Facial exercises twice daily work for maximum benefit

In just 10 minutes a day, both men and women can take years off their looks, while avoiding painful, costly plastic surgery that often ends up botched or unnatural looking. By incorporating a few simple daily exercises into your routine, you can tone and tighten facial muscles to avoid atrophy and other typical signs of aging. “It’s just like working out to stay in shape,” says Carole Maggio, creator of Facercise, exercises for different muscles in the face.

“If you exercise your body, you will keep it looking youthful and you won’t need to invest in liposuction or other risky surgeries. It’s exactly the same with your face.” All 57 muscles of the face and neck are targeted in Carole’s proprietary facial exercise system, known as Facercise. She developed the program in the early 1980s after her former husband commented that she was aging prematurely. “I am not sure how accurate he was,” says Carole, “but I spent years living in Arizona, baking in the sun, so it was inevitable that I would experience some damage.”

A licensed esthetician, Carole threw herself into creating a method that targeted her problem areas. She analyzed her face structure and started doing movements to tone and lift the muscles. After a few weeks, friends and clients were asking who performed her facelift. Soon after that, one of Carole’s clients asked her to teach her this innovative exercise regime. For five days, they worked for two hours a day, during which time Carole developed a dialogue for instructing others.

At the end of the week, her client’s husband showed her two photos of his wife and asked what she thought. There was an extreme difference in how she looked in terms of age, so Carole said, “She looks a lot younger here. How many years apart?” He replied, “Five days. What are you going to call your technique?” The seed was planted—Facercise was born. Do each of the following exercises twice daily for maximum benefit: Eye Enhancer This enlarges the eye socket and reduces puffiness of the upper and lower eyelids. It eliminates the tense, tired look that you get as you start to lose the softness of the muscle around the eye socket. To perform this exercise, place two index fingers together between the brows and wrap your thumbs lightly at the outer eye corners (as if you have a pair of sunglasses around your eyes). Shut your eyes very tight. Pull your two index fingers up between the brows slightly and pull your thumbs up toward the top of your ears slightly. Keep your eyes squeezed shut tightly and hold for a count to 40. Nose Shortener This will narrow and shorten your nose which, unfortunately, grows longer as we age.

To do this exercise, grasp the bridge of your nose with your thumb and index finger, as if you’re pinching and pushing down on the bridge of the nose. With your other index finger, push your nose tip up strongly. With your lips closed, pull your upper lip down and relax. Repeat this drill 40 times, keeping the tip of your nose pushed up at all times. Face Toner This will lift, tone and narrow the side of the face. Open your mouth and roll your lips over your teeth in a strong fashion. Roll the corners of your mouth inside, pulling them toward your back teeth. Make a small opening with your mouth (not like a smile). Place your fingertips on your chin. Slowly move your hands up along the sides of your face to help pick up the visualization of the sides of your face lifting. Look up, think up and keep moving the hands up until you get a burn on the sides of the face. When you get the burn, push your face forward, shoulders back and pulse your hands above your head for a count of 20. Neck Toner This exercise tones the chin, neck and jaw line. Place one hand on the front of your neck and the other on your desk. Sit tall, with your chin up as high as you can without hurting the back of your neck. Look up toward the ceiling and smile. Point your tongue out towards your nose and push away from the desk with your hand. Rock as if you were a rocking chair, so that all the energy is going out toward the back. Push backward and then return to the upright position. Push quickly, with your feet and hands, and continue looking toward the ceiling. Rock 30 times. Turn your head over your right shoulder and, without stopping, rock 30 more times. Turn your head over your left shoulder without stopping for 30 more rocks. Carole developed the Facercise book and two DVD systems, beginning and advanced, which are sold worldwide. The DVD systems include two CDs: the At Home Lying Down/Sitting up CD and the Auto CD, which modifies the program for use while driving. Each takes only 10 minutes to complete. For more information, visit www.Facercise.com or call 310.791.8707.