Yoga for Obesity

Obesity- is a condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health.

WHO defines overweight and obesity as follows:

For adults

• overweight is a BMI greater than or equal to 25, and

• obesity is a BMI greater than or equal to 30.

BMI provides the most useful population-level measure of overweight and obesity as it is the same for both genders and for all ages of adults. However, it should be considered a rough guide because it may not correspond to the same degree of fatness in different individuals.

Children under 5 years of age

• overweight is weight-for-height greater than 2 standard deviations above WHO Child Growth Standards median, and

• obesity is weight-for-height greater than 3 standard deviations above the WHO Child Growth Standards median.

• Charts and tables: WHO child growth standards for children aged under 5 years.

Children aged between 5–19 years

• overweight is BMI-for-age greater than 1 standard deviation above the WHO Growth Reference median; and

• obesity is greater than 2 standard deviations above the WHO Growth Reference median.

The problems like overweight and obesity can be easily cured by various yogasanas and these are as follows-

Suryanamaskar- 

Incredible benefits of Surya Namaskar:

• Helps maintain cardiovascular health.
• Stimulates the nervous system.
• Helps in stretching, flexing and toning the muscles.
• Excellent exercise for weight loss management.
• Strengthens the immune system.
• Enhances cognitive functions.
• Improves overall health, strengthens the body and relaxes the mind.

 Tiryaka Tadasana

How to do-

• Stand straight with legs together and hands by the side of your thighs, then open your chest and keep your spine erect. Then Interlock your fingers of both hands facing the palms downwards and then inhale slowly and raise your hand upwards over to your head,stretch your hands straight touching your biceps to your ears.
• Now while exhaling slowly bend sideways to your right side keeping the hands straight and biceps will be touching the ears,try to band as much as possible.Stay at the last point you reached and feel the stretch on the opposite side (left side). Now inhale slowly and come up to the center.
• Again exhale and bend sideways to your left side. Keep your biceps touched to your ears, bend sideways as much as possible, stay at the last point and feel the stretch on the opposite side, i.e. on the right side.Then inhale again and come back to the center. Now bring your interlocked hands downwards while exhaling.

Padahastasana

How to do-

• Stand in an erect position with feet parallel to each other and inhale to lift the hands up in the air, with fingers pointing towards the upwards. The knees caps are lifted and thigh muscles are contracted to create a sense of alertness in the body. Feet should be placed shoulder-width apart. If the practitioner is on an advanced level, he or she can keep the feet together as well.
• Keeping the legs completely straight, the spine elongated and erect and without rounding the back, exhale and bend from the hip joint. Start to go forward in the pose. The forward motion should be created in a way that hands, head, and torso should look like a unit.
• As your chin or nose touches the knee while the hands meet the toes, gently slide the fingers underneath the toes. Stay in the pose for a few breaths.
• In order to come out of padahastasana yogasana, slide your hands back from under the feet and hold the waist, and while supporting the lower back, inhale and gently, lift up, back to a standing position.

Trikonasana

How to do-

• Stand straight. Separate your feet shoulder width apart, then turn your right foot out 90 degrees and left foot in by 15 degrees. Now align the center of your right heel with the center of your arch of left foot.Ensure that your feet are pressing the ground and the weight of your body is equally balanced on both the feet.
• Inhale deeply and as you exhale, bend your body to the right, downward from the hips, keeping the waist straight, allowing your left hand to come up in the air while your right hand comes down towards floor. Keep both arms in straight line.Rest your right hand on your shin, ankle, or the floor outside your right foot, whatever is possible without distorting the sides of the waist. Stretch your left arm upwards in line with the tops of your shoulders. Keep your head in a neutral position or turn it to the left, eyes gazing softly at the left palm.
• Ascertain that your body is bent sideways and not backward or forward. Pelvis and chest are wide open.Stretch maximum and be steady. Keep taking in long deep breaths. With each exhalation, relax the body more and more. Just be with the body and the breath.As you inhale, come up, bring your arms down to your sides, and straighten your feet.
• Repeat the same on the other side.

Apart from these asanas there are some other physical exercise which are very helpful to cure obesity and overweight and these are as follows-

• Running or Walk

• Breathing Exercises-

1. Kapalbhati
2. Anulom Vilom

*Heart patients should avoid Kapalbhati

An Individual should give attention towards his/her activities that-

• He/she should avoid over eating and unhealthy eating.
• Do not take stress, because stress is one of the very important factor in any type of problem and disease.