BLOG 48: HOW TO REDUCE PUFFY EYES AND EYE WRINKLES WITH FACE YOGA

Today, we’re going to work the eye area with myself and my friend, renowned facialist Abigail James. The first four moves are one’s that Abigail does with her clients. We’ll follow that up with three of my favourites. If you’d like to follow along with us, you can watch us on YouTube.

PREP.

Before we begin, you must use a serum or oil with slip for these exercises. We’re going to be really targeting the eye area, so even a regular eye cream is fine to start.

Dot your facial serum around your eye area. Make sure you moisturise the whole area: around and under the brow. Pat it gently in.

ONE.

The first exercise is incredibly easy to do. Simply press up at the inner corners of the brow. There’s a wonderful pressure point here. You can press quite firmly, with whichever finger you prefer.

Press up, then slowly move your fingers out under your brows and circling down under your eyes back to the start. Lift your brows up as you trace under them, then lightly circle underneath and back to the starting position. 

You can do this as many times as you like.

TWO.

Abigail’s next exercise focuses on the crow’s feet.

Gently stretch apart the skin on your temples, just beside your eye. You can use your thumb and index finger in a C-shape. Or use your index and middle finger in a V-shape. Do what feels best for you.

With your other hand, zigzag one finger across this space.  Zigzag across any area that tends to get crow’s feet. You can go all the way back to the hairline. You can also go slightly down your temples. Keep your skin well supported here. We just want to increase blood flow and circulation.

Repeat on the other side.

THREE.

This one is good for opening up the eyes.

Support the eyebrow, either by pulling up on it with your fingers or by stabilising it with a flat hand. Now, push up on your upper lid to brow area with your index finger.

This move is a bit of a lift and a flick. Work your way from the centre out. Repeat on the other side.

There are many pressure points across this area.

FOUR.

This quick move is good for draining dark circles. Just gently place and tap your fingers under your eyes. Make light, delicate taps downward on the skin. You’re working the skin here, not the muscle.

Do these eight to ten times, then move across.

FIVE.

This exercise uses the palm and heel of the hand. Bring the heel of your hand onto the outer half of your eyebrows. You can rest your hands on top of your head if you like.

Hold here, widen your eyes, and breathe.

Focus on a point in front of you as you widen your eyes. This is a yogic eye movement. Think about lifting, strengthening the muscle that runs around your eyes, and boosting circulation in the eye.

Rest for a moment.

SIX.

Remove your hands and do some simple eye movements. Just look up to the ceiling, then down again.

This exercise is great if you’re prone to overusing your eyebrows. You can place one hand onto your forehead to help keep the muscle still. We tend to underuse our eye muscles and overuse the large forehead frontalis muscle. This move signals to the forehead muscle, that it can relax. It also wakes our eyes up.

You can also look side to side.

This exercise helps if you have deeper lines on your forehead. Try to get used to relaxing that muscle and using your eyes more.

This will help the energy lift and open up your eyes as well.

SEVEN.

I call this move flirty eyes. It makes a bit of a funny face, but it’s great for strengthening all the way around the eye area. Make a tight O-shape with your mouth. Then bring your index fingers parallel along the base of your eye socket.

Now look up, keep the forehead as still as possible, and flutter your top eyelid. Flutter for around 30 seconds. You can build up to a minute.

This move strengthens the muscle around the mouth, while better engaging under your eyes. The fluttering is really good for your eyelids and for reducing hooded or drooping eyes.

This is incredibly energizing. It’s very good for when you feel tired or stressed.

Make sure you’re breathing well throughout.

EIGHT

With each hand, pinch across your eyebrow with two fingers and a thumb. You can spend a bit of time pinching the inside corner, before you begin to move out. Hold and breathe to relax any number eleven lines.

Pinch across when ready. Keep the rest of your face relaxed. Pause on any areas that feel tender or tense. If you don’t want to use pinching pressure, you can use your thumbs instead. Just tilt your head down, place your thumbs on the inner corners of your eyebrows, and rest.

This routine is also wonderful for waking you up. You can try it at your desk or whenever you need to perk up a little.

To keep up with new Face Yoga exercises, follow me on Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter, and on Facebook. You can also join my newsletter to stay updated.

If you would like more information on how to teach Face Yoga head to https://faceyogaexpert.com/teacher-training

Take care.