Yoga for weight loss

Yoga helps in weight loss by improving muscle flexibility, strength, stamina and circulation of blood. The yoga asanas along with correct breathing technique and correct posture help in creating the perfect balance between the mind and body. Yoga compliments the other forms of more active exercises and can never substitute it.

Yoga is fit for beginners that want to start losing weight but are not motivated enough to start running or lifting weights. Yoga helps increase the flexibility in the body gradually motivating you to start more active form of physical activity.

Over the years some forms of yoga like power yoga, flow yoga  have become extremely popular for weight loss. There are many schools of yoga that have similar benefits as power yoga  and have infact helped people manage  heart diseases, asthama and other lifestyle diseases.. To know what style is most conducive to your lifestyle here are few schools listed out for your information.

Hot Yoga: Hot yoga is doing yoga poses in a heated room Read more

Yoga Poses to Curb Appetite

Curbing appetite is the biggest hurdle for anyone trying to lose or manage weight. Even if you get enough physical activity in your daily routine but do not manage to control what you eat then losing weight can be next to impossible. So how do you really get to the bottom of this weight problem and solve this problem of eating more than required by your body? Well here are some easy to do yoga poses that may help you control your urge to eat.  These yoga poses help control food cravings by helping the body regulate the release of hormones that control appetite (both the hormones that increases appetite as well as decrease appetite and cravings).

Warrior pose II : Stand straight with feet together. Take a large step towards the left and bend the knee as in a lunge. Keep the right ankle facing outwards. Bring both hands out on the side and hold it there for a few seconds.

 

Downward dog pose: Lie down on your belly and then raise your hips keeping your feet and hands on the ground.

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Improve Concentration with Yoga

A constant state of distraction has become the central point of everyone’s life. There is always so much to do but very little time. Sometimes to get a task done requires simple concentration. But how does it really help? Concentration is focused attention to one thought and keeping other thoughts away. Better concentration increases efficiency and helps you achieve your goal faster and smoothly. Good concentration keeps your mind calm and peaceful and keeps stress away keeping mind and body healthier.

You need concentration for everything you do. Even exercising requires concentration for better results. How do you develop concentration? Here are some easy yoga poses that will help you with you concentration while relaxing your body and mind. The basic requirement is to the follow the yoga poses is to stay in the pose and concentrate on the breathing: Read more

Yoga Poses to Improve Immunity

We know that changing season has most of us falling sick. There are simple ways of developing your immune system without taking any medicines.

Fifteen minutes a day and the following four wonder yoga asanas will help you build your immunity over time. Read more

Four Yoga Poses That Will Keep You Cool Through Summer

Benefits of the Half Spinal Twist Pose (Ardha-Matsyendrasana):

The Ardha-matsyendrasana helps in cultivating flexibility and strength in the spine. Its a great “cool down” pose that also smoothes stiff necks and upper back and tension caused by stress, poor posture, or prolonged periods of sitting in one position.

The alternating compression and release of the abdominal region flushes this area with blood and give massage the internal organs. Muscles of the stomach and hips are also toned from repeated practice of this asana.

How to perform the Half Spinal Twist Pose (Ardha-Matsyendrasana):

- Sit comfortable in a cross-legged position.

- Straighten both legs out in front. While bending your right knee, bring the heel of the right foot close to the left hip. Read more

Yoga Asanas That Will Wake You Up

For all those who find waking up in mornings a big challenge we found the perfect solution to help you get started. A few, easy to do yoga poses that will not only wake you up but re-energize you, lift your mood and get you charged for the day!

The sequence follows your natural posture as you wake up making it easier for you to adopt it. You start with lying down, then sitting up followed by gentle twists and at last a standing stretch. While you snooze your alarm you can quickly get on with these poses and be ready when the alarm sets off again.

Deep breathing exercises to start the morning Read more

Reduce Stress with Yoga

We all get stressed with some reason or the other depending upon our lifestyle. Work, home, partner, family and different aspects of life can be factors in causing stress. Stress can get difficult when it soars high in level causing anxiety, depression and you start to get inefficient. Stress can be tackled easily through yoga and exercise and help you rejuvenate with booming energy levels. Yoga is highly effective in tackling stress and the body releases endorphin, a chemical that makes you feel good.

Stress is mostly psychological showing its effect on our body and performance. Yoga is highly beneficial, de-stressing with our breathing and body postures that bring down the stress and clear the mind with the thoughts, eases muscles, makes you feel good and refill you Read more

Yoga Poses for Better Health

The benefits of yoga are varied. The body welcomes and requires active movement. Any form of stretching will help the body stay limber. However, the physical benefits of yoga, as reported by the millions of people who perform various types of asanas, go beyond that, like better flexibility of the spine and joints, Increased flow of blood and oxygen, better balance, better posture, improved digestion, toned and strengthened muscles, reduction of toxins built up in the body and heightened immune system response are some of its benefits.

Below are the second set of yoga poses for you to make your life more enjoyable and healthy living. Read more

Simple Yoga Asanas to Start

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of yoga, but have you wondered how you can start. As we always suggest, start with the easy stuff. So, here are some simple yoga asanas and poses that can get you started.

Child Pose or Balasana: This pose is ideal for beginners where a person surrenders to Read more

Yoga for Beginners

Ever thought of starting yoga, but known where to start? At the beginners level, performing yoga should be focused on learning how to do basic poses correctly. One of the best advantages of Yoga is that it can be practiced almost anywhere, without special equipment, and by people of all ages.

Yoga is different from regular exercises, as it doesn’t involve fasr movements, but instead slow, steady & focused movements. Basic yoga helps achieve relaxation which reduces stress.

Basic requirements to start yoga are a Read more

Avoid extra weight gain during pregnancy

When you’re pregnant it is understood that you are eating for two but that does not really mean twice as much as you normally do. Its healthy to gain 10-15 kg during the course of pregnancy, but some people gain over 20-25 kgs. That’s not healthy. All these extra kilos will show the most after pregnancy and will be extremely difficult to get rid of. So, we’re here to tell you how you can avoid gaining extra weight during your pregnancy.

Important thing to keep in mind is that exercise during pregnancy is no to lose weight. It is so that you prepare your body for the physical stress of baby weight, and birth, makes you feel & look better, and helps you regain shape faster again your pregnancy. Here are a few ways to stay fit during pregnancy. The key is doing everything in moderation:

Eat right: Most women need 2500-3000 calories. Get 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. Avoid excessive sugary and fatty food- its only empty calories. So, even though pregnancy seems like a great excuse to chow down on two big double chocolate chip brownies after your meal, its only an excuse. You will pay for it in weight gain.

Pre-Natal Yoga: Yoga poses are a great way to ease the discomforts of pregnancy and prepare the body for child birth. It also helps in healthy development of the fetus, reduces stress, helps calm the mind and increases awareness of the bodily changes. Practicing yoga has added benifits of helping you lose weight after delivery.

Walking: As you go into pregnancy its important to reduce high impact exercise. Walking is the simplest and the easiest way to stay fit when you’re pregnant. It also helps increase your endurance level resulting in easier labour pains, and is great way to rejuvenate and reduce stress. Note: Pregnancy or physical ailment is the only time we recommend walking as a great way to exercise and stay fit

Cycling: Indoor cycling is a safe, low impact way to exercise. Check with your doctor and take the necessary precautions. At all times, keep your self hydrated with lots of water.

Ensure that your exercise is not very strenuous, and don’t over exert yourself. And as we mentioned earlier, do not try to lose weight during your pregnancy.

Yoga poses benefits your mood & health

Believe it or not, yoga might help not just burn calories and lose weight, but also improve your moods! You can know what yoga poses to do, how to perform the yoga exercises and how you can use them not just to improve your mood, but to burn calories, gain muscle and lose weight!

Feeling Bored: Do the downward dog. Do a classic downward dog or a half-handstand. Place your hands on the floor about shoulder-width apart, and move your feet towards a wall. Walk your right leg up the wall, followed by the left. Keep your back aligned, legs parallel to the floor, so your body looks like an inverted L.

Feeling Blue: Do the camel pose in yoga. Kneel with your feet slightly apart (for balance) with toes pointing back. Drop your lower back down. Place your hands on your lower back and squeeze your elbows together. Lift your chest up and lean backwards, moving your hands to your heels.

Frazzled Mood: Do this squat-Keep your legs wider than shoulder width apart. Join your palms in prayer pose, turn your toes out 45 degrees and squat. Keep your feet rooted to the floor.

Feeling Insecure: Do the warrior- Keep your feet wide apart. Keeping your arms straight, extend them sidways. Make your right foot out 90 degrees. Bending your knee in the same direction, bend your torso 90 degrees to look over your right leg. Lunge into the position with your right knee bent at 90 degrees. As you lunge into this pose, move your straight arms pointing upwards. Look up as well. Switch legs, and repeat

Besides fixing your mood, Yoga is a great stress reliever and muscle tension reliever. If you love pumping iron in the gym, you can do some yoga poses on a rest day to help those muscles stretch and recover, get the blood flowing, and get your muscles to grow. This will also help keep you active on your rest day, and burn calories.

These yoga poses will also help you exercise your lower back, arms, legs and core muscles.

Note: The remedies discussed here are not meant to replace medical and professional care.

Exercises to strengthen lower back muscles

In our previous article, we talked about how improving your posture can help you get slimmer instantly. To help you improve your posture, try these exercise to strengthen your lower back. Here are some simple exercises that help:

- Run: Yes, among the many benefits of running, it helps to strengthen your lower back muscles, and improve your posture.

- Back Raises: Lie, face down on an exercise mat, with your arms and legs extended in opposite directions. Keeping your arms and legs straight, simultaneously raise your arms and legs till your body forms a flat U.  Refer to the photo for a visual. Hold this position for 1 second and lower down. Repeat this 10 times for each set. This will help to strengthen your back. As you build lower back strength, increase the repetitions and time you hold it up in the air.

- Watch TV: Or read a book, on a backless chair, and keep your back straight while doing it. This simple activity will help your back too.

Many exercises can help you back. Among them is the classic pushup also, which helps to build total upper body strength along with your back- check it out here. Building your lower back exercises will also help to build a six-pack. These exercises are for both men and women, so you should all do it!

Note: These exercises are not meant to reduce back pain, so please see a doctor for back pain.

Bikram Hot Yoga- Benefits, Myths

I’m sure you’ve heard that Bikram Yoga is all the rage. We’ve all seen pictures of half naked people sweating their bodies away in super heated rooms while holding all those difficult yoga positions! So, here’s a little bit about Bikram Yoga- it was developed by Bikram Choudhury- born in Calcutta; but currently lives in Beverly Hills, California.

Bikram Yoga is ideally practiced in a room heated to 40.5 Celcius (105 Farenheit) .There are 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises. [In India, we don't need those heated rooms- it gets that hot in summer without any special heating equipment ]

Since your body sweats a lot performing those positions in the heated rooms, Bikram Yoga claims to help rid your body of toxins and promotes blood circulation.

People claim to lose a lot of weight after performing these classes, but this weight is primarily water weight. Since the body sweats so profusely in those heated rooms, that losing a half a kg of weight (1 lb) should not be surprising. This is temporary weight loss, since it is water weight and once you consume the water, your body weight will return to normal. From a calorie bruning point of view, Bikram Yoga probably burns a reasonable amount of calories, but running for the same amount of time or playing a strenuous sport for that long will probably burn more calories.

Beginners can feel dizzy and nauseous during and after the first few classes. The Bikram Yoga School of India recommends drinking 64-80 oz (about 2 litres) of extra water when you perform Bikram Yoga.

There is controversy around Bikram Yoga in India, since Yoga traditionalists don’t approve of certain practices. Either way, if decide to try Bikram Yoga, ensure to hydrate yourself before, during and after your session.

We are yet to come across any Bikram yoga classes in Delhi. There might be some bikram yoga centers in Mumbai. If you know of them, please share with us!