Yoga For Weight Loss

In today's society carrying excess weight is becoming the norm rather than the exception.  Lifestyles are increasingly sedentary, diets are becoming increasingly processed and fatty, and food contains more and more calories, additives and preservatives.  Children prefer television over playing with their friends (which is perhaps a direct reflection on parents who prefer television over socializing or even making time for their children).  This only scratches the surface of the social move towards a sedentary and unhealthy society which is making more and more people fat. 

Image via WikipediaYoga is a discipline designed to make the body strong and flexible and enhance the overall health of the digestive system as well as the hormonal and circulatory systems.  It also assists us in controlling mental stress and achieving peace and clarity of mind.  Yoga also has strong spiritual benefits which will see you becoming more content with yourself and more comfortable with who you are, all aspects which will lead to emotional stability.  This mental component is often neglected in a physical approach to weight loss, but it is critical and should not be overlooked.  So called "Comfort food" is a frequent problem for people who yo-yo diet (rapidly lose and gain weight) and the ability to be happy with your health and who you are reduces the need for this.

Yoga is based on deep and controlled breathing which is a method for enhancing our oxygen intake.  This allows oxygen to travel to the fat cells in our body and assist in their processing.  One has to ask given the benefits why more people don't practice Yoga?

One reason is that many people think of Yoga as a passive or mystical discipline - something for hippies - not them.  This is a shame as Yoga improves the physical body as well as our mental health.  While it is practiced by a great many people in Eastern Populations only about 2% of the population in the United States has clicked on to the many benefits of yoga.

Image via WikipediaYoga considers all the aspects that contribute to obesity - not just the physical but also the mental and spiritual reasons behind them. Yoga is not only relaxing but brings the body back towards its ideal weight, and at the same time enhances strength, flexibility and stamina.  Yoga nuts tend to end up slim, agile and flexible, and what's more, yoga is suitable for people of all ages.

A more active form of Yoga, Kundalini, was introduced to America in 1969 by Yogi Bhajan.  It is a more active form of Yoga combining different methods of breathing, meditation and movement to compensate for the fact the American population has been conditioned to see exercise as requiring sweating.

Yoga can also be used to resist the temptation of snacking between meals.  Techniques learned from yoga can be used to suppress impulses such as that we think of as hunger between meals (if you eat proper meals you cannot be hungry between them - merely bored or restless). 

Yoga is not just a method of losing weight, it is actually a method which restores a natural balance to our body and moves us towards our natural state.  This has an interesting consequence with weight.  It we are overweight then yes, doing regular Yoga will cause us to lose weight.  However if we are at our ideal weight we will not drop weight, and if we weigh too little we will gain weight until we are at our biologically natural size. This is thought to result from the balancing effect that Yoga has on all of our bodily systems.