After hot yoga, extreme yoga and yoga clubbing, what could be next? How about facial yoga, designed to keep the face youthful-looking?
Ranjana Khan, a jewelry designer, has introduced a yoga video online that includes 14 yoga exercises for the face. The Mumbai-born New Yorker, who is married to the fashion designer Naeem Khan, got into yoga in her twenties after running marathons took a toll on her joints and left her physically exhausted, she said in a recent interview. “I had just moved to New York but was back and forth to India and really connected with yoga,†she said. She had teachers in both countries, and one in India began incorporating yoga for the face into their sessions.
These moves, he told her, would increase blood flow to her facial muscles, keep her skin firm and increase her energy. She soon became an enthusiast, and for the last few decades has practiced facial yoga th ree or four times a week, 10 minutes at a time. “The exercises are very easy to do and only take a few minutes a day,†she said.
Ms. Khan's program joins a host of other facial yoga routines dedicated to keeping you looking young such as facialyogaonline.com developed in 2006 by yoga instructor Michael Glen and The Yoga Face, a book and online program created by yoga instructor Annelise Hagen.
While it may seem unlikely that extreme facial contortions might prevent aging, rather than cause wrinkles, doctors say there is some evidence they do make the skin look better.
Neil Sadick, a cosmetic surgeon and clinical professor of dermatology at Weill-Cornell Medical Center in New York, has conducted studies on facial stimulation and said facial yoga does have benefits. “It's not proven that face exercises can increase blood flow, but they can improve muscle tone and make the skin look more supple,†he said.
The effect is not the same as laser resur facing or a chemical peel because the moves won't stimulate collagen, Dr. Sadick said, but with a regular routine, the skin could look fresher overall.
Though there are at least 50 facial yoga moves, Ms. Khan's $12.99 video focuses on those for the forehead, eyes, cheeks, mouth and neck. One example for the neck: purse your lips together as if you're going to kiss someone, look up at the sky until you feel the stretch in your neck, hold the position for 10 to 15 seconds and then release the kiss. Repeat four or five times, Ms. Khan says, and your neck muscles will be tauter.
For her part, Ms. Khan, 57, looks considerably younger than her years, which she attributed entirely due to this little-known ancient practice. “This is about taking care of yourself from the inside out,†she said. “I've had four facials my entire life and have never had a facelift or any other cosmetic procedure.â€
