Yoga and Obesity

Yoga is an increasingly popular discipline for physical fitness these days and also for the health conscious, looking to better their overall health.



The alarming rise in obesity has also coincided with and preceded this fascination with yoga, probably contributing to its popularity and growth as many take it up as a method of weight loss. The connection between yoga and obesity has become this strong for the simple reason that weight loss with yoga is extremely effective, and unlike other weight loss strategies that offer short term benefits the effects here are long lasting. Yoga being a wholesome discipline that does not only glorify the physical, it enhances your health as a whole, providing you with benefits that go far deeper than the skin.

Obesity is a condition in which there is an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fats, and consequentially increased weight. Obesity in itself is not as dangerous as the host of disease that it puts you at risk of.



It also has a direct effect on your physical and emotional or mental health. It’s important that you understand obesity to understand the relationship between yoga and obesity. Some of the main causes of obesity include eating habits. Diets with a high fat or protein content, sugar rich foods, over eating, particularly foods like milk and other dairy products as well as meat and meat products, caffeinated and aerated drinks among others.



A diet lacking in raw fruits and vegetables and deficient of fiber can also contribute to obesity. The condition may also be hereditary or caused due to physical problems like digestive disorders, hormonal or glandular imbalances (endocrine and thyroids glands), or mental and emotional imbalances. The emotional aspect is one of the most debilitating features of the condition as it creates a vicious cycle of depression and consequent bingeing. Most individuals fall victim to this cycle and can never break out of it. A sedentary lifestyle is the other major cause for obesity.

How to lose weight with yoga?

The reason why so many people today chose to lose weight with yoga is because obesity is caused by a variety of reasons, both physical and emotional. Most weight loss plans are unfortunately very limited in their scope and while they concentrate purely on weight loss they ignore the roots of obesity. Yoga on the other hand is a holistic discipline that is not concerned with weight loss in itself. It is concerned with the health of the individual in every sense – physically, mentally and spiritually. In following such an approach it not only promotes weight loss, but also addresses all the major causes of obesity. Its effects are therefore a lot more lasting, and they are also not just limited to your weight. To elaborate: for most obese people the desire to reduce weight is overwhelmed by the overwhelming sense of depression that only works in a vicious circle, spiraling the problem out of control. Yoga does not merely attempt to get the individual to diet or exercise, but addresses the mental faculty at well. It improves your sense of self confidence and esteem, and also helps you focus and gives you clarity of thought. The results may not be immediate as in a fad diet, but they are certain and a lot more lasting. Yoga also helps individuals afflicted with obesity that results from the presence of some condition or dysfunction. For example, hypothyroidism, a dysfunction of the thyroid gland can be controlled to a large extent with yoga, as many of the poses regulate and facilitate the functioning of this gland and likewise other organs in our bodies.