Face yoga: How to get a natural facelift at your fingertips 

 Facial exercises are a low-cost and non-toxic way to revitalise your skin

Lydia Sasse: face yoga isn't a big stretch

WHAT if eradicating fine lines and achieving a youthful glow to your complexion could be achieved without resorting to syringes and injections of cosmetic fillers and Botox?

Proponents of more natural approaches to facial rejuvenation say stretching and massaging the skin on the face and neck will banish signs of ageing.

Among the natural approaches attracting women who are reluctant to resort to chemical procedures is facial yoga, an ancient practice that has evolved over thousands of years. 

Just as you stretch and strengthen the muscles in your body to keep them lithe and supple, the theory is that a series of toning exercises can help to sculpt your face, reduce wrinkles and leave you with dewy-looking skin.

As the face ages, facial skin loses elasticity and the fat pads between muscle and skin become loose and thin. 

“We have around 75 muscles in our faces as well as skin and fat but we use the muscles less and less as we age,” says Lydia Sasse, a face yoga teacher from Greystones, Co Wicklow.

“As muscles atrophy and we lose elasticity and fat padding in our face, so our skin drags downwards, sags and wrinkles appear.”

The more we furrow our brows, squint, and tense our faces, the more lines and wrinkles we accumulate over the years. 

“Face muscles differ from those in the rest of the body in that they are attached directly to the skin that covers them,” Sasse says. “So, when muscles become weaker and sag, the skin sags too.”

Face yoga exercises combined with massage techniques help to release some of the tension that exacerbates visible signs of ageing, helping to restore tone and plumpness, improve lymphatic drainage and re-sculpt a jowly jawline.

“Getting mastery over those facial muscles will lift your face and enhance the appearance with fuller cheeks and plumped-out fine lines,” Sasse says. “It can improve cell turnover and renewal and leave you looking and feeling so much fresher.”

When dermatologists at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine put face yoga to the test by prescribing a 30-minute daily or alternate-day facial exercise program to a group of middle-aged women for over 20 weeks the results were impressive.

Reporting in the journal JAMA Dermatology, Murad Alam, professor of dermatology and lead author of the paper, described how the approach left the 40- to 65-year-olds with a younger appearance and fuller cheeks. 

“Now there is some evidence that facial exercises may improve facial appearance and reduce some visible signs of ageing,” wrote Dr Alam. “The exercises enlarge and strengthen the facial muscles, so the face becomes firmer and more toned and shaped like a younger face.”

There are other benefits. “Massage of facial muscles can help to calm the brain and nervous system, helping to improve sleep and concentration,” says Sasse.

Even two to five minutes a day of facial exercises which incorporates elements of acupressure and massage is enough to bring about noticeable change over three months, she says. 

“The transformation can be dramatic. I have clients who tell me their Botox-loving friends ask who their [cosmetic] surgeon is and yet their approach has been entirely natural.”

Does it work? I was doubtful, but much to the hilarity of my teenage son, I have been practising face yoga for the past week and while there is no visible difference – yet – to my mid-life wrinkles, I sense a decrease in jaw tension and the puffiness around my eyes seem markedly improved. 

Massaging my face also seems to help me relax when on deadline.

Here’s how to give yourself a natural facelift:

Try a daily gua sha facial

This ancient Chinese practice involves using a scraping a tool made of jade, rose quartz, or amethyst, to ease tension in the skin’s tissue. It is a mainstay in the beauty routines of Elle Macpherson, Jennifer Aniston, and Gwyneth Paltrow no less.

“It’s a gentle and soothing procedure and the tool’s rounded edges are designed to glide across the skin to release heat, and trigger a healing response in the skin that promotes cell turnover and improves glow,” says Sasse. 

“Using it daily can increase microcirculation by as much as 400% over time.”

It’s best used with facial oil. “Start on the neck and then move to the face using short outwards and upwards strokes applying the amount of pressure that feels comfortable,” says Sasse. 

“You can relieve tension in frown lines between the eyes by scraping in one direction from brow to brow.”

She suggests trying the gua sha jade or quartz crystal beauty restorer tools from hayoumethod.com.

Pufferfish to boost collagen production and tone the lip area

Try the Pufferfish to boost collagen production

“Our lips lose volume as we get older but decreasing tension in muscles in and around the lips can create greater plumpness,” says Sasse. “The puffer fish exercise increases lymphatic drainage and is great for creating fuller lips.”

Place your index and middle finger of the right hand on your lips and purse the lips together pressing into the resistance of your fingers. 

Simultaneously fill your left cheek with air and use your left hand to tap your fingers up and down lightly over the left cheek. Continue for 30 seconds and then repeat on the other side. Repeat the whole sequence twice and do the exercise daily.

Erase smile lines by pressing into your face

Erase smile lines

“This is a great yoga move to minimise the appearance of fine smile lines and to sculpt and tone the cheeks,” Sasse says.

Press your fingers into the nasolabial folds (your smile lines) and pull muscles gently up and out towards your ears aiming to create resistance. 

As you do this, perform micro-smiles with the corners of your mouth, moving them rapidly for 30 seconds. Repeat performing micro pouts for 30 seconds. Repeat the whole sequence twice and do the exercise daily.

The owl exercise: it's a hoot

Firm your forehead with the owl exercise

“You can reduce the appearance of forehead wrinkles and lines around the eyes by releasing tension in the muscles with this move,” Sasse says.

Make large C shapes with your thumbs and index fingers and position them around your eye area with the index fingers curling over your brows and thumbs resting on cheekbones.

Open eyes wide and look up, starting to pulldown with the index fingers while simultaneously lifting your eyebrows. 

Hold this resistance for two to three seconds and repeat 30 times. Then hold and resist for 10 seconds. Take a brief rest and the repeat twice more.

Try the eyebrow lift

“Drooping eyebrows and sagging eyelids are a big concern for many women, but this exercise can help to prevent and correct them,” Sasse says.

Place your hands on the skin above your brows and draw it up and back. Lower your gaze towards the floor and then close your eyes against the resistance of the lift from your hands. Repeat ten times and perform daily.

Attempt the happy cheeks and cheek lifter

In the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine face yoga study, participants were encouraged to perform two exercises for better cheek tone on a daily basis.

They were given the following instructions:

Cheek lifter: Open the mouth and form an ‘o’ with your mouth positioning your upper lip over your teeth. Smile to lift the cheek muscles up and put fingers lightly on top part of cheek. Release your cheek muscles to lower, and then lift back up. Repeat by lowering and lifting the cheeks in this way.

Happy cheeks sculpting: Purse the lips together and smile while forcing the cheek muscles up. Place your fingers on corners of the mouth and slide them up to the top of the cheeks, hold for 20 seconds, rest and repeat.

Acupuncture to reduce lines and wrinkles

Angelina Jolie is among those who credit this natural alternative to Botox for improving the appearance of their skin. 

It involves inserting tiny sterilised needles into the skin on different areas of the face and neck to stimulate blood flow, reduce tension and wrinkles, and improve complexion.

Facial acupuncture is purported to boost the production of collagen and elastin, leaving skin looking plumper and more youthful but clinical evidence for the effects is lacking. 

However, one small pilot study involving 27 women who underwent a course of five facial cosmetic acupuncture treatment sessions found that the treatment resulted in ‘significant improvements’ in skin elasticity.

• Follow Lydia Sasse on Insta at @faceyogawithlydia