face exercises
Training in the FACS involves learning how to isolate and contract every individual muscle in your face. Teasing out one heretofore entirely involuntary muscle from another requires many repetitions, as does learning how it looks once you've managed to do it, as does using your own face as a reference once you are using the system to code others' faces.
CONS:
- By the end of this week I'll probably have added five years worth of wrinkles to my face.
- And, they're all associated with making pretty sour faces. There are about 30 facial muscles or muscle groups recognized by the FACS, and there is exactly one of them used to smile, two if you count the eye-crinklers. All the rest are anger, disgust, sadness, fear, worry, etc., except for a few neutral ones.
- I could go into a "poor neglected positive psychology" rant, but I should really keep my mouth shut until I learn more about the underlying anatomy.
PROS:
+ By the end of the week I will also be able to lift barbells with my eyebrows.
+ If I ever break my neck and end up as one of those guys who are paralyzed and can only express themselves using their facial muscles*, I'll have a pretty good vocabulary.
+ Being able to read people's faces will be pretty cool. Don't worry, it's not really feasible to do it in real time.
* This occurs because the nerves that send instructions to the facial muscles come directly out of the brain rather than through the spinal cord.
CONS:
- By the end of this week I'll probably have added five years worth of wrinkles to my face.
- And, they're all associated with making pretty sour faces. There are about 30 facial muscles or muscle groups recognized by the FACS, and there is exactly one of them used to smile, two if you count the eye-crinklers. All the rest are anger, disgust, sadness, fear, worry, etc., except for a few neutral ones.
- I could go into a "poor neglected positive psychology" rant, but I should really keep my mouth shut until I learn more about the underlying anatomy.
PROS:
+ By the end of the week I will also be able to lift barbells with my eyebrows.
+ If I ever break my neck and end up as one of those guys who are paralyzed and can only express themselves using their facial muscles*, I'll have a pretty good vocabulary.
+ Being able to read people's faces will be pretty cool. Don't worry, it's not really feasible to do it in real time.
* This occurs because the nerves that send instructions to the facial muscles come directly out of the brain rather than through the spinal cord.