How can Yoga help me manage my obesity?
- Eating more than the body requires daily is not good.
- Eating for reasons other then for energy is not right.
- In Ayurveda, it is recommended to eat only 3/4 of the stomach’s full capacity, leaving 1/4 for air and water.
- Yoga strengthens the mind and body. Getting rid of obesity and losing weight requires strong resilience, patience, and discipline.
- There will be times when the mind will give 1000 reasons to avoid exercise, create hunger pangs to demotivate us from the discipline required to follow a diet.
- Yoga improves our relationship with our body. It helps us to understand and respect our bodies. Makes us more aware of our own breath, our own systems.
Yogic discipline for Obesity Management
- Diet: Knowing what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat.
- Hydrating our bodies: Drinking water sip by sip, allowing it to mix with our saliva instead of taking large gulps.
- Sleeping patterns: Important to sleep regularly for a minimum of 7 to 8 hours, as during sleep, the body repairs itself from daily wear and tear and regulates hormones.
- Relief from hunger pangs: the stretching and pranayama help effective energy use by the body, helping us stay strong and avoid unnecessary eating.
- Stress management: Yoga for stress management is a huge topic. Here we just need to understand that by increasing body and breath awareness, our relationship with our body and mind changes, allowing us to embrace the change more effectively.
- Helpful Asanas to reduce obesity: Joint exercises, Surya namaskars, and then there are so many asanas that target specific body parts like the abdomen, legs, shoulders , and face. These asanas, if done regularly and with full focus, can make a huge difference.
- Pranayama: Breathing techniques like Anulom/Vilom, Pranayamas like Nadi Shodhan and Kapalbhati help clean our energy channels, allow deep respiration, and enable effective use of oxygen in our body.
- Shatkarmas: Yogic scriptures give us knowledge of six kriyas which lead to detoxification and cleanse our bodies. Jal neti, kunjal kriya, shankha prakshalana, agnisaar kriya and many practices help us flush out toxins, excess fat and mucus.
- Mudras and Bandhas: Bandhas literally mean lock. Locking our breath to specific body parts helps the circulatory system improve and activate itself, which affects all the systems of our body, such as the respiratory, nervous, and reproductive systems. Our chakras start to get affected. It influences the smallest part of our body, i.e., the cell, and our body improves and learns to manage energy effectively. Mudras work on our energy channels.
Yogic Management of Diabetes