Yoga word is derived from Sanskrit word Yuj meaning union of one’s physical, spiritual, and mental practices with those of the universal spirits. It is more than 10000 years old originally started in ancient Indian times and now is a common practice in almost every country in the world. Many people think it is a physical exercise that boosts the mental physical and spiritual well-being of a person. It is meant to cultivate happiness, self-awareness, and peace in life. It is a group of activities involving postural movements and breathing patterns that create harmony and peace within a person and with each other. Here in this post, I am going to tell you the impact of Yoga For Weight Loss.
Yoga is believed to be beneficial in various diseases like hypertension, aches and pains, depression, heart diseases. It increases a person’s strength and flexibility. Yoga is also an important way to lose weight which means certain poses intend to burn fat and calories. Yoga involves three aspects of an individual mind, soul, and body and these three must be kept in harmony for a positive outcome. Yoga works on uniting these three by each other so that everything runs smoothly and in peace. For example, if your mind is overactive it is impossible to have a healthy mind and soul. Yoga transforms a person from the inside out.
ROLE OF YOGA IN WEIGHT LOSS
Weight loss is a combination of decreased calories intake and more calories burnout. Yoga can help in burning calories, but you cannot only rely on yoga totally for weight loss without limiting your calories intake. Certain yoga types and poses do assist in burning calories, and these include one of the vigorous postures Bikram (dripping sweat type), vinyasa or power yoga, and Ashtanga. They are more or less like cardio burning calories toning your muscles and giving them strength. Moreover, as yoga makes you more self-aware, you become more aware of how you are dealing with your body as taking the example of eating during weight loss you’ll make the best decisions about when to eat, what to eat and how much to eat. Yoga practice aids in the development of mindfulness during meal times facilitating awareness of meal portion sizes, meal preparation, and your speed of eating. On average vigorous yoga, types help to burn 3-6 calories per minute which is not too much so with yoga for weight loss you have to strictly limit your calories intake so that it aids you in losing weight by boosting metabolism.
You might think yoga for weight loss is not much effective but it is and the reasons why yoga helps in weight loss are:
- Yoga helps inefficient management of stress which will help you to decrease the intake of food during stress eating habits.
- Yoga helps to increase your awareness of your body specifically linked to hunger and satiety making you eat properly for losing weight.
- Mindful eating and mindfulness.
- Ruchaka Yoga is a type of Panch Mahapurusha Yoga (five royal yogas) in Vedic astrology. It is the first among Panch Mahapurush yoga.
These all help to aid in weight loss by allowing you to have a good sleep, development of healthy eating habits and self-awareness which is also helpful in maintaining the lost weight over the time. It also has many other benefits besides weight loss including:
- Improve immunity which means you don’t easily catch diseases.
- Better relationships.
- Better strength and flexibility.
- Improved nutrition.
- Inner peace.
- Physical, mental, and spiritual fitness.
VINYASA or Power Yoga for Weight Loss
Power yoga or Vinyasa is an Americanized version of a traditional yoga pose (kundalini) founded by Beryl Bender Birch firstly in 1990. It involves the combination of meditative breathing movements with active and vigorous movements resulting in a workout which is similar to aerobic exercises helping you burn calories. It also builds internal heat due to active body movements, develops strength, stamina, and flexibility. It is an intense workout which will make you sweat and as you sweat you excessive stored fat is burned out gradually. After this workout, you’ll feel more energized. Here is some power yoga for weight loss:
Basic squats: it is advisable to start any yoga with basic squats which help you to warm up for cardio exercises. It is essential to follow the technique of breathing movements while doing squats.
Downward dog to half plank variation: This pose will tighten your abdominal muscles.
Downward dog to small dog: This works for abdominal and leg muscles.
Small dog to plank: This is the pose to tone your body and lose weight.
Standing to leg raise: This is the pose to tone your thighs, knees and involves the whole lower body.
Abdominal churning: it is the best pose to burn fat around the waist and hip region.
It is advisable to inhale and exhale on the pattern instructed by the yoga expert as breathing is essential for the effectiveness of yoga.
See Also: Home Remedies for Weight Loss
BIKRAM Yoga to Lose Weight
It is founded by Bikram Choudhury in early 1970 by Hatha yoga poses. It is the type of hot yoga which is practiced in a heated room with maintained temperature of 35-42 degree centigrade and humidity of 40%. It involves 90 minutes session of running combined with 26 yoga postures and breathing exercises. It is one of the best weight loss yoga technique which allows you to burn an average of 330-460 calories per 90 minutes session. So, it’s a great way to lose weight and detoxify your body as the intense workout will cause you to sweat profusely flushing out the toxins from your body. Hot yoga poses for weight loss includes:
- Utkatasana (chair pose): It tones your hip, thighs, knee, legs and ankle muscles. Also, burns fats around the buttocks.
- Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half spinal twist pose): This pose provides toning of body muscles, improves digestion and makes you get more oxygen during inhalation.
- Halasana (plow pose): It is the pose to boost metabolism.
- Sethu Bandhasana (Bridge pose): This pose also regulates digestion and improves blood circulation throughout the body.
- Adho Mukha Shavasana (Downward facing dog): It aids in strengthening abdominal muscles and tones arms and legs muscles.
- In short, yoga asanas for weight loss will help you in weight loss by boosting your metabolism, detoxifying your body, improves your sleep and make your body and mind work in coordination.