I’ve never been one to worry much about wrinkles or sagging skin as I’ve gotten older. I tend to see wrinkles as an indication of wisdom and life experience. But furrowing my brow is something I don’t like the look of on my face, and it started to bother me when I started to see lines form between my eyebrows. I didn’t even know how much I furrowed my brow until my mom said something about it to me as I was getting my wedding dress fitted years ago. As I stood there in a small dry cleaning shop in Brooklyn, she said to me, as I was looking at myself in the mirror, “You know, you should really work on that scowl.” I wasn’t irritated and didn’t even feel all that stressed, but I finally realized that this was one of those unintentional habits I’d formed. Though I can’t stop time, I can be attentive to moments when I scowl and see if it is possible to just stop myself. A few years ago I learned about face yoga (which earlier I didn’t even know was a thing.) What I walked away with most from trying it out was that it really helped me recognize when I am scowling just purely because I felt the muscles I’d been working out during the exercises. I want to share with you some tips for face yoga, otherwise known as face exercises. There are people trained in this form, so I won’t pretend to be an expert, but I’d like to share a few tips that I learned to get you started.
The Owl helps keep the forehead firm, and reduces lines and wrinkles.
Form a “C” shape with your thumbs and index fingers and place the edge of your hand around your eyes – with your index fingers just above the eyebrows and your thumbs on your upper cheeks. Look up as you open your eyes wide. Pull down slightly your index fingers as you try to raise your eyebrows at the same time. Keep the resistance going for two seconds. Repeat 3 times.
The Frown Buster helps reduce lines between eyebrows and firm the forehead, while also relieving tension.
With your fingers slightly spread, put your fingertips on your forehead, with your index finger nearest your hairline and your little fingers just touching your eyebrows. Allow your eyes to open wide, but don’t raise your eyebrows. Gently pull your fingertips away from each other (to the side). Hold the tension for for 10 seconds and then repeat two more times.
Shifty Eyes gives the optic nerve a workout and firm up the muscles around the eye that cause wrinkles. This exercise also helps boost circulation. Standing (or sitting) while relaxed with your shoulders back and spine straight, look ahead. Keep your body position and move only your eyeballs. First look as far to the right as possible (again without moving your head) and then look straight ahead. Then look as far to the left as possible and then back to center. Next look as high up as you can, move through the center ahead of you, and then look down as far as possible. Close your eyes for 2-3 seconds after you have looked in all four directions and then repeat again two times.
I would suggest you start with these easy moves to help your face muscles to naturally keep wrinkles away. It has been a long time since I’ve done these exercises regularly, but recall that if you do a full face yoga routine six times a week, you will see results on the seventh day. People who do this regularly say you will easily look five years younger. While I don’t do a full face yoga routine often, by performing these exercises with some regularity helps me much more quickly catch myself from scowling, or wrinkling my forehead in general.
In a future post, I will also share some tips for eye yoga. Back when I was doing eye yoga on a regular basis, my eyesight improved so well I was able to stop wearing glasses! It is amazing what your body is capable of in really a very short amount of time, and with almost no effort!
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