Wouldn’t we all love a glowing face and younger looking skin? Facial yoga consists of exercises which are deeply relaxing and rejuvenating. Face yoga is like a self-care practice that allows you to show your skin some love while letting your inner beauty shine through.
Face yoga relaxes, strengthens and tone the face muscles, improves blood circulation and helps release blockages from the skin. It reduces under-eye circles, wrinkles and fine lines, boosting youthful-looking skin. With age, the skin on the face has a tendency to sag and loosen. Face yoga delays this effect by lighting and tightening the skin. The aim of face yoga is to stretch the 57 face and neck muscles to release stress and promote better skin health.
When practiced regularly and included in one’s everyday self-care routine, you will begin to notice the brighter, clearer and stronger-looking facial skin. Below are simple exercises you can incorporate from anywhere, any time.
7 Face Yoga Exercises to do Everyday
Puffing your cheeks
You would have definitely tried this as a kid - making a big ‘O’ with your cheeks and holding for a few seconds. Sit straight, widen your eyes and inhale into your mouth. Hold for about 10-15 seconds and slowly increase to 30 seconds. This simple practice will increase blood circulation to your cheeks, promoting a healthy glow. It will strengthen the cheek muscles and prevent them from looking hollow. You’ll find fine lines are kept at bay with this practice.
Pout and smile
Bring the lips together and push them outward as if you are about to kiss and then smile broadly. Practice this regularly 10-15 times in one sitting. This exercise works on the cheeks and chin, improving the downward drift of the jawline and promoting a more youthful look. While enhancing blood circulation, it also helps you achieve that perfect jawline.
The eyebrow lift
Place the index finger of both hands about half inch above the eyebrows, lift the eyebrows upwards and press them downward with your fingers. This will help tone the muscles around the eyebrows, release tension and reduce the chances of wrinkles on the forehead, the first place to get wrinkles.
Fish face
The puffer fish face is done by sucking the insides of your cheeks to create a fish-like face. This narrows the face as the cheeks are pulled in. Hold here for a few seconds, while keeping your eyes wide open. Your eyes might start to water - don’t worry. Simply release when you experience this.
Stretching the eyelids
Keeping your face straight, stretch the eyebrows upwards. With the eyebrows raised, gently close your eyelids while still looking upwards. This helps prevent or delay the effect of eyelids drooping with age and keeps the area firm.
Cheek massage
Placing both your palms on the two cheeks, gently push the palms in an upwards and outwards motion. Start from next to the mouth and push the skin upwards and outwards till the temples. This helps release tightness from the skin, improves blood circulation and improves the glow on the face.
The nose-eyebrow massage
Keeping both the index fingers by the sides of the nostrils, gently follow the path of the face, massaging from nostrils, to below the eyebrows and ending at the temples. This is a reverse motion to the downward-drooping effect of aging skin and helps improve blood circulation, reduces wrinkles and fine lines and promotes glowing skin.
Apart from this, similarly massaging the under-eye area in an upward and outward direction and the forehead in an outward direction also has the same effect of improving circulation, reducing wrinkles and promoting good skin health.
With excessive pollution today and immense stress, our skin takes a hit in no time. Many start exhibiting signs of aging at a much younger age, impacting confidence and more. Invest in a healthy, holistic practice such as face yoga to fight off damage and delay the effects of stress and age! All you need is 10-15 minutes a day.
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