July 5, 2022
Introduction
During week 4 of our 6 part face yoga series, we focused on the mouth.
As we age, our lips also age. They may lose firmness and their color may also fade. But did you know that your lips reflect your body’s hydration? Drinking enough water may be all you need to soften and plump your lips.
The area around our mouth can be a revealing indicator of your age, but it also shows your emotions. As the corners of your mouth begin to sag with age, your resting face may look unhappy or sad. Training the muscles around your mouth not only helps you look younger and happier, it also gives you a natural, fuller smile, which makes you more confident and at ease, which sends good energy to those around you.
Practicing face yoga can improve your smile, get rid of marionette lines and nasolabial folds-- naturally! In addition, your smile is dependent on many different muscles. Learning to isolate and use these muscles will result in your desired smile, and teach you how to use which muscle when.
How can you tone your mouth and cheek area through Face Yoga?
To naturally tone the region around your mouth, we can practice a few simple exercises.
Recap:
Warm Up 1 |HEAD & TEMPLE MASSAGE
- Make fists with your hands and gently massage your temples with your knuckles, rotating slowly clockwise and then counterclockwise as you inhale and exhale deeply.
- Keep your jaw relaxed
- This massage is good for lifting your face, relaxing your face, and increasing blood flow to the head and face.
Warm Up 2 |SHOO PA POSE
- Inhale deeply through the nose and make a forceful “shhh” sound while exhaling, scrunching the face together as tightly as you can.
- Once you’ve fully let all the air out, spread your face as wide as you can in one explosive movement, making a “pah!” sound and opening your eyes wide in an expression of surprise.
- For this pose, you will breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
- Practice this pose 3-5 times.
- Close your eyes and feel your muscles settle
Warm Up 3 |LION’S BREATH
- Open your eyes wide and stick your tongue out and down while exhaling forcefully
- When you stick your tongue out, you engage many of the tongue and face muscles, which improves blood flow to your entire face, eliminating dark circles and dullness.
- Exhaling deeply from the back of your throat also relieves stress and tension.
Pose 1 |KISS ME POSE
- Pucker your lips by bringing in the corners of your mouth to the center, making a small hole with your mouth.
- Breath in and out through your nose
- On your last breath, close your eyes and gently lift up your chin as if you were kissing someone taller than you.
- Keep the pose for 10 seconds.
- When you finish, you may swish around air from cheek to cheek to relax and stretch the muscles you just used.
- This pose trains the muscles around the mouth to help prevent sagging cheeks.
Pose 2 |PUCKER POWER POSE
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Pucker your lips and thrust your entire mouth forward, not just your lips.
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There should be no gap between your lips. Your lip muscles should feel taut/tight and strained.
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Breathe in and out through your nose for five breaths. 
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Next, try it a few times sticking your chin out to the left and return to center.
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Then stick out your chin to the right and return to center.
Cool Down Pose |SCREAM POSE
- The key with this pose is to not put too much tension in your mouth while making a slender 0 shape with your mouth.
- Use a mirror or a phone in selfie mode and raise the mirror or phone slowly over your head, following your reflection with your gaze.
- Hold your face still and your mouth in a slender 0 shape, and raise your gaze while following the mirror with your eyes.
- Breathe in and out through your nose.
- The muscles around the eyes are strengthened by the opposing force of your mouth going down in the slender 0 position and your eyes going up as you raise your gaze to follow your mirror or selfie.
- This is effective in preventing sagging of the upper and lower eyelids and cooling down the muscles that were used.
Lymphatic drainage
- Moisturize your face with the Shikohin Enlightening Night Serum or any facial moisturizer.
- Use Shikohin’s ceramic Gua Sha or your index and middle fingers to trace your jawline from the chin to behind the ear. Continue down the neck toward your collarbone.
- Repeat 5-8 times starting from the chin and moving toward the right ear and down your neck toward the collarbone, then repeat starting from the chin and moving toward the left ear and down your neck.
- Take your two fingers or gua sha and trace your collarbone from your sternum (center of your chest) to your right armpit. Do this 5-8 times, then repeat on the left side.
