I’m not a big fan of running to lose weight…… always preferred to torch some calories with yoga DVDs for weight loss. When I tried running everything hurt, my legs, my lungs, my ribs. Kudos to all the runners out there…. it’s just not for me. It’s confusing to see so many yoga DVDs out there, especially if you are a yoga beginner. Most of the yoga DVDs are a 90 minutes long practice. I don’t know about you, but 90 minutes of yoga, even for me as a yoga teacher, seems a bit too long. So after attending many classes, lots of watching on YouTube and ordering a few dozen titles from Amazon, I found a few that have a sweaty, challenging workout but that is compact and ideally about 30-40 minutes.
ShapeShifter Yoga Program
To really combine the mind body spirit aspect of yoga and weight loss and get more explanation and want to read about yoga and the poses more in depth than there are two programs that I would recommend.
Yoga Poses for Weight Loss with Shape Shifters
The first is Shape Shifters, which is a comprehensive yoga fitness program. There is a focus on overall flexibility, core-conditioning, body awareness and muscle-conditioning before you move on to master the more advanced part of the practice. There are some basic traditional stretches and yoga poses that all body types and sizes can do. There is no oooming, no talk of your crown-chakras so you won’t feel like you have to wear a turban and a loincloth to do this program. It’s all scientific based, practical and utilitarian in how they explain the benefits with no woo-woo.
Ideal for Couch Potatoes or Seasoned Athletes. If you don’t know squat about diet, wellness, fitness or strength-training then this is a suitable program. If you do have some prior experience and knowledge with these, then it will build upon and complement your prior training and experience.
Very Professionally Presented – You’ll feel like you are at a Yoga Journal Video shoot with the quality of the video and the voice. I’ve listened to other videos before and some of them sound all muffled and the lightening and angles make it harder to follow the sequence.
Wallet-Friendly – You could get a personal yoga session for more than the cost of this video and wouldn’t get nearly the amount of tips, instruction, alignment cues that this has. It’s a lot of yoga for the buck.
Yoga DVDs for Weight Loss or Flexibility
Of course, Sadie Nardini probably has the gutsiest workout. She infuses the poses with a life-affirming practice that often times feels like a Tony Robbins seminar….great if you want to transform not only your body but your limiting beliefs that are keeping you in a dead end job or bad relationship. I don’t think her workout are great for yoga beginners or if you are just unathletic in general. You’ll probaby feel overwhelmed. I was trained by her in NYC a few years ago and in her regular core strength vinyasa classes, the students would get so hot and sweaty after a 60 minute class that people would often ask her if it was “hot yoga’ and if she heated the room and her answer was , ” I don’t heat the room, the students heat the room”.
Another favorite of mine is Shiva Rea, Yoga for ABs DVDs. It’s a stunning production with very tribal-music. I love her poetic language and the way poses from one to the other. This is an awesome DVD if you have some yoga background but also not great for yoga beginners since she goes quickly from one pose to the next with not a lot of explanation anatomically of how to put your body in the pose and what the correct alignment is. This is a great 34 minute workout.
Beth Shaw’s Yoga Fit for Abs is a great one. She does a lot of traditional sun salutations but she also has you do them with a ball between your legs so that your entire core is squeezing and firing up like crazy. You need to buy the little yoga ball which is only $10 if you want to maximize your workout though.
Before new students come to a yoga class, I usually tell them what they should bring. Some of these might seem basic but will just throw them in the mix anyway.
What To Wear and Bring in Hot and Beginner Yoga Classes
Clothes to Stretch In – For women this means a fitted shirt. If you just wear a loose T-Shirt then when you do a forward fold, you will be giving us a show of your bra and tummy. If you are wearing a tank top be aware that you might do doing poses where you might end up giving a cleavage show. Check your tank top that it is fitted and also covers some cleavage, especially if you are folding over. You do a lot of bending, twisting, and sometimes hopping and jumping so you need clothes that cover your lady parts no matter which direction your body goes.
I generally would avoid shorts since many of the poses you will be wide legged and you either might be giving us a show or you run the risk of your pants splitting, which has happened to me more than once. Sweat pants, yoga pants or my newly favorite pajama-jeans are some of my favorite bottoms to wear to yoga.
For a hot yoga class, it is acceptable and encouraged to wear crop bra tops and shorts. Sometimes the guys don’t wear shirts for these… depends on the class though.
A yoga mat. I always tell my students to bring their own yoga mats. Most yoga studios will have extras on hand, sometimes for free, sometimes you pay extra. Often these are not washed or cleaned just before. Do you really want your bare skin and face on a mat that was just smeared with someone else’s sweaty body? . One studio I went to never washed their mats and they smelled like Snooki’s armpit. I like to go to The Clymb as a cost and time efficient way to find a mat online.
Water– Just plain water. You might get pretty hot during the class and the studio often will not have a water fountain there. Sometimes they have bottled water but then you have to pay more for it. For a hot or power yoga class this is a must. Please don’t bring your double mochac part-skim decaf in the room. If it spills, it will be all sticky…… yuck.
Bring Your Yoga Mat, Eye Pillows, Towels, Stretchy Pants to Yoga
Eye Pillow – This is one of the most heavenly ways to get more connected to the ether of the universe during shavasana (relaxation) Ideally one that is lavender – scented will turbo charge this. If you don’t have an eye pillow, then an eye- covering is a basic substitute. A simple thing that makes relaxation more profound. Not always easy to find these but if you do it will be worth the effort.
Towel (For hot or power yoga only) You’re going to sweat so planning on mopping yourself up a bit.
Depending on the class, you should inquire if you should bring blocks, a Mexican blanket and a strap and a towel..
In Restorative and Iyengar classes, they usually supply plenty of props such as blocks, blankets, chair, eye pillows and a dozen other things as well. When you are at your mat with all your props you feel like you have your own campground.
Wallets – it has been rare but it’s worth it for your peace of mind to have your wallet and keys in the room with you.
Avoid wearing hanging jewelry such a big dangling earrings and necklaces. When I invert then my necklace tends to choke me or whack me in the face.
Avoid dressing too sexy, which means clothes that are uber-tight and or see through. Generally it is mostly women in the class but if there are a bunch of dudes then you will feel self conscious doing a wide legged forward bend while wearing your see through camel-toe yoga pants with your crop bra top.
Avoid heavy perfumes and scented lotions. Just be neutral smelling. On the flip side, don’t come to class all stinky and subject us to your fumes.
Leave your cell phone in the car. Too easy to forget to turn it off and we don’t want to hear your snazzy cell phone ring when we are becoming one Shiva and Shakti.
Leave your shoes off or outside the room. In my thousands of yoga classes I have taken, I have never heard of anyone having their shoes stolen outside the room.
Yoga begins from the foundation up. You work to strengthen the deepest underlying muscles, release tightness and stiffness and stretch muscles. You begin to awaken what has been dormant. You breathe life into your body and mind. You start to notice that you are thinking more clearly. . You start to feel better, make better nutritional choices, modify your habits so that they serve you rather than you serving them. You start to have control.
Yoga Postures for Weight Loss
A quick word here about “desire” and “will power” as these two words are interrelated. It is easy to think that all you need to do is have strong enough will power to resist the temptations and desire you have cultivated for food. It is easy to say that you will just stop eating x, y, or z. It is easy to “know” that you need to exercise and move more, eat less. But just how do you actually do it? How do you actually stop yourself from having 3 bites of ice cream instead of 20?
This is yoga. This is practice.
Instead of trying to stop cold turkey, you practice having less. Each time you have less, you win! Each time you choose not to have the cookie, the extra helping, the next glass of wine, you pump your will power tank with gas.
Yoga Postures for Weight Loss
Every time you exercise, move your body, tune into your breath, you fill up with will power to take down and eradicate the negative desires in your life that are currently winning the battle. This is it, it is all out war. Become your most fierce warrior self. Step onto the battle field prepared! Begin your yoga practice by strengthening your will power!
Active Inquiry-
What do you desire most, moment to moment?
What desires run your life?
Make a “will power” check list. (Even the seemingly smallest of actions count!)
This system is not about starvation. This system is about kindness, compassion, and results. This yoga system is about asking very difficult questions, facing the even more difficult answers and actually doing something about them.
One of these questions is: “What are you attached to that does not serve you?” We all get attached to people, pets, and things in our life that we think and that do, initially give us pleasure. But, what happens when the pleasure lessens, but we continue to remember the initial joy, and get addicted?
What if we fall into a bad habit? What if we find ourselves, after many months or years, coming to depend upon the empty comfort of our attachments, only to discover that they make it harder for us to live fully and vibrantly.
How do we start to let go? Do we bury our heads in the sand, stay home and continue to eat Ben and Jerrys? No! We engage our bodies, our minds, our lives. We endeavor to change.
We do our yoga.
We get on the yoga mat and breathe.
Active Inquiry-
Write down all of your attachments.
Ask which attachments will take time to let go of.
Some people may look at the rows of people jogging on treadmills at the gym and wonder how they can do it. There are many reasons why spending an hour or so on a treadmill may not appeal to someone. It can be very boring, for one thing. Others simply find the whole atmosphere of a large commercial gym objectionable. So what is this person to do when they decide they want yoga poses & weight loss?
If the gym just isn’t your thing, consider some alternative weight loss methods. Yoga in particular can be a great way for a person to tone their body without requiring them to spend hours on the treadmill.
Furthermore, its focus on developing the mind at the same time as the body may make it more interesting for some people. If you’re tired of running place, consider joining a yoga class.
Yoga offers a great alternative to traditional workout routines. It is much more laid back and relaxing than the fast-paced nature of the average gym exercise regimen. Furthermore, it has a stronger focus on developing the whole of the individual, rather than simply toning the exterior. This may make the yoga studio a supportive atmosphere for those who are trying to lose weight.
Some individuals may be skeptical about yoga’s ability to help them slim down. It may seem hard to believe that simply sitting in specialized stretching positions can get the heart rate up enough to burn any calories. However, the Mayo Clinic reports that a 150-pound person will burn around 240 calories per
hour doing yoga. This is less than jogging or other types of physical activity. But it is significantly more than simply doing nothing.
Furthermore, yoga helps a person tone their muscles. This may not necessarily help when it comes to watching the pounds tick off on the scale, but it does help individuals look leaner and healthier.
No matter how heavy or svelte a person is, loose muscles can make them look unattractive. Yoga solves this problem. The exercises involve holding poses for extended periods of time. These positions tighten up the muscle groups and help make a person look less flabby.
Yoga’s greatest benefits may come when it is practiced as a complementary exercise. Other types of aerobic exercises are better for burning calories and shedding pounds, but they are less effective at keeping the mind fresh and the body energized. The most important effects of yoga may be that it encourages a greater sense of spirituality and mental clarity. This can help a person stick to their broader weight loss goals.
So if running on the treadmill isn’t for you, give yoga a try. You may be surprised at the effect it has on your life and the degree to which it enables you to slim down.
Guest Post By Dahn Yoga– Dahn Yoga is one of the largest yoga and tai chi companies in the world with its own unique style and brand of yoga. Dahn
Yoga is rooted in the rich history of an ancient Asian mind-body practice, Sun Do, and in the wisdom of the Chun Bu Kyung.
With so many kinds of yoga, how can you know which one is for you? For those looking for weight loss with yoga you will want to check out the more flowy, vigorous styles.
I remember my first yoga class. I don’t think any yoga teacher can forget their first class. I was 22 and I was in LA with my friend and her boyfriend had started to take yoga and she had come to a few classes. I didn’t know anything about yoga besides the woman in the leotard and a long braid that would be on tv doing some stretches. I went to my first class and I remember feeling overwhelmed and challenged … it was very hard to keep up and the poses seemed very confusing. I guess it was a typical hatha yoga class with a lot of sun sulutations. I remember doing warrior pose… I felt so powerful being a warrior.
After the class, I remember not feeling any back pain. For almost a year, my low back had been hurting and the only thing that helped was to sleep a lot and heat. I remember feeling so freed up and feeling so comfortable in my own skin. Yoga had finally found me and this was the start of a joyous journey for me into my the depths of my body and spirituality.
Over fifteen years later, I would take all kinds of classes. I didn’t know much about yoga still so I decided to buy a power yoga dvd since all these celebrities were doing power yoga I figured I could have a body like Jennifer Aniston if I did power yoga as well. I was pretty broke at the time and couldn’t afford to go to 3 power yoga classes a week for $15 a pop but I could afford a $20 vinyasa dvd. I used to do that yoga DVD 1-3 times a week. I was starting to get that cut, sculpted look and feeling stronger and more balanced.
Yoga Exercise for Weight Loss – What are the Best Ones for Beginners?
Yoga for reducing weight to help lose your butt and gut
If you really want to get Taylor Lautner Abs and want a workout that kicks your butt then something like Ashtanga or Bikram would be better suited to you. This is not recommended unless you are already pretty athletic and prepared to be very challenged but leave feeling radiant and detoxed. These are probably the best choice if you are looking for weight loss with yoga.
If you are feeling limited physically, serious illness or just exhausted and not up for a fast moving class then something like restorative or gentle would be a good fit.
Beware of an all-levels class (I always hated this description) For seasoned yoga practitioners if the teacher has to slow down and go through each pose and alignment cue then this is frustrating. For brand – new beginners, especially if you you are out-of-shape, you will probably be intimidated and scared by going into a class where the teacher is just yelling out the names of poses without explaining how to do them or get into them properly.
If you are a true beginner, then I would recommend classes or series that are designed for those that are new to yoga since the pace will be slower and there will be more explanation about breathing and what yoga is.
For those that are more advanced, I would recommend finding out the physical pace of a class and the athletic ability of the other students to gage if this class will be appropriate for you.
For yoga and weight loss, what are the best simple poses( asanas) and exercises to do?
Are you sick of seeing that muffin top peering out of your tank top? Do you feel powerless to change your eating habits? I had never seen a yoga system specifically targeted towards weight loss so I was curious to see how Charry Morris’ Yoga Weight Loss System would work. The e-book is 58 pages long and peppered with pics and illustrations showing you how to do the yoga poses for weight loss and even an illustrated sequence guide is in the back.
One of my favorite things about this guide is the omission of sanskrit terms. I always thought it was intimidating to use the Sanskrit and not the English terms to describe poses. I have gone to more yoga classes than Lindsay Lohan has gone to rehab and I probably can only understand about 10 sanskrit terms, besides having heard them hundreds (some maybe thousands) of times.
Watch this video testimonial
I think the free report that Charry offers is incredibly pointed. Her suggestions are in simple but powerful language aided with illustrations and photos to help you understand yoga poses and how yoga works on different systems of the body to help you with weight loss (such as the musko-skeletal, endocrine, digestive, nervous etc). Even if you don’t buy her training manual, if you are committed to changing your health and body and want to learn more about how to take control over your level of vitality and wellness, then get the free manual. Have a buddy to practice with and check in on your new habits and practice to help make you more likely to stick to it. Give yourself a reward for every goal you get to (make the reward a facial and not fried chicken).
Yoga poses for weight loss
I think the questions at the end of each module are great for dealing with people’s emotional attachment to food. I think these questions would be even more powerful if you had a group or buddy who you could check in with and be accountable to.
One of Charry’s movement sequences
I like the simple diet modification suggestions. Her style of eating is very much in line with my philosophy. Eat foods in their natural state. Substitute water for soda and juice (which will end up saving you a lot of money as well) If you read the ingredients and don’t understand what Sodium Diloryll Dichromate is then it probably is a fancy word for pure toxic crap – so avoid ingredients that sound like your 9th grade lab project.
Yoga is ultimately a state of attuned inner awareness. By heightening our awareness of how we feel when we eat or avoid certain foods, we have more mastery over our diet. You can’t control what you have no awareness over. She doesn’t try to make you eat a raw, vegan or vegetarian diet, she just emphasizes cleaner ways of eating our meat, dairy and eggs.
She give suggestions for lots of viable substitutes for dairy. One thing that I wish was stressed more here was to avoid more refined
yoga poses for weight loss
sugar, although she does mention the evil HFCS (High fructose corn syrup). If you are going to eat soy milk and yogurt if it is loaded with sugar then you aren’t doing your body many favors. Eating something with Stevia or some other kind of natural sweetener (evaporated cane juice and corn sugar are just marketing terms for highly processed toxic white sugar or HFCS) so stay away from them. Also equally toxic are thing like Equal and NutraSweet…these things have been proven to cause cancer in mice. You’re not doing your bod any favors with these either.
If you are confused about all this you might want to read the book “Sugar Blues”. If you don’t think that refined sugar has any strong negative effects on you then go three days without any refined sugar. You’ll have to read ALOT of labels at the grocery store…sugar likes to make it’s way into all kind of non-dessert food like ketchup and potato chips . You’ll probably feel a huge shift in your level of calm and awareness. Or you can do the opposite if you are not good at impulse control. For two days, eat nothing but Fruit Loops, Dunkin Doughnuts, Ben N Jerry’s Wavy Gravy, Starbucks Double Frappacinos with extra whipped cream, Diet Coke for every meal and snack and notice how crappy you feel (and probably look).
I think the exercise about examining your food habits is quite illuminating. Every day around 3 pm I have to have something sweet….these days I usually just microwave a small bowl of dark chocolate chips. It’s not a health tonic though.
The simple step by step instructions with pictures are so helpful. I like how she shows what your hands and feet should look like in certain poses…makes a huge difference in how the pose feels and the benefits you get from it.
What I really appreciate about this yoga training manual that is not often found in others is the modifications and suggestions for people that have certain injuries. When you are in table pose you should not hinge your neck back if you have neck issues.
Charry doesn’t assume everyone can physically do all the postures so the variations are very welcoming for beginners or for the stiff and inflexible. For the balancing poses, I think it is very helpful to have the close up of the feet and toes. It’s great to see a more challenging balancing pose and also an easier modification. You’re not auditioning for Cirque Du Soleil, you just want to get in balance health-wise.
If you do buy this manual, I would recommend going to a few traditional hatha yoga or vinyasa class so you can really learn the poses with expert supervision and the teacher can help you get into proper alignment so you get the maximum benefits from the pose.
After you feel comfortable with the basic poses, then you can use this guide to help you develop and refine your own personal practice. I was too poor to pay for classes a few years back (and the time it takes to get to classes was a drag) so for many years I just did my own practice at home, sometimes with a tape or a book or sometimes with no written or visual aids.
Before you start saying you don’t have time, money, space or privacy to practice just reflect on your excuses. Are you committed to your excuses or are you committed to changing your life? What will your life, body and health be like if you continue on the health path you are now on? Take on this program for one week and see what a difference you feel. If you regularly practice yoga already, what changes in your life did you notice when you started to make this a part of your life?
I’m not a big fan of running to lose weight…… always preferred to torch some calories with yoga DVDs for weight loss. When I tried running everything hurt, my legs, my lungs, my ribs. Kudos to all the runners out there…. it’s just not for me. It’s confusing to see so many yoga DVDs out there, especially if you are a yoga beginner. Most of the yoga DVDs are a 90 minutes long practice. I don’t know about you, but 90 minutes of yoga, even for me as a yoga teacher, seems a bit too long. So after attending many classes, lots of watching on YouTube and ordering a few dozen titles from Amazon, I found a few that have a sweaty, challenging workout but that is compact and ideally about 30-40 minutes.
