How I found Face Yoga…

In 2018 my brother got married. This event was a defining moment in my life as it was the thing that finally made me take control of my weight and my health. It took just over 9 months for me to lose 4 stone (56lb). As you can imagine I was delighted by this loss, but my body showed the signs of weight loss, a little excess skin, lack of muscle tone etc.  As a total exercise hater, I just lived with it.

Cut to March 2020 (yes, we all remember it well) – LOCKDOWN!!!  Now, I know myself well and I knew that being locked up at home on my own I could easily fall back into bad habits and regain the weight I’d lost, so instead I made a VOW:  I would exercise daily; I would stick to my diet plan religiously and I would make my health my number 1 priority.

I signed up for the ‘Couch to 5K’ challenge and started running 3 days a week and practicing yoga for 3 days. (I ran for around 4 months, but my knees started paying for it, so I moved to a yoga practice and a 5 mile walk 6 days a week). Slowly but surely, I started to see changes in my body but when I looked in the mirror, I still saw sagginess around my jaw line and a neck, and my face was generally just puffy.

As a beauty therapist, I have a good skincare regime and my diet had changed drastically, so I was feeding my skin both inside and out, but I just wasn’t seeing the results I wanted.

Then one day it suddenly dawned on me when I was looking in the mirror and feeling disheartened, that my body was changing due to exercise, but the muscles of my face (all 57 of them) were not getting any love at all.

After a Google search I found a couple of short face yoga courses and became addicted. I then went on to do two teacher training courses too.

The amazing benefits of Face Yoga…

What I love the most is that face yoga, like yoga for the body, is SO much more than just a few exercises. When practiced properly face yoga is a complete wellness regime that impacts your health mind, body and soul. Here’s how face yoga can benefit YOU:

Facial Exercise – The 57 muscles of the head, face and neck are all connected to each other.  When you use one muscle it impacts on the other muscles that are attached to it.  The movements these muscles make create our facial expressions and define the shape of our faces.  As we age, we lose muscle tone, and our faces begin to drop.  The facial asana (poses) help to tone, strengthen and relax facial muscles giving us lift and definition.

Posture – The muscles of the body are covered by a tissue called Fascia.  The Fascial tissue runs from the top of the head to the tips of our toes and tightness in the fascia can impact of our faces.  When we slouch or sit cross legged, for example, we pull our bodies out of alignment and if this becomes a consistent habit it can affect the muscles in our faces.  The way we sleep can also take its toll on the face muscles and skin.  By aligning our posture correctly when we practice face yoga not only can we correct the symmetry in our faces we can train ourselves to stand and sit properly too.

Acupressure & Energy work – The Asian tradition of Acupressure works on the principle that as well as our physical body we also have an energetic one.  We can tap into this energy through a number of energy points situated throughout the body.  When you press and massage these points you can balance your body, creating optimum health, wellbeing, and calm.  Working with these points can also release tension and pain helping us to relax and improve circulation.

Massage – Massage has so many benefits.  It increases blood circulation, that brings nutrients and oxygen to the skin.  The stimulation helps to increase the production of collagen and elastin in the dermis helping to slow the formation of fine lines and wrinkles.  It also stimulates the lymphatic system removing toxins and helping to eliminate puffiness.  Moving the hands across the skin helps the skin to naturally exfoliate, removing dead cells that cause dullness and sallowness.  A well-executed massage can leave the skin revitalised and glowing.

Meditation – A series of techniques to help heighten awareness and focus attention, meditation can relax and calm the body and mind.  It can help to promote relaxation and improve concentration and promotes a general feeling of well-being.  On a physical level meditation helps to lower blood pressure, increase energy, reduce stress related illness, and relaxes the Central Nervous System.  When we are relaxed our faces are relaxed too.

Wellness Tips & Advice – A typical face yoga class will also look at lifestyle and wellness tips that impact on our health and ultimately our skin.  What we eat, our rest/relaxation time, our sleep, the exercise we take and our skincare regime all impact on our skin health.

Want to know more?

If you would like to learn more about Face Yoga, I would love for you to join ‘The Glow Club’ my private Facebook Group.  Each week I post asanas and wellness tips and you can also access my ‘Face Yoga 101’ Starter Kit that gives you 6 key poses to get you started.  Click the link to join the fun: https://bit.ly/TheGlowClub

Join a Face Yoga Class (via Zoom) at:  services