Yoga is an endless source of health. Yoga exercises help not only lose weight, but also strengthen muscles, improve flexibility, strengthen immunity, get rid of depression and stress. In this article, we will not dwell on all the benefits of yoga, but we will consider simple yoga exercises for weight loss at home.
Types of poses for weight loss
Twisting
Twisting postures contribute to the entire digestive system, improve metabolism, which helps rid the body of fats and toxins. Twisting poses include: Bharadvajasana, Sage Pose, Ardha Matsyendrasana and others.
Standing poses
Standing postures strengthen the body and improve concentration. Pose areas: thighs, calves, spine, shoulders, top part back and stomach. Poses of this type must be included in the complex for weight loss with yoga.
Inverted poses
Inverted positions are designed to strengthen the muscles of the back and neck, stimulate the thyroid gland, and work out the abdominal organs. Again, improving metabolism and digestion, strengthening the muscle corset.
Slopes
Poses with bends can be performed both sitting and standing. Depending on the type of inclination, the necessary parts of the body are worked out. Bends are designed to improve body flexibility, stretch tendons, and strengthen muscles.
Relaxation Poses
You can end your workouts with relaxation positions. Relaxation poses help calm the mind and body, relieve stress after a working day.
Simple asanas for weight loss at home
Consider simple asanas for weight loss. I present to you a description of asanas, a photo and a principle of action.
Forward Bend - Uttanasana
The traction position strengthens the muscles of the abdomen and thighs, removes body fat. Ligaments and tendons work great.
Stand straight, raise your hands up, then gently lower your hands to the bottom. Try to touch your knees with your head. You can wrap your hands around your shins.
Cobra Pose - Bhujangasana
The Bhujangasana pose helps to improve digestion, affects the abdominal organs and abdominal muscles. The pose works great for the spine.
You can perform the pose from a prone position. As you inhale, lift off the floor. Keep your arms straight and your feet flat on the floor.
Downward Dog Pose - Adho Mukha Svanasana
The pose helps to strengthen all parts of the body. Stretched back surface body, tendons, spine, shoulders. The abdominal muscles are tightened, the metabolism improves.
The pose is performed from a standing position on all fours.
Warrior Pose - Virabhadrasana
Warrior Pose strengthens the muscles in the arms and legs, straightens the spine, and stretches the perineum.
To perform the warrior pose, stand up straight, lunge forward, join your hands with your palms and raise them above your head. Bend back slightly and stretch your entire body. Repeat the exercise with a lunge on the other leg.
Triangle Pose - Utthita Trikonasana
The triangle pose works by burning fat in the sides of the body, calming the nervous system, and stretching the tendons of the legs.
For trikonasana, stand up straight with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart. As you exhale, lower yourself to your left leg. The left hand touches the floor next to the foot, and the right hand rises up perpendicular to the floor. Look at the fingertips of your right hand. Repeat the exercise on the other side.
Tree pose or Vrikshasana
Vrikshasana strengthens the abs and arms, stretches the tendons and has a beneficial effect on the knees.
To perform the pose, stand up straight and as you inhale, raise your arms up above your head, palms together. The right leg is bent at the knee, and the foot is attached to the inner thigh. Freeze in the pose for 60 seconds. Do the pose again, but this time bend your left leg.
Chair Pose - Utkatasana
Strengthening the hips and calves with tree pose is indescribable. Muscles are strained, endurance is trained, the organs of the abdominal region are being worked out.
To perform the asana, stand up straight and as you exhale, raise your arms up. Bring your hands together with your palms together and sit down slightly as you exhale. Hidden for 30 - 60 seconds in position.
Plank Pose - powerful weapon against fat and cellulite. Recommended for practice, both in a set of exercises for weight loss, and as an independent static load. Plank pose applies a static load to all parts of the body. Several approaches can be performed, gradually increasing the time spent in the pose. Do not forget about even breathing and a straight back.
Wind Release Pose - Pavanmuktasana
The pose is designed to free the body from accumulations of gases. It is performed for each leg separately and with the curling of both legs at the same time. It has a beneficial effect on the abdominal organs, massages the abdomen, strengthens the muscles of the lower body.
Bow pose - Dhanurasana
Dhanurasana improves the flexibility of the spine, stretches the muscles of the abdomen, arms and legs. Like the previous weight loss poses, the bow pose improves bowel function, corrects back disorders, and also strengthens the neck area.
Press 30 - 60 - 90
As the name suggests, the pose strengthens the abdominal muscles and burns fat. The pose is performed in this way: Lying on your back, while inhaling, raise your legs 30 degrees. Gradually lower your legs almost to the floor. Hold for a short while, as you exhale, put your feet on the floor. Repeat the exercise, but this time raise your legs 60 degrees and then 90 degrees.
You can perform a set of exercises at home. Simple exercises for weight loss not only burn fat, but also increase endurance, improve the functioning of internal organs and give your body flexibility. Stay always young and beautiful!
How do you deal with overweight?
In this article I want to answer the question "Can you lose weight by doing yoga?" And not just answer, but show you how and why it happens!
As you may have guessed, my answer is of course YES!
Now I will tell you AS it happens. And I'll start with the reasons why excess weight is formed, and I will also immediately answer why you can lose weight by doing yoga.
First reason excess weight — sedentary image life. Sedentary work, travel by car or public transport, at home - sitting at a computer or watching TV on the couch. All this has little to do with burning extra calories. How does yoga help in this case, you ask? Indeed, in yoga, mainly static postures. The thing is that when performing static postures (asanas) of yoga, there is a lot of work of muscles, for which this position is unusual. And also, in motionless poses, excess fat deposits in the body are well burned. Thus, we get a double effect - we strengthen and tighten the muscles and at the same time "dry" our body.
The second reason for being overweight - overeating and malnutrition. Doing yoga, you learn to listen to your body, to understand its signals. And you stop eating when you are simply bored or lonely, you begin to distinguish these sensations and not confuse them with hunger. When you do yoga, your body is cleansed, your metabolism improves, and your body stops craving junk food. That is, at some point you realize that you do not want chips, lemonade, sausages, etc. Your clean body begins to crave simple, healthy food.
The third reason for being overweight — psychological reasons, stress. Everyone knows that we also eat stress most often. And again, it's not a secret for anyone that yoga classes primarily have a positive effect on the psyche, calm down, relax, and restore the nervous system. Thus, a person is less prone to stress, becomes emotionally stable, and feels harmonious.
The fourth reason for being overweight - various hormonal disorders in the body. And here yoga can help you too. The fact is that yoga asanas (postures) are built in such a way that at a certain position of the body, there is an effect on certain organs and systems, including the endocrine glands, which are precisely responsible for the hormonal balance in our body. And with constant yoga practice, your hormonal balance returns to normal.
The fifth reason for being overweight - she may become any disease in which metabolism and other functions of the body are disrupted. And here you need to know that yoga improves metabolism, strengthens the immune system and heals the entire body as a whole. And also the fact that there are practically no contraindications to yoga. Therefore, after consulting your healthcare professional, you can also start to heal your body from the inside out.
The sixth reason for being overweight - women often gain excess weight during or after pregnancy. There may be several reasons from the ones listed above: this is a hormonal disruption, and stress, and as a result, overeating. And in the same way, yoga classes will help you cope with all of this (see above).
I answered the question "Is it possible to lose weight by doing yoga"... I would like to add that yoga really heals the body very well, improves its flexibility and mobility, gives a sense of joy in life. Gives the ability to better understand, hear your body.
It should be noted that those who want a quick, instant result are definitely not here! Here, the restoration of the body proceeds naturally, and this, of course, takes time. Especially when there are already real problems. But if you want to solve these problems, if you have enough patience and understanding, then you will receive excellent healthy bodythat will delight you for many years!
What do you think about this? I really look forward to your comments on this article!
In the future, I plan to record with, which are most aimed at the problem of excess weight. Not to miss important information, subscribe to site updates!
Hello! Yoga for weight loss has become a very popular way to lose weight. Meanwhile, a whole army of experts claims that it is impossible to lose weight with the help of yoga.
How to be, who to believe, and lose weight or not in this way? With my today's article I will try to answer these and a number of other questions.
What is yoga
Since I am no expert in this matter, I will understand the topic using the Internet - what they say, what they write about and what other people advise. And first, let's find out, what exactly is yoga?
As the omniscient Wikipedia testifies, it is a complex of mental, physical, spiritual practices with the help of which a person achieves harmony of body and spirit.
It was practiced by ancient Hindu deities like Shiva. How does all this relate to being overweight? There are two opposing points of view here.
The first is not connected in any way.
Mythical weight loss
Probably, the statement that with the help of spiritual practices they lose weight arose on the basis of the fact that all yogis are thin (have you ever seen at least one fat yogi?). However, experts say that their thinness is caused by many years of restricting themselves in nutrition, and nothing else.
As they write, a number of studies were carried out, which revealed the fact that in the process of exercising such metabolism decreases. And weight loss, as science knows, on the contrary, is based on improving, increasing metabolism.
Yoga is a relaxing system based on meditation and self-absorption. With this approach, life processes, including metabolism, on the contrary, slow down.
Another researchers calculated the loss of calories during yoga - 2-3 per minute, that is, approximately 105-145 per hour. This is tantamount to shopping for the same period.
By the way, in a state of sleep or just rest, we lose 1-1.5 calories per minute. Heartbeat also hardly increases during exercise (which, according to respected experts, is important - a more frequent heartbeat and at least a little sweating indicate that you are working on your body).
How can you lose weight on the loss of calories?
Non-mythical weight loss
Second, opposite point of view.
Here you have to, as they say, "dig deeper." Why do people get fat? There are many reasons for this, among the most common are improper lifestyle, overeating, minimal physical activity, genes.
What is yoga based on? Experts in this area argue that it is mainly on thoughts. It doesn't matter how many calories you burn during exercise. Another thing is important.
How effective are your workouts in harmonizing your mind.
This brings to mind the popular claim that we are what we think of ourselves, right? In the case of yoga, this is approximately the case. Among the examples on this part, I found one that is almost incredible. A man who fell from the 9th floor broke his arms - legs and was chained to a bed.
It seemed like it was forever. But a year later, he was already living a normal life, and the secret turned out to be simple: lying in bed and not being able to do anything, he began to mentally imagine how he was moving his arms and legs. And soon he actually began to move them, and then perform yoga poses.
Why kilograms go
But why? Well, a person sits in a lotus position, tuned his consciousness, leads to a harmonious state of mind and emotions - what does weight loss have to do with it?
In general, there is no exact explanation why weight loss occurs. Science cannot answer this unequivocally, specialists from both sides (opponents and supporters) cannot find a common language either.
Adherents say that the right thoughts tune the body in the right way and put all body systems in order. You must learn to control your mind, drive out negative thoughts.
Along the way, the practice of postures also has a good tonic effect - it is not so easy, in fact, to sit frozen in one position.
As a result, the process of losing weight goes as follows:
- You work your muscles, make them more flexible.
- Classes act like a massage - asanas affect the muscles and internal organs, setting them up for the correct work and simultaneously provoking the cleansing of the body from toxins.
- This promotes good blood circulation and nerve conduction, the use of fats for their intended purpose, and not for their accumulation in tissues.
- The consequence of this purification is the desire not to overeat and eat healthier food - vegetables, fruits, whole grain cereals (yogis, as you know, are vegetarians for the most part).
- As a result of all of the above, energy flows through your body more evenly, which enhances both physical and mental health.
Overall, yoga is said to be
- Improves the work of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and training in intensive breathing, coupled with exercise, strengthens the heart muscle.
- Increases the body's endurance. From simple to complex - easy asanas are replaced by others, more complex ones, and thus you strengthen your body.
- Strengthens the spine, improves posture, relieves back pain and muscle pain.
- Improves metabolic processes and improves immunity
- Relieves emotional stress, increases the level of the hormone of happiness (serotonin), which helps to improve mood, gain peace of mind and, in general, fight depression.
Which yoga is best?
For everyone who starts practicing, this issue becomes one of the most important. And in vain. For starters, it’s advised that it’s best to just attend a group session and just watch what happens there. And pay attention, first of all, not to the classes themselves, but to the coach.
Because 90% of your success at first depends on how good your contact with the teacher is, how competent he is.
It is also worth remembering that in yoga (in any of its forms) there are no easy asanas, or rather, it takes time for the feeling of lightness to come from them.
In any case, experts advise beginners not to overdo it.
Yoga types
Actually, there are a lot of them, and we will not dwell on all of them. In short, the most popular among those who decided to choose yoga as their fitness.
Hatha yoga - a classic teaching that is recommended for beginners. It is aimed at preparing the body for spiritual improvement. In addition to physical and breathing exercises she teaches the ability to relax, eat right, and helps cleanse the body of toxins.
Power yoga - created as if specifically in order to refute the claims of skeptics that yoga does not speed up metabolism. Disperses, supporters assure, and how. Created in the 1990s, at the first stages it resembles hatha yoga, and then delves into the process of building muscle mass and dynamics.
Bikram yoga or hot yoga - as the name suggests, you will feel hot while performing her asanas. And so it is. Classes are held at an average temperature of 45 degrees Celsius. This kind of fitness in a hot room is another answer to accusations that yoga does not lose weight, because they do not sweat. Sweat, and how. But, people with chronic diseases need to consult a doctor before class.
Ashtanga yoga - also, like power, is aimed at development physical strength and body endurance. Since it requires serious preparation, it has gained particular popularity among professional athletes - it helps them to achieve good results.
Rules for beginners
- Severe illnesses and recent surgeries, as well as pregnancy over 3 months arecontraindications.
- Yoga is suitable for people of all ages, but a doctor's consultation is necessary, especially if you are in poor health.
- Do not perform asanas without consulting a trainer - there are exercises here that increase pressure in inexperienced people or can have a bad effect on joints, knees or spine.
- Be careful at first with vigorous breathing exercises as well as flexibility exercises. There should be no discomfort when performing asanas.
- There is no need to immediately give up meat - adherents say that the desire to become a vegetarian comes gradually, with immersion in the teachings. When you yourself realize that asanas and breathing practices fill your body with much better energy than a piece of fried pork.
- Exercise can be done at any time of the day - suitable for someone morning workout, to someone, on the contrary, evening. Recommended basic stretching exercises before bed.
- You need to exercise on an empty stomach, that is, do not eat 1.5-2 hours before training. The room should be well ventilated; asanas should be done barefoot.
It is believed that yoga has a solution for every problem area on the body. Whole complexes have been developed for arms, legs, spine, joints, buttocks. However, don't wait fast weight loss... If you decide to lose weight through this practice, then you should always remember that yoga is not a couple of months.
Losing weight with its help is a long process, and it depends, first of all, on the flexibility of your mind and on how effectively you can put in order the systems of your body.
"Yoga / Fitness yoga / Yoga: Harmony of body and soul" - these are three discs at once, which will help you get to know yoga at home, learn to understand your body and master several sets of exercises at once.
What to remember
- The secrets of harmony when practicing yoga lie not in the loss of calories, but in the correct mood of consciousness.
- People of all ages can do it, but you need to start with caution.
- Neglect of safety while training is fraught with injuries - you should not experience any discomfort while performing asanas.
- You shouldn't change your life drastically overnight by deciding to do yoga - the right way of life will find you by itself if you arrange your thoughts accordingly.
Well, that's all for today. Until next time in new articles on my site.
Yoga classes for weight loss are now very popular. But if for some they turn out to be a panacea and turn into a way of life, then for some reason they do not work for others. What are the components of success and what style of yoga to choose to lose weight?
What is yoga?
Yoga is an ancient philosophical teaching that came to us from India, preaching a special system of values \u200b\u200baimed at achieving a state of spiritual and mental elevation by a person. Enlightenment can be achieved through strengthening the body and spirit with the help of mental and physical practices.
Today, few people go into the philosophical side of the doctrine, many are only adopting the system physical exercisecalled asanas. Nevertheless, yoga classes help to cognize the capabilities of your body, temporarily escape from the bustle of the world and look deep into yourself. Working on his body, breathing, a person trains endurance, concentration, becomes resistant to stress and gradually comes to a change in consciousness and lifestyle.
Physical health benefits
Many diseases arise from stress. Constant nervous tension can lead to hormonal disruptions, nervous disorders, and malfunctioning of the immune system. That is why it is so important to learn how to control yourself, switch your mind, tune in a positive way.
If we talk about the physical aspect of classes, then yoga develops endurance, trains flexibility, stretching, helps to find harmony.
5 reasons to do yoga for weight loss
People who practice yoga regularly confirm its effectiveness for weight loss. A number of factors contribute to this:
- Most of the asanas are static exercises with changing positions, which involve the ultimate tension of all muscles, including the deep ones, to maintain body balance.
- A special breathing technique speeds up metabolic processes in the body by almost 30%. This happens due to the saturation of the body with oxygen, which breaks down the cells of adipose tissue. Food begins to be digested faster, and the feeling of hunger does not arise, but an unprecedented surge of energy is felt.
- Yoga teaches you how to deal with stress. Often it is stress that causes the need to “seize” the problem.
- Yoga reduces levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that induces deposition excess fat, especially in the abdomen, and surges in blood glucose.
- After classes, sleep is normalized, and for weight loss it is important to get enough sleep.
What results can be expected
Many are skeptical about yoga as a means of losing weight, citing the fact that an hourly workout burns an average of one hundred and fifty to two hundred calories, while the same duration power training will burn from three hundred to five hundred.
Yes, the result will not be quick, the first changes can be seen in 2-3 months regular classes... The balance displays on initial stage many will be disappointed. But weight loss will certainly occur, but not as rapidly as many would like. Even if the weight stands still, the volume of the body will decrease by several centimeters, and the muscles will acquire relief. It means that adipose tissue will gradually be replaced by muscle.
It's not only and not so much calorie burning. The meaning of yoga classes is to find harmony between consciousness and the physical state of the body. A person becomes more susceptible to all the processes taking place inside his body, and gradually comes to the need to change food habits, revise the system of relationships with people and the lifestyle in general.
Indications and contraindications for classes
Getting rid of those extra pounds, of course, has a positive effect on health. Yoga will help not only to reduce weight, but also to cope with many ailments. Such classes will be useful:
- with problems with the spine;
- joints;
- drops in blood pressure;
- digestive disorders;
- diseases of the genitourinary sphere;
- nervous tension against a background of constant stress, including insomnia and chronic fatigue.
It is worth giving up classes altogether:
- with mental disorders;
- organic lesions of the heart, including defects, tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, aortic aneurysm, myocardial dystrophy;
- blood diseases;
- traumatic brain injury;
- oncological diseases.
You need to temporarily refrain from doing yoga:
- when taking medications in large quantities;
- exacerbation of any chronic diseases;
- after operations;
- abnormally low or high body temperature;
- passing a massage course;
- after a bath or sauna (you can start classes no earlier than 8 hours later);
- on a full stomach.
What types of yoga are there and what to choose for weight loss for beginners?
The main question that torments beginners who decide to do yoga is which direction to choose? Indeed, there are many styles of yoga, and their choice depends on what goals you want to achieve.
If the main goal is weight loss, then Bikram yoga and Ashtanga yoga will be most effective here, although, according to by and large, all types will help to lose weight in the end.
- Bikram yoga (also called “hot” yoga) is a type of hatha yoga and consists of 26 dynamic asanas and 2 breathing exercises that must be performed in a well-heated room with high humidity. Such workouts can burn up to 700 calories per session. The downside is that not all schools can create the necessary conditions for this, so Bikram yoga is not practiced everywhere.
- Ashtanga yoga is a rigid dynamic practice that allows you to build lean muscles. In one lesson, you can spend up to 600 calories. This type of yoga involves walking a path consisting of eight steps. Each next level surpasses the previous one in its complexity. Asanas are combined with breathing practice (pranayama) and repetitive breathing movements (vinyasa).
- Hatha yoga is the initial stage of Raja yoga, its purpose is to physical fitness body to meditation with the help of a complex of physical and mental practices that temper the body and spirit. This is a set of static asanas that allow you to deeply work out all the muscles and speed up the metabolism.
- Strength or power yoga was developed in America in the mid-90s. It is based on the Ashtanga yoga exercises, but the asanas are not performed in a strict sequence. Strength yoga classes train endurance and give a fairly quick result. At the initial stage, static exercises of hatha yoga are used, while the muscles of the legs, arms, back and hips are well worked out, the muscle imbalance is leveled. At a more advanced level, when the students are already in full control of their bodies, they begin dynamic exercises.
- Kundalini yoga is a synthesis of static, dynamic, breathing exercises, meditations and mantras. The complex of all these practices allows you to awaken the Kundalini energy, "dormant" at the base of the spine, and raise it in stages along energy channels up to the highest chakra sahasrara.
Do some exercises with your Kundalini Yoga teacher Alexei Vladovsky.
Video: kundalini yoga lesson for weight loss
- Respiratory yoga is a complex special exercisesaimed at holding the breath and the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the body, which helps to relax the blood vessels. In relaxed vessels, blood circulation is normalized, which increases the overall tone of the whole organism. Short hypoxia accelerates the synthesis of enzymes that trigger oxidation processes in the body. As a result, metabolism is enhanced and metabolic processes are improved.
Learn more about the principles of breathing with a video tutorial from Karina Kharchinskaya.
Video: learning to breathe correctly
- Finger yoga or mudra is based on the fact that there are acupuncture points on the palms and fingers associated with various organs. Regular exposure to these points helps to cope with stress, improve vision, hearing, speed up metabolism, alleviate many ailments, and also maintain the overall tone of the body.
- Yoga in hammocks is perfect for people who find it difficult to perform traditional exercises for a number of reasons, for example, with problems with joints or back problems. Such exercises are useful for obese people and women after childbirth. Classes take place in a special hammock, consisting of a canvas equipped with additional handles and ropes for fastening. Indoors, the device is attached to the ceiling with carabiners, and in the summer you can attach it to a tree or outdoor horizontal bar to practice in the fresh air.
What time of day is it better to study and what is the optimal duration of classes
Indian yogis begin their practice in the morning at dawn, and it is no coincidence. Morning yoga helps to wake up and energize for the whole day. It is the morning hours that are considered the best for yoga. Unfortunately, not everyone has time for full-fledged classes in the morning. Do not be upset: to do morning asanas, 20-30 minutes is enough to increase blood circulation, start metabolism, warm up joints and muscles, prepare the whole body for the working day.
The choice of exercises for the morning warm-up, especially for beginners, should be approached reasonably - in the morning, the risk of injury is higher. For morning complex more leisurely stretching exercises that do not require much effort, such as the cat or butterfly pose, are more suitable. It is better to leave power and dynamic loads for evening workouts.
What other exercises to choose for the morning complex, learn from the video.
Video: fifteen-minute complex for awakening from Katerina Buida
The optimal duration of a yoga session is from one and a half to two and a half hours, depending on the level of training. The duration of the training time should be increased gradually. Be sure to do it regularly, at least 3-4 times a week. At first, you should not exhaust yourself with daily activities - the body, especially the unprepared, needs days of rest.
Those who cannot sleep for a long time, but in the morning feel overwhelmed, should pay attention to the set of exercises before bedtime. To avoid problems with falling asleep, the room must be ventilated the day before, and the last meal should be 3 hours before bedtime.
You can start the complex with the Sirshasana (headstand) exercise, but preparation is needed for it: lying on your back, first you need to relax as much as possible, then inhale and exhale smoothly, imagining how the air comes out of all parts of the body. Now you can go to the wall and stand on your head, trying to hold out in this position as long as possible, ideally up to 3 minutes.
The Viparitakarani mudra exercise, reminiscent of the familiar "birch", is also well suited before bedtime: from a supine position, you need to tear your legs off the floor, while your elbows should rest on the floor, and your palms - on the lower back. You should stay in this position for 2 minutes.
More yoga exercises before bed - in the video tutorial by Katerina Buida.
Video: evening complex "Sweet Dream" by Katerina Buida
What else you need to know about classes
Often women ask if it is possible to conduct classes on "critical" days? Yes, menstruation is not a contraindication to yoga. For this period, only strength exercises, twisting and bending back should also be avoided.
Clothes for yoga practice should be made of natural fabrics, loose and comfortable. Shoes for yoga are not needed at all - it is better to practice barefoot, in extreme cases - in socks.
You need to train on an empty stomach. In the morning hours - before breakfast, in the afternoon or in the evening - 3-4 hours after eating. If you suffer from unbearable hunger, shortly before class, you are allowed to drink a glass of juice, milk or tea.
There is no age limit for yoga practice. Children can be taught asanas from the age of 5.
Yoga for weight loss at home
It is better to start yoga classes with an instructor. But if there is no time to visit sports hall, you can practice at home with the help of video tutorials from experienced experts. Consider several easy exercises for beginners, performing which are well developed problem areas and extra pounds disappear.
Get rid of belly and side fat
Warm-up is always necessary before performing asanas. For this purpose, bends forward and to the sides, turns of the body to the right and left, rotations of the hips are suitable. Now you can start static asanas.
Paripurna navasana
- You need to sit up straight and stretch your legs in front of you, connecting them together. The body with the legs should form a right angle.
- Then the body must be tilted back 45 degrees, and the outstretched legs must be raised so that the right angle is maintained.
- Stretch your arms straight forward to maintain body balance.
- Hold this position for 10 seconds.
Repeat the exercise 5 times.
Uttanasana
- Starting position standing: spread your legs wide and straighten your back.
- Pulling up knee caps up, tighten the muscles of the legs.
- Taking a deep breath, at the same time stretch your arms up and clasp your elbows.
- Tilt the body down, trying to reach your legs with your forehead, while your hands should touch the floor. Tighten your abdominal muscles.
- Stay in this position, counting to ten.
- Return to starting position.
Repeat the exercise 5 times.
Rdha navasana
- Sit on the floor with straight legs extended in front of you.
- Cross your fingers and put them on the back of your head.
- On exhalation, tilt the body back, and tear your legs off the floor by 40 degrees.
- Hold in this position for 10 seconds and return to the starting position.
Repeat the asana 5 times.
Shavasana
Relaxation exercise to complete the complex.
- Lie on your back, legs and arms spread out to the sides.
- Relax the muscles of the whole body. Remain in this position for 20 minutes.
Working out the hips and buttocks
A few simple exercises can significantly improve the shape of your legs and tighten your buttocks.
"Flying eagle"
- Put your feet shoulder-width apart, right leg put forward, hands on the belt.
- Sit down low.
- To rise sharply, as if pushing the body up, at the same time bend the right knee, bend your arms slightly at the elbows, while bringing the right back, and pushing the left forward.
- Hold in this position for up to 10 seconds.
- Sit down again.
Repeat the exercise 10 times with a change of legs.
"Swivel chair"
- Sit on the floor, put your legs in front of you, bending at the knees, rest your feet on the floor, place your hands on your belt.
- Raise your legs so that together with the body they form an angle of 45 degrees, while spreading your arms to the sides.
- Trying to maintain an angle between the legs and torso, take both arms to the right and legs to the left.
- Then, without touching the floor with your feet, turn your legs to the right, and your hands over your head to the left.
Perform 10 rounds.
"Winged legs"
- Get on all fours, straighten your back.
- Bend the left leg at the knee so that the heel is level with the buttocks.
- Slowly straighten your right leg and take it back.
- Hold this position for up to 10 seconds.
- Return to starting position.
- Repeat the same with changing legs.
Perform 10 rounds.
Take on more thigh and glute exercises from American fitness trainer Denise Austin, who has consulted Ashtanga yoga and Pilates.
Video: a set of exercises for the hips and buttocks
Beautiful arms and healthy back
Beautiful posture always helps to look young and confident. It is also an indicator of back health. You can find a beautiful posture at any age, and a few simple asanas will help in this.
Baby pose
- Kneel with your big toes together and spread your knees shoulder-width apart.
- Tilt your torso, placing it between your knees, while sitting on your heels.
- At the same time, the hands are located shoulder-width apart, from elbows to palms, they are pressed tightly to the floor and stretch as far as possible.
- Touch the floor with your forehead.
- Without lifting the buttocks from the heels, slowly stretch the lateral parts of the body.
- Breathing should be even.
Hold in this position for 1-2 minutes.
Downward Dog Pose
- The previous asana is the starting position.
- While inhaling, raise the pelvis up, straighten your knees.
- Transfer body weight to your feet, do not lift your heels off the floor.
- Tighten your hips, tighten your kneecaps.
- The back and arms should form a single line.
- The head and neck should be relaxed.
- Breathing should be free.
Stay in this pose for 1 minute.
- Lying on your stomach, stretch your straight arms forward, press your forehead to the floor, and connect your legs.
- While inhaling, mentally stretch the lower back, pull the buttocks to the heels.
- As you exhale, raise right hand and the left leg.
- On inhalation, return to the starting position.
- As you exhale, raise your left arm and right leg.
- Return to starting position again
Repeat the cycle 3 times.
Now you can take a moment to rest, and then complicate the task.
Repeat the exercise 3 times.
find out more exercise for the back from Katerina Buida.
Video: fifteen-minute complex for strengthening the back
A universal yoga complex from the American trainer Jillian Michaels will help to work out all muscle groups at home.
Video: a set of exercises for all muscle groups
Nutritional principles combined with exercise
Regular yoga practice can gradually change your eating habits. Yes, all yogis are vegetarians, but this does not mean that you immediately need to adopt vegetarianism. Yoga teaches you to feel your body, and over time you will want to exclude deliberately unhealthy foods from your diet. If you are not yet ready to radically change your eating behavior, then the use of some foods should be limited and minimized.
Yogis are considered harmful:
- Any meat - it contains a lot of toxic substances that contribute to premature aging and cause aggression.
- Any animal fats, including dairy products - they cause atherosclerosis.
- Any drug, including alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, opium, hashish, marijuana and other drugs.
- Any sweets, except for honey and candied fruits.
- Any flour products, especially from yeast dough - they have a detrimental effect on the intestines.
In yoga, it is considered correct when:
- 60% of the diet consists of natural raw food: fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts;
- 40% is food that has undergone heat treatment.
Observing this ratio, you can create a healthy menu for every day to your liking.
The question of the effectiveness of yoga for weight loss is relevant for many - both for those who are going to go to their first practice, and for those who are already doing yoga or another type physical activity... But a rare instructor will give an unambiguous answer to this question, because the influence of yoga on the body depends not only on the ideal performance of asanas, but also on many other factors - the right direction, nutrition, instructor, breathing exercises, and so on.
About what yoga is, how to treat it and what you need to consider when organizing your classes, AiF.ru told a professional kundalini Yoga teacher Irina Nelson.
Milich Maya, AiF.ru: Can yoga help you lose weight?
Irina Nelson: Yes of course. But before choosing this particular method of solving problems with excess weight, it is worth understanding what yoga is. Yoga is a self-knowledge system. There are a huge number of types of yoga. If you want to lose weight through yoga, then know that the causes of excess weight concern not only the physical body, they can be embedded deep in the subconscious, or, as yogis say, in the subtle bodies. These include the emotional body, the mental body, and several others. The cause of the disease sometimes appears long before its physical manifestation. Psychologists often say that being overweight is a subconscious fear, a desire to isolate oneself from the world. And in this case, yoga can change the vision of our world, daily habits, and you will be surprised how your body will change.
Where to begin?
- What direction among all the variety of styles is better for those who are focused on losing weight?
- Overweight people need to start with simple yogic practices, as they may have different health problems associated with being overweight - pressure, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the spine. And, naturally, they are not suitable for intensive breathing practices, and also due to the lack of appropriate preparation - some exercises that require flexibility. Therefore, I recommend that you start carefully with the first steps of Hatha Yoga. An experienced teacher will always tell you which exercises to avoid, because there are exercises in yoga that lower or increase blood pressure. Outstanding teacher and yogi Iyengar was very demanding of his students, so Iyengar yoga requires endurance. In yoga in general, there is a tough demanding approach, it is called the father principle, and a soft one - the mother's approach, when the student does something rather for his own pleasure.
- How to find your teacher? What would you advise to pay attention to?
- You need to pay attention to your intuition, how pleasant and comfortable this person is to you. To a good teacher, you will rush to the lesson with impatience and anticipation of pleasure. If you force yourself to study, then, probably, this is not your teacher. You fall in love with a good teacher, you become one. It is also important to consider which style is close to you. Some who lack willpower like it when the teacher is tough enough to force them to study. And some for a gentle approach. You need to combine these factors, and then you will find your ideal teacher and love yoga forever.
Where to go?
- How do you feel about such practices as Bikram Yoga and Hot Yoga? After all, they are just aimed at losing weight, but are they effective and not dangerous?
- Any type of yoga is effective, but you must take into account your level of training. Plus, watch how much excess weight you have - 3-5 kg \u200b\u200bor a high degree of obesity. Naturally, in the latter case, I would not recommend starting with bikram yoga and hot yoga. Because these exercises in 100% of cases will lead to aggravation of blood pressure problems, if any, or to disruption of the cardiovascular system. It's not worth experimenting, otherwise you can hurt yourself.
In addition, someone loves active exercises - and they need dynamic yoga, someone needs relaxation due to low stress resistance, and then it is better to choose practices that promote deep relaxation. And someone generally loves the philosophical aspect, mantra yoga (chanting mantras) or bakti yoga (serving their beloved deity) is suitable for them.
Again, there are a huge number of types of yoga, as many as there are people. And the fact that yoga is suitable for everyone is absolutely certain, but it is extremely important to determine your type, soberly assess your capabilities. This is what will help you find your favorite yoga or a combination of practices that will lead to better health, pure consciousness, not polluted by the external information environment, and, as a result, mental balance.
- Are there special yoga classes for very overweight people?
- There are such classes. For example, there is ancient science Ayurveda, which allows to identify diseases in the deep layers, at the cellular level, and with the help of cleansing practices of various kinds harmonize all body structures. As a result, a person sheds unnecessary pathological formations in the form of excess fat and toxic substances. Recently I was in the Ayurvedic center "Atreya", where, before my very eyes, changes were taking place in a man who looked very obese. Doctors, finding out his body type, mentality and habits, prescribed the correct treatment for him. This type of yoga is many thousands of years old. And only now it comes into our life.
Organization of classes
- Is it necessary for those who practice yoga to give up meat and stick to a vegetarian diet?
- I would paraphrase. Anyone who decides to become a vegetarian needs to do yoga. Because you can't just give up meat from scratch, once you wake up in the morning. The fact is that when a person refuses meat, he must master yogic techniques that allow him to compensate for the energy of rough food, which includes meat, in particular its red varieties. With the help of asanas and breathing practices you can fill your body with energy of much higher quality than the energy that we get from rough food after killing a living creature. That is why many who have decided to give up meat do not have the expected effect, because this step is not supported by anything.
- Many people who attend yoga classes in groups do not like breathing exercises and feel that they are useless. Is it really?
- Breathing exercises are a powerful additional source vital energywhich is called "prana" in yoga. With the help of breathing exercises, you can treat and alleviate the course of such serious diseases as asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis. Most people use only upper clavicular breathing, depriving themselves of a huge reserve of energy that can be supplied with the help of correctly delivered breathing.
- Does yoga have contraindications?
- Of course, you need to be careful with any kind of physical activity. It is important to avoid those exercises and asanas that can lead to injuries due to overdoing, or due to the presence of pre-existing injuries, therefore, be careful with micro-injuries of the knees, joints and be sure to warn teachers about previously received injuries.
- How long can the path to perfect body?
- How long the path can be depends on the flexibility of the mind and the degree of awareness of the person who decided not only to lose weight, but also to balance all the systems of his body.