when you’re older? ’cause you already know how to take care of yourself and you’re not gonna have like, all these things pop up. But it is ver the late, the face of even just these two points when they’re like super congested.

[00:42:45] Make a huge difference. Um, so if you have children and it’s, it’s sixth season when this is coming out. Uh, that you can also do this on them and it makes a big difference. Um, okay, I [00:43:00] have to ask this question ’cause you did an email about it and I get a lot of criticism from my tattoos. Um, and people often say just like that, it’s like, how can I do this job and, you know, have tattoos and stuff.

[00:43:14] And I’m like, I know you’ve talked about this before. Can we talk about the tattoos in the lymphatic system? And of course I am covered in, I’m covered in tattoos. And you know, it’s funny because I think, of course they’re like more socially acceptable than they were. 20 years ago, 30 years ago. And I think a lot of people have them.

[00:43:35] And so it is like a point of concern too because there’s, I’m not a huge fan of like fear in marketing, fear for selling something, and I feel like there’s a lot of fear. Being used to sort of motivate, motivate people to take care of their lymphatic system. ’cause we’re just toxic waste dumps, right? We got a detox, detox, detox.

[00:43:56] Um, and I mean, detoxification is important, but I also [00:44:00] think it’s important that it’s gentle and intuitive and we, we have to nourish as well as replenish. Not just ask so much from the body, but I digress. So. Tattoos. I have a ton of them. Yes. You know, tattoos are not good for us. We’re learning more and more too.

[00:44:20] And so there is recent, like more recent research that’s showing that there’s like maybe an increase in the possibility of developing lymphoma. But that’s also one study. And according, I say according in human dissection, um, what we are noticing is that lymph nodes will kind of catch that ink. ’cause when you get a tattoo, your body, your immune system, your lymphatic system is trying to remove that ink.

[00:44:47] It doesn’t belong there. Right? And that’s the lymphatic system’s job. And so, uh, some of that ink is getting taken up into the system and then it gets stuck in our lymph nodes. Those nanoparticles of the ink [00:45:00] and not all ink is created equal. And not all tattoos are either, you know, if you have like a little something on your wrist and it’s the only tattoo you have, please don’t.

[00:45:09] These don’t panic if you’re covered head to toe also, you know, it’s just like, what? What are you gonna, it’s too late. It’s like, it’s too late. I have them literally on, on my lymph nodes, guys. It’s too late. Okay, but I don’t, people, do you worry about that? I’m like, no. Why are you worrying? Life. Life is awfully short, you know?

[00:45:28] And so. The, the lymphatic piece and the tattoo piece. It’s just one of those where we support where we can, like I know that I have, I have a lymph node in my hip actually that is a reactive lymph node. And so that’s, that’s a lymph node that sort of waxes and wanes and it just sort of like will get bigger and smaller depending on how well things are moving, and I guarantee that that is from.

[00:45:53] A large calf tattoo that I got that swelled up to the size of a softball when it was healing, [00:46:00] and I felt like that lymph node popped up like shortly after that. And I was like, all right, that’s my little dude. I should just give him a name and call it a day. It’s just communication. Is it great? People ask me, are you gonna, like, do you regret it?

[00:46:14] Yes. I got these when I was like 18 years old. Okay. I was like, I got my last tattoo at like 20 or something. That’s like over 15 years ago. Um, will I advise my children not to get them? Yes. At least I’m gonna say don’t get ’em in certain spots. Was is that like, I don’t, I know you’re, that is safe to say.

[00:46:33] Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I think obviously I, I would personally never get a tattoo like on my neck or the front of my throat. Um, in the armpit area, like, just like absolutely slapping it, like right on top of the axillary lymph node clusters. I probably wouldn’t do that. Um, but I have seen it. I, I don’t see a whole lot of armpit tattoos, I’ll tell you.

[00:46:55] But

[00:46:59] also [00:47:00] like the backs, like the backs of the knees. We have a couple of lymph nodes there, and then just sort of realizing that the lower body just has a harder time circulating fluid. Tattoos on the lower body in those hinge joints where things are not moving as well as they could, especially if we’re not moving enough.

[00:47:18] Um, but yeah, I think it’s just something that we can slowly work on. You know, it’s like we’re aware that maybe we have a little bit more heavy metals that we need to pay attention to and what can we do to support our body there, but that those tattoos are, are gonna be there. But our lymphatic system will always try to remove them for the rest of our life because tattoos fade over time.

[00:47:44] Right. And so, and that’s because it’s, it’s kind of slowly trying to chip away at it, but that ink is actually encapsulated in scar tissue and your body has done that to protect you. And so those tattoos are there, they’re preserved in the skin, [00:48:00] encapsulated in scar tissue. So that’s helpful. Right. Yeah.

[00:48:04] And then, um, I have gotten questions about like. Is should you get them removed? But I’m pretty sure that makes it worse. It does. I, uh, or it’s my opinion that it does, and I think that we need more research on that. Yeah. Yeah. Because it’s just sort of like a thing that people do is they, they blast those particles and break them down, but that breaking them down only makes them into smaller and smaller particles.

[00:48:28] So what does that mean? I have seen people have like a health crisis after getting a bunch of tattoos removed. Yeah. I, in my opinion, because they’re encapsulated in scar tissue, my body has done that because it’s so wise, I’m gonna leave it there, but I understand why people want to have them removed. You know, it’s like if you have a very unsavory opinion tattooed on your body that you no, that it no longer aligns with your values.

[00:48:55] Get it removed. Yeah. Yeah. If you feel like you need to, I think that people think it’s gonna [00:49:00] be the fixer of, like, I’ve had people ask me, are you, are you gonna get any of his removed of yours removed? I was like, no. ’cause I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna make anything worse, you know? So, um. Just had to, I was like, I gotta cover this.

[00:49:13] ’cause I get asked about my tattoos a lot and I’m like, okay guys, what are we gonna do? Chop our arms off? I guess I could, I’m like, would I do it again? No, I wouldn’t. And I’m, I have two little girls. I’m gonna advise them not to. And if they want one to just like keep it small. Um. And to think about their health and stuff, but I was like, but also think long and hard about what that thing is because you have to look at it.

[00:49:38] Yeah. For the rest of your life. So better. Love it. Yeah. Okay. Well thank you so much Leah. I hope that this inspires people to work on a little morning routine. And now, and when you’re just getting started, just pick one thing it doesn’t have, you don’t do everything. Maybe you just do the big six. Maybe you just do the Fab five.

[00:49:55] Maybe you just go outside and drink water, like whatever it is. But. Just picking one [00:50:00] thing and building on it, um, I think could be incredibly helpful. And I’ve seen, we’ve had clients incorporate a lot of this, especially like starting with like big six and stuff and they notice a huge difference. Like, wow, I really like this routine.

[00:50:11] So, um, hopefully everyone gets motivated and I’m gonna put all the links and resources and stuff for your courses. I mean, you have amazing courses. They’re so accessible and I think truly think anyone can do them. Um, where can people find you Live Love Club is pretty much our handle. Everywhere. So you can find us@lymphloveclub.com.

[00:50:31] We’re also on YouTube and TikTok and Instagram and, and, and. Oh my gosh, TikTok. I don’t even have to, don’t, I don’t go into TikTok. My husband runs that one for me. Oh, that’s nice. That’s nice. Um. Okay. And then you have your I, something I think could be helpful for people is you have your Lymph Love club membership too.

[00:50:52] If people ever wanna like find a way to like, if they’re not in Austin, they’re like, I want to, I want more of Leah, who doesn’t want more of, Leah wants to learn from you more. [00:51:00] That is something that you offer as well. Yeah. So you can come and see me in person as well. If you’re in Austin, Texas, we’ve got a great team of people and we’re happy to help kind of assess, you know, like what you have going on.

[00:51:13] And then also just educate you about the lymphatic system. Really help you kind of build a routine that works for what you have going on, because every body is so different. Um, but the system, you know, overall is gonna respond in a great way if we find the right way to access it. And for the community, you know, we actually have a live, uh.

[00:51:38] Morning flow on Wednesday mornings at dawn. I do it in my backyard. I film from my backyard, and so we kind of move our lymph together in that way. And then on Saturdays we also meet and have a lymphatic drainage or lymphatic movement class. And so it’s just a way of like getting things moving, getting the fluid circulating, learning a little bit about this, that and the other.

[00:51:59] And we sometimes, we [00:52:00] do use tools as well, so it’s like the cupping and the fascial work and the all, all things lymph. We’re gonna, we’re gonna be talking about it, we’re gonna be nerding out about it, and we’re gonna be doing stuff about it. Yes, I in the club. I love learning from Leah. I still like all the knowledge that I learned initially, and I still follow you on Instagram and love all your stuff.

[00:52:19] I think. I think I have all your courses anyway, and, uh, can’t recommend your work enough. If there’s one thing you could recommend that someone after listening to this episode, if, if they’re like, if you can only tell ’em one thing to do to support the lymphatic system. What would it be? It would be to breathe because that, I think our breath really shapes our body, right?

[00:52:43] And, and it shapes the experience that we’re having and that’s something that we can actually tap into. And so that sort of trickles down into everything else. If we’re able to just like take a breath and. Show up in our lives [00:53:00] presently. And so it would definitely be to harness the breath because it’s free and it’s accessible.

[00:53:06] You can’t forget it when you go on vacation and you can’t, and you can’t feel guilty when you like forget it under the sink. You know, like a dry brush, like, oh, I haven’t dry brushed in months. Like you’ve been breathing like 20,000 times per day. You are a breathing champion in. So you can’t, you can’t really fail at breathing, but you can get better at it, um, with awareness and with practice.

[00:53:29] Yes. Just paying a little bit more attention to it, so I love that so much. Thank you for sharing your time with us and your expertise. That’s it guys. If you wanna stay in touch with me, make sure that you’re on my Feminine Periodical newsletter goes out every Sunday. The link is in the show notes, all my freebies, the mineral quiz, the thyroid course, the period guide, and a million other things that I’ve created are all in the show notes for free resources for you.[00:53:53] And that’s it. I’ll see you guys in the next episode. Thanks.