The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-07-22
Expression and Grimaces.

doctor. In the meantime, however
every woman whose expression does
not suit her must first look into her
own soul and find cut what Is MISSING
ana see whether 1t is kindness, charit-
ableness, freedom from worry or anX-
iety. When she knows what lngredl-
ents of beauty she misses in her facial
expression she can sell 10 work and APP
ply her mind to the freeing the racial
muscles sufficiently TO allow thls
thought. kindness charity or Whatever
it may be, 10 pass through them.
TO liberate the facial muscles which
have become cramped from wrong us
age is just as necessary as stretching
ones self when awakening from a long
sleep. The spirit cannot play over a
strained and tense surface, such as the
ordinary familiar face presents. It IS
the relaxed. perfectly calm muscle
which permits of perfect control. There
are various exercises for the face, by
which | do net mean massage, yibras-
age or any of the exterior methods OF
manipulating muscles. These facial ex-
ercises of which / speak must be dune
by each woman herself and they are
simply intended to take away tie
strained feeling ana the strained eX-
pressien into which the human cOun-
tenance settles after the first illusions
of youth have been dispelled.
To begin with, a face can hardly be
called expressive if Ii is set upon a
rigid neck. The point movement cf the
neck and head is part OF the general
expression of the body. And We Won
der what the poets would say who de-
scant so much upon the 'sWan-like
neck, bending backward and forward. !"
When confronted with the woman
whose short neck is claSped in dog
collar about d half inch too tight, and
who is afraid to move the Aforesaid
neck for fear of breaking the precious
collar. Then, again, We have the NO
man who is not at all sure whether
her hat will stay on if she mods Ter
nead too freely, and 1 have known one
or two women who We're even afraid of
moving their necks for fear tbe mo
tion might jolt their craniumS and
cause the precious artificial curls 10
fall out of the exuberant couture. Now,
no matter how beautiful any one of
these women may be, she cannot be
said to have an interesting or eXp-eS-
sive face, for the rightly of ner neck
forbids any such play of feature.
To liberate the neck muscles, then,
sit with loosened collar and inhale first
d very deep breath, trying to initiate the
neck, or at least, to give yourself the
feeling of great width in the neck. and
draw the Jaw down as far as possible,
bending the mead over. Make al the
muscles of the neck rigid and slowly
bend the head backward. Now, eXpel
the breath and relax completely, as
you will only be too glad to do, If YOU
have put sufficient tension or strength
into the muscles.
The first exercise for liberating the
facial muscles is: Take a deep breath
and drop the lower jaw. and lower all
the facial muscles as far as possible.
Don't do this before a mirror because
the pictures will brighten you. Lay the
palms of your hands over your face and
draw the muscles down a little more,
but without any pressure. Now, expel
the breath entirely, and relax the face.
Now, try and move all of the muscles
of the face upward, elevate the bTOWs,
wrinkle no the nose, purse the mouth
up as far as possible and inhale While
trying to move UP the muscles and ex-
hale when relaxing. Again run the
palms over the face to see .haJ ali the
muscles are up as far as possible. Now,
inhale, and move the face, that is the
jaws and all the muscles to the right,
look to the right and move the hand
over the face toward the right. Relax,
and after a little rest repeat the same
exercises, trying to move the muscles
to the left. THESE exercises stimulate
the circulation relax the facial muscles
and as they are SO entirely different
from any expression used during the
day, they rest the facial muscles more
than anything else.
AS all tension is nervous waste, so
the strained and set expression which
We see about US on so many faces
typifies some lovable or amiable quail
ity. An expression which comes from
the soul can only make itself outward
~ visible when the channels, that is
to say. when the muscles and nerves
are relaxed and submit it's control.
Copyright, 1906, T. c. McClure)