Face Yoga Class: Week 6 Reflections

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July 19, 2022

Introduction

During Week 6 of our six-part face yoga series, we did a comprehensive and holistic review of all the poses we practiced during Week 1-5 of the program.

Practicing face yoga is a natural way to look and feel both younger and healthier with the added benefit of promoting relaxation and well-being. It's a combination of face exercises, face massage, face depuffing, face acupressure and face relaxation. It focuses on holistic well-being techniques for the mind, body and spirit. Thank you for sharing this self-care journey with us! We hope this practice transforms your life as much as it has transformed ours...

These transformation photos of our facial yoga coach, Yukari, and one of her students were taken just four months apart.

As you can see, you can "reverse aging" naturally by simply exercising and massaging your face.You can train your facial muscles to look 10 years younger! Also, by moving your face muscles and smiling, it sends signals to your brain and recent studies have shown that this can benefit your emotional state as well. By learning some of the poses, you will learn a free, easy, and sustainable way to maintain your beauty and also bring out your most radiant smile!

By practicing these poses for as little as 5 minutes per day or up to 30 minutes per day, you will see dramatic improvements in your skin and facial structure!

WEEKLY WARM UP EXERCISES

Warm Up |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 |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 |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.

WEEK 1: EYES

Pose 1 | WIPER POSE

For this pose, move your eyes like a windshield wiper by tracing the contours of your eyelids with your eyeballs.
Start by looking at the upper left hand corner and slowly move your eyes in an arch to the upper right hand corner. This uses the small muscles of the upper and lower eyelids.
Keep the face in the same position, set the eyes diagonally up and move your eyeballs from side to side for 3 to 5 rounds. Move your eyes back to the original position and close your eyes as you feel the muscles you have worked settling.
This WIPER pose is effective in preventing sagging eyes.

Pose 2 |CAT EYE POSE

Keep shoulders and neck relaxed.
Hold the forehead with both hands. Place the pinky fingers on your eyebrows to prevent the brow muscles from moving.
Inhale as you open your eyes wide. Make sure to use your eye muscles and NOT your brow muscles.
Exhale as you close your eyes using the lower eyelid muscles, looking like a cat’s eye when they are falling asleep.

WEEK 2: NECK

Pose 1 | HE HE HEE POSE

Inhale deeply from the nose, then exhale swiftly from the mouth breathing air out making a “HE HE HEE” sound, while showing your lower teeth. Make sure your neck muscles are moving.
Make two short “he” sounds and one long “hee sound” as you exhale.
Immediately relax your face after each exhale.
Make sure your neck muscles are moving.
When you’re finished, close your eyes and feel your muscles settle.
This prevents and improves the double chin and neck wrinkles.

Pose 2 | 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.

WEEK 3: CHEEKS

Pose 1 |SMILE POSE

This pose is very tiring and we make it progressively harder

Breathe through your nose throughout this entire pose.

To begin,

Relax your mouth, and show your upper teeth. Keep your eyes wide open.
Lift up the corners of your mouth toward your cheek as if to smile wide.
Check your cheek muscles–they should feel taut and hard like two golf balls1.
Open your mouth slightly so you have a finger’s worth of space between your upper and lower teeth.
Hook your lower lip over your bottom teeth to lock your cheek muscles in. If this is hard for you,

Hold this pose for three inhales and three exhales.

Repeat this pose 3-5 times. Close your eyes and feel your muscles settle.

Pose 2 |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.

WEEK 4: MOUTH

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

Pucker your lips and thrust your entire mouth forward, not just your lips.
There should be no gap between your lips. Your lip muscles should feel taut/tight and strained.
Breathe in and out through your nose for five breaths.
Next, try it a few times sticking your chin out to the left and return to center.
Then stick out your chin to the right and return to center.

WEEK 5: FACIAL LINES

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.

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

Weekly 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.

Never give up! Just a little bit of practice every day --in the morning when you wake up, in the car when you're waiting at a red light, at the doctor's office when a mask is covering your mouth, in the bathroom before you go to bed--goes a long way!

Please contact us any time with questions you might have (Inquiries may be sent to: info@shikohin.com) --we will do our best to answer in a timely fashion! Best wishes on your wellness journey!

Love,
The Shikohin Family