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Monday 23 December 2013

Easy Tips for Weight Loss Naturally with Yoga


How often do you hear this? “I think I’ve put on weight; I need to slim down” - and this could lead to frantic discussions on ways to somehow shed those extra pounds.

Working out at the gym for long hours, training our taste buds to eat only healthy - you might have already tried all these and more to come back to good shape. Now, how about adding something that’s natural, has no side effects, is extremely easy and hardly takes 15-20 minutes of your day?

Meditation; a simple yet powerful technique. Wondering how something related to the mind can have anything to do with shedding pounds and kilos? Let’s see how meditation helps you lose weight naturally:
1: BMR, calories scales become kind
If you are on a weight-control program, you might be keeping a regular check on your body’s basal metabolic rate (BMR). By knowing your BMR, you can reduce calorie intake, in turn reducing body weight. When you meditate, your body’s BMR reduces. This means the extra calories intake by your body reduces. Weight loss is, then, a natural outcome.

2: Your tummy happier with less food
Have you noticed that the minute you stop working out for a few days, you immediately tend to put on a lot of weight? This is because you continue eating without burning as much. Exercising at the gym simply increases your appetite but may not necessarily improve assimilation.

By practicing yoga for weight loss and meditation, assimilation improves and desire for calorie-rich food decreases. So you feel hungry but are satisfied with lesser quantities of food. This has a more long-term effect on the body weight. Even if you are not able to exercise for some days, you won’t start gaining weight suddenly.

3: Restore your balance
Excessive weight gain and weight loss are sometimes outcomes of hormonal imbalances in the body. Meditation helps restore that harmony in the system so that if you are overweight, you lose pounds and if you are underweight, you gain the ability to put on.

4: Doughnuts anyone?
Your craving for all kinds of food could be your biggest roadblock when it comes to losing weight. How easy is it to stop yourself from buying a doughnut each time you pass the bakery shop with the fine aromas floating around? With regular meditation, it can be slightly easier.

Meditation increases awareness so that you become more watchful of your food habits. The next time you stretch out to grab a packet of chips or chocolates, you are immediately aware that it’s not going to help you reduce weight and you can substitute them with healthy alternatives. Also, over a period of time with regular meditation practice, you will find that your cravings have dropped. So you won’t be reaching for that bag of chips or cookies all that often.

“Till about one year back, I used to eat a lot of chocolates to the extent that if I would have chocolates at-least once a day, I used to feel very restless. My weight would only increase and I did not how to stop myself. Within 2 months of regular practice of meditation, I saw my cravings drop and I found it easy to control myself to chocolates. I continue to meditate and my weight has come down by 7 kg,” shares Divya Sachdev

5: Boost your commitment
Have you noticed how easy it is to fall prey to the threats of your weight- loss program? Sleep, junk food, sweets – all of these have the power to make you drop out of your weight-control plan very easily. This is a check on your commitment where meditation can help. Daily meditation practice helps strengthen your intention to lose weight so that you become more committed to exercising, following a moderated diet and other healthy practices.

Meditation gives the strength to realize an intention.

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Plank Pose (Kumbhakasana)

Also known as the plank pose this aasana is the most simple yet effective yoga exercise. It strengthens and tones your arms, shoulders, back, buttocks, thighs and not to mention your abs. interestingly this is the best aasana to get rock hard abs.  
Yoga exercise - Plank Pose

1.  Start in Downward Dog (Adho Mukha Savasana). Then inhale and draw your torso forward until the arms are perpendicular to the floor and the shoulders directly over the wrists, torso parallel to the floor. 
2.  Press your outer arms inward and firm the bases of your index fingers into the floor. Firm your shoulder blades against your back, then spread them away from the spine. Also spread your collarbones away from the sternum. Do not sink into your shoulder sockets.
3.  Press your front thighs up toward the ceiling, but resist your tailbone toward the floor as you lengthen it toward the heels. Lift the base of the skull away from the back of the neck and look straight down at the floor, keeping the throat and eyes soft.
4.  Plank Pose is one of the positions in the traditional Sun Salutation sequence. You can also perform this pose by itself and stay anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Explore some more yoga poses.

Monday 16 December 2013

Child Pose Yoga Posture

Shishu Asana

Yoga Asana – Child Pose

Shishu= child; asana= pose
Pronounced- shishuh-asanah


How to do Shishuasana (child pose)

Sit on your heels. Keeping your hips on the heels, bend forward, and lower your forehead to the floor.
Keep the arms alongside your body with hands on the floor, palms facing up. (If this is not comfortable, you can place one fist on top of another and rest your forehead on them.)
Gently press your chest on the thighs.

Hold.

Slowly come up to sit on the heels, uncurling vertebra by vertebra and relax.

Benefits of Shishuasana (Child Pose)

Deeply relaxing for the back.

Relieves constipation.

Calms down the nervous system.

Containdications and Cautions

In case of serious back or knee injuries avoid this pose.