When I was researching for my book, it wasn't so easy to find someone who could tell me more about Dien Chan, the Vietnamese facial reflex massage. So it is all the more pleasing that there is now a doctor in Linz - just round the corner from me, so to speak - who practises Dien Chan. I visited Dr Ngoc Levan and learnt all sorts of interesting facts from the friendly doctor.

Dien Chan - the reflex massage that makes you young

Anyone who has read my book "Chi instead of Botox" or read the Video course will be familiar with the Dien Chan method (sometimes spelt with an m - Dien Cham). It treats complaints via the reflex points on our face. A side effect of this is that your face is constantly stimulated, making it harder for wrinkles to dig into your beautiful facial skin. Dr Levan combines Dien Chan with his knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine. He is also able to move chi via the Dien Chan points.

"Treat where it hurts," is how Dr Levan explains the principle. If you have pain somewhere, it means that you already have an "energy blockage" there. To release this, the area itself is treated first, followed by treatment of the face. For example, if you have shoulder pain, the congestion is first released on the shoulder. Then points on the face that belong to the shoulder are treated. A diagnosis is then made, as it is important to treat the causes of the congestion.

Dien Chan and the development of wrinkles

Dr Ngoc Levan also takes a holistic view of ageing and wrinkles. In my book, you will find out which points you can treat when it comes to wrinkles. But what about the causes that lead to the appearance of wrinkles? "Wrinkles occur when there is blood and yin deficiency," explains Dr Levan. "A Western doctor would say oestrogen and water deficiency lead to the development of wrinkles. I recommend building up the yin and blood."

The information vaguely emerges from my memory that strengthening the Yin helps against menopausal symptoms such as sweating, which plague many women. Of course I want to know how. Dr Levan prints out a picture of Dien Chan points, which build up Yin and Blood. With his kind permission, I am publishing his recommendation here.

Stimulating these points helps to delay the signs of time. In addition to the recommendation you will find in my book or Online course massage the points with intensive circular movements, he uses another massage technique. He makes small but firm strokes with the massage stick - which were just as intense and palpable, ouch! But we also want to achieve an effect. This technique has the advantage that you can point because you can reach a larger area of skin. He makes the stroke a little further to the right, then to the left again, thus reliably reaching the point and the desired result. He recommends stroking each point 30 to 40 times. But that is by no means all.

Yin build-up through food

Dr Levan is convinced that anti-ageing depends on two important factors: diet and lifestyle. He cites "everything that is red, black and dark, such as berries or beetroot" as yin-boosting foods. Nuts are also yin-building. "When you moisturise your skin, you add yin from the outside. With the right diet, you are also moisturising from the inside, so to speak." Coffee, sugar and alcohol dry out the skin and are therefore counterproductive.

Stress eats up youth

As for the right lifestyle, he says, "It depends on your emotional state. Put simply, you need to be happy, then you use less yin." He takes a very critical view of the double burden to which women are exposed. Because "stress eats up youth", he says simply. It reminds me of my interview with Dr Plakolmwho put it like this: "Stress kills hormones". So there we have the culprit that is attacking our vital energy. Dr Levan recommends stimulating the triangle around point 50. It strengthens the liver and helps us to relax.

For my part, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Dien Chan short massage. It stimulates points that relax on the one hand and build up energy on the other.

Quelle: Schmid, Christina: Chi instead of Botox

I love this short massage. It has helped me with many a tension headache, and you feel more relaxed and energised afterwards. If you just want to relax, stimulate blue dots. You can find a more detailed description in my book or Online course (here we do the whole massage together). It is not surprising that these points are also recommended for deep wrinkles. What tense face is going to look good?

Be satisfied with 70 per cent

Back to Dr Levan and his comments on a healthy lifestyle. "It would be helpful if people learnt to be satisfied with 70 per cent." I gulp. I have a hard time being satisfied with 80 per cent, but in this case, once again, less is more. A quote from Byron Katie comes to mind: "I've always told my children: "Make friends with mediocrity"... Peace lies in the ordinary. That's as far away as it gets."

That's how Dr Levan sees it. With a friendly smile, he explains to me how nonsensical it is to strive for perfection. How much more important it is to be satisfied with yourself. And not to expect so much from others. "If you don't always expect so much, you go through life much happier. If you have an inner conflict, it robs you of energy day and night." Because if you stress yourself too much during the day, your adrenal glands produce too much adrenaline. If the adrenaline level is high, you can't sleep well. "But at night, the blood flows back to the liver so that it can renew itself. If you don't sleep well, your blood can't renew itself. And if you have to cope with used blood, you are exhausted and deplete your reserves. That's silly."

Image source: 123rf.com/serezniy

During sleep, the yin is toned and the blood is renewed. The expression "beauty sleep" is therefore entirely justified. If you are exhausted, you don't sleep well. Dr Levan points out once again how nonsensical it is to drain all your reserves every day. "Make a conscious effort to slow down. Stop wanting things to be perfect and see if it's the end of the world if you don't give 100 per cent. If you slow down, you will also make fewer mistakes. And you'll be happier."

Balancing energy income and expenditure

In general, you should not draw on your reserves. Dr Levan advises people to get into the habit of paying close attention to their energy income and expenditure and to balance them skilfully. Because if you draw on your reserves every day, you will quickly grow old. "If a mountaineer were to constantly run on reserves, he would never reach the summit. You have to organise your strength well. Every mountaineer has to concentrate on finding the pace at which they can reach the summit without burning out first."

Dien Chan in Vietnam

The fact that Dr Levan is here is really a stroke of luck. When I was doing research for my book, I had to travel to Cologne. I still think it's a shame that the method is so unknown. I can only recommend it wholeheartedly. It is simple and very effective. In Dien Chan's country of origin, Vietnam, the treatment takes place in such a way that people visit the practitioner every two days for 10 minutes and are treated. In between, they also treat themselves. Dien Chan helps against all kinds of ailments, I can only confirm this from my personal experience.

How I know Dien Chan

I came across this method about 7 years ago. My sister taught German as a foreign language, so her pupils came from all over the world. One day she noticed that half of the pupils in one class were tapping their faces with their pens. One of her students was a 30-year-old Vietnamese woman who spoke Dien Chan and gave the others recommendations for their complaints. The one thing that was fascinating was that it helped. One got rid of his back pain, the other of his headache. But the most amazing thing came when she learnt at the course's graduation ceremony that this Vietnamese woman was actually 50 years old! That is the side effect of Dien Chan. That's why I really wanted to introduce this method in my book where the focus is on effective anti-ageing methods from the Far East. When you treat your ailments via the face, your face always gets an energising treatment as well. In Cologne, I was then shown how to do massages that give the whole body an energy boost and intensively energise the face. All this knowledge flowed into my book and my course. Because why should you always have to rely on others? I wanted to have something in my own hands that I could use to help myself.

Dien Chan instruments

Here you can see all of Dr Levan's instruments.

He is of course a professional. For home use, a crochet hook or a hair clip is all you need, as I have already described in this article have described. It is important that you clearly feel something. It is not enough to tap gently, the point needs to be massaged intensively. When searching, follow the lines shown in the picture. I find Dr Levan's technique very practical. Simply make 30-40 strokes in the area where the point should be, sometimes a little to the right, then a little to the left, stroking from top to bottom. In this way, you have created a square, so to speak, in which the point is most likely to be located. You can feel something as you do this. The impulse sometimes runs through your whole body.

Video "Dien Cham Massage"

Long-term effect of Dien Cham & video tutorial

Dien Cham points for a better hormone balance