Continued from our Retreat & Renew Daily Tip.
By Melissa Williams
The masterminds at Mama Mio created this exercise to help minimize what they call the “sag and drag” of aging skin. Called Ponytail Pull-ups, they give you the effect of pulling your hair up in a ponytail, “literally pulling your face back and up.”
- Draw the corners of your mouth towards your ears like a big broad open toothy smile to locate and feel the action of this muscle group. Think superwide smile but not too upwards at the corners. Think out more than up.
- Place your fingers in the hollow immediately underneath your cheek bone. This is just to feel where the muscle is working — no pulling.
- Hold this big broad smile for ten seconds then gently pulse the contraction five times. With your fingers on your cheeks you can actually feel the muscle pulsing.
- Release the contraction, take a deep breath and relax your face. Repeat three times.
Ponytail pull-ups are targeting the zygomaticus muscles that run right across your cheekbone from corner of mouth to temple, tightening it up to avoid sag.
Reprinted from Mama Mio’s Mighty Moisture.
