Weight Reduction Potential Of Yoga
January 21, 2009
Weight gain can be heredity or it can be the result of an unhealthy lifestyle that is conducive to storing energy more than burning it. If you go from an active lifestyle to a sedentary one, you will gain weight. Increasing the consumption of fats, sugars and other empty calories also results in excess fat.
A diet by itself will not be able to help you maintain a normal body weight. Besides exercising, you also need to work on the level of consciousness. Yoga is a system that aims at developing our body and mind for expressing consciousness.
Here are few of the benefits of yoga towards reducing your weight.
It stimulates your mind and body
Yoga helps us to recognise the needs of your body’s unique physiology. It makes us more aware of our individual needs.
It stimulates the more sluggish glands to increase hormonal secretions. Thyroid gland stimulation works best for weight reduction. Several asanas like the shoulder stand and the fish posture are specific for the thyroid gland. These will cause body metabolism to increase and burn more calories.
Asanas like gatyatmak meru vakrasana, chakki chalana and nauka sanchalana help to work the abdominal organs and mobilise the fat that has collected around them.
The surya namaskara has an overall healthy effect on the endocrine and nervous system, thereby working at correcting the metabolic imbalances that cause and perpetuate obesity.
It improves breathing
Yoga helps deep breathing. This increases the oxygen intake of the body, including fat cells. This will cause the fat cells to burn up due to oxidation. Continuous deep breathing is encouraged by most of the yogic postures, which gradually burns off several calories.
It reduces anxiety
It reduces anxiety and hence, anxious eating habits. When we are stressed out or under nervous strain, we tend to gobble our food without giving much thought. This causes us to overeat. However, if we are relaxed and calm during meals, we will enjoy our food and avoid overeating.
It can serve as a distraction
In between meals is the time for temptation of snacking and going overboard with snacks. However, yogic aids can provide a healthy distraction. You can turn to yoga instead of the snack box. Instead of seeking relief and comfort in snacks, you can find it in yoga.


























