Studies have shown that yoga can improve focus, attention, reduce stress, regulate blood sugar, combat depression, and lower blood pressure. Although the list of proven benefits goes on, some also want to claim that it’s a good cardiovascular exercise and will help people lose weight too.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean that yoga has never helped anyone to lose weight or get his or her heart rate up to an optimal cardio zone. Everyone has different metabolic rates and medical histories, and each person’s body will react in its own way. Greenfield suggests that yoga helps people achieve their weight loss goals indirectly, by reducing stress, increasing discipline, and improving body awareness and motivation.
This may be as close as we can get to being able to honestly claim yoga can help shed pounds. Isn’t that actually a good thing? Aside from the fact that many of the images used in yoga marketing materials probably scare away as many people as they inspire, we have a society obsessed with appearances and being skinny. The beauty of yoga is that it can help you shut all of this noise, and find a place of stillness within yourself and a truth beyond gimmicks. Yogis come in all shapes and sizes, and just as looking like a cover model isn’t a good measure of inner peace, achieving your cardio target shouldn’t be a measure of a good yoga class.
Do you look to yoga as a form of cardio exercise?
