Yoga for wieght loss done on blogger
If you’ve ever tried a yoga class and left feeling like a new person, you’ve already witnessed the magic of this ancient exercise. But did you know yoga is far more than just a relaxation therapy? A true total-body workout, it offers a host of scientificallyproven wellbeing benefits, including weight loss.As well as stretching and strengthening your entire body, improving your posture and giving you a longer, leaner look, yoga also supports your body’s vital organs, boosting your metabolism, improving your digestion and balancing your hormones for optimal wellbeing. Research shows these benefits, combined with the mindfulness that regular yoga practice brings, help you lose weight and eat more healthily.
Yoga for Weight Loss offers a collection of yoga postures and sequences specially tailored to help you shed pounds and shape up. You’ll find all the basics you need to create a home practice, plus yogic diet advice, mindful eating tips and a 28-day yoga plan to help you reach your body goals.
Ready to begin your yoga weight-loss journey? Over the next few pages, you’ll find all the essentials you need to get started. We’ll show you how to create a home yoga studio and the pieces of kit that will help you get more from your sessions. Learn the yogic breathing principles that will form the basis of your practice, and try the warm-up moves that will prepare your body for doing the postures. Then discover how to turn your sessions into a calorie-burning workout. Let’s get started!
"Yoga supports your body’s vital organs, boosting your metabolism, improving your digestion and balancing your hormones for optimal wellbeing""
Ready to go? Here’s how to set up your practice for maximum benefits.
Yoga is the perfect portable workout. You can do it anywhere – all you need is a little space, a mat and
10 minutes of spare time! To get the best results and stay injury-free, just follow these easy steps.
1-Create a space To help you establish a regular
practice, find a space at home where you can retreat to. Somewhere quiet with room to move and stretch. Make sure the space is well ventilated and inviting. You could use aromatherapy oils to create an uplifting environment.
2-Plan your practice Try to make yoga a regular habit,
plan sessions in your diary. A morning session is perfect for energising your mind and body for the day ahead, waking up your muscles and stimulating your digestion. An evening session can help ease out stress and relax you for a good night’s sleep. Before your session, avoid eating for a couple of hours and don’t drink too much water, take sips instead.
3-Build your session Your home practice can follow
the same structure as a class. Start with warm-up moves (p32) followed by a mix of postures from Standing (p38), Inversions (p56), Backbends (p66), Sitting (p74) and Restorative (p88). End with 10 minutes of relaxation (p116) and some breathwork (p26). You can tailor your practice to your mood and energy level.
4-Stay safe If you have any injuries or medical
conditions, check with your doctor or physiotherapist whether starting yoga is right for you. Follow the modifications for poses offered in this book. Every body is different so tune into yours and practise at a pace and level that feels right for you.
5-Set your intention Would you like to feel stronger, fitter
or more content at the end ofyour session? Check in with yourself at the start to discover your needs. Focus on your feelings and set an intention for your practice. Day by day, this will start to change your life.
Yoga kit
All you need to start yoga is a mat. However, a few pieces of kit can help support your practice, especially if you’re a beginner.
Mat
Look for a cushioned, non-slip ‘sticky’ mat to support your back and stop your feet and hands sliding.
Block
These light foam rectangles are great for sitting on to support your back in poses such as Easy pose (p74).
Strap
Use it as an extension of your hands to help you to move deeper into a pose such as Sitting forward bend (p78).
Blanket
Use it to keep you warm in relaxation and restorative poses. Roll it up to support your neck in back bend.
Brick
It will support your hands in poses such as Extended side angle (p54), or your head in reclining poses.
Bolster
This will support you and help deepen relaxation in restorative poses and deep breathing exercises.
#breath
A key part of your yoga practice, learning to breathe correctly
can deepen your experience of yoga postures, boost the benefits and even aid your weight-loss results.
From helping you hold your yoga postures and power you through dynamic sequences, to deepening your
relaxation sessions and supporting your body and mind during meditation, learning to control your breath in yoga can transform your practice and bring a host ofwellbeing benefits. Often in daily life, when we’re stressed or busy, we breathe too shallowly (or even hold our breath), depriving our body of oxygen and the vital nutrients it carries to every cell in our body. Yogic breathing is designed to bring your body back into full health. There are also specific yogic breathing techniques, called pranayama, that will help support your practice, as you’ll discover below. Giving your body a continual flow of breath and oxygen as you practise helps aid your performance and make it feel easier. Research shows that learning to control your breath can have a positive influence on your happiness levels and boost your exercise stamina. And a study by Indian scientists found that yogic breathing techniques aid weight loss by increasing levels of the hormone leptin, usually released when you’re full up, telling your brain to inhibit hunger.
Yoga breathing principles Follow these yogic breathing basics during your sessions.
1-Breathe through your nose.
Yogis believe that inhaling and exhaling through your nose gives you more control over your movements. Nasal
breathing is also considered to be cleansing and warming.
2-Focus on your breath.
Bringing your attention to
your breath during postures and sequences helps you tune into your body and make your practice easier and deeper. If a posture feels challenging, breathing deeply into the move will help your practice.
3-Move with your breath.
During yoga sequences, every
movement is co-ordinated with the breath to create a mindful flow that brings fresh oxygen into your body to energise or calm your system. Generally, you inhale while opening, extending or lengthening your body, and exhale when releasing, folding or deepening a move. All the poses and sequences in this book have breathing cues to help guide you.
*Observing your breath
This is the key technique you need to learn for the basis of your yoga practice. It’s practised at the beginning of yoga sessions to help bring you into the present moment and calm your body and mind ready for the class. And you can draw on it during your poses.
"Most yoga postures are held for about five breaths because it takes this long for the body and breath to settle into the posture"
*HOW TO DO IT
l Lie down on your mat, with your legs straight out in front of you. If you have lower back pain you can keep your knees bent and feet flat on the ground, hip-width apart. Alternatively, sit in Easy cross-legged pose (p74). l Start by resting your hands on your tummy, palms down or alongside your body, palms up. If you’re sitting, rest your hands in your lap or on your knees facing up. l Lengthen your back, relax your shoulders down and slightly contract your core to ensure your spine is straight. l Gently close your eyes and tune into your breath, observing its natural ebb and flow. Continue for a minute or two until you feel it slowing down. l Try counting the length of each in-breath and out-breath, noticing the slight pause in between. l Now, gently deepen your breath, breathing into your belly. Observe how, as you inhale, your diaphragm lifts and your ribcage expands and how, when you exhale, your diaphragm and abdomen lowers and your ribcage shrinks. l Now, to deepen your breath further, breathe into your abdomen and all the way up to your chest and exhale back from your chest to your abdomen. To guide you, place one hand on your belly and the other on your chest, to feel its natural rise and fall (A) or (B). l Spend from five to 15 minutes doing this breathing practice. Then, when you’re ready, come back to your natural breathing pattern, and tune back into your body and the room around you.
*Bellows breath
Also known as Kapalabhati breathing, Bellows breath is an invigorating breathing practice, designed to increase your life force or prana and energise your body and mind. If you’re feeling tired, or need an afternoon pick-up, it’s a useful one to try. It’s also perfect first thing in the morning to wake you up. Bellows breath is thought to aid weight loss by increasing your body’s metabolism and aiding digestion. Avoid this pose if you are pregnant.
*HOW TO DO IT l Begin by sitting in Hero pose (p75) or Easy cross-legged pose (p74) and take a few deep breaths, breathing into your belly. l Place your hands gently on your rib cage. l Close your mouth and exhale forcefully through your nose, drawing your abdomen inwards. Inhale naturally. l Repeat this inhale/exhale a few times,
noticing your abdomen and diaphragm moving in and out (like bellows). You should hear the sound of your exhalation but not your inhalation. l Now speed up your exhalations to one per second. Keep your head and shoulders still as your belly moves in and out. Make sure your breath is coming from your diaphragm. Let your inhalation happen naturally.
BENEFITS ➩ Energises your body ➩ Tones your abs ➩ Aids
weight loss
*Alternate nostril breathing
Also known as Nadi sodhana, alternate nostril breathing is a key breathing technique to prepare you for meditation, which is central to the yogic and ayurvedic philosophy. It’s thought that it balances the left and right sides of your brain, bringing you into harmony, calming stress, balancing your hormones and boosting your focus. It’s useful for combating nerves or panic and is also thought to help improve respiratory conditions such as sinus congestion. Try it any time you need to feel more grounded or before bedtime to aid sleep.
*HOW TO DO IT l Sit in either Easy cross-legged pose (p74) or Hero pose (p75). l Draw your chin slightly down and inwards so your head bows down a little. Close your eyes. l Bring the index finger and middle finger of your right hand to rest between your eyebrows (on your ‘third eye’). l Close your left nostril with the ring finger of your right hand and let your thumb fall out to the right (A). l Exhale fully through your right nostril. Then inhale through your right nostril.
l Now close your right nostril with your thumb, release your ring finger from your left nostril (B). Pause, then exhale through your left nostril. Inhale through your left nostril. Close this nostril with your ring finger. Pause, release your right nostril then exhale slowly through your right nostril. This completes one cycle. l Continue in this way for 10-30 cycles, keeping your spine long, shoulders relaxed and chest open.
BENEFITS
➩ Calming and balancing
#Prepare to practise
Wake up your muscles and protect your body with these classic yoga warm-up exercises.
Want to get the most from your yoga practice and stay injury free? All you
need to do is start every session with a yogic warm up. Just as with any workout, practising yoga postures and sequences with cold muscles can strain your body and make it a less enjoyable experience. Warming your muscles and joints
doesn’t just keep you safe, it makes doing the postures easier and more effective too. You’ll be able to stretch more deeply and hold poses for longer, meaning you’ll get better results. Starting each session with a 10-minute warm up also helps calm and focus your mind, allowing you to tune in to your body, ready for practice. The following yoga warm-up
moves are designed to warm up each area of your body ready for action. You can focus on body parts that feel particularly tight or ones you’ll be targeting in your practice. Do the whole warm up any time you’re feeling stiffand needing to unwind, taking it as slowly as you wish.
*Cross-legged twist
Benefits: Mobilises your spine.
Sit with your legs crossed and rest the back of your right hand on the outside of your left knee. Place your left hand on the floor behind your left hip. Root through your sitting bones and lift your spine out of your pelvis. On an exhale, slowly twist your spine to the left, looking over your left shoulder. Take a couple more deep breaths, releasing further into the twist on each exhale. Inhale back to centre and repeat on the other side.
*Cross-legged side stretch
Benefits: Stretches your side body and deepens your breath
Sit with your legs crossed and rest your right hand on the floor beside you. Inhale and raise your left arm up and over your head, lifting up out ofyour waist to lengthen your left side (A). As you exhale, draw your left hand further over to the right, feeling the stretch and letting your right arm slide further away from you to deepen the effect. Take a couple more deep breaths here. Now inhale and raise your arm back above your head, then exhale to bring it back down to the start position. Repeat on the other side (B).
*Cat/Cow
Benefits: Stretches your spine
Start on all-fours, hands beneath your shoulders, knees beneath your hips. Exhale, release your head and tailbone downwards and lift your spine towards the ceiling into Cat (A). Inhale, tilt your tailbone up and release your spine down, drawing your shoulders down your back and lifting your chest and head up into Cow (B). Alternate between theses two positions, synchronising your movements with your breath and moving vertebra by vertebra.
*Elbow circles
Benefits: Stretches your upper arms and shoulders.
Sit in Easy cross-legged pose (p74) and bring your hands to your shoulders, elbows pointing down in front of you. On an inhale, start to draw big circles with your elbows, bringing them up (A) and round (B) in a clockwise direction. Do five circles in each direction, keeping your shoulders down and relaxed throughout.
*Shoulder shrugs
Benefits: Releases tension in your shoulders.
Sit in Easy cross-legged pose (p74), shoulders down and arms relaxed with your palms on your knees. Inhale and lift your shoulders up towards your ears, keeping the rest of your body still. Exhale and let your shoulders fall back down, feeling the release of any tension in your shoulders. Repeat five times.
*Thread the needle
Benefits: Reduces shoulder tension.
Start on all-fours, hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Inhale and raise your right arm up to the ceiling, rotating your body to look up towards your arm (A). Exhale, and bring your arm down and under your torso, palm facing up, stretching it under your left shoulder and out to the side. Bend your left elbow and lower your hips a little to allow you to rest your right shoulder on the floor to deepen the stretch (B). Repeat three times on each side.
*Spine rolls
Benefits: Stretches your spine
A
Lie flat on your back and bend your knees into your chest, holding the back of your thighs with your hands. Take a breath and then, on an exhale, start to roll backwards (A) and forwards (B) in a rocking motion, keeping your chin into your chest and your core engaged. Repeat up to 10 times, feeling how the motion massages your spine.
*Easy forward bend
Benefits: Stretches your hips and spine.
Sit in Easy cross-legged pose (p74). Inhale and bring your palms down to the floor, walking them out in front of you, until you feel a stretch in the back of your thighs. Exhale and bend your torso forwards from your hips. With each inhalation, lift your torso and with each exhalation, walk your hands a little further out, feeling a gentle stretch. Let your head hang and your breath take you deeper into the stretch. Only go as far as is comfortable, even if this is just a few centimetres.
*Head rolls
Benefits: Releases tension in your neck.
Sit in Easy cross-legged pose (p74). Inhale and, keeping your shoulders down and relaxed, bring left right ear down towards your left shoulder (A). Exhale, moving your chin down to your chest (B) and then inhale, drawing your right ear towards your right shoulder (C) in a semi-circular motion. Bring your head slowly back to the start position. Repeat five times in each direction.
*Extended table top
Benefits: Tones your core and improves your balance.
Come onto all-fours (A), as for Cat/Cow (p33) then, on an inhalation, raise your right hand and extend your right arm forwards, level with your shoulder and parallel to the ground. At the same time raise and extend your left leg backwards,
keeping it level with your hips and parallel to the ground (B). Engage your core and root through your hands and the tops of your toes. Take several breaths, then exhale and lower back to the start position. Repeat on the other side (C).
#The big stretch
It’s not just a hot workout trend, yoga is one of the world’s most ancient and effective exercise systems. Here’s why.
Over 2,000 years ago, in the first century AD, an Indian sage called Patanjali wrote a book called The Yoga
Sutras, the first practical guide to yoga. Defining the practice with the Sanskrit phrase ‘citti-vrtti-nirohdah’, meaning ‘the cessation of the turnings of the mind’, it set out to describe the ancient system ofphysical exercise, breathing and meditation practised by Indian sages and monks since around 5,000 BC. Fast forward to the current day and,
while the body-conscious yoga practised in our local gyms, parks and homes, may seem far removed from ancient India, its essence remains the same. Yoga is ultimately about stilling the chatter of your mind through focus, whether that be on alignment during yoga postures or on the breath during meditation. The word yoga means ‘yoke’ or ‘union’ and, indeed, yoga helps unify your body, mind and spirit, bringing you into harmonious balance for ultimate wellbeing.
*Yoga evolution
While the ancient yogis focused more on the meditative aspects of yoga, a catalogue of over 200 physical postures or asanas has existed for thousands of years. These physical techniques are known as Hatha yoga, a comprehensive system of exercise (the asanas), relaxation, breathwork (pranayama) and meditation. In the 20th century, Indian yoga teachers began to develop different systems ofHatha yoga. BKS Iyengar created the Iyengar form of yoga, known for its discipline and focus on correct alignment, while Sri K Pattabhi Jois created the dynamic Ashtanga style of yoga. Nowadays, there’s a host of different forms of yoga, for every goal and fitness level, from the therapeutic Restorative yoga to the athletic Hot yoga.
*The science
And just as there is an array of yoga forms, so too there is a multitude of benefits. Science is confirming that the Indian sages got it right – yoga offers profound benefits for body and mind, as well as that famous feel-good factor and flexibility. Just some of the proven benefits include greater strength, better balance, improved flexibility, slower ageing, injury prevention and lower risk of cardiovascular disease. There’s also growing evidence that yoga can play a key role in your weight-loss journey. Turn the page to discover more.
Yoga glossary
Asana – a yoga posture or pose.
Mantra – a short phrase or word repeated or chanted to help focus your mind in meditation or before and after your yoga practice.
Meditation – a practice designed to still your mind.
Mudra – a symbolic, ritual gesture of the hands and fingers, used during yoga poses and meditation.
Om – pronounced ‘ahhohhh-mmmm’, this mantra is often chanted before
and after yoga. The sound is believed to relax your body and mind.
Prana – the breath. Pranayama – yogic
breathing exercises, often done at the end of a class.
Sanskrit – the ancient
Indian language of the yoga texts. Each yoga pose has its own Sanskrit name.
Sutras – the classical yoga texts.
Vinyasa – a dynamic, flowing sequence of yoga postures.
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