Stay Home and Stay Young: 5 Facial Exercises for a Youthful Glow

In recent times, the trend of natural rejuvenation has been gaining momentum. Every day, there are more trainers in facial gymnastics, face fitness, face building, yoga, and anti-age experts. There are many terms characterizing this “new trend” in this field, but the essence is one – our society has begun to strive for harmonious, natural existence. People have begun to think more about the future from a more environmentally friendly point of view. None of us want to risk our health, youth, or beauty. Women have begun to delve deeper into the field of natural rejuvenation, and fewer and fewer people want to inject toxic injections, let alone resort to plastic surgery.

Is Facial Gymnastics the Culprit Behind Aging?

Despite the fact that this area is developing more and more every day, there are pitfalls that you simply need to know about. First of all, these are strength exercises. Almost all known techniques are based on them. This includes the well-known Carol Maggio technique, which made her famous all over the world. The fact is that initially, specialists associated the aging processes with gravity. It was assumed that with age, our facial muscles sag under the influence of gravity, respectively, they need to be strengthened. This is the essence of strength exercises from face building. In fact, many do not know what really happens under the skin and how the aging process takes place.

The theory of gravity was refuted by the French plastic surgeon, professor, president of the French Society of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons – Claude Le Louarn. So, the theory of “gravitational force” is a global misconception. But what really makes the skin lose its original appearance? Tension is the main enemy of our beauty. Claude’s research forever dispelled the mistaken belief that the face ages because the muscles do not receive stress. Dr. Byuto from the Paris Institute of Radiology made an MRI of the muscle bends of four people of different ages. The MRI showed that with age, the muscles become straighter and shorter. Therefore, “pumping” the facial muscles is categorically impossible!

How exactly does tension affect our appearance? How to deal with this? Throughout our lives, we use facial expressions to express one or another emotion, and it is facial expressions that are the cause of aging. Mimic muscles usually pass from the bone to the deep layers of the skin. At rest in young people, they are curved (they take this form due to the fatty tissue lying under the muscles), when the muscle is tense, it stretches, as if pushing out the fatty layer. With age, the volume of this fat thins, and in some places, on the contrary, increases. Again, the contraction of the muscles is to blame. With strength exercises, we further strain and clamp the muscles, contribute to the “sagging” of the skin! What should be done to look younger? The surest way is to learn natural practices to relieve muscle tension!

Our guest is Oksana Lebed, a blogger, co-author of the unique method “Vector of Youth”. The technique is based on a synergistic and differentiated approach to working with the muscle structures of the face, then dynamic and static exercises and manual techniques are added to shift the muscle layers from the center to the periphery (the vector of old age and the vector of youth). In parallel, deep work is carried out with posture and the statics of the neck.

The period of self-isolation is a great opportunity to dedicate time to yourself and your beauty! Our expert shares 5 exercises that will help get rid of age-related changes. Let’s get started!

Exercise 1. Target Area – The Muscle That Furrows The Brow

Task: Relax the muscle that furrows the brow and remove the interbrow fold.

Function of the muscle: Pulls the eyebrows down and medially, forming longitudinal folds in the area above the bridge of the nose.

What to do: With the index fingers of both hands, deeply clamp the tissues in the eyebrow area and knead pointwise in place. Continue to do this movement from the interbrow area to the middle of the eyebrow. Listen to your feelings. Special attention should be paid to areas where you feel pain, tension, and irregularities in the tissues. The number of repetitions is unlimited.

Exercise 2. Target Area – The Occipitofrontal Muscle

Task: Relax the frontal muscle and the muscle of the proud, remove horizontal wrinkles on the forehead, lift the upper eyelid.

Functions of the muscle: When the occipital belly of the muscle contracts, the muscle pulls the tendinous helmet and (the skin of the head) back, when the frontal belly contracts, it raises the eyebrows, forms transverse folds on the forehead.

What to do: Place the tips of the index, middle, and ring fingers on the forehead, as shown in the photo. With circular, point, low-amplitude kneading movements, enter the deep layers of the tissues and make a natural shift without tensioning the skin to the side. Do this movement throughout the forehead area. The number of repetitions is unlimited.

Exercise 3. Target Area – The Orbicularis Oculi Muscle

Task: Eliminate “crow’s feet”.

Functions of the muscle: The orbital part, when contracted, narrows the eye gap, pulls the eyebrows down, and smoothes the transverse folds on the forehead; the palpebral part closes the eye gap, the lacrimal part expands the lacrimal sac.

What to do: With the fingers of both hands, press the outer corner of the eye, placing them on the upper and lower eyelids, as shown in the photo. Stay in this position for a few seconds, then carefully move the tissues apart (about 1 mm). Close one eye with a little effort. You should feel the tension of the lower and upper eyelids. Repeat from 5 to 20 times at a moderate pace. Then do the exercise on the other eye.

Exercise 4. Target Area – The Orbicularis Oris Muscle

Task: Relax the muscle, increase the volume of the lips.

Function of the muscle: Closes the mouth and pulls the lips forward.

What to do: Clamp the relaxed lips with the index and thumb fingers and affect them with deep kneading and warming movements first in one direction, then in the other. The number of repetitions is unlimited.

Exercise 5. Target Area: The Greater and Lesser Zygomatic Muscles and the Muscle That Lifts the Upper Lip

Task: Lift and move the tissues from the nose up and to the side.

Functions of the muscle: The greater and lesser zygomatic muscles pull the corner of the mouth up and laterally. The muscle that lifts the upper lip lifts the upper lip and deepens the nasolabial fold.

What to do: Apply the edge of the index finger to the base of the nasolabial fold, as shown in the photo, and make a shift in the deep layers of the tissues up and to the side. Repeat on the other side. The number of repetitions is unlimited.

For more information on natural rejuvenation techniques, you can visit the official website of the Healthline.