Dear Friends,
Many yoga styles can provide an aerobic workout to help burn calories with the hopes of losing weight. We here at Harmony however in Mashpee are taking a different approach to body and weight. Our focus is on the dynamic between proper body alignment, individual patterns of movement and full body breathing.
For example, in an effort to hold myself up properly, for years, I lifted my chest by thrusting my spine forward. In such a stance, the pelvis had no choice but to tip anteriorly causing too much of a sway back. My belly then just seemed to hang off of the anterior border of my pelvis. Too, a lax abdominal girth did not help matters.
Fortunately, my yoga practice has taught me how to properly align my pelvis and create more core strength. Now my lower belly more naturally draws toward the spine, decreasing the diameter of my “pouch” and acting as a natural, soft support for the lower back rather than a deficit.
Yoga too helps to counter the weight of chronic stress on the body. Stress hormones (epinephrine, nor-epinephrine, cortisol) insure a constant supply of glucose in the body and houses extra in the form of fat in the belly (yikes!) This may explain why I seem to feel more hungry and bloated at the hospital compared to several consecutive days at home with time on my yoga mat.
Yoga helps me to feel relaxed and content. In such a state, food can more readily be revered for its essential quality, creating ritual around dinners, eating slowly, mindfully, and enjoying the act of eating. Too, over time and with repetition, yoga teaches us to take nourishment from the breath when our tummies are full rather than feeding our cravings with more food.
Than, when we say no to the brownie, we don’t eat the brownie. When we say yes to the sweet, gooey brown square, we enjoy every morsel!
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