Your skin and face muscles are prone to get loose with growing age. This happens due to the loss of your collagen; a structural protein which gives tightness to your skin. As a result, your skin gets wrinkled, saggy, and dull in appearance. Doing exercises, which involve the movement of facial muscles, is the best and reliable way to rejuvenate your skin and regain its lost glow (1).

Why Are Facial Exercises Important?

Your facial muscles respond in the same way as the other muscles of your body do when you work out. The movement increases blood circulation and generates heat that helps rebuild collagen in the areas where it is lost. Moreover, the muscles supporting your skin get stronger, and the skin appears tighter and glowing on the surface (2).

7 Facial Yoga Exercises

Doing these facial exercises may feel tiring and daunting in the beginning. But performing them on a regular basis will help you overcome the difficulty and improve your confidence in them.

After few days, you can start to reap benefits in the form of plumped face and glowing skin.

1. Fish Lips

Fish-lips exercise aims to tone your cheek muscles by stretching them. The training will help you regain the tightness in your flabby cheeks and will make your face sleek. Along with exercises you need to follow a proper skin care routine to get glowing skin.

How to do Fish Lips Exercise?

Part 1

1. Suck your cheeks in the gap between your teeth lines.
2. Your lips should be getting sucked inwards as well with the flow and thus, replicate your face like a fish.
3. With this face, attempt to smile as much more as you can. Keep the eyes, and other parts of your face relaxed while trying to smile.
4. Hold that face for 10 seconds.
5. Now relax.
6. Repeat this process three times.

Part 2

1. Do steps 1 and 2 from the part 1 of this exercise.
2. For the step 3, you have to wriggle and move your cheeks up and down for about 12 times.
3. You won’t find your cheeks moving much from outside if you saw them in a mirror, but you can feel them moving inside.
4. Now come back to the normal face and relax.

Fish Lips

2. Kiss Face

Kiss-face exercise helps in creating a prominent jawline and stretches the muscles around your cheekbones. As a result, it brightens up your face and makes your smile more pleasant than ever. This is one of the best facial yoga exercises.

How to do Kiss Face Exercise?

Part 1

1. Pucker your mouth to bring your lips in a pouting shape as if you are about to kiss.
2. While keeping your eye muscles relaxed, try to smile as much as you can. Remember to keep your lips pursed while doing this.
3. Hold this face for 10 seconds.
4. Now relax.
5. Repeat this process three times.

Part 2

1. Start by performing steps 1 and 2 from the part 1 of this exercise.
2. Next, instead of holding your face, you have to move your cheek muscles up and down for about 12 times. Your lips should still be pouted.
3. Relax and return to the neutral position.

Kiss Face

3. The Whistler

The Whistler is an excellent exercise that helps stretch the muscles around your cheeks, jaws, and lips. You will get a prominent jawline, an attractive cheekbone and can also reduce your double chin. It is one of the best facial yoga exercises.

How to do The Whistler Exercise?

Part 1

1. Start by dropping your jaw and make a small ‘O’ using your lips like you do when you try to whistle.
2. Now, with your jaw still dropped, try to smile as much hard as you can. Do keep your lips in the ‘O’ shape while smiling.
3. Hold your face in this shape for 10 seconds.
4. Now relax.
5. You can repeat the whistler three times.

Part 2

1. Start with steps 1 and 2 from the part 1 of this exercise.
2. For the step 3, you have to wriggle your cheek muscles in order to move them up and down 12 times.
3. Remember to keep your mouth in a whistling shape and your lips in the ‘O’ shape.
4. Now relax.

4. For Frown Lines

Frown lines can occur on your forehead due to excessive stress, which is obvious in a hectic life that we live in. Moreover, constant frowning and smoking can also leave frown lines. As a result, these lines can make you look older than your actual age and more haggard.

This exercise will make your frown lines shallow and remove them over time. Also, your skin color will get restored. You can feel that tingling sensation on your forehead which indicates the increased blood flow. This is one of the best facial exercises for glowing skin. If you have too much problem of acne or frown lines you can try some home remedies for glowing skin.

How to do Exercise to treat Frown Lines?

1. Place fingers of both of your hands in between your eyebrows and hairline right above the brows of respective sides.
2. The fingers of both of your hands should be pointing towards each other.
3. Now, apply gentle pressure and start to move your fingers outwards such that the forehead skin is stretched.
4. Repeat this exercise 10 times.

For Frown Lines

5. For Sagging Skin

Drooping cheek skin is one of the disadvantages of growing age. It can also be the case for those who lost their body weight lately. Weight loss causes the burning of fat which removes the support of the stretched skin leaving it to hang loosely.

This facial exercise will cause your cheek skin to retract and take a tighter shape in order to eliminate its sagginess. The cheek lines disappear, and the area around your cheeks gets plumped up. This is one of the best yoga facial exercises to look young.

How to do Exercise to treat Sagging Skin?

1. It is somewhat similar to The Whistler exercise but carries additional benefits.
2. Make an ‘O’ by pursing your lips and puckering your mouth.
3. Now, try to smile as much hard as you can and attempt to widen your lips.
4. Repeat this process six times.
5. Now, while holding that smiling face with lips in the ‘O’ shape, place your index finger on your chin, and slowly move your head backward.
6. Gently bring your head back to the normal position.
7. Repeat this movement twice.

For Sagging Skin

6. For Eye Puffiness

Puffy eyes are caused mainly due to the swelling around your eyes which further causes irritation. There are numerous things responsible for this condition such as fluid retention, insomnia, hormone changes, stress, allergies, and crying, as well. Consuming sodium-rich food and using contact lenses are some of the other reasons.

This facial exercise involves the movement of your eye muscles which causes the blood supply to them to get normal. This results in the drainage of accumulated fluid and restoration of your eye health.

How to do Exercise to treat Eye Puffiness?

1. Place the middle fingers of both of your hands on inner end/corners of your eyes.
2. Now, place the index fingers on the outer corner of your eyebrows and apply gentle pressure.
3. Slowly tilt your head back so that you face the ceiling.
4. Now, try to move your lower eyelids upwards. This might be difficult so you can try to do this by squinting your eyes.
5. Now relax and return to the normal position.
6. Repeat the process 5-6 times and at last close your eyes tightly for 30 seconds.

Here is an informative video from Bright Side

7. Face Massaging

Facial massages have always been a part of our lives as one of the ways of relieving stress and achieving a relaxed state. Facial massages work by increasing the blood circulation to the facial tissue. This causes your skin to brighten up and appear younger. It can minimize your wrinkles, reduce the puffy appearance, and lift the skin. Face massage is most effective when done daily either in the morning or at night. Along with massaging you can follow other tips to get glowing skin.

How to do Face Massaging?

1. Wash your face properly and cleanse it using a cleanser or oil. Then rinse with warm water and dry it off using a towel.
2. Use face oil such as jojoba oil, almond oil, or argan oil and apply its light layer on your face.
3. Massage the lymph area on the sides of your neck located under your ears. This area has lymph nodes where the toxins from your face get accumulated. Move your fingers gently in a broad circular motion.
4. Include the jaw sides, mouth corners, and cheekbones into your circular strokes.
5. Now, place your fingers on your temple and massage in a large circular motion. Move to the middle of your forehead and go all the way to the other side of the forehead, and then return to the starting side.
6. Next, place your fingers on the circular bone around your eyes and massage in a circular motion revolving around the eyes.
7. Now place your fingers on the lower circular bone and massage it using the to and fro motions along the semi-circular path.
8. Finally, massage each area again starting from the lymph area.

Face Massaging

In a rush to keep other parts of our body fit and healthy, we often overlook our skin and face. These simple exercises are indeed a lifesaver when it comes to getting rid of those forehead lines, and wrinkled and sagging skin. You can perform them at any time during the day as and when you get some free time. You can stay well hydrated in addition to doing these exercises to get the desired results in a short time.