Flexible Stuff - Article 10, Sunday, July 7, 2024
It's all in the mouth
In last week's article, I discussed how poor posture can result in serious injury, many of which start at the neck.
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Just above the neck is the mouth. It is the looks of the mouth that cause the appearance of aging to escalate dramatically.
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My grandmother, who passed away in her late 60s, had a mouth that looked like the one in the large picture. As a Caucasian woman, it featured downturned lips, thinner lip contours and worse, lots of upper lip wrinkles.
While a few of these features are not common on darker skinned people, collectively, most elderly people have them, especially as they advance in age.
Fortunately, at 80, I am fairly free of this problem as how I look today I owe to facial exercise. Facial exercise works, costs nothing, and I hope you give it a try!.​​​
Massage and Isometric Exercises
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The YouTube video, WHAT IS AGING YOUR LIPS? by Parmita Katkar of "Blush with me- Parmita" is a good place to start your facelifting adventure. While Parmita is far from 80 years old, her techniques are similar to mine:
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Put your fingers under your lips, pull lightly forward, then contract (squeeze) your muscles.
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I am not involved with the exercise sets that Parmita sells. This free tutorial, however, shows you exactly what to do and its well worth watching.
There are many more mouth and lip exercises you can adopt besides the ones shown in Parmita's video. To smooth upper lip skin, for example, I tense my lip muscle, press and then massage it to iron out most wrinkles. Massaging with a bit of oil or lotion on your fingertips make this movement more comfortable.
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With reference to "reps," or how many exercises to do at a time, I recommend that you do as many as you think you need on a daily basis. Do not get so aggressive trying to reshape your face that you hurt yourself, but make sure you establish the best times to do them, such as perhaps after dinner, or whenever you use the rest room.
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For even more mouth and facial exercises, see Doctor Alekseev, a Ukrainian/American chiropractor, neurologist, and kinesiologist on YouTube. He is humorous and easy-going, but all the exercises he demonstrates are spot on, especially the ones related to You'll Become Too Beautiful and You Will Be Stolen!
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Note that when starting any exercise program, take "before photos." Use them, plus "after photos" to see your transformations and rest assured that your effort works!
Upcoming blogs . . .
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I post every Sunday. Feel free to contact me with questions at Karen@Littleviews.com.
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By Karen Little, July 8, 2024