Facial yoga is a recent trend that helps those suffering from a saggy face keep their skintight and looking young and healthy. Whether you’re on a fitness journey or are just trying to tone up your face, facial yoga is one of the best options, and it’s super easy to do. But does facial yoga actually work?
While there are several benefits, it might sound too good to be true for some people. If you’re interested in joining this trend but want to know anything and everything about this viral trend, read more to find out what facial yoga actually is, and if it’s something that you should be adding to your routine.
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What Is Facial Yoga?
Face yoga is not really about yoga at all, despiste the name. However, while there are no real yoga movements that we’re familiar with, there is an association between yoga and facial yoga, and it’s simply how we exercise the face. Yoga is about stretching, growing our strength and balance and working the mind.
Facial yoga is simply the stretching and strengthening of our face. The purpose is to help keep your face looking toned and young, lifting areas that might be sagging or drooping. The goal is to isolate one area of your face and exercise it to help work the muscles.
For instance, your eye has over ten muscles to help you squint, smile and express emotions. Which might have you thinking, aren’t you already stretching and exercising your face by chatting, expressing emotion, and just smiling? The main difference is simply intention. Adding in more of that exercise will help your face stay toned.
Does Facial Yoga Work?
For some, this might sound really silly. Why should we move our face around to keep it toned? There are several creams and tonics that you can use to help improve the look and feel of your face. Plus, simple exercise can also help keep your face in shape. However, there are some that still experience a sagged look even with a toned body.
But does it really work?
Yes! But you can’t do it a few times and get disappointed when there isn’t anything different when you look in the mirror. Like mentioned, the main reason this works is because of intention. And a committed regimen. Like any form of exercising, having a committed routine and regimen will help anyone look a bit better and stay in shape. The same goes for your face.
What Causes a Sagged or Drooped Face?
There are several reasons on why your face might have a bit saggier skin than others. Our skin can stretch out or snap back into place really easily, but sometimes when our skin loses that ability, it’ll sag a bit more. There are several areas where your skin can sag too, like around your eyelids, jowls, chin and throat. This can be caused by many reasons, but the two main reasons include aging and weight loss.
As you get older, there are two proteins that skin starts to lose, elastin and collagen. Elastin gives skin elasticity that helps your skin bounce back into shape and stay firm. Collagen helps keep your skin firm and taut to keep things structures.
Weight loss is another big reason why you might be experiencing a saggier face or anywhere else on your body. Carrying extra weight over an extended period of time can cause damage to collagen and elastin fibers in your skin. When you lose weight, your skin has a harder time snapping back into place. This can also happen if you end up losing a lot of weight in a rapid period of time, like after bariatric surgery.
How Often Do You Need to Practice Facial Yoga to See Results?
So how often should you be practicing if keeping up a routine is the best way to see results? While doing this every single day is the best option, it can be annoying to try and remember, plus some days you just can’t seem to find the time to make silly faces in the mirror before bed.
Consistency is key, so try to do it as often as possible. If you don’t think a 30-minute face workout can be done every day, opt for every other day, allowing you to do it 3-4 times a week. While every day is best, doing it more often than not is still a great option.
The Benefits of Facial Yoga
The main benefit to face yoga is like mentioned, tightening the skin and keeping it plump. Facial yoga can relax overactive muscles while tone weaker muscles, which can help prevent your skin from sagging and have expression lines, which many women would rather not have as they get older.
A study in 2018 investigated the effect of 32 facial exercises and how it reduced the appearance of aging in middle-aged women. The participants did 30-minute sessions of facial yoga for 8 weeks daily, and then one every other day for 12 weeks. Most women saw improvements and were incredibly satisfied with their results.
Studies have found that these facial exercises and massages have improved facial appearances, which in turn can help enhance mindfulness and awareness as well. But that’s not all the improvements that you may get from doing facial yoga. Some might experience improvement in controlling face muscles, having a firmer neckline, reprogramming muscles memory, reducing the dark underage circles, improving confidence and improving your mood, as well as making your face less rounded.
Overall, there are several benefits to practicing facial yoga, and not all are focused on just toning your face. There are some great reasons to try this exercise and to continuously practice it.
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Potential Risks of Facial Yoga
But with so many great benefits, we should always look into what the potential risks could be to make sure everyone is aware. While several studies to say that you could prevent any expression lines when doing facial yoga simply because it can keep your face tight and keep the elasticity up, there are some that question if that’s true. Repetitive facial muscle activity such as frowning or smiling tend to cause expression lines, so repetitive pulling and moving your face might actually cause more lines that originally thought.
This, plus the constant touch, rubbing, pulling and pinching at your face with possibly sweaty, dirty, oily and bacteria covered hands will cause more clogged pores and breakouts. Even if you wash your hands, you generally want to avoid touching your face with your hands for a prolonged amount of time as the oils can make acne worse. If you already suffer from acne, you might want to avoid this trend as it can cause it to be worse.
How to Do Facial Yoga Work?
There are several exercises that you can try when starting facial yoga. Following the video above is a great way to visually learn. Below are some exercises for those that would prefer to read and try them out yourselves.
Eye Strain
This is great if you’re experiencing eye strain, which can be done throughout the day or maybe before you sleep.
First, press into the inner corner of your eyes for 30 seconds, and then circle gently in one direction for 30 seconds. Repeat going the opposite direction.
Eye Tapping
Place your ring fingers at the inside of your eyebrows and gently tap your fingers towards the outside of your eyebrows.
Press into your temps for a few seconds, then continue to tap above your cheekbone to the inner corner or your eyes. Continue this pattern for 30 seconds.
Brow
This exercise is perfect if you’re wanting to reach the frontalis muscle, which is the large muscle in front of your forehead. This muscle is usually overused and can cause stiffness, rigidity and expressions of stress.
Place your fingertips at the center of your forehead, facing upwards, and gently press into your forehead as you move your fingers towards your temples. Release your fingers. Continue this pattern for 30 seconds.
Neck Massage
This is great because it also boosts lymphatic drainage and alleviates neck tension. Start by tilting your head back slightly and placing your fingers at the top of your neck.
Apply gentle pressure as you glide your fingers down to your collarbone, and then press into your collarbone for a few seconds before releasing your fingers. Continue for 30 seconds.
Should You Try Facial Yoga?
Definitely!
There are many benefits when it comes to facial yoga, especially for those that don’t love the extra bit of skin that hangs around the face. Tightening up your facial features is a great way to stay confident and feeling younger and healthier.
There are many reasons why you should do it, however, this isn’t to say that everyone with a little extra skin should do it. For those that might be a bit insecure at their reflection, this is the perfect option, but for those that enjoy their looks as is, there is no need to change anything.
Conclusion
Anything trendy comes with a pro and a con, and while facial yoga can help you tighten up the loose skin hanging around your face, there are also some reasons why you might want to avoid doing it.
Facial yoga comes with many benefits that will have you feeling a bit better and more confident about your appearance, but the added risk of acne and expression lines could make you avoid the trend completely. Either way, it’s always worth trying out for a bit to see if you enjoy it.
Facial yoga is a great way to help improve your facial features in a natural way and is super easy to do before you go to bed, as it’s just a 30-minute routine. If you’re trying to figure out how to make your face look a bit better, this might be the trend for you.
