Last year, I noticed my thighs had shrunk and wrinkled and my upper eyelids had begun to droop. WTH? I suspected it was from aging.
When I learned swelling causes muscle atrophy, I hit the gym hard. It’s been over three months since knee surgery. My quads have grown and my thighs are smooth. Woohoo!
This made me think my upper lids could be a result of weak and lazy muscles. Back in school my friends teased me every time someone called my name. I would raise my eyebrows and give the person a bug-eyed look. I have big eyes to begin with. The days of overreacting to people are over. I work in my home office during the week and my face remains flaccid except when talking to my dog, Roxy, or laughing a funny blog post. Huh. I wonder if that’s why I’m exhausted after a night out.
My face is out of shape!

I knew I could find some reliable video tutorials on YouTube. After a brief search, I stared at my iPad while pressing down on my forehead and lifting my brow. Yep. Push ups for eyebrows. The face yoga instructor suggested performing these exercises 20 times, 2-3 sets a day, but I only exercised while watching Yoga Girl. I planned to hit it hard the next day and went to bed super stoked. I looked forward to some instant results and gratification.
Instead, I woke up to a pain in my left eyebrow. I couldn’t believe I pulled a wimpy muscle in my face. The left side must have been weaker than the right. At first I thought, “No pain, no gain,” but when I sat down in the kitchen to read my friends’ blogs, it really hurt. I pressed my finger on my brow because I always check my bruises to see how much they hurt, don’t you? The muscle on the inner part of my eye felt super tender too. GAH!
The last time I tried face yoga, I strained a muscle from my jaw line to my clavicle. I could not move my head without pain for a week!
A dilemma arose. Do I continue to work through the pain like I did with my legs or accept my flabby face fate?
I am a Wild Rider and won’t ever give up without a fight. I rested my face and then adjusted the exercise to my low fitness level. Then, I channeled expressive guys like Groucho Marx and John Belushi to turn on those slacking muscles.
Hey. It worked for my thighs. As long as I don’t build too much muscle in my face. I wouldn’t want my bug-eyed look to stick.
Have you ever tried face yoga? Have you ever pulled a muscle in your face? Do you think I am completely ridiculous or insane or both?
I don’t think you’re ridiculous at all! I’ve noticed some weird sagging below my brows, and resorted to a miracle lift cream I found at Avon. After months of applying it daily, there’s no change. Sigh…I think it’s time for face yoga! Does it help sagging skin?? Should I resort to surgery?? 😉
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I really don’t want to do surgery. I’ve had too much of it in the last few years. Watching my skin transform after working out has been shocking! I didn’t wear shorts last summer. Although one is still smaller than the other the wrinkles are gone on both. I’ll be rocking shorts this year!
I am doing random facial exercises during the day. What have I got to lose???? Muscle is muscle…
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hello bill Susie how you bent doing thanksalot for email love&kiss,s bill
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Thanks, Bill!
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ahhhhh susie.. I just don’t look anymore 🙂
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That’s the best way to handle any kind of aging. Acceptance!!! You’ll be beautiful at any age, Linda!
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Well, this is a new one to me. To your face, I say, “Namaste.” 🙂
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I love yoga and Tai Chi…and no, I have yet to try face yoga, but now I’m going to look it up.
Thanks, Susie, for the giggle…if I pull a face muscle, it’s on you lol 😉
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Face it, Susie. The vote is in and the “eyes have it.” There’s more to a person than that which meets the eye.
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Lot of puns there! Ha! You’re right. It’s all in the eye of the beholder, anyway…. 🙂
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Hmmmm. my mom got saggy eye brows. Maybe i better do yoga face, it could be hereditary.
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Why not??? Start slow and build those reps. 🙂
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My face is so out of shape, I can’t even raise my eyebrow upon hearing about face yoga. 🙂
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You probably won’t ever need Botox if your face is already paralyzed! 🙂
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You’re bats, but we love you, anyway. xD
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That’s a very good thing, Daya because I’m not changing!! Thanks!
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Now, if I could just find yoga exercises for the bags UNDER my eyes!
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I read somewhere it’s from salt or moisturizers that get in the eyes. I would use cucumbers or ice those babies down!! See if that works.
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I will! 😉 thanks…
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Are you insane? I’ll get back to you in a few days after I’ve had time to incorporate this face yoga thing into my daily routine. 😉
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Of course I’m insane!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me know how it goes. At least you don’t need a gym membership! Ha!
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I’ve never pulled a muscle in my face, but I herniated a disc in my CD player once. Thank goodness for MP3’s.
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Hahahaha! I’ve heard they’re very sensitive…. 🙂
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Face yoga? *raises eyebrows, squints and pucker lips*
Like that? Whew… I need a towel!
I think if, okay okay… when, my eyebrows start sagging, I will just start wearing a pair of those over-sized Jackie O sunglasses. No one will ever know.
*wink*
Ouch… ouch…. eyelid cramp!! Medic!!!
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You can feel my pain!!!! This honest to God happened to me. It felt really weird! I am much more careful now and have my Jackie O sunglasses at the ready just in case it doesn’t work….. 🙂
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A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
Glad to hear you’re on the mend.
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Let’s see. completely ridiculous or insane or both? Let me flip this coin. It’s up and now coming down end over end. I have it. The answer is neither. And you get to kick off.
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BONUS!!!! Thanks for stopping by, John!
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Uh – no. I have never tried face yoga. Face yoga? I’m pretty sure that’s not for me. Let me know how the low impact version works out for you though.
The things you learn on the internet.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
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Right???? You never know what I’ll try next since there are no limits to the humiliation I will put myself through.
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Ohmigosh! I never imagined you could pull a facial muscle. That’s gotta be annoying.I’ve pulled a muscle in my tongue before. No fun, let me tell you. I hope your face is recovering nicely. Now I want to go see an old episode of The Hulk. I want to see him knock a guy out with his eyebrow!
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How did you pull a muscle in your tongue???? I bet there’s a good story associated with that!
I had a boyfriend who said I could do push ups with my (face) cheeks. Now I don’t think I could get 1 mm off the floor with either of them. It’s so very sad. I’ve got to them out. 🙂
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I don’t quite remember how I did it. I think it involved a secluded beach, a girl I wanted to impress, and a first effort at french kissing. 😉
Those are some mighty strong cheeks. I guess it’s time to get them back in shape. I gotta go now, time to give my ears their daily workout. 😉
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My face just got a workout laughing at this post. Afraid to look in a mirror tho because I may have pulled an eyelid muscle, too.
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It’s really painful, isn’t it???? Ha! It did happen to me and I’ve been more careful with throwing down facial expressions too. I don’t want to strain a lip or pull a cheek.
Thanks for stopping by, Matt!
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I’ve never pulled a muscle in my face, but when I was 39, I developed a constant pain in my neck. I ditched my then-partner and voila! The pain went away. As long as no animals are harmed, I am perfectly fine with you doing face yoga to your eyelids content. And good luck with that.
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Pains in necks come in all shapes and sizes. I’ve “had” a few too.
I’ve graduated from PT and went to pilates and then Pure Barre the next day. I can finally walk without pain. Whenever I think about it, I try to do some John Belushi reps and follow up with Jack Black eyebrow lifts…
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I have been told my face hurts other people, but I have never hurt my face.
Livestrong has face exercises. Yahoo just reposted one of the Livestrong pieces with exercises to element double chin. One exercise is ‘Kiss the Ceiling’ which involves tilting your head back and puckering your lips at the sky. I think that exercise requires listening to Jimi Hendrix.
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I LOVE it! I totally think these exercises work, but I have to eeeease into them. That’s not really in my personality. I was released from PT this week and hit a Pilates class the same day, then went to Pure Barre the next. Wowie. I used muscles dormant since head banging at a Pat Benatar concert back in the 80’s.
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That’s a long time to be dormant, even for a Pat Benatar fan.
You never let the moss grow, do you? That’s great! AND YOU SHOULD SEE MY AWESOME NEW MOUNTAIN BIKE! (I am telling everyone)
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Wow!!! Congrats! Have you taken it on a muddy trail or is it still all sparkly?
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It’s definitely dirty now. I had it on the trails within hours after I picked it up. First time out was rough, second time out was perfect after I made some adjustments.
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Hah! Wait until you get to the eyelash curls – with weights!
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Youch!! I would really have to ice afterward…. 🙂
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I get enough of a face workout when I look in the mirror each morning and scream.
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Hahaha! I have mornings like those. Thank God for hats and sunglasses…. 🙂
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“Build too much muscle in my face” Hilarious thought. Well, muscle is muscle and exercise is exercise. (Although I had to chuckle when Jane Fonda grimaced as she got older and said she felt bad saying all those negative things when she was young about how older women were just lazy and if they wanted they could keep their figures forever if they would only exercise – and buy her videos…difficult to admit, there will be changes no matter what…but we can still say UGH and wish…what do you have to lose?)
Go wild, Susie.
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That’s my feeling exactly. Jane looks pretty dang good these days. Last time I saw her interviewed, she admitted to having a much younger boyfriend. Now there’s some incentive!!!!
Every body is different. Mine will build muscle if I exercise it.. I’m not using my face the way I used to, so now I make faces at my computer and use those slacker muscles! We’ll see if it makes a difference. Ha!
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I’ve definitely made muscles in my face hurt from smiling and laughing a lot. But once I backed down on the wine, my perma- grin went away.
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I know that feeling! I laughed that hard yesterday. It was worth at least 5 sets of eyebrow reps… 🙂
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Face yoga?? Now I’ve heard everything. I was gonna say it can’t hurt, but based on your experience, it can. Be careful out there!
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Leave it to me to hurt my face. CRAZY! I’ve been more careful. I’m with family in Wisconsin this weekend, so my face has been getting quite a workout. 🙂
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Neither. Just funny. *grin*
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It’s all smoke and mirrors! 🙂
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