Can yoga help you lose weight? Yes. By targeting certain parts of the body that you might be having a tough time trimming the fat off. So it is only a matter of time before you finally say goodbye to your flabby tummy and arms. They’re problem areas that can be solved with the right yoga sessions. The next thing you realize is that you’re doing crunches seamlessly with the help of proper breathing.
How to do yoga-like crunches? Count the ways as follows:
- Start in a lotus-sitting position.
You may have seen this as one of the most common starting positions in yoga for a reason. It helps you check your sitting stance whether your chest cavity is protruding front-wards enough to correct your breathing. “Stomach in, chest out” may sound cliche at this point. But the moment you notice the improvement in your breathing, it will be part of your daily routine.
- For the warm-up. Move your neck like you are drawing circles with your nose.
The nose serves as a guide to moving your neck around without turning like you’re looking at either side of the walls. Drawing a circle clockwise with your nose makes your neck stretch effortlessly. Do it about 4 times clockwise and 4 times counter-clockwise.
- With the neck back in the center, put your left palm atop your right knee.
With the right fingertips touching the mat on your back, it slightly twists your waist on one side, applying minor pressure on the obliques. Repeat but this time with the right palm atop the left knee and the left fingertips touching the mat on your back. This preps up your obliques and your abdomen for the rest of the session.
- Repeat the previous instruction about 3 times, alternating left and right.
Twisting the waist with less pressure but with 3 more repetitions help in prepping up the rest of your body for the other steps in the session.
- Scooch up with your feet on one side of the mat to prepare to lie down.
Use your knuckles to lift your bum with the assistance of your feet flat on one side of the mat to find your best position comfortable in lying down on the yoga mat. Lay your bum on the center of the mat you when you have to stretch out the rest of your body, your heels and ankles are stretch out to the end of the mat instead of lying down with half of your shins parallel to the floor instead of on the mat. Inhale through the nose first and exhale through the mouth as your back meets the mat.
- Breathe in while pulling your knees close to your chest.
Pull them to lift the tailbone and exhale through the mouth. Hug the shins to keep the knees up. Point the feet upwards first so you can flex them later and to rotate the ankles. Feel the mat while rocking from left to right. It will condition the body for the next steps since it will keep the back close to the mat.
- Interlace your fingers and put them under your head an atop the mat.
It looks like a starting stance for the crunches but with the elbows stretched out on each side of your head. This step makes space between the thighs and your navel with your body taking a 90 degree angle due to the space made. Keep the thumbs extended from your palms to support the head atop the mat.
- Scoop up the tailbone using your thighs.
Pressure is felt on the navel is the thighs move inward for the tailbone to protrude outward from the mat. Your knees will look like it is pointing upwards the ceiling. Keep the thighs and knees pointing upward while lifting the shins parallel to the ceiling.
- Stretch the right leg upwards with the toes pointing to the ceiling while breathing in.
Exhale while stretching the same leg down without touching the mat while pulling the left knee towards your face at the same time. It will make your right leg look like it is hovering above the mat without touching it. Inhale again while lifting the other leg this time. Exhale while stretching the left leg to hover above the mat while pulling your right knee towards your face. Do it for 3 to 4 times, alternating left and right.
- Stretch the right leg again but this time, once it is lowered, let your right elbow touch the left knee.
This is the part where it starts to look like crunching your abs except that there is deep, slow breathing involved to keep your body balanced. Inhale and stretch right leg up. Exhale and stretch right leg down to hover above the mat while the left knee meets the right elbow. Switch without losing track of the breathing sequence. Repeat at least three times.
Yoga has an interesting way of tricking the body to do ab crunches and still feel less pressure while you’re at it. As long as you keep track of your breathing sequences, then you will be ready for the more advanced yoga sessions in no time. In no time, you will be noticing flatter abs, toned arms and glutes. And you may have noticed that Yoga helped you to lose weight.
