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First we practice breathing.

Inhale and count to four, hold and count to five, exhale.

“You have to get out of your head and into your body,” says Anastasia Achilleos.

"Close your eyes!"

I'm sitting in the living room and I'm tired of working from home.

If I close my eyes now, I'm afraid to nod off.

So I try to concentrate on Anastasia's breathing arrangements as much as possible, she's the professional after all.

Born in Cyprus, she is one of the most famous beauticians in the world;

one of her most prominent customers is Gwyneth Paltrow, who with her wellness blog goop.com is considered the front woman of the international self-care movement.

And no matter how controversial some of Gwyneth's recommendations may be (the vagina candle!), You have to admit that her face has retained the Hollywood glow even after her acting career.

And Anastasia Achilleos and “The Method” are supposed to be responsible for this - a technique she developed for facial and décolleté massage, which she now wants to teach me via video telephony.

Actually, we should have met in October in Cyprus, at the Anassa Resort on the Akamas Peninsula, where Anastasia and her team massage worries and needs out of the lymph for the stressed European jet set.

The pandemic thwarted the meeting, now there is an introduction to facial treatment for dummies via zoom.

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"It's more important anyway that you know what to do with your face at home than just having it treated by a beautician once or twice a year on vacation," says Anastasia.

For 20 years she has perfected her technology, which she passes on to her customers.

So let's get started after I've taken a really deep breath: I have to spread a lot of facial oil on the cleavage, neck and face, then I rub my hands together to generate warmth.

Then I should move the flat of my hand from the sternum across to my shoulder.

“With pressure!” Says Anastasia.

That feels really nice.

I push a little on my completely tense shoulders.

At the same time, Anastasia tells about the parasympathetic nervous system, that I would now activate this rest nerve and that this would be beneficial for the physical "healing".

Next to me is a piece of paper with questions and at this point I want to hook: What does Anastasia mean by that?

Help, what has to heal for me?

And how does it work?

She interrupts me directly, I threaten to get back into “headspace”, as she calls it, instead of just concentrating on my physical sensations: “This is not about intellectualizing, it's about feeling.

Now close your eyes again! "

Anastasia Achilleos at an event organized by Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow's wellness brand

Source: Getty Images for goop / Ernesto Distefano

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In tens of repetitions, I stroke my hands along the neck, sideways up my jaw, with the flat of my hand over my cheeks, in circular movements over the eye sockets.

I press the point behind the earlobe to stimulate digestion.

Finally, I move up and down my forehead with short, quick movements.

"Look, now you suddenly have a lot of color on your face!" Says Anastasia.

She is satisfied with me and asks: "How are you feeling?"

Yeah how i feel

Fresher and definitely well supplied with blood.

The jaw, tormented by clenching its teeth every day, has finally relaxed.

I take a selfie to document the “before and after effect”.

Later, however, I'm not sure whether I just imagined the improvement, the much-invoked glow on my face - it's just difficult to feel really good for more than five minutes when life has been mainly in your own for months four walls.

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Nevertheless, I listen to Anastasia and reel off "The Method" in the bathroom every morning after the online training.

I google extensively and finally come to the conclusion that the mix of mini lymphatic drainage, facial massage and cranio-sacral therapy can definitely do no harm.

The connective tissue should be happy.

The chin area feels tighter after the morning treatment and the forehead, which has to frown for so many hours every day in front of the computer screen, is much more relaxed.

In the morning, when rubbing, pressing and creaming in front of the bathroom mirror, I try to give my morning routine "more meaning", as Anastasia recommended to me: "The morning is the best time to set the mindset for the day".

And I think about my relationship with Selfcare, a concept that I've always dismissed as an Instagram whimsy.

Anastasia sees it differently: “Selfcare is the basis for our health,” she says.

“We have to take care of ourselves.

You have to take a few minutes for yourself during the day. "

In the video call I ask her whether her customers, some of whom are very prominent, are also relaxed about it;

After all, it's not just about feeling good for actresses and models - they should also look young and fresh for as long as possible.

That means stress again.

"I try to bring the idea of ​​'mindful aging' to my customers," says Anastasia.

What she means: To take care of yourself and your own body, to be aware of the changes caused by living conditions and aging - but also not to act convulsively against it.

"You have to work

with

the body, everything else is pointless".

Of course, that's easy to say by someone who charges a few hundred euros for a facial.

No matter.

I decide for myself that the two minutes I spend longer in the bathroom with “The Method” in the morning have to be included.

After all, I no longer have to rush through the city traffic to the office, but only have to walk five meters from the breakfast table to the desk.

So I try hard not to look at any screens for at least a few minutes, to go through to-do lists in my head and to indulge in thoughts of the end of the world.

I concentrate on the fact that it feels pretty good not to just slap some cream on your face in a hurry, but to just concentrate on yourself for a moment.

A bit of a daily spa feeling at home.

Sometimes I still get into “headspace” all too quickly, have to find my way back into my breathing with difficulty and forget how many repetitions I have already worked on the jaw.

But it always works better.

The concept of selfcare seems to be slowly opening up to me a little better.

That for a change it is not about bringing about an immediate improvement - but simply taking care of yourself continuously.

Not only when you just happen to have the time.

Anastasia Achilleos developed her method for 20 years

Source: Anastasia Achilleos

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Instructions for at home:

Apply facial oil (for moisture) or Cleansing Balm (for cleansing) to the décolleté, neck, neck and face (in the end it doesn't matter which product you use, the main thing is that it is slippery, says Anastasia - the technique is crucial, not the price tag of the cream).

Rub your hands together and warm them up.

Perform the following movements ten times each time if you have the time, otherwise do fewer repetitions: Stroke from the sternum to the shoulder, then down the neck to under the ears.

Then put your hands under your chin as a "bowl" and bring your hands back up to your ears.

Place your index fingers on the pressure point behind your ear.

Run the palm of your hand over your cheeks in the direction of your hairline.

Run your fingertips over the eye sockets (on the bone).

Form a diamond with your hands and move jagged up and down your forehead.

Finally repeat step one.

Of course, it is easier to relax here than in the home office: The Anassa Resort is located on the Akamas Peninsula in Cyprus

Source: Thanos Group

The Anassa Resort in Cyprus has

been

working

with Anastasia Achilleos since 2016: she taught the spa team "The Method".

So if you are not lucky enough to catch Anastasia in person at the hotel - she usually travels to her home country Cyprus at least once a season - you can be treated by specially trained therapists.

The treatment on a water bed for a "floating feeling" and lasts about 90 minutes.

The hotel plans to open on April 9th.

More information at anassa.com

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