If you have been trying to lose weight, and the gym just isn’t cutting it, chances are you are going about it the wrong way. You don’t need to do a whole bunch of strenuous weight loss workouts. You can just relax and lose weight. So, tomorrow, instead of spinning your body into submission, why not try breathing the fat away? That’s right; I’m suggesting that meditation might be the best weight loss program around. It’s not that crazy of a thought actually.
How Meditation Helps You Lose Weight
Meditation has been shown to reduce stress and have an overall positive effect on your health. When you combine that with the studies that say that stress is a major contributor to weight gain, you can probably see how the two became closely related. Meditation reduces stress, and reducing stress helps you drop weight fast. That is why the experts say meditation is a great way to lose weight. Even though meditation is breathing, there is some technique involved; otherwise we could say we are meditating every moment of our life. Meditation is not just breathing. It is different than regular breathing because it is focused breathing. Focused breathing can also be referred to as breathing with intent. The intent is for you to think about your breath. The great thing about thinking about your breath is that when you do, you aren’t focusing on more stressful thoughts. This is how meditation relaxes your mind. When you are doing it, you are consciously using your breath to reduce stress. So basically, meditation relaxes the mind and helps reduce anxiety and overall stress. Then, once the stress is reduced, the weight will start to go. Meditation, therefore, is a healthy way to lose weight.
Who Knew Breathing Could be so Powerful?
How to Meditate
There are a couple different ways to train yourself to consciously breathe. One way is to use sound. This is where the “ommm” sound most people associate with meditation comes from. It is the natural noise that you make when you breathe out forcefully. By practicing making that noise purposefully, alternating pitch and volume, you are controlling your breath. Another way to meditate is to use visualizations and chants. Visualizations help you to focus on a single thought. Since we naturally breathe, the idea is that if we force our mind to focus on one thought for an extended amount of time we will naturally breathe more consciously. Chants help us breathe by not only giving our brain something easy and repetitive to focus on, but also encourages us to breathe out.
Meditating and Exercise
If you aren’t convinced that meditating on its own will help you lose weight fast, try adding some yoga to the equation. Yoga for weight loss is an effective way to not only reduce stress, but engage the muscles. While you are melting away the fat, you are also toning up the body and tightening your core.
