The age old mantra becomes your secret fitness regime
Down the lineages the tradition of following Yoga has been significant in the lives of individuals. While Yoga’s origination goes back to the period even before the Vedic age, the practice has been impinging in every generation and been the epitome of ultimate enlightenment for many ascetics. Today, in the modern world, Yoga is the sutra (the source) to fight the negativities in a man’s body.
From oral communication to DVDs, from the yogic figures on ancient temple walls to online yoga videos, the precious knowledge of yoga has been passed down the generations and evolved in myriad avatars. Millions of Americans have discovered their Western Yoga versions that concentrate more on the Asana and possible meditative qualities of Yoga rather than the meticulous, sacrificial yogic practices of the ancient eras.
With skyrocketing cases of health related issues, yoga’s holistic practice has spread its roots deeper into every culture across the world. However, following yoga’s lifestyle requires profound understanding of how to balance yoga with food, sleep and rest.
Although, a lot of controversies have risen regarding self-promotional activities of yoga teachers, yet, it is an unavoidable truth that to follow non-aerobic form of exercise in a hazardless manner an experienced instructor is always a safer option. Today, several online videos have become the secret guides for many to have homely-yoga.
If you are a starter in practicing yoga, first imbibe the essence of respecting it. Yoga originated for achieving the spiritual unity of the soul with the divine. For practicing it as a fitness routine, one would still require not difficult meditations like ascetics but a proper mood dedication to the discipline is mandatory. Remember, losing weight will not be fun and long lasting if you don’t like the process of achieving it. A soothing music, a comfortable yoga partner or a silent space can be contributory options for it.
Get a yoga mat suitable for your practice space, and indulge yourself into the rejuvenating phase of your everyday life. A proper yoga practice as per research proves that the meditative quality of yoga stimulates your sensibilities and arouses self-awareness about your food intake as well. You tend be more self-conscious about overeating and learn to control your consumption level.
To consider yoga for your weight loss program one should first understand that Yoga is not a strict weight loss regime. It is rather the secret to your healthy living. If you live healthy, peaceful and happy, losing weight will automatically happen without much struggle. You would look fresher and in the midst of the humdrum of daily routine, you will control your emotions better.
A major problem before starting a weight loss program is to check our daily food habit. Most of the obesity takes place due to our improper diet and loss of balance between the calories we take in and the calories we burn out. We end up suffering from numerous gastroenterological problems because of improper digestion.
As we are proceeding on the essentials of this age old practice, the consumption of Malabar Tamarind or Garcinia Cambogia (scientific name) goes without a mention. This tropical fruit has been used in ayurvedic medicines for the purpose of digestion. It is popularly known as the fat burner and is believed to be reducing the secretion of enzyme that causes the conversion of carbohydrate to fat in the body. It also stimulates the brain preventing individuals from emotional eating habits and hence controlling food intake.
Yoga helps in smoother digestive process. Vajrasana (adamantine/diamond/thunderbolt posture) after your daily lunch or dinner regulates your intestinal actions and increases blood flow. Your food turns to finer dimensions of energy and as a result the firmness of your body increases and flatulence gets removed completely. Following this, when you go to sleep at night you are much relaxed and feel fresher the next morning.
Bhujangasana or cobra pose as many call it, is effective for strengthening your arms, shoulders and internal organs due to the pressure on the abdomen while raising the body halfway with your posterior parts fixed to the ground.
The most posing problem of obesity is fighting the belly fat. Pashchimothan Asana is the answer to that. In this pose, you bend forward sitting firm with your legs stretched to the front and try touching your feet with your hands. You keep bending forward till your forehead touches your knees. A minute holding onto breath and freezing the posture will not only increase flexibility of your body but increase pressure on the excess fat on your tummy. It is an effective posture for children as the stretch on the spinal cord helps in height increasing exercise.
There are no set numbers of asanas that are strictly for weight loss but few asanas definitely need proper training and consultation. While few asanas are gender specific there are others that are individual’s body-strength-specific as well.
No matter how many asanas you practice, one particular asana is an integral part of the whole process and surprisingly very few follow it religiously. It is the Shavasana or the corpse pose in which you relax your body completely by lying flat on the floor. The more minutes you spend on doing the previous asanas, the more should be the time spent in Shavasana. During this relaxing phase your body accumulates the goodness of the several postures you learnt to attain.
For a successful weight loss, yoga is to be practiced punctually and dedicatedly. It is the popular ayurvedic therapy for the body. However, don’t take risks and practice the impossible postures by hurting your body. Be slow and steady and drink lots of water after you complete the session. Yoga reveals itself gradually only when the individual is ready for it. Its several hidden layers cannot be practiced at one go.