Table of contents:
- Reveals the effectiveness of yoga for weight loss
- Yoga is effective at reducing stress, thereby preventing you from overeating
- Yoga helps you live a healthy lifestyle
- 10 minute yoga tips for weight loss
The benefits of yoga for physical health are unquestionable - from increasing flexibility and balance to the body, improving breathing, to strengthening the muscles of the body. Yoga can also relax your mind and sharpen your mental focus. So, how effective is doing yoga for weight loss?
Reveals the effectiveness of yoga for weight loss
Yoga is different from cardio or aerobic exercise which is often done to lose weight. However, according to Beth A. Lewis, professor at University of Minnesota in the United States, yoga accompanied by meditation can burn more calories. One hour of yoga can burn more calories than a walk of the same duration. In comparison, walking for an hour can burn about 238 calories.
Not only that, yoga also builds the strength of the body's muscles. Usually the muscles that work when doing yoga are the arms, abdomen (core muscles), hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Exercising these muscles can build and increase body muscle mass just like exercising in the gym. When compared to body fat, increased muscle mass has the potential to burn more calories, even when the muscles are not working.
Yoga also strengthens the heart muscle. When the heart muscle is strong, the blood vessels can flow more and faster blood so that more oxygen can flow to the muscle cells. This allows the body's cells to burn more fat during exercise and at rest afterward.
The more calories burned, the faster your body's metabolism works to burn fat deposits.
Yoga is effective at reducing stress, thereby preventing you from overeating
Yoga is believed to be able to maintain an ideal body weight and body shape through concentration training. The effects of meditation and mindfulness from yoga can relieve psychological disorders such as stress, depression, or burnout.
Most people tend to have sweet cravings or overeat when under stress. Regularly doing yoga can help you to better manage your emotions and thoughts, so you can avoid stress. This is one of the benefits of yoga to maintain an ideal body weight.
Yoga helps you live a healthy lifestyle
Apart from being physically healthy, yoga can also help you to be calmer overall, by involving a combination of mind meditation, breathing exercises, and body relaxation. This physical, mental, and holistic harmony factor is the main factor in the effectiveness of yoga for your weight loss. Over time, yoga will train you to begin to understand your own body.
That way, you will realize the importance of living a healthy life by changing your diet and lifestyle instinctively because you know what's best for yourself. You will no longer feel the need to smoke or party all night, knowing that it will spoil what you have been so hard to build up to.
10 minute yoga tips for weight loss
Here are yoga movements to lose weight that you can do every day. Relax, it only takes 10 minutes.
- Open your feet wider than your hips, knees and toes pointing outward. Lower your legs slightly, so that your thighs are parallel to the ground. Inhale while leaning your chest forward. Then exhale through your mouth with your tongue out, bending or pulling your stomach lower. Repeat 15 times.
- Staying in the previous position, do an upward punching hand. Inhale and straighten your legs as your hands reach over your head. Exhale as you draw your hands back to your hips. Repeat this movement for one minute.
- Return to the starting position (standing) and inhale while drawing your hands to reach the top of your head. Exhale and fold your hands forward, bending your knees, so that your palms can touch the ground. Hold that position, then shake your body to the right and left a few times.
- Inhale to stand up. Then push your hips back, hands stretch out in front of your face, bend your knees, and make it like a sitting position. Exhale and stand up, pulling your arms down in front of your hips. Inhale to do a sitting position. Do it for one minute with an accelerating rhythm. You can also, change the standing position while exhaling with a jumping motion.
- Inhale and stand up, raise your arms above your head. Exhale your arms down and back as you exhale and fold them forward. Inhale and swing your arms forward and stand up. Then exhale and fold your arms. Repeat this movement for five or six breaths.
- Repeat movement 1 for 15 breaths. From an open leg position as in movement 1, step your foot left and right. Exhale, press your hands in a prayer-like position in front of your chest and lower your body to a sitting position. Repeat for 30 seconds, side to side.
- For the next 30 seconds, continue movement 6, doing it faster. As a challenge, immediately change movement 1 to a position such as sitting. Inhale during movement 1 and exhale while in a sitting position.
- Repeat movement 3.
- Start again with your arms wide open with your right leg forward and bent at 90 degrees. inhale and straighten your legs, raising your arms above your head. Then exhale and lower your hands as if they are exhaled, pulling your hands into a punch to your hips. Repeat for 10 breaths, then lower your left knee to the floor and release your toes. Open your arms wide above your head and bring your hips down to stretch your hips. place your fingertips on either side of your right left, then slide your hips back to straighten your right leg and lift your toes. Inhale to lengthen the spine and exhale while folding over the front legs.
- Inhale and raise your chest to the center, stretch your spine, then exhale and fold your arms. Hold your hands behind your back and straighten your arms to stretch the top of your head. Repeat this movement for five breaths.
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