Face yoga's rising popularity: A natural way to alleviate tension and stress

Blow out your cheeks and gently tap them. Repeat three times. Now tap your knuckles lightly from the top of your forehead to the top of your ears. Gently pull your eyebrows up,” advised my instructor during an online face yoga class. While these may sound tortuous, the gentle pulling, stretching, and pinching of the face are meant to naturally lift and tone facial muscles.

Over the past few years, thanks to social media, face yoga has become one of the most discussed above-the-neck fitness techniques. While #faceyoga has clocked over 500 million views on the internet video-sharing site YouTube, on the short video app TikTok, these videos have been viewed over 3 billion times; on social media platform Instagram, the hashtag has 376,000 followers.

Celebs from Meghan Markle to Gwyneth Paltrow swear by it, and the Kardashians have their own celebrity trainer. Closer home, Malaika Arora also touts the powers of facial fitness.

So, what exactly is face yoga? “It is a set of exercises performed to tone and stretch facial muscles. We have over 57 muscles on our face and neck. Face yoga involves massages and exercises that stimulate the muscles, skin, and lymphatic system,” says Delhi-based certified face yoga coach Mamta Sansanwal, who has been teaching face yoga for the past three years and has shared her knowledge with more than 4,000 people.

New York-based author Annelise Hagen is a certified yoga therapist who has been teaching and practicing face yoga since 2005. In her book The Yoga Face, she says that the muscles of the face are no different from the muscles of the rest of the body. If you don’t exercise the muscles below the neck, they become weak and flabby, and the same thing will happen to your face with age. Just as yoga routines work the muscles in the body, the stretches and movements of face yoga tighten and tone the facial muscles.

And just like yoga, face yoga has no age restriction. “An older person can derive benefits from practising yoga techniques that promote facial rejuvenation, and a younger person can cultivate habits that will last a lifetime. You can start as young as 14, but of course it needs to be done under supervision; the focus is more on preventive and maintenance routines at that age,” says Sansanwal, who herself started practicing face yoga a few years ago to get rid of pigmentation and dull skin.

Hagen says there are three different ways in which face yoga may work for you. First, it stimulates the muscles and improves their tone and tightness. Second, it increases blood flow and circulation on the face, making it appear healthier. And finally, it helps reduce stress and anxiety; other benefits include glowing skin, a brighter eye area, reduced lines and wrinkles, and pigmentation reduction.

Sansanwal suggests performing facial exercises four to six times a week, around 15 minutes every day, for at least six weeks to see the benefits. “The techniques are designed to soften and relax your facial muscles. In order to achieve results and symmetry, we need consistent practice in the right sequence,” she says.

For a total face workout, she recommends practising exercises such as the ‘cat eye’, which concentrates on the upper part of the face and helps reduce dark circles and wrinkles around the eyes; ‘eye caterpillar’ that helps in lifting the brow up; ‘total face lift’ that rejuvenates, lifts, and tones all 57 muscles on the face and neck; ‘air kisses’ to burn jaw fat; and ‘swan neck’ for toning the jaw and tightening the neck.

The other benefit of face yoga is that you can do it anywhere, at any time. Whether stuck in traffic or waiting in queue, you can always blow out your cheeks, tap your face with your fingers, or massage your eyebrows. Yes, you may get a few strange looks from passersby, but that’s a small price to pay for healthier skin.

So, does face yoga really work? There don’t seem to be too many scientific studies to back it up. Maybe it’s just something that hasn’t been studied enough. In 2018, dermatologists at Northwestern University published a paper according to which women who practiced face yoga exercises for 20 weeks were perceived to look up to three years younger. But that is not to say that face yoga is only for women. “Face yoga is a series of exercises that tone and strengthen the muscles on your face, just like workouts tone your body’s muscles. Men have facial muscles too, so why should they miss out on the benefits of face yoga?” asks Sansanwal, who teaches several men.

However, dermatologists warn that those with acne-prone or sensitive skin should be wary of the trend, as touching or pulling the skin could worsen its condition.

While the jury is still out on the long-term benefits of face yoga, there doesn’t seem to be any harm in practising it. So, if you enjoy doing it, go ahead. As for me, my favourite exercise is to look towards the sky and blow kisses out to the universe. I’m not sure how much benefit my facial and neck muscles gain but it surely makes my soul happier. And that’s definitely a stress buster. 

@smitabw