What Is Face Yoga?
Yoga, an ancient practice that helps improve flexibility, strength, balance and posture, has been around for thousands of years, and does not require any introduction. It originated in India and has been practiced by people of all ages and cultures, and it has since expanded throughout the western world in various forms, including Hatha yoga, Ashtanga yoga, Kundalini yoga, Yin yoga and so on. But have you heard of face yoga, or facial yoga? What exactly is it? And what’s the difference in your facial features and overall facial wellbeing between doing face yoga before and after that? Well, face yoga is a gentle blend of face exercises that focuses on the core muscles of the face, or your face and neck muscles. It blends hatha yoga forms, acupressure, breathing techniques and massage, and its intention is to tone your muscles and softens facial appearance. When done on a regular basis, it provides what yoga does for your body: relaxation and tightening of your face muscles.
By targeting and enhancing certain face muscles, you may be able to shape your jawline, reduce those sagging cheeks, minimize face swelling, and impact your general skin tightness (elasticity) and the appearance of wrinkles and stress marks, eventually slowing down the development of the markers of aging and giving you a youthful appearance. Various images of face yoga before and after of many practitioners will give you more confidence.
Why Do We Do It?
Many people want to know how to reduce the aging process easily and without hefty costs. Face yoga, one of the numerous efficient anti-aging methods, is a way for people to reduce fine lines and wrinkles on the face, as it involves minimal work, money or therapies. While tightening your face muscles, it also activates the blood cells, increases blood flow to the skin, making you look and feel more rejuvenated and confident. When carried out as a daily routine, facial yoga is a natural alternative that may result in a face that is more elastic, clear, and youthful.
How Does Face Yoga Works?
Face yoga uses the face as an anchor point to perform specific exercises. Combined with a healthy diet and adequate sleep, it can make a significant change in your appearance. This method works by intentionally letting you isolate and tone different facial muscles and relax the rest, leading to improved firmness and appearance of your face.
Advantages of Face Yoga
- Improves Blood Circulation and Flow
More collagen is given to your skin as a result of improved blood circulation and flow to your face, making it light up. Those with paler skin tones will get a pinky tone as a result.
- Reduces the Appearance of Wrinkles and Other Signs of Aging
White and other light-skinned people have skins that are mildly tight, thinner, and have less pigments. And this is why many, though not all, white people appear to age more quickly. If a woman in her mid-twenties practices face yoga over a period of time, she can correct or entirely avoid stress marks, a double chin, under-eye wrinkles, droopy eyelids, saggy cheeks, frown lines, smile lines and wrinkles.
- Strengthens and Tones Face Muscles and Shapes Jawlines
As daily face yoga strengthens and improves your facial muscles, your jawline will shape up, your eyes bulge, and your cheek lifts up.
- Treats Mild Muscular Ailments
Face yoga can be used to treat mild muscular ailments such as facial pain, headaches, and neck and shoulder stiffness. It is also helpful in improving the flexibility of the spine and reducing stress on the joints. Regular face yoga has been shown to reduce symptoms associated with chronic muscular pains and aches and improve quality of life.
Disadvantages of Face Yoga
Takes Longer to Get Results
When compared to some other anti-aging practices, face yoga takes a bit longer to get the desired results. This is due to the fact that it works by modifying the state of your muscles, making them stronger so that they can pull tighter on the skin. Obviously, the body takes time to build your muscles, which is why outcomes will take more time.
May Make Your Face Bulkier
Face yoga is meant to lift your facial muscles but for that, your muscles need to be huge. This action in your muscles may cause visible veins and stronger jaws which most women do not like.
May Cause Temporary Facial Problems
It is recommended that you follow the teacher’s set of facial exercises, because there could be a chance that you may experience facial muscular problems such as facial cramps and locked jaws.
Face Yoga May Cause Wrinkles
There are some doctors who thought that face yoga can cause wrinkles, and is overrated. According to Dr Jeffrey Spiegel, a Boston facial plastic surgeon, this type of face exercise does not smooth wrinkles and tighten the face, but might in fact, make wrinkles worse because wrinkles are caused by facial expression and muscle activities, among other things. Moving your facial muscles excessively contributes to the undesirable appearance of wrinkles rather than relieving it. It is only when you selectively weaken or relax the muscles in the face that helps to alleviate wrinkles, he said.
However, we think that this happens only if you do not follow the facial exercises correctly. If so, you will be contributing to the growth of extra wrinkles and fine lines. You need to follow the proper technique for face yoga. One important tip when you are doing such exercises on the face – you need to relax your jaw muscles, and do not clench your teeth while doing your facial exercises.
As well, if you exercise and target a single muscle or one of your facial features for a longer length of time, that muscle will eventually become weary and lose its form. As a result, we appear to look old. Facial skin gradually loosens as the elasticity is lost by frequent action.
Is Face Yoga Effective? How Long Does It Take For It to Work?
Face yoga before and after – is it really effective? Face yoga, like other workouts, requires consistency to achieve results. This method works when followed stringently on a daily basis, because facial aging is due to muscle loss, and when you do face yoga, you actually strengthens those muscles. Overtime, you make your facial muscles stronger and help them stay intact, giving you a more refreshed and younger look.
According to a research in 2018 by Northwestern University, middle-aged women who took part in the research performed 32 facial exercises for 30-minute intervals for 20 weeks, either every day or every week. The result? Their upper and lower cheek width got better, and the women’s average estimated ages were reduced.
Another research showed that strengthening the muscles of your cheeks and face will enhance the physical appearance of your face and also make it look younger.
The time it takes to observe long-term outcomes from facial yoga varies from person to person, but after six to ten weeks of at least 30-minute daily sessions, you should see some initial results. You should however, check with your dermatologist before doing any facial yoga exercises as they may not work for everyone.
But while it’s true that you need to exercise and relax your face once in a while, you also need a great skin care routine, a good diet with exercise and also healthy habits to actually alleviate signs of aging.
Reviews and Face Yoga Before and After Pictures
“Does face yoga truly works?” Many people have already tried this exercise as a natural solution, and their reviews and testimonials of the long-term effects were mostly positive and their face yoga before and after pictures also showed good results. Here are a few face yoga before and after pictures that people have posted, and most looked better than their former selves, with better skin tones, fuller cheeks and radiant skins.
Facial yoga mostly can influence the forehead, face line, face muscles, eyelids, cheeks, and other regions of the face, as shown in the face yoga before and after images below.
Face Yoga for Beginners – Best Facial Exercises You Can Do
There are several exercises that work on the muscles of the face as well as the layers of skin, improving blood flow. In essence, these are painless and safer options to Botox injections or cosmetic treatments. Here are a few workouts that you can do five days a week in less than 30 minutes.
Cheek Lifter
To do this, open your mouth and make a “O” shape with it. Cover your teeth with your lips, then smile. At this stage, you should be able to feel your cheek muscles under your eyes. To relax your cheek muscles, stop smiling. Smile once more and repeat for up to 10 minutes.
Cheeks Sculpting
Try to smile while keeping your lips hidden. Now, while still smiling, reveal your lips. The corners of your mouth should be burning. Push your cheeks towards your eyes with your index finger (be careful, do not prick your eyes!). Hold your cheekbones for around 20 seconds before repeating the process.
Eyebrow Lifter
Drag your brows down with three of your fingertips in each palm, widening your eyes. While you’re doing this, try to smile. Then try rolling your eyes to the back of your head while closing your eyelids. Do this for 20 seconds before repeating the process.
Others facial exercises include a forehead smoother, temple developer, jaw and neck firmer, and so forth. You can find out more here.
To conclude, do not expect quick results. You can start with 10 minutes a day and gradually increase the duration of the exercise. Do not overdo it, and you will see the differences in your face soon!
