As we strengthen the muscles, we also see a change in the skin attached, which becomes tighter, tauter, and more lifted. So, if you are looking for natural ways to lift and tone your face, then a regular face yoga fitness practice is the way to go.
Face yoga fitness incorporates lots of facial massage to release tension and smooth the skin. This has the added benefit of stimulating collagen and elastin production, making your skin firmer and more elastic. In turn, this reduces wrinkles and fine lines.
We also use acupressure, lymphatic drainage, and the breath to keep the energy flowing and your skin looking bright, fresh, and healthy.
Then, there are the facial exercises. Face yoga fitness includes exercises that have been specially developed to target the muscles in different areas of your face.
Done regularly, these exercises have a noticeable impact on your face. As you work the muscles, you lift, tone, and sculpt the face – just like you do the body during a gym session or regular yoga class.
In this post, I’m going to run through three of my favourite face yoga fitness exercises to lift and tone the face. Of course, this is just a starting point – there’s lots to explore with face yoga fitness – but these should help to show you some of the possibilities.
Before You Start
Make sure you have clean hands and a clean face before starting your face yoga fitness routine. I prefer to use a mild cleanser that contains gentle, natural ingredients – this Purifying Gel Cleanser is ideal. I particularly love that it contains Marine Postbiotics to balance your skin’s microbiome.
Apply a few drops of serum. When we’re working with lifting and toning the face, I like to use products that support our face yoga fitness efforts, like the Serum for Fine Lines, which is packed with energising ingredients to wake up your skin.
Finish by massaging some Radiance Day Face Oil into your skin to give it a delicious silky glide – this helps your fingers move easily over your skin as you do your face yoga fitness.
Take a few deep, calming breaths, inhaling and exhaling through your nose. And you are ready to begin.
1. Neck Lift
One of my favourite face yoga fitness exercises targets the neck area, helping to lift and tone the muscles here.
We’re particularly targeting the platysma muscle, which covers the front of the neck from your collarbone up to your lower face.
As we get older, it is common for this muscle to start to weaken. As a result, we might notice some sagging or lines in the neck area. So, this technique aims to strengthen the muscle and tighten the attached skin.
Gently tip your head back and bring your lips together.
Move the tip of your tongue up to touch the roof of your mouth and back down again. Repeat this 20 times, aiming for a rate of about one per second.
Come back down then repeat the move twice more.
As well as strengthening that platysma muscle, this technique helps to open out the neck area, reducing fluid accumulation under the chin.
2. Cheek Lift
Our next technique is working with the muscles in the cheeks and around the mouth. We have a lot of muscles in this area, so we can really see a difference when we work to strengthen and lift those muscles.
Face yoga fitness works these muscles very differently from how we use them in day-to-day life. We’re being very controlled and making sure not to create any lines as we engage the muscles – not like when we just naturally express with them.
Open your mouth a little bit so that you can wrap your lips around your teeth. Hold them there as you bring the corners of your mouth up into a smile position.
You should feel that you’re engaging a lot of the muscles in your cheeks as you hold this position.
Use a mirror as you do this. You might notice some lines appearing between your nose and mouth. If you do, use your index fingers to smooth out the skin, keeping them there as you continue to hold the pose for a count of ten.
Release the pose and then take it again two or three times.
As well as strengthening the muscles of the cheeks, this technique works the orbicularis oris muscle that runs around the mouth.
3. Eye Lift
For our final technique, we’re coming up to the eyes and using a move I call the mini-V. This one Is great for lifting and toning the muscles around the eye area, especially in the outer corner, where we can often see sagging or drooping as we get older.
Place your middle fingers by the inner corners of your eye and your index fingers at the outer corners, so that your fingers form a V shape around your eyes.
Holding your fingers in place, half close your eyes. You’re feeling for a little tremor in the muscles at the outer corner of your eyes, just underneath your index finger.
Don’t worry if you don’t feel it at first, this move can take some practice.
When you feel the shake, hold for around three seconds and then release. Relax, then repeat the action up to five times.
This can be surprisingly hard work so do work to your own level and take a break if you need to. I always encourage you to be very intuitive with face yoga fitness.
Hopefully, you felt the muscles working as you tried these three techniques. Of course, face yoga fitness is like any form of exercise – it works best when you do it regularly.
"Start with just a couple of minutes a day. New habits often feel most sustainable when we start small.” Danielle Collins
Over time, as you see the benefits for your face, skin, mood, and overall wellbeing, you’ll naturally want to add in more techniques and spend more time with it.
Ideally, we’re looking to get to the point where it feels natural and sustainable to do at least ten minutes of face yoga fitness every day. But little and often is the best approach, so if doing less will make it easier for you to stick to it, definitely do less!
In addition to a regular face yoga fitness practice and daily skincare, I recommend exfoliating your skin a couple of times a week to promote blood circulation, boost collagen production, and remove all the dead skin cells and dirt.
“Finally, I think it’s important to emphasise that face yoga fitness isn’t just about lifting your face. It also helps to lift your mood. Taking this time for yourself helps you feel relaxed, loved, and cared for. Over time, it can have a big effect on your mindset.” Danielle Collins
Plus, feeling happier and healthier on the inside helps you look more radiant on the outside too. So, it really is a win-win.
