The Power of Yoga to Help You Lose Weight
You’re probably well aware of the ability of yoga to lower your stress levels, improve your flexibility and tone your muscles. However, it’s not so well known for its contributions to weight loss. Yoga isn’t typically your first thought when it comes to burning off calories. So it can be surprising to discover that it can actually be an effective way to boost your weight loss efforts.
Conventional yoga isn’t a vigorous type of exercise. Even though your muscles are being toned, most people don’t experience an increased heart rate during yoga. The fact is, though, that you’re working your muscles, which means your body is burning calories. So, cardiovascular exercise will yield better results if you also practice yoga regularly.
An important component of yoga is discipline of mind and body, which will help you stay committed to your exercise program and healthy eating habits. Yoga reinforces the link between your body and your mind. Therefore you feel more motivated to care for your body. This is great if you want to lose some weight but have difficulty motivating yourself.
If you plan on using yoga by itself to help you drop some pounds, there are some new variations on the traditional practice of yoga. You get the benefits of cardio and yoga all in the same workout. It’s worth your while to investigate the wide assortment of yoga DVDs that are available for this purpose.
Following are a few of the most well known forms of yoga.
Vinyasa Yoga: Vinyasa yoga is centered on shifting from one asana, or pose, to another while concentrating on your breathing. There are lots of different poses that you might recognize the name of, including the Sun Salutation. This style of yoga is typically performed in an overheated room so that you sweat profusely.
Ashtanga Yoga: A very detailed type of yoga, it encompasses a number of series made up of individual poses. The moves become progressively more difficult, so you have to learn them in the correct sequence so you can slowly develop the skills necessary to handle the more complex positions.
Power Yoga: This modern adaptation of yoga mixes active, high-speed actions with yogic breathing.
These yoga techniques offer more of the heart-healthy benefits of aerobic exercise than the usual kinds of yoga. You won’t experience the full benefits of an aerobic workout. However, you still get the dual advantages of aerobic fitness along with the muscle toning and flexibility of yoga. This will no doubt help your weight loss efforts. As well, these yoga routines are ideal if you’re too time pressed to handle more than one kind of workout.
Yoga and aerobics don’t appear to have much in common. Regardless, adding some yoga training to your regular workout can enhance its effects. And the newer styles of this ancient practice can be a great replacement for your usual aerobics. If you’re dissatisfied with the results you’re seeing from your normal exercise program, why not give yoga a try.
