BLOG 111: FACE YOGA MOVES TO DO BEFORE YOUR PERIOD

In the days before your period, it’s normal to feel tired, achy, and emotional. At this point in our cycles, we need plenty of nurturing self-care, so today’s post takes you through a lovely soothing Face Yoga flow that is perfect for before or during your period.

The full sequence takes just ten minutes and is very gentle and calming.

I’ve designed this Face Yoga flow to be done in bed, or in a comfy nest on the sofa. Get into comfortable clothes, grab a blanket, treat yourself to a lovely cup of herbal tea. Make sure you feel warm, cosy, and nurtured.

You can also follow along with this youtube video 

GETTING STARTED

Make sure your hands and face are clean. Find a comfortable seated position – in your bed or on the sofa. 

Taking deep breaths, lengthen up through your spine and relax your shoulders down.

When we have PMS, we often feel sluggish and heavy. We also have a lot of held emotions in our bodies. So, we’re going to start this face yoga flow with some gentle tapping to get the energy moving and release stuck emotions.

Forming your hands into loose fists, tap gently all over your chest and collarbone. Continue over your shoulders, down your arms, and back up again. You can also use an open palm to tap upwards on the underside of your arms and into your armpits.

Give your arms and hands a good shake out. Then, very gently tap your fists all over your stomach area, making a circle in one direction and then in the other.

Finally, tap over your legs.

Bring your arms down and take a long, deep breath in through your nose. Exhale out through your nose too, making your out-breath a bit longer than your in-breath. Focus on feeling grounded and centred.

Take another deep inhale and exhale.

LION’S BREATH

Our next move is beautiful for releasing feelings of anger, frustration, and stress, which can often build up during our premenstrual days.

Bring your hands up next to your face. Close your eyes and clench your hands into fists. Tense your face as you inhale.

Exhale forcefully through your mouth, sticking out your tongue and making a ‘ha’ sound with your breath. As you breathe out, stick out your tongue, open your hands, and open your eyes. Feel the stress and tension leave your body along with your breath.

Repeat this exercise another three times.

THIRD-EYE POINT

For our next move, we’re using our thumbs. In yoga and Ayurveda, the thumb is said to hold plenty of prana – the life energy. 

Place one thumb on the third eye acupressure point, which is found between your eyebrows. Flick gently upwards to stimulate the acupressure point. This is wonderful for releasing stress and tension.

As you flick, remember to take deep, calming breaths in and out through your nose.

NURTURING ENERGY

Rub your hands briskly together to generate warmth and energy between your palms. Bring your hands up to cup the crown of your head.

Close your eyes and breathe deeply, feeling the comforting, nurturing touch coming down through your crown. Visualise the energy moving down through the chakras, along the centreline of your body, all the way to your tailbone.

If you are feeling sad, teary, and emotional, visualise this energy as a healing, white light that flows from your hands all the way through your centre. This light helps you to feel balanced and calm again.

With your fingertips, tap over your neck, jaw, cheeks, and forehead to get the energy flowing and wake up the skin before the next few exercises.

Bring your hands back down to rest on your thighs.

TEMPLE MASSAGE

When we have PMS or are on our periods, we are often more susceptible to tension headaches and migraines. This gentle Face Yoga massage helps to alleviate and prevent those symptoms.

Take two fingers to each of your temples. Gently massage in a circular motion, feeling grounded and centred.

As you massage, visualise a gentle red light around your tailbone.

Keep your focus on your breath. The breath is the most powerful tool we have in the days leading up to our periods. It helps us to relax, cope with our changing emotions, and get the energy flowing through our bodies.

When you are ready, switch the direction of your circular massage to move in the opposite direction.

EYEBROWS

With two fingers and your thumb, gently pinch and hold the inner corners of your eyebrows. This is another face yoga technique that is excellent for relieving tension headaches and releasing stress.

Try to bring your thumb into the little indentation at the top of your eye socket, just beneath the eyebrow. There’s an acupressure point here that is very good for relieving anxiety and worry.

Remember to focus on the breath as you stimulate this acupressure point.

NECK STRETCH

When we have PMS, we often find we hold emotions in our neck, shoulders, and jaw area. As they build up, these areas become tense and tight. But this simple, gentle stretch will open everything back out again.

Turn your head to one side and gently tilt your chin up and slightly back, lengthening out the opposite side of your neck. You should feel the stretch down the side of your neck and into your shoulder.

The focus of today’s face yoga sequence is our wellbeing, but we might as well add in a little natural facelift too while we are here. Keeping your head turned to the side, stick out your tongue and stretch it towards the tip of your nose to activate the muscles further.

Hold this for a count of ten. Release back to centre, then repeat the move on the opposite side.

Feel the tension leave your neck and shoulders as you hold the stretch.

PINCHING

Bring your head back to the centre. Using both hands, pinch along your jawline with two fingers and your thumbs. This releases tension and gets any stagnant energy flowing freely again.

Continue up to pinch over your cheek area. Not only will this help to relax the muscles, but it also increases the circulation to your cheeks, brightening the skin and making you look and feel better.

Pinch over your eyebrow area too. Then, gently tilt your head back. Using the fingertips of both hands, tap all over your neck. Move up to tap over your jaw, cheeks, around your eyes, and all over your forehead.

FINISH

Finally, rub your hands together once again to generate warmth and energy between your palms. Place your hands over your eyes.

Keeping your eyes closed, move your hands down to rest on your stomach area. Hold them here and focus on relaxing the muscles.

Visualise the energy from your palms flowing into your abdomen. You can picture it as a warm, white light bathing your stomach and lower back. Feel the whole area becoming calm and relaxed. This is especially lovely if you are experiencing any menstrual cramps.

Finish by taking a last deep inhale and exhale through your nose. When you are ready, open your eyes and release your hands.

Hopefully, this nurturing Face Yoga routine has helped you to feel calm, soothed, and grounded.

If you would like to learn more Face Yoga moves to support your health and wellbeing, I have plenty of resources available in my shop to help you on your journey. If you would like to help other on their healing journey you may like to become a certified and accredited Face Yoga instructor with our teacher training course