My first contact with face yoga happened through a spontaneous combination of circumstances, as it usually happens, and opened a completely new niche in my practice of yoga. Until then, I was teaching dynamic styles and I always watched how, under the pressure of some more difficult positions, the faces of the trainees changed, tightened and made grimaces. That got me thinking. How is it possible that we constantly exercise the body, and a large number of muscles on the face, which are actually on our head, therefore certainly connected to various other areas within our body, are bypassed in this exercise.
In addition to the fact that this question intrigued me, I entered a certain age when some changes began to be noticed on my face. I wanted to take care of myself and do something myself, but I didn’t know what or how to choose, until I came across a method that was completely logical to me and gave answers to all these questions.
As with many good things, the advice is to try it yourself because it is difficult (but I will try anyway) to describe all the main benefits of this method. There are a number of them and you need them all once you know them!
- Let’s start with the one that is always interesting and desirable. Yes, face yoga slows down aging, that is, follows natural changes in a gentle way and brings great effects for your appearance. Appearance is important to us and we should not run away from it, but how we deal with our face and appearance can branch out in various directions. This is a natural way of caring for and dealing with the face, which includes exercise, self-massage (sometimes with some handy tools) and acupressure.
- Face yoga invites you to include some new methods and introduce changes in your life, and to think about: diet, sleeping habits, daily rituals, relaxation methods, the past, emotions, your own inner states, attitude towards the body, aging and much more.
- This method introduces you to yourself and connects you through acceptance. The face is a map on which we can read a lot. And when we learn to read some things, it also leads us to know which direction to go. The face is an indicator of a combination of what is inside, in us, and what happens outside, but muscles like to behave routinely, which means that they like to repeat learned mimic movements, and are not useful to us in situations that do not require them.
- And now very important! Need relaxation? By relaxing the facial muscles, the rest of the body also relaxes. The feeling as if you had a full body massage, when in fact you only massaged your own face.
- In a sea of obligations, we want one obligation (which it is not really) that will easily fit into the daily schedule and will not require punctual arrival at a certain time, leaving the house or major financial investments. Once we adopt some basic exercises or massage routines, everything else takes place by itself. Face yoga fits easily into existing morning or evening routines.
- Face yoga has a positive effect on mood because our brain receives information about the relaxation of the muscles that are key to expressing emotions. A face without some “negative emotion” such as fear, anger or worry, leads to a reduction in tension and being in a state of readiness for action (fight or flight).
If this interested you, read us again soon with new information.
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