Sagging skin, folds, bags and wrinkles are the order of the day with the age, illness, exertion, dieting, stress taking a toll on the facial skin. One look at the crow's feet and wrinkles around the eyes sends women scurrying to the cosmetic surgeons. However a great natural alternative to the face lift surgeries are the different facial toning exercises. They tone your facial firmness thus reducing the appearance of wrinkles, lines, folds and bags so that your face looks youthful and ageless. Moreover these exercises for facial rejuvenation are not only easy to do, but are a natural, inexpensive and non-invasive way to improve facial appearance. Here is a look at the different facial exercises that addresses each part of your face.
A Guide to Facial Muscle Exercises
There are 44 muscles in the face that need to be exercised so as to stimulate blood flow and circulation, relieve tension, and improve the overall appearance of the face. Most of these facial muscle exercises are performed by a repetition of voluntary contractions of certain facial muscle groups such as the eye muscles or the muscles close to the mouth.
Facial Toning Exercises For The:
Eyes
The muscles targeted in this case are orbicularis oculi, the muscles around and underneath the eyes. This eliminates crow's feet, under eye bags and puffiness around the eyes. Some of the popular eye exercises include:
- For reducing crow's feet and toning facial muscles around your eyes, place the ring and middle fingers of each hand at the outer corners of eyes and pull the corner of the eyes toward the hairline. Hold this position and squeeze eyes shut.
- Use your fingers to hold the area underneath the eye, pull down and then close your eyes. Hold this position and repeat. This is an excellent facial toning exercise for reducing the under eye dark circles and puffy eyes.
- Press two fingers on each side of your temples while you rapidly open and close your eyes. Repeat this exercise a couple of times.
- Close your eyes and sit in an upright position. Now keeping your eyes closed, look up and look down as far as you can. Repeat this exercise around seven to eight times.
Forehead wrinkles and lines can be eliminated by these free facial toning exercises. Some common facial exercises include:
- Use your finger to press the forehead and then use backward motion to rub the area. This is an excellent remedy for the lines on the forehead.
- Frown and try to pull the eyebrows closer to each other so that they are over the eye. Now open your eyes and try to lift the eyebrows up as far as possible.
- Lie on the bed and face towards the ceiling. Lift your eyebrows and open your eyes wide. Relax and repeat seven to eight times.
The nose exercises targets the muscles in the hollow of the eyes and down the nose known as the quadratus labii superioris and the caput angulare along with the muscles from the corners of the nose to the corners of the mouth known as the caninus.
- Target the hollow area at the inside corner of eyes by placing the middle finger of each hand on it. Now place your ring finger on the side of the nose bridge and contract your nose by wrinkling it. Hold the position while you push the nose back down by sliding your fingers down the sides of your nose
- Place the thumb of each hand on the top lip and grasp the lip with the index fingers. Pull the lip straight and hold. Try to contract the muscle by pulling the lip into a sneer.
- Tilt your head backwards while sitting straight up and keep your lips closed and relaxed. Move the lower lip over the top part and count to ten, Relax and repeat.
Slack cheeks and a wrinkled mouth are certainly not pretty sight and sadly these facial areas can line and wrinkle easily if not looked after properly. Here are some facial exercises for the mouth and the cheek.
- Pucker your lips and try to bring the sides of your mouth as close as you can. Hold this position till the count of five and then relax. Repeat the exercise a couple of time.
- Pucker your lips outwards and try to move the lip towards the nose. Hold this for around 10 counts, relax and then repeat.
- Tilt your head back and take your center fingers, place them on the apples of the cheeks and push down while you try to raise your cheeks as hard as you can.
To target the muscles in the chin, take your three center fingers and pull the chin down while curling the lower lip over the bottom teeth.
Along with the yoga facial toning exercises, keep yourself stress-free, drink lots of water, eat fruits, salads and other nutritious foods to keep your skin free of wrinkles. Not only will these facial muscle exercises save you thousands of dollars of the cosmetic surgery bills, but also help in improving and maintaining your youthful appearance.
