Correction of facial expressions and rejuvenation

Elena Alekseeva, General Director of the Mirror Spiral stress management center, practical psychophysiologist (Russia, Moscow)

Mirror of emotions

Our face is a mirror reflecting the movement of life through our inner world. The face can be thought of as a screen on which the body shows a “film” of its true state. The formation of facial expressions of any person is influenced not only by geno- and phenotypic conditions. In addition to reflex facial expressions, all other facial expressions are a reproduction of simple and complex reflexes excited by certain external and internal stimuli. As a result of this, like all movements in general, facial movements allow for further subdivision depending on whether they correspond to an offensive, or passive, or active-defensive reaction, or a reaction of concentration, imitation.

Facial expressions are influenced not only by heredity, but also by upbringing, interaction with other people, and diverse connections with human activities. The facial correspondence of a person's mental status is obviously not firmly established. Facial expressions can be transformed under the influence of upbringing, training and established traditions. The exception is facial expressions caused by deep experiences, such as hunger, sadness, pain, anger, fatigue, joy, fear, disgust, crying, etc., characteristic of all people and occurring according to the laws of nature as a result of the mobilization of the same mechanisms . However, even in these cases there are no identical stereotypes, but different variations and nuances of facial movements are noted. If long-term expression is maintained, this invariably leads to permanent changes in facial features.

Mirror neurons and features of our brain

Mirror neurons in the brain are involved in recognizing all messages from facial expressions. Their phenomenal reflectivity activates the same areas of the cerebral cortex in the observer and causes short-term microcontractions of identical facial muscles.

The mirror neuron system is the neurobiological basis of human self-organization. Human survival depends on how well we recognize the actions, intentions and emotions of other people. The facial muscles are the first to react to emotional stress. Their involuntary, unconscious reactions of imitation and resonance create a readiness to spontaneously reflect the emotions of another person, bypassing the control of our consciousness.

Mirroring facial expressions is the foundation of emotional intelligence. The ability to make emotional contact and tune into an intuitive connection with other people is also ensured by the response and spontaneous micromovements of facial muscles. Successful reflections and the resulting feeling of attachment lead to the release of endogenous opioids. This explains the fact that the attention, compassion and care shown by others help us to more easily endure pain and unpleasant experiences. The phenomenal work of mirror neurons actively participates in sensitivity. The facial brain cells related to them read facial expressions, and the optical system for processing and interpreting information from mirror neurons organizes the reflection reaction in facial expressions and behavior. Mirror reflection reactions do not develop on their own; they always need a partner and the ability to respond - to easily and correctly resonate with others.

What do wrinkles and facial expression disorders mean?

The word “wrinkles” has the same root as the word “to wrinkle.” And wrinkling is a reaction to some internal or external influence. There are two types of body response to influences: fast and viscous.
The type of reflection is fast: if you react by quickly wrinkling to one or another external influence (for example, a strong gust of wind, dust flying in the face), then relaxation will occur. In fact, the following happens: a stimulus arrives in the form of irritation - and a reaction occurs in the form of wrinkling.

A person, having responded to a stimulus, no longer winces, relaxation occurs automatically. The “stimulus-response” pair played its role and disintegrated until the next time, while the correct assessment of this impact was preserved: when faced with a similar stimulus, an adequate muscular facial reaction is reproduced. This is called an adequate response. The tone of facial muscles remains natural and free.

The type of reflection is viscous: if an external event (imprints of reality and the behavior of surrounding people) is assessed as significant, negative mental stereotypes of expectation and filters of ego-attitudes, ego-programs are superimposed, and an emotional reaction is triggered to this discrepancy between expectations and reality. The greater the discrepancy between reality and expectation patterns for satisfying needs and desires, the more active the emotional reaction is maintained through muscle tension. The biggest role in the formation of such a facial mask is played by negative emotions adopted from parents, one’s own experiences of emotions, suppressed once in the past and settled in enslaved muscles - facial patterns. Such unreacted experience gradually turns the face into a cast: the facial muscles are tense, and due to this constant tension, familiar wrinkles are formed and the symmetry of the face is disturbed.

It is impossible to relax your face and restore the balance of your facial and facial muscles on your own. Specialists also find it difficult to work with facial stereotypes. In this case, I use the author’s method of aesthetic and psychophysiological correction of the biomechanical balance of tension and compression of subcutaneous tissue and bone structures. In order to relieve hypertonicity, active trance is used to conduct static deep relaxation, ideomotor and dynamic training, and soft osteopathic techniques are used in areas of dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint.

Conscious control of facial expressions

For modern people who maintain healthy and active longevity, presentable appearance and attractiveness, the following is relevant:

• enter adulthood with dignity, remaining internally and externally young;
• love your reflection in the mirror, despite your age;
• maintain the harmony of appearance and translate the wisdom acquired over the years into the beauty of our face.

The face is a unique zone on which all our neuropsychic reactions are mimicked. A tense emotional state, a lack of mental balance, manifested as unrestrained or, conversely, frozen facial expressions, grimaces can lead to the formation of wrinkles even at a young age. The viscous experience of emotions leads to disruption of the muscle-fascial balance of the face and neck, a decrease in cellular metabolism and microcirculation of the surface layers of the skin, and the premature appearance and deepening of wrinkles.

Active facial muscles are characterized by lability and readiness to contract. Thus, a certain pull of the muscles is created, acting in the direction of the most involved contractions and relaxations of the effector groups. A distinctive feature of the facial muscles is that they all begin on the bones of the skull and are attached primarily to the skin of the face. Thanks to this, a certain mobility of individual areas of the skin is achieved. Plastic facial muscles, contracting, form various expressions: the face reflects what a person thinks, feels and wants. Maintaining the tone of the muscles, skin of the face and neck is ensured by alternating cycles of contraction and relaxation. Intradermal fibers of facial muscles constantly lightly activate the surface layers of the skin, stimulating cellular metabolism.

A change in the muscle tone of the facial muscles, an imbalance in its balance, manifests itself in the form of a spasm or pathological relaxation. The typical appearance of facial wrinkles occurs in the area of active muscle hypertonicity; in the area of relaxation, sagging of facial tissues and their deformation are observed. With rare use of certain muscle groups in facial expression, characteristic structural (atonic) changes in facial tissues are observed. It is not possible to voluntarily relax facial hypertonicity or change such stable muscle patterns. Musculofascial dysfunctions arise according to certain patterns, taking into account antagonistic pairs, that is, muscles that perform opposite actions. Facial muscles, like different muscle groups, act in concert: there are muscles on the face that simply cannot contract or relax at the same time. This is due to the peculiarities of their innervation, as well as the fact that contractions of various muscles help to express diametrically polar emotions. For example, a smile is formed by the zygomatic major and minor muscles together with the levator anguli oris muscle. A grimace of displeasure is created by the muscle that wrinkles the eyebrows and the muscle that lowers the corner of the mouth.

The cause of facial wrinkles and early skin aging directly depends on the physiological state of facial muscles. In turn, the state of facial muscles is a direct reflection of the emotions that a person experiences (both inside and outside). Both overly negative and overly positive emotions are reflected in our facial and neck muscles, which leads to their hypertonicity, which contributes to compression of blood and lymphatic vessels, as well as nerve endings. Based on the state of facial muscles, one can easily create an appropriate psychological portrait of a person.

The most common external changes in facial expression as a consequence of hypertonicity of the muscles of the face and neck are asymmetry, wrinkles, changes in facial muscle activity, social and emotional masks. Stress, frustration, and emotional traumatic experiences form myofascial damage in the maxillofacial area and affect aesthetic defects of the face and skin. Changes in the biomechanical balance of tissue and bone structures of the face, disruption of lymphatic drainage and blood circulation lead to premature age-related and aesthetic changes in the face and acceleration of the aging process. Emotional stress leads to involuntary tension of the facial muscles, myofascial tone increases, muscles spasm and shorten. The muscles of mastication respond immediately to stressful stimuli, and anxiety and frustration cause jaw clenching, teeth grinding, and temporomandibular joint dysfunction.

Thus, excessively prolonged experience of emotions leads to a disruption of the muscular-fascial balance of the regions of the face and neck, a decrease in cellular metabolism and microcirculation of the surface layers of the skin, and the premature appearance of wrinkles. It is this imbalance: hyper- and hypotonicity of the facial muscles that became the object of attention and retraining of facial stereotypes when I developed programs for individual and group correction of facial expressions and rejuvenation “Mirror Image” and “Face Wellness”.

Correction programs

To purposefully improve the mechanisms of internal inhibition, muscle and mental relaxation is necessary. The basis of ideomotor relaxation is the complete inclusion and relaxation of the facial muscles using an algorithm of sequential mental actions (without physical movements). The process of dismantling old non-adaptive muscle patterns, as well as the acquisition of new behavioral skills, is always carried out in a neutral state, that is, against the background of the predominance of the parasympathetic nervous system.

Layer-by-layer correction involves restoring adequate motor activity of facial expressions, eliminating hyper-/hypotonicity of facial and facial muscles, restoring the positions of the bones of the facial skull. This correction teaches psychophysiological self-regulation, stable automated self-control of emotional and facial expressiveness, prevents stress, promotes health, rejuvenation, and correction of age-related changes. To achieve positive results, it is necessary to form a new facial muscle memory, which results in relaxation of the facial muscles after any facial movement and, as a result, increased stress resistance of the body, restoration of alpha activity of the brain, improved communication and integrity of perception of oneself and the world around us. This correction is based on the author’s method of psychophysiological and aesthetic self-regulation “Practice of Conscious Reflection”. The properties of feedback and mirror neurons are involved in the “Facewellness” relaxation training program. The practice of learning to consciously control facial muscles can significantly reduce tension in the muscles of the face, head, upper and lower extremities. The skill of feeling the facial muscles, its expression, as well as the integrity of the reflective plasticity of facial movements and appropriate, conscious and free control of them is formed.

To avoid atrophy or hypertonicity of the facial muscles, it is necessary to train the facial muscles. In order for them to begin to function easily and consistently, you need to learn how to feel them well, squeeze, stretch and relax. During training, deep sensitivity and the ability to perceive one's own skin and muscle condition of the face and external movement of the relative position of parts of the face and their movement develops. Performing ideomotor exercises helps restore feedback from the muscles of the face and body, improve blood circulation in the peripheral parts of the limbs and organs. At the same time, energy processes in the facial tissues are activated, and the restoration of the body as a whole is accelerated. The processes of microcirculation are enhanced, as well as the restoration of the tone of the main muscle groups that form the muscular frame of the face. The use of ideomotor and manual techniques actively contributes to the strengthening and elasticity of the oval of the face, the lifting effect is obvious.

Practical techniques

Cosmetologists and facial specialists may find the following techniques useful. To determine zones of hyper-/hypotonicity and motor activity of the facial and facial muscles and correct the compression-tension balance, the following exercises are performed:

• Raise your eyebrows high up, then higher, even higher. Hold your eyebrows as high as possible for a count of eight to one. Then move your eyebrows and squeeze them tightly towards the bridge of your nose, holding them for a count of eight to one. If zones of hypotonicity are detected, repeat the compression with the count again.
• Rotate your nose left and right using your upper lip. Uneven and asynchronous muscle tension will appear in the nasolabial area, orbicularis oris muscle and the front of the neck. An upward displacement of the ears will appear.
• Close your teeth, gather your lips into a bow, holding them as follows: push them forward, then move them up-right-down-left, repeat the same in the opposite direction. In this movement, hypotonicity of various zones of the orbicularis oris muscle is recognized.
• Lower the corners of your lips, pull them down, strain your neck until the myofascial tension is from the collarbones, closer to the shoulder joint. If you don’t feel the tension, slowly turn your head left and right. Place your fingers on the lower part of the lower jaw, again repeat the simultaneous tension of the lateral areas of the neck and lowering the corners of the lips down - and feel the myofascial tension under the fingers.

To relax the facial and facial muscles before the upcoming procedure of facial massage, applying cosmetics, masks, it will be useful to slowly follow the following steps:

• Raise your eyebrows high, frown them, close your eyes, wrinkle your nose, clench your teeth, purse your lips into a tube, tense your muscles, clench your fists, bend your elbows, raise your shoulders high, tighten your arms to the shoulder blades, pull your head into your shoulders.
• Intensifying the tension in your face, tighten your neck, back, chest, stomach, buttocks, thighs, knees, calves, feet; tuck your toes under you, squeeze even tighter. Then slowly unclench the muscles in the reverse order - from toes to head.
• Repeat this exercise two more times, each time carefully monitoring the slow, consistent relaxation of all muscle groups.

conclusions

Changing muscle memory and activating feedback improves the control of plastic movements of facial expression. Stretching increases the elasticity and lengthening of the facial, facial muscles, neck and collar muscles, dynamic training causes harmonious toning and the ability to tense individual muscle groups. Subtly felt motor skills of facial movements enrich the architectonics of facial expressions. Developing the skill to feel and manage social facial expressions restores the reflection and recognition of facial expressions, psychophysiological self-regulation maintains the health of the body, aesthetics and youth of the face.

First published: KOSMETIK international journal, No. 2 (48) / 2012, pp. 96-99