Yoga For Weight Loss | A Complete Guide

Yoga for weight loss does really work? Why do yoga than anything else?

There are several reasons why people start their yoga practice.

• Yoga calms your mind and makes you feel relaxed.
• It increases your mental focus and concentration.
• helps you become more mindful and aware.
• Yoga makes your body more flexible, strong, and healthy.
• It teaches you to become more present and to accept whatever life brings to you.

Nowadays, people are practicing yoga for exercise and in hopes to achieve weight loss. Before we get into the topic of Yoga for Weight loss, I would like to express that yoga is beyond asanas. Asana is only one aspect of what yoga is. Yoga means unity. It is the union of the body, mind, and spirit. It is a practice of inner wisdom, a journey to the self. So, Yoga for Weight Loss works? The answer is, it depends.

First of all, the most effective way to lose weight is to be on a caloric deficit until you reach your ideal weight and then maintain a healthy diet with the right number of calories for weight maintenance. The calories you should consume will vary depending on your body type, age, height, etc.

We are sharing a 15-minute dynamic yoga flow practice with a set of asanas that will support weight loss in lieu of a healthy diet.

Below is a list of postures done in this video if you like to remember or look more into them later:

Yoga For Weight Loss – Top 17 Asanas

1. Child’s Pose (Balasana)

Steps:

• Start in a kneeling seated position toes touch
• Keep your knees wider than your hips
• Sink your hips down so that your glutes are touching the soles of your feet
• Extend your arms forward
• Rest your forehead on the mat and breathe
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
  

2. Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

Steps:

• Start in Tadasana
• Inhale raise your arms
• Exhale bend your knees and sink your hips lower
• Squeeze your inner thighs together and feel the energy moving forward from the shoulder
  blades to the tip of the fingers
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
  

3. Warrior 3 ( Virabhadrasana III)

Steps:

• Inhale start in Tadasana
• Plant your left foot on the ground
• Exhale slowly lean forward, lifting your right foot back
• Work toward bringing your arms, torso, hips, and raised leg parallel to the floor.
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
  

4. Runner’s Lunge (Utthita Ashwa Sanchalanasana)

Steps:

• From plank, step your right foot forward
• Back heels are off the floor
• Make sure your front knee is not going pass your ankles.
• The front leg should be 90 degrees
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
  

5. Revolve Side- Angle (Parivrtta Parsvakonasana)

Steps:

• Start with Runner’s Lunge
• Lift your right arms up, if the right knee is the one forward and bent.
• Twist your torso opening up the right side of the body
• Gaze at your right fingertips
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
  

6. Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana)

Steps:

• Start from High Plank: Shoulders stacked above wrists
• Engage your muscles
• Slowly Lower hugging your elbows into the side body
• Pause and hold
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
  

7. Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Steps:

• Begin with plank
• Spread your fingers wide and press firmly through your palms and knuckles
• Exhale as you tuck your toes and lift your knees off the floor
• Press the floor away from you as you lift through your pelvis
• If your heels aren’t touching the ground you can bend the knees
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
  

8. Crescent Lunge (Anjaneyasana)

Steps:

• From downward dog
• Lift your right foot up and bring it forward to the front of the mat as if you are getting
  into a runner’s lunge
• Slowly lift your torso up, opening your chest and lifting the arms up over your head
• For a challenge look up and add a backbend though the thoracic spine
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
  

9. Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana II)

Steps:

• From Crescent lunge, if your right knee is forward
• Lower your left heel down with your toes in a 45-degree angle
• Extend both arms to a T
• Your torso should be facing the left side
• Make sure your front knee is parallel to your ankles
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
  

10. Plank Pose (Palakasana)

Steps:

• Assume a push-up position, plant your palms to the mat, shoulders aligned with wrists,
  look at the ground
• Tighten your core, clench your glutes and keep your body straight from head to heels
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths

11. Boat Pose (Navasana)

Steps:

• Sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you
• Exhale and bend your knees, lifting your feet off the floor, so that the thighs are angled
  about 45-50 degrees
• You can keep your knees bend or extend your knees straight with your toes pointed
  forward for a challenge
• Keep your chest open by squeezing your shoulder blades together
• Engage your core
• Stretch your arms alongside the legs, parallel to each other and the floor
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths

12. Both Legs Raised Pose (Dwi Pada Uttanapadasan)

Steps:

• Start by laying on your back with both legs lifted
• Point the toes forward
• Engage the core, navel in to protect the back
• Place both hands alongside you
• Exhale lower both legs down, hover the floor
• Inhale bring both legs up

13. Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

Steps:

• Lying on your back, bend both knees and place the feet flat on the floor hip-width apart.
• Press your feet into the floor, inhale and lift the hips up, rolling the spine off the floor
• Press down into the arms and shoulders to lift the chest up
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths

14. Wheel Pose (Chakrasana)

Steps:

• Lay on your back
• Bend your knees, bringing the soles of your feet onto your mat close to your glutes
• The feet should be parallel and hips’ distance apart.
• Bend your elbows and bring the palms of your hands underneath your shoulders with the
  fingertips pointing towards your feet. Take an inhale
• Exhale press into your palms and feet as you lift your hips and heart upwards
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
• To come down, tuck your chin into your chest and lower down slowly

15. Reclined Spinal Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)

Steps:

• Laying on your back bring your knees up with your shins parallel to the floor
• Bring your arms to a T. Take an inhale.
• Exhale twist to the right by lowering your knees to the right side down to the mat, gaze
  on the opposite side
• Hold for 3 to 5 breaths
• Inhale bring both knees back up to center and repeat on the other side
  

16. Happy Baby (Ananda Balasana)

Steps:

• Lay on your back with your knees drawn in towards your chest.
• Grab hold of the outer soles of your feet
• Draw your shoulders toward the ground, tone your arms and flex your feet as you pull
  down on your feet
• Draw your knees wide and toward your armpits and try to stack ankles above knees
• Lengthen your lower back down to the ground
• Hold here for 3 to 5 breaths
  

17. Corpse Pose (Svanasana)

Steps:

• Lay on the ground completely relaxed
• Stay here for a long as you like

Conclusion:

So we are done with today’s topic “Yoga for Weight Loss” which is taken by “Mitzi” a professional yoga instructor and personal trainer in Toronto. You can connect on her website mizuyoga.com and following these asanas with a calorie deficit diet will ultimately result in weight loss and help you to live a fit & healthy life.