Ear warm-up: rotating the ears with your palms

Your palm fits snugly over the ear, and the movement comes from the shoulder, not the wrist. The circle is wide and slow, and the ear rotates together with the skin around it. First a full cycle forward, then exactly the same number back.

Don’t rub your ear in place with your palm — you need to rotate it together with the surrounding skin. Don’t do it wearing earrings: you’ll catch them and tear your earlobe. And don’t rush — fast circles create friction instead of warmth.

Around the ear lie the vestigial auricular muscles — anterior, superior and posterior — woven into the superficial musculoaponeurotic system of the head. Through them, tension is transmitted to the temporal fascia and the galea aponeurotica. In addition, the skin of the ear is supplied by the great auricular and auriculotemporal nerves and by the auricular branch of the vagus nerve: mechanical stimulation produces a clear parasympathetic response — your pulse settles and facial muscle tone drops.

The ears are the most underrated area. In ten seconds you raise the temperature of the whole side of your head and trigger a reflex response that feels like a rush of warmth to the cheeks. It’s the fastest way to “switch on” your face before you work on it.

There’s nothing to get wrong here: no thin skin, no risk of stretching anything important, no mirror or products needed. Nine seconds — and the exercise is done.

Ten seconds — and your face wakes up. Start with this movement, and the whole block will feel different.