yoga for weight loss | Paper Clay Nature

Seven Stress Related Health Problems

April 30, 2013

Posted by Sharon

Here are seven stress-related health problems you can do something about with gentle yoga and meditation. Remember, stress isn’t a “feeling”–it is a physiologic response to perceived (or real) danger. It isn’t in “your head” and yoga and meditation provide release of deeply held tensions, fears and anxieties through physical, mental and spiritual exercises.

Heart Disease and Diabetes
Stress raises your glucose levels making it harder to manage Type 2 diabetes. Mindfulness-based meditation programs have been proven to reverse heart disease.

Asthma
Chronic stress makes asthma worse and children with stressed-out parents are more likely to have asthma.

Obesity
Stress causes higher levels of the hormone cortisol which makes you collect fat around your middle.

Headaches
Migraines and tension headaches. Enough said.

Depression and Anxiety
Adults who report having stressful jobs (like having a lot of work and very few rewards) have an 80% higher chance of developing depression than adults who do not report a stressful work environment. It’s unlikely that you can change your work situation overnight, but you can change your response to stress with regular yoga and meditation practices.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome
You have a very smart gut and stress changes your gut’s ability to process food and can be a factor in GERD, IBS and making ulcers worse.

Accelerated Aging & Premature Death
Caregivers have a 63% higher chance of dying prematurely than adults of the same age who are not caregivers. Life is stressful, but we can use very simple methods of movement and meditation to ease this tension and decrease this risk.

Sign up for my newsletter and you will receive a downloadable/printable PDF with three exercises you can do right now to ease tension and stress (no matter where you are, your physical abilities or what you are wearing—-everyone can do these!). This is posted by Sharon Rudyk, an independent yoga and meditation instructor based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who has designed a unique movement-based meditation program, Matrika Yoga in the hopes of making yoga and meditation available to everyone and improving the quality of life for as many people as possible. Namaste.

I’ve Got a Booty, How About YOU?

March 13, 2012

Posted by Sharon

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I’ve got a booty, yes I do.
I’ve got a booty, how about you?

And my booty reflects the fact that I spent the winter of 2012 on my butt, watching Downton Abbey and nursing a baby. A noble cause, without question, but it has taken its toll my dear readers. A toll that has taken me one step closer to needing to wear sweatpants every day. What does your booty reflect?

Enough my readers! Take charge of your springtime booty and let Aleta whip your entire body into shape with one of her delightful, fun and serious calorie spending Yoga Booty Ballet (YBB) classes at Yoga Matrika. We call them YBB: Cardio Yoga classes because all practices include:

Setting an intention for your practice
A warm-up yoga-based kriya
An aerobic workout to music
A yoga flow sequence
Savasana (final relaxation/corpse pose)

No Orange or Hot Pink Pants Required. But, wouldn't it be fun?

Absolutely no experience with yoga, ballet, dancing, aerobics or anything else is required. You may find that the movement sequences take a while to pick-up, but Aleta says that it takes just a month of practice at least once a week and then you will remember them all. If you are not in good physical shape, have any health condition or have any questions about whether or not this class is appropriate for you, please check with your doctor first—-explain that it is a cardio workout combined with yoga-based stretches.

Yoga Matrika is committed to providing a wide

Aleta Howard

variety of classes in an intimate, non-judgmental, inclusive and non-competitive environment. This class is no exception. Aleta is a very caring and fun instructor who loves to teach and share this joyful practice with her students. Please do not be shy if you are worried about not knowing what you are doing—-it will be ok. Promise.

Bring a water bottle and an open mind! Prepare to hip, hop, shake and groove your way to a shapely body and a fine looking booty for all your more revealing spring and summer wardrobe favorites.

When?
Every Thursday evening 5:30 to 6:45pm
Every Saturday afternoon 12:00 to 1:15pm

Where?
Yoga Matrika, 1406 S. Negley Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217.

Why?
It’s fun, you will feel great and you will become stronger and more flexible. As heart disease is the leading killer of Americans, taking the time to exercise your heart and mind while relieving stress is a great investment in the quality of your overall health.

How much does it cost?
If you’ve never been to Yoga Matrika before, then fill out our welcome form and receive a FREE first class. Are you already a regular or have you been to the studio before? Then it is $15 to drop-in, $50 for a 4-class pass and $80 for an 8-class pass.

See you soon and often at The Mat!

Curvy Ladies

March 19, 2010

Posted by Sharon

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If I had a dime for every person who has ever asked me if yoga can help them lose weight, I’d have retired to a small hut on the edge of the ocean somewhere beautiful already. The reality is that the answer to this question lies on a spectrum of truths that are a reflection of the great variety of lived experiences in various bodies that were designed and created to be unique, beautiful and of various weights and shapes. When I first started doing yoga, I gained some weight and my yoga teacher explained to me that the great power of yoga was to bring the body into balance. For some people, this may mean gaining weight. For some people, this may mean losing weight.

In honor of this reality, we offer a special workshop just for curvy ladies. You may be softer around the edges or the middle, or maybe you just have a blossoming heart center or a booming backside—-wherever you curve, we’d love to show you how you can use yoga to obtain optimum wellness, peace and whole health. This may mean incorporating yoga into your overall weight management plan or it may not. No matter what, yoga is delicious for curvy ladies!

REGISTER HERE:

http://advancedyogapittsburgh.com/WomensWellness.html

Calling all Curvy Ladies! Yoga for Larger Women

Facilitated by Amy Kreger-Boynton

Sunday, March 21, 2010

1:00 to 2:30 pm

$20 pre-register/$30 at the door

In this workshop, Amy will provide an informative session on yoga for larger women covering everything from how to modify poses to work with a larger belly and breasts to how to keep your joints safe during practice. Yoga truly is for everyone and this workshop will help larger women feel more confident in attending group classes and receiving the full benefits of yoga. This workshop will also cover the use of yoga in a weight loss program or to manage weight. Our perspective is that full acceptance of the body is a perfect starting place for deep transformation and wellness that you will carry with you for a lifetime.

YOGA AND WEIGHT LOSS

By Ankita Goel

Excess weight gain has become a phenomenon in today’s age, when lifestyles have become sedentary, and food more liberal with extra calories. Today our children prefer T.V. over their friends and play, merely a reflection of their parents who also somewhere prefer T.V. over socializing or even over spending time with their children (if they spend some time surely some running around will help burn some calories). These are only a few factors, which have resulted in increasing amount of people with the problem of excess weight or obesity.

Stress, wrong food habits (i.e. irregular timings for food, unhealthy (junk) food), lack of exercise, thyroid problem etc. could be some of the reasons resulting in weight gain.

To lose weight, it is important to do so, not just by doing diets, or exercise programs, which are too tedious, which may yield results but which do not keep you that way. Sometimes after sudden loss of weight the skin sags making one feel worse. The best approach is to lose weight gradually and for good. Yoga offers a good solution to this problem. Yoga tones the body in a uniformed manner, unlike any ” weight loss program” which claims to decrease your butts by this much inches and waist by this much, leading to side effects. Yoga can be practiced at any age to keep the body supple.

A plan to reduce weight naturally is:

Cleansing techniques: –

	Kunjal Kriya (stomach wash and lung cleansing)
	Basti (colon cleansing)
	Laghu Shankha Prakshalan (digestive system cleansing technique)
	Baghi(tiger exercise)
	Yoga Asans (postures)
	Sun Salute (Practise 2 times and hold each pose for 3 breaths), Tree pose, Angle pose, Triangle pose, Hero pose I and II, Locust pose, Cobra pose, Camel pose, Aeroplane pose, Wind releasing pose, Child pose (sitting), Spinal twists (sitting & dynamic poses), Cat pose
If you wish to work on one body part more like the hips or abdomen or thighs or arms or legs or chest you can incorporate the asnas specific to your requirement in the above plan. Yogic Asans to tighten the abdomen are: Abdominal lift, Child pose, Cobra pose, Wind releasing pose, Yogic seal pose, Spinal twist, Lying on back pose – baat pose, Naval Move Asana (lying on back). Yogic asans for arms and legs: Tree pose, Hero pose, Dog pose (face up), Dog pose (face down), Swinging lotus pose, Bridge pose (face up), Bridge pose (face down), Celebacy pose, Squat and rise pose. Yoga plan to tighten the chest: Triangle pose, Hero pose, Baat pose (lying on back), Cobra pose, Wind releasing pose, Dog pose (face upand down), Lumbar wheel pose, Spinal twist. Yoga Asans to tone up thighs and hips: Sun salute, Hero pose I + II, Triangle pose, Angle pose, Dog pose (face up), Dog pose (face down), Celebacy pose, Advanced wind releasing pose, Butterfly pose. Pranayama (breathing exercises) Yogic Breathing: Inhale. First blow your abdomen, and then expand the chest. While exhaling, first relax the chest and then the abdomen. Practise like this for 10 times. Meditation and Relaxation Focus your attention on your breathing, feel its temperature and keep your breathing, thoroughly equalised (i.e. inhale for 3 sec and exhale for 3 secs). Naturopathic treatment This can be done in conjunction with the above yogic exercise plan. For the naturopathic treatment you will need to consult an experienced naturopath.

	Chromotherapy: refers to treatment of disease through sun-rays, directly or indirectly such as sun-charged water, oil etc.
	(i)	Green water: is neutral in nature and help to reduce excessive heat in the body.
	(ii)	Yellow\orange water – 25ml or ½ cup of this should be taken twice after each major meal. It is beneficial for cases in which improper digestion and flatulence is there.
	Hydro therapy: refers to the treatment of disease with water.
	(i)	Cold shower: It should be taken after whole body dry friction, and helps in dissolving and burning fat. It also helps in cases of cellulite.
	(ii)	Steam/sauna / Hot foot bath: They all help to reduce fat by removing toxins and morbid matter from the body. Helps to dissolve fat.
	(iii)	Enema: This is a method of cleaning the intestinal tract, to know more about it Click Here.
	(iv)	Water intake: 8-12 glasses of water should be taken per day. Water should be taken at least ½ hour before meal .
	Fasting: also helps in burning fat.
	Dicto-therapy:
	Carbohydrates is one of the major source of weight gain. Breakfast may consist of food consisting of proteins and fat. Lunch should consist more of carbohydrates and dinner should have more of proteins. In addition increase of vitamins and minerals through vegetables and fruit will help you fill stomach and change quality of calories and reduce fat. Roughage taken in form of wheat/oat bran are highly beneficial to detoxify digestive system and help to reduce fat from body
Related Pages
	Colon Cleansing
	Cleansing
	Yoga Mats For Asana
	Obesity Courtesy: http://www.healthandyoga.com A popular website that helps you find natural solutions for complete health and detoxification. Discover health and beauty…. Naturally!!

Lose Weight with Yoga

September 14, 2009

Posted by Sharon

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No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat. Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

One of the most common questions that people ask me about yoga is if they can lose weight doing it. The truth is that I’m never sure how to respond. On the one hand, doing yoga is really inspiring—–you feel so good that you don’t want to ruin it with food that doesn’t provide energy and nutrition! It’s amazing, but you will find that you automatically start making “better” food choices when you have a regular yoga practice. And, yes, yoga is a physical activity that requires movement, breathing and calories are probably spent. I actually gained some weight when I first started doing yoga. I wasn’t sure about it, but my wise and trusted yoga instructor saw me wondering at myself in the studio mirror and said, “Your hair looks beautiful long like that Sharon and, you know, you’ve gained some weight and it’s nice on you. It happens to everyone. You start doing yoga and you come into balance. If you need to lose weight, then it is released. If you need to gain some, then it is increased.” The man knew how to say things like this and walk away–quick. You know, before you could figure out if you just received a compliment or not.

Those were my Diet Coke days—I was writing and translating Classical Chinese and staying up all hours. Sleeping in my clothes. My favorite food group was aspartame. What happened was that, doing yoga, I got hungry for food solids and found myself eating more regularly and exploring different types of foods and seeing how they made me feel in my practice. Also, I was exhausted, so I’d sleep rather than consume another litre of my midnight elixir. I never finished that degree, but I’m still doing yoga.

Every now and again, you’ll see a diet soda can in the garbage at Yoga Matrika. I’ll admit, it’s mine. Everyone needs a vice!

Stay lean and mean Matrikas!

Written by Sharon Rudyk
Owner and Director, Yoga Matrika
Located in Pittsburgh, PA
https://www.yogamatrika.com/

Bikini Season Yoga

May 12, 2009

Posted by Sharon

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It’s that time of year again Pittsburgh! Shake out that box of shorts and t-shirts, bathing suits and sandals and expose your pale flesh to that yellow orb in the sky that many people know as THE SUN.

In honor of the more revealing attire of this fast approaching season, Erin Commendatore will be offering a “Bikini Season Yoga” class on Wednesday nights at 5:45pm. Yes, we’re being a bit cheeky at Yoga Matrika! You don’t need to be a woman or even consider wearing a bikini to take this energetic and core strengthening class. Erin will focus on using yoga poses and movements that shape the arms and legs, help you lose weight and tone the belly. Yoga tones and creates long and lean muscles so you look great in and out of whatever you decide to wear this summer.

This is also a great class for new moms (3+ months post-partum) who would like to use yoga to shape up and feel more energetic and fabulous after birth and any new dads who might have added a bit of pregnancy weight themselves. We are also starting to offer two pilates classes every week—-Mondays at 6:00pm at the Annex and Thursdays at 7:30pm in the Main space. These and our regular Yoga for Athletes and creative movement classes all combine to provide more cardio benefits and strengthening and toning options for yogis.