5 Shocking Ways Yoga Causes You To Lose Weight

updated 8/3/22

10-18-2024 Update: this link is no longer active to the Sivana Spirit blog. I am working on getting the article contents back from the company and I will post it here.

Yoga is an awesome healing tool!

I confess, I did not write the title to my article published on the international Yoga blog: Sivana Spirit.

Had I written the title, I would not have used the work "shocking" as Yoga's affects no longer shock me. I am not certain they ever did. I do know, had I been asked 20 years ago when I started doing Yoga postures, I would not have expected all the benefits Yoga has brought into my life. (Notice I put postures in italics up there. I have been doing Yoga meditation, guided visualizations, and mindfulness work since I was 26. I sincerely had no idea this was Yoga. When I started doing postures, I thought like so many others do, that the postures were Yoga. I have learned a lot!)

But these Yoga revelations have not been "shocking." They have been smooth and silky, warm and fuzzy, and oh so stealth in sneaking into my life.

To read more about these "shocking" Yoga weight loss impacts and benefits, click here. 

Yoga truly is an easy and amazing tool for health and healing. Maybe this fact is the shocker in a culture that prefers more difficult answers. 

Yoga tones the vagus nerve… this is a huge factor in creating awareness of what triggers you to do the things you do & react the way you react. You become a calmer, more peaceful person, able to stop - reflect - and chose healthy choices as opposed to knee jerk reacting into emotional outbursts and choices that do not serve your highest good or healing energy.

Namaste good people.

Yoga Supports these things in Your Life (photos added 7/17/19)

PS  More Yoga LOVE from me to you: 

http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/05/27/it-all-starts-with-you

http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2013/11/18/why-i-love-yoga-and-other-thoughts-on-whole-food-whole-health-healing

http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/blog/2014/06/06/building-muscle-building-vitality

Divine Weight Loss Tip #3

First of all... use these weight loss tips to heal any health issue that challenges you and your beautiful body!  

Healing your body, mind, and soul is an amazing process; make it fun... start today!

It is me, in my summer (2014) yoga studio working towards wellness goals and nourishing the intrinsic motivation I have created in my 23 years of practicing yoga (now, in 2020, its been 29 years. Wow). What you do not see here is my 4 cats, lounging about the deck, engaging in their own form of yoga and wellness promotion. My camera man, Eli, missed the cats!

So, here we go...

Tip #3

Self-Responsibility: If you want to lose weight AND keep it off for life, you HAVE to take self-responsibility for your own health and healing... self-responsibility for your life.

You are responsible for choices you make regarding your health. 

Health is about self-responsibility. The ability to heal lies within us.  The responsibility to care for our bodies to ensure lifelong health, prevent disease, and heal lies within us. 

By making natural choices in one’s eating and lifestyle choices, the symptoms of disease heal and an individual can and will return to whole, vibrant health. 

Whole Health Healing is not about what you are giving up, it is not about deprivation.  It IS about what you are inviting into your life: the choices, changes, and additions that will open doors to healing, health, body weight re-balancing, and happiness in ways you may have never imagined or experienced.

Gathering support:  I do encourage you to surround yourself with like-minded people, people interested in pursuing their health and healing and re-balancing their body weight. However and but… is there not always a however or a but?, ultimately the responsibility to change your life lies with you and within you.

Intrinsic motivation is absolutely needed to create wellness goals and intentions, work towards your goals and intentions, and turn them into permanent lifestyle changes.

Support is a beautiful thing (here is the but) but you have to be your best support, your best cheer leader and coach.

Let’s say you rely on a support buddy to get you through a decision. What happens when you text or FB message your support buddy and get no reply?  “Help, I am about to order and eat an entire banana split” or “Help, I cannot seem to get my shoes on and get out the door to go for my daily wellness walk.”

Now what? Who do you rely on right now? You, of course! You are your best wellness coach because you do want to choose what is best for your long-term health, body weight re-balancing, and healing.

I am, in the link here and above, referring you back to Divine Weight Loss Tip #1.

Have much fun creating your intrinsic motivation, your personal self-responsibility for you! Paula

Divine Weight Loss Tip #2

Eat Fat and Other Divine Weight Loss Tips

Ok, first I need to take a step backwards from weight loss tip #1. I am so quick to let the words flow from my fingertips onto the keyboard. Then, I have more thoughts... it's a wonderful cycle (no viscousness here).

Weight loss is the process of re-balancing body weight, returning the percentage of adipose tissue (fat) to lean body tissue (muscles, bones, organs) back to a healthy ratio.

Weight loss is truly a mind, body, spirit exercise. When one approaches it just from the space of physical, "Oh, I need to lose weight from my physical body" and neglects to address the needs of the psyche and soul... weight loss is rarely successful over the long haul.

My intention, in offering up these tidbits of wisdom from my life, is to support you in your quest to balance body weight.

So... here comes tip # 2.

Tip #2:  

Stop deprivation. Invite pleasure into your life.

Reminder: Fat IS pleasure.

Fat is pleasure to your taste buds, to your body's satiation* signals, to your cellular health...

Learn more about healthy fat and learn to eat it.

Me... I love butter, obscene amounts of butter from grass fed animals!

*When your body feels satiated by being nourished with adequate fat and protein (from healthy, whole food choices, of course!) you avoid the "snacking on carbs between meals syndrome." Fat helps you give up your refined carb and sugar habits.

Eat well: nourish mind, body, and spirit with wholeness*.  Love, Paula

PS Feel free to leave comments around your wisdom with weight loss, body weight re-balancing.  When we band together, for the greater good, we all benefit. Your stories can help others in ways you cannot even imagine.

And remember, the *words and thoughts you take into your being are foods for the mind and soul. Feed yourself well with whole, positive thoughts and words FAT with Love!