HOW TO REDUCE WEIGHT WITH YOGA

WEIGHT LOSS WITH YOGA

In today’s society, obesity is a cause for concern with even children that are overweight. Apart from eating healthy, it is worth looking at the importance of yoga and weight loss. Weight gain is not only about the number of calories taken in. There are other underlying causes in the body that will result to weight gain if they become unbalanced. The use of yoga posture can be very helpful in redressing this balance hence helping the body to burn fat more effectively resulting in healthy weight

loss. Some vital functions of the body that can be improved by yoga and help promote weight loss:

The liver

 The liver is the body’s own detoxifying machine. A healthy liver works effectively to cleanse the blood of bad fat and helps the blood make use the good fat. Certain yoga postures help increase the functions of the liver. A healthy liver will remove bad fat effectively. Yoga postures like cobra pose and bow pose can be used. 

The thyroid gland 

Yoga and weight loss program can also involve poses that stimulate the thyroid gland. The hormone that governs the body’s metabolism is in the thyroid. How high or low a body’s metabolism is depends on how active the thyroid is. Most weight gain issues are due to hypothyroidism meaning low thyroid activity. Activating the thyroid function by using postures like fish pose and shoulder stand will help greatly towards weight loss. 

The nervous system

 It is not necessary to attend a hot yoga class to generate body heat. Internal heat is created in the body using nerve tension heat and length. This internal heat can

burn deep and low seated fat. This can be achieved using the lunge and the seated forward bend.

Heart rate

It is very common to see people jogging to get their heart rate up in the quest to lose weight. This has been proven to stress the nervous system. Since a perfectly working nervous system is needed to aid in the yoga and weight loss program, any activity that adds stress to the nervous system should be avoided. It is better in the case of loss weight to use activities that raises the heart rate for a short period and then back down. This can be easily done using yoga.

Body movements

Yoga exercises that work to lengthen and shorten the muscles will aid in weight loss. Muscles use fat

as fuel and will continue to do so even while in rest position. Strength exercises such as arm balancing will work well as they work all body muscles at once. Recommended yoga postures include crane and scale pose. In Ayurveda, it is said that the issue is not to lose weight but to avoid weight gain. As we will discover in this guide, Yoga and weight loss programs will lead to a healthy, slimmer and younger looking you!

HOW YOGA IS BENEFICIAL FOR OUR HEALTH

HOW YOGA IS BENIFICIAL FOR OUR HEALTH


INTRODUCING YOGA

Out of the many things that India is known for in her contribution to the world, ‘Yoga’ is perhaps one of the most important and popular exports. From the ancient times, the ascetics, the ‘rishis’ and the ‘munis’ of India have been practicing this form of art and science and deriving the benefits of enlightenment that accompany yoga. What is Yoga and why is it important in today’s world? The importance of yoga in today’s world has a lot of definitions floating around; however, if we go back to the roots of the word, we find that the term ‘Yoga’ has its origins in Sanskrit. It means to unite

- Yoga helps the body to unite with the other vital metaphysical aspects of the mind and spirit. It is also often defined as a lifestyle which aims to have a healthy mind within a healthy body. Most simply defined, yoga is a set of poses or ‘asanas’ , coupled with breathing techniques, which help impart strength and flexibility to the body while helping to balance the mind and its’ thinking. Unlike other physical forms of exercises, like the aerobics, by practicing yoga, one can not only achieve physical health, but also mental and spiritual well-being. The aim of yoga is to promote overall well-being of the body. And though, it is found beneficial for a variety of conditions, it is not considered a therapy for specific illness. Unlike other forms of exercises, yoga has a more holistic approach to teach the people the right way to lead their lives disease free and stress free. In today’s world, all of us suffer from stress and a perpetual anxiety to perform well, leading to a plethora of diseases that we expose ourselves to. Yoga aims to calm and compose our minds and help us focus clearly on what really matters - good health and the happiness that accompanies it!

BENEFITS OF YOGA

Mental health

· Let us first begin with the benefits of Yoga on mental health. After all, good mental health is of paramount importance for being healthy physically as well. As advised above, breathing technique forms an integral part of Yoga. Do I hear you asking ‘how?’It really is very basic - by breathing deep and right, something that you would be doing when you practice Yoga, you are inhaling more oxygen and allowing the cells of your body to have access to that oxygen for a longer period of time.

· A common practice in yoga is to breathe only from one nostril at a time, while holding the other one

closed with the tip of your finger. Medical research has shown that this boosts increased activity of the opposite side of the brain, leading to better cognitive performance and tasks associated with the other side of the brain. Regular yoga practice helps children with attention deficit disorder and people suffering from anxiety, depression and mood swings. It also helps keep the mind calm and reduce stress and thereby increase the general well-being of the person.

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STRENGTH

Ever wondered, why so many of us, after a hard day’s work, come and plonk ourselves, on our home sofas, with very little energy to even fetch a glass of water for ourselves. This is caused by lack of inner strength. Certain asanas of the yoga help generate inner strength. Inner strength is essential in doing day to day activities and in preventing you from injuries. This is especially useful, as we grow old and need more energy and strength to do the same activity.

Flexibility

· The popular notion that you need to be flexible in order to do yoga is incorrect; it is really the other way round - you should do yoga so that you can be more flexible. If you have a flexible body, you find it easy  to do tasks. A lot of poses in Yoga concentrate on stretching and improving your flexibility. With yoga, not only the muscles of the body, but also the softer tissues of your body are worked out, resulting in less build-up of the lactic acid, which is responsible for stiffness in various parts of the body. Yoga increases a range of motions of the less used inner muscles and helps in lubrication of joints. The result is a more flexible body, able to perform tasks easily!

Cardiovascular

· Yoga has a lot of positive effects on the cardiovascular system of our body. A healthy cardiovascular system is responsible for preventing heart attacks, strokes and hypertension. Heart disease is a problem which has roots in an improper lifestyle, faulty diet and negative thinking.Our thoughts, emotions and feelings affect ourbody and negative emotions/thoughts send a series

of complex and unhealthy chemical processes throughout the body, giving alarms that something is amiss. Yoga tends to control these by bringing in fresh life-giving oxygen. The anti-oxidant properties of Yoga help in preventing the negative emotions and promote a general well-being in the body.

Joint pain and arthritis

· The general tendency of people suffering from joint pain, inflammation and stiffness is to avoid exercise. Yoga helps prevent advancement of this malady by toning the muscles and loosening the joints. When a person suffering from joint pain practices yoga, the gentle stretching and strengthening movements of the various Yogic poses, improves the blood flow to the muscles and tissues supporting the joints, thereby making it more comfortable to move.

Respiratory problems

· Practice of certain asanas of Yoga has helped check chronic cases of Asthma and other respiratory

problems. When the nasal passages get inflamed, they start producing mucous in excess making it difficult to breathe and often have common symptoms like coughing, wheezing etc. Respiratory problems could also be caused by multiple factors like allergy, exercise, weather change etc. By practicing yoga, the lungs capacities increase and so does stamina and stress on air passages is reduced.

Memory Improvement

“Memory is the measure of ability to reproduce the knowledge that is known”, says Yogacharya

Vishwas. “Memory is holding on to that which has been known.”- The Hindu Texts.

·Yoga helps in retaining information better and for a longer period of time due to its focus on concentration and meditation. By breathing right, concentrating and meditating, more blood flows to

the brain , making it supple and ready to accept more information and reproduce that information when required.