The moment a certain fitness regimen is highlighted as the weight loss routine some celebrity is using prior to his or her next high profile project, almost everyone jumps on the bandwagon. Yoga is not exempted from the after-effects of such exposure on mainstream media. But are the newbies ready to take on the challenges that come with such routine? [Royalty-free featured image sourced from Morguefile.]
Why go with yoga?
The mindfulness associated with practicing yoga even for beginners make them aware of what’s happening within their body. Breathing exercises that hope to relax the body helps in anticipating the more challenging poses. Prolonged and slower breathing exercises end up helping the person cope with the yoga poses that keep on getting more challenging as said person levels up in the course.
The same mindfulness becomes a helpful attribute in helping these yoga neophyte count their breathing exercises every 2 or 3 seconds as opposed to every second. The latter even contributes to the cleared mindset and relieved breathing procedure. Once the breathing has pacified the body, the rest of the limbs are ready to coordinate their movements with the belly.
The spiritual connection
One aspect that made yoga for weight loss attractive for individuals who have never tried yoga before is the spiritual connection. It is not just about the sitting poses that reminded you of Buddha or some other spiritual guru from South Asia. It is that connection to your inner psyche that makes you aware of how bloated your belly feels, contributing to that drowsy feeling and uneasy air of sleepiness plus burping episodes.
That spiritual connection also reverberates on your over-all consciousness. Like how conscious can you get in the middle of a moment. Or that one time in the conference room where you are feeling light-headed. If there is one weight loss regiment that helps dieters become aware of their own body and their surroundings, it is yoga. The moment you become familiarized with the instructor’s line “Find your center”, the closest thing you could follow that instruction to the letter is by sitting upright in lotus position.
But in some weight loss-themed yoga sessions, that center is your belly because it is that part of the body that you wanted to do something about. This is why some of these routines start with relaxing on top of the yoga mat, arms and legs spread calmly that extends out of the edges of the yoga mat to put the belly in the middle of the yoga mat.
Counting the breaths.
The average calm way to breathe in yoga is 3 seconds to inhale and 3 seconds to exhale. Beyond 3 seconds is already a little gratuitous but worth testing just to see your breathing capacity or checking if exhaling does not come with coughing while exhaling. Exhaling without coughing out is a good sign that you are ready for the rest of the yoga poses.
There are yoga routines that target the belly, the arms and the legs apart from the breathing exercises. Don’t rush on getting all parts worked out on your first month of yoga sessions. Everybody has got to start somewhere. So choosing routines that target the belly first and the flabby arms next while prepping your lungs for fixing the breathing routines is highly recommended for conditioning your body for the more advanced sessions to come.
