Will Yoga Help You Lose Weight?

I suppose it was only a matter of time before the massmarketing about diet and fitness and weight loss caughtup with Yoga.

After all, Yoga is certainly going through a period of resurgance - not the first, as these things typically movein cycles as does most of the market.

Typically though, when you read about Yoga, the topic ispeace of mind, spirituality, relaxation, meditation, perhapsphysical conditioning and strength (both physical and mental).

This time though, the debate rests squarely on yoga's abilityto shed pounds in a society that is struggling with recordlevels of obesity on the one hand, and a severe "thin" imageproblem held by popular celebrities on the other.

A recent study started the heated debate by claiming a link between yoga and weight loss.

Specifically, the study found that middle-age people whopractice yoga tended to experience gradual weight loss over a 10-year period, while those that did not practice yoga seemed to experience fairly substantial weight gain over the same period.

Since the study was released, a constant barrage of skepticshave pointed out flaws in the research that range from self-reported results to missing many other factors that may lead people to both practice yoga and have reduced weight.

As usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, at leastbased on my own experiences.

It is much more likely that the positive factors of yoga and meditation have on your mind and body impact your self-image,nutrition choices, and overall stress level which are majorfactors in weight control. We point to many of the benefitsof practicing yoga over at: http://www.yogasuccess.com

Stress not only results in unhealthy binge eating and poornutritional choices, but actually has physiological impacts onyour body that often result in craving foods that can resultin greater weight gain such as sugars, starches and carbohydrates.

In the end, what is important is that you are becoming healthier,happier, experience less stress in your life and enjoy your life to the maximum possible.

Let the journalists fight it out over who is technically right, after all, they are likely all fighting to meet deadlines and beat each other's coverage of the story.

It's time I took a break and go practice some meditation.

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