Yoga is a very gentle, calm and relaxing workout. Well, that’s at least what it looks like from the outside. If you’ve ever performed yoga and done a full workout yourself, you’ll know how intense and activating it can get. Is Yoga effective for weight loss?

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The main question most people want to know before trying it out for the first time, the answer is a resounding yes. Although it may look like a calm exercise with very little movement, yoga is notorious for pushing you out of your comfort zone and helping you lose unwanted weight. 

What is Yoga?

Yoga For Weight Loss

Yoga is a practice or physical exercise that aims to synchronize your mental and physical health to work harmoniously. Yoga encourages you to improve all aspects of your health through positive mindfulness and effective physical movements to follow.

Yoga is summarised as a relaxing physical activity that requires you to move your body and hold poses while focusing on breathing, body balance, and posture. Many types of yoga exercises focus on certain objectives and tailored for certain health conditions and fitness levels.

How Does Yoga Help You Lose Weight?

Yoga For Weight Loss

While most forms of yoga are more tailored to the link between mental and physical health, yoga can certainly help you burn calories and lose weight. Certain yoga classes have been modified to help you maximize calorie burning and weight loss. We will identify the different types of yoga and its effectiveness for weight loss later on.  

Although yoga is not an erratic physical exercise that requires rigorous movements and heavy resistance training, yoga will push your body into relying on core strength, engaging muscle groups and testing your joints and ligaments.

Although yoga is not as intense as most other sports, it is very aerobic and will get you burning calories. It is a good exercise for weight loss as it is known to boost metabolism and help your body burn fat faster and more effectively by increasing muscle growth.

Different Types of Yoga and Its Effect on Weight Loss

Yoga For Weight Loss
  • Anusara – this type of yoga is relatively new compared to the more traditional types. Anusara is tailored more towards mental health rather than physical health. Anusara is based on the belief that everyone is filled with goodness and Anusara encourages it to come out through physical movement. It helps practitioners to feel more at peace as well as feeling happy. 
  • Bikram – A more physically engaging and an intense type of yoga, Bikram entails you to work through a sequence of 26 poses in an artificially heated room which encourages you to lose weight faster. Bikram is great for sweating our toxins as well as helping you lose weight. Being one of the more popular types of yoga, it won’t be hard to find classes.
  • Hatha – is a less physically intense type of yoga but helps you to improve posture more than anything. Hatha is a gentle and easy introduction into the more physical forms of yoga. It is a gentle, relaxing and calm type of yoga, and you are unlikely to burn fat from this one.
  • Hot yoga – Almost the same thing as Bikram, hot yoga only differs because of its sequence and certain poses which is why it cant be called the same thing. Hot yoga has become one of the most popular forms of yoga as it will help you sweat a lot as well as burn a lot of calories doing its poses.
  • Restorative – one of the most relaxing and most comfortable types of yoga, restorative yoga helps your body to relax all its nerves and restore calmness, mindfulness and release any tensions you may be feeling. This class may not help you lose weight, but it will certainly help you cool down after a long day.

Yoga for Mental Health

Yoga For Weight Loss

On top of the physical benefits of yoga, its mental health benefits are one of the main reasons why people adopt the exercise in the first place. Many sports and exercises can help to put you in good physical condition. However, not a lot of them can provide you with the same mental health benefits of yoga.

To perform yoga correctly, it requires all of your mental strength and focus. Should it be adequately performed, yoga will help you become more mindful of yourself, your surroundings and bring you a calm and peace that will last you well and long after your workout is done. 

Where to Start

There are yoga practices all over the UAE. You can search up for your nearest yoga gym and get started there. Yoga classes are a great way to make a start as getting support from a professional instructor, and others who are also learning is an effective way for you to get results as well as having the peace of mind that you are doing it correctly.

It’s also important to know what type of yoga is most suitable for you, so be sure to do your research beforehand. If you have an existing health condition.

Head over to the Okadoc app to immediately book an appointment with your health practitioner.