There are forty-three muscles in the face and though we may make time to workout our bodies, it seems for some reason that the muscles in our faces are often badly neglected. You may think why does this matter? Well as we age the loss of muscle tone can lead to a prematurely aged look. If you study most people, as they grow old it tends to be the bottom part of their face that drops. We all want to look young, yet before reaching for facial fillers, injections and cosmetic surgery, try introducing some facial yoga into your exercise routine instead. It can be used for both a preventative measure and an age reversal. Practicing even a few exercises daily can lead to better muscle tone and also stimulates circulation to the face. Be patient and stick with it and within a few months you should start to see improvements and if you are lucky with time perhaps shave off a few years. Not only that but face yoga facial exercises can also release tension in the face and help you to relax after a long day or even help to wake you up in the morning.
Thankfully there are many books and DVD’s on face yoga. Many offer great workouts but often they can take up a lot of time. Those of you who don’t have a ton of time, here are a few that are quick to do, and if done regularly, can lead to a more youthful look. Sticking to a few daily exercises is more like to gain results than trying to fit in lengthy routines that can fall by the roadside in a busy life. Of course if you do have time to do a long routine you will get faster results.
Five face yoga exercise routine:
1. The lion
Tones whole of face and neck. Sit up straight, either cross-legged or on a chair. Make sure the back is elongated. Open the mouth and stick the tongue out as far as you can whilst roaring like a lion. Open the eyes wide and this helps tone the whole face. The roar is also good for the voice. Relax the face and repeat several times.
2. Inversions
Are like a tonic for the body, bringing oxygen rich blood into head, a flushing the face with colour. Those of you who can do the headstand already go for it. A simpler version is to lay with the legs up the wall. Never attempt inversions for the first time without the guidance of a yoga teacher.
3. Smooching the heavens
Relax the whole face and tilt the lips up towards the sky and pucker the lips as if you were trying to kiss the clouds. Try holding for the count of ten and then repeat twice more.
4. Scalp crawler
From the forehead try and move the scalp back just using you’re your muscles. Once you have reached your maximum try holding for the count of ten and repeat twice more You will probably see no or little movement but exercising the frontals like this can help prevent the forehead from dropping as we age and can also open up the eyes.
5. Jowls jouster
As we get older the labial fold that runs from the corner of the nose to the mouth can drop giving a miserable sunken effect to the face. The good news is you can tone the face up with face yoga. With clean hands or even wearing gloves bring the first to fingers into the corner of the mouth. Make an O shape with the mouth and try to relax the rest of the face. Pull the fingers away from the mouth as you make the O shape. Do about three lots of 20 then relax the face. You can also buy a facial flex machine, which exercises the face to lift the jaw to achieve more dramatic results.
Since beauty really does come from within nurturing our thoughts into that of self-love can have an amazing impact. A positive mental attitude really does make a difference. Most of the time we bully ourselves. If you listen to how you speak to yourself mentally during the course of the day, you would notice that mostly you would not speak to your worst enemy the way you talked to yourself. Try replacing your thoughts with positive words.
Try these simple steps and watch your inner and outer beauty shine with face yoga.
Hey! Very good post! I found it really usefull =) I’ll try all the exercises, thanks a lot.