LOS ANGELES YOGA HISTORY

Instructor saves face through yoga

You approach the mirror, and there they are — the signs of expiration.

Who replaced those apple cheeks with gecko skin?

Who deflated the neck?

Perhaps that factory manufactured a defective mirror, but chances are you have aged.

Technology has given birth to many so-called "cures" to aging — cheek implants and "Skin Caviar" from La Prairie, to name a couple.

Botox is popular, but you're nervous about using nerve gas. And you like smiling.

Folks with money turn to the facelift, but you see Joan Rivers. And, again, you like smiling.

Now, a Midtown man is giving vulnerable mortals some natural ammunition against the mirror: face yoga.

He's holding classes in Decatur, Sandy Springs and Marietta, under the name Mr. "Happy Face Yoga."

"I never noticed before, but my mouth used to sag, and I used to have bumps on my forehead because of wrinkles," said Gary Sikorski, the Yoga instructor.

He put a stop to those lines.

"Just by tightening the muscle, you get rid of them," Sikorski said.

With face Yoga, no knife punctures skin. It hurts your wallet less, too. The six-week class costs $250.

This kind of facial massage has been around for some time. But Google "face Yoga." Sikorski seems to be the only instructor in metro Atlanta.

You won't fold your cheeks in half, but the concept is the same — a lot of stretching is involved.

See it this way: your face needs a workout too, just like your abs, or else gravity becomes your daddy.

The face, neck and scalp area have 57 muscles, and Sikorski uses a series of exercises to strengthen those muscles — the Joker, the Double Chin Eraser and the Crow's Feet Smoother, to name a few.

They're based on common sense. Boost the circulation to your face, neck, eyebrows, temple, scalp and other zones. Oxygen does your cells good.

Don't be shy; do them at Starbucks, in line at Kroger or while being pulled over.

But, a word of advice:

"This is not for wimps," said Sikorski student Wanda DeVaughn, 54, who was working her face at the Marietta Center for Yoga & Well Being on Saturday.

She pulled, pushed, curled, held, stuck and tucked her face and neck for an hour — with a break between each exercise.

Ready for a taste?

Place fingers on both corners of each eye to secure. Close your eyes trying to use only the lower eyelids. One, two, three. Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat. That's how you get rid of the bags under your eyes or the raccoon eyes. Make sure you breathe during the exercise and drink water.

Sikorski used to look his age, a former smoker with deep wrinkles on his forehead and sagging jowls. He looked very, very, very 49.

He didn't like what he saw in the mirror.

One day, he caught a segment on TV about a facial massage that produced rejuvenation. He was curious. He researched and found a woman named Rose Hong in Houston, known for her facial-toning exercises.

He flew to Texas and took her classes.

Six months later, he noticed the results. He no longer looks his age.

Seriously, does it really work?

Definitely, says another of Sikorski's students, Joanne Flournoy, 51, of Marietta, who exercises her face every day.

"I feel like I have control over my own looks as opposed to handing over the control to a surgeon," said Flournoy. "It doesn't look fake."

She's been a devoted student for a month or so, and her eyes are less puffy in the morning. The raccoon has finally gone away.