With the onward march of civilization, human beings, with a zealous passion, have aimed at improving their way of life. A harmonious blend of curiosity, intelligence and zest to find solutions to the challenges faced, has enabled us to ameliorate and improve living standards.
Unparalleled techno-cool machines and gadgets have aided us to reduce labor, mechanize work and gain leisure time. Formerly the task which would demand sweat of the brow and hours of intense labor, can niftily be done, by a few smart presses of buttons!
But this transition in lifestyle, is packaged with grave problems. The exercising quotient has dipped certainly, but without harmonious toning down of food habits it is bound to meddle with normal healthy physiology. A sedentary lifestyle (with a majority of the people bound to desk jobs, or jobs not involving physical exertion), excess intake of food than required levels, the junk food (food high on calorific values, low in nutrition and detrimental to health) magnet playing strong have cumulatively gravitated a morbid monster called “obesity”. People are getting restless as to how to beat the bulge and cut on calories.
Yoga comes in as the savior! Yoga can be defined as an exercise to stimulate and harmonize all levels of a biological system, physical, mental and spiritual. It is a powerful tool to burn calories and return to or maintain shape as it offers a holistic and versatile means of losing weight. Many people also choose to combine Yoga with running, walking or other aerobic exercise in order to reach their weight loss goals.
How Yoga Helps Burn Calories
The effect of Yoga on our body is simple yet extremely effective:
o Mobilization of fats: Certain breathing techniques (including Bhastrika and Suryabhedana) massage the abdomen and the fat stored around organs. This activates the fat and makes it easier to burn off. The deep breathing in Yoga increases the oxygen intake to the cells of our body, including the fat cells which burn in contact with oxygen.
o Increased metabolism: Some breathing techniques help stimulate sluggish or inactive glands (specially the thyroid glands), helping them increase their hormonal output and abet weight loss.
o Awareness: One school of thought purports that it is the mind/body awareness creation in Yoga which is of pivotal importance. Such awareness may translate to different eating habits, and more care regarding what kind of food one puts into the body. People who have greater body awareness may also notice when they feel full and stop eating. This belief actually suggests that it is not the exercise but the philosophy of regular Yoga practice that may result in weight loss.
8 Well Researched Tips As To Why One Should Resort To Yoga To Cut Flab:
1. Yoga offers a highly directed and target specific means for losing weight, for e.g. if one wants to reduce one’s waistline or hips, particular Yogas are available for achieving the same.
2. Doing Yoga decreases stress and anxiety, improves flexibility parallely increasing muscle tone and strength. Joint pain is the pet peeve of the overweight; Yoga can help by improving the body’s alignment minimizing strain on joints by allowing the frame to bear more of the body’s weight. Yoga develops balance, reducing the likelihood of injuring oneself in a fall.
3. Overweight people often feel disconnected from their bodies — Yoga promotes mind-body synchronization, which can improve self-image and acceptance of the body. Most importantly, Yoga can help you feel better, both improving your physical fitness and elevating your mood.
4. It won’t make you anorexic or ultra slim. It is simply meant to proportionate your body weight in accordance to your height and lifestyle.
5. Yoga is free from side effects.
6. Yoga directly influences the metabolism of body by acting upon several hormonal secretions in the body.
7. Apart from weight reduction, Yoga also offers incentives in achieving a better muscle tone and vitality.
8. Most weight loss diets and pills are harmful in some way or the other and only bring temporary results. For long term weight loss one needs to explore the root cause and make changes in one’s lifestyle. Yoga offers this opportunity.
Source: a2zyoga.com