Yoga and Weight Loss

When people ask me ‘will Yoga help me loose weight” I have a reluctance to answer this question. I admit that the field of weight loss and weight gain is very complicated. There are so many factors that influence this issue such as genetic factors, lifestyles, individual willpower (or as I like to call it ‘won’t power’), and of course there is always food addiction.

Having said that, I, as a person who was obese at 206 pounds and worked hard to loose 75 pounds can tell you from personal experience that I strongly believe that practicing Hatha Yoga regularly, (That’s the style of Yoga that I teach) has great potential to be very transformative on many levels.

The most obvious physical benefit of a regular Yoga practice includes loosening your muscles that have been tightened by inactivity, tension and stress. The physical poses of Yoga are called Asanas. Asanas increases your range of motion in joints enhances your flexibility and can correct posture problems that have been brought on by weight gain.

All styles of Yoga can help tone, lengthen and strengthen the muscles which help to sculpt your body but not necessarily help with weight loss. Muscle is dense and heavy but Yoga does lengthen those muscles. The more they become lengthened, the less dense and lighter they become. So…YES you can loose weight with Yoga.

My Yoga classes teach you to allow ONLY positive energy to be in our class and our own bodies. Both our mind and that good energy will be helpful for us because when you are overweight you generally have decreased self image, lack of self esteem, lack of any energy, and almost always sluggishness. These feeling weigh you down and surely go hand and hand.

There are psychological benefits that Yoga offers in the aspect of weight loss. Weight gain often brings with it a great deal of harsh judgment from us and others. In my Yoga classes I create a safe, positive warm, comfortable and loving environment of non judgment. Peace is a gift to you, one that we all deserve. This gives everyone an opportunity to engage in this physical practice as their own personal journey.

Yoga can renew a great sense of control over your life. Isn’t this what we want? We want to have control over our bodies and have our mindset in the right place in order to make healthy lifestyle changes, choices and decisions. You will feel confident enough to do that, I can assure you.

In Yoga we connect our breath and body by linking it to our asanas. When we unite all concepts together we can then move with grace, flow with beauty and exercise to the best of our own individual ability. This makes us feel confident and therefore confidence allows the best mindset to be successful in our weight loss.

This reminds me of my favorite quote in Yoga which is:

Yoga is like music.
The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind,
And the harmony of the soul
Create the symphony of life. BKL Iyngar