Dr. Sheena introduces the Facial Yoga series to improve neck muscle tone and reduce sagging.
Hi, Dr. Sheena from Qi Medicine Acupuncture, and I’m so excited to bring you my series on Facial Yoga. I love facial yoga, and it is such a great way to help maintain your muscle tone, look after your skin in between your cosmetic acupuncture sessions, or improve your overall glow. So today, we’re going to be focusing on the neck muscles So the neck, a lot of people that come to the practice complain about sagging in the neck and lines and puffiness and fluid retention So I wanted to start with this one because I think this is a really important area.
With Facial Yoga, we can do many exercises to help reduce neck sagging and improve muscle tone. There’s a considerable muscle on the neck called the platysma. Exercise this to significantly impact how that neck area looks. So, your first exercise is to put your finger on your chin and make an O with your mouth. This is a very fun one to do.
Facial Yoga: Simple Exercises for Neck, Jaw, and Mouth Muscles
You can do this anywhere; you can do Facial Yoga anywhere. So make an O with your mouth opening and closing while tilting your head back. So, like this. And going up and down and being careful not to strain the neck. This exercise is excellent for the neck muscles and the jaw. If you have temporomandibular jaw pain or TMJ, tightness or jaw clenching, or mouth muscles, this involves that whole area. So once again, put your finger on the chin. You can feel those muscles working.
Repeat that as many times as you want daily. Then, our second exercise, which I love for a saggy neck and the jowl area, is to place your fingers on your collarbone like this, and then gently stretch the neck up and just put a little bit of tension in the mouth and jaw, so just holding that slightly and breathe… Breathing is so important; this is yoga, after all; it is also about relaxation.
Relieve tension and improve posture with neck and jaw stretching exercises.
So make sure you’re breathing deeply when you do these exercises, and you’ll notice such a nice stretch in the neck. If you sit at the computer all day or drive a car a lot, you will especially love this. It releases so much tension through the front of the body And around the jaw and the neck, in the front of the neck.
The third exercise, one of my favourites, is called Kissing the Sky, so literally, all it is is puckering up to the heavens. Mwah… Stretching your neck up, facing the sky and kissing the ceiling, try again. Mwah … and make that kissing noise; it’s a great release. It seems so fun to do. And as you can tell, it also works for the mouth muscles. So, if you’ve got a bit of sagging around the mouth and some fine lines around the mouth, this is a great one for you, too. It makes you happy as well. Who can’t be satisfied when you’re doing this exercise? I love it.
Facial Yoga: Unlocking Self-Expression and Relieving Tension in the Neck
There are several reasons why it’s great to exercise the neck muscles energetically and emotionally as well. We tend to have many problems with self-expression around the throat area, which can end up with bogginess and tight muscles around the neck. So, doing these Facial Yoga exercises helps you release those held emotions, particularly if you’re having difficulty expressing yourself or speaking your truth.
Facial Yoga for Thyroid Health and Neck Toning
It’s also a great exercise if you have thyroid problems. The thyroid gland is butterfly-shaped just around the neck in the front of the chest. I find mainly women who come in for cosmetic acupuncture. They have thyroid problems; there’s a lot of sagging, heaviness, bogginess, and fluid going on in that neck area. It is tied in with thyroid problems, so it can help improve circulation around the thyroid gland and these Facial Yoga exercises.
As I said, if you sit at a computer or drive a lot, these will counteract a lot of that forward crouch motion you do every day. So those are our three neck exercises. Have fun doing them as many times as you want every day, and I look forward to seeing you at our next instalment of Facial Yoga. So happy, Facial Yoga-ing. Have a wonderful day. Bye!.
Read More: Is POOR POSTURE causing you PAIN | TECH NECK SYNDROME
