When you think of the word yoga, you can imagine someone standing in a “tree” pose, with their one leg up and hands clasped together. If not that, it’s usually a crescent lunge. There’s a lot of very flexible movement of the whole body.
When you think about doing yoga for your face, your mind may come up blank. What exactly would you be “moving around”? And is face yoga just some trend that started on social media that has no scientific basis to it whatsoever? Worry not. In this blog, we’ll tell you all you need to know about face yoga, how it works, what it does, and, most importantly, does it even work.
Face yoga maybe just another buzzword, or it could produce miraculous results. These days, you can expect anything to start trending after a mere mention by a celebrity. But this shouldn’t mean that you blindly hop on the bandwagon. Some things can end up doing you more harm than good, even if it’s something as simple as an exercise routine.
Before you try anything on your face, be it face yoga, do your research. That’s because some things might not necessarily work out for you, even if they did for your friends or family members. Going blindly into anything can take a turn for the worse. So, if you’re planning on doing face yoga, learn about it. And that’s what we’re here for. To help you understand it better.
What Is Face Yoga?
Face yoga includes facial exercises that people perform on their face, neck, and shoulders to help improve the circulation of blood, tone and strengthen the muscles and do lymphatic drainage. Through face yoga, many people desire to achieve the appearance of smooth, taut skin while getting rid of the signs of ageing. The exercises may help relax the tense muscles on the face.
You work the muscles to deal with a particular skin concern such as crow’s feet or frown lines. They may deliver long-lasting changes to your face. While there are some small studies that show that face yoga is helpful in improving the appearance of the face, muscle power of the tongue, and even mental health, more research needs to be done in this area.
One study found that the data on the effectiveness of facial exercises is not sufficient. The study involved a literature review and found that of the 9 studies on facial exercises, none used “randomised controlled trials”. Therefore, it cannot be said that face yoga or any other facial exercise will yield good results for sure.
How To Do Face Yoga?
There are different exercises that target different areas of the face. You can perform eye circles, which may help reduce puffiness around your eyes. When performing any facial exercise, make sure that you’re only applying gentle pressure. When doing eye circles, you’ll gently tap around the inner eyebrows, temple area, and cheekbones. Making small circles in the inner corner of the eye can also help with eye strain.
Another exercise involves moving your fingertips on your forehead as you slowly move them towards the temple. Neck massages are also believed to help improve lymphatic drainage and smoothen the skin. You can also do a simple face tapping exercise which can improve the circulation of blood in your face and stimulate the facial muscles.
Lion’s breath is another facial exercise in which the person poses like a lion, sticks their tongue out, and exhales air across the tongue. The good thing about this is that it won’t take more than half an hour for you to do these exercises. So, if you’d like to try, you can do them.
Does Face Yoga Really Work?
Some celebs have certainly popularised the practice of facial exercises, such as the football star Christiano Ronaldo. Megan Markle also swears about the effectiveness of good facial exercises. As reported in the Sun, according to her, “I swear it works, as silly as you may feel. On the days I do it, my cheekbones and jawline are way more sculpted”. However, she gets her facial exercises done by the aesthetician Nichola Joss.
According to some, facial exercises do carry the risk of making your facial wrinkles worse. You might start face yoga thinking that it can help with signs of ageing, but it might end up making you look older. It is true that moving the muscles of your face and applying gentle pressure can improve blood circulation. Moreover, it will help supply adequate oxygen and nutrients to the muscles in your face. It can also release tension and make you feel more relaxed.
As you age, your skin loses its elasticity. It is the reason why it sags. This can also move the fat pads in your face downwards. Face yoga intends to build up muscle strength. That would help hold the fat pads in place on your face. That is what’s believed can happen with face yoga. Whether it does or doesn’t happen still needs to be thoroughly investigated.
Is Face Yoga Better than Getting Fillers or Facelift Surgery?
Some people go as far as calling face yoga a nonsurgical facelift. The effectiveness of face yoga also depends on the person’s skin and age. This is despite the fact that there isn’t any clear verdict about face yoga’s benefits. The exercises that are a part of face yoga can increase the blood flow to the facial muscles. It may even improve lymphatic drainage. But you still might end up seeing no difference in your face.
Facial fillers, on the other hand, involve the injection of substances into the face that help plump up the face and add volume to those areas of the face which have become hollow and gaunt. In facelift surgery, the surgeon tightens the underlying muscles in your face.
It can also include the removal of excess fat and skin. It is also possible that the surgeon redistributes the fat in your face so that it looks smoother and younger. Both these procedures yield visible results. So, it’s better you consult a dermatologist before going on trying any new treatment.
When Does Face Yoga Doesn’t Work at All?
If you are struggling with severe wrinkling, face yoga will not help you. Face yoga isn’t backed by enough evidence of working out. With its effectiveness already in doubt, it’s probably not a good idea to rely on it to get rid of your wrinkles. Your skin will lose its elasticity and sag as you age.
To reduce the wrinkles on your face, you need to make the right decisions. Doing the wrong thing or deciding to do the wrong thing to your face can worsen the wrinkles. If you have severe wrinkling, then any action that involves pulling or stretching your skin even if gently, can make your wrinkles worse. The skin can become looser.
You may understand why face yoga doesn’t work if you know a little about the workings of Botox. Botox works by freezing the muscles in the face to prevent wrinkling. That’s because the activity of those muscles is what’s causing your face to wrinkle in the first place.
In face yoga, you’re actually moving the muscles even more, as opposed to what happens in Botox. This results in even more wrinkling than before since you’re essentially increasing the activity of your facial muscles. This makes the whole idea of doing face yoga for looking younger rather absurd.
If you have severe wrinkles, you might need cosmetic surgery to reduce their appearance. Wrinkles on the face and neck can be reduced through face and neck lift surgeries. If you have eye bags, face yoga won’t help, but eyelid surgery can. Similarly, if you have droopy eyebrows, you can see visible results with an eyebrow lift surgery. So, you should look into these if you want to see actual results.
Concluding Remarks
If you believe in the power of face yoga, you can give it a try. However, keep in your mind that it might not actually do anything for your face. It is also possible that you end up seeing a change, or it just ends up being nothing but a placebo effect. The thing is that research about face yoga isn’t conclusive. We don’t know for sure whether it does or doesn’t do anything. Then there’s also the risk of even worse wrinkles from face yoga.
If your wrinkling is severe, you should probably not rely on face yoga. You might end up feeling disappointed. Your expectations from face yoga shouldn’t be that high. Cosmetic surgery, on the other hand, can show you actual results. You can get it done around the eyes, eyebrows, neck, face, etc. Book your discovery call with our case managers today to explore whether treatment through Longevita’s network of independent clinicians could help you work towards your goals.
