Does Kundalini Yoga Help Weight Loss

If that's what you're searching for, the short answer is yes! If you use Kundalini yoga for weight loss, it can help you achieve your goals. There are numerous aerobic kriyas and metabolism-enhancing meditations available. There's also a weight-loss Kundalini Yoga DVD called “Weight Loss with Kundalini Yoga,” which you can purchase here –> Click!

But, actually, that's the short answer.

Here's the long one, and the one that affects me the most.

“Can Kundalini yoga help me lose weight?” a listener asked while I was on Tommy Rosen's Addiction Recovery radio show with Mastin Kipp two weeks ago.

I took a breather.

After all, it was an addiction show.

My comments had to be carefully chosen because there were people listening who had undoubtedly struggled with eating disorders and food addictions.

And, to be honest, I've fought with eating disorders and food addictions myself, so what I said had to be genuine.

“I'd rather you focus on reducing the weight on your body before you focus on shedding the pain in your heart,” I replied.

And I meant it not only for her, but also for me. In fact, I mean it in the broadest sense.

I couldn't believe it when I read on the Huffington Post a few days ago, citing Lisa Bloom's book “Think,” that 23% of American women would rather lose their ability to read than their figures.

They'd rather lose the capacity to read than not be able to read.

You know…the incredible gift that allows you to learn, interact, work, connect with other people and their ideas, and learn about history?

I was shocked.

I was initially offended that women would disrespect themselves to that extent.

Then I became concerned that my sisters were discounting ME; that my words were suddenly less powerful since my rear end now weighed more. Insecurity ensues. But then, and this is crucial, my heart stopped beating. That wonderful old Yogi Bhajan sutra reminded me that the other person is me. And I was the one who did it. I used to gauge my achievement by my jean size, and my size 4 self was rather smug when I was in my early 20s, before I ever took up the turban and the tunic. Despite having a Master's degree and a solid head on my shoulders, I believed that my worth was primarily on my ability to turn heads based on my appearance rather than my luminosity. While I would never trade my ability to read for anything, I do recall a time when gaining a single pound would destroy my week.

I got into the popular assumption that you had to be attractive to be worth something, yet “pretty” was never enough. The carrot continued to move. My ambition to be more attractive and slim fed a hunger that no amount of food could satisfy. Self-loathing, self-punishment, and self-restriction ensued. It was a trying time in my life. My relationship with my body, as well as my waistband, eased after discovering Kundalini yoga. I've given myself the time and space to become acquainted with the lovely person I am on the inside. I now spend time with my spirit on a regular basis. Even if my reflection is larger than it has ever been, I can look at it with love and treat it with kindness. That may seem insignificant to you, or even a gigantic step back, but it is a huge stride forward for me. Now, if I were to employ Kundalini yoga for weight loss from this point of self-acceptance, it wouldn't be because I'm punishing myself for being “too heavy.” It's because I'm giving myself permission to lose a little weight and ease my load.

The point is that there is a spirit within you that is worth getting to know, regardless of your weight or how “beautiful” or “unpretty” society says you are.

You have a valuable soul inside of you.

Kundalini yoga is the science of discovering your own inner self.

It's a tool that assists you in having a close encounter with your soul.

It can assist you in letting go of your sadness, anger, shame, blame, and all the other dramas in your life.

It can also assist you in becoming healthier in terms of mind, body, and spirit. Kundalini yoga is a pleasant practice. It brings me joy. And I believe that this is far more significant than simply reducing weight.

(For more information on this excellent practice, see Ramdesh's book “Yoga and Mantras for a Whole Heart.”)

Which type of yoga is best for weight loss?

While yoga isn't traditionally thought of as an aerobic workout, some styles are more physically demanding than others.

Yoga methods that are active and intensive help you burn the most calories. This could assist you avoid gaining weight. More physical yoga styles include ashtanga, vinyasa, and power yoga.

Hot yoga studios typically offer vinyasa and power yoga. These styles of yoga keep you moving virtually continuously, which aids in calorie burning.

Yoga may also aid in the development of muscle tone and the improvement of your metabolism.

While restorative yoga isn't a particularly physically demanding form of yoga, it can nonetheless aid in weight loss. Restorative yoga was found to be useful in helping overweight women lose weight, including abdominal fat, in one study.

These findings are particularly encouraging for persons whose weight makes more intensive yoga difficult.

By burning calories, increasing mindfulness, and reducing stress, yoga may be a potential strategy to help with behavioral change, weight loss, and maintenance. These characteristics may assist you in reducing your food consumption and become more aware of the negative consequences of overeating.

Is Kundalini yoga good exercise?

While both groups improved their memory significantly by the conclusion of the trial, only the Kundalini group improved their executive functioning in the short and long term. This comprises, among other things, reasoning, problem-solving, and cognitive flexibility.

The group who practiced Kundalini yoga experienced fewer symptoms of depression at the end of the trial, in addition to cognitive benefits.

Boosts self-perception

Kundalini yoga may increase body positivity and self-acceptance, according to a small 2017 study. Nine women diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa had these improvements.

The researchers believe that Kundalini yoga can aid in the treatment of eating disorders by increasing self-perception and self-appreciation.

Spiritual enlightenment

As your Kundalini energy wakes, it's thought that you'll become more spiritually connected to yourself and others.

These advantages have not been scientifically verified, but they are backed up by personal experience.

How many times a week should you do Kundalini yoga?

Is it necessary for me to practice Kundalini yoga on a regular basis? The greater the number, the better. It is recommended that you practice Kundalini for at least a few minutes each day. For the fastest development and to maintain good shifts in your consciousness, we recommend attending sessions 3-4 times per week if at all possible.

Can you lose weight fast with yoga?

Yoga is a form of exercise that can help you integrate your mind and body more effectively. There are many different styles of yoga, with some emphasizing meditation and awareness and others emphasizing strength and endurance. Yoga, when used as part of a regular workout routine, can help you lose weight by burning calories.

Why am I not losing weight doing yoga?

The body controls blood pH to keep it within a tight range of 7.35 to 7.45, and one of the ways it does so is by eating meals with a specific pH in the blood.

If you breathe faster than normal throughout your practice (hyperventilate), your blood pH will shift slightly towards alkalinity. After your practice, you're more likely to seek processed, high-protein, and/or acidic foods to balance that alkalinity, which could lead to weight gain.

If, on the other hand, you tend to breathe less than normal throughout your practice (hypoventilate), you will most likely not be hungry afterward. As a result of breathing less, carbonic acid levels in your blood rise, decreasing your blood pH and making it more acidic. If your blood is slightly acidic, you'll feel less hungry, crave more alkaline meals like fresh fruit, salad, and veggies, and lose weight as a result.

Your digestive system works more effectively to digest food, absorb nutrients, and eliminate waste if you breathe naturally into your abdomen using your diaphragm rather than inhaling more into your chest. Your digestive system may become dysfunctional if you constantly ‘hold in your abdomen' and suppress the diaphragm. People (particularly women) frequently hold in their stomachs using forced abdominal exhalation muscles in order to appear thinner or to stabilize the spine and manage lower back discomfort.

In a previous blog, we discussed how to firm your core in a stress-free and safe manner.

When the abdominal exhalation muscles are used all of the time (to keep the back stable or the tummy in), the abdominal inhalation muscle (the diaphragm) is blocked, and chest breathing takes over. In this scenario, the autonomic (‘automatic') nerve system is disrupted, which can lead to either wrong food absorption or inappropriate food metabolism, which can lead to weight gain or loss.

People often believe that breathing into their abdomen automatically means they are not over-breathing, however this is not the case.

If you take a full abdominal breath every 2 or 3 seconds, the volume of air you breathe per minute may be as high as 50 litres per minute, which means you're way over-breathing compared to the 5 litres per minute that is considered normal breathing for a healthy individual at rest. Rapid abdominal breaths can be caused by an inattentive mind or tension, resulting in a stressful practice that depletes rather than strengthens your immune system.

As part of the kriya (yogic cleaning ritual) known as kapalabhati, people sometimes consciously practice rapid abdominal breathing. This is acceptable as a once-in-a-while practice, but most people should follow any period of breathing faster than normal with a large period of breathing slower than normal. This is similar to the classic pranayama practice of bhastrika, which often consists of a period of rapid breathing, such as kapalabhati, followed by holding the in and/or out for as long as possible. If the breath is not retained long enough after kapalabhati, the exercise frequently results in an overwhelming amount of hunger.

Another reason you may not lose weight while practicing yoga is that your practice is not rigorous enough, and you are not effectively moving your blood through your muscles. Although expert yoga practitioners may flow their blood in immobile poses without increasing their pulse rate, most people can only improve their circulation through movement exercises. It is therefore preferable for beginner practitioners to either proceed through the postures smoothly or to hold specific positions for 10 – 30 seconds. The most convenient way for the ordinary person to do this is to walk for 30 minutes every day.

Stop for 5-10 minutes and undertake a hypoventilation session in a comfortable position if you feel completely distracted and emotionally upset while training. To relax your thoughts, simply hold your breath in for 20-30 seconds and/or hold your breath out for 20-30 seconds. Return to your most natural minimal breathing if you are unable to comfortably hold your breath at all.

The art of yoga is to strike a balance between a comfortable and vigorous practice. To recognize the fine line between doing your best (tapas) and gently pushing your limitations to challenge yourself but not overdoing your practice out of avarice, you need good self-knowledge (svadhyaya) and honesty (satya).

If finding a balance in one yoga practice is difficult, try a variety of yoga practices: one day, a gentle and quick vinyasa flow to improve blood flow, then the next day, hold the postures longer and try to do some resistance stretching in each posture to gain more strength in a slow flowing practice. You can switch back and forth between these two types of practice on a regular basis.

For anxious and/or unfocused persons, starting each day with a ten-minute meditation with natural breathing and gradually increasing the amount of time spent in meditation can lead to a calmer state of mind, making it easier to find that delicate balance.

There's another major reason why your practice isn't helping you lose weight. It's possible that you're overeating. As an adult, you just do not need to consume as much food. It's necessary to keep your intestines moving, so consuming adequate amounts of fiber-rich foods is beneficial; but, after you've gotten your bowels moving and consumed a certain quantity of calories, you won't need to eat any more that day. If you eat more than your body can use for energy right away (as an adult who doesn't need to develop or restore any parts), the extra food will wind up in one of three places:

Every diet has issues: The ‘Eat less and live longer' diet is the only one that has been demonstrated to work.

Every diet has been proven to be false. Some individuals feel that eating only grains is healthy, while others believe that eating only high-protein foods, including meat, is healthy. However, scientific data supports both of these viewpoints. In truth, all diets have advantages and disadvantages, and scientific data for practically every diet is inconclusive.

The only diet that does have some scientific backing is the ‘eat less diet'.

It's dubbed the ‘calorific reduction diet' in technical terms. It has been proven repeatedly in studies spanning more than a century that eating less leads to a longer life. This is true in animal experiments, whether small or large animals are used. In one experiment, for example, a group of mice were given free reign to consume as much as they wished. They helped themselves to a basket of food that was left open, and the amount of food they devoured was subsequently measured. A second batch of mice was fed a quarter of this quantity, and they survived two or three times as long as the first.

This improved lifetime is most likely owing to lower levels of free radical generation, lower levels of extremely destructive types of oxygen, and reduced metabolic stress on the cells due to ‘overuse.' Overuse wears out anything, thus putting less food into your body (assuming your body functions normally) results in less stress on the system.

The following is the most efficient approach to learn to eat less comfortably in order to improve your health.

Increase the amount of alkalizing foods you eat in your diet (such as fresh fruit and vegetables). Simultaneously, to compensate for the increased alkalinity, breathe less to raise carbon dioxide and carbonic acid levels in the body.

In other words, if you can exercise and practice yoga while breathing less (i.e. get physically strong – e.g. be able to exercise harder without panting and/or be able to do good pranayama – e.g. work towards breathing less than one full breath per minute at rest). Then you'll notice that you're not as hungry as you were before, but you're more energized, so your desire and need to eat will be reduced, and this is the most effective strategy to lose weight.

Try a FREE Lecture

Our ‘Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga' course combines the science of physiotherapy with traditional yoga to teach you how to use what you've learned. This is a more practical and accessible course for most people than ‘Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga,' and we recommend you take it first.

Our online course ‘Yoga Fundamentals:Essentials of Teacher Training' is a great supplement to our ‘Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga' course since knowing where your muscles and bones are isn't enough; you also need to know what to do with them!

‘Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga' is an online course that analyzes and contrasts the Eastern and Western approaches to exercise and exercise therapy. This course also attempts to describe the anatomy and physiology of yoga and other similar eastern exercises (such as Chinese and Indian martial arts) in modern scientific terminology that is yet understandable to laypeople.

What are the dangers of Kundalini Yoga?

So, what's not to enjoy about that? B.K.S. Iyengar Swami Vivekananda, a yogi, compares the nervous system to an electrical system, including wire (nerves), circuits (chakras), and gates (locks) (bandhas). A Kundalini power surge, like any other electrical system, can disrupt the grid, causing serious mental and physical sickness. While the channels Kundalini flows through are broadly correlated with the neurological system, Kundalini is a subtle energy form that cannot be tested like normal nerve circulation.

Is Kundalini Yoga bad?

If Kundalini is performed correctly, there is little likelihood that its effects will be negative. The tricky part about practicing “properly” is that it is highly dependent on the teacher who is leading you.

Unfortunately, some Kundalini master teachers do not appear to be capable of successfully guiding all of their students (yet). Some gurus have been able to quickly build their own Kundalini energy experience, making them look appropriate within the yoga community. This does not, however, imply that you can effortlessly guide others through the same process.

Because it can bring up raw emotion, Kundalini Yoga can be a frightening and anxiety-inducing experience. Having a terrible experience with this method might range from being disappointed because you've been practicing for a few months and haven't seen any results to full-fledged psychotic episodes triggered by the severe yoga experience.

Traditionally, yogis were encouraged to begin a kundalini practice with a master of this unique form only after they were fully prepared for the experience of Kundalini. People in the modern world, on the other hand, learn about Kundalini on the internet and decide to begin practicing it right away because of its benefits. This isn't how it's supposed to be done, and it's obvious that jumping right in can have undesirable consequences.

Is Kundalini Yoga good for beginners?

While anyone can practice Kundalini yoga (unless they have a pre-existing medical problem), this kind of yoga is especially beneficial for those who want to combine a spiritual practice with a physical workout.

Although Kundalini yoga is a demanding practice, its physical and mental benefits make it an excellent choice for both beginners and seasoned yogis. There's a reason the discipline has exploded in popularity, attracting everyone from yoga aficionados to celebrities.

What is the difference between Kundalini Yoga and Hatha Yoga?

Iyengar and ashtanga yoga are descended from the same tradition; both BKS Iyengar and the late Pattabhi Jois received their training from Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. Although many of the asanas (postures) are similar, the method is distinct. Iyengar yoga is excellent for understanding the finer points of proper alignment. Props such as belts, blocks, and pillow-like bolsters assist beginners in achieving proper alignment in poses, even if they are new to them, injured, or simply stiff. Anusara yoga is a more contemporary version of Iyengar yoga.

Ashtanga yoga is a more active form of yoga. It includes a series of positions that are held for only five breaths each and are punctuated by a half sun salute to keep things moving. You have the option of taking a conventional class or a Mysore-style class (see below).

In a group environment, Ashtanga yoga is taught one-on-one. Students are welcome to arrive at any moment throughout a three-hour window to complete their own practice as instructed by their teacher. This is my preferred method of learning yoga, as well as the safest and most conventional, in my opinion. You walk at your own speed and in your own time.

Teachers guide students through sessions that flow from one stance to the next without pausing to discuss the details of each pose. Students will get a terrific workout as well as a yoga experience this way. If you're new to yoga, it's a good idea to start with some slower-paced classes to gain a feel for the positions. Vinyasa flow is a catch-all word for a variety of yoga methods. It's also known as flow yoga, flow-style yoga, dynamic yoga, or vinyasa flow in some studios. Ashtanga yoga has affected it.

Anyone who enjoys sweating will like Bikram yoga. Bikram Choudhury, an Indian yogi, invented it in the early 1970s. He devised a 26-pose yoga sequence to stretch and strengthen muscles, as well as compress and “cleanse” the body's organs. To aid in the discharge of toxins, the positions are performed in a warm area. Every bikram class you attend, no matter where you are in the globe, follows the same 26-pose sequence.

The purpose of Kundalini yoga is to activate energy in the spine. Meditation, breathing methods such as alternative nostril breathing, and chanting, as well as yoga postures, are all included in Kundalini yoga programs.

Hatha yoga simply refers to the physical aspect of yoga (asanas as opposed to, say, chanting). Hatha yoga is now widely used to describe a class that is less fluid and focuses on the asanas that are common to all yoga styles. It's usually a light yoga session.

The Taoist style of yin yoga focuses on passive, sitting poses that target the connective tissues of the hips, pelvis, and lower spine. Poses might last anywhere from one to ten minutes. The goal is to promote flexibility and a sense of release and letting go. It's a fantastic approach to learn the fundamentals of meditation and mind-stilling. As a result, it's great for athletes who need to relieve stress in overused joints, as well as people who need to unwind.

Restorative yoga focuses on mending the mind and body by holding easy poses for up to 20 minutes while using supports like bolsters, pillows, and straps. It's similar to yin yoga, but with a focus on relaxation rather than flexibility.

Jivamukti, which means “freedom while living,” was founded in 1984 by David Life and Sharon Gannon. This is a themed vinyasa practice that often includes chanting, music, and scripture readings. Teachers at Jivamukti encourage students to incorporate yogic philosophy into their daily lives.