In the age of botox and fillers, there is a group of people who are looking for natural and affordable options to help them look and feel better. Facial tension has a knack for being sneaky. You can hold a frown between your eyebrows or clench in your jaw for hours, causing your facial muscles to feel tense, tight, and weary. Even when you do notice your facial tension, getting rid of it is no easy task.
Face yoga involves massage and exercises that stimulate the muscles, skin, and lymphatic system. It is designed to soften and relax your facial muscles to help alleviate tension, stress, and worry. The technique also helps you stop making facial expressions associated with those feelings.
One of the most common sources of facial tension is the jaw. Retaining tension in your masseter muscles can lead to related tightness around your temples, or temporalis muscles, as well as painful tension headaches. There are a few stretches you can do to release jaw tension.
Lip scrunch: With your lips closed, pull your mouth to one side of your face. You should feel a stretch in the opposite jaw. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat on the other side.
Neck stretch: Reach your left hand over your head and place your fingertips just in front of your right ear. (If this position is uncomfortable for your arm, shift your left elbow so it's slightly in front of your head.) Place your right fingertips on your right shoulder to keep your posture in place. Then, with your left hand, gently tilt your head to the left, stopping when it's at about a 45-degree angle. If you can, tilt your head slightly to look up. Use your fingers to gently pull up the skin at your right temple, then stretch your tongue up like you're trying to touch your nose. Hold for 10 seconds, then repeat on the other side.
Cheek vibration: To relax your masseter muscle and the muscles in your cheeks, take a deep breath, then relax your lips and blow out the air explosively through your mouth. Make the movement as big as possible, letting your lips and cheeks flap around and not trying to control or limit the movement.
Forehead tension involves the corrugator muscles, which are located under your eyebrows. They are the muscles you activate when you push your eyebrows together, whether you’re concentrating, exerting a lot of effort, confused, upset, or even crying. Tension in these muscles is hard to let go of and can eventually cause vertical wrinkles in between your eyebrows.
Massage your forehead and brow: Hold the left side of your forehead with your left hand to keep it stationary and relaxed. Then, on the right side of your forehead, use the knuckles and fingertips of your right hand to massage in circles. Start between your eyebrows and move outwards, massaging firmly along your brow bone and forehead. when you dig in.
Touch between your eyebrows: Sometimes just tapping the area with a finger can help you release tension between your eyebrows. If you notice you're frowning or pinching your eyebrows during the day, for example, gently touch them to encourage the muscles to relax.
Use face tape: Use tape specifically made for skin and place a one-inch strip vertically in the middle of your forehead, just above your eyebrows. This is an especially good strategy if you tend to frown when you sleep (put the tape on before bed!) or if you're working or studying at home and want to avoid pinching your eyebrows while you concentrate.
Relaxing your forehead muscles: Place your palms flat on your forehead. Your pinkies should be on your eyebrows, almost or just barely touching in the middle, with the rest of your fingers loosely interlocking and covering your forehead. Close your eyes, then slowly open them without moving your forehead or eyebrows at all. Open your eyes as wide as you can for a few seconds, then slowly lower your eyelids until you're squinting, without closing your eyes completely. Repeat for three total reps.
