Boy George’s rituals in the IAC jungle explained: face yoga, chanting and more

The singer has been drawing upon various mindfulness techniques to calm his nerves on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! By Prudence Wade.

Boy George (ITV)

Boy George has been intriguing viewers of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! with the unique rituals he incorporates into his day-to-day life.

Whether he’s waking up campmates with his chanting, teaching them face yoga or tapping to alleviate stress, he’s been drawing upon certain techniques to help him through.

Before heading into the jungle, the singer – real name George O’Dowd – told The Sun: “I’m going to obviously do yoga and I chant… So I can hopefully find a space where I can do that because I think that will keep me more sane.”

The former Culture Club frontman, 61, has been voicing his growing frustrations with his campmates – and if tensions reach a boiling point, he might need his rituals more than ever…

Chanting

George has been chanting in times of stress – for example, when he took part in a Bushtucker trial inside a box of critters and snakes.

“Chanting typically involves repeating a mantra or a prayer either silently or out loud,” explains yoga teacher Neeta Naidoo. (instagram.com/neetaniyamayoga).

“Mantra is a sound current which has a powerful positive effect on the mind.

“Chanting mantras is a conscious way of controlling and directing the mind and it is one of the quickest ways to transform your mood and your life.”

George is a Buddhist, and can be heard chanting ‘Nam Myoho Renge Kyo’, which roughly translates to ‘I devote myself to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra’.

“In Kundalini yoga, we often use mantras as a focus for the mind during meditation to control the thoughts,” Naidoo explains.

“We also use mantras while practising the kriyas (yoga postures). When we chant a mantra we are choosing to invoke the positive power contained in those words. ‘Sat Nam’, which means ‘truth is my identity’ or ‘I am truth’. Or ‘Aum’ at the beginning or end of a yoga class or standalone as a chant. This serves to connect us to our most authentic selves. Of course, there are many chants relating to different practices, schools of thought or personal beliefs.”

According to Naidoo, chanting can “strengthen the immune system, reduce anxiety and depression, improve the mood, [and] open intuition”.

Her advice to anyone who wants to try it? “When you first start chanting, don’t worry about getting it right or understanding it. It will happen with time. Just open your heart and go with it!”.

Face yoga

Boy George has been introducing his campmates to a new type of yoga: face yoga. He’s not the only celebrity fan of the technique – the Duchess of Sussex and Madonna are also thought to love its face-firming benefits.

“Face yoga is an anatomy-based facial exercise routine that involves massages and exercises to stimulate specific facial muscle groups and aid lymphatic drainage,” says Dr Munir Somji, chief medical officer of Dr MediSpa (drmedispa.com).

According to Somji: “Face yoga will lift, tone and tighten the face. It can also ease tension as it strengthens and relaxes certain muscles, so improved posture, less headaches and reduced teeth grinding can also be benefits to face yoga.”

He suggests George has been using it in the jungle for its “calming benefits”, saying: “It will lower your stress and cortisol levels and calm your mind. The exercises also relax your face muscles which will alleviate tension, stress and worry.”

In Somji’s FACEFIT facial exercise programme, he recommends focusing on five different exercises from the brow down to the neck “to lift, tone and tighten the face, without the need to invest in any equipment”, he says.

He recommends doing these exercises two to three times a week, building your way up to daily workouts.

Tapping

If you’ve spotted Boy George tapping on his face, this isn’t just a nervous habit – it’s a common technique used to combat stress.

Manifestation coach and tapping specialist Poppy Delbridge, author of Tapping In (Piatkus, £16.99) says she’s seen a lot of things around tapping as “quite woo-woo and new age, but actually, it’s really rigorous”.

She calls it an “evidence-based technique – it’s a solution to stress and anxiety”.

There are two ways to get involved in tapping, with Delbridge saying: “I’m a qualified practitioner, and you could come to me and have a number of sessions on a particular theme or something that’s troubling you.

“But because not everyone can afford to do that timewise and financially, I’m really keen on people learning short routines themselves – keeping it to literally a minute or five minutes.

“That’s actually what I’ve seen Boy George doing, is very quick, rapid tapping.

“This is self-tapping, and the results can shift you out of a bad mood, or take you out of anxiety or overwhelm in minutes.”

To unlock the power of tapping, Delbridge recommends learning the key points to tap with your fingers – predominantly around the face.

She advises doing this alongside affirmations, explaining: “For example, if you’re saying, ‘I feel stressed’, you will then say, ‘Because…’ – so you then give it a logical reason – ‘because I’m running late’, or ‘because I’ve got a million things to do’, ‘because I’m in this high-stress situation’ like George is.

“Then you will say, ‘But it is possible for me to…’ – and you move into the feelings your mind takes you back to, so you might say, ‘But it’s possible for me to feel calm, to feel happier, to be in the moment’. And you work with your language.”

This isn’t about visualisation, says Delbridge, but more about “playing with different parts of your life that maybe you’d like to have a bit more joy in, things you’d like to clear away, then things you’d like to create”.

Her advice to newbies is to have a look at a guide explaining the key points to tap, then “start using it to see the rapid effects on stress”.