In this day and age, there
is widespread suffering among people who are obese. They’ve gained weight as a
result of their unhealthy lifestyle and poor habits. Of course, there were many
times that they were aware of what they were doing, but logic is often easy to
ignore, especially if you’ve fallen into an addictive pattern of emotional
eating.
There are many weight loss
programs that have become more popular (not to mention an unlimited amount of
fad diets) for these overweight people to try to regain a healthy and long term
weight loss. However, sticking with a plan long term has been an issue for most
people.
Obviously, the root of the
problem with obesity is the habit of uncontrolled overeating of foods that are
loaded with suger, salt, fat or all three, and lack the necessary nutrients
that are needed by the body in order to stay healthy.
This is what many weight
loss programs are trying to remedy.
The idea behind permanent
weight loss is to break your bad habits, teach you proper nutritional habits
and get you started on a path of eating healthier foods that are natural, not
processed, and doing so in smaller portions in order to reduce your calorie
intake.
Of course, an important
part of any weight loss program must include physical activity. Exercise is
paramount to having long term weight loss success. You see, significant weight
loss isn’t just a “plan”, it’s a complete life change. Exercising regularly can
help you to consistently maintain a healthy weight.
Using Yoga as Part of Your
Weight Loss Plan
There is another method
that can help you lose weight in a healthy way. That is through the practice of
yoga.
Yoga is an ancient
discipline. Many of its practitioners say that the advantages it brings is not
only for spiritual purposes that improve the mind, body, and spirit, but also
for each person’s unique individual needs.
It is not yet clear
scientifically if yoga can actually aid individuals in losing weight, yet it is
proven that by practicing yoga, a deep connection between the mind and body is
created and therefore can help to make a person more aware of what to eat and
how to feel satiated.
Yoga takes a person to a
different level of mental and physical awareness, encouraging individuals to lead
a healthier lifestyle and teaches them how to treat their body right.
However, using yoga for
weight loss will depend on the style of yoga you are planning to do. There
styles recommended that are energetic and more physical yoga such as power
yoga, ashtanga, or vinyasa. These styles of yoga involve quick movements and
include several poses for strengthening the muscles and the greater the muscle
mass. This can result in more calories being burned.
Although Yoga is a form of
exercise and can certainly help shed off excess pounds, if significant weight
loss is your major goal, it is recommended that you combine yoga with cardio
exercises like biking, running, walking, or aerobics.
How Yoga Can Help You
There are eight primary
areas of health in the body that can cause weight gain when there is an
imbalance in any of them. A yoga expert can help teach the individual to do the
matching yoga poses to deal with these problems and gain the benefits of losing
weight in a healthy way. These eight basic health areas and their corresponding
yoga poses are:
1. Liver
Backbends are the ideal
postures to strengthen the powerful functions (detoxifier, cleanse and purifies
blood, process fats, source of coenzyme Q10) of the liver to its maximum. These
backbend postures are:
Cobra Pose
(Bhujangasana)
Wheel Pose
(Chakrasana)
Bow Pose
(Dhanurasana)
Spinal Twist
(Matsyendrasana)
2. Thyroid Gland
Hypothyroidism is a
dysfunction of the thyroid gland that can lead to weight gain. The thyroid
gland is responsible for releasing a hormone that controls our metabolic rate
which determines how our body burns fat. This dysfunction can be remedied
through these poses:
Fish Pose
(Matsyasana)
Shoulder
Stand
(Sarvangasana)
3. Proper pH
Balance
The body’s pH balance is
very vital because if it gets too low, the body becomes acidic and will start
storing fat as a shield. If this happens, the blood vessels start to get narrow
and can cause the heart to work harder in order to keep the blood circulation.
As a result, arteriosclerosis sets in which can lead to heart attacks. So in
order to boost the alkaline level of the body, these yoga postures are
recommended:
Seated
Forward Bend Pose (Paschimottanasana)
Head to Knee
Pose (Lanushirasana)
4. Sympathetic and
Parasympathetic Nervous System Balance
Too much stress and
pressure on the nervous system can set off a series of unpleasant reactions in
the body which eventually can make people become overweight. There are yoga
postures that can maintain a balance between the sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous system. These are:
Corpse Pose
(Savasana)
Legs Up The
Wall Pose (Viparita Karani)
5. Internal Heat in
the Nervous System
These are yoga poses that
can create inner heat to make the body warm in order to burn up and purify deep
and superficial fat inside the body.
Seated
Forward Bend Pose
(Paschimottanasana)
Lunge Pose
(Anjanevasana)
6. Put Strength in
Moving the Body
Doing strength work helps
in building stronger muscles which consequently consumes the stored fats in
your body. Arm balancing postures are highly recommended for this:
Crane Pose
(Bakasana)
Plank Pose
(Chaturanga)
Feathered
Peacock Pose
(Pincha Mayurasana)
Scale Pose
(Tolasana)
7. Increasing Your
Heart Rate
A great yoga practice, the
Sun Salutation, is ideal for weight loss by bringing the heart rate at its
maximum level without stressing and tiring the nervous system which is often
caused by strenuous exercises like jogging. This is done by increasing the
heart rate and then decreasing it again in a series of short bursts.
8. Colon Cleansing
Bloating can sometimes
appear as obesity and is caused by having food substances lodged in the colon.
Some people believe that cleansing the colon can be beneficial to your health.
There are two sets of yoga postures for this:
a. Basic Poses
Bellow’s Pose
(Utks’epa Mudra)
Fire Pose
(Agnisara Mudra)
b. Advanced Poses
Peacock Pose
(Mayurasana)
Nauli Kriva
All the recommended
postures should be done under the guidance of a professional yoga teacher.
Combined with the proper nutrition and exercises, yoga practice will bring back
the balance in the mind and body to help you lose weight and help you to
restore your ideal health.
Reference:
http://www.bestwaytoloseweightonline.com/yoga-for-weight-loss/
The great thing about walking is that it is a gentle form of exercise and can be done anywhere.
