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Did you know, your face and neck are made up of over 50 muscles?
You hit the gym to workout the muscles of the rest of your body.
So what's stopping you from exercising the muscles of your face and neck?
Dr Jamuna Pai has pioneered the skincare movement in India, having been the first to introduce many techniques including Botox, medifacials, aesthetic peels as well as the Spanish brightening peel in her over twenty years of practice.
(ALSO SEE The secret to beautiful, glowing skin!)
In her book, No one has to know, Dr Pai spills some trade secrets :-)
We bring you this extract from the book, with kind permission of the publisher.
Exercise is one of the most potent anti-ageing tools there are.
But we've only spoken about exercise for the body.
What about exercises for the face?
The face and neck are made up of over fifty muscles and if we can tone the muscles of our body and have them looking leaner, stronger, fitter and more toned, then why can't we do the same for the face?
Skin is elastic and has its own resilience and as the muscles become stronger with exercise, so does the skin, its outer covering.
One thing to note about exercising the muscles on your face, though.
Many of these small, superficial facial muscles are inserted into the skin.
So when the underlying muscle is exercised, there is a chance that the overlying skin can get dented or crinkled due to excess movement.
Which is why the facial exercises prescribed in this chapter are only for the 'levator' muscles, the big muscles of the face and neck.
The following exercises for your face and neck are a perfect add-on to anti-ageing treatments but not a substitute for them.
Before trying these, however, make sure you get a go-ahead from your physician in case you have spondylitis, vertigo or other ailments that would require you to take care while exercising your head and neck; facial exercises should never be a pain-in-the-neck.
You can choose your exercise depending on the areas or area you want to target or even choose them all but don't overdo them as you can fatigue the muscles of your face.
These exercises are designed to be done anytime and anywhere: in the shower, behind the wheel at a traffic signal or behind your boss's back.
FOREHEAD
The Frown Drown
(For the forehead. Helps reduce frown lines and forehead lines.)
1. Sit down in front of a mirror
2. Put your elbows on the table and gently prop up your forehead with your fingertips. Keep your head upright and look straight ahead.
3. Now, gently push your fingers up towards the hairline. Hold this position against your bone.
4. Without moving your head and still looking straight ahead, gently attempt to bring your brow down against the pull of your hold, while slowly closing your eyes.
5. Maintain this position for a count of three. You can repeat this three times about thrice a week.
6. This exercise is non-obtrusive and can really be done in any situation.
EYES
The desk squeeze
(For the area around the eyes. Helps reduce puffiness.)
Desk jobs tire the eyes, make them sluggish and reduce circulation around the eye area.
Again, this exercise is as simple as it is non-obtrusive, which means you can do it without your colleagues noticing and putting your antics in the next month's newsletter.
This particular exercise works to improve the circulation in your eyes and also improve muscle tone, all good news for anti-ageing.
1. Look away from your laptop/screen.
2. Focus on something a little farther away. It could be anything – a colour, a pattern, an object.
3. Squeeze the eyes shut for five seconds.
4. Repeat this three times taking a break of thirty seconds each time.
5. You could do this daily.
CHEEKS
The sneaky cheeky
(Helps give the illusion of high cheekbones)
1. Sit in front of a mirror.
2. Gently clench your back teeth, but do not apply pressure. Keep your lips apart slightly.
3. Give a small smile so that your upper lip moves upwards.
This will lift the muscles of your cheeks upwards, matching position #1 on the diagram. Hold this position for five counts.
4. From this position, now give a 'medium' smile, wider than the last smile but not your widest smile.
This will lift the muscles of your cheeks further upwards and will match position #2 on the diagram.
Again, hold for five counts.
5. Now, give your widest smile, which will lift your cheeks to the highest position #3. Again, hold for five seconds.
6. In three slow movements, come back down. From your widest smile, go back to your 'medium' smile or position #2 and hold for five seconds. Now, go back to position #1 -- small smile -- and hold again for five seconds. Return slowly to the starting position.
7. Breathe and relax for thirty seconds. Repeat steps 3-6 above for the next set.
8. Do a total of three sets three times a week with breaks of thirty seconds between sets. And try not to squint or squeeze your eye muscles. It works best if you can keep your eyes wide open.
The upper cheeky
(For the upper cheeks)
1. Wear cotton gloves or take a tissue in each hand because this exercise requires you to put your thumbs in your mouth. You can also do without them, but don't tell me I didn't warn you.
2. Sit in front of a mirror, with elbows resting on the table.
3. Silently pronounce the letter 'O'. Keep your mouth in the 'O' position.
4. Now place your thumbs inside each side of your mouth between your back teeth and your cheeks. The nails of your thumb should be facing your teeth inside your mouth and also pointing towards the top of your ears. This may sound complicated but once your thumbs are inside your mouth, you'll know what I mean.
5. Your palms should be facing outwards, towards the mirror.
6. Move your thumbs upwards. You will feel your mouth stretching wide open as your upper cheek muscles move upwards. Keep trying to maintain the 'O' position.
7. Hold for a count of five.
8. Bring your mouth back to the starting position of 'O'.
9. Relax and breathe. Repeat thrice with breaks of thirty seconds between sets.
10. You can do this three times a week.
The lower cheeky
(For the lower cheeks)
1. Repeat Steps 1 to 3 from the previous exercise.
2. Now, when you place your thumbs inside each side of your mouth between your back teeth and your cheeks, ensure that while the nails of your thumb are facing your teeth inside your mouth (like the previous exercise), they should also point towards the middle part of your ears.
3. Again, your palms should be facing outwards, towards the mirror, same as in the previous exercise.
4. Now move your thumbs outwards towards the angle of the mouth. You will feel your mouth stretching wide open as your lower cheek muscles move outwards. Keep trying to maintain the 'O' position.
5. Hold for a count of five.
6. Bring your mouth back to the starting position of 'O'.
7. Relax and breathe. Repeat thrice with breaks of thirty seconds between sets.
8. You can do this about three times a week.
The Fish Face
(Quick lower cheek workout)
1. Sit or stand in front of a mirror.
2. Breathe in, breathe out two or three times.
3. Jut your chin out.
4. Now do a fish face (like we used to do as kids),and suck in your cheeks for about ten counts.
5. Release and relax. Breathe in and out a few times.
Repeat steps 3 and 4.
6. The Fish Face should be done three times in a row with breaks of thirty seconds between sets. You can perform this exercise thrice a week.
CHIN
The chin press
(For the chin and for double chins or for as many chins you may have.)
1. Drop your head backwards, stretching as far as you can comfortably hold it in that position. Take a deep breath and hold for a count of five.
2. Slowly releasing your breath, bring your head back up to starting position.
3. Take a deep breath and turn your neck towards the left till you feel a pull in the muscles of your neck. Hold again for a count of five.
4. Slowly releasing your breath, bring your head back to starting position.
5. And, finally, take a deep breath and turn your neck towards the right till you feel a pull in the muscles of your neck. Hold for a count of five.
6. Slowly releasing your breath, bring your head back to starting position.
Do a repetition of three sets for this exercise three times a week for the double chin and neck.
Don't forget to take thirty-second breaks between sets.
NECK
The Joker
(You have to grin and bear this facial exercise, which requires you to open and close your mouth in a wide smiling position.
This smiling assassin works to slay the lines around your neck for tighter neck skin and a more chiselled jawline.)
1. Stand or sit down in front of a mirror. Keep your back straight.
2. Now slightly tilt both your head and your back upwards. Just slightly, though.
3. Stick your chin out.
4. Keeping your head still, lower your jaw. This will open up your mouth. The next step is to grin as widely as you can.
5. At this point, try and close your mouth, keeping your face in the 'grinning' position. Feel the tightness in the muscles around your lower jaw and neck.
6. Now, still grinning, relax and breathe once.
7. Still grinning, open and close your mouth ten times, focusing on lowering and raising your jaw.
8. Do three sets (it is ten times per set) three times a week.
Take a thirty-second break between sets, though.
Don't forget to maintain the wide grin position throughout.
During the exercise your focus should be on lifting and lowering the jaw. Also, do not clench your teeth and take care to ensure that there is no tension either on the forehead or the area around the eye.
Like I said, you can choose the exercises as per the area you wish to target.
And if there are multiple exercises that target the same area, you can choose any one you like.
However, more is always merrier.
A friend of mine was suffering from trigeminal neuralgia, a neuropathic condition affecting the trigeminal nerve resulting in intense pain in the face.
Finally, she addressed the condition with the help of gamma knife treatment.
While her pain subsided, the facial muscles on one side of her face weakened, leading to asymmetry.
But she didn't want to go in for a facelift or fillers without trying the alternative routes first.
She had a different plan.
Which consisted mostly of facial exercises.
Day or night, she never missed her date with her face workouts.
I didn't see much difference initially but when I met her after a gap of a few months, her face was symmetrical again; it was like nothing had gone wrong.
The first thing I asked her was if she had had any work done to her face.
She simply replied by saying that she was fanatic about her facial exercises.
And here I thought she had fillers done. Like I said, this chapter is bad for my business.
Excerpted from No one has to know (Rs 299) by Dr Jamuna Pai, published by Harper Collins, with the permission of the publisher.
Photograph (used here for representational purposes only): Rakesh JV/Creative Commons