The Science Behind Facial Yoga
The ubiquitous search for the antidote to ageing has shifted to a more embracing approach. A number of outspoken women over 50 are surging forward with books, Instagram feeds, and TedTalks about the experience we all face as we grow older: the changing shape of our faces.
One approach to changing our ageing faces shape is a technique growing in popular culture: facial yoga. You may see it in YouTube, social media magazines, and Reality TV. Ageing stars and celebrities are adding facial exercise to their wheel house of tricks, along with gold leaf masks and injectables. What is the buzz all about? What is the science behind this type of massage and exercise for the face?
Like other holistic modalities: yoga, tai chi, acupuncture, Ayurveda, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, very little productive research is available. There are studies, but none include a large enough group to support clear evidence-based studies around the hard facts of why facial yoga is working for Meghan Markle, Jennifer Aniston, and Gwyneth Paltrow, just to name a few.
Popular culture has never been a proper gauge for what is scientifically sound. Rather, science studies what is funded to be discovered. Science studies around health and wellness to benefit all of us. Thank you, doctors! However, the zone of study tends to be centred around the medicine funded by government and private resources. In the age of pandemic, the science of facial yoga seems to be low on the research agendas.
While yoga and face yoga are open fields for study, results from small studies are noteworthy in this examination of facial yoga:
In my research many articles written cite this single study, citing, “The exercises enlarge and strengthen the facial muscles, so the face becomes firmer and more toned and shaped like a younger face.”, Dr. Murad Alum Professor of Dermatology at the Feinberg School of Dermatology commented on a small group study of face yoga with a face yoga instructor. Please find the articles here;
“Los Angeles-based facialist Candace Marino has found that face yoga "slows down the ageing process, relieves tension, and helps to tone the skin and underlying muscles and tissues."
With such little science, we can rely on deductive reasoning to form practical ideas and actions to understand in the anecdotal evidence of popular culture. Let’s examine science-supported known facts about facial massage and exercise can work to fill in fine lines and wrinkles as well as offer radiance to the skin:
Cellular turnover
Desquamization in skin in the new cells being produced and the old cells sloughing away. This process can slow as we age. As we age, removing the sloughed skin cells on our face with good skin care can help refine our facial appearance. This is the basis of topical skin treatments including retinols, vitamin c, and other exfoliants.
Blood flow
In the 2018 study of short and long term effects of facial massage rollers, researchers found “Acute facial massage with a roller increases short term skin blood flow, and chronic use improves the long-term vascular dilatation response. All over body massage is respected in integrative medicine as a relief of so many common modern ailments like anxiety, headaches, and insomnia, as well as benefits of improved circulation.
Applied practice
Consistent practice is key to developing the muscles of the face. Much like the use of facial skin care products, facial massage and exercise work with application. In a 2018 study examining use of a massage device on the face, it was found that over time using facial massage was found to increase facial muscle thickness and cross-sectional area, thus contributing to facial rejuvenation.
Facial Massage & Exercise Leaders
As a massage and exercise technique, UK-based Danielle Collins, notes an elevation in status from anecdote to therapeutic action in her book, Danielle Collins’ Face Yoga that “Face Yoga is mostly used for aesthetic and wellbeing purposes but has started to be recommended by the organizations such as the Palsy Association and the Stroke Association for rehabilitation purposes.”
U.S .based, Fumiko Takatsu’s Face Yoga Method is a technique designed around her personal experience of using face yoga to rehabilitate her face after a car accident. On her blog, she notes that “habits have a significant impact on your symmetry over time.” With face yoga, she teaches how to become aware of lifestyle habits to formulate applications of exercise strategically to counter the habitual shapes we bring to our faces every day.
Suksma yoga, सूक्ष्म, (sublte yoga) is also celebrated in the focus of facial exercise by the Indian based, Art of Living citing that the benefits of understand the movement of prana, प्राण, (vital energy) “knowledge can only be gained by practice and experience, not by reading.” Embodiment practices such as yoga, dance, and facial massage are modalities of releasing tension which fosters greater fluidity of neural pathways.
What about Acupressure Points in the face?
The completeness of this outline would be remiss without acknowledging the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) approach to manipulating pressure in the energy channels of the face and body. This approach of energy flow, qi, chakras, and meridian channels, however you choose to describe it, influence the developed methods and schools of thought outlined from Face Yoga thought leaders noted above.
Acupuncture facials are a celebrated action to minimize fine lines and improve radiance. This study published in 2018 is one of the more complete studies to include a number of variances of water/oil composition of the skin, as well as measure of fine line and wrinkles. This study was of a larger set of individuals of 216. However, more controlled studies are needed to draw conclusions.
Facial Yoga Choices
With the choice of facial exercise teachers growing in number every day, it is no wonder celebrities have discovered this art of subtle exercise to enhance the appearance of the face. As popularity grows, science may or may not offer studies to support the relationship of facial exercise filling in lines. However, for now, the holistic remedy of moving the face can be applied for the cost of learning the techniques and is a lovely solution to costly invasive treatments.
Angela Rosoff is a Health Coach and face yoga teacher in San Francisco.
She teaches clients 1:1 how to live the life they imagine by tuning into their self-healing power and unlocking their identity to age gracefully with holistic practices of mindset, nutrition, and yoga for face & body. You can find her face yoga classes and sign up for Angela’s free weekly wellness newsletter at her website, www.yoginiprana.live.
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Angela Rosoff is a Health Coach and yoga teacher in San Francisco. She teaches clients 1:1 how to live the life they imagine by tuning into their self-healing power and unlocking their identity to age gracefully with holistic practices of mindset, nutrition, and yoga for face & body. You can find her offerings and sign up for Angela’s free weekly wellness newsletter at her website, https://www.yoginiprana.live
