Turn back the clock with face yoga

Diet, exercise and sometimes a person’s genetic makeup mask a person’s physical age but the first physical signs of ageing usually show up on our faces.
Face yoga
Face yoga

Diet, exercise and sometimes a person’s genetic makeup mask a person’s physical age but the first physical signs of ageing usually show up on our faces. This has led to botox and plastic surgery becoming popular treatments to combat ageing on the face. But that wrinkle, line and crow’s feet can simply be delayed with face yoga. Face yoga is a series of exercises that promise to do for your face what yoga does for your body: relax and tone facial muscles.

Together with massage, acupressure, yoga and facial exercises, face yoga delivers a natural facelift.  Simple yoga techniques can lead to fewer lines and wrinkles, firm jawlines with improved skin tone, reduced headaches and eye strain which in turn eases tension, and gives a healthy glow on the face.

Just as our body needs regular exercise to stay toned and firm, there are 57 muscles on our face and neck which also need to be exercised. As they become stronger, they are lifted and firmed and the skin attached to the muscles gets tautened, reducing lines and wrinkles. The massage moves increase circulation, lymph flow and remove toxins, improving skin tone, reducing puffiness and dark circles.

For example, a simple exercise to smoothen your forehead is: widen your eyes, trying to expose as much of the white in your eye as you can. Hold that until your eyes start to water.  By holding this expression, you’re exercising the muscles around your eyes and your forehead, erasing the negative effects of scowling by doing the opposite action. Here are some of the benefits of this form of yoga:

  • It’s all natural. From creams and serums to injections and surgeries, there are plenty of anti-ageing strategies to maintain a youthful look. The problem is that these methods often use chemicals or surgical procedures to get results. Facial yoga is as natural as it gets—no who-knows-what ingredients or hours under a laser or scalpel.
  • It releases tension. You might be surprised at how much tension you hold in your face and neck. Facial yoga teaches you to become more aware of those muscles so you can relax them anytime you feel tightness creeping up.
  • It helps reduce wrinkles. Some wrinkles come with age. Some come because we’re constantly tensing muscles in the face, like those around the eyes or mouth. Facial yoga builds awareness so you can release the unhealthy tension that’s carving crows’ feet and other wrinkles.
  • It promotes collagen production. The muscle activity might boost collagen production, keeping the skin younger looking.

The author is a face yoga expert

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The New Indian Express
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