The Restorative Ritual
Gua Sha and self-care to help you look and feel better
Created by holistic facialist and skin therapist Donna Ryan, described by the Evening Standard as “the one who will make you look and feel younger”, The Restorative Ritual is a guided self-care programme combining Gua Sha, face massage, tension release, nutrition and somatic practices, with contributions from expert practitioners.
It is designed to help release facial tension, support healthy ageing and help you look and feel better from the comfort of home.
Discover a more restorative approach to skincare
You might have a great skincare routine but still look in the mirror and feel that your face looks tired, puffy or tense.
Maybe you wake up with puffiness around your eyes, notice yourself clenching your jaw, or see tension sitting between your brows. Your neck and shoulders might feel tight after a day at a screen, or your face simply doesn’t feel as relaxed as you’d like it to.
These are things I see all the time in the treatment room.
Looking after your face isn’t only about what you put on your skin. How we sleep, how we feel, the tension we hold and the way we use our face and body can all play a part in how we look and feel.
The Restorative Ritual grew out of this way of working.
It’s about giving you some of the tools I use with my clients, so you can start noticing what your face needs and know what you can do for it yourself.
Create a ritual that responds to what you need
The Restorative Ritual will give you a collection of practices that you can adapt according to your time, energy and what your body needs on any given day.
You might choose a gentle eye ritual on a tired morning, spend a few minutes releasing your jaw after a demanding day or use body Gua Sha when your neck and shoulders feel tight.
When you have more time, you can enjoy the complete facial sequence and allow yourself to experience the full ritual.
Rather than relying on one rigid routine, you will understand the principles and techniques that allow you to practise Gua Sha safely, confidently and in a way that feels right for you.
What you will discover inside
The foundations of Gua Sha
You will begin with a clear understanding of what Gua Sha is, how it is used and how to approach the practice safely and confidently.
I will teach you how to prepare your skin, hold and angle your tool, choose an appropriate level of pressure and move across the face and body with care. You will also learn about common mistakes and the circumstances in which a practice may need to be adjusted or avoided.
This foundation will help you move beyond copying isolated techniques and begin practising with greater confidence, awareness and intention.
The history of Gua Sha
You will explore the origins and evolution of Gua Sha, giving you a deeper appreciation for the traditional healing practice behind its modern use in facial and body care.
Understanding the history of Gua Sha will help you approach the practice with greater respect, context and connection.
Fascia, facial tension and lymphatic flow
You will receive a practical introduction to what lies beneath the skin and how the muscles, fascia, circulation and lymphatic system interact.
You will not need to learn complicated anatomy. I'll give you enough understanding to work with your face more intuitively and recognise the areas in which you may be holding everyday tension.
The complete facial Gua Sha sequence
I will guide you through a complete facial Gua Sha ritual that brings all of the individual techniques together into one flowing sequence.
You will learn how to work across the neck, jaw, cheeks, eye area and forehead while supporting healthy circulation, lymphatic flow and naturally radiant-looking skin.
This complete sequence will become a restorative ritual that you can return to whenever you want to give your face and yourself more time and attention.
The restorative eye ritual
You will learn a gentle, focused practice created specifically for the delicate eye area.
This ritual is ideal for tired mornings, screen-heavy days or any time the area around your eyes feels tense or puffy. You can use it as a standalone practice or incorporate it into your complete facial sequence.
Traditional Gua Sha for the Upper Body
You’ll learn how to take Gua Sha beyond the face with a deeper, more traditional practice using a spoon. I’ll show you how to work across the chest, shoulders, neck and arms, helping to release everyday tension and introducing you to a different way Gua Sha has traditionally been practised on the body.
Please note: this is a more vigorous practice than facial Gua Sha and can bring up sha, the temporary red or purple marks traditionally associated with Gua Sha.
The 3-Day Reset
Day 1 Reset: Chest, Neck & Scalp
We begin by working through the chest, neck and scalp to release areas where we often hold tension and prepare the face for the work to come. You’ll start to become familiar with your Gua Sha tool, the pressure to use and how the tissues feel beneath it.
Day 2 Reset: Jaw & Lower Face
Today we move into the jaw and lower face, with particular attention to areas where we commonly hold tension. You’ll work around the jaw, masseter, ears and lower face, using Gua Sha to help release tightness and encourage the tissues to soften.
Day 3 Reset: Eyes & Upper Face
On the final day, we move into the eyes and upper face, working around the brows, forehead and scalp. We’ll use lighter techniques around the delicate eye area and work through areas of tension across the forehead and brows.
Once you’ve completed all three days, you’ll have learnt the foundations you need to move on to the individual rituals and begin choosing practices depending on what your face needs that day.
Your Restorative Ritual Bonuses
Bonus One: Nourishing Your Skin from Within
With Sonal Amin, Registered Nutritional Therapy Practitioner
What we eat can play an important role in how our skin looks and feels. In this three-part video series, Sonal shares simple, practical nutrition advice to support healthy skin from within.
You’ll learn about everyday foods and nutrients that can support skin health and healthy ageing, with realistic ideas you can incorporate into your life. No restrictive diets or complicated protocols, just useful guidance to help you make more informed choices about nourishing your skin from the inside out.
Find out more about Sonal and her work:
Sonal Amin Nutrition (opens in a new tab)
Sonal Amin Nutrition (opens in a new tab)
Bonus Two: A 10-Day Somatic Practice with Jaspreet
Jaspreet Randhawa is a clinical pharmacist turned somatic therapist and nervous system specialist, bringing together her understanding of the body with gentle, body-based practices.
Across ten days, Jaspreet will guide you through a series of accessible somatic practices to help you slow down, tune into your body and become more aware of where you may be holding stress and tension.
This bonus complements Donna’s Gua Sha and facial massage teachings by exploring the connection between how we feel and how we hold tension in the body. It gives you another way to unwind, reconnect with yourself and support a greater sense of calm.
You can move through the practices at your own pace and return to them whenever you feel you need a moment to pause, reset and reconnect.
Find out more about Jaspreet and her work:
Therapy Somatic (opens in a new tab)
Therapy Somatic (opens in a new tab)
Add The Restorative Ritual Kit
If you’re based in the UK, you’ll also have the option to add a carefully selected kit containing Donna’s recommended tools and products.
The kit includes:
- Esse Protect Oil
- Donna’s recommended facial Gua Sha tool
- Traditional Gua Sha spoon
- UK delivery
Exclusive course participant price: £99
Usual combined value, including delivery: £129.
The kit is completely optional. You can still participate using your hands, an everyday spoon and any suitable Gua Sha tool or facial oil you already own.
Available while stocks last.
What you will take away from the experience
By the end of The Restorative Ritual, you’ll feel confident using your Gua Sha tool across your face, neck and upper body, and know how to adapt your practice depending on what you need that day.
You’ll learn the right pressure, angle and movements to help release facial tension, reduce puffiness, soften the appearance of lines and create a fresher, more lifted and sculpted look.
You’ll have a full facial Gua Sha sequence, alongside shorter rituals for areas such as the eyes, jaw, neck and shoulders. You’ll understand how regular Gua Sha and facial massage can support circulation, healthy tissue and the long-term health and vitality of your skin.
You’ll also learn more about what you’re working with beneath the skin, where Gua Sha comes from, and how nourishment, touch and body awareness can all form part of looking after yourself.
Most importantly, you’ll know what to actually do with your Gua Sha tool rather than leaving it sitting in a drawer, with simple practices you can keep coming back to at home.
The Restorative Ritual may be for you if:
- You regularly notice tension across your face, jaw, neck or shoulders.
- You would like to learn Gua Sha properly instead of piecing together techniques from short online videos.
- You already own a Gua Sha tool but do not feel completely confident using it.
- Your skin often looks tired, dull or puffy, and you would like to support it in a more holistic way.
- You are looking for a gentler and more intentional approach to self-care.
- You find it difficult to slow down or create meaningful time for yourself.
- You want flexible practices that can be adapted to your available time and energy.
You will not need any previous Gua Sha experience as I will guide you through the essential foundations before helping you bring the techniques together into a complete practice.
The experience has been designed to fit into real life
You will not need to complete the entire sequence every day to benefit from what you learn.
On some days, you may choose the complete facial ritual and give yourself time to enjoy every step. On other days, you might spend a few minutes caring for your eyes, releasing your jaw or working across your neck and shoulders.
You can return to the nutrition sessions whenever you want to revisit the foundations of skin nourishment, while Jaspreet’s somatic practices will offer another form of support when you want to reconnect with your body.
The Restorative Ritual is designed to become a flexible resource that you can draw from according to what you need, because the most valuable self-care practice is one that feels supportive enough to continue.
Meet Donna Ryan
Donna Ryan is a holistic facialist and skin therapist with over 14 years’ experience working with skin, facial massage and holistic treatments.
Donna’s interest in skin began with her own experience of cystic acne. While still working in the corporate world, she started exploring holistic health and went on to study homeopathy and kinesiology. This eventually led her into holistic beauty, combining her interest in skin with a more hands-on approach to wellbeing.
Donna holds Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications in facial treatments and an Ofqual-regulated Level 4 qualification in skin needling, alongside further training in Gua Sha, facial massage and a wide range of holistic facial techniques.
She began teaching online self-care workshops six years ago and, for the past two years, has also been teaching her techniques to professional facialists and therapists.
Donna created The Restorative Ritual to bring some of what she does in the treatment room into your home. Her aim is to teach you simple techniques you can use yourself to release tension, care for your skin and create a self-care practice that helps you look and feel better.
Your questions answered
The Restorative Ritual will be opening soon
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Joining the waitlist does not commit you to purchasing the course. It simply ensures that you will be among the first to hear when enrolment opens.