THE 15-MINUTE YOGA FACELIFT
SEE OUR ANTI-AGEING WORKOUT
AFLATTER tummy. Trimmer thighs. And a perkier bottom. When you take up yoga, you can expect your body to undergo a total, more youthful transformation. But did you know your skin could be rejuvenated, too?
It’s one of the many lesser-known beauty benefits of yoga. From plumping up tired complexions to smoothing frown lines, a few daily stretches can give a remarkable anti-ageing boost to your appearance.
It can even tighten double chins, correct the dreaded ‘turkey neck’, reduce varicose veins, give hair extra bounce and zap troublesome cellulite.
I know this because I’ve experienced how powerful an anti-ageing weapon yoga can be. I might be 75, but thanks to my devotion to yoga, people say my hair is still lustrous and my skin glowing.
Yesterday, I showed you how yoga can give you a youthful figure and shed the pounds with delightfully easy stretches.
Today, in the third part of my exclusive anti-ageing yoga series for the Mail, I’ll show you more simple stretches to help revitalise your youthful beauty, no matter what age you are, or how stiff or out of shape you feel.
These exercises I’ve specially selected don’t just focus on your body, however. They’ll also work the muscles in your face to tighten and tone bits that may have drooped with age.
Indeed, as we get older, skin loses its elasticity and muscles become slack, but just a few minutes of facial exercises a day can elevate and strengthen face muscles.
Think of them as your pain-free 15minute facelift — do them for just a quarter of an hour and people will soon wonder if you’ve had a nip and tuck!
I’ll also explain how yoga can help you survive the ups and downs of the menopause, keeping your youthful vitality into your 50s and beyond.
You may feel the passing of the years has taken your inner youthfulness, but yoga really can help you turn back the clock.
MY BEAUTY regime is simple. I wake up, get into the shower and moisturise all over.
There’s no fancy products — a bit of Dove soap and body lotion, and L’Oreal Revitalift face creams. All stuff you can pick up cheaply in the supermarket. I put on foundation, blusher and mascara — and away I go!
I don’t stay out of the sun, either. After all, bone specialists tell us we need 20 minutes of sunlight on bare skin every day to keep our skeleton strong. So I’ve gone for tough bones over completely crease-free skin — and don’t regret it for a second.
I have little age spots on my hands, but I see them as small reminders of happy times rather than anything that needs fixing.
Indeed, I haven’t succumbed to the surgeon’s knife, nor Botox. I rely on regular yoga to keep me looking radiant. So how does yoga improve your skin? It’s such a clever exercise that it works in many positive ways on your complexion. First, it increases blood circulation to the skin, giving it back its natural healthy glow.
The most effective yoga moves for this are inverted poses and forward bends — positions that mean you hang upside down.
They’re perfect to promote the rosy glow which may have diminished over the years, as they increase blood flow to aid skin cell renewal. And don’t worry — you don’t need to do a headstand to help your skin in this way. Gentle moves, such as the Upward Stretch and Forward and Backward Bend, which I showed you in Saturday’s paper, can work just as well, too.
Yoga also has the power to reduce toxins in the body, which can cause breakouts and dull skin.
How? The twists and turns of yoga release tension and stimulate the lymphatic system, which can help remove toxins.
Yoga also restores harmony to our hormones by stimulating our glands, as we discussed yesterday, which has the added bonus of clearing skin and preventing any spotty breakouts — which can happen long after your teenage years have passed. As well as this, the improved digestion that often comes with some of yoga’s most rejuvenating moves — such as the Simple Twist I showed you on Saturday, that massages your internal organs back to health — can also bring beautifully clear skin.
The Simple Twist also helps tone and tighten the jaw and throat. You don’t have to live with a double chin or a turkey neck.
Overleaf, I demonstrate some other super-effective jaw lifts to banish saggy necks and double chins for good, and other marvellous facial exercises. Sadly,
there’s more ageing below the neckline. Cellulite is the curse of almost every older woman. But I think I’ve kept lumps and bumps away largely through yoga and the way it stimulates circulation.
Standing balances are excellent for calming your cellulite — moves such as the Tree Pose or the Dancer’s Pose, which I showed you on Saturday. A going-over with a loofah on your thighs works wonders on your bumpy bits, too, so complement your new yoga balances with a simple scrub down.
I also swear by dry body-brushing, where you gently scrub your skin with a bristle brush before washing, making sure to always brush towards the heart.
Varicose veins are another enemy of youthful legs. Our veins have little valves, and standing for long periods or sitting down all day can compress them. Yoga can help — any ‘inverted’ posture can begin to rectify the appearance of these horrid veins.
Shoulder stands or head stands help valves to function properly, but can be too challenging for a beginner and shouldn’t be attempted if you have high blood pressure.
So try one of the simplest yoga moves: elevate your legs up on a wall, or hook them up over a chair seat as you lie on the floor, to stimulate circulation.
Have you ever noticed how your hair reflects your state of mind? Tension chokes our tissues and can inhibit blood flow to follicles, leaving our hair looking limp and tired. Simple yoga practices, such as the Scalp Massage (right) can help.
And there is another weapon — deep yogic breathing. It’s one of the most effective things to improve our youthful beauty.
Simple Deep Relaxation — where you lie flat and concentrate on breathing into your belly and try to clear your mind — are excellent for flooding the skin with oxygen by opening up the lungs, heart and chest.
Deep breathing also helps optimise lymphatic function around the body by reducing tension, removing toxins and fighting infection. As well as spotty breakouts, a less-than effective lymphatic system can often result in puffiness on the skin.
When I take my annual break from teaching yoga classes in August, I always notice puffy areas on my face. And that’s just after a month of reducing the amount of yoga I do. So imagine how beneficial yoga could be for your puffy and swollen bits!
Yogic deep breathing also brings mental benefits. Deep breathing helps the brain unwind — and when the mind relaxes, you will discover the happiness and peace that lies within all of us. This has a huge effect on your appearance, skin and hair.
Nothing is more ageing than tension. As you learn to relax your mind and body, your skin will regain its radiant glow and your hair its bounce and shine due to the circulation being restored in this area.
And once you realise that happiness is inside you, any tense lines on your face will soften, resulting in a radiant new energy for living.
In other words, a long lost youthfulness can be restored!