Face Yoga Can Tone Facial Muscles To Leave You Looking Firmer, Younger and Slimmer
See the dramatic face yoga before and after photos and judge for yourself!
Millions swear by yoga for muscle toning, flexibility and relaxation; but a new trend known as face yoga has emerged, which can both feel relaxing and take years off your face — and with more than 2 billion views on social media, women are posting their face yoga before and after photos, showing remarkable results in which their faces look tauter, slimmer and, yes, much younger.
“Face yoga is designed to help lift and tone facial muscles naturally and is a great cost-effective way of improving or maintaining facial structural appearance without invasive procedures. It also has the added benefits of relaxation and stress relief, which can very often have adverse effects on the skin,” says Rebecca Elsdon, skin specialist and skincare expert for The Body Shop. “It’s also great for stimulating blood and lymphatic circulation, improving overall skin health.” It can even improve concentration and combat headaches, migraines, hormonal imbalances and fatigue.
What exactly is face yoga?
Face yoga is a series of facial exercises intended to lift, tone and activate your facial muscles to achieve a natural, more youthful look and improve your skin’s appearance. “Just like we train our bodies, we should also train our face muscles. Face yoga stimulates and enhances blood flow, which increases collagen and elastin production, resulting in tighter and plumper skin,” attests face yoga expert and founder of YoGlow Face Yoga Kristin Linderman. While the origins of face yoga are unclear, some say it can be traced back to ancient Chinese and Japanese medicine or the Indian practice of Ayurveda. People began a tradition known as Hatha yoga as far back as 5000 BC, and it is said to have included poses for the face.
Related: This Simple Jaw Massage May Ward Off Your Tension Headaches and Migraines
The benefits of face yoga exercises
1. Face yoga minimizes lines and wrinkles
While dermatologists are on the fence regarding the efficacy of facial exercises, those who practice it say it works. “It has been proven to lift, tighten, smooth and tone skin,” attests Linderman. In fact, a 2018 study published in JAMA Dermatology found that a 30-minute daily or alternate-day facial exercise program helped improve the facial appearance of women ages 40 to 65, resulting in fuller cheeks and a younger appearance. After performing 32 different facial exercises a day over 20 weeks, the middle-aged women looked an average of three years younger.
“There is some evidence that facial exercises may improve facial appearance and reduce some visible signs of aging,” said lead author Murad Alam, MD, in a press release. “The exercises enlarge and strengthen the facial muscles, so the face becomes firmer and more toned, and shaped like a younger face.”
Plus, since the body’s collagen production (the protein made up of essential amino acids that give our skin its elasticity and structure, helping to keep it smooth and supple) decreases as we age, leading to sagging skin, wrinkles and fine lines. Doing face yoga exercises regularly can increase circulation in the skin, kickstarting collagen production naturally. (Click through to learn how yoga can ease carpal tunnel syndrome, too.)
Related: Collagen for Women: Adding It To Your Smoothie May Make Skin Look Years Younger
2. Facial yoga plumps up the cheeks and lips
Forget fillers, say experts, you can pose your way into plumper cheeks and lips. “The natural lifting and plumping effect it causes minimizes the appearance of lines on your face and neck,” says Linderman.
3. Face yoga helps the face appear more symmetrical
As we age, our face loses volume, and unfortunately, this loss doesn’t always occur evenly — which can result in a lopsided look. “Face yoga helps to strengthen facial muscles and relieve tension in the face to build better symmetry,” explains Linderman.
Related:Dermatologists Reveal The Best Ways To Fix Droopy Eyelids Without Surgery
4. Facial yoga brightens your complexion
Regularly doing facial exercises reduces inflammation and puffiness created by stagnant lymph nodes, brightening your skin’s complexion and making you look healthier and more youthful overall.
5 face yoga exercises that will help you look younger
If you’re interested in trying out face yoga for yourself, you’ll be happy to know several options are available. We tapped Linderman for the exercises we can do daily.
Linderman’s how-to: Do each exercise in 30-second increments or for three repetitions of a 10-second hold. Be sure to drink plenty of water before, after and during this face routine. If you continue this routine for 20 days, you will see an improvement in your skin’s complexion and experience tighter, plumper skin. Perform this daily routine both day and night for faster results.
1. For glowing cheeks
Start with gentle tapping with clean hands along your clean face to stimulate blood flow and spread any serum, oil or moisturizer of your choice. This boosts circulation, brings nutrients and oxygen to the skin surface and relaxes tension under the muscle. It also helps to eliminate any stalled lymph in your face and neck. Be sure to blend any remaining serum or moisturizer in an upward-sweeping motion. Next, you can activate your natural smile lines, hold for 30 seconds and release and reactivate. Do this as long as you would like while taking deep breaths.
2. To lift the face
Linderman says that making this “O” face is a “total facelift” because it activates all 57 facial muscles. To do this, while placing your upper and lower lips over your teeth, smile with the corners of your mouth and lift your cheeks by smiling with your eyes. She suggests doing this move every morning as it boosts energy and clears your mind too.
3. To smooth smile lines
While jutting out your chin, make upward sweeping motions on your neck, as pictured. You can activate your smile lines and let your eyes roll up and back. Taking deep breaths, turn your head to the right and stick your tongue out as if you are trying to touch your nose. When you are ready, you can turn your head to the left and repeat. Hold this for 30 seconds on each side. Repeat if necessary.
“I find that gently pressing your chin to either side with your fingertips also acts as an excellent vagus nerve reset. The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve we have, and it carries information from the brain to many organs in our chest and abdomen and back to the brain,” says Linderman.
Related: Top Doctors Say Toning Your Vagus Nerve Undoes the Toll Chronic Stress Has Taken on Your Body
4. To lift saggy jowls
This exercise helps release any discomfort in your jaw associated with migraines, TMJ or lockjaw issues and lifts those pesky jowls that come with age!
With your knuckles around your chin and jawline, make sweeping motions from the middle to the back of your jawbone. Be sure to keep your shoulders down and your back straight. Take deep breaths and release tension. You can do circular rotations at the back of your jaw to remove inflammation. If you wish, you can continue to move your knuckles down the sides of your neck onto your décolletage for a total elimination of stagnant lymph as seen below.
5. To make lips fuller
Here is a natural lip plumper that you will not want to forget! Linderman says you want to start from the corner of your mouth and do little lip flicks along the edge of your lip line. Start with the top and then proceed to the bottom. For a bonus, blow a few raspberries and make some goofy faces. Have fun with it!
Lastly, place your right hand over your mouth. Be sure to press over soft lips, cover the area above and under your lips and then fill your mouth with air as if you are blowing up a balloon. Take your left hand and press your palm to transfer the air to one side of your mouth. Hold for 30 seconds. Switch hands and do the opposite cheek.
Related: 7 Best Lip Plumpers That Make Thinning Lips Look Thicker Both Instantly and Over Time
Make sure to keep other muscles relaxed, especially your forehead. Relax your shoulders and keep a nice long neck. This exercise helps to give volume to your cheeks while smoothing any wrinkles on your mouth and lower cheek area, better known as your jowls and marionette lines.
Here’s a YouTube tutorial you can follow along with that shows a daily face yoga routine in just two minutes!
Will I see instant results with face yoga?
Both experts we consulted say that facial yoga takes commitment and consistency to see real results. It’s also important to note that individual results may vary, and consistency in practicing these exercises and a healthy lifestyle might yield better outcomes. It doesn’t cost anything to do it, nor is it painful or invasive — you might just consider giving it a try!
Face yoga before and afters
Now that you know how to do face yoga, here are some face yoga before and after photos and videos that prove how well the practice works!
1.Face yoga before and after video after just 6 weeks
2. Face yoga before and after after 6 and 9 months
3. Face yoga before and afters photos after one year
4. Face yoga before and after after 2 years
Click this video to see more dramatic before and after results provided by Danielle Collins, @FaceYogaExpert on YouTube.
For more ways to make the face look younger, click on these stories:
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