Maintaining a healthy body weight these days is important to maintain overall fitness. It not only makes you feel better but also helps check lifestyle-related medical conditions like diabetes and hypertension.
While millions across the globe have adopted yoga to shed extra pounds, many more who gained weight during the pandemic are not familiar with the fact that yoga can help lose weight as efficiently as other workouts.
That’s why Alpesh Yoga – a leading yoga school in Goa – decided to share everything critical about yoga for weight loss. From benefits to yoga asanas for weight loss, we will cover all important aspects.
Let’s start with how yoga helps with losing weight.
How does yoga help in weight loss?
Performing yoga asanas with a mind-body connection can help you to burn as many calories as running and cycling would do to increase your body awareness. Practice yoga as often as possible in order to lose weight. Do a more active and intense practice at least 3 to 5 times per week for 1 hour.
On the other days, balance out yoga practice with more relaxing and gentling yoga classes. Hatha and Iyengar styles are the greater options.
Many people turn to food when they are stressed out, yoga also helps you to have a better relationship with food as it reduces stress as well as makes you more mindful of food choices.
Physical impact
Yoga consists of cardio, muscle building, and mindfulness, which all rolled up into one. The more you create the mind-body connection, the more your body will burn calories so that you can get into the asanas easier. Eventually, it will help your body to lose extra fat from the body.
Detoxification
Other than removing extra fat from the body, yoga also helps to eliminate impurities from your body like lactic acid, carbon dioxide, and lymphatic fluid to improve your liver, kidneys, and digestive system. Twisting poses, like Vakrasana, are considered to be good for detoxification as they squeeze the internal organs and improve the blood flow to the internal organs.
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Best yoga styles for weight loss
While there are many yoga styles that are good for weight loss. Still, there are yoga styles that burn more calories than others, which means practicing these yoga styles will help you get faster results in terms of weight loss. Below are the most preferred yoga styles for weight loss by beginners:
Ashtanga Yoga
Ashtanga Yoga is the most popular yoga style that offers intensive physical workouts that helps you to lose weight effectively. This yoga style comes with a set of postures that alleviates your body to build muscles and raise your stamina.
While doing Ashtanga, your body will build internal heat and detoxify through the movements, coinciding with breathing. As well, the repetition of the practice boosts blood circulation, body awareness, and discipline, which are essentials to lose weight.
Vinyasa Yoga
Considered as a less strenuous form of physical exercise, Vinyasa is a slow-paced activity that helps to combat stress, improve flexibility and enhance concentration level. A vinyasa class consists of continuous movement, where the body moves from one posture to another in a dancing-like manner.
Resembling Ashtanga, when you practice Vinyasa you are building heat in your body as well as promoting blood circulation and detoxification. You will also develop strength, increase your suppleness, and, of course, lose weight.
Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga is a classical form of yoga that combines postures (asanas) and breathing exercises (pranayama). This yoga form focuses on fundamentals, which is perfect for beginners to lose weight. Hatha yoga poses increase your strength and flexibility making you hold the posture for a longer time. Eventually results in burning calories and weight loss.
Though you will not burn as many calories in a Hatha class as you would in an Ashtanga, or Vinyasa. Still, you can burn up to 300 calories, depending on the intensity of it.
Want to learn specific yoga asanas for weight loss? Read this blog
Start your yoga journey with Alpesh Yoga
Above are the 3 different styles of yoga that are famous for losing weight. Performing one of these yoga styles regularly will not only help you burn fat around your stomach and thighs but also help you stay fit both physically and mentally.
Want to know specific weight loss yoga poses to lose weight rapidly? Below are the yoga poses recommend by yoga experts for weight loss:
Bhujangasana (cobra pose)
Dhanurasana (bow pose)
Kumbhakasana (the plank)
Naukasana (boat pose)
Ustrasana (camel pose)
However, practicing the above-mentioned yoga asanas might be difficult for beginners. That’s why we recommend you join the 10 days yoga retreat in Goa to master the basics.
Alpesh Yoga was founded by Alpesh Patwari, a yoga teacher who has been learning and teaching yoga for almost 3 decades now. Widely known for 100, 200, and 300 hours of yoga teacher training certification, Alpesh Yoga is visited by students from across the globe.
Got queries to ask? Email them at alpeshyoga@gmail.com and get them answered by our yoga experts.