BLOG 256: 3 FACIAL EXERCISES TO REDUCE HOLLOW TEMPLES

Hollow temples are one of the less talked about signs of ageing, but this is also something that affects many of us as we get older.

By hollow temples I mean the dips that can appear in our temple area, giving this part of the face a sunken look. Often, the skin around this area also starts to look duller and we can find lines appearing too.

To an extent, this change in the shape of your temples is down to bone structure. We lose bone density as we get older, and this affects the face as well as the rest of your body. 

Of course, there’s not that much you can do to alter your bone structure – although a healthy lifestyle can help your bones stay strong and dense for longer.

But what we can do with face yoga is to strengthen the muscles around the temples. By building up those muscles, we also lift and tauten the skin attached, making your face appear brighter and fuller.

So, in this blog post I’m going to take you through three Face Yoga exercises that target the muscles around the temples, reducing and preventing hollow temples.

As with any form of exercise, these Face Yoga techniques work best if you do them regularly – ideally daily. You can do each for just a minute or so at a time, so hopefully they will slot fairly easily into your existing skincare or face yoga routine.

If you prefer to follow along with a video, you can watch me demonstrate these exercises over on my YouTube channel.

Getting Started

As always with Face Yoga, make sure you have clean hands and a clean face before starting this sequence. 

Apply a few drops of serum – I always use the Pro Lift Moisturising Serum from my Fusion by Danielle Collins range. It is specifically designed to work with Face Yoga and is packed full of high-quality botanical ingredients to deeply nourish your skin. Plus, it gives a lovely glide without a greasy feeling.

Take a few deep, grounding breaths – through your nose if you can. Once you feel calm and centred, you are ready to begin.

1. O-Shape

Take your index fingers to the outer edges of your eyebrows and use them to slightly lift outwards and upwards, gently pulling the skin taut.

Keeping your fingers where they are, make an O shape with your mouth. Tuck your lips around your teeth as you do this. Release and repeat at a rate of about 1 per second – almost as though you are pretending to be a fish. 

Yes, you might feel a little bit silly doing this, but that’s part of the joy of face yoga. We get to have fun with it as well as lifting and toning the face!

Continue for around 30 seconds to a minute. You should feel the movement working the muscles where your fingers are.

Release your hands for a moment and give them a shake out if you need to before going onto the next exercise.

2. Smile and Pulse

Place your index fingers back on the outer edges of your eyebrows and lift slightly up and out, as you did in the previous exercise.

Open your mouth slightly and tuck your lips around your teeth. Lift the corners of your mouth up to make a smile shape.

Keep the corners of your mouth lifting up as you use your fingers to pulse your eyebrows up and down. This mouth position helps to engage the muscles around the temples.

Continue for 30 seconds to a minute, aiming for 30-60 repetitions.

Bring your hands down and relax your face, taking some deep, long breaths through your nose.

3. Temple Massage

The previous two exercises work with the muscles in the temple area. Over time, doing these face yoga techniques regularly will help to tone and strengthen those muscles, making the temples look fuller and reducing any hollowing.

This final technique is a great way to finish because it helps to release any tension created by those strengthening exercises. It also helps with energy flow to the temple area. In face yoga, we work on both a physical and an energetic level, stimulating the life force energy – called prana in yoga or Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

By massaging the acupressure points at the temples, we help to release any blockages or stagnant energy, making the skin appear brighter and more vibrant. 

So, this is also a great technique to do if you notice that you are holding a lot of tension or stress in the temple area, which can lead to blocked energy.

To do this, simply take your index and middle fingers onto your temples and massage in a circular motion.

As you massage, bring your attention to your breath. Lengthen out your inhale and exhale, breathing through your nose if you can. With each exhale, imagine the stress and tension leaving your body. Soften your face, releasing any last bits of tightness you might be holding onto.

Continue for around 30 seconds and then switch to massage in the other direction.

Finished

We are all done! Release your hands down and finish with a last few deep breaths. Give yourself a moment to feel gratitude for taking this time for self-care.

These Face Yoga exercises are so simple and take very little time, but when you practice them regularly, they can make a real difference to your temples. 

Plus, I always find that taking even just a few minutes out of my day to centre myself in my body and nourish my face with my loving touch can have a huge impact on my mood and wellbeing. Face Yoga is a wonderful practice for showing yourself some care and attention – in our busy lives, these little moments of self-care really matter.

If you’ve enjoyed this sequence and would like to learn more Face Yoga, I have a wonderful bundle of four pre-recorded face yoga retreats available here.

Each retreat is three hours long, so these are perfect for when you need that longer opportunity to rest, recharge, and reset. They combine facial exercises, facial massage, gua sha, and acupressure with sound healing, wellness tips, yoga, Pilates, and more.

You can find out more and purchase lifetime access to the retreat bundle here.