BLOG 168: HERE’S 5 FACE YOGA MOVES YOU CAN DO WHILE AT YOUR DESK

If you spend a lot of time at your desk, this blog post is for you! I’m running through a quick Face Yoga routine that you can do while sitting at your desk.

We’ll be focusing on techniques that relieve common issues that can crop up when we’re sitting for a long time and working on screens. The whole routine takes around seven minutes in total, so this is a great little sequence to enjoy as part of a short wellness break during your working day.

If you have either of my two books, Danielle Collins’ Face Yoga or the Face Yoga Journal, you’ll know that I normally recommend spending around a minute on each technique. 

However, if you are doing this Face Yoga routine during a busy working day, you can spend a little less time on each one. Aim for about 30 seconds or so. Of course, if you have time to do a full minute on each move, that’s great too.

If you prefer to follow a video, you can also find this class on my YouTube channel. There are written captions to help guide you through the moves if you need to watch on mute in a busy office.

GETTING STARTED

Before you begin this sequence, make sure you have clean hands, especially if you’ve been touching your phone or computer. We want to avoid transferring any of that dirt or bacteria to the skin.

Ideally, we want to do Face Yoga with a clean face and to apply something like the Fusion by Danielle Collins Pro Lift Facial Moisturising Serum to help your hands glide over your skin. However, that might not be possible at your desk, so it’s fine to do this Face Yoga sequence with makeup on.

Begin by placing your feet flat on the floor and grounding down through your soles. Lengthen out through your whole spine, imagining that there’s a string running up your spinal column and out through the crown of your head, pulling you up towards the ceiling.

Relax your shoulders back and down. Place your hands on your abdomen and take a moment to connect with your breath. Take long inhales and exhales through your nose, feeling your abdomen rise and fall as you breathe.

When you feel calm and centred, bring your fingertips onto your neck. Tap rapidly all over your neck and face to wake up the skin and start to release tension.

Now, we’re ready to begin the first move.

1. NECK 

Sitting at our desks all day can quickly lead to neck strain and eventually to tech neck. This can also cause lines at the front of the neck, turkey neck, and fluid retention in this area, giving us the appearance of a double chin.

To combat this strain, we’re going to start with a move that targets the neck area. 

Turn your head to one side. Tilt your chin up and slightly back. Holding in that position, bring the tip of your tongue up to the roof of your mouth and down again at a rate of about one per second.

Continue for around 30 seconds, then come back to centre. Repeat this move on the other side.

2. JAW

Another area that quickly becomes tense when we’re concentrating on our work is the jaw. So, let’s release some of that tightness with a soothing jaw massage.

Using both hands, form a ‘V’ shape with your index and middle fingers. Starting at your chin and moving outwards, use this V to smooth along your jaw line, using one hand and then the other. 

This is a move where applying some serum can really help add extra glide. However, if you can’t do that right now, just keep an eye on the pressure you use. We don’t want to drag at the skin, so you’re just aiming for a light-to-medium pressure here.

3. CHEEKS

Our next exercise targets the muscles of the cheeks, helping to lift and firm this area. 

Make a smile shape with your mouth, wrapping your lips around your teeth. Use your index fingers to smooth out the skin and prevent any lines from forming while you hold this position.

Slowly scoop your head back, keeping your mouth and hands in position. Hold there for a count of 15 seconds, then come back down.

4. EYES

We all know how working with screens all day can strain our eyes. This face yoga move works the eye muscles to help strengthen them and ease eye strain.

Place your hand on your forehead to help you keep your head still. Moving just your eyes, imagine that you are looking at every number on a large clock face. Start at twelve and work your way around clockwise.

When you get back to twelve, repeat the action in the opposite direction. 

Then, focus on a point just in front of you and open your eyes as wide as you can, using your hand to stop your forehead from moving. Take a few breaths, then release your hand down and close your eyes for a moment to reset.

5. BROWS AND FOREHEAD

Next, we’re tackling those number 11 lines that can appear between our eyebrows when we’re concentrating. 

Using your thumb, flick upwards between your eyebrows repeatedly. Vary the angle of your flicks from time to time to cover a wider area.

This helps to release tension and relax the muscle here, reducing lines. Don’t worry if you see some pinkness or redness appearing – this is normal and will quickly fade.

Then, using two fingers and your thumb, pinch along your eyebrows. Start at the inner corner and work outwards. Lift off when you get to the end and replace your fingers at the inner corner to repeat.

We hold a lot of tension in our brow and forehead area, especially when we’re working on screens. This helps to relieve some of that tightness.

Finally, form your hands into fists and place them in the centre of your forehead. Gently stroke outwards across your forehead, then replace your hands in the centre and repeat.

This soothing massage helps to smooth out forehead lines and relax the muscles, encouraging us to express more with our eyes and less with our forehead and eyebrows.

FINISH

Relax your hands down and finish off the sequence by taking a good deep breath in and out through your nose. 

Hopefully, your face is now feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, leaving you ready to focus on your work again.

For more Face Yoga techniques that you can use to lift the face, brighten the skin, and relieve stress and tension, check out my two books. As well as Face Yoga, they contain plenty of tips on how to prioritise your overall wellness – something that is as important during our working day as it is the rest of the time.

You can find out more about the Face Yoga Journal here, and more about Danielle Collins’ Face Yoga here.