Yoga has been considered a spiritual discipline based on practice to create harmony between the mind and the body, and its roots can be traced back thousands of years ago.
Most people think of yoga as a meditative tool that helps them bring mindfulness and peace, but yoga has more to offer.
Yoga is a powerful medium for enhancing one’s mental and physical health and is ideal for a happy and healthy life. Yoga is found to be promising in ways that help in behavioral changes, weight reduction, stress management and mental balance.
Yoga is an ancient practice known for its ability to improve deep breathing skills and restore calmness and increase muscular strength. We need to understand that, yoga can bring peace to your mind and also help in shaping your body. Since yoga involves physical poses, controlling your breathwork and other mindful techniques, it is the most commonly used non-dietary therapy for weight loss. However, with any form of exercise, it is also imperative to watch what you eat and manage your calories accordingly.
Stress is one of the main reason which leads to an increase in weight but yoga diminishes the level of stress in your life. Yoga helps you reduce weight because it has a lot of cardiovascular and dynamic activities, which will help you not only lose weight but also tone up your body. Therefore, yoga holds an additional advantage over other workouts. Yoga may not burn the same amount of calories as hardcore exercises in the gym do but it goes a long way in increasing endurance and strength. And if you’re looking for a lower impact workout that could help you shed pounds and also balance your mental health, then yoga is a great choice. Additionally, yoga interventions have proved that it reduces binge eating habits.
The type of yoga you do also plays an important role in weight loss. There are different forms of yoga, some are more strenuous than others, which help burn more calories. Certain types of yoga, like Asthanya, Vinyasa, power yoga, and Bikram, contribute directly to weight loss and burn more calories. Here are the few asanas that can help you lose weight:
Surya Namaskara- Suryanamaskar is the king of all asanas which work on the whole body making it the ideal yoga pose for weight loss. One round of Surya Namaskar can burn 13.90 calories (approximately) which constitutes a set of 12 intensive yoga asanas. These asanas warm up the muscles, giving movement in the right direction, improving blood flow, synchronizing your breathing, and also keeping your body in shape. It can help trim your waist, tone your arms, balance your metabolism and stimulate your digestive system.
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Chaturangadandasana (Plank pose) – This asana strengthens your abdominal area and the muscles of the hands and the legs. It is a highly effective asana that burns approximately 2 to 5 calories in one minute. It is as simple as it looks and the benefits are immense. This yoga asana strengthens your core and can also help if you wish to build your abs. This exercise helps to lose weight and fat near your belly and arms.
Adho Mukha Svanasana- Adho mukha svanasana helps unwind the entire body. This asana will target your transverse abdominal muscle engaging all other muscles in your core and lower back. It helps strengthens and tone the entire body including arms, calves, shoulder, back, lengthen the spine and also energizes the entire body by bringing blood circulation to your brain.
Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand) – As children, I am sure most of us must have done this randomly just for fun? Well, turns out we should have continued doing the fun thing as adults too! This pose helps in strengthening the legs, upper body, and abdominal muscle and burns belly fat. This asana will not only improve the blood circulation of your body but also hits the jackpot when it comes to practicing yoga for weight loss.
Yoga helps you become mindful and that entails mindful eating too and not making unconscious food selections or purchases. Yoga has to be coupled with the right kind and amount of food intake for weight loss. And since yoga helps to make those conscious choices by balancing the mind, such choices eventually lead to a fitter you.
