Most people approach weight loss as a problem to be solved by their physical selves. The answer involves a combination of less eating and more activity. While those are necessary elements, it’s not the complete solution. As yoga teaches us, there is a deep, intimate connection between mind and body. Nurturing your spiritual side is vital for a successful weight loss program.
Weight issues are an external symptom of an internal problem. Overeating is a way for your body to cope with an imbalance between your spiritual and physical selves. Food becomes a tool to fill the empty spaces that result from stress, anxiety or other negative influences on your mental and emotional well-being. When you focus on restoring harmony to both sides, you’ll develop a healthier attitude toward eating and nutrition.
Change Weight Loss from a Negative to a Positive Journey
Most weight loss programs involve a great deal of negative energy. You deny yourself a variety of foods, limiting your diet to items that provide little pleasure, while rejecting your body as undesirable. Why not learn to love your body as is, moving toward an increasingly healthy lifestyle instead of running away from excess weight and overeating? Positive energy builds a momentum that will make it much easier to reach your goals.
Learn to Trust Yourself
Remember how you ate when you were a kid? You wanted food when you were hungry and stopped eating when you were full. We are born knowing the right way to eat until supersized meals and other social conditioning distorts our natural instincts. Cut through the external clutter and regain trust in your own resources. When your mind and body work together, you’ll be more confident taking your cues from your truest self.
Don’t Put Your Life on Hold
Is your weight is the one factor holding you back from leading a truly fulfilling life? Do you find yourself saying, “As soon as I lose weight I’ll get a new job/travel/make new friends/fill-in-the-blank”? You are deserving of a happy life just the way you are. When you start actively pursuing the life you want, you’ll become less inclined to use food to fill the emptiness inside.
Practice Mindful Meditation
When you eat, do you focus on enjoying your meal? Or is your mind occupied with your day at work, an argument with your spouse, what’s on TV, or anything BUT food? All these distractions turn eating into a mindless, automatic process that provides little pleasure. Meditating on a regular basis teaches you to live in the present, getting the most out of each activity that’s in front of you. An additional benefit is that meditation reduces stress and other emotional factors that cause you to overeat.
Yoga combined with meditation is a perfect way to regain the mind-body balance that leads to a healthy relationship with food. Your instructor will be happy to answer any questions you may have about optimizing your practice to achieve your goals.