Yoga poses can help you reduce weight by improving your psychological, emotional and physical states. Through breathing exercises, meditation and yoga poses, yoga creates awareness of the relationship between the body and mind. While you physically become stronger, you also learn more about yourself. You should practice yoga poses mindfully to increase its benefits.
Function
Yoga poses provide the body with various benefits. They can build muscle, which helps burn fat, or build confidence by teaching you how to physically and emotionally balance better. Yoga instructors also teach yoga twists to cleanse and refresh the organs and spine. Because yoga takes a holistic approach, you should practice a variety of poses that help develop your flexibility, strength, endurance, balance and sense of well-being.
Muscle-Building
Many yoga poses use your own body weight to help you tone muscles. Gaiam Life writer and creator of "Yoga for Weight Loss Workout Kit" Jill Miller says that along with psychological effects that can help you lose weight, yoga has tools to work every muscle in the body. Muscle burns more fat than fat tissue, according to the American Council on Exercise. Plank, tree, crow, warriors one through three and boat are just a few yoga poses that help you build muscle in different parts of the body.
Vinyasa
Vinyasas are a popular yoga sequencing tool. With origins in the Ashtanga style of yoga, vinyasas link poses together with breathing. The process of getting in and out of a pose also involves cued inhales and exhales. Classes that use vinyasas help you build heat, burn calories and stay focused. Dr. Baxter Bell, a Yoga Journal contributing writer, recommends taking vinyasa-style classes if you primarily want to use yoga to lose weight. Vinyasas are popular in most formats described as "power yoga."
Poses
The pioneer of using props to properly align students in yoga poses, B.K.S. Iyengar, recommends the same poses for obesity as he does for gastritis, acidity and dyspepsia. Along with poses such as boat, forward fold and its variations, and triangle, Iyengar highlights cycles of shoulderstand and headstand as beneficial for restoring balance in the digestive, glandular and nervous systems. Inversions are supposed to also balance cravings of all kinds. Iyengar cycles are variations of a pose to be performed in sequence, with each more difficult than the last.
Relaxing Yoga
The relaxing effects of yoga can also help you lose weight. Mayo Clinic associate medical editor Dr. Edward T. Creagan suggests practicing yoga to help reduce stress-induced weight gain. Feeling more in control of your stress means you are more likely to make healthy choices. Yoga does not have to be vigorous to help you relax. In fact, gentle and restorative styles of yoga, which include holding poses, breathing exercises and meditation, may help you relax more than a power yoga or advanced class.
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