Zen Mind, Buff Body by Kathleen Kaster
Just Do It
Feb 28, 2008You won't lose weight if you don't show up!
The Nike adage says it all: Just do it! If you want to lose weight, improve your yoga practice, or excel at anything in life, it just takes practice -- daily practice -- which requires self-discipline.
It doesn't matter how many calories a workout burns or how efficient it is at burning excess fat -- if you don't do it on a regular basis, you will not see results.
The great thing about yoga is that it feels so good to the mind, body, and especially the spirit, that you will have the desire and the ability to "show up" for yourself a lot!
The feel-good results of yoga and lack of injuries are both factors that make yoga appealing to many people. Yoga is also a great compliment to any fitness routine. It also can work as your entire form of fitness, because yoga focuses on strength, flexibility, and endurance.
Most important, yoga trains the mind to be disciplined. That’s an important factor for anyone wanting to lose weight and change her life because for most of us it’s the mind more than the body that dictates what you eat each day and whether or not you exercise or get to yoga class. So it is important to train the mind to work for you in a positive way, learning the joy in eating well and enjoying daily exercise. And the discipline you learn on the mat will help you achieve new levels of self control. The joy and stress reduction will help you crave good food and more yoga sessions, and that also helps.
The next time your mind makes up excuses not to do your yoga practice, such as, “I’m too tired,” or “There’s too much traffic to get to the studio on time,” or “I just ate dinner,” refute those thoughts, and “Just do it and show up!” You owe it to yourself to nurture your being on all levels: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
When you truly can’t make it to the studio, do Sun Salutation A at home.
Please practice this series using the deep ujjayi breath, which is
performed by slighting constricting the throat to produce an ocean
sound.
• Start with hands at heart center, feet together.
• Inhale, sweep the arms overhead and press palms together, gaze at thumbs.
• Exhale, swan dive forward over legs, palms on shins or on the floor alongside toes, gaze at navel.
• Inhale, rise onto finger tips and lift chest, with a flat back, gaze at the space between the eyebrows.
• Exhale, walk or jump back to Plank and lower to Chaturanga, with elbows squeezed into the rib cage, gaze forward.
• Inhale, to Up Dog, gaze to the sky
• Exhale, back to Down Dog, gaze at navel. Hold for five deep breaths.
• Inhale, lift high on the toes, walk or jump feet to hands, feet
• Together, gaze forward on fingertips.
• Exhale, forward fold over legs, palms on shins or the floor, gaze at navel.
• Inhale, and with a flat back, sweep the arms overhead, gaze at thumbs.
• Exhale hands to heart center.
Repeat Sun Salutation A 3 to 5 times to generate heat in the body,
strengthen and stretch the front and back of the body, and increase
cardiovascular endurance.
~NAMASTE~
