Face yoga - your natural way to look fresher and younger
Is face yoga a hoax?
Face yoga (or face fitness, or face gymnastics) erupted a few years ago. The term became widely known, there was a lot of interest from the public, and, of course, a lot of entrepreneurs who wanted to capitalize on this.
With the raise of face yoga popularity, came a lot of fake instructors who were, frankly, scamming people. They were promising results but weren’t actually trained so a lot of people who were ready to give face yoga a try, in the best case, lost money, in the worst, got injured. Thanks to that, the practice nowadays is heavily stigmatized. Even Google search results of face yoga start with a suggestion “did you mean face yoga is a hoax?”.
Well, as a certified trainer and a avid practitioner, I want to assure you, it’s not a hoax. Face yoga is a set of exercises that help to improve facial muscles tone and balance. Exercises include self-massage, muscle relaxation, and lymphatic drainage practice all of which make your face look fresher and younger, naturally. The emphasis on naturally.
It’s important to understand, it’s not a surgery or a magic pill that will fix all the wrinkles overnight with no effort. It’s a practice that brings results overtime. As training in a gym - you don’t become fit after 1 session. It’s a continuous effort that helps you become stronger, fitter and healthier.
Another analogy with going to the gym is that it doesn’t work as well on its own - it’s a holistic approach to health incluing physical exercises, diet, speeling habits etc. that gets you from point A to point B. Face yoga is exactly the same. Your diet, your speeling habits, smoking, drinking alcohol, hydration level, posture (!) affect effectiveness of face yoga training.
How does face yoga work?
Well, enough with precautions and myths debunking. So how does face yoga work?
The main things we achieve with face yoga are muscle relaxation, muscle toning and improved blood circulation. Why do we need that? To reduce tension, tone the muscles and get that healthy glow.
We tend to hold tension in our faces - daily stress and emotions define how we use our faces and which specific muscles we recruit. When we overuse the same muscles, they get worn out and wrinkles appear. This is why in face yoga, the focus is on relaxing and softening the muscles to release tension through face massage.
Healthy, they are elastic, they stretch and contract well. And this is what we want to preserve. With face yoga exercises, we want to delay aging process, muscles weakening, shortening, narrowing, and thinning.
What are the benefits of face yoga?
The grand goal of face yoga is to reduce visible signs of aging. Consistent daily training improves overall health of your face. It relaxes and tones facial muscles, reduces puffiness, makes wrinkles less visible, and brings the glow.
What do I focus on in my face yoga classes?
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Face, all of it - all facial muscles are interconnected, and it´s crucial to work on each and every one of them (not only the ones you find problematic) to get desired results. But specific muscles focus is individual - I don’t believe in one size fits all when we’re aiming at the best results.
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Posture - a lot of face health is connected with our posture (posture = blood supply to the face). I always include exercises on posture in the face yoga practice.
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Relaxation practices - in my classes, I often include breath work and relaxation practices to calm both the mind and the body. It helps the tension release and sets the right mood.
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And, of course, consistency is the key to the smooth, elastic skin, youthful, radiant complexion and a healthy face.
Face yoga is an effective natural way to improve your face health and recude signs of aging. I’m confident, with the right approach, it works for everyone. Give it a try.