Yoga for Weight Loss is ONE of the most popular requests that I receive, and so it seems that lots of people are hoping Yoga will help them lose weight! This makes sense to me because Yoga has such a positive effect on your body, it is safe to practice, and personally, I could never find a physical activity that I enjoyed as much as Yoga. Let’s take a closer look because once you start considering weight loss from the perspective I’m sharing, it changes the path completely… and it’s a huge relief!!! At the end of this blog, you’ll see a link to sign up for a discounted membership to my online program which includes a Yoga for Weight Loss class challenge this summer!
Once I incorporated Yoga into my lifestyle I began enjoying other activities a lot more! I started dancing, I started running, I started martial arts. Not only has Yoga helped me start, but it has helped me continue to live an active lifestyle.
First of all, if you want to have a positive effect on your body, then you need to REDEFINE the way you look at your figure, measure your size, and judge yourself. Those are things that lead to negative self-talk and body shaming, and who wants any of that? Sounds like unnecessary baggage to me! What I want, is to promote body positivity and help you tune into your personal desires for how you want to feel, look, and move.
So, after you redefine this concept of weight loss, it’s time to DEFINE what gets in your way by identifying stumbling blocks. A major stumbling block to getting into shape when we are also trying to lose weight is that minor injuries and discomforts can get in the way. Ouch! One of the ways Yoga transcends this stumbling block is the way that it engages with your body. Rather than using weights and cardiovascular exercise to build muscle and burn fat, Yoga uses isometric muscular action to anchor a wide range of motion.
The resulting benefit is beyond any superficial appearance in the mirror, or number on the scale. It aligns optimal posture, creates powerful agility, and manifests body positivity! So, we get to take that into everything else we do — riding a bike or driving a car, picking up dirty clothes from the floor or taking out the trash, doing the dishes and getting dressed, kickboxing or hiking a mountain. It’s a wonderful thing when we can feel empowered while doing the things we need to do, and we can feel amazing doing the things we want to do!
That’s the secret.
But hey, I know there are all kinds of stumbling blocks that appear at different times, and they are real! Yoga isn’t some kind of mythical and magical thing that just happens! It’s something that we get to practice, and the stumbling blocks are things we’ll need to sort through from time to time. So, I encourage you not to be shy about the process of redefining your body image and defining your stumbling blocks. Go ahead and acknowledge it all. Talk about it. Write about it. Think about it. And then, at some point after all of that acknowledging, pondering, and considering, just forget about it. I’m serious! Isn’t that the best advice you’ve ever heard?
Just forget about it.
I promise, it’s a clever little trick that works for me and I’m pretty sure it will work for you too!
For example, one of my stumbling blocks is that I want to wake up earlier so that I can go for a longer and more enjoyable walk with my dog and then get onto my yoga mat at home and practice before getting dressed for work. Well, I can prod into that stumbling block and talk about it all I want, but I’m going to have to forget it pretty soon in order to redefine my focus and reach my goal. I guarantee you, that in order to wake up earlier in the morning, I’m going to need to forget about it and instead pay attention to what surrounds it. I’m going to need to tend to the quality of sleep during the night, the quality of my bedroom, and the quality of my morning steps and rituals. With that focus, the stumbling blocks will eventually disappear. And then reappear. And disappear again.
It’s continuous, and so it’s important that we all remain intelligent and clever!
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Hi Courtney! I really appreciate the great point you’re making here! I have gained 50lbs from anxiety in college life, and recently I have been judged by people around me saying things like “you are so fat, how can you still eat food or be happy blah blah…” I find your post very encouraging because I don’t want to lose weight just because of what others say. Your post (and yoga videos) makes me realize that what my body feels and how I can embrace my desires is the most important! I have always been lazy and found it hard to keep doing physical exercise, but changing the way I understand what these yoga work-outs mean to our body definitely has helped me to continue doing yoga and waking up the energy in my body!
Girlfriend! I am so glad you enjoyed this blog/article/post! It’s a subject I’d like to write more about because I feel there’s much more to explore and say about how food, feelings, image and expectations can be really positive, and how there are some complex roadblocks along the way (for some of us, at least) 🙂 Man, other people can really be a drag sometimes. It’s a process and sometimes you just have to raise your imaginary shield and ignore them in order to see the light and focus on what’s important in you’re life! Again, thanks for writing your comment and inspiring ME to keep my focus on this work 🙂 I’m happy to hear you’ve gotten positive messages and results through your yoga and the youtube videos.