BLOG 273: WANT A SMOOTHER UPPER FACE? 6 EASY FACE YOGA TIPS FOR YOU TO TRY
Jun 26, 2024
It was great to see many of you earlier this year for my free masterclass on smoothing the upper face. This is an area that can really benefit from regular face yoga, so I thought I’d also summarise some of the key takeaways from that masterclass here on the blog.
The upper face is often one of the first places where we notice signs of ageing. For example, you might find that you start to get horizontal lines appearing across your forehead.
Other common issues that people ask me about in this area of the face include lines between the eyebrows, dull skin, puffy eyes, crows’ feet, and dark circles around the eyes.
I want to stress that there is nothing wrong with having lines and wrinkles – on your upper face or anywhere else. Ageing is a normal, natural process that should be celebrated – after all, there are plenty of people who don’t get the privilege of experiencing it.
My aim with face yoga is never to try to fight this natural process. Instead, it is to empower you with holistic, nourishing techniques to help you look and feel the best you can for the age you are.
Of course, some people prefer to opt for more invasive techniques, such as surgery or fillers, and that’s also OK. I believe we should all have the freedom to choose how we want to approach ageing – whether that is through natural techniques like face yoga, invasive options like Botox or other injectables, or a combination of both.
Whatever you choose is valid, just trust your intuition to guide you to the route that is right for you.
If, like me, you prefer to take a natural approach and opt for a regular face yoga practice, I have some fantastic tips to share with you in this post that will help to smooth the upper face.
If you prefer, you can also listen along to a solo episode of my Face Yoga Expert Podcast on this same topic.
1. Forehead Massages
There are plenty of amazing, simple massage techniques you can use on your forehead. And often these techniques are so simple that people think they can’t be doing much.
But what we’re doing when we massage the forehead is helping to relax the muscles in this area of the face, especially the frontalis muscle, which is the big muscle that runs across the forehead.
The more we learn to relax that muscle – especially when expressing – the more we can avoid those horizontal lines that tend to appear across the forehead area.
If you want a quick guide to some of my favourite forehead massage techniques, this YouTube video is a great place to start.
2. Eye Yoga
Eye yoga is movement for the eyes and has been done for thousands of years as part of yoga.
It involves a series of exercises for the eyes that aim to strengthen the muscles inside the eyes and around the eye area too.
Eye yoga has so many benefits. It helps your eyes to look brighter and more energised. It encourages you to use your eyes to express more, instead of your brows and forehead (which in turn also helps to keep your forehead more relaxed). And it also helps to smooth out crows’ feet and other lines around the eyes – as the muscles around the eyes become stronger, the skin attached is lifted and tautened in turn.
Exercising the eyes also helps to increase blood circulation to this area, which reduces puffiness and dark circles.
3. Eyebrow Lifting Exercises
Another thing I love doing for the upper face is exercises that target the eyebrows. This only takes about 30 seconds a day, so it really doesn’t need much time at all.
There are lots of small muscles in this area and working with them on a regular basis can help to really open up the eye area. It reduces hooded eyebrows and can be combined with some simple massage techniques, such as using two fingers and your thumb to pinch along the brow line.
4. Head Massage
Head massage is often overlooked when it comes to lifting and smoothing the upper face, but I really love how many benefits it can bring.
Of course, head massage is wonderful for releasing tension in the whole head area. In turn, this encourages the muscles of the upper face to relax and let go of any stored emotions or stress.
Everything is so interlinked, so using head massage to encourage the muscles of the scalp to lift has a knock-on effect on the muscles of the upper face too.
Plus, it is wonderful for your hair health. And just generally feels amazing – a real self-care treat.
5. Using Facial Tools
I love how much you can do to smooth and lift your face with just your own two hands. But there are also some wonderful facial tools that you can use, and they can be particularly effective for the upper face.
It’s no secret that I love to combine face yoga with gua sha, which is an amazing tool for the whole face. I also find crystal rollers great for smoothing the forehead and releasing tension from the upper face.
You can even just use a regular teaspoon to enhance your facial massage – I have some short video classes on how to do this, as well as use gua sha and rollers, which are all part of my course, 21 Day Face Yoga To Lift And Glow In 3 Minutes Daily.
A top tip is to keep your massage tools in the fridge – it makes them feel even more soothing on your skin and is especially good for reducing puffiness and dark circles around the eyes.
6. Affirmations
Affirmations are such a powerful way to shift your mindset and invite certain words and intentions into your life (while releasing others).
When we feel better in our minds, it shows on the face. The upper face especially is a place where many of us store a lot of our stress and emotional tension – which then leads to lines and wrinkles, as well as tight muscles and even headaches.
But working on our mindset can help us to feel strong and empowered in our true, authentic selves. In turn, this shows in our skin – we naturally look brighter and more glowing.
Affirmations can also really help us love the skin we’re in. We remember that we have the knowledge in our own hands to care for our skin health and we celebrate our faces through all the changes that come with this journey through life.
Practice Regularly
Last but very much not least, my final tip for using face yoga to smooth the upper face is to make this a regular practice. Ideally, it is part of your daily routine.
While I love face yoga and know it is absolutely the right approach for me, it doesn’t have the instantaneous effects of Botox or other invasive treatments. It takes a bit more time and commitment for face yoga to show results and you won’t see the dramatic changes that you get with invasive options.
However, the benefits of a regular face yoga practice go far deeper than just smoother and more lifted skin. There’s a real sense of self-care that comes from taking time each day to nourish your skin with your loving touch.
I find face yoga truly empowering – the sense that I have the power in my own hands to approach ageing in a positive light. It is a practice that inspires gratitude and reminds us of the importance of mindfulness.
Hopefully, this post has inspired you to build your own daily practice.
If it has, the 21-day course I mentioned earlier is a great place to start. Each class is just 3 minutes long, so it takes very little time, but is ideal for providing a framework for you to turn face yoga into a daily habit.
