By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Could it be possible that Yoga for weight loss is just a marketing strategy?  How could Yoga help you burn sufficient calories to lose weight?  Is the public being taken for a “sleigh ride,” with a holistic approach to weight control?  Let’s take a deeper look and get to the bottom of an issue that has puzzled researchers.

1. Could it be possible that Yoga for weight loss is just a marketing strategy? To be honest, anything is possible, when it comes down to marketing services and products.  Why should Yoga be different?  The most common style of Yoga, taught outside of India, is Hatha and its many sub-styles.

On the surface, Hatha Yoga practice doesn’t seem like it would burn the necessary calories to lose weight – let alone control it.  Hatha Yoga was not created to be a solution for an inactive population that suffers systematic complications from obesity.  When Yoga, in its physical form, came about – people still performed their fair share of physical labor.

Therefore, it is possible that exaggerated claims could happen, but Yoga is a great addition to a completely healthy lifestyle.  It’s not the calories burned on the mat, as much as the reinforced behavior from eating right and performing other beneficial physical activities throughout the day.

2. How could Yoga help you burn sufficient calories to lose weight?  Every time this subject is brought up, Yogis from everywhere refer to the 2005 study conducted by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. 

With the aid of funding from the National Cancer Institute, medical researcher and Yoga practitioner, Alan Kristal, performed a medical study on the weight reducing effects of Yoga.  The findings were positive, for those who feel that Yoga is a good adjunct to a weight control strategy.

Yet, science and medicine do not come to conclusions on the basis of one study, and questions about the calorie burning properties of Yoga practice abound.  Even, if you have the temperature of a room increased to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and run through faster sequences of postures, physical Yoga practice is still low-impact movement.

Claims about calories burned can range from 200 to 650 calories per hour, depending on the sequence of movements and the temperature of the room.  One snack could easily surpass the number of calories burned, so there is more to this mystery than calories burned.

Long-term Yoga practice opens an awareness that runs contrary to unconscious eating.  In other words: If you are conscious of what you eat, you will consume better food, and you will consume less, during the day.

3. Is the public being taken for a “sleigh ride” with a holistic approach to weight control?  Actually, the answer is “no.”  Weight control is not easy, especially during middle age, but Hatha Yoga does have solutions in the Yoga diet, postures, and living a healthy lifestyle.  The problem is: The public demands a magic bullet for weight loss; namely, pills that will temporarily reduce weight, but can have serious side effects and even cause death.

Yoga is part of a logical solution toward managing body weight.  Eating less, wise eating choices, drinking clean water, walking, weight resistance, and other physical activities are also part of the solution.  One point to consider about the intake of calories is sugar, or salt, hidden in drinks and processed food.

Yoga practice alone will help manage weight, but the practice of living healthy must be with us throughout the day.

© Copyright 2009 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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