If your busy schedule does not leave any time for exercise, you can now get fit with easy-to-do yoga poses at the workplace. These not only help in toning your body but also cure ailments when done regularly in addition to eating healthy. Celebrated yoga expert Shameem Akthar lists out 5 yoga poses which will help fight fat in her book ‘Yoga in the workplace’. Here’s an excerpt for the book.
Cameron Diaz as the svelte Charlie’s Angel, introduced something called ‘cobra yoga’, Gywneth Paltrow, on the other hand, practised the rigorous ashtanga yoga to lose pregnancy pounds. Madonna has stumped age and fat through the same genre of yoga. Lanky Christy Turlington published a book listing weight-loss amongst yoga’s many benefits. Super singer Sting punctuated his India visit with interviews on his fascination for ashtanga yoga, while Hollywod heartthrobs Richard Gere and Tobey Maguire attribute their muscular litheness to yoga. Closer home, our desi Jane Fonda, Shilpa Shetty, has released a successful yoga DVD, and the gorgeous Kareena Kapoor, actor Rahul Bose and cricketer Rahul Dravid are self-confessed yoqa enthusiasts. Now, let’s find out why yoga is favoured by the glitzy set.
- Because its effects are long-term.
- Though yoga’s fat-busting effects may take a month’s time to show up, it offers insurance against the yoyo effects of other quicker fat-losing methods.
- Yoga exercises reach deep down to control glands and hormones responsible for hunger and satiety.
- New-fangled diet programmes may help in weight loss, but also make the skin loose (since the underlying fat that provided elasticity has been lost), thus making people looked old and haggard. Yoga, on the other hand, helps in firming up the skin.
- Weight-loss in yoga is accompanied by building and toning of muscles. This ensures that you are losing weight even while not doing anything, since muscle has higher calorific needs than fat and greater metabolic burn.
Below are a few simple yogic fat-busters you practise while at work.
SURYA MUDRA (HAND GESTURE)
Method
Sit in meditative position.
Shut your eyes.
Press your ring finger down with the thumb.
Do this with both hands.
Hold for three to five minutes, repeat several time during the day.
Points to note
People with high blood pressure, heart problems, fever or inflammatory conditions should avoid this mudra since it increases body heat. It is ideal in a cold climate. It is also an ideal mudra while meditating or practising pranayama. (Read: Why Pranayama works)
How it works
It employs the homunculus-neurological map in human brain.
It uses the Ayurvedic principle of elements in our body, and suppresses the earth element, which causes weight gain and/or difficulty in losing weight.
It is used to control the kapha/water element in the body.
Even a few minutes in this mudra will show that the body heat or metabolic fire goes up, as body temperature shoots up. This indicates the powerful impact of this posture.
It is actively used to lose weight.
Other benefits
Is used in treating and controlling diabetes.
May be used in extreme cold conditions to heat up the body naturally.
It may be used to relieve congestion.
Also used in therapy for hypothyroidism.
Relieves constipation.
UDDIYANA BANDHA (STOMACH LOCK)
Method
Place your hands on your waist.
Inhale and exhale deeply a few times.
Inhale. Exhaling forcefully, lock in the stomach muscles, caving in the spine.
Hold the breath and lock for a few seconds.
Relax stomach.
Exhale lightly, before inhaling deeply.
Points to note
This exercise is also good for inflammatory problems of the gut, like ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, hernia, heart ailments, blood pressure.
How it works
It strengthens the gut, usually abused with wrong eating habits.
It spikes metabolism. An abused gut becomes lethargic, and a falling metabolic rate leads to weight gain and malabsorption that in turn gives out wrong hunger signals.
It prevents or controls digestive problems, which form the crux of obesity therapy. Relieves constipation.
It is used to eject intestinal worms. Intestinal pests are often the cause behind wrong hunger signals. They also create a chronic nutrient deficiency, which in turn sparks hunger pangs.
Builds willpower and mental stamina, thus powering our ability to have control over addictions.
Other benefits
It reduces abdominal sagging.
Is an anti-ageing practice.
Is a stimulating practice, which spikes mental focus.
If breath retention is practised and the duration of the final hold is increased progressively, willpower improves.
JANU NAMAN (KNEE PRESS)
Method
Sit on a chair.
Press feet on the ground. Inhale.
Place hands on inner sides of the knees. Exhale.
Inhaling, press both knees outwards and away from each other with your hands.
Simultaneously, push your legs inwards, to create a resistance between the hands and legs.
Hold this resistance as long as is possible, breathing normally throughout.
Release. Repeat a few times.
How it works
All exercises that make the body work out or exert itself help fight fat.
Other benefits
This works out the wrists and legs powerfully, using your own body for resistance training.
Tones body, building muscle throughout.
Improves stamina.
PADASANA (LEG POSE)
Method
Stand in front of a chair, with enough distance to place the right heel on it.
The leg should be as straight as possible. Inhale.
Flex toes towards your body. Then extend it away from the body with an exhalation.
Do this a few times, with breath awareness.
Repeat for the other leg.
Points to note
Ensure that the leg on the chair remains straight.
Most people slacken at the knee. This will reduce the impact.
Other benefits
Strengthens, tones the entire leg.
Powers the knee, preventing and helping control knee problems.
This posture, done with breath awareness, boosts mental focus.
JANU SIRSASANA (HEAD-TO-KNEE POSE)
Method
Place your heels on a chair as shown in the picture alongside.
Inhale. Exhaling, bend your head towards the right knee.
Try to hold your toes. If that is difficult, hold the leg where you can.
Continue breathing evenly. Release.
Repeat a few times.
Rest. Then repeat for the other leg.
Points to note
With regular practice, and as the back becomes more supple, you can try to deepen the pose by moving your head closer to the knee.
Those with a lower-back problem shouldn’t bend too low.
How It works
Powers digestion, increases metabolism, aids weight loss.
Removes lethargy.
Is therapeutic in diabetes which is linked to weight gain.
Other benefits
Is a cure-all pose, used in most ailments of the body and mind.
Prevents spinal problems, especially upper-back bones.
Is amongst the few poses used in treating knee problems.
What else?
These resistance training exercises, adapted as chair yoga, help tone and work out the entire leg. Strong legs rectify and remove postural defects by taking the load off the spine. This prevents later lifestyle problems such as chronic knee ache and lower back pain. Along the way, these poses also shape the legs. (Read: Yoga poses for weight loss)
Most weight-loss postures are also linked to building mental stamina and focus, since the ability to control diet is largely tied to this.
These exercises are also anti-ageing since obesity can damage inner organ systems drastically, ageing them.
Most poses are also cure-all poses, since the obese also suffer from other problems caused by hormonal imbalances that the fat unleashes inside the body.
Shameem Akthar is a certified yogacharya trained with the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, Kerala. She teaches and holds workshops related to yoga in Mumbai. ‘Yoga in the workplace’ is published by Westland Ltd. Buy the book here.
You may also like to read:
- 12 yoga poses for weight loss
- 10 yoga poses to keep diabetes under control (gallery)
- 4 yoga poses to beat menstrual pain that really work
- Yoga asanas to beat hair loss
- Want glowing skin? Forget expensive creams and try yoga
- Control premature ejaculation with yoga
- Naked yoga – does it have any real health benefits?
- Keep your face fit with face yoga
- Try these yoga poses to improve digestion
- 7 yoga tips for a happy pregnancy
Know your yoga asana
- A yoga asana for instant relief from backaches – marjariasana or cat stretch
- Yoga pose for a stronger orgasm – dhanurasana
- Yoga asana for thighs, belly fat and buttocks
- Anulom-vilom pranayam – beat diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol with this yoga asana
- Halasana – beat bad posture and backaches with this yoga asana
- Know your yoga asana – Veerbhadrasana
- Know your yoga asana – Vrkshasana
- Adho Mukho Svanasana – strengthen your upper body and calm your mind with this asana
- Know your yoga asana – Sarvangasana
- Know your yoga pose – Padmasana
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