Yoga, Health, and Weight Management

Combining yoga with a weight loss plan certainly has the obvious benefits of stretching, toning, strengthening, balance, and burning calories, but the greatest benefit yoga provides to weight loss goes far beyond these obvious physical elements.  One of the focuses of yoga practice is to integrate the mind, or conscious thought, with the body or physical being.  This mind-body integration is reached by focusing on breathing technique during yoga poses, and by recognizing physical changes as body parts “open up” during twists and stretches.  These elements of yoga create a communication path between the mind and the body.  Building this mind-body communication is key to successful weight loss.  

For some with chronic weight issues it’s common to find a gap, or disconnect, between the mind and body; gaps or loss of awareness and insight betweenour thoughts, choices, reactions, and actions.  Even for those who are self-conscious or overly sensitive about their weight, there's still a lack of awareness into their bodies and feelings.  This limited awareness is seen in some people as a distorted mental image of their bodies, and they are surprised when they catch a glimpse of themselves in the mirror to find they look larger than they imagined.  The same limited awareness between our physical self, and our thoughts and actions is seen in the hectic or frantic style that often accompanies “emotional eating” and binge eating.  With a mind-body disconnect such as this, we are vulnerable to eat poorly, neglect exercise, ignore pain and discomfort, and slip into a general state of disrespect for our body. 

We are all equipped with efficient body signals that tell us when we are full, satisfied, cold, or tired, etc.  With a mind-body disconnect those body signals are missed, and an imbalance occurs.  Yoga helps to right that imbalance, by opening our awareness up to body signals, leading to weight loss and general improved health.  The mind-body disconnect problem is not limited to those who are overweight.  Traditional medicine has long neglected the relationship between the mind and the body, and patients are often treated as “a body without a head.”  Medical science has a long way to go before it fully understands the influence of the mind over physical well being.  This fact in part explains the lack of success by traditional medicine in treating and preventing overweight and obesity. 

The beauty of yoga practice is that it forms a relationship between the physical body and the conscious or subconscious self.  Developing or strengthening this relationship is a big advantage for those trying to loose weight.  By being in tune with our body we become more aware of not only what we eat, but also why we eat, and how we eat. 

The thoughtful breathing and planed movements of yoga teaches our mind how to gain a calm control over our choices, actions and reactions, and is a powerful tool for someone on any weight loss plan.  By building a relationship between our mind and body through yoga practice, we gain the skill of listening to our body, and allowing our body’s natural inclination toward balance and health to bloom.