By Vanamala Mayr-Reisch
The Silent Killer
High blood pressure is often called the “silent killer”.High blood pressure usually has no noticeable symptoms, but it kills approximately 10 million people every year.
Here is an interesting question, “Does Face Yoga lower blood pressure?”
Last night at the class, one of the participants shared that she tested if Face Yoga would influence her high blood pressure. Because she has to monitor her blood pressure constantly, she got the exact blood pressure readings before and after doing Face Yoga. After practicing face yoga for about 15 to 20 minutes, her blood pressure was lower than before. It put a smile on my face.
There are several reasons why Face Yoga helps you to relax and lower your blood pressure. First of all, you are taking time out for yourself. You allow yourself to stop for a moment and step away from a busy day.
The exercises are guided by slow and deep breathing. It automatically slows down the movement and brings awareness to the part of your face that you are working on.
Before we start and between the exercises, I invite you to turn your focus in and connect with your body by closing your eyes and sensing your facial muscles.
All these aspects that I mentioned reset your body’s chemistry. Deep breathing and relaxation activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which signals your brain to tell the anxious part that you’re safe and doesn’t need to use the fight, flight response.
Closing your eyes and breathing slowly and deeply will change your bodily functions like the heartbeat, circulation, digestion, and muscle tone to start slowing down. Face Yoga not only improves your looks but also gives you a moment of peace and rest.
In face yoga, we combine muscle exercises with conscious breathing, correction of body posture, and bringing awareness to what we do in our face and body throughout the day. Because a good body posture is essential to succeed with face yoga, you will learn how to straighten your spine, realign your entire body, and hold yourself upright with the least effort.
Exercise:
To get an idea of what that means before you continue to read, place your feet on the ground, keep your knees hip-wide apart, and notice how you sit. Move your attention to your breath. Breathe deeply, all the way into your belly. Feel the chest and abdomen expand with every in-breath and return to their original position with every out-breath. While you breathe in and out, relax your shoulders – your neck – your jaw. Let any tension in your muscles melt away… breathing in and out. Now close your eyes for one minute but continue to breathe.
Slowly open your eye and come back into the room.
During the face yoga classes, we incorporate this meditation or relaxation. It will assist you in winding down.
Deep relaxation by turning your attention inside is only one aspect. The exercise program consists of activation but also of relaxation by lengthening the muscle. If a facial muscle is tight, it will lose strength, and the face becomes saggy. Muscles shorten or get tight for two main reasons: inactivity and hard workouts. Spending hours sitting wreaks havoc on muscles throughout your body. Over time, these muscles shorten, leading to a tight feeling and a decreased range of motion.
To train any muscle in the body, you must first reduce tension and lengthen the muscle. Then it is possible to train the muscle at an optimum. During my classes, workshops, and consultations, you learn to relax your muscles most efficiently
I am not surprised that blood pressure is positively influenced by face yoga.
Face yoga invites you to relax and wind down after a busy day.
Join one of my classes or workshops and try how great it makes you feel in the most gentle and fun way.