Yoga Your Way To Glowing Skin

We all know that yoga benefits our physical, mental and spiritual well-being, but there are also plenty of ways in which it helps improve the appearance of our skin. From tips on how incorporating yoga into your regular self-care routine can affect skin health to actual face yoga moves, we explore some simple, yet effective ways to work your way to glowing skin through your yoga practice.

What are some of the common skin concerns that yoga can help eradicate? - Stress and unhealthy lifestyle habits like smoking, alcohol and drug addiction can all contribute to premature wrinkling and signs of aging. - Poor and/or inconsistent diet affects every aspect of our physical (and even emotional) health and the first signs that you’re doing something wrong often show up front and center on your face. - Hormonal changes in the body can cause acne in women of all ages. How can yoga help? - Certain asanas (yoga postures and poses) such as Cobra Pose, Fish Pose, Plow Pose, Shoulder Pose, Triangle Pose, and Child Pose, help increase blood flow and circulation to the head and face. Forward bends and inverted postures like these help oxygenate the system by opening the chest and contribute to healthy, glowing skin. - Breathing exercises known as pranayamas help cool your body and prevent your skin from locking in too much oil and moisture. This is particularly helpful for those battling with acne prone skin and especially so in warmer climates and during the hot summer months. - Certain poses and breathing exercises can help improve the digestive process and because gut health is directly correlated with skin health, proper digestion is crucial to a clear and glowing complexion. - Breaking a sweat (through any form of exercise) naturally releases toxins, thereby helping you move (literally) towards a healthier, happier and more beautiful you. - Daily meditation helps alleviate stress that can cause breakouts and premature aging and generally improves your overall well-being, helping you glow from the inside out. Check out our recent feature on meditation guide Biet Simkin to help inspire a meditation practice of your own. - This one is admittedly hard to prove or quantify, but we swear by it: practicing yoga helps improve your positivity and this will literally make you radiate good energy and look beautiful! What are some actual face yoga exercises I can do at home? Besides yoga poses and postures you do for your entire body, it’s easy to incorporate facial yoga exercises that tighten the face muscles into your self-care routine. The best part? You don’t need a yoga studio and all it takes is a few minutes. Rather than tell you, we thought we would show you via this video from Into The Gloss featuring Ranjana Khan, former model and current jewelry designer (and wife to designer Naeem Khan): [embed]https://youtu.be/-kR5WtsLKRg[/embed]

---

It's important to bear in mind that no matter how many healthy habits you incorporate, your skin (and health) will suffer if you then undo all that goodness by putting toxic chemicals on your skin. We recently chatted with Non Toxic Revolution founder Shaney jo Darden and separately made the case for the Clean Beauty Revolution, so we've provided plenty of evidence to back this up,  but ultimately the choices are up to you. Explore our line up of naturally effective products and see the results (minus the chemicals) for yourself.