Do I Have to Ditch Western Science to be a Face Yogi?

A lot of people seem surprised when I tell them I use some facial products that aren't 100% "natural". They seem to think I am living in a tree house and munching carrots with mud on my face all day. As much as I love to sit in trees, eat carrots, and really enjoy mud bathing, I also avail myself of scientifically based products and practices when the occasion warrants.

I use my own custom blended face oils- comprised of all natural ingredients such as golden cold- pressed organic jojoba oil infused with my own blended and pressed flower and plant extract essences. I blade and sculpt my face with traditional facial tools I had custom made in China from semi- precious stones and crystals ( these are all for sale in the shop). I also use red light therapy, microcurrent from a modern device, and skincare made in labs to help promote my skin's collagen production from within. Specifically, I have found over the counter retinoids to be extremely helpful in smoothing the face and promoting tone.

I am a pragmatic person. I read and research extensively. I like to learn new things. I also adhere to tradition in my yoga practice and honor the wisdom that came before me. Yoga is an ancient body of information and a collection of practices that is resilient and ever -strenghtening. In India, yoga has long been considered to be a science . The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali outline in four books, culled together via oral tradition and codified into threads of wisdom by the sage Patanjali several thousand years ago, the science of Yoga. Yogis described atomic theory in the Sutras and in the Bhagavad Gita, although it may not have been called exactly that. I embrace the science as well as the spirit of yoga in my practice.

Humans and their cultures evolve. We innovate and indeed we must, while keeping an eye to the value of time tested practices. Tradition doesn't negate the need or inevitabilty for innovation.

When I created the Yoga Face in 2005, it was embraced by many and questioned by some. "Was I really teaching yoga?", some hardliners sniffed. In the yoga face workshop, I stuck to the traditions and wisdom of yoga I had learned over thirty years of practice (I began doing yoga at age eleven, and went to my first ashram at the same time). I researched ancient yoga practices from India that related to the face, and expanded my source material to include Tibetan and Chinese wisdom and practices. I researched western anatomy and came up with facial poses on my own. I found a preexisting body of work relating to facial wellness through exercise codifed by Eva Frasier, and Juliet Kando (the Natural Facelift, Sterling Press). Utlimately, I designed a set of practices that rely on nature and science. I tested these over years, on myslef and my students, documenting the results with photographs and notes, and refining over time.

We all have our bottom lines. I do not use fillers or Botox. In full transparency, I did once allow myself to be injected for a commercial I booked as an actor. This was in 2015. I approached the experience from a scientific perspective: as a "natural" faced person, what would be different if I underwent filling and botox?

I didn't like the results. I felt like I looked like someone else, someone I couldn't recognize. I was happy when all signs of the experience faded, but didn't regret the experience. It taught me. I was lucky in that I have a very athetic body with high muscluar compostion, so my metabolism processed and released the foreign matter quickly. I am glad I got to experience how the other half lives, and I don't begrudge anyone from doing whatever they want to their face. As for myself, I will stick to carrots, trees, mud, yoga, and the occasional retionid or vitamin C capusle. But that may change if new evidence or processes emerge.

Onward and upward!