Can Face Yoga Really Improve Your Skin?

Many enthusiasts swear by face yoga to deliver anti-aging effects. Over the years, different versions of these facial exercises have become popular. The idea isn't a stretch – no pun intended. Exercising your facial muscles can make them tauter and lifted, just like what happens to your other muscles when you work out.

While no studies specific to face yoga confirm its benefits, other research suggests some merit to performing facial exercises in helping improve your skin’s appearance. One study published in JAMA Dermatology shows that middle-aged women who practiced a regimen of at-home facial exercises in a 20-week program showed firmer skin and a fuller face.

So, while the science may not be ironclad, there's no harm in trying out face yoga. Face yoga involves massage and exercises, stimulating the muscles, skin, and lymphatic system. This technique intends to soften and relax your facial muscles to release tension, stress, and worry. It helps keep you from straining your face and making facial expressions associated with negative feelings, which can lead to wrinkles.

The positive effects of face yoga are not skin-deep either. Since it uses acupressure techniques, it supposedly helps prevent headaches, relieves your sinuses, and even helps you sleep better. Many face yoga practitioners also report feeling relieved and relaxed afterward.

Whether you’re hoping to see improvements in your face or simply want a way to relieve yourself of tension, these yoga techniques can help.

Before anything else, start with clean hands and face. Cleanse your mug with Dove Facial Cleansing Mousse Moisture Care, which keeps skin soft and moisturized after the first wash – giving you a gentle base to run your fingers on.

To make the experience more pleasant and effective, use an oil or facial serum so your fingers can glide easily on your skin. Massaging strokes can also help with absorption.

Use POND'S Bright Triple Glow Serum with Gluta-Boost-C, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid, delivering the packed benefits of all three ingredients to fade dark spots, refine skin texture, and deeply hydrate the skin. If you're more into creams, opt for POND’S Skin Perfecting Serum Burst Cream, which offers similar benefits via a nourishment-packed cream format.

Once you’ve gotten your skin prepped, you can try these face yoga practices.

This quick and easy technique is for those who face computer or phone screens all day since it helps relieve the eyes. Stimulating this acupressure point in your eye helps reduce eye strain. Do it between breaks during the day or at night before bed.

To start, press into the inner corner of your eyes for 30 seconds, and then circle gently in one direction for 30 seconds. Afterward, repeat it in the opposite direction.

Another eye exercise, this technique boosts oxygen circulation and helps deflate puffy eyes. Use featherweight touches so as not to cause strain or tug on the skin around your eye area, which can cause wrinkles.

Use your ring fingers for this technique to put the smallest amount of pressure and pull. Place them on the inside portion of your eyebrows. Using a tapping motion, work your way toward the outside area of your brows. Move up to your temples and press on them for a few seconds. Then, continue tapping above your cheekbones until you reach your eyes’ inner corners and continue for 30 seconds.

This exercise is popular as an anti-aging technique to smoothen your forehead, especially when you have a habit of scrunching it.

Start by making a fist with each hand and placing both on the center of your forehead. Place them close enough so the knuckles of each hand touch each other. Next, inhale and gently press your knuckles into your forehead. Exhale and move your knuckles toward your temples. Repeat this motion three times. You can also try this with the aid of a gua sha.

Imagine a whole day of facing your laptop – that’s one way to get neck strain. This yoga exercise relieves your neck of tension, boosts lymphatic drainage, and keeps the skin around your jaw and neck from sagging.

First, tilt your head back slightly and place your fingers at the top of your neck. With gentle pressure, glide your fingers down to your collarbone and press into it for a few seconds. Repeat this for 30 seconds. Did you know that neck exercises can also make you more youthful? All the more reason for you to try this trick out.

Face yoga may not be the most popular skin hack, but give it a shot. It may just be the practice you need for a more radiant face and even better well-being. Namaste!