Beginner Yoga To Lose Weight

Studio Or Home Practice

It really is totally up to you.

Both are beneficial and so it depends on what youre after! Consider these points when trying to decide:

• How easy it is for you to get to a studio?
• Can you afford to attend studio classes?
• Are you more comfortable at home or out and about?
• Do you currently enjoy doing any other gym classes?
• Are you able to get some peace and quiet at home to practice?
• Do you have the will power to go to a class?
• Do you have the will power to practice at home?
• Do you want to try hot yoga?

Can You Lose Weight With Yoga

Yes, you absolutely can. But it wasnt until I found the right kind of yoga for me that I began seeing physical results.

Theres so many different types of yoga, and although yoga in general is effective in helping you lose weight and tone, the types of movements you do and how you do them do play a big part in how fast and intense your results will be.

The reason yoga works so well for weight loss is because it is a body weight based workout that helps turn body fat into lean muscle mass, which in turn boosts your metabolism, making losing weight easier.

But the type of yoga you do and how often you do it matter immensely when it comes to meeting your weight loss goals.

Best Yoga Program For Core Strength: Gentle Yoga Plus Pilates

The Gentle Yoga Plus Pilates weight loss program combines the power of the fat-burning workout routines of Pilates and the energizing effects of yoga to create a complementing mix of exercises for fat loss.

Pilates is one of the best exercise routines for people who want to lose belly fat. The Pilates exercise is effective because it targets the places where your body stores most calories such as the belly and other parts of your core.

The Gentle Yoga Plus Pilates is divided into 2 sessions that run for a combined 64 minutes. The instructor takes a gentle approach during each session and does not introduce any workout that will strain your body or joints.

For instance, you will not have to practice the downward-facing dog or sun salutations. However, as you familiarize yourself with the fundamental poses, you may choose to consider practicing the more difficult ones.

The 2 sessions this program is divided into are:

Standing Series

The standing series features workout weight loss workout poses you can only do in the standing position. It is 30 minutes of improving your core strength, balance, and total body flexibility.

Floor Flow Series

The Floor Flow series is 30 Minutes long. Unlike the Standing Series, it features movements that are designed to be performed on the floor. During this series, you will spend all of your time lying on the floor. This will allow you to work on developing deep core strength and at the same time, lose belly fat.

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Other Health Benefits Of Yoga

Aside from weight loss, yoga is known for its many health benefits, particularly emotional health benefits that carry over into all aspects of your life.

“Yoga is in absolutely everything you do,” Shah says. “The calm mind that you cultivate on the mat can be taken everywhere else.”

And hey when you feel your best, you’re more likely to exercise and eat well, helping you stick with your weight-loss plan.

Here are a few advantages you can expect when you adopt a yoga practice.

Yoga Practices I Recommend You To Trial Out Include:

Hatha Yoga

Haha yoga is very popular with beginners as its generally relatively slow and gentle.

This relaxed yoga practice will allow you to hold poses for an extended period of time helping you to perfect your posture, concentrate on your breathing and make that all important mind-body connection.

I would suggest starting out with a beginners Hatha class if you are totally new to yoga as it will allow you to grasp some of the fundamental basics of a beneficial yoga practice.

Power or Flow Yoga

Pretty much any yoga with power or flow in its name will be a more fast paced and physically demanding class.

These classes are great for those of you wanting to move through poses quickly and get a sweat on.

Power and Flow classes are fabulous for both strength and endurance training.

Bikram Yoga

If you think youve been super sweaty before, you havent yet been to a Bikram yoga class!

The most well-known of the hot yoga practices, Bikram classes run for 90 minutes in studios heated to 35 45 degrees with a humidity of 40%.

During your practice you will make your way through 26 poses and repeat twice.

The heat can help you in your flexibility and allow you to go a little deeper into your poses.

Before entering any hot yoga practice make sure to drink lots of water and bring with you a large bottle of water.

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How Can You Lose Weight Through Yoga

Power Yoga could lead to a great calorie burn over a single class. The yoga asanas in power yoga consist of lots of sun salutation that makes your heart rate soar.

In comparison, gentler forms of yoga such as Hatha yoga require less physical exertion. If you want to lose weight using yoga, you may have to depend on forms of yoga that are physically exerting such as Bitram and Hot Yoga that involve increasingly difficult positions.

Sethu Bandha Sarvangasana Bridge Pose

Yet another asana with multiple benefits is the Sethu Bandha Sarvangasana or Bridge pose. It is excellent for glutes, thyroid as well as weight loss.

The Bridge pose improves muscle tone, digestion, regulates hormones, and improves thyroid levels. It also strengthens your back muscles and reduces back pain.

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Is Yoga Good For Weight Loss

The short answer is no: in general, yoga isnt particularly effective for weight loss, but that doesnt mean you cant lose weight with yoga.

If your primary goal with your workout routine is to lose weight, ultimately, yoga is probably not the best form of exercise to choose. While it is possible to lose weight with yoga, compared to many other forms of exercise, yoga is not a particularly effective means of achieving weight loss.

Losing weight essentially boils down to creating a caloric deficit. In other words, to lose weight, you have to consume fewer calories than you expend.

Yoga, like other forms of physical activity, factors into the expenditure side of the equation, along with the calories you burn at restyour basal metabolic ratethe calories you burn in the other activities in your day, and the calories you burn digesting food.

Our bodies store fat or gain weight when we consume an excess number of calories relative to what we burn. In a simplified sense, for every 3,500 calories you consume above what you expend, the body gains one pound of fat.

To lose one pound of stored body fat, you have to create a caloric deficit of roughly 3,500 calories, which equates to 500 calories per day. This caloric deficit can be generated by consuming fewer calories, burning more calories, or a combination of both.

Yoga Poses To Lose Weight

Here is a list of yoga poses that you can include in your workout routine for weight loss while strengthening your body:

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About The Author: Alex Assoune

Alex Assoune is a global health and environmental advocate. He founded Panaprium to inspire others with conscious living, ethical, and sustainable fashion. Alex has worked in many countries to address social and environmental issues. He speaks three languages and holds two Master of Science degrees in Engineering from SIGMA and IFPEN schools.

Adjust Your Diet & Add More Movement

Now that you know how much youre overeating and/or how many calories you need to cut out daily to lose weight, its time to get to work.

Both your eating habits and physical activity are essential to successful weight loss.

As a popular saying goes: you cant out-exercise a bad diet.

If you have a choice to eat cake AND do yoga or eat a nutritious meal within your calorie limit AND skip the yoga class, choose the latter.

You can do all the yoga in the world, but unless youre in a calorie deficit, it wont help you lose weight.

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How Effective Is Yoga For Losing Weight

As just discussed, in terms of caloric expenditure, yoga isnt a very effective way to lose weight, but many people do lose weight with yoga. Studies show that yoga therapy, when added as a component of a weight loss program, improves outcomes and results in greater weight loss.

It seems the primary weight loss benefit of yoga is a product of the psychological improvements that come from a consistent yoga practice. Yoga can increase your mind-body connection and help you become more mindful in your daily life.

Many people who start a consistent yoga practice find that the mindfulness and self-care they develop on the yoga mat infiltrates their mindset throughout the day, such that they are more inclined to eat better and feed their bodies with nourishing foods.

As most studies show that changes to your diet are more impactful on weight loss efforts than exercise, if yoga is able to make sticking to a healthier diet easier by influencing a mindset shift, it can absolutely help you lose weight.

Therefore, while yoga may not be directly good for losing weight, it may indirectly support weight loss as part of a comprehensive diet and exercise lifestyle plan. Yoga can help you connect to your body, limit emotional eating, and replace unhealthy foods with more nutritious options.

Helps To Forge Body Softness And Balance

Air yoga benefits a lot, but there is also a certain, lets first look at the introduction of aerial yoga!Aerial yoga has a lot of movements need a lot of hamstrings and balance, practitioners can only rely on one can carry 900 kg The hammock to make different aerial yoga tricks, balance will also be relatively improved, while yoga itself requires practitioners to make a lot of soft action, want to make the body softer people must play!

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Downward Facing Dog To Plank Flow

Downward Dog and Plank are both equally effective poses for weight loss along, and when put into a flow they become extra powerful. This is a great dynamic flow to build up the heart rate while working the arms and core.

How to do Down Dog to Plank Flow:

Best Overall Yoga Program: Shapeshifter Yoga

ShapeShifter is a Yoga program that teaches you how to use yoga moves to lose fat and reshape your body. ShapeShifter was founded on the premise of yogas ability to help you lose weight and build a leaner and sexy body.

If you are tired of spending countless hours in the gym and still failing to achieve your weight loss goals, you can take advantage of ShapeShifters full-length classes and reduce the stress associated with working out in a studio.

ShapeShifter is beginner-friendly. It is ideal for people who have never done a yoga pose before. The practice lessons are short so they do not overwhelm you.

The videos that come with this program are a good resource to learn about alignment and the fundamentals of yoga poses.

Because this program was created with complete beginners in mind, if you have experience in practicing yoga, you may find some of the lessons to be easy. An advantage to this is that the ShapeShifter program gets to cover more grounds than an ordinary yoga class.

The ShapeShifter complete body shaping and fat loss program come with a quick start manual, a video library of yoga poses, the complete ShapeShifter yoga program video, everyday follow-along videos, a manual of yoga poses, and wall charts to support your yoga practice sessions at no additional cost.

Why you should consider ShapeShifter Yoga?

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Aerial Yoga Beginner 01 One

The practitioner first places his right leg in the hammock, uses his left leg to stabilize the center of gravity, his right leg uses the hammock to borrow force, his body leans forward, and his legs are in a straight line. This action effectively pulls the inside of the thigh and the outside of the calf to train balance and leg muscles.

Wide Angle Seated Bend Pose Upavistha Konasana

Wide Angle Seated Bend Pose or Upavistha Konasana is an asana in modern yoga practiced as a workout, sitting straight with the legs as wide apart as possible, grasping the toes and leaning forward.

How To Do Wide Angle Seated Bend Pose:

• Lie down on your mat or the floor with your legs stretched and open them to about 90 degrees. Your knees and toes should face directly toward the ceiling or the roof.
• Draw your awareness to your pelvis and observe any tendency for it to turn backward. Try to move your weight forward toward your pubic bone if that is the case for you.
• Exercise your hands ahead as far as you can, and stay for 5-10 long and smooth cycles of breath, holding your quad muscles engaged.
• Gradually return to an upright position, using your hands under your knees backs to bring your legs together.

Benefits: Wide-Angle Seated Bend Pose helps to stretch your hamstrings and groins. It also stimulates your core muscles and strengthens the supporting tissues of your spine.

Precautions: Avoid performing Wide Angle Seated Bend Pose if you have a pull in your hamstring. In case you have a lower back injury, then rest on a thick or folded blanket. Try practicing this asana on an empty stomach and eat at least before 4 or 6 hours of your practice.

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Best Yoga Poses For Weight Loss

If you’re new to yoga, a good way to start is to reach out to a local studio or hire a yoga instructor.

“With a few lessons from a private instructor, one can learn to perform common breathing exercises and postures, and learn a little more about the history and philosophy of yoga,” Johnson says. “An experienced instructor can guide an individual on the proper alignment of the body in the postures based on the individual’s unique ability and experience.”

If you’re already active, but want to incorporate yoga as part of a weight loss plan, try working it in a couple of days per week as a supplement to your other workouts, Cheswoeth says.

Quick tip: If you feel intimidated by the idea of yoga or you don’t have a local studio available to you, you can check out online resources, many of which are free and offer yoga for all types of levels.

Some poses you can start with at home include:

How To Do The Tree Pose:

Step 1: Stand with your feet together.

Step 2: Lift your knee off the ground, grab it with one hand, and hold it there.

Step 3: Find balance by rooting down through all four corners of your standing-leg foot.

Step 4: Grab your lifted legs ankle with the same side hand, and flex your foot. Bring the sole of your foot as high as you can on your standing-leg inner thigh with your toes facing down.

Step 5: Press your thigh against the foot which is pressing against the thigh to create a lock.

Step 6: Reach your arms high overhead or bring your hands to your heart to the fullest expression of the pose.

See the tree pose tutorial below:

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