by Jie Zhong, 200 hrs YYT, September 2017
Everyone knows that high-intensity sports such as running or excercising in the gym aid weight loss because such activities burn a lot of calories. Yoga, on the other hand, is not commonly thought of as being an effective component of a weight loss program. But how wrong this perception is!
As I have learned during the last few weeks, Ashtanga Yoga is not only a very efficient practice to build up muscle strength, to make one’s body more flexible and supple and to become more aware of ourselves and our bodies. It is also a physically very demanding activity! As such, Ashtanga Yoga is a fat-burning activity. During Yoga sessions, fat is burnt and muscle is built. An hour of Ashtanga Yoga can burn a few hundred calories because the poses demand stamina, strength and cardiac endurance.
I also feel that since I do Yoga I am much more conscious about the food that I am taking in. I eat less and more healthy. I feel that my body is telling me what I should eat and what I should not.
I myself have lost three kilograms of weight after practicing Ashtanga Yoga for just twenty days, with three hours of practice every day. This is a very amazing result! I think that it is the combination of, as described above, burning of more calories and of healthier and more conscious eating.
Besides the many health benefits that it brings with it, Ashtanga Yoga is therefore an effective and thoroughly enjoyable way of keeping (or getting) a slim and toned body.
