Those Internal Changes

Usually the first question I am asked when I tell people I teach yoga is will it help me loose weight.  The answer I provide “well, yes, um no, it really just depends,” has people turning away – bemused and disappointed.   So here it is – the low down on yoga and weight lose.

Yes – although yoga it not about weight loose it can help you loose weight if you are practicing the right type of yoga regularly and with the right mind set.  All yoga can help but if weight lose is your particular goal you should practice astanga yoga, power yoga, flow yoga or hot yoga  3 to 5 times a week.  You should commit to doing this long term. The beauty of these practices is that they are physically demanding sequences that produce a lot of internal heat, increase the cardio and metabolic rate of your body and still work that subtle internal magic of yoga. 

We all come to yoga for different reasons, be it headaches, backaches, anxiety or weight issues and the beauty of yoga is that while you attend class thinking of your particular issue yoga is toning and lengthening muscles, stimulating sluggish glands, releasing stress and opening and balancing the mind through breathing and meditation in the background.  In short it deals with it all even as we think of the particular.

This is where yoga can help with weight issues even if you start with or choose to practice a less vigorous form.  We need to remember that being overweight is not just a physical problem.  It can also be mental, emotional and cultural and to approach weight on just a physical level alone is a big mistake which often sets us up for failure.  A gentle practice of yoga, focused on the breath and self acceptance can help to ease the negative self image issues often associated with being overweight and help to restore our confidence.  An overweight person can also be very successful in gentle yoga poses and this can be the seed from which a daily practice, the correct eating habits and eventual weight lose will grow.   

So yes – yoga can definitely help anyone begin the process of weight control – but no – yoga is not about that.  When we practice Yoga we become much more concerned with our internal changes and growth rather than our external appearance --we start to listen to the body from within rather then to look at it from without.  The catch is that with time the outer form will mirror the inner evolution and you will marvel at your beauty at this very moment.