BLOG 156: TONE YOUR JOWLS NATURALLY IN 5 EASY FACE YOGA MOVES
May 31, 2022
One area I’m often asked about is the jowls – the sagging skin that can develop around your chin and jawline as you get older. So, this blog post is all about simple, quick Face Yoga techniques you can use to naturally lift and tone your jowls.
As we get older, our skin naturally begins to produce less collagen and elastin, which means it isn’t as tight and taut as it was when we were younger. Over time, this can result in loose skin that sags down around your mouth, jaw, and chin area.
This routine aims to naturally reduce the appearance of jowls using a combination of facial exercises and facial massage techniques. You can do the full sequence in around eight minutes (I have a YouTube video of it here if you prefer to follow along with me).
However, you are also welcome to spend a little more time with each technique. Each move can be done for up to a minute.
As always with Face Yoga, I encourage you to be very intuitive with how you use the techniques and work to your own level with each move.
Make sure you have clean hands and a clean face before you start. You might want to do the moves in front of a mirror the first few times, so you can see what you’re doing.
Apply a few drops of facial oil or serum to your lower face to make sure your fingers can move easily over your skin. I use the Fusion by Danielle Collins Pro Lift Moisturising Facial Serum. Packed with organic botanical seed oils, it is very nourishing and hydrating and absorbs easily into your skin too.
1. TAPPING
The first technique we’re going to use is designed to wake up the skin and get the energy moving in the jowl area.
Using all your fingertips, tap rapidly around the jowl area. Move your fingers around so you cover your jaw, lower cheeks, and around your mouth.
Concentrate on areas where you’ve noticed the skin starting to sag or where you can see lines and wrinkles developing.
This simple technique feels wonderful and is also a great way to boost blood circulation to the skin, bringing all that fresh oxygen to your skin cells. It also helps to get the energy moving, so it’s a perfect warm-up to begin this face yoga routine.
2. JAW MASSAGE
Now that we’ve warmed up the skin a bit, we want to start working deeper into the muscles and give a real boost to the circulation.
Form your hands into fists. Using your knuckles, massage along the top of your jawbone in a circular motion. Start with your hands together at your chin, then work out towards your ears.
When you get to the end of your jawbone, lift your hands off and replace them at your chin to repeat the move.
This deeper massage gets right into the muscle and encourages all the fresh blood, oxygen, and nutrients up to the skin’s surface. It also helps to reduce fluid accumulation in this area.
Sometimes, jowls can be caused by a build-up of fluid in the jaw area, or even by fat dropping down from the cheeks. This massage helps to wake everything up and release excess fluid.
Next, form your index and middle fingers into a ‘V’ shape and use them to massage up your jawline, stroking outwards from your chin.
As you do this, bring your attention to your breath. Take deep, long inhales through your nose, feeling your abdomen rise. Then, exhale slowly through your nose, letting your abdomen drop back down.
It’s impossible to over-emphasise how important the breath is to our overall wellness. It has so many benefits for our minds and bodies.
Even in sequences like this, which focus on one specific area of the face, my Face Yoga Method is designed to be very holistic. We’re always considering the whole person. These techniques help to lift and rejuvenate the skin, but we also want to balance and rejuvenate our minds, bodies, and souls.
Focusing on the breath as we bring our loving attention and touch to the face can help us spread that feeling of calm, care, and relaxation throughout our whole bodies.
As well as being a great massage to use to tone jowls and sculpt the jawline, this technique is wonderful for relieving tension in the jaw area. This is somewhere many of us find we store a lot of stress and emotion, so it can end up feeling very tight.
Bring your arms down and give them a little shake to wake up the energy and release any tension in your shoulders. You might want to take a few shoulder rolls too before moving on to the next move.
3. ‘O’ TO SMILE
Our next move is a facial exercise that targets the muscles around the mouth.
First, make an ‘O’ shape with your mouth, wrapping your lips around your teeth. Keeping your lips wrapped around your teeth, move your mouth from this ‘O’ to a smile and back again.
Keep going, working to your own level. Try to keep your focus on working these muscles without tensing your jaw. We want to avoid building up any extra stress or tension in the jaw area.
I know it looks a bit funny but stick with it, this really works to strengthen the muscles and tighten the skin attached to them.
Finish with your mouth in the smile position. Place your index finger on your chin and scoop your lower jaw outwards repeatedly as you slowly tilt your head back. Continue the movement with your mouth as you bring your head back down, then repeat the same sequence again twice more.
Make sure you keep lifting the corners of your mouth up as you do this.
Gently relax your mouth. You might want to take an inhale through your mouth now to help the muscles unwind again and release any tension.
4. WRAP LIPS
We’re going to do another facial exercise now, still working with the muscles around the mouth.
Wrap your lips inwards and close your mouth. Turn the corners of your mouth upwards.
Use your index fingers to smooth the skin on either side of your mouth. We never want to create any new lines with the Danielle Collins Face Yoga Method. This is where a mirror can be handy, so you can check that you are smoothing out any little lines that appear when you take this position.
Hold this pose for around 30 seconds, breathing in and out through your nose.
Release, then repeat the move one more time.
5. PINCH
Using your index and middle fingers and your thumb, pinch down into the muscles around your mouth and lower cheek area. Use a little twisting motion to get deeper into the muscle but remember not to lift or drag at the skin.
We’re working with the life force energy here – called Prana in yoga or Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine. When this energy gets stagnant or blocked, we find issues developing in our physical bodies. This can show up in our faces as tension, lines, stress, and fat accumulation.
Techniques like this help to release blockages and encourage the life energy to flow freely and easily. It is also wonderful for relieving tension and boosting blood flow.
FINISH
End the sequence by tapping all over the lower face, as we did in the beginning. Take a few deep breaths to finish, then release your hands.
WE’RE ALL DONE!
Like any form of exercise or self-care, Face Yoga works best when you make it a regular habit. Even just ten minutes a day can make a huge difference to how you look and feel.
Whether you’re new to Face Yoga or need some help getting back into the habit of doing it regularly, one of the best ways to make it part of your daily routine is to take my 10-day course.
The course is designed to help you learn more amazing Face Yoga techniques in just 10 minutes a day. There are 10 sessions and you get lifetime access when you purchase the course, so you can revisit the lessons at any time.
You’ll also get a digital copy of my first book, Danielle Collins’ Face Yoga. Packed full of Face Yoga moves, wellness tips, skincare advice, and information on living a healthy lifestyle, it’s a great complement to the course.
