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Does yoga make you skinny?
Article by Patty Hastings
I went to my friend's house in comfy TV-watching clothes to watch the latest episode of New Girl and ended up rolling around on the floor doing a couple yoga poses.
We were talking about yoga when I found myself saying, "I'm not your typical super skinny yogi."
Right then I wanted to bite my tongue. There is no typical yogi. Anyone of any shape or size can practice yoga.
But my friend countered by saying, "Yoga can't make you skinny. Flexible maybe, but not skinny."
So, those two perspectives sat with me for awhile. The stereotypical yogi - you know, the one who appears on the cover of Yoga Journal - is slender, but yoga practice can't make you skinny.
I don't really like the word skinny. It just sounds…negative. Did you know in the 1570s when the word 'skinny' was first introduced it meant 'resembling skin?' Weird.
In answering the question, does yoga make you skinny?, I came across confusing, contradictory info that really only lead to more questions. Does your heart rate go up or down? Do you actually burn fat in bikram or just sweat out water weight? Does deep breathing help your metabolism or cause lightheadedness?
Ai the questions. They make my mind all jumbled and dizzy. I did, however, find some things about yoga for slimming down that everyone seems to agree on and that research shows is true. (And that I can affirm with my own experience!)
Practicing yoga increases body awarenessHolding yoga poses requires focus. You need to be aware of what your body is doing, what muscles are tensing up and how you're breathing. It's a lot to think about during your typical yoga class, but it helps you become more in-tune with your body's creaks and quirks. Not to mention you build muscle memory. Even if you can't complete a pose or feel insecure in a certain pose, you body will remember what you've done. So, each time you try you get better and more stable.
Yoga reduces stress and promotes mindful eating habitsThe meditative quality of yoga - focusing, deep breathing, slow and thoughtful movements - help to calm the mind. Yoga is a great stress reliever because breathing deeply and allowing your body to be calm can reduce blood pressure. By focusing on your yoga flow, you forget the day's worries (at least temporarily). Calming the mind and being more aware of your body's feelings can help you make better eating choices. A lot of unhealthy habits come from stress; we eat to deal with our emotions and get that instant gratification food provides. Yoga counteracts that stress, making it easier to turn down junk food.
Yoga builds lean musclesIf you're looking to not gain any muscles then yoga is not for you. Holding yourself in yoga poses requires strength. You build more muscle mass with yoga, which help burn more calories at rest. A typical yoga class will offer a complete body workout. Certain poses work different areas of your body. It depends on which muscles you're using and where your weight is focused. As you move through poses each muscle gets worked and gets stretched. So, you're not only building muscles you're lengthening them. Some poses work multiple areas at once. Take three-legged downward dog. It works your shoulders, back, hamstrings, glutes, calves - everything. I could do all the strength training in the world, but I never saw results until I started practicing yoga and pilates regularly. Something about resistance exercises that use my own body weight really clicks with me.
How many calories you burn depends on which practice you chooseMany people who practice some form of active yoga (ashtanga, vinyasa, bikram) describe it as an intense but relaxing workout. You quickly transition from pose to pose and work up a sweat. Whereas hatha yoga, a more calm and meditative form, won't burn as many calories. It's difficult to calculate how many calories you burn through yoga because it's your body and your individual practice that you have to take into account. Like any activity, it depends on how hard you work your body. Are you going to sit deeply into chair pose till your quads burn or just slightly bend your knees?
Yoga helps performance in other physical activitiesPracticing yoga can help with your cardio performance, whether it's swimming, running or cycling, because it increases your range of motion and loosens up tight muscles. Ask any runner and they'll tell you it's importance to focus on flexibility, otherwise something is bound to break.
Weight loss takes timeAs with any fitness regimen you see results over time. It requires work and patience to lose weight. As you practice yoga, you improve your performance and build more muscle mass. The increase in strength will allow you to tackle more intense, challenging poses - the ones that really work your muscles and torch calories.
Not all the yoga teachers I've had were skinny. Some of them were tall, some were short, some pudgy. So while professional yogis tend to be more lean, there is definitely not one type of yoga body.
In high school gym, I broke the flexibility record, but I could lift the least amount of weight of anyone in my class. I didn't start yoga to get more flexible, I wanted to get stronger. Even though I wasn't very strong when I started out, I still found my body could do a lot. More than I thought it could, which made me feel really grateful.
With yoga, I don't think about pounds I want to lose but poses I want to master. I dream of handstand, scorpion, firefly, sage half bound lotus and hummingbird. (Holy biscuits, I just discovered while writing this that I can do sage! You never know until you try, people!!) I may not be able to do them now but I can work towards them. In yoga, I find, there is always something to try, whether it's a new sequence or an advanced pose.
I pay attention to my skill, not the scale. Does this, in turn, make me skinny? Again, I don't like that word. And I don't think that's the question we should be asking. Does yoga make me strong? Yes. Toned? Yes. Small but mighty? Absolutely.
Orignal From: Am I messing up my neck with yoga?
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