Yoga what's your take?

I know that to lose weight I need to become more active, the only exersise that I've found that I enjoy is yoga. I have a DVD: Yoga conditioning for weight loss with Suzanne Deason. What's your take on yoga? What else could/should I do with yoga?

 Well, for weight loss your primary results will be from diet, not exercise - working out can somewhat accelerate the results of your diet, but working out without dieting will only lead to embarrassing results ;)

 That said:  yoga is a nice start if you're completely sedentary and as a lead-in to a more active lifestyle in general it can work, but for weight loss and - well, almost anything that isn't about flexibility it's overrated.

 Yoga is one tool among many, and the problem I have with many yoginis is that they become too concerned with the tool and not concerned enough about the end result they're working towards. (Not all of them, but a sizable contingent.)

 So it depends on your goals and your starting point - certainly it's a good idea to start with something you enjoy to create the habit of working out at first, just keep in mind that over the longer term you will probably need to add more and different activities unless your physique goals are within the very narrow limits of what yoga can do for you.

I feel that Yoga is a great compliment to weight lifting and cardio.  It stretches out my muscles and helps with flexibility.  It is also very relaxing after a long day at work.  I have incorporated 2 days of Yoga per week into my weight lifting/cardio routine and feel better because of it.  

I find that yoga is a great way to jumpstart yourself into more physical activity.  Getting into a routine of doing it on a regular basis will help to ease you into more high intensity workouts.  I think its a great way to start the day, peronally.

Hehe. We had a yoga class during one of our Doctoring sessions a couple months back. It was way harder than I expected it to be. We had a yoga instructor who would have made a really good boot camp instructor for the marines. She was crazy!

Thanks for the replies. I am watching what I eat, I don't want to say diet because it's more than that, it's a lifestyle change. I'm going to try to incorporate so other activities along with my yoga, thanks everyone.

There are multiple varieties of yoga.  I personally haven't run into one that I'm attached to.  Start with the one you enjoy and as it gets too easy, try exploring other varieties.  Some are more strength intensive, some are for contortionists, see what's around and do a sampling once you've given your current DVD a go.

I actually started with yoga.. I joined http://www.myyogaonline.com/  ; a few months ago.. I love it.. It got rid of all the stress and cortisone in my body so I could lose weight. I have an extremely high pressured stressful job full of deadlines 12 hours a day 7 days a week. I tried the mediation video and loved it. Then tried Hatha yoga and pranayama.. also palates.  Now I can do 45 minutes of cardio and 3 days a week and yoga 2 days a week.. only because I love it and understand it on a different level. I have lost 25 pounds due to healthier eating. It took about 2 and a half months. But you have to understand before I get attacked for losing so much so fast.. I only ate fast foods before I started dieting and never exercised. 

Yoga actually made me aware of bad breathing habits and then caused a chain reaction.. I have lost weight, eat better and of course exercise.  news years resolution will be to quit smoking. See what yoga did for me?

I have came to terms I will never eat fast food again.. Never. My completion is smooth and cleared up... I no longer have upper stomach pains and my blood pressure dropped from 139/85 to 110/78.

Yoga is my lime light and am learning yogalates. If your feel stressed out give it a try.. Its amazing!

Original Post by sunandmoons:

I actually started with yoga.. I joined http://www.myyogaonline.com/  ; a few months ago.. I love it.. It got rid of all the stress and cortisone in my body so I could lose weight. I have an extremely high pressured stressful job full of deadlines 12 hours a day 7 days a week. I tried the mediation video and loved it. Then tried Hatha yoga and pranayama.. also palates.  Now I can do 45 minutes of cardio and 3 days a week and yoga 2 days a week.. only because I love it and understand it on a different level. I have lost 25 pounds due to healthier eating. It took about 2 and a half months. But you have to understand before I get attacked for losing so much so fast.. I only ate fast foods before I started dieting and never exercised. 

Yoga actually made me aware of bad breathing habits and then caused a chain reaction.. I have lost weight, eat better and of course exercise.  news years resolution will be to quit smoking. See what yoga did for me?

I have came to terms I will never eat fast food again.. Never. My completion is smooth and cleared up... I no longer have upper stomach pains and my blood pressure dropped from 139/85 to 110/78.

Yoga is my lime light and am learning yogalates. If your feel stressed out give it a try.. Its amazing!

 

thanks for repying. I've done yoga off and on and it does relax me, i just need to stick with it. I've noticed that it really helps with my back pain. The thing I like about my DVD is that it has 4 workout levels :D again thanks for sharing you thoughts on yoga.

woah, man, your post is very inspiring ... i'm definitely starting beginner yoga lessons ... and i'll try to fit the meditation in ... thanks, good luck

There are  a lot of different types of yoga.  I think they are all good for stress, flexibility etc. Specifically yoga for weight loss, in the Lessjess Blog she said she used  your specific dvd and it rocks and she still uses it.  

If you like it check out other yoga classes.  I personally do Bikram Yoga and love it.  Bikram yoga also has the benefit of being both a cardio workout and a stretching, stress burning, flexibility, strength training workout in itself.  They jack the heat up to 105 in the room which sounds awful and intimidating, but it help you focus on  your postures and the heat helps with your flexibility so you can do a lot more than you think you can.   Not only does it do all this but you  burn as many calories doing bikram yoga as you do running.  I know it sounds impossible but it's true.  Every time I go (5 days a week now) I know I've taken care of myself for the day.  Also to perform it you  have to take care of yourself that day, eat lightly stay hydrated etc.  

Don't think you have to be superskinny either I'm 5'4" at 225 right now and I can do it!

I think yoga is super beneficial for losing weight, GETTING TONED, getting more flexible AND more centered (I always sleep better after a good yoga session!).

Personally, I was in the best shape of my life when I was doing only Bikram(hot) yoga 3-4 times/week (better shape than when I was a competitive rower). I was living abroad and there weren't any gyms nearby and air quality was too poor and traffic too dangerous to do any outdoor activities (running, biking, etc). Bikram is pretty intense and is a good endurance/strength and it gets your heart rate up. I think you need the hot room to get all the benefits though. It's not bad in a normal temperature room but not nearly as much of a workout. I don't do it anymore because its doesn't work with my work/home schedule :(

I was also in really good shape when I was doing Power yoga (Mark Laham power yoga DVD) 3-4 times/week, running 2-3 times/week and lifting weights and/or circuit training 1-2 times/week...much better shape than exercising the same amount of time on cardio/weights only.

Like others have said the breath awareness aspect of yoga that I think really help out in all aspects of exercise and overall well-being.  As for meditiation--an awesome instructor I had put it this way: meditation is "working in stillness with breath awareness"...it's all about the breath...works for mediation AND exercise!

Note that there are a lot of different types of yoga so you might want to try a few styles to see what works for you best. Some are more meditative, some require more exertion (all types benefit though!)

I disagree with melkor--yoga can be very diverse and you can ALWAYS be challenged by yoga--you can always develop and push yourself even if you do the same DVD over and over and over. And what is the end result? Cliche but "life's a journey, not a destination", and I think that's particularly true with yoga. 

However, I would recommend going to a few classes in addition to the DVD. Going to a class doesn't have to be regular but a good instructor can make the world of difference to your practice and making sure you're doing the postures correctly and safely.

I think I am going to add a few more style with the one I'm allready doing. I'll have to see if there's a yoga class near where I live. :D

Well, you can argue with the underlying exercise physiology all you want, but whether or not you believe it won't change the reality - yoga is overrated as an exercise form, and mostly misapplied.

 This includes Bikram which is not the equivalent of running no matter what the marketing material says- though you can log a pretty decent expenditure with it seeing as it's done for 90 minutes at a time.

 My yoga teacher was born in India, learned Asthanga direct from Patthabis Jois himself and considers most of the 'teachers' around here half-studied at best. And he keeps pointing out that people who treat yoga as being the equivalent of Body Pump or other group fitness classes are completely missing the point of doing it. I get scolded a bit from time to time for referring more to the mobility benefits than the mental ones as well...

 Anyway. Yoga is one of many training modalities; useful for some purposes, hardly a comprehensive fitness solution. Which is something it has in common with  - well, every other training modality out there, no single exercise method will cover all your needs despite the hype from people out to make a fast buck by selling you fitness information and yoga DVD's.

Original Post by melkor:

Well, you can argue with the underlying exercise physiology all you want, but whether or not you believe it won't change the reality - yoga is overrated as an exercise form, and mostly misapplied.

 This includes Bikram which is not the equivalent of running no matter what the marketing material says- though you can log a pretty decent expenditure with it seeing as it's done for 90 minutes at a time.

 My yoga teacher was born in India, learned Asthanga direct from Patthabis Jois himself and considers most of the 'teachers' around here half-studied at best. And he keeps pointing out that people who treat yoga as being the equivalent of Body Pump or other group fitness classes are completely missing the point of doing it. I get scolded a bit from time to time for referring more to the mobility benefits than the mental ones as well...

 Anyway. Yoga is one of many training modalities; useful for some purposes, hardly a comprehensive fitness solution. Which is something it has in common with  - well, every other training modality out there, no single exercise method will cover all your needs despite the hype from people out to make a fast buck by selling you fitness information and yoga DVD's.

 Sorry melkor--must have misunderstood your first post. I agree with just about everything you said here, but maybe not all the words you use ("overrated"). Could argue the last paragraph though--depends on your personal objectives and how you define fitness (overall well-being vs. muscle mass). I think yoga could be "comprehensive" depending on how you approach it.

Also, I don't necessarily have a problem with people doing it just for exercise--I agree that they're missing out on MOST of the benefits of yoga, but I'm not going to criticise anyone for trying it, especially if they're seeing some benefits (even if it is just physical). If they have an open mind it's easy to move beyond the physical benefits. I focused on the physical aspect in my post because, as you say, that's what most people in North America are looking for and I think the other aspects are more personal and harder to convey.

I love yoga. It makes me stronger, leaner, more flexible and I think its a wonderful form of mediation. The physical practice of yoga helps give your mind a vacation, and the step after that is mediation. Mediation is the pursuit of happiness through mind training. Most people can't sit still by themselves for an extended period of time, so they do the asanas. If you like it, keep doing it. There is always more to improve on. I'm 30 and the last class I went to a 64 yr old women was light years ahead of me with strength and agility. She looked amazing.

Just wanted to add that I am doing yoga for more than just the exercise aspects. I enjoy the relaxed feeling I have afterwards and it makes me more aware of my body.

Original Post by mefhisto_:

woah, man, your post is very inspiring ... i'm definitely starting beginner yoga lessons ... and i'll try to fit the meditation in ... thanks, good luck

Thank you so much... It is the concept of being aware of your body that benifited me the most.  I think everyone should incorperate some form of yoga.. There are a lot of benifits including stress release. I wish you all the luck in your goals!

Well I just got a cardio dance dvd that I love, I'm going to do this along with my yoga :D

I think yoga is a waste of time if you're doing it for weightloss. It burns like 1 calorie per hour.

Just my $0.2.

I'm not doing it simply for weight loss, there are othe reasons for yoga. It allows you to better conect with your body and it's very relaxing.