How Yoga Changes Every Body

Below are the 8 benefits that I received from my Yoga practice to change my body for the better.

Over a period of 6 months, my BMI, Waist-to-Hip Ratio, and Body-Fat Percentage have all gone from unhealthy levels to the healthy levels.

I am thankful for these wonderful changes that I have always wanted.

I found that Yoga can support weight loss in a variety of ways, both directly and indirectly.

Although yoga might not be as intense as high-impact exercises like running or weightlifting, its holistic approach to physical, mental, and emotional well-being can help facilitate sustainable weight management.

Here’s how yoga contributes to weight loss:

1. Increases Caloric Burn

Yoga, as a form of body-weight exercise, can significantly raise your heart rate and burn calories. These practices are physically demanding, involving continuous movement, strength-building postures, and challenging sequences that engage multiple muscle groups.

As a result, Yoga can provide a cardio workout like aerobic exercises, helping you burn those excess fat, build muscles, and boost your metabolism rate.

Yoga poses help to strengthen and tone muscles, which can increase metabolism over time as lean muscle mass burns more calories even at rest.

2. Enhances Mindful Eating and Stress Reduction

Yoga promotes mindfulness, encouraging you to stay present and aware of your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. This can help you recognize emotional eating triggers (such as stress, boredom, or anxiety) and cultivate a healthier relationship with food.

Mindful Eating: Yoga helps develop greater awareness of hunger and fullness cues, which can reduce overeating and impulsive eating behaviors.

Stress Reduction: Many people overeat due to stress or emotional issues. Through meditation, breathing exercises (pranayama), and relaxation techniques, yoga can help reduce stress hormones like cortisol, which are linked to increased fat storage, particularly around the abdomen.

3. Improves Digestion

Yoga can improve digestion, which plays a role in weight management. Certain poses and sequences stimulate the digestive system, enhancing metabolism, and helping the body process food more efficiently.

Twisting Poses: Poses such as Spinal Twists, Boat Pose (Navasana), and Bow Pose (Dhanurasana) massage the abdominal organs, aiding in digestion and detoxification.

Digestive Fire: Yoga poses like Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar) and Kapotasana (Pigeon Pose) stimulate the "digestive fire" (Agni), promoting better digestion and metabolism.

4. Increases Strength and Flexibility

Yoga helps build muscle strength, which can aid in fat and weight loss. Strengthening muscles improves body composition by increasing lean muscle mass, which burns more calories even at rest.

Muscle Toning: Poses like Plank, Warrior II, Chair Pose, and Chaturanga engage large muscle groups, helping you build, tone, and strengthen muscles, increasing caloric expenditure.

Flexibility: Enhanced flexibility reduces the risk of injury and improves overall body movement, allowing you to engage in more physically demanding activities, further promoting weight loss.

5. Promotes Better Sleep

Good sleep is crucial for weight loss. Studies have shown that insufficient sleep disrupts the balance of hunger-regulating hormones, such as ghrelin and leptin, leading to increased appetite and cravings for high-calorie foods.

Relaxation: Yoga, particularly gentle forms like Restorative Yoga, encourages relaxation and reduces insomnia. Better sleep helps regulate metabolism and hunger hormones, aiding weight loss efforts.

6. Reduces Stress and Cortisol Levels

Chronic stress raises cortisol levels, which has been linked to increased appetite, cravings for sugary and fatty foods, and abdominal fat storage. Yoga helps reduce stress through breath control, meditation, and relaxation, helping to regulate cortisol levels.

Lower Cortisol: Regular yoga practice has been shown to lower cortisol levels, reducing the body’s tendency to store fat and leading to a more balanced weight management system.

7. Enhances Discipline and Lifestyle Changes

Yoga encourages self-discipline, mindfulness, and self-awareness. These qualities can extend to healthier eating habits, consistency in exercise, and a more balanced lifestyle, all of which are key for sustainable weight loss.

Behavioral Change: Regular yoga practitioners often develop a greater sense of connection with their body, which can lead to more conscious decisions about diet, exercise, and overall health.

8. Boosts Mental Well-Being

Mental health and body image are closely linked to weight management. Yoga helps in promoting positive self-image and body confidence, reducing the likelihood of unhealthy behaviors like binge eating, yo-yo dieting, or negative self-talk.

Self-Acceptance: Yoga fosters a non-judgmental attitude towards the body, helping people develop a healthier and more compassionate relationship with themselves, which can translate into better eating and lifestyle choices.

Theses are the 8 benefits of Yoga that I have personally experienced and benefitted from. I hope all would get into Yoga for the health and wellness benefits that it offers to every body.

Thank you for reading my blog article.

You have my best.

Victor Ang

Founder & CEO, VICTORIA ROSE