Yoga Can Help You Lose Weight
Practicing yoga helps one woman discover the secret to making a diet work: getting in touch with your body first.
Wendy Smith, 41, was ill and 200 pounds overweight last year when she showed up at A Gentle Way, a yoga studio in La Mesa, Calif., run by Lanita Varshell. "I had recently been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and I was on medication for constant pain, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol," she remembers. "I had tried every fad diet out there. I would sporadically get on my treadmill or do my exercise tapes. But I couldn't sustain it. I would get frustrated and give up. I didn't know how to connect with my body or even feel it."
In Smith's first yoga session, Varshell thanked her for being there, then got her client down on the floor and moving around—gently. "I remember I got up and I couldn't believe that two-and-a-half hours had gone by," Smith remembers. "When I drove home, for the first time I could feel every little bump in the road—I felt so much more in tune with the sensory input my body was giving me."
Smith was hooked, and now—a year later—considers herself a yoga success story. "I'm off all those medications," she says. "I've lost 40 pounds. I joined Weight Watchers, which is finally working for me. Yoga helped me get moving and keeps me listening to my body."
Have you used yoga or another meditative exercise to slim down or recover from illness? Tell us your experiences at shareyourstories@naturalhealthmag.com .
For more on how yoga can help with weight loss, see the March 2008 issue of Natural Health.
