Prenatal yoga, yoga for the back, yoga for pregnant women or even yoga for children – yoga has been on the rise for several years, adapting to the new needs of our society.
But what about yoga for the face?
In this article, we will explain what this wellness practice is all about, what benefits it offers and how you can practice it effectively.
What is yoga for the face?
First of all, it is important to know that our face has more than 40 muscles and, just like the body, it is exposed to numerous tensions, being in direct and constant contact with the outside world, with the sun, pollution, sun, wind or even cold…
Face Yoga or facial yoga is the solution, as it combines self-massage and facial exercises and aims to preserve the youthfulness of the skin.
Certain self-massage techniques such as Kobido in Japanese culture reflect this, but it also promotes energy flow in Chinese medicine. Read this blog it will beneficial for your 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh India.
Facial yoga was brought to Europe in the 1980s.
There are two types of facial muscles: those that are heavily used and cause expression lines, pull down facial features or form a double chin.
These are the muscles you need to relax, stretch and smooth out when they are overused.
In contrast, the other facial muscles that work too little, such as those of the upper eyelids, need to be strengthened to compensate for the aesthetic changes.
The goal of facial yoga is to help the body, as well as the mind, to get through the years as well as possible.
To achieve this, one must learn to take time to reconnect with their body and enjoy taking care of it, and this begins with a better understanding of the face, the muscles that make it up, and the way they move and develop.
It is a natural, non-invasive anti-aging practice that, when used daily, can effectively slow the effects of aging.
The benefits of facial yoga
Facial yoga is a new, completely non-threatening way to rejuvenate your face and build muscle.
Simply put, the exercises regenerate your facial muscles.
Face yoga has many benefits:
- Exercise inadequate facial muscles to restore volume.
- Refine your face
- Smooth out the wrinkles in your skin
- Give your complexion new radiance
- Make your muscles and tendons supple
- Restore tone to areas that lack it.
- Reactivate the lymphatic channels
- Make your muscles and tendons supple
- Relieve migraines or earaches.
However, you will never achieve the same results with facial yoga as you would with a facelift or injections.
For maximum effectiveness of facial yoga exercises, you should remember to maintain a healthy lifestyle: long sleep, no or little alcohol consumption, avoidance of cigarettes and regular exercise.
We also recommend an adapted care routine with organic cosmetics to increase the effectiveness of the results.
In addition, facial yoga is a real asset that enhances the effect of skin care products, as the smoothing and pressing movements stimulate the deepest layer of the skin.
Facial yoga is therefore a natural and inexpensive complement to expensive creams and other anti-wrinkle treatments, not to mention that the practice has no side effects.
Facial yoga has not only physical benefits, but also mental ones, because the more you take care of your face, the more massages you perform, the more you learn to love yourself.
One of the goals of facial yoga is also to increase self-esteem and break away from external beauty standards.
You have to love the time you spend with yourself. After all, feeling good in your body is one of the greatest beauty secrets.
How to practice facial yoga?
Hands and fingers are the most suitable tools for practicing facial yoga. With the great advantage that they are the arrival and departure points of our meridians: Lung, Large Intestine, Stomach, Heart, Small Intestine, Kidney, Bladder, Heart Master and Triple Warmer.
The meridians are directly related to the radiance of our skin and our blood circulation.
On the market of facial yoga there are many tools for facial massage. They are playful and very easy to use.
For example, there are Foam Rollers, Mushrooms, Gua Sha and Cryo Sticks.
They are ideal for those who are just starting out and are not comfortable with their hands. The massage roller can be a great starting tool because its round, rolling shape means there is no risk of damaging or hurting your skin.
Massage rollers are excellent because you can play with temperature: Cold tightens the skin, warm relaxes it.
However, the Gua Sha requires a little practice before you can use it properly, as it is a flat, hard stone that pulls on your skin, so you should be gentle and use a precise and adjusted movement.
Before using the tools, you should watch tutorials, such as those found on YouTube.
How often should you practice facial yoga?
Facial yoga should be performed daily to reap its benefits.
It is important to start slowly and gently, so don’t overdo it in the beginning!
For beginners, a session of 15 to 20 minutes twice a week is a good frequency.
Once your facial muscles get used to the movements, you can increase the frequency as needed.
Numerous studies have shown that you can notice changes in your eye contours and facial oval after just two weeks.
After four months, you may notice a reduction in wrinkles and tension on your face.
After nine months, your facial skin will look younger and more vital.
4 Yoga exercises for the face that you can easily do.
1. exercise against double chin
With age, the tissues slacken, which promotes the development of a double chin. However, the passage of time is not the only cause. Being bent too far forward when using your smartphone is harmful and can accentuate your double chin even more.
How do you perform it?
- Sit down, keep your back straight, drop your head forward and exhale through your mouth.
- Tilt your head back as you inhale.
- Once you have tipped your head back, lift your chin, place your lower lip over your upper lip.
- Close your eyes and hold the posture for seven seconds. You should feel your neck mobilize.
- Slowly release and exhale.
- Do this exercise several times without overdoing it.
Read More: Complete information on Yoga
2. exercise to fight wrinkles
The muscles between your eyebrows are usually overused, which over time leads to the famous frown line. Here is a very easy to imitate exercise that you can use to alleviate your frown line.
How do you perform it?
- Place your thumbs between your eyebrows.
- Massage the area clockwise in circular motions.
- Stop the circles and apply pressure to the area by inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.
3. exercise for the cheekbones
To tone the cheekbones, you need to exercise the large zygomatic muscle, which is responsible for the tone of our cheeks and their shape.
How do you perform it?
- Puff your cheeks with one hand and close your mouth.
- With the other hand, tap your cheeks one by one.
- Finally, perform a pinch on your cheeks.
4. exercise for the eye area
Wrinkles around the eyes quickly appear on the face. With this exercise, we enable you to make the facial features appear softer by lifting the eye contours.
How is it performed?
- Look to the right, to the center, to the left, and then back to the center.
- Look to the ceiling, to the center, and then back to the floor.
- Slowly close your eyes and repeat this sequence twice.
Conclusion
So what are you waiting for to discover facial yoga?
As you may have already seen, facial yoga has many benefits for your body and mental health and is very effective for staying young longer.
Try it today and you will see the spectacular results that this method can do on your skin.
