FACE YOGA IS UNION

I am honored to have been on the forefront of a world movement. I created one of the world's first systemized facial yoga systems, the Yoga Face, in 2004. My book by the same title was published several years later in 2007 by Penguin Random House's wellness title, Avery Press. The book skyrocketed to #1 on Amazon's Wellness book list, and has been translated into Japanese, French, Turkish and Russian!

I have been inspired to keep delving deeper into exploring the connections between yoga and facial wellness/rejuvenation, leading numerous trainings, workshops and classes in the area. Over the last year, I have been so happy to collaborate with Daily Om, a major wellness education platform that hosts my video courses (check out my courses there- including Strong and Fit Over 60 and my face yoga course on tightening and firming the neck and chin. Spoiler alert: a new course is about to drop there!).

Face yoga has become trendy! It's gone viral! I remember when I first started teaching yoga for the face. People were excited.

"It's going to be huge!" they smiled.

Sure enough, the predictions have all come true. I am proud to be part of a movement that fosters yoga based solutions for facial health.

However, in the spirit of being a yogi first and foremost, I thought I would take a moment to explain just what face yoga means to me.

Yoga is often translated as "union", or the merging of opposites into a unified whole.

The root for the word comes from the Sanskrit, yuj, meaning to yoke or harness.

So for me, applying yoga techniques such as asana (poses) mudra (energy locks) , meditation and consciousness pracices( dharana, dhyana and samadhi), pranayama (breathing science) and sound work are all an integral aspect of harnessing yoga's benefits for the face.

When you take one of my classes, you will experience an integrated and holistic blend of these various aspects of yoga targeted for the face. Specific facial poses are of course included, as long as other holistic healing modalities for the face (acupressure and gua shua, as well as taoist techniques. )

A big subject such as natural facial health deserves a many- pronged approach. But under the umbrella of yoga, it must also be one -pointed and in a state of union.

These days you can see many folks demonstrating their interpretation of face yoga across social media. The movement has become world wide. But when appraising with whom to study face yoga, just make sure the person is actually a yogi.

I hope to see you soon in one of my trainings! In the meantime check out the Daily Om for my courses, or book a private lesson with me online!

Namaste, yogis!