Let’s reclaim beauty!

- DANSK VERSION -

 

Have you ever experienced looking at yourself in the mirror, and no longer seeing the fresh and strong woman, whom you still can feel inside?  The skin has become more grey there are places where the skin is sagging, and other places where deep furrows make you look more tired than you really are. And you’d like to find a solution, because you are too full of life to look old!

 

Do you know that there is another way of maintaining your beauty and strength? Which strengthens the skin and the underlying musculature so that you can get back the glow of your face? It’s called facial yoga – and it’s easy to do, it’s free, and you don’t have to spend oceans of money and time on it.

It’s actually quite simple: We work with two factors, when we do facial yoga: The muscles of the face, and the blood circulation. We already know that exercise strengthens the muscles of the body. But in the gym classes in school, we were never taught to exercise the muscles in the face. Fortunately, it’s never too late!

As with all other types of exercise, you may begin today, feel the effect immediately and soon see the first results.

 

The muscles in our body consist of thin, flexible protein fibers, and each group of muscles is surrounded by fascia. Each muscle group lies within a tiny sleeping bag of fascia. When we wake up in the morning and feel rigid, it’s because the fascia hasn’t been moving throughout the night, and it often takes a while before it gets warmed up, and we regain our full mobility.

If the fascia through a longer period of time is not activated with movement and stretch, it may become hardened. And then it is difficult for the blood to oxygenize and warm it. The fascia in the face loses mobility, because we have no tradition for exercising the facial muscles. The skin may appear grey, and our facial features may stagnate into the features that we make most – eg. wrinkling the forehead while we work.

But here comes the big clue! In the deep layers of the skin lie the tiny units called fibroblasters, and they produce collagen. Collagen is the “glue” of the skin that provides the skin with strength and elasticity. Then, the fibroblasters produce more collagen – and the skin may regain elasticity and firmness.

With facial yoga we may also change the habits, we have building in our daily lives by gaining a greater consciousness about our facial musculature, and work specifically on what we like to improve – perhaps the rigid forehead.

You will feel it immediately – the trickling sensation of the blood regaining its circulation, the energy that fills your face, and gives your cheeks and lips a new glow.

Within a couple of weeks you may see the difference. You will be able to look in the mirror and

see the furrows getting less accentuated and the sagging skin getting more firm, because the musculature has been strengthened and the blood passes through the tissues with more ease.

There is a great number of exercises that may be adapted to your needs in a number of ways. When you start doing them, you will notice how lovely it feels to exercise your face, and your body will remember them, and you can do them whenever you want.

 

In the video below I will demonstrate a few easy exercises. But before you begin, please pay attention to the precautions:

 

1. Start carefully! If you haven’t done facial exercises before, it is important to begin gently. Just like the other muscles of the body, the facial muscles may also get ruptured if they are exercised too hard. Warm up first!

 

2. No sudden movements! Move slowly and mindfully into the exercise, and out of it. Don’t let the muscle tighten and relax with sudden movements - it may do more harm than good.

 

3. Relax in the rest of the body and face. Breathe deeply. You’re not supposed to get more tense by doing facial yoga. In the way your 5-10 minutes of facial yoga may become a moment of rest for yourself throughout a busy day.

 

 

 

 

Louise Kristensen is a writer, teacher and yoga teacher 200h.

 

Products and “musthaves” that are crazy expensive is not the way to healthy skin – especially not if they are filled with perfume, mineral oils, micro plastic and are tested on animals.

Healthy skin is beautiful skin. Both because you are a sweet person, and because beauty comes from the deep layers of the skin, where the products don’t reach, but can be improved with exercise and increased blood circulation.

Fashion and “womens” magazines are filled with warped ideals of beauty and ads. At best, they are mediocre. At worst they condescend women's intelligence.

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