Yoga Is For Everybody? Not Quite...

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A Quick Guide on Doing Yoga for Weight Loss

Types of Yoga | Yoga

We can go on and on about the many physical, mental, and spiritual benefits of yoga, but to be perfectly honest, a LARGE number of people get into yoga for no other reason than to lose weight. And for a good reason as well, since yoga IS effective in helping you shed pounds in a natural and healthy way while also helping you manage stress better and have an improved overall sense of being.

Yoga Poses and Weight Loss

Some people think that there are certain yoga poses or asanas optimized specifically for doing yoga for weight loss. Truth be told, no single pose can really be deemed effective in achieving your specific goals in doing yoga; whether it be for flexibility, weight loss, etc. This is because asanas, and yoga in general, achieves its full effectivity when they are done in sequence, as a regular routine. In the case of yoga poses, they are most effective when they are done as part of a series that you do regularly when you do yoga for weight loss.

Recommended Types of Yoga for Weight Loss

As you know, yoga is popular not only because of the many benefits it offers for different aspects of our well-being. Those who seek calmness and peace of mind might want to go for meditational yoga, while those interested in doing yoga for weight loss are inclined to go for types of yoga that are more physically intensive and move at a faster pace compared to other types of yoga. Among the types of yoga recommended for weight loss are Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga Yoga and Hot Yoga.

Hot Yoga for Weight Loss

Hot Yoga (also commonly called Bikram Yoga) is a type of yogic practice that involves doing the poses and having sessions in a heated room. An easy way to think of this is to imagine doing yoga in a sauna-like environment. Not to worry, heat is always regulated and there is a specified temperature for all Hot Yoga sessions. Hot Yoga is commonly called Bikram Yoga because the series of poses done resemble the series and poses associated with Bikram Yoga - even though Bikram Yoga does not necessarily entail the practice of yoga in a heated room.

Ashtanga is a known style of yoga from which many other types of yogic practice are derived. Power Yoga, popularized by two American yogis, is an offshoot of Ashtanga and was essentially "invented" to reach out to those who want to try yoga for weight loss but think it's too slow and more on the meditative side. Power Yoga involves doing poses while maintaining a faster pace of flow and movement compared to other yoga types.

Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, and/or Power Yoga are some of the recommended types of yoga for weight loss because they involve more fast-paced movement and encourage the flushing out of toxins through sweat. However, this is not to say that the "gentler" types of yoga can't help you lose weight. Like we said, if you want to do yoga for weight loss effectively, it has to be done as a regular routine. Even if you do the most strenuous type of yoga there is, you won't effectively lose weight if you only do it for a couple sessions.

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