Yoga from the neck up

Dawn Marie hopes to cure a bad case of ‘‘down dog face'' with an all-natural yoga facelift.

Instead of traditional mat poses, like downward facing dog or plank, she's been practicing eyelid push-ups and chin contractions in her quest for a youthful, serene face.

"I've never had any Botox or anything, but I'm going through a divorce," says Marie, who won't reveal her age. "I've been making this bulldog face. My unhappiness is showing."

So on a Thursday evening, she joined Marie-Veronique Nadeau, the Berkeley, Calif., author of "The Yoga Facelift," as she taught a class to 13 women. Nadeau says the 190 muscles in the face and neck deserve a workout just as much as quads, biceps and abdominals.

"This is our identity," she said. "This is what shows. It's seems a paradox that you would spend all this time working out and exercising your body but then for the neck up you'd go to the cosmetic surgeon."

Sitting in folding chairs, the women twisted their lips to look like fish, twitched their eyes and tried to isolate muscles they'd never heard of.

They followed along as Nadeau demonstrated The Carp Curl, a lip movement that targets the philtrum, the muscle between the nose and top lip.

"You can do that until you have to stop and laugh," Nadeau said.

Co-instructor Mary Bunnett of Laguna Beach, Calif., who hosted the class in her living room, said women always ask if the movements will create more wrinkles. But she stretches her face taut to prevent unwanted movement while practicing the exercises.

During the class, she held the skin along the side of her nose tight while showing The Elvis. The move is intended to reduce fine lines around the mouth.

"Do the sneer but don't create the wrinkles," Bunnett said. "Elvis didn't have any marionette lines."

One middle-age woman quipped that that's because he didn't live long enough.

Some participants struggled to move the muscles Nadeau described in the cheeks, brow and forehead. Nadeau acknowledged that many of the exercises take practice and should be done in front of the mirror.

"It's very subtle, but it's very powerful," Nadeau said.

Others are skeptical that brow lifts are as good as freezing the muscles entirely.

Dr. Rick Weiss, a Newport Beach, Calif., ophthalmologist who injects Botox, said relaxing the face and performing facial exercises might prevent new lines.

"As far as wrinkles that have already formed, I don't think yoga or relaxation is going to make a difference in crevices in the face," Weiss said. "I would keep an open mind on Botox."

Nadeau, 59, said gravity, sun damage and stress contribute to aging the face. She said 10 minutes a day of facial yoga, especially targeting muscles not normally used, creates firmness and lift.

"The whole idea is you become aware of what you're doing with your face," she said.

Cheri Wilson, a 54-year-old teacher from Costa Mesa, Calif., does yoga several times a week, so she was intrigued by the idea of a similar workout for her face. She was surprised, however, that there wasn't an emphasis on breathing.

She's been working on a move she learned in the class for firming the eyelids.

"When I wake up and go to sleep, I've been doing that one where you suck the eyeballs into the back of your head," Wilson said. "I'm trying to do it where I breathe. I'm kind of doing my own thing."

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FIRM UP YOUR FACE

Marie-Veronique Nadeau, author of "The Yoga Facelift" ($19.95), shares several exercises she developed for preventing wrinkles and firming the face:

- SCOWL-LINE BANISHER

Step 1: First, look in a mirror to see if you have those telltale scowl lines. Most of us, even those of us in our 30s and even 20s, will have traces of them. We live in stressful times! Pull your eyebrows together and see what happens — your corrugators are pulling the skin together and the lines are appearing.

Step 2: Now take your two forefingers and place one on each side of your scowl line. Pull your fingers gently apart if you need to smooth out the line. Now pull your brows together, but make sure you are not making the line again (look in the mirror to make sure). You are just working those muscles. Hold for a count of 10.

Step 3: Now move your fingers apart so they rest in the middle of your forehead, approximately above the arch of each eyebrow. Think about pulling your corrugators (small narrow muscles in the eyebrow) toward your fingers and your temples — you are counteracting the pulling-in movement with a pulling-out movement. Feel that vertical line being smoothed away.

Alternate poses 2 and 3 two more times. Really feel serenity smoothing your brow. This is also a very good exercise for tension headaches that strike in that area.

- PALMING
Many of us work for long hours in front of the computer and we forget to take breaks. Our poor eyes really suffer from being overworked. Here is a simple exercise that will soothe the eyes and the optic nerves, and help reduce puffiness at the same time.

Step 1: Rub your palms together until they feel warm.

Step 2: Cup palms over your closed eyes so that the heels of your hands are resting directly on your eyelids. Push gently against your eyes.

Step 3: (optional) If you want to work in an exercise while you are relaxing, try this. While your heels are still against your eyeballs, contract your orbicularis oculi (the muscle that surrounds your eye) against the heels. You do this by blinking, but remember to keep your eyes closed. You will feel a slight movement underneath your hands as you contract the muscle. Contract and release 10 times. Rest. You may repeat up to 10 times.

- UPPER LIP SMOOTHIE

For those of you who have lines radiating from your upper lip, the so-called smoker's lines, do this little test to see how much those lines are the result of bad facial habits. Look in the mirror and say a few words, as if you were conversing with someone. Now pretend you are eating something (or actually eat something). Are you puckering up your mouth when you do these things? If you are, it is contributing to the formation of these lines. Use the upper lip smoothie to strengthen the lip muscles and help visualize a smooth upper lip with no puckers.

Step 1: Place your forefingers on either side of your mouth corners to anchor the muscles. Stretch your top lip down and over your top teeth and toward your mouth corners at the same time. Your upper lip should be completely smooth, no puckers.

Step 2: Hold for a count of five, then release. Repeat three times, holding for a count of 10 each time.

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MORE INFO: "The Yoga Facelift" by Marie-Veronique Nadeau (Conari Press) is illustrated and retails for $19.95.