BLOG 210: THE 5 FACIAL EXERCISES TO BRING SYMMETRY TO YOUR FACE NATURALLY

Most of us will notice some differences between the two sides of our faces. It is very, very rare for anyone to have a perfectly symmetrical face.

However, many of us will find that we tend to overuse one side of the face – just the same way as we are likely to use one side of our bodies more than the other. Over time, this can mean we notice that one side of our faces looks more lifted and toned than the other.

Another habit many of us have is sleeping mainly on one side – with our faces pressed against the pillow. Again, this can cause asymmetry in the face. 

To help tackle this, I have some simple Face Yoga exercises to share with you. When you do these every day, it helps to bring both sides of the face into better balance. And, of course, you’ll also feel more relaxed – Face Yoga is a wonderful form of self-care that really leaves you feeling calm, centred, and rejuvenated.

This short routine should take you less than ten minutes in total, so it is hopefully simple to work into your daily schedule. I’ll guide you through the moves in this blog post and you can also follow along with a video version of the routine via my YouTube channel.

BEFORE YOU START

As always with face yoga, make sure you have clean hands before starting this routine – you’ll be touching the face, so you want to avoid transferring any dirt onto your skin. Remove any makeup and cleanse your face too.

Apply a few drops of the Fusion by Danielle Collins Moisturising Serum to give your skin a lovely glide. This serum is made from high-performing botanical seed oils that leave your skin feeling nourished and deeply moisturised. It can be layered under your usual moisturiser or used instead of it.

Find a comfortable position to sit or stand. For this routine, I recommend being in front of a mirror. Since we’re working on symmetry, it is especially important that we’re doing each move equally on both sides of the face. A mirror will help you check your positioning and make sure you’re not lifting one side more than the other.

Take a few deep, slow breaths through your nose to centre yourself ready for the practice. Feel your abdomen rise and fall with your breath. You can close your eyes for a few moments if that helps you find that sense of calm and relaxation.

Open your eyes again and we are ready to begin.

1. FOREHEAD SMOOTH

Bring your two index fingers together in the centre of your forehead. You want your fingers positioned vertically, with your fingertips pointing towards the ceiling and the backs of your fingers resting against your skin.

Very slowly smooth your fingers out across your forehead. 

This move targets the frontalis muscle, which runs across the front of the forehead. We tend to hold a lot of tension in this muscle and will often see lines appearing here when we’re feeling stressed.

2. EYEBROW LIFT

When your fingers reach the outer edge of your forehead, pause. Keeping contact with the skin, gently move your fingers upwards to lift the corners of your eyebrows. A mirror really helps here, because you want to make sure you are pulling both eyebrows up equally, not lifting one higher than the other.

As you hold your fingers here, open your eyes as wide as you can and focus on a steady spot directly in front of you. 

Keep breathing slowly and deeply, inhaling and exhaling through your nose. 

This strengthens the orbicularis oris muscle that runs around the eyes. In turn, this helps to bring more symmetry and balance to the upper face.

Hold here for around 30 seconds, then relax.

Next, bring the tips of your index fingers to the outer corners of your eyebrows and gently pull your eyebrows away from each other. 

Again, open your eyes as wide as you can, focusing on a point straight ahead of you. 

Use a mirror here to make sure you are pulling the eyebrows equally.

Hold for 30 seconds and relax. Take a breath, then repeat the pose.

3. EYE STRENGTHENING

Now, take the tips of your index fingers to the outer corners of your eyes. Once again, open your eyes as wide as you can. 

Look in a mirror to check that both eyes look equal. Often we find we’re closing one more than the other without realising it, but doing this move helps to strengthen the muscles and retrain them to work more evenly together.

Hold for 30 seconds and then relax. Pause a moment, then take the pose again.

4. MOUTH AND CHEEK LIFTING

Next, we’re moving to the cheek and mouth area and working with the muscles here to address asymmetry and bring the two sides of your face into better balance.

Start by wrapping your lips around your teeth and turning the corners of your mouth upwards, keeping your mouth closed. Try to keep the two sides as even as you can but don’t worry if one ends up a little higher than the other and you can’t control it – this is natural. Just do your best.

Use your index fingers to smooth out any lines that you see appearing above your mouth as you hold this position.

Hold the pose, remembering to keep lifting the corners of your mouth upwards. This lifts and strengthens the muscles of the cheeks. And because we’re doing it equally on both sides, it should help to reduce asymmetry in this area of the face.

After 30 seconds, release this pose. Then, repeat the action, but this time have your mouth slightly open as you wrap your lips around your teeth and lift the corners of your mouth up.

Again, make sure you are lifting both sides as equally as you can. Use your index fingers to gently smooth out the skin around your mouth as you hold the pose.

When we work both sides of the face equally like this it helps to retrain our muscles out of that old, uneven pattern of movement and gets them in the habit of working together more.

5. JAW RELEASE

Bring the tips of your index fingers below your ears, just at the top of your jaw. Pressing gently, massage this area in a circular motion to release tension and tightness from the jaw.

Continue to massage in one direction for 30 seconds, then reverse the circles to go the other way for another 30 seconds.

Many of us hold a lot of stress and emotional tension in the jaw area, but we might find that it is tighter on one side than the other. When that happens, it can make the muscle on one side bulge a little. Another thing that can happen is that one side ends up weaker than the other.

Both these things lead to asymmetry in the face, so we want to make sure we’re regularly releasing that tension. We want the muscles to be toned but also relaxed.

FINISHED

Once your jaw is feeling relaxed, bring your hands down. 

Take a few more deep breaths through your nose. As you exhale, focus on relaxing all the muscles of your face and releasing any last bits of leftover tension. Visualise it leaving your body with your breath, leaving your whole face feeling calm and re-balanced.

AND WE’RE ALL DONE!

Like any form of exercise, Face Yoga requires regular practice to be effective. Do this short routine daily to train your muscles to work together and naturally bring more symmetry to your face.

You might find it helps you be consistent if you attach your face yoga to an existing habit. Many people do it as part of their morning or evening skincare routine.

However, you can do Face Yoga at any time of day. In front of the TV, while you’re waiting to pick up the kids, in the shower, at your desk as a quick work break – just find a time that works for you and helps you be consistent.

And if you would like to learn more about Face Yoga, the benefits, and the different techniques available to tackle different areas of the face, consider taking part in my teacher training.

I offer two teacher training courses, one on face yoga and one on facial gua sha (in partnership with Hayo’u). You can do both or concentrate on one at a time.

Teacher training helps you dive deep into Face Yoga and learn a huge range of different techniques, including facial exercises, massage, and acupressure. You’ll also discover the anatomy of the face and understand how each move works to release tension, lift and tone the muscles, boost lymphatic drainage, and work with the energetic body to increase overall wellness.

Of course, you can simply take the course to expand your own personal knowledge. Or you can use your new skills to teach others, which is ideal if you want to start a business as a wellness entrepreneur (or expand your existing offerings).

You can find out more about teacher training here.