Once installed, the frown line can make us look more severe than we would like. Good news: there are gentle techniques to prevent and erase it, without resorting to cosmetic surgery. One of them is the facial yoga.
In his latest book I’m getting started with facial yoga – Visual guide (Editions Leduc), the yoga teacher and facialist Sylvie Lefranc offers several exercises to relax the area between the eyebrows. We reveal some of them in this article. But before that, let’s try to determine where these little wrinkles that are so much talked about come from…
The frown lines are vertical furrows located between the eyebrows, which are accentuated when they frown. These expression lines are formed following the frequent and repeated contraction of certain frontal muscles. But over time, they can remain visible even when perfectly relaxed. And for good reason, the skin loses its elasticity as it ages, so it has more and more difficulty regaining its original shape after these muscle contractions. Result, it freezes and the folds remain visible.
In a video broadcast live on Youtube, Sylvie Lefranc cites several factors that can cause a eyebrow twitch and therefore accentuate the lion’s wrinkle:
It therefore strongly encourages people in need to wear glassesand those who have a tendency to be easily dazzled, to wear sunglasses when the outside light is very bright. In addition, she recommends doing very gentle exercises to relax the frontal muscles, brutal gestures being totally counterproductive here.
This area is indeed directly connected to the nervous system and therefore to our emotions. “If it’s tense, it’s a safe bet that our nervous system, too, is tense. […] No matter how hard we shoot to push it away, it will refuse to relax”. Some gentle facial yoga techniques can, on the contrary, help the frontal muscles to relax.
What is facial yoga?
With age, the facial muscles (this one has about fifty) lose tone and volume. On his side, the skin becomes thinner and drier ; it produces less hyaluronic acid. Result: wrinkles form, facial features are pulled down under the effect of gravity. Facial yoga can stop or even reverse this phenomenon.
This holistic practice is inspired by Ayurvedic massage and some facial gymnastics. It brings together a set of non-invasive anti-aging methods, which will improve blood circulation and therefore tissue oxygenation, tone the muscles of the face, drain toxins and soothe tension. Thanks to regular practice, the skin will regain its suppleness and firmness.
Exercises and self-massages to practice every day
“Facial self-massage and acupressure are an essential complement to facial yoga exercises”, says Sylvie Lefranc in her book I am learning facial yoga. “They will stimulate the production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid, promote lymphatic drainage at the level of the dermis and strengthen the overall energy that circulates in our body and is reflected in the radiance of our face”.
For real effectiveness, facial yoga must be integrated into your beauty routine, and therefore practiced every day. “Ideally when you take care of your face and apply your cosmetics in the morning and evening,” says the expert. “They are achieved on clean, cleansed, toned and hydrated skin”.
Discover below three facial yoga exercises to fight against frown lines…
Facial yoga: 3 exercises against frown lines
To relax the muscles around the eyebrowsthe face yoga teacher advises a small self-massage exercise, which you can do at will during the day. It will especially benefit people who spend many hours in front of a screen.
Self-massage: relaxation of the area between the eyebrows
“Rub your palms together vigorously so that they are warm. Put the elbow of the right hand in the palm of the left hand or on a table or your desk, and place your forehead in your hand, the palm located at the level of the space between the eyebrows. Completely relax your shoulders and neck and feel your hand supporting your head. Take a deep breath and on each exhale gently press your hand between your eyebrows.”
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The specialist then advises another exercise, which will come stretch the corrugator muscles. It contributes to erase frown lines which could have been formed by force of contractions.
Self-massage: stretching the area between the eyebrows
“Place the thumbs at the level of the eyebrow heads and slide them one after the other outward following the eyebrow line. Press enough to act on the muscle. Make a dozen smoothings on each side. If you notice that your eyebrows tighten more after this massage, lighten the pressure of the fingers in order to soothe your nervous system whose tension is responsible for the contraction of the eyebrows”.
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After practicing the two previous self-massages, you can perform a third exercise aimed at tone the muscles around the eyebrows. “This exercise is to be reserved only for people whose area between the eyebrows has lost firmness and gives a feeling of relaxation under the fingers”, specifies Slyvie Lefranc.
Facial yoga: toning of the area between the eyebrows
- Place the fingertips at the outer corners of the eyebrows and move them towards the temples to enlarge the distance between the eyebrows.
- Inhale and, on the exhale, try to frown while preventing the contraction from being fully realized due to the stretching by the fingertips. No wrinkles should appear between the eyebrows during the exercise. Repeat twice.
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In addition to these three exercises, the specialist recommends daily stimulation three acupressure points located on the forehead: Yin Tang, V1 and V2. “This will deepen the relaxation and smoothing of the features while subtly working on the emotional tension at the origin of expression lines”.
These exercises are taken from the book I’m getting started with facial yoga – Visual guideby Sylvie Lefranc, published by Éditions Leduc.
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Facial yoga: how to prevent and fight against frown lines?
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