I’m not saying anything new when I tell you that we are generally terrified of aging in this culture. While I have embraced the fact that I have a few grey hairs at the tender age of 27, that doesn’t meant that I am immune to the fear of visible aging.

Well, let me introduce to you the latest craze in anti-aging techniques: face yoga!

Yoga’s already good for keeping your body youthful on the inside: a regular yin and yang yoga practice will help keep your joints and muscles fluid and mobile, putting off the shrinking and drying up that happens with age. They don’t do much for the face though, which is where face yoga comes into play!

Some (alleged) benefits of face yoga:

• Increasing the tone of face muscles (and thus keeping the face lifted and tight-looking)
• Reversing or diminishing the effects of habitual facial expressions (if you frown or smile all the time, you’re more likely to get lines in those places, but face yoga brings some variety into the mix, and variety, we all know, is the spice of life)
• Increasing blood flow to the face, something that will brighten your skin and theoretically help keep it from drying up from the inside out
• Sharpening and refreshing your mind
• Bringing some silliness into your day, because you’ll be making some really silly facial expressions

Some things to take into consideration: there is no scientific proof (that I found) that face yoga actually prevents or decreases wrinkling and sagging in the skin, and some doctors claim that it might exacerbate the problem.

Then there’s the argument that yoga isn’t really supposed to be about beauty and changing your appearance but about acceptance and enlightenment. Of course, the intentions and philosophy behind the practice of yoga has changed many times throughout history, so is it so bad to change it again? Up to you.

Want to try out face yoga for yourself? Time Magazine has posted a great photo essay with a complete face yoga practice!