Have you ever stopped to think about how amazing and unique the muscles in your face are? In contrast to the muscles in the rest of your body, most of the 57 muscles in your face, neck, head, tongue and ears attach directly to the skin rather than to bone. This reflects their role, which is to shape your expressions, allowing you to smile, frown, squint and raise your eyebrows.
And they’re incredibly hard-working. A quick glance at someone’s face can give deep insight into their mood, energy levels, confidence or stress, all through subtle, non-verbal cues conveyed via their expression. You may instinctively read these signals in others, but how often do you think about the muscles that allow this important means of communication? For many people, caring for the face rarely extends to caring for the muscles working hard beneath the surface.
Holding patterns
Over time, facial expressions can become habitual, leaving the face holding onto certain patterns. Take stress as an example. It often shows as tension across the forehead, tightness around the eyes or in the jaw or tension around the mouth.
In modern life, where many people spend long periods of time concentrating, looking at screens or juggling competing priorities, these micro-stressors can accumulate in the face almost unnoticed. Face yoga, then, is an opportunity to bring awareness to the face. Combining facial exercise, massage, acupressure and relaxation, it’s a natural, holistic approach to supporting the face and overall wellbeing. More research is needed, but a 2021 review of studies in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that exercising your face muscles may improve depressive symptoms and mood, and reduce levels of chronic stress. While it became widely known as a wellness trend in the 2010s, often linked to anti-ageing, it’s rooted in much older traditions. Elements of face yoga draw on traditional Chinese medicine, as well as Ayurveda and yoga practices from India, where techniques were used not to reverse ageing, but to support health, energy and balance.
Face yoga brings together a number of simple techniques, each working in a slightly different way to support your wellbeing by focusing on the face:
Movement
Just as the muscles in your body need regular movement to stay strong and healthy, so do the muscles in your face. Exercise can encourage healthy circulation, bringing oxygen and nourishment to the skin. As they grow stronger, the muscles become firmer, helping to support the skin, creating a more lifted and toned appearance. When practised regularly and effectively these exercises work all layers of the skin from the underlying muscles up through the connective tissue to the visible layer of the skin, the epidermis.
Massage
Facial massage helps to boost circulation and lymphatic drainage, bringing oxygen and nutrients to the skin and removing any toxins that have accumulated. This can support a brighter complexion and help to reduce puffiness, particularly any that appears around the eyes.
The techniques are gentle, using a light touch, or working a little deeper into the muscle layer. The focus is always on supporting the skin rather than pulling or dragging it, allowing all layers of the skin to be engaged in a way that feels both effective and nurturing.
Acupressure
This technique uses gentle pressure on specific points of the face. In traditional teachings, these points are linked to the flow of energy through the body; working with them can help to ease tension and promote a sense of balance.
Relaxation
This important technique allows the muscles of the face to soften. By consciously releasing tension, particularly in areas where you tend to hold stress, the face can begin to feel and look more relaxed.
Tuning in
Taking a few moments each day to focus on the face is an opportunity to pause, a chance to slow down and check in, bringing awareness to areas where tension has quietly built up.
With regular practice, there’s often an awareness of repeating patterns; a tendency to clench the jaw, hold the breath, tighten the forehead. Simply noticing these can be enough to begin to soften. Over time, the face can start to feel more relaxed, with this softening and ease extending beyond the face, influencing how the whole body feels. There can be a subtle shift not just in appearance, but in how you feel in yourself as a whole.
This offers a chance to reconnect with yourself in a small, intentional way. It creates space to release tension and bring balance to both the face and the mind. Even a few minutes of conscious attention can feel grounding, offering a moment of calm in a hurried day. The physical changes are important too. As circulation improves and the muscles are gently strengthened, the skin may appear brighter, more toned and more refreshed. Puffiness can reduce, and the face can begin to look more rested. Small studies have shown that regular facial exercises improve fullness in the cheek area, and that face yoga can reduce muscle tension and increase elasticity in superficial muscles of the face while increasing strength in functional muscles.
Easy rituals
If you’re curious about exploring face yoga at home, it doesn’t need to be complicated or time-consuming. It can be as simple as bringing a little more awareness to your face, softening areas of tension and incorporating a few gentle techniques into your routine. For some, this might be a few minutes as part of a morning or evening skincare ritual; for others, it may become a longer, more immersive practice, lasting up to an hour or more, offering a deep sense of relaxation and self-care.
Many people find it helpful to habit stack and build face yoga into something they already do – maybe while washing their face in the morning or evening, or before putting on their makeup. It doesn’t need to be another thing on your to-do list.
A few simple techniques to get you started, along with some helpful tips, are included in the panels opposite and on the following page. As with any form of exercise, it’s important to listen to your body and only do what feels right for you. If you have any underlying medical or skin conditions, or have recently had facial procedures, it’s always best to seek advice from a qualified professional before starting.
Face yoga isn’t about trying to turn back time – it’s an empowering way to support natural, healthy muscles. By bringing a little awareness to your face each day and taking small moments to soften and release, you may begin to notice not just a difference in how you look, but in how you feel.
Liz Moore is a former NHS medical doctor turned health coach, Pilates instructor and face yoga teacher. Find her at lizmoorewellness.com