Face Pilates — Kinesis Pilates (2024)

Visit www.kinesispilatesdenver.com/face-pilates for our new Intro Face Pilates Online Course.

You probably never thought about exercising your face muscles before. But in Pilates, we believe all muscles—small and large—need to be trained. Why wouldn’t that include the 50+ muscles of the face, head, and neck?

Exercise of the facial muscles is called a lot of things—face yoga, face gymnastics, facersize. Since I teach Pilates, I’ll be calling it Face Pilates. But regardless of the name, it is just exercise and tissue manipulation/massage of the face and neck. Face Pilates is sometimes performed by the muscles alone and sometimes with resistance provided by the hands (you may be relieved that no equipment with springs is involved).

My interest in face exercise has slowly been building for a decade. It began when one of my children needed Orofacial Myology, which is basically physical therapy for the mouth and face. To see how regular exercise could change the shape and function of his mouth was impressive. Then I saw a rolfer and a cranial sacral therapist who would massage inside my mouth and cheeks with great results. Then I underwent vocal cord surgery in 2018, and a huge piece of my recovery was exercise as well as deliberate relaxation of muscles in the mouth and neck. The final straw was when COVID struck and the necessity of face masks made me change the way I used my jaw to speak, sometimes causing muscular soreness and headaches. All these experiences made me realize that I wanted to give dedicated attention to the tiny muscles of my face, jaw and neck.

While my primary interest in beginning a face exercise program was better use of facial muscles and reduced pain, it wasn’t lost on me that training these muscles may also change the appearance of my face (before and after photos below). I’m in my 40s and have been noticing small changes to my face—dark under eye circles, a hollowness and thinning of the face, wrinkles—that I would like to slow or reverse without botox and surgery. I want my face to feel and look as young as my body does thanks to Pilates. It would be nice to be able to change the function, as well as form, of my face with one natural and affordable approach.

When you exercise, only muscles that are specifically used experience an increase—about tenfold!—in circulation and the myriad of benefits that come from more vascularization, blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients, as well as improved waste removal. So while I was doing Pilates and movement for my body every day, none of the muscles of my face were benefiting from all that exercise. In fact, I know from pictures that if anything, I tense my face in unproductive ways while performing Pilates (see in these photos how I inadvertently elevate my eyebrows while performing spinal extension…)

I began with a Face Yoga program from Glowinface, and expanded into a variety of other face exercises from a host of experts in the field. I combined it with massage techniques and acupressure I have learned from therapists over the years. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to activate muscles I had little control over and felt emotional and psychological changes after exercising my face. After teaching Face Pilates to some of our teachers and clients, they had this to say about the experience:

• I really enjoy face pilates. It’s great stress relief.

• My face feels so strong. Smiling feels great. It’s easier to do.

• The self massage really reduces tension and helps with headaches.

• I love the way my face feels. I literally feel uplifted.

• If I practice before bed, I feel more relaxed going to sleep. And it helps with my TMJ.

• I didn’t like opening my mouth wide before because it hurt. I would cut my apples instead of eat them whole. I notice now it’s easier to open my mouth.

Just like all exercise programs, consistency is the key. Practicing daily means the face muscles, connective tissue and skin get regular increased circulation and toning. Personally, it took at least a month to notice better control of my face muscles and reduced headaches when wearing a face mask, and close to two months to see visible changes to my face. The good news is that it’s easy to sneak into your day, like when you’re reading a book, while waiting at a stoplight, or when you first wake up but want to stay in bed a bit longer.

One of the best things about self awareness and improved muscle control is not just that you can move your face differently, but also that you can relax those muscles when not using them. Reduced facial tension can mean less headaches, less jaw clenching, fewer wrinkles caused by tension (like pursed lips and furrowed brows), and a plumper feeling to the tissue. There’s also a noticeable mood boost from this type of self care. Especially right now when we’re seeing fewer faces and communicating less with our faces, it’s very satisfying to spend time closely connected to your own face or the face of your virtual teacher, especially in the sometimes amusing exercises (who wouldn’t feel better after watching themselves make “funny faces” in the mirror?) See this meta-analysis for more on this.

Want to give Face Pilates a try? Starting on Friday October 2nd 2020, we’re launching a 10-week virtual Face Exercise and Massage course. (The next session will begin March 12, 2021—sign up here). Consistent exercise and massage of the face and neck can give you:

• Increased self awareness, especially of expressions you make inadvertently while focusing on other tasks.

• Increased control of facial muscles.

• Increased tone and volume of facial muscles, which has the potential to change the appearance of your face (note in the before and after photo how my eyes have brightened and the area between the nose and upper lip has plumped).

• Increased strength and resting tone in the neck.

• Increased circulation to the muscles, connective tissues, and skin of the face and neck, changing the color/tone and health of your skin (note in the before and after photo how much pinker my skin looks).

• Increased potential for angiogenesis—the growth of new blood vessels.

• Deep relaxation of not just the face, head, and neck but also the mind and spirit.

• Increased range of motion in joints like the jaw.

• The potential to reduce tension in the jaw and tension headaches.

• The potential to balance out asymmetries of the face (note in the before and after photo how my eyebrows are a little more symmetrical).

• The potential to better control vocal projection, resonance and articulation by relaxing the muscles that choke our voice and strengthening the ones that form speech.

• A simple way to self care that doesn’t require as much energy and motivation as exercising your whole body and can easily be incorporated into your daily routine.

Update:

We now offer our Intro Face Pilates course as an online option, worth 6 CECs for Certified Pilates Teachers. Learn more on our Face Pilates Page.