3 Ways That Face Yoga Works To Slow Down Facial Aging
There are an infinite amount of reasons why Face Yoga can slow down your facial aging, through its scientific reasoning and assistance in creating overall wellness & self-love. Every reason allows for a more natural approach to ourselves, and that in turn makes us more beautiful. Today I am going to take you through 3 key ways that Face Yoga works to slow down facial aging.
First, though, we will have a quick science lesson in the face, so you can gather more understanding of the structure you are working with.
The face is composed of approx. 52 muscles, all working together to support your senses, and express your emotions, feelings, and expressions.
These muscles are supported by an extracellular skin matrix that is composed of the fibers collagen and elastin. These fibers give the skin its tight and firm shape. As we get older, those cells are reduced.
As the body ages, the puppy fat of younger days starts to wear away, but not always in the places we want. In our faces, the pads of fat start to thin. This can result in a “fallen-in” look to areas of the face.
These are the times when Face Yoga comes to the rescue of those muscles that may be beginning to 'fall in'.
1) Facial exercises strengthen the core face muscles
Like any part of our body, our skin inevitably changes with age. It loses elasticity and volume, we accumulate fine lines and wrinkles, and skin that was smooth and tight becomes loose and sags.
The changes largely come down to the thinning of the fat pads that underlie our face, between the skin and muscles.
The fat layer is comprised of these jigsaw-like fat pads that interlock and create the shape of the face. Over time, these become thinner and slide down, creating hollowness and loss of volume in the face.
The idea behind facial exercising is to enlarge and strengthen the facial muscles, theoretically restoring facial volume and firming up facial contours.
If the muscle underneath the face becomes bigger, the skin has more stuffing underneath it and the firmer muscle appears to make the shape of the face full.
Learn the best of age defying face yoga practises in our My Face Yoga Gym.
Sign up today to enjoy 1 week free Gym membership.
2. Face yoga supports the fascia
The fascia is a key cellular fabric that runs through the muscular scaffolding of the face. Through these fatty pads of muscle, the fascia spreads itself out across the muscles and mimics the state of the muscles, whilst essentially keeping 'our face in place'. Face yoga works to keep this precious scaffolding toned, the fascia can tighten its structure and ensure that the shape of the face is restored or kept at a more youthful composition (ie; shape).
Imagine an aging body with a sedentary lifestyle, and then an aging body keeping active with resistance training.
This is the Niki Face Yoga method for your face - we use resistance training to effectively keep the facial muscles toned and flexible.
3. Face yoga can make you look three years younger
A recent study followed participants aged between 40 and 65 through a 20-week journey with a daily face yoga practice. Each participant was photographed at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the study — at zero, eight, and 20 weeks respectively.
The researchers asked two dermatologists (unknown to the women) to look at the photographs, assess their facial features against a standardized facial aging scale, and estimate their age at each of the three points.
For eight weeks, the participants did facial exercises to tighten their skin every day for 30 minutes. From the ninth week through week 20, they alternated days.
The participants underwent two sets of 90-minute face-to-face training sessions with a facial exercise instructor, before continuing with the exercises at home for 20 weeks.
"The women did 32 exercises for 30 minutes each day for eight weeks … and then for the remainder of the 20 weeks, they did 30 minutes a day, every other day," Professor Alam said.
"They didn't know whether they were looking at a before, during, or after photograph, and their assessment confirmed an improvement over time," commented one of the professors from the study.
The results were measured using before and after photos. The researchers used facial aging measuring scale to determine the differences as the weeks went on.
The dermatologists found upper and lower cheek fullness had significantly improved over the 20 weeks.
They also estimated the women to be younger at the end of the study, with the average participant age decreasing from 50.8 years to 48.1 years.
The average skin age of the women at the beginning was 50. But the researchers observed that by the twentieth week of the study, the women’s average skin age had decreased to 48.1 years.
"That's almost a three-year decrease in age appearance over 20 weeks," commented the professor.
The participants were also asked how they felt at the end of the study and reported high rates of satisfaction, noting improvements in almost all of their facial features.
You read that right. In just five months, the women had turned back the clock and improved the age of their skin by three years. Talk about an anti-aging facial!
Source of the study: Dr. Murad Alam, a Northwestern University dermatology professor,
If you are not yet a part of the My Face Yoga Gym, now is the time to join. Learn the essential face yoga techniques that will help you slow down the aging process and assist you in connecting deeper with your face.
Join today to enjoy 1 week free Gym membership.
