6 Face Exercises to Relieve Tension

You exercise your body, but what about doing exercises for your face?

Face exercises can help relieve tension in the jaw, neck, and face. In fact, the more stressed you are, the more you need these exercises in your life.

Since we often can’t see our faces, we are frequently unaware of how we hold our facial expressions throughout the day. Inevitably, this can lead to creases in between the eyebrows, frown lines, and seriously uncomfortable tension!

Even the way you sit can impact how much tension you hold in your facial muscles (everything is connected!). So, let’s combat this with a few simple face exercises. These take less than 10 minutes and significantly lower the stress and pain in your life.

6 Facial Exercise You Can Do Right Now

We’ve got face exercises for the jawline, TMJ face exercises, and more. Here are the 10 best face exercises to help sculpt not only your face but also alleviate tension areas.

1. The Chin Tongue Press Exercise

Place two fingers from each hand just under your jawline, close to your ears. Press your tongue onto the roof of your mouth. You should feel tightening under your fingers. Hold for 5 seconds, then release.

Do this for 10 repetitions.

This helps tone the jawline area and prevent laxity. It’s also great practice if you tend to leave your mouth hanging open. It forces you to close your mouth and contract those muscles that are usually (and unintentionally) relaxed.

In turn, this might prevent TMJ (jaw) pain down the road.

2. The Deep Neck Flexor Exercise

This exercise might make you feel seriously silly. But this one is great for combating neck pain and future neck pain. It also involves using your deep neck flexors, which, unfortunately, are often neglected.

Yet, by practicing contracting these muscles, you can realign your neck, correct your posture, and say goodbye to pain!

How do you do it?

Lay on a comfortable surface face up. If it’s more comfortable, roll a small towel and place it under your neck. Then, slowly make a double chin by pressing your chin in toward your neck but without bringing your head off the ground, table, or bed.

Hold for 5-10 seconds, then release. Do this for 10-12 repetitions.

3. Neck Stretches

Many of us sit all day long, and often, we forget to check our posture. Our neck ends up taking the brunt force of this. You might feel sore around your neck and shoulders at the end of the day. And yes, we get this isn’t exactly a face exercise.

But the tension in your neck can lead to serious tension in your face, so let’s combat this before it becomes problematic.

Begin sitting. Place your right hand under your buttocks. Bring your left ear to your left shoulder (don’t raise your shoulders here). If you need more help, use your hand to gently pull and guide your ear toward your shoulder. Hold where you feel a stretch for 20-30 seconds.

Then, slowly move your head so that your gaze is looking into your left armpit. You should feel a stretch further back on the right side of your neck. Hold here for 20-30 seconds before repeating on your opposite side.

Read this article next: Combat Neck & Shoulder Pain With These 7 Yoga Poses

4. The Upper Eye Lift

It’s no surprise why many people get upper eye lifts via plastic surgery. The effects of gravity can drag this area down. It can also be a spot where you might hold a ton of tension.

To release this tension, try this exercise: Use three fingers and place them underneath your eyebrows. Push your eyebrow up. Looking straight ahead, push down on this force with your forehead muscles.

Hold, then close your eyes. Pause, release, and repeat. Perform 8-10 repetitions.

5. Temple Massage

This is one I use almost daily, even if I’m not seriously stressed. It just feels good!

For this face exercise, simply take your index and middle finger together and place them on your temples. Next, apply gentle pressure and move your fingers in circular motions. Do this for a minute or more. A temple massage is a wonderful way to release tension and deter headaches.

Try it out and find out if it works for you!

6. The Under Eye Exercise

The under-eye area is very sensitive. In fact, your skin is actually thinner here than anywhere else on your face. To rejuvenate and refresh this area, look up, then close your eyes.

Hold this for 5 seconds, then repeat for 10 repetitions.

Preform These Face Exercises Each Day for the Best Results

Make it a regular occurrence. When you do, you might just notice you feel better (and maybe look better too!). Tension isn’t anyone’s friend. And the tension can lead to more painful situations.

Save yourself the pain and get on board with face exercises (we know we are!).

Related article: Get the Yoga Glow With This Facial Yoga Flow