How to Use Yoga for Weight Loss

We look at gorgeous celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, who swear by the yoga lifestyle and can’t help but feel inspired. Yoga has always felt like a more relaxing, form of fitness, especially helpful when it comes to stress relief – but can it really help us to lose weight?

When it comes to yoga and weight loss, the style of yoga becomes an important factor, if the focus of the yoga practice is too restorative or meditative the muscular and cardiovascular requirements for weight loss and toning simply aren’t there, says Nick Bez, certified yoga instructor with LifePower Yoga at Life Time Fitness. That’s not to say you should seek the nearest yoga class and expect to walk out five pounds lighter though!

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10 Things your Yoga Teacher Wants you to Know

1. Let. Go. Of. Comparison.

We all walk onto the mat with unique strengths and weaknesses.  No two bodies are the same. The mirror in the front shouldn’t reflect all 20 bodies doing the exact same thing. Some people are able to go deeper; others must make modifications; and we are all at different stages of our practice.  Yoga is not a competition.

2.  Yoga isn’t about how you look it’s about how you feel.

Teachers don’t care what type of clothes you wear or how messy your hair gets during class, and neither should you. Teachers aren’t concerned with whether you’re able to fully straighten your leg or not. As long as you’re not doing anything dangerous, we want the pose to be your own.

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10 Best Yoga Apps for IPhone and Android to Practice Yoga

Yoga is one of the most sought after exercise cum de-stressing formulas across the world. Yet, getting into that Cobra or Cow Pose need not always mean shelling out your money. Thanks to the countless yoga apps for iOS and Android devices. Yoga lovers can now enjoy their session at a virtual yoga studio. Along with offering assorted sequences, in-depth details about various asanas, and music to aid your meditation, various apps allow you to create tailor-made sessions to meet your needs.

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5 Yoga Poses to Practice Daily

Yoga has helped people all over the world with a wide range of health problems. They can relieve back pain, improve their flexibility, and address problems with blood pressure and blood circulation. Some yoga poses are better for beginners than others, and some yoga poses will promote more health improvements than others. Still, people who manage to work yoga into their daily routines will live longer, healthier lives. All they will need is a good yoga mat and a quiet space.

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Top 5 Restorative Yoga Poses to Feel Better Right Now

Today’s stresses leave many people drained when they get home. These levels of tiredness can be quite counterproductive if you do not do something. Luckily, yoga is one of those activities that can help you relax and overcome this feeling of being bogged down. Below are the top 5 restorative poses that can help you achieve this.

Legs up the Wall

This pose requires you to rest on your back and raise your legs up against a wall. If it is too demanding, you could go for its variant where you bend your knees and place your legs over a chair. It is advisable to stay in this position for about 15 minutes for the most gains. After spending the day upright, this pose facilitates blood flow to your belly and digestive organs. Legs up the wall can also help in relieving cramped legs, mild backache while stretching your legs and calming you.

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4 Best Core Exercises for Women

When doing any exercise,the core( i.e. the back, waist and abdomen)is probably the most significant area for women. Having a strong core means that you can put less pressure on the back and spinal column areas and it allows for a toned abdomen, back and pelvic area. Lower back pain in women, can sometimes be the cause of a weakened core. 

Evidence has also shown that falls and slips can be attributed to women who do not have enough strength in their core area. There are 4 great core exercises for women that can help alleviate some of these problems and strengthen this area allowing them ease with child birthing and in just doing daily chores around the house. These exercises include: the Abdominal Crunch, the Ball Roll Out, the Side Plank and the Bicycle.

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Top 12 Yoga Asanas to Reduce Belly Fat

An erroneous lifestyle, unhealthy eating habits, lack of exercise, and high stress levels  all of these give rise to a flabby tummy.

The wider your abdomen, the higher is the level of risk. And, there are no shortcuts to get rid of abdominal fat. Proper diet, combined with a good fitness routine, can definitely help you reduce belly fat to a large extent.

This is where yoga comes into play. It not only helps decrease abdominal fat, but also allows you to control your body and mind like never before!

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15 Yoga Poses for Weight Loss

The physical practice of yoga is often times strenuous as it tones the body and increases weight loss. Although many practice yoga because it relieves stress and clears the mind, the added benefit of maintaining a yoga practice is a healthy body. If weight loss is going to improve an individual’s quality of life, then incorporating challenging yoga postures is beneficial for that particular goal.

Physically demanding yoga postures call on numerous muscles for added strength and calorie burn. Here are 15 yoga poses for weight loss.

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Take-Anywhere Toned Leg Workout

Pilates. If you immediately picture middle-aged women in bright spandex suits dancing around in a room, it’s time for a wake up call. First of all, this isn’t Prancercise. Second of all, Pilates is centered around the most important part of the body your core which makes it ideal for, well, anyone.

“I try to switch things up,” Eden Sassoon, founder of her Pilates Plus studio in Beverly Hills. “I love my Soul Cycle and yoga and think of myself as a very fit person. But I took a Pilates class today for the first time in a couple of weeks and it was crazy I almost threw up!” .

According to her, nothing quite beats a “Pilates body.” We got Lexi Pacella, Pilates instructor at Sassoon’s Pilates Plus studio, to share five moves for sexy, toned legs that you can do anywhere, all under 10 minutes. In other words, it’s time to kick your “I have no time to go to the gym!” excuse to the curb.

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8 Ways to Avoid Emotional Eating

No matter how hard you exercise or how much you alter your dietary habits, emotional overeating can sabotage even the most determined efforts to lose weight. Learn 8 ways to avoid emotional eating so that you can stay on track.

Why do people engage in emotional eating? Triggers vary from person to person, and some folks have more than one trigger. Here are three common reasons.

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10 Free at-Home Yoga Workouts for Busy Moms

My mum was really into yoga when she was in her 40s, and since she was really weird about leaving me home alone until I was a hormonal teenager (at which point she couldn’t stand to be in the same room as me), I got roped into taking a lot of yoga classes with her when I was a kid.

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15 Yoga Poses to Zen Out your Body

Ommmm. Life needs balance. For every cause there is an effect, and for every action there is a reaction. The Universe works on balance and bringing harmony in order for everything to exist the way it does. For some reason, our lives tend to travel away from balance, and we end up in chaos. It’s time to take back control.

Yoga has been at the forefront for the past decade, but it has been ever-present for centuries. The benefits of yoga are numerous. Slow, controlled movements. Strong breaths that create focus and awareness of your body as a whole, as well as all of its individual parts. Increased flexibility. Upper and lower body strength. Decreasing blood pressure.

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Hard Core Yoga

I know what you’re thinking. Hardcore Yoga? No thanks. But wait! It’s not hardcore, it’s HardCORE! CORE as in abs. A sleek pair of hard abs will make you feel sexy and strong. Yoga is normally practiced as a full body workout, but if you create a routine of poses to target specific muscle groups, the results will be phenomenal.

This routine will strengthen your upper abs and those pesky lowers abs and obliques. Most importantly, we’ll also target the spine and lower back, as they are part of your core. Since focus is important in yoga, all those minor and stabilizer muscles will be used to shred that midsection. A strong core is central to everyday life.  If you’re feeling strong, check out our BONUS Telasana Core Pose below!

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6 Yoga Poses to Relieve Tight Hips

Ask any yoga teacher what their most requested pose is and chances are they will all answer the same: hip openers. Tight hips seem to be seem about as common as allergies in the spring. It’s no wonder. You can get tight hips from too much running, biking, and walking or you can get tight hips from sitting in a chair all day. Safe to say that covers the majority of people.

When you say you have tight hips you could be talking about any number of things that surround your hip. It might be your piriformis or perhaps glute medius. But most likely you are talking about your iliopsoas or what we like to term your “hip flexors,” and they are responsible for a lot!

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Prenatal Yoga Flow Workout

So you’re having a baby. First things first  congratulations! Now, let’s talk about your health and fitness. Truth be told, you have every right to spend the next few months relaxing and preparing for the joy and exhaustion ahead. But the other truth you might want to know is this you will want to keep moving!

My mother’s generation was told to rest and stay still to give the baby every advantage of health and well-being. Fortunately, medical science has learned that the baby and mom will BOTH benefit when the mom continues to exercise and move her body. Perhaps the most gentle and beneficial ways to do this is with yoga! Yes  pregnant women can be yogis. Especially if you have been doing yoga already, you will want to keep it up. Research shows that prenatal yoga is safe and can have benefits that include:

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Bedtime Yoga for Better Sleep

Are you getting enough sleep? Stupid question, huh? Very few people are. The CDC reports an estimated 50-70 million Americans have some type of sleep disorder. It might be trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, disturbed sleep. Whatever it is, we all need more sleep. Lack of sleep has been known to contribute to:

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7 Yoga Poses for All Day Energy

Long days filled with meetings, deadlines, playdates, social obligations, and housework can take a lot out of us. By noon, we’re ready to take a nap and call it quits. We all know how helpful yoga is for relaxation, but did you know that the right poses can help wake your body up and give you a lasting boost for the entire day? Use yoga for energy and feel strong, sustained, and energized everyday.

The following yoga poses include poses you can do from anywhere, whether it’s your office or your living room. Start with the Upward Dog pose and end with the Happy Baby pose for an invigorating yoga workout!

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