These yoga offshoots are getting weirder and weirder – I thought laughter yoga would be the strangest thing I would do, then I tried facial yoga.
Facial yoga is basically a series of exercises for your face, that stretch various muscles and reportedly help tone and reduce wrinkles. More a part of the wellness culture than exercise, a quick Google search sees it pop up on various health websites including the “wellness and lifestyle company” Goop. Goop, founded by Gwenyth Paltrow is famous for it’s ‘out there’ wellness recommendations, including vaginal steaming, and stickers that promote healing, so I thought if was going to do something a bit new age, I might as well go all in and do it the Goop way!
These were actually pretty intense: for most of them you do a couple of repetitions for 20 seconds at a time, and I was always glad when I got to relax my face again. Whether this holds any benefit or not, I have no idea, but I definitely felt it in my face straight away – even now, 12 hours later, I can still feel that my face has a had a work-out, a little like when you’re cheeks hurt after you’ve been laughing a lot.
This felt weird, looked weird, and has no proven benefit. Despite all that, I think I’ll continue to do it for a week or so as I’m curious if I can see a difference. Have I been Gooped?!
New Day, New Thing 