Our face is the mirror of our soul. Just think of chronic stress, which leads to tense jaw muscles, sometimes even to gnashing your teeth at night. Or constant brooding that digs deep lines between the eyebrows over time. Or of tiredness and exhaustion that sadly drooping eyelids.
Yoga for the face works just like Hatha Yoga for the body: by stretching, relaxing, and strengthening the muscles, we create a free flow of energy and achieve greater wellbeing and health.
In fact, our face is a highly complex network of 26 muscles, all of which are more or less involved in the play of our facial expressions and they are all in direct connection with our subconscious. That is why you can tell that happy people are happy. They shine, look fresh, and full of energy.
Facial gymnastics as an anti-aging program
Yoga exercises for the face are an inexpensive, sustainable anti-aging program that ensures a lively and positive facial expression. The exercises maintain the healthy elasticity of the facial skin and stimulate its regenerative power.
“We love creams too. They supply our skin with moisture and support its elasticity. However, they cannot help if the muscles are relaxed. Muscles like regular exercise, ”.
Facial Yoga Studies
Facial yoga works! In January 2018, a study by the Northwestern University of Chicago was published in which middle-aged women between 40 and 65 years participated. The women practiced yoga for the face every day or every other day for 20 weeks. The result confirmed what advocates of facial yoga have long been claiming: the faces of the participating women looked about 3 years younger after the program.
This is the result of the researchers working with head Emily Poon by taking portrait photos of the participating subjects at the beginning and at the end and having doctors estimate the age. The same was done again after the study. The average estimated age decreased by at least 3 years.
The beauty industry with its expensive creams and face masks will not want to hear it, but the study shows that facial yoga actually has a rejuvenating effect and a few minutes a day are enough.
Dr. med. Eva Juchems, Head of Aesthetic Dermatology at Mainz University Medical Center, sees the effectiveness of facial gymnastics very similarly. Exercises for the facial muscles can help, especially with wrinkles caused by gravity. These include, for example, hanging cheeks, double chins or neck folds.
“But facial massages and active movement can also prevent or even smooth out the smallest creases on the circular muscles around the eyes and mouth,” says dermatologist Juchems.
How does yoga work for the face?
But what exactly is going on in the face? Why do women who do facial yoga regularly look younger?
With age, the skin changes and it loses its firmness. This is because the underlying fat and muscle mass decrease. There are more wrinkles and sagging facial features. Facial yoga trains the muscles and increases muscle mass again. The face looks fresher, fuller and younger.
Instructions: Yoga exercise for the face
With the following exercise you train the muscles around your eyes. It is suitable if your eyes feel stressed and tired or your lower limbs are puffy. After practicing for the first time, you will feel refreshed. Try it out.
In the picture you can see the affected muscle on the left and on the right our teacher Uschi Stoxreiter from Face Shine shows you how to put on your index and middle finger – please without exerting pressure. So place your middle finger on the inner corner of your eyes and your index finger on the outer one. Now lift the lower part as far as possible so that only a small slit is left. Then, lower the eyelid again. Repeat the movement ten times.
With this simple example you can see that you can do yoga for the face anywhere. Be it on the train or at a red light, in a traffic jam or, pssst, on the toilet. Try it! Practice for a few weeks and wait to see if your friends and acquaintances suddenly give you feedback. Our tip would be to take a portrait photo of you before training and a second after a few weeks. Watch how your face changes and all without expensive beauty products or even botox.
Who Invented Yoga for the Face?
Allegedly it goes back to the Japanese Fumiko Takatsu, who suffered from an asymmetrical facial change after an accident. Loving yoga, she began to apply the principles of hatha yoga to the muscles of the face. Fumiko Takatsu discovered the effects of facial gymnastics and developed a series of exercises. The Face Yoga Method was born.
But it was certainly not the first in human history to develop specific exercises to relax the muscles in the face. Because it is actually obvious: we can all feel how stress is reflected on the face from time to time and how pleasant and refreshing it can be to stretch and strengthen the muscles again.
Reference for this article- Yogamehome
Satvik Living 