Face Yoga Class: Week 5 Reflections

July 12, 2022

Introduction

During week 5 of our 6 part face yoga series, we focused on face lines. Everyone wants to know how we prevent laugh lines and how to prevent the corners of the mouth from sagging as we get older.The muscles in your face are intricately connected, so it is important to work ALL of them. Even if you feel something doesn’t pertain to your specific needs, strengthening each muscle around the area you’d like to tone is the secret to extraordinary results. Face Yoga exercises can smooth out smile/frown lines and prevent them from deepening by pushing the lines out from the inside and simultaneously lifting the cheek muscles. 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 |INSTANT LIFTING POSE

• Take your right hand, placing your middle and ring finger on your left temple and pulling the corners of your eyes up diagonally about 45 degrees, giving yourself cat eyes. 
• Pull the corners of the eyes and mouth up. 
• For part one of the pose, make sure the top of your head is pointing straight up toward the ceiling, and is not tilted to the side yet.
• For part two of the pose, exhale through your mouth (performing Lion’s breath), as you slowly tilt your head to the right. 
• Relax and lower your left shoulder and pull your chin in toward your chest as you push your head to the right, so you feel the stretch on the neck. 
• Make sure you keep your temple pulled up diagonally. 
• Inhale through your nose, then exhale with a long "Haeee"sound from your mouth, stretching your tongue out as far as possible towards your right armpit.
• Make sure your right hand is still pulling diagonally up on your left temple. 
• Repeat on the other side using your left hand to pull your right temple diagonally up. 
• Tilt your head to the left while exhaling through your mouth (performing Lion’s breath). Relax and lower your right shoulder, pulling your chin in toward your chest as you push your head to the left, so you feel the opposing stretch on your neck. 
• Inhale through your nose, then exhale with a long "Haeee"sound from your mouth, stretching your tongue out as far as possible towards your left armpit.
• Repeat for 3-5 breaths on each side. 

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Pose 2 |BLOW FISH

• Fill your mouth with air (both cheeks should be puffed out)
• Swish air to your left cheek, then to your right cheek, and finally to your upper lip & lower lip
• This pose is good for improving lymphatic flow and reducing mouth lines

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.