Emily: Hi Danielle! First off, is it really possible to exercise our faces?
Danielle: Absolutely! Just as your body needs regular exercise to stay toned and firm, the muscles in our face, head, and neck also need to be exercised. As they become stronger through exercise, they are lifted and firmed, and the skin attached to the muscles is also lifted and tightened, reducing lines and wrinkles. As your muscles become stronger, they act like "stuffing" under the skin and help your face look more youthful.
Emily: In your course, how much time do we have to devote to facial exercises? Will we experience any soreness?
Danielle: Each day you will do about five minutes. At least one minute of this will be face exercise. You shouldn't get sore or painful muscles, but you may feel like your face is getting a good workout and gaining a sense of energy. Results vary from person to person, but you should feel and look glowing within a day or two.
Within a week you may start to notice smoother and more lifted skin. Remember that drinking lots of water and sleeping well will help you get better results. Plus, reducing sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and stress.
Emily: So many people get Botox, fillers, and different types of facelifts. By taking this course, can we lift and tone our face without using these procedures?
Danielle: The key with face yoga is daily practice and consistency. It's like any form of yoga, exercise, or massage. If you do it a couple of times, you may feel a little better and even look a little better, but it's keeping it up for life that is key. It must be part of your daily routine for you to enjoy the long-lasting aesthetic and wellness benefits it gives you. So yes, if you do this regularly you will tone the muscles, boost the circulation, improve lymphatic drainage, ease tension, and tighten the skin. You'll also feel great on the inside, and when we feel good on the inside, this shows on our face.
Emily: You also teach about face massage. Why is it important?
Danielle: Massage is as important as the face exercises. By regularly massaging your face, you increase the circulation and lymph flow, removing toxins. This benefits poor skin tone, puffiness, and dark circles and allows your skin to look healthier and more youthful. The massage helps bring fresh blood, nutrients, and oxygen to the skin's surface to brighten the skin.
It is also fantastic for reducing stress-related lines by relaxing and smoothing the skin. Ideally, do the techniques with a clean face, and apply a little plant-based oil or serum, one that works well for your skin type. Just a little product is fine, to make your fingers glide smoothly during the massage. The massage should be calming, soothing, and pampering.
Emily: Relaxation of facial muscles is also covered — what benefit does it offer?
Danielle: Face relaxation is essential. Some muscles in the face benefit from being exercised, and others from being relaxed. For example, when the frontalis in the forehead is trained to stay relaxed, we are less likely to raise our eyebrows or furrow our brow, and therefore less likely to create lines from expressions. Muscles in the jaw do best with both exercise — to tone and lift — as well as relaxation — to reduce tension. It's amazing for your internal health and happiness. When we feel good on the inside, this radiates through our face.
I also hope that during and after the course people are able to have a better awareness of how they move their faces — this is so important for the prevention of lines and wrinkles. Throughout the day, check in with your face. How is it feeling? Are you furrowing your brow, raising your eyebrows, clenching your jaw, or squashing your neck? If so, close your eyes and take a breath, or simply look in the mirror and soften each area of your face. This helps so much with reducing expression lines and enhances well-being too.
Emily: You've designed this program with two parts: Level 1 (Lessons 1-7) and Level 2 (Lessons 8-14). Why did you set it up this way?
Danielle: As a general rule, there are no beginner and advanced exercises in face yoga, but the course is set up so that in Lesson 1-7, the techniques are very simple to use for beginners. From Lesson 8 onward, they're slightly more detailed in terms of where you put your fingers. You may feel the muscles working slightly harder as they should be used to face yoga and will fire up more quickly.
Emily: I would love for you to share with our community your passion for this work, and what your opinion is on aging gracefully.
Danielle: I've been lucky enough to share my passion for wellness, yoga, and face yoga with people for almost 20 years. I'm incredibly passionate about holistic approaches to health, fitness, and beauty and truly believe that we should all have the opportunity to look and feel wonderful through simple, natural, yet effective techniques.
Part of this is feeling better about ourselves mentally. We talk to ourselves more than we talk to anyone else, and paying attention to this self-talk is key. We are often hypercritical of ourselves and have a negative thought pattern about our appearance and self-worth. Replacing criticism with positive affirmations, stress with counting blessings, and thoughts of not being enough with reminding ourselves we are enough are simple steps that start the journey to feeling good on the inside.
Face yoga is holistic. It's a very natural way to work your face directly, but it's also about feeling good inside. It should be done from a place of love for yourself, not loathing or fear of aging. Every day you do the face yoga in this course, touch your face with love, breathe deeply, feel contentment, and remind yourself that you are great just as you are. I'm blessed and honored every day to have the privilege to grow older, and I think no matter our age, we should do all we can to feel content about who we are inside.
Emily: Tell us about some results you have seen and feedback you have received from participants.
Danielle: I have seen wonderful results. Skin looks more toned, lifted, and firmed. I have seen years of stress melt from faces and students having a greater awareness of where they hold tension or how they express with their faces. I see skin look fresher and brighter, and dark circles and puffiness reduced.
Some students report amazing health benefits such as fewer headaches, less jaw pain, less sinus pressure, and less ear pain. The thing that I enjoy seeing most is how people feel better about themselves. They have a safe and natural tool in their hands to help them look and feel the very best version of who they are.
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