Yoga and Health

People often ask, will yoga help me lose weight? A reply often heard from western ‘experts’ is “the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume, and yoga doesn’t burn a lot of calories.” In one view of the story this is true, but this is also an oversimplified narrow view. I believe there is a need that Americans have to oversimplify, to create a more black and white world. This philosophy spills over into the world of physical health and creates a great deal of confusion and stress. The truth is that there is no one right way of losing weight for everyone. The truth is that there are many factors that contribute to a person’s physical health, and simply ‘burning calories’ isn’t going to bring the overall sense of well being that people are searching for.
Along those lines, I can’t say yoga will work for everyone. I can only tell you what it has done for me, and the people in my life. I have had a struggle with my weight since I was a child. I would try diets on and off. My weight would go up and down. I would try exercise regimes where I would intensely exercise every day of the week and usually end up gaining weight and being confused. I didn’t understand my body at all and I longed to be one of those people that had it ‘easy’ and didn’t have to worry about their weight.
I began yoga 11 years ago, on and off, slowly integrating it more and more into my life. Along the way, the pounds began to fall away and stay away. I enjoyed the more tangible benefits of the practice so much that I didn’t even realize everything that was happening inside me on a more discreet level.
I believe yoga is often misunderstood because most of its work is done on the more subtle layers. These seem to be areas we haven’t researched as much. Or, if we have researched it, we haven’t quite connected all the dots. I may not have empirical backing for all of what I share, but here are some things I have noticed, read, experienced in my years as an instructor and student:
-Yoga reduces stress. Stress produces cortisol, which triggers the body to hold on to certain types of fat as a form of protection. Relaxation triggers the body to release the hold on these forms of fat. Relaxation helps the immune system function better. Relaxation brings the nervous system into balance.
-Yoga focuses on the breath. Aerobics at its basic definition means ‘with oxygen.’ Improved oxygenation of the body improves function on a multitude of levels. Even western medicine realizes this and implements oxygen and breath control in many procedures.
-Yoga is probably mostly known for the stretching. Yoga does create flexibility. Stretching and lengthening the muscles and connective tissue of the body. What many people don’t know is that stretching causes the body to produce more of the protein elastin in all its tissues. This not only keeps muscles limber, but also keeps the skin and connective tissue supple.
-Yoga strengthens and tones. Using the body in specific postures strategically strengthens a wide range of muscles. Yoga often focuses on muscles that receive less attention in the weight lifting forum; where only the larger muscle groups that noticeably change outward appearance tend to receive recognition.
-Yoga is a practice for the mind as well as the body. Yoga invites the practitioner to bring their awareness to their actions, to their body, to their breath, to their senses, to their thoughts, to their emotions. This awareness begins to translate into other aspects of life. Subtly and slowly habits done unconsciously for years begin to present themselves in the forefront of the mind where they can be understood, evaluated, gently modified or let go.
-Yoga focuses on improving function in all the different systems: circulatory, endocrine, nervous, respiratory, musculoskeletal, digestive, etc. Each of these systems plays a part in your health. If toxins block these systems and they function poorly, the effects will cascade through the rest of the body. The body is completely interconnected. Health relies on the optimal function of all our working parts, and our parts working together. Other forms of exercise tend to only focus on the more gross aspects of the body, leaving the more subtle areas completely neglected. Before yoga, I never paid much attention to my glands, my internal organs, the synovial fluid, the spinal fluid, etc. If we are not conscious of, and working these parts of our body, how do we know if they are functioning optimally?
-Yoga teaches the mind how to use the controllers of the body. Through practice, yogis can learn how to slow their heartbeat and lower their blood pressure. They can learn how to control reaction to pain and the sensation of pain. Yogis can even learn how to raise and lower their body temperature.
-Yoga pays attention to balance. Not only the balance of holding weight center, but the balance of right and left, front and back, top and bottom, inside and outside. The farther we are from balance, the farther we are from health. In fact, a good definition of health is everything in balance.
-The yoga community tends to invite its practitioners to individualize their practice to their own needs. To discard anything that does not serve them. To focus internally on their innate worth as a human being. To use yoga as a tool alongside their other physical, spiritual, and mental practices as a way to enhance what they have already found works for them.

My journey is ongoing. There are still many layers to uncover. With each day of practice I slowly understand more about the intricacies of my body. Alan Kristel, a researcher I ran across in my yoga studies, says, “The word here is mindfulness, the ability to observe in a non-reactive fashion, that is what helps change the relationship of mind to body.” I believe yoga is a great tool to cultivate, the fulcrum that can help guide all of the above into the balance of health. Namaste.