Many people these days face health issues due to stress and weight gain. Our sedentary lifestyle, family responsibilities and work pressure contribute to stress and weight gain. Apart from the obvious problems which are beyond control, there are ways in which you can de-stress and discard fat forever. One such way is yoga – a combination of exercise and mediation.
Yoga is a spiritual practice which helps gain control over both your body and mind. Yoga helps release tension around the joints, especially by easing the pressure off your mind and muscles to help you lose weight. Yoga is an amalgamation of postures, breathing exercises and meditation, which helps our mind and body to be in control.
Yoga for Stress Relief
The meditative techniques of yoga can contribute greatly to stress relief. The bow pose, the uttanasana pose and the sitting on the wall pose are some easy yoga poses for stress relief. These are low-impact poses that are designed to help you to relax by meditative breathing and have a very calming effect.
When trying yoga for stress relief, focus on yoga poses that you can hold on to for longer periods of time without pushing your body too hard. The aim of practising yoga should be to focus on being comfortable, calm and centred.
Yoga for Weight Loss
Yoga has many physical benefits ranging from weight management, flexibility to building strength and better breathing. Many yoga postures can be used for weight loss. However, the yoga postures for weight loss depend on your health and flexibility. Those who are mildly obese or those who used to engage in physical activities earlier can do more poses than those who are obese or have a sedentary lifestyle.
You should only do the postures with which you feel comfortable. Some easy yoga poses for weight loss include side bending or stretching, leg levitation and the snake pose. These poses stretch muscles, increase flexibility and help the body to burn calories. There is advanced yoga poses for weight loss which involves more intense stretching but is difficult to hold. Once you master the easy yoga poses, be on the lookout for the poses that seem a little more difficult to do. They will make your muscles more flexible and your body will be able to burn calories more easily.
Other Reasons to Practice Yoga
Apart from stress reduction and weight loss, yoga postures will help increase strength, lower blood pressure, aid in digestion, improve blood circulation, keep the spine supple and give you control over your body.
Yoga offers a myriad of health benefits – weight loss, a flexible body, glowing skin, a distressed mind and many others. Yoga, perceived as a relaxation exercise, helps us in many ways uniting the body, mind and soul.
Just remember that you can never force your body beyond its ability. If you feel any kind of pain or discomfort at any point of time, just stop performing the asanas right there. The discomfort may be due to an incorrect posture or physical injury. To avoid injury, you need to practice yoga under the guidance of a trained professional.
Read more articles on Yoga.
For more related articles, download OnlymyHealth app.
