Face Yoga or Gua Sha: Which Natural Beauty Practice Is Best for You?

Tags

Top Highlights

• Face Yoga or Gua Sha: Which Natural Beauty Practice Is Best for You?

• Wondering whether to try face yoga or gua sha? Find out how these two wellness habits can reduce fine lines, puffiness, and even migraines.

• Face yoga exercises the face muscles while gua sha relaxes them and increases circulation. When done together, they can reduce fine lines, puffiness, and even migraines. Learn more about the role these two complementary wellness habits can play in your self-care routine.

• Face yoga consists of facial exercises that stretch and exercise muscles in the face and neck. (If you’ve done yoga, think Lion's Breath — constricting the face and then exhaling with the tongue fully exposed — as one example of a face yoga exercise.)

• Gua sha is an ancient Chinese healing practice that massages the face and neck, among other parts of the body, typically with the aid of a tool, such as a curved stone or a roller, to stimulate circulation to the skin.

• Both gua sha and face yoga offer unique benefits. When practiced together, they provide a natural and impactful way to help your skin age gracefully. “[Face] yoga trains the muscles to make a face more toned and well formed, [and] gua sha helps to relax it,” explains Dr. Rosmy Barrios, MD, a medical advisor for Health Reporter and a regenerative medicine specialist. “The difference is that gua sha stimulates microcirculation in the face and is a great practice to immediately reduce facial swelling and puffiness,” says Dr. Barrios. Face yoga, on the other hand, is for long-term toning benefits.