One of the quickest and easiest ways to calm your mood is with facial relaxation exercises. And I’ve got just the one for you. No, it’s not a massage, nor does it involve puffing your cheeks or pressing your tongue. Rather, it’s a facial relaxation meditation.
Facial relaxation exercises can do wonders for our mood because of the connection between expressions and emotions. Indeed, if you’re like me and have a ridiculously expressive face that gets you in trouble all the time–think Jim Carey in Ace Ventura–you won’t be able to feel the slightest bit of emotion without it immediately showing in your face.
However, this also provides us with a way to self soothe, because if we calm the facial muscles we will calm the mind.
Why Relaxing Your Face Relaxes Your Mind
There are several different theories on why relaxing your face calms your mind. Facial Feedback Hypothesis [1] posits that deliberately making certain facial expression causes the brain to create the corresponding emotion–look happy and you’ll be happy. Just go ahead and smile right now and you will indeed feel a little bit happier. Go on. Try it.
Relaxing the face also activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest and digest system. This leads to feelings of calm and wellness. Indeed, one reason why meditation is relaxing is because it, too, activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
Finally, facial relaxation exercises heighten the mind-body connection. This puts you more in control of your body and also brings you back into the present moment. Remember what Lao Tzu said: “If you are depressed you are living in the past, if you are anxious you are living in the future, if you are happy you are living in the present moment. So, don’t be like Marty McFly stuck in the past or worrying about the future like Doc Brown—focus on now.
There’s all sorts of facial exercises for you to try, ranging from yogic face massage to MyoFascial Release Technique [2]. This is when a therapist applies light pressure by hand to myofascial areas that are stiff, and then massage these areas. But my personal favorite type of fascial relaxation exercise is the meditation that follows, which might be somewhat familiar to you if you’ve ever tried Body Scan Meditation. Let’s try it now.