What is Face Yoga?
Our face consist of over 50 different facial muscles, contrary to the rest of the body, many of these facial muscles are rarely stimulated. By carrying out regular facial exercises ‘face yoga’, you can promote the blood circulation to your face, and replenish the oxygen supply under the skin. This will help tone, brighten and refresh your skin’s complexion.
Benefits of Face Yoga
Under the skin and muscles we have many acupressure points on the face. These areas on our face are all connected to our internal organs, so we can use our faces as a guide to understand the insides of our bodies and target these specific areas using Face Yoga.
Further, by regularly practising face yoga you can release tension in your face. With daily exercises it can help reduce stiffness, puffiness and fine lines on your face over a period of time and give you a more fresh and relaxed expression.
- Strengthens the muscles in your face, helps with sculpting face
- Increases blood circulation
- Reduces the appearance of wrinkles
- Releases any tensions in your face or neck
- Tones and tightens the facial skin
Practice daily face yoga the right way
- Ensure your hands are clean before touching your face
- Try to do your face yoga routine morning or night, while carrying out your daily skincare routine
- Never pull or tug on the skin aggressively, this may damage skin
- Combine facial exercises with cardiovascular exercise to give your complexion the best possible boost
- Use an oil, as it will eliminate tugging or roughness when practicing facial exercises
Choose your Oils
Using something moisturising is vital when carrying out Face Yoga. It’s recommended to use an oil while performing facial exercises. Oils help glide your hands over your skin, without tugging or stretching the skin. While also allowing your skin to absorb the benefits to plump and revitalise your skin.
Almond Oil
If your skin type is dry, Almond oil is suitable for your skin as it helps to retain moisture and nourish the skin. This oil is rich in vitamin E, essential to repair any skin damage. It also has high levels of antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. The antibacterial property of almond oil can be used to treat acne, its anti-fungal properties can help diminish fungal skin issues.
Jojoba Oil
Jojoba oil can be used as a powerful facial moisturiser, that will deeply moisturise your skin and keep your skin supple during cold winter months. Rich in vitamins A, E, and D, plus antioxidants and fatty acids for replenishing your skin. It can be used on any skin type, from dry to sensitive and acne-prone skin.
Argan Oil
Argan oil is rich in vitamin E, high antioxidant to reduce the damaging effects of free radicals. Further benefits of Argan oil, Argan oil has powerful anti-sebum effects, which can effectively regulate amounts of sebum on the skin and promote a smooth radiant healthy glow.
Avocado Oil
Avocado oil consists of high omega-9 fatty acid. The antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents in avocado oil can replenish your skin and promote firmness and elasticity. Some people may refer to avocado oil as an essential oil, but that’s not accurate. Avocado oil is considered a carrier oil. Omega- 6 fatty acids in avocado oil along with other nutrients has been proven to speed up wound healing and renew skin.
Five easy face yoga exercises to practice
Toning Cheeks: Open your mouth and form an ‘O’ shape while positioning the upper lip over the teeth. Smile to lift cheek muscles up, putting two fingers lightly on your cheekbones. Release muscles to lower them, and lift back up. Repeat by lowering and
lifting the cheeks. Do this exercise about 20-30 sets, until you feel just a slight soreness in your cheeks.
Firming Neck/Jaw: Tilt the face upward, then open your mouth wide before kissing the sky. Repeat this exercise about 50 times.
Laugh lines : Push your lips out to form a kiss without wrinkling the skin around the mouth, then revert back to an expressionless face. You may want to look into the mirror to ensure this is done correctly. It may also help to use your hand as if you are blowing a kiss. Repeat 50 times.
Forehead wrinkles: Use your fingers to push down the the area right above the eyebrows, give it a light press down. Now try to raise your eyebrows, using your fingers as resistance. Repeat this exercise about 40- 50 times. Then do the same thing, but this time place your hands directly underneath the eyebrows and try to lower your eyebrows against the resistance of your fingers.
For tired eyes : Press both of your middle fingers together at the inner corners of your eyebrows and then apply pressure with your index fingers to the outer corners of the brows. Look up to the ceiling and the skin underneath the eyes upwards into a squint and then relax.Repeat this exercise six times and then squeeze your eyes tightly shut for 10 seconds.
How long before I see results?
In some cases, people have seen a decrease in puffiness in the face immediately. However, generally, most people will start to see some results after 3 weeks, these can be subtle. For this reason, I’d recommend you take before and after pictures, so you can monitor the changes, and this will also motivate you to keep going.
Everyone’s face structure is different, and the results can differ based on your gravitational type, daily habits, good facial posture and how often, long you dedicate time for your workout. The true transformations are noticed, when you continue with your practise over a longer period of time.
Does Face Yoga actually work?
There has been a study done in 2018 by Northwestern University, which showed that 20 weeks of daily facial exercises did result in firmer skin and fuller upper and lower cheeks. More studies can definitely be done to support Face Yoga, but for now it has shown positive result for people, without a single negative side effects. So the best way to find out is to give it a try, and see it for yourself if Face Yoga will work for you too!