The Face of Buddha

Have you ever woken up and looked in the mirror and not liked what you saw? Perhaps your face seemed bloated, wrinkled and saggy? Unfortunately, this isn’t a rare occurrence for me. I have to admit it to myself. I am definitely getting older. I no longer have the same amount of collagen and elastin I once did. This morning, after a particularily heavy night of sleep my face looked just like that; heavy! When my boyfriend got out of bed he exclaimed “ what happened to your face?! It looks like aliens came and peeled it off during the night and then tried to put it back on.” Hmmph! Maybe I will just go back to bed, I thought to myself. Gone are the days of late-night heavy meals and staying up late. Long hours of work in polluted cities, sun damage and my physical job as a massage therapist has had it’s toll on my face.

If looking into the mirror in the morning is not your favorite thing to do; I am here to tell you that there are a few methods one can utilize to combat the aging face. We have some muscles in our face that express sad and angry emotions, while others express emotions of joy and happiness. In a modern day world sometimes the unhappy muscles get overworked and become tight. Henceforth we are locked into our sad and angry expressions. Use the following techniques to combat this effect and look and feel at your best!

Drink Water:
Water helps to detoxify the body by supporting your organs of elimination; the kidneys, the colon, the liver and the lungs. Not only does water help to normalize sodium levels causing less bloating it creates a clearer and brighter looking skin by helping to get rid of toxins in the body.
Wear Sunblock:
We all love the heat of the sun. Those UV rays are quite damaging, especially to the tender tissue of our face and neck. Wear a hat and a good daily sunblock of 30 SPF or more to protect your skin from those dangerous rays. You will look better in the future and have a reduced risk of skin cancer if your protect that tender skin.
Facial Massage:
You can’t forget about massage! The key with facial massage is to not pull the tissue too forcibly in the direction of sag. The chest, neck and chin areas often show the first signs of sagging and aging so light upward strokes here will help to stimulate collagen production and lymph drainage. Also the muscles on our forehead and scalp can often cause extra wrinkles to appear from chronic stress and squinting or frowning. A good scalp massage and some firm but gentle soothing of the muscles above the brow line will help to ease these wrinkles and frown lines.
Face Yoga:
Like our bodies our faces suffer from the effects of muscular strain. Overused facial muscles from stress, squinting at a computer or at the sun can grow congested and lack good circulation. Moving our faces in all ranges of motion can strengthen, lengthen and tone facial muscles that might be showing the sag of age. A simple exercise to keep the cheeks nice and strong is like that of a trumpet player. Keep the lips tight together and blow the cheeks till they puff out. Alternately blow out one cheek and then the other.
Visualize Happy:
We are what we think, track your thoughts and take note! Are you thinking negative thoughts all the time? Try to change these thoughts through an exercise of visualizing your happy face. Imagine how you would look without those frown lines, those saggy cheeks, the squint lines around your eyes, the pursed lips from smoking…I think you can see the pattern here. Imagine your buddha face whenever you need a good pick-me up and your face will follow your vision; lessening lines of tension and worry and also of excess mirth and merriment.

Happy go-lucky you.

If you like the above face yoga and want more like it check out this book I discovered on face yoga. “The Yoga Face; Eliminate Wrinkles with the Ultimate Natural Facelift; by Annelise Hagen. This is a great book to have in one’s tool kit on how to look and feel healthier.