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shivakm
USA
41 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 02 2007 : 6:05:09 PM
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I am at least 25 pounds overweight. Will learning the asanas be a challenge for me?
Should I loose my weight for effective yoga practice. I have always been overweight as long as I can remember. I would like to know the comments from others.
Shiva. |
Edited by - shivakm on Mar 02 2007 6:07:10 PM |
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Jim and His Karma
2111 Posts |
Posted - Mar 03 2007 : 12:58:03 PM
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If you were naturally able to make your body do all the postures perfectly, that and $1.50 would buy you a cup of coffee. There's no gold ring. Doing the postures as you see them in books is worth precisely nothing. The reason we work on asana is to teach the body to open by confronting it with obstacles and puzzles. You learn to open rather than close in response to these things. you learn to melt your way around problems. And, little by little, your body opens up. Which is healthy for it, and also makes it easier to open up in other ways in meditation.
If you weigh 800 pounds, are horridly inflexible and in trying to touch your toes, you can't even touch your thighs, the practice of asana is precisely the same for you as someone who can over and touch their toes easily: it's about getting to that next millimeter (not to the full pose: to the next millimeter!) by melting and opening rather than clenching and pushing. Where that millimeter lies - i.e. how close you are to completing the asana perfectly - could not possibly be more irrelevant. Except, that is, that the further you still have to go, the more delicious experiences you have ahead of you to enjoy. So you have the advantage over the thin, naturally bendy people.
The more obstacles you have to overcome (overweight, inflexibility, anxious mind), the better. It's all grist for your mill. If you could simply do these postures, you'd get nothing from this practice whatsoever. Pity those so afflicted. I have tight hamstrings (though, as is often the case in yoga, the obstacle turned out to actually be in another place) so it took me 15 years to touch my toes. I learned profound lessons every millimeter down. I was privleged to have all that grist to work on.
So, yes, I certainly hope it'll be a challenge for you. As for losing weight...come as you are. |
Edited by - Jim and His Karma on Mar 03 2007 1:06:34 PM |
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shivakm
USA
41 Posts |
Posted - Mar 04 2007 : 4:38:03 PM
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| Thanks Jim, very helpful post. |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Mar 04 2007 : 11:38:37 PM
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Excellent jim.
i'm a few pounds overweight periodically, and it depends on your personality, but for me I get motivated to lose weight when I can't do something because of it. i'll try it everyday to remind myself. For instance, the plow asana is quite difficult, and reminds me because I want to do it, but it's hard to breathe and get your feet all the way over if you have any stomach in the way. Of course, that's a guy thing to gain weight in the stomach. Women might have difficulty with some other pose. Of course, I don't know if you want to lose weight; 25 pounds is not a lot. |
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meenarashid
76 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 10:08:40 AM
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beautifuly stated Jim
soo many people the first thing they say is
i cant do yoga! im too this or that
aumm |
Edited by - meenarashid on Apr 20 2007 10:46:34 AM |
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Overweight and Asanas, physical culture?
