When it comes to body toning and conditioning, there are endless options. But when you think of slimming down your face or tightening its muscles, going under the knife or Botox are the obvious options. Neither of them is simple or economical options. This is where face yoga comes to the rescue. Believe us when we say that you can improve your facial muscles and also lose extra fat.
Several repetitive movements like performing yoga poses for flexibility can lift your facial skin by boosting blood circulation. Facial yoga, as the name sounds, is the practice of stretching your facial muscles. The stretching exercises delay aging, smoothen lines, tone the cheeks and neck, and lift the skin around the eyes. Now, this might sound too good to be true but it is not.
Facial muscles become weaker with time due to lack of use. Face yoga stimulates these muscles by engaging them in resistance training and strengthening them in the process. As a result, the skin cells are regenerated and become tighter to reduce the signs of aging. Facial yoga aims at relieving the tension in your face, which is accumulated throughout the day when your face assumes various facial expressions due to excitement and worries. This engagement of muscle keeps them relaxed and rejuvenates them.
Now, you may be wondering if this even works. It does. Facial yoga should be performed every day for best and quick results. Just like with yoga classes for body strength and flexibility, consistency is everything. Your face ages due to muscle loss and exercising strengthen these muscles.
For yoga classes you can go to studios like Sarva yoga but face yoga can be done at home or just about anywhere else. Try performing face yoga for 30 minutes every day. A study on face yoga revealed that those who did face yoga daily for a month followed by alternative days for 3 months looked nearly 3 years younger. It is, therefore, a natural solution as opposed to Botox and plastic surgery.
Your facial yoga warm-up begins with blowing raspberries. Don’t know what that is? Yes, you do because you have done that quite often as a child. It’s when you placed your tongue between your lips and blew strongly to tease someone. Yes, when you imitated flatulence noises, you were exercising your face. The more the vibration, the more it will relax your muscles. The lip muscles, which this exercise seeks to relax, are the core muscle of the face. It helps relax other muscles as well. Do it 2-3 times.
Based on acupressure, this exercise relieves the tension in your forehead. Practicing this relaxing exercise consistently will prevent the onset of wrinkles and smoothen any persistent lines of your forehead.
- Make fists and place them on the middle of your forehead
- Apply pressure with your first two fingers
- Slide your fists slowly to the sides. Ensure maintaining pressure
- The movement ends at the temples; apply a little more pressure at your temples
Repeat 4-5 times
Smiling is one of the best expressions on your face. However, it leaves smile lines on your face. The manual face lift smoothens these lines. Also, it improves circulation in your face, which helps with a healthy complexion and a youthful look.
- Place your hands (palms) on your temples
- Let your jaw drop and make an “O” shape with your mouth
- Lift the sides of your face by pushing your palms up
- Let them back down and repeat
Do 2-4 times
This is the best neck firming exercise to tighten your jawline. Lose any extra fat on your jaw, prevent fine lines and reduce the double chin with the jaw stretch.
- Pucker (tightly gather or contract) your lips to the right side of your face till you feel a good stretch in your cheek
- Tilt your head to 45 degrees on the right and turn your head on the right
- Hold for 3-5 seconds to feel the stretch in the neck
- Repeat once on the right side and then do it on the left side
They say that round cheeks are beautiful and a trademark of being more youthful. The cheeks plumping exercise works the muscles in your cheeks. It pushes them up and prevents them from sagging, giving them a more lifted and plumper look.
- Tighten your lips by closing them together
- Suck in your cheeks and form the “fish lips”
- Hold for up 10 seconds
Repeat 5 times.
Applying pressure around your eyes and stretching them (kind of) improves the shape that resembles the cow’s feet. It is best done in the morning to calm puffy eyes and smoothing eye bags.
- Make a “V” with your fingers and place them on your eyebrows
- Apply pressure with your fingers and tilt your head upward and lower your eyelids
- Come back to the starting position and repeat 5 times
- Finally, squeeze your eyes shut for up to 10 seconds
