Dear reader my name is Roxanne Hill – early forties and I am originally from Bermuda – which is a British overseas territory. I have been developing a facial exercise regime for about 20 years - in my own time. I have taught is several places in London, UK over the years - though at the moment - I'm not offering facial fitness and body exercises from any one particular location -
What will be taught
More what you will not learn - you will not be taught any of the popular facial exercise techniques that are on offer such as the Eva Fraser method - you will not be asked to sit in front of a mirror and do facial movements - you will not be seated on a chair - we will not be using any additional devices or fingers - to aid in strengthening the facial muscles.
All of the exercise taught will use the facial muscles - and uniquely the muscles of the head, the internal facial muscles such as the neck/throat muscles, tongue, and nasal area to help reshape the face. Simply put we will be exercising the face - both from the inside - i.e. using the parts you don't think are connected to ageing, but which do more to shape the face than do the more obvious facial muscles – in addition we will be working the facial muscles more closely associated* with ageing - like the outer eye, cheek and forehead – muscles.
* There are some facial muscles which are more closely associated with facial ageing because - at one end they have a connection to the skin while at their other end they are connected to the facial bones.
What is usually taught is that when these facial muscles - or as they are sometimes called muscles of expression - lose their tone – their close connection to the skin means that when they break down – then the connecting skin sags – or in the case of wrinkles when these muscles become overly contracted and i.e. hold a tensed position for longer than is necessary - like after the smile - the muscle contraction needed to smile remains - that when these muscles are held in a contracted position - their muscle action simply pulls or holds the skin in a more permanent wrinkle.
Enter Botox: Here a toxin is injected into the underlying facial muscle - which freezes the muscle’s movement or prevents it from contracting - which then stops the muscle or group of muscles from acting to pull the skin into a wrinkle.
Botox Question - if you have had Botox injection recently should it matter when doing these exercises -- anything that interferes with the way the facial muscles move - will have an effect on the way other facial muscles move - indeed - on the way the whole head moves and so a Botox injection will even influence in a small way the way the body is able to move - as I said earlier our focus will not be on the muscles closely associated with ageing - changing them will only produce limited effect or improvement to the face’s figure. Our focus is on the muscles of the face and head that you don't see - the supporting muscles – it is these areas which have the greatest control over the way the face ages – though the aim is that if you are getting Botox injections - that that will one day no longer be needed.
Though when dealing with Botox we don't ask the question - why then does the facial muscles contract in a way that you would wish to use Botox - and why does its muscles lose their tone and atrophy causing the connecting skin to sag. And this is what makes this exercise instruction different - they have sought to answer these questions -- that you are just getting old is not a good enough answer -- because this doesn't explain why, on a person's face there could be more ageing in one area and significantly less ageing in another - whereas on another face the pattern of ageing might be completely different - just getting old - or it's natural doesn't explain this.
In short the way the face ages is a reflection of the way the body - is held or the ages - so unfortunately we can't significantly change one without the other - we will be doing exercises for the body - but these will be constructed a little differently - and you might be happy to know that these exercises are painless* - how so - we will explain later - but the main focus of these exercises is to strengthen and stabilize the spine. And they work by ridding the body of its long held tensions - if you would think of you spine as your central structure - no spine and you are a little jelly-like - by strengthening the muscles along this structure - you automatically improve the condition of all the other parts of the body that the spine supports. So we do exercise all of the body but never in isolation and always in a way that allows the spine to be reconditioned.
One of the things that the spine is very good at doing is holding tensions - and as you get older the tensions, aches pains what have you - stack up - and quite simply they change the way your body is held - so you move differently - now you need more effort to do the same things - but for the face this tension build-up changes the way the head is positioned and determines how your facial muscles will act - how your facial muscles act over time determines how your face will age.
How can I try them?
If you live or work in London - you can book an appointment - at the moment I will have to come out to see you - the cost will be £50 / hour or session for a single person or £75 for a group up to 3, if you wish to add more to the group simply add £25 per extra person.
facialfitnessclass@googlemail.com
*Painless exercises impossible: Because this body exercise technique was initially designed for the face – it was in the interest of the user that the exercises did not cause pain or discomfort while using them – but when the exercise regime was extended to include the body – a painless exercise regime emerged – although these exercises are painless – they do make a lot of demands on the body – and therefore if your body is aged – there is the likelihood that you will feel discomfort where a younger body wouldn’t. In addition the aim of these exercises is to remove tension – so that when long held tensions are being released – usually a few hours after you practice and possibly only after a few sessions – you are likely to feel a dull pain similar to that of acupuncture – but over an extended area –- there is no working through it – the best thing to do is to rest that area. The length of the discomfort period will last as long as the amount of tension which is being released. But once this tension is gone – then it is gone and the body will behave more freely in that region.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to use the comment box below or use the email above.
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