Never heard of face yoga? It may sound strange, but an increasing number of people are adding face exercises to their beauty regiment. Why? Because the benefits of face yoga are the same as exercise for your body—it can counteract the natural loss of strength that happens to muscles with age.

The face contains over 50 different muscles which act on their own and in combination with other muscles to create a myriad of facial expressions. 

Aside from enabling you to express emotion, your facial muscles also play a part in the shape of your face. The small pads of fat on our face add to this, however over time these lose volume and slide down, creating hollows in the cheeks and a baggy appearance. Doing face yoga regularly can enlarge and strengthen the facial muscles, firming up facial volume and preventing sagging.

Face yoga can not only tone facial muscles, it can also give you a healthy glow. This is because exercising these muscles increases blood flow (containing nutrients and oxygen) to the skin. 

So, can these exercises work? Most of the proof is anecdotal, but a study done by dermatologists at Northwestern University and Gary Sikorski of Happy Face Yoga, showed that Sikorski’s program can garner results. By the end of the study the dermatologists found that, overall, the participants looked younger. The area that of the face that improved the most was the cheeks.

Face yoga is completely safe, natural and non‑invasive, but it’s not a quick fix. However, it doesn’t require any special equipment, and you can easily perform face yoga using just your fingers to create light resistance. Combined with other lifestyle factors such as getting adequate sleep and staying hydrated it could really enhance your glow. 

Several facial exercises can be found online so you can try it out for free before investing in a DVD or book. If nothing else, adopting a face yoga routine can work in the same way as other yoga—by releasing tension in your neck and face. And who doesn’t want a natural, relaxed look?

Do you practise face yoga? Tell us about your results in the comments below!