What is yoga?
Yoga is defined as the seeking of and discovering the universal reality, following a set of physical and mental exercises. This results into complete harmony and peace between body, mind and spirit. In Sanskrit language, the word yoga is derived from "yog" which means yoke or to join. Yoga has its roots stretching up to 5,000 years back.
It was first developed by the Indus-Sarasvati civilization of Northern India. Later, priests modified and documented how they practised yoga. Yoga was introduced into the West about 300 years ago. All ancient and modern practitioners believe that the eight branches of yoga soothe the frayed mind and make us use our creative energy productively. Yama or self-discipline enables you to avoid violence, theft and having unreasonable desires.
Niyama insists on leading a clean and pure life; a life of severity and being satisfied with little worldly goods as well as being knowledgeable about the Divine power. Asanas are the variety of postures or physical exercises. Pranayama or breathing exercises is another limb. Drawing into oneself is known as Pratyahara. Focusing the mind to a central point is called Dharana. Meditative practice is Dhyana and Samadhi is to achieve the sublime realization.
How is yoga performed?
Yoga is a series of postures meant to relax and stretch your body allowing you to increase your flexibility, strength and balance while becoming more in-tuned and aware of your body's needs and delicate changes. It's the new found body awareness that will help you to lose weight using yoga. If you embrace it, yoga can help you find your own inner truth and therefore tap into the reasons why you crave for food despite having a full stomach.
Meditation on the other hand helps you gain internal insight and awareness into yourself. Traditional meditation is performed by simply lying in corpse pose; lying on your back as if you are sleeping, with palms open facing upwards, legs spread slightly apart, arms outstretched 45 degrees away from your body, head facing forward, eyes closed.
Another traditional meditation pose is to sit with your legs crossed, sitting straight, palms facing upwards with the thumb and index finger touching. All meditation poses require you to breathe; inhale and exhale slowly, while paying attention to how your breath moves throughout your body. You have to appreciate how it really feels to inhale and exhale. There should be complete silence with no noise and distraction around you. Aside from the poses, you can also be in meditation while walking, tending the garden, cleaning or eating.
How does yoga help you lose weight?
Body weight has always been a problem to many people as it causes various physical and mental discomforts. Loss of stamina, impediment in physical movements, laboured breathing are some of the physical troubles that people with excess weight face. The feeling of inferiority and stress are the mental strains caused by body weight. Effective planning and the implementation of yoga exercises to lose weight helps tackle both the mental and physical difficulties. Yoga exercises help you avoid eating your food without the chance to really taste it, savour it and feel it nourishing your body.
You stop eating while doing other activities so that you are more mindful of what you put in your mouth. It helps you chew your food more to really enjoy it. You need to look at your food and determine whether it is actually providing your body with the nutrients that it needs. Awareness of your body allows you to become more conscious of how your body feels and the food that it truly needs. When your awareness grows, you start to eat less and eat more healthily. Of course you should know in the first place, what healthy foods are comprised of and be ready to avoid eating junk food.
Losing weight through meditation and yoga is a slow and gradual process. You can start your meditation practice with 10 minutes per session twice a week as the first thing in the morning when your home is silent. Thereafter, gradually work yourself up to a daily practice. Your yoga practice can start once a week with a Hatha, Ashtanga, Moksha or Bikram class, then gradually advance to twice a week. Hatha yoga uses physical postures, breathing techniques and meditation. This is the most familiar and popular branch of yoga in the West.
Bikram yoga is a popular exercise used by sports persons especially the athletes and celebrities as it helps to drastically burn out calories in the body. Ashtanga yoga concentrates on breathing procedure along with a variety of body postures. Synchronized breathing together with the body postures contributes a lot to weight loss. The body temperature increases when doing these yoga exercises which induces sweating. A major discipline that needs to be observed always for a successful loss of weight using yoga is consistency.
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