If you have looked in the mirror only to see the look of old peering back at you, you are not alone…your aging face began developing years before you celebrated your fortieth birthday.

Those tiny facial muscles hidden under your skin contribute to aging when they no longer adequately support your skin.

At first you may not notice your facial features softening but slowly, very slowly the muscles begin to elongate and gradually your appearance shifts.

Add sun damage spots, a few wrinkles around the eyes, wrinkles around your mouth, wrinkles in your forehead and all of a sudden you realize that Mother Nature has silently sabotaged your face making you look much older than you feel.

Oh sure, there are those who say that sun damage is the biggest culprit of aging and yes, it is wise to always protect your face, neck, back of neck, chest and the back of your hands daily with sun block – a preparation that has zinc oxide and titanium dioxide – but, muscles in the face elongate about one-half inch by the time you reach 55.

Elongation means one thing:  your once uniquely beautiful tight face has developed soft, spongy muscles that no longer provide alluring contours.  Rather, the drooping soft muscles are pooling into other muscles.  This happens throughout our bodies as we see our derriere slide into our upper thigh and our arms develop bat wings.  Blame inactivity and gravity.

Correcting sagging body muscles is usually accomplished via exercise; the very same principles of using exercise to reshape your body are applied to the face.  Using strength building techniques that are easily mastered, an exercised face always looks years younger.

For years many people have opted for temporary modalities hoping that injections, lasers, thermage, surgery, electro-stimulation and deep peels would indeed rescue their sagging faces from further aging.  Not the case…

The natural solution to facial aging is facial exercise.  Unfortunately, these natural techniques have been skewed with misconceptions.

Ask the average Josephine on the street about facial exercise and most likely her reply will imply that facial exercise consists of scrunches, puckers and twists of the face.  Ask Josie if she believes those types of movements will lift, tone, and tighten her face.  It is likely that she is highly skeptical that contortions are a beneficial modality in her quest for a younger looking face.  Smart gal.

Contortions, scrunches, puckers and twists will not produce the desired effects of lifting, toning, contouring and tightening droopy cheeks, dropping eyebrows and jowls, pouches or the dreaded wattle.

Creams and lotions will not shape, contour or tighten facial muscles.  If you are wearing a turkey neck, (it is more than a sagging double chin), you are painfully aware that short of surgery and liposuction, there is no hope that your chin will ever look sleeker, more defined.

So it goes with the entire face and neck.  What's needed is something that goes beyond topical skin care preparations, something that you can rely on, that you can trust  and will work for you every time.

Resistance exercises use the body rather than weights to create a lean and toned look.  Apply resistance training to the face and you will discover that your facial muscles become stronger but without bulk.  They contour and reposition to give you back the face you thought you had lost forever.

To proficiently exercise facial muscles fingers and thumbs in white cotton gloves are used to gently anchor the muscles so that resistance is achieved while a contraction is created.  Initially, this probably sounds a little strange but once you understand how this type of manipulation is accomplished, the movements will make perfect sense.

Your confidence will soar when the exercise movements are practiced six days in a row once a day for nine to twelve weeks because you will feel and see subtle changes each time you perform the movements.  After six weeks of practice the results will last longer and longer.

So take a look in your mirror and assess your face.  Does your forehead feel lax and mushy?  Does your face look square?  Do your mouth corners turn downward?  Do you see jowls and pouches along your jaw?  Have you ever lifted both sides of your face thinking you might need a surgical intervention?  Does your neck look fat?  Does it have loose skin?

If so, you will be delighted to learn that facial exercise will not disappoint.  Facial exercises are the fastest, easiest, safest, least expensive and most powerful way to enhance your beautiful face.