Face Yoga – Laughing Your Way to Youth

By now you have probably guessed, I am a big advocate of yoga.  There is just no end to what it can do for your mind, body, and soul but what about your face?   This past weekend I attended the Yoga Expo in Pasadena, CA in support of my lovely, talent friend and fellow yoga teacher, Rachel Gonzalez of Sama Tree.  If you are looking to enhance your yoga experience, check out her amazing handmade goodies.

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The Expo not only had vendors in support of the practice of yoga, they offered classes throughout the day that feature teachers and yoga business owners sharing their practice and knowledge to make us all better yogis.  There were several designated ballrooms for these classes that could easily hold a couple hundred yogis at once.  Excited about all that was offered,  I strategically mapped out my day almost down to the minute.  There was so much available, lots that piqued my interest with a sprinkling of odd offerings that I was not quite sure how it embodied yoga except for the attachment of “yoga” to the name.  My day would start with Acro Yoga and end with Yin Yoga with 4 other classes in between.  The thought was to squeeze in as many classes as possible and “yoga” all day long.  Well you know what they say about the best laid plans and so things did not go exactly as I’d hoped.  With full classes and a need for some down time in between, it forced me to be flexible and re-select.   So, it was a happy accident that I stumbled into a Face Yoga class that I had not originally planned to take.

I entered the class  with curiosity and amusement.  The room was full and the practice was already underway when I arrived.  The instructor was all energy and enthusisum.   She encouraged people to pull out their cellphones and look at themselves as they worked through the 58 steps of Facial Yoga said to improve fine lines, puff up your lips, get rid of turkey neck and create an overall more youthful appearance.   The class was super engaged and seemed to be participating with each step.  The poses included stretching out your tongue, elongating your neck, massaging the inside of your mouth with your tongue where frown lines developed and more.   The instructor walked through each step counting the hold for ten seconds, often non-coherently as a person who was actively using their tongue for other purposes.  She tapped her foot so we could count along with her in our heads.  Midway into class my face started to hurt and I didn’t know whether it was a result of my sudden use of inactive facial muscles or the non-stop laughing I was doing.  Even if Face Yoga did nothing, it made me laugh and that sold me.   The class lasted an hour, though the instructor insisted that this was a practice we could do three minutes a day to see visual improvement in two weeks.  She encouraged everyone to try it, mentioning this could be done it while sitting on the toilet or while driving to work.

Later, as I did a little research, I discovered there are over 42 muscles in our face.   With this in mind and the boundless number of trends in fitness, why isn’t everyone working out their face?  People spend thousands of dollars on face creams, facials, botox, chemical peels, and cosmetic surgery when all they might need to do is a Face Yoga!

When I returned home that evening and told my daughter about Face Yoga, she seem to get a kick out of it as well.  She said she does it all the time particularly when she rides roller coasters.  Below is her rendition of Face Yoga.

For the next couple of weeks, in the privacy of my home, I plan do my own personal “2 Week Face Yoga Challenge” to see if it yields the results promised.   If you are interested in learning some of the exercises yourself, below are a few video links of my favorite take away from the class –

• Turkey Neck Eraser – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Y2HJmZAz8
• Making Kylie Jenner Lips – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=505eebysuFA
• Yummy Face – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wETedp24RI

And if you ever get the opportunity to check out a Yoga Expo, give it a spin.   For a reasonable entry fee you get a whole lot of yoga exposure.  Ultimately, I got to learn more about the business of yoga with Arianne Om, workout my face with Koko, set my Sankulpa with Koren Kiener, and hang with some super cool yogis!

If you do try the 2 Week Face Yoga Challenge, show us your results and tell me about your experience in the comments below.