Do you know that yoga is best for body shaping? Yoga plays a very vital role in everyone’s life. Yoga and related practices are forms of exercise that engage the body and mind of the person. Yoga is the most suitable form of exercise, which increases flexibility and calms your mind and tones the muscles and helps you shape the body. Yoga is among the extraordinary way that helps to tone the muscles and to shape the body. To stay healthy and fit, both mentally and physically, it is an ancient practice. The best thing about yoga is that it requires no equipment and can be done anywhere at any time. Yoga postures have two folds to them – some poses helping to strengthen the muscles while others use your body weight to help tone the muscles.
Working out in a gym is not as good as practising yoga
Although you will burn more calories in the gym than in yoga, the heavy workout causes a lot more stress on your bones, muscles, and joints. On the other hand, in yoga, your body is taken gently through the complex motions at a full range by unfastening your stiff muscles without putting any extra pressure on the joints or bones. Yogshiromani Dr Gopal Ji (Founder President - Global Yog Alliance) shares the best yoga postures that can help you to get closer to your goal of a well-toned body with perfect shape, and strong muscles are listed below:
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- Cobra Pose: Also called Bhujangasana’ this pose strengthens your arms, shoulders, spine, thighs, and gluteal muscles in just one pose. It tones up the muscles of the glutes, abdominal area and arms too. It helps in shaping your entire upper body and spine. This pose also helps in improving posture. You must adopt this pose in your daily life as it not only tones your muscles and shapes your body, but also refreshes your mind, body, and soul.
- Bridge Pose: Another name for this pose is ‘Setu Bandhasana’. It is practised with an empty stomach. This strengthens the entire back, including the upper back, hamstring, and glutes. It helps in shaping your lower body. The other benefits are: it cures insomnia, reduces stress, improves digestion, and increases blood circulation.
- Plank Pose: The name of ‘Phalakasana’ is a strength training pose that works on all abdominal muscles while also strengthening your chest, shoulder, glutes, neck, back muscles, and quadriceps. It also helps in burning the extra junk, the calories, the processed food from your body.
- Downward Facing Dog: The Sanskrit name of this pose is ‘Adho Mukha Svanasana’. This posture tones your upper body, hamstrings, and shoulders all at once and lengthens, energizes, and strengthens muscles. It is a great way to tone the abdominal muscles too.
- Boat Pose: Also known as ‘Paripurna Navasana’, is a seated pose. It focuses on stretching and relaxing the abdominal muscles. If practised daily, it helps shape your belly and improve blood circulation by burning the additional fat in the veins.
Start minding your posture
Posture is when you hold your body and limbs when standing, sitting and lying down. Poor or bad posture is defined in which the curves are emphasized, as when our spine is positioned in an unnatural position and this results in the joint, muscle and vertebrae being in the stressful position of the spine lead to backache, neckache, shoulder pain, stiffness in the body, fatigue. “Good “ posture is balances upright posture with a straight line from ear to the shoulder to the hip. That means you need to be aware of always holding yourself in such a way that put minimum strain or no strain on your back. It is an essential part of your long term health. Yoga can increase fat loss, develop muscle tone, and build joints and spine flexibility, leading to a perfect physique.
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Dr Pooja Borkar, Medical officer, Vedicure HealthCare And Wellness, shares some yoga poses that will help you correct your posture
- Vakrasana: Vakrasana is an essential position in sitting poses. Vakarasana stems from the term 'curve' which means twisted. In this position, the spine is bent or curved; hence it is named Vakrasana. It gives a twist to the upper part of the body ( from the pelvis to neck) muscles of the abdomen, chest and spine become more assertive and flexible. This asana increases the spine's activation, protects you from diabetes, plays a significant role in depression, etc.
- Gomukhasana: Gomukhasana is a Sanskrit word consisting of two words. Do you know that it is also called Cow Face Pose? In this posture, both hands and the thighs are broad at the other end and thin at one end and, due to which they look like the face of a cow. Cow face pose stretches your buttocks, triceps and thighs and chest. Opens your shoulders and increase their range of motion. Helps to relieve tightness in the body.
- Bhujangasana: Bhujangasana is also called Sarpasana or Cobra Asana. In this body, posture looks like the raised hood of a cobra. This asana is done by bending them back and lying on the ground. At the same time, the head is in the raised posture of the snake. Bhujangasana stretches the muscle of the abdomen and back and neck.
- Naukasana: Naukasana is made up of two words; Nauka means boat and asana means mudra. Hence, this posture is also called a boat pose. Boat pose relaxes stretching and abdominal muscles. With its regular practice, it gives shape to the stomach. It helps to improve blood circulation by burning excess fat in the veins.
- Marjaryasana: This asana is called a cat pose or cat stretch pose. The body patterns resemble a cat stretching its body, once giving a forward bend and backward bend to the torso. The spine becomes flexible and healthy.
- Parvatasana: In this asana, the body assures the shape of the mountain giving perfect stretch to the upper body, whole spine, shoulders and hands. Improves the vitality and functional efficiency of the nerves coming out through vertebrae. Benefits of doing mountain yoga:
- This asana reduces obesity and the pain of the back and shoulders.
- Performing this asana strengthens the spine.
- The abdominal skin of women remains soft after delivery.
Takeaway Tip By Yogshiromani Dr Gopal Ji, Founder President - Global Yog Alliance
You make sure to embrace this simple yet effective yoga poses in your daily life to have a well-toned body. One can quickly tone the muscles and shape the body at home if these correct and efficient moves are put together. All of these above yoga poses can be performed at home. But you only need to be consistent with your practices. Hence, get started with these effective yoga asanas to get your desired physique and a toned body.
Conclusion
The above yoga poses are significant as they bring your body in the perfect shape. Yoga not only increases flexibility but calms your mind. Yoga also tones the muscles and helps in shaping the body. Yoga is a great way to tone muscles and shape the body as it is an ancient practice for staying mentally and physically healthy. You can do this anytime, anywhere, and no equipment is required for this. Yoga postures help to strengthen muscles.
(Images courtesy: Miss Niharika Anil Patil, Director of Vedicure Health care & wellness)
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