Many sites enhance the beneficial properties of yoga in speeding up the metabolism, but is it really so?
If the internet is a great opportunity, surely the surfer must learn to move in the web: the attention to the sources, the care of the writing, the authority of the site.
We, in our small way, always try to offer quality web literature that gives something more than the very common "copy and paste" that makes all the sites the same, an infinite tam tam of the same initial article.
This reflection made its way precisely on the occasion of the writing of this piece concerning yoga and metabolism .
Let's try to investigate the issue further.
Yoga and metabilism: myths to debunk
Not satisfied with the superficiality of many articles regarding the correlation between yoga and metabolism, we decided to refine our research to offer you accurate and serious news.
With regard to the relationship between metavolism and yoga, the question is complex, but a point must immediately be established: although many decimated this "accelerating" power given by yoga practice, in reality nobody bothered to provide some data or source to confirm it. The reader, therefore, must "trust" some generic spicciola phrase and a series of asanas with effects to be demonstrated .
In fact, to say that yoga accelerates the metabolism does not, to date, have any support from science. The New York Times scientific journalist William Broad wrote about it in his text " The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards " which offers a broad reflection.
The writer states that if yoga offers a benefit (among others), it is the ability to slow down, even then the metabolism. But this does not mean that, consequently, we will increase in weight, but on the contrary, with constant practice the opposite could happen.
This is because yoga teaches us to break those psychological mechanisms that lead to compulsive hunger such as nervous, agitation, stress.
Furthermore, in general, practitioners tend to develop greater self-control and discipline, indispensable for curbing those moods that lead to opening the fridge without a real need.
We approach a more ecological, sustainable and welcoming lifestyle: ultimately healthier, with benefits from all points of view, including the metabolic one.
Reflections on the relationship between yoga and metabolism
The observations made so far open up the doors of deepening, on various fronts, regarding the relationship between yoga and metabolism :
First of all on the scientific front: if today there is no evidence of an acceleration of metabolism with yoga, it is not certain that within a few years the picture will not change. Moreover, the territory of yoga appears to be very interesting in the regularization of the endocrine system, closely related to metabolism, and which is waiting to be investigated.
On an individual level, it can be very stimulating to observe on one's own the benefits of the practice both on a mental and on a physical level : to observe how the body changes lesson after lesson and how we change our approach to life, therefore also to food . It is not uncommon for many students to embrace vegetarianism or pay more attention to the quantity and quality of food.
Finally, some observations from a yogic point of view :
- if your goal is to lose weight, you can approach the most gymnastic and dynamic types of yoga like power yoga.
- it is possible to try to put into practice the breathing and awareness techniques learned in class, when one feels the unnecessary need to feed oneself, thus refining self-control and inner discipline .
- yoga is "union", therefore it invites a holistic and multifocal approach to the questions of life, be they spiritual or material. In this context, the practice can certainly help at a general level, but for metabolic problems do not fail to rely on a serious and prepared professional of your confidence.
