Yoga is a series of postures meant to relax and stretch your body yes, but it also allows you to increase your flexibility, strength & balance while becoming more in-tuned & aware of your body's needs & subtle changes. It's the new found body awareness that will help you to lose weight using yoga.
If you allow it to you, yoga can help you find your own inner truth and therefore tap into the reasons why you reach for food long after you are full.
Meditation on the other hand will also help you to gain internal insight & awareness into yourself. Traditional meditation is as simple as lying in corpse pose - lying on your back as if you are sleeping, with palms open and facing skyward, legs spread slightly apart, arms outstretched 45 degrees away from your body, head facing forward, eyes closed. Another traditional for meditation pose can be to sit with your legs crossed, sitting tall with palms facing upward with the thumb and index finger touching.
With all meditation poses it is key to breathe - inhale & exhale slowly. Pay attention to your breath and notice where it moves throughout your body. Notice how it really feels to inhale & exhale. Give yourself your undivided attention. No music, no blackberry, no cell phone, no television and no books. No noise should surround be you. I know for some of you that will be the hardest challenge to not allow noise or other daily distractions to permeate around you.
Apart from these poses one can also be in a mindful meditation while walking, gardening, cleaning or even eating. How many of us truly pay attention to what we are eating? Once you are working on your meditation practice it can be expanded to all areas of your life including eating. What that means is when you put something in your mouth you must truly taste it, savour it and feel it nourishing your body. You must ask yourself some questions:
Do you eat your food so quickly that you don't even give yourself the opportunity to do that?
Do you eat while doing other activities so that you can't be more mindful of what you put in your mouth?
Are you thankful for the food that you are eating?
Can you say a small prayer of thanks for the food that you are about to eat?
Can you chew your food more to really enjoy it?
Have you looked at your food and recognized if it is or is not actually providing your body with the nutrients that it needs?
Becoming more aware of your body will allow you to become more aware of how your body feels and the food that it truly needs and desires. When you reach for that donut or cookie, start asking yourself why are you reaching for this food? As your awareness grows, you will start to eat less and eat more healthfully.
Losing weight through meditation and yoga is a slow and gradual process and not a quick fix weight loss solution. Remember that in the race between the tortoise & the hare, it is the tortoise that won. Slow & steady always wins the race especially when it comes to losing weight through yoga and meditation. You don't want to crash & burn like the hare.
Your meditation practice can start off for simply 10 minutes twice a week first thing in the morning when your home is the most silent. Then gradually work yourself up to a daily practice. Your yoga practice can start off once a week with a Hatha, Ashtanga, Moksha or Bikram class, then gradually move to twice a week. Remember that variety is the spice of life so be sure to try different yoga styles and to incorporate other activities like running, weight training, kettle bells, swimming, and spin classes to really ramp up your results. You can also start your yoga practice at home doing 3-5 Sun Salutations each morning.
Yoga & meditation can help you to lose weight by bringing your awareness to how your body truly looks, being mindful of what you put in your mouth and helping you to recognize when your stomach is full.
Just think of the tortoise and the hare and desire to be more like the tortoise in 2010.
Davelle Morrison is a certified Yoga Instructor & Personal Trainer and Co-creator of FIT, FIRM 'N FAB Fitness, Nutrition & Wellness for Women. Join the FIT, FIRM 'n FAB team for a weekend fitness getaway in January 2010 and ONLINE BODY TRANSFORMATION Program at fitfirmandfab.com fitfirmandfab.com/ where you will learn techniques to lose weight using yoga and meditation.
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