Yoga doesn’t discriminate. It is for anyone and everyone irrespective of age, body type, flexibility, gender, etc. While it doesn’t discriminate, there are poses perfect for beginners, veterans, seniors, pregnant moms, and so on. So, before you start practicing any yoga poses, make sure you qualify; otherwise, you might end up talking ill about the whole experience.
Today we have decided to narrow down to poses suitable for newbies and plus-sized women. Let’s dive deeper!
Cow Pose
Performed as “vinyasa” or flow with cat pose, this pose is ideal to start with to warm up your body. It intensely stretches your shoulders and hips.
Start on your knees and hands in a “tabletop” position. As you breathe in, round your back as much as possible. Tighten the abdominals, and envision there is a rope around your belly, pulling it up towards the ceiling.
Take a deep breath and as you exhale, go into cat pose. Cow pose is paired with cat pose on exhale for a gentle, flowing vinyasa.
Cat Pose
Cat pose starts at the same position as the cow pose but when exhaling. These two poses are suitable when you want to go through the motions without feeling anything. Just make sure you are consciously moving your body and feeling the stretch.
Make sure to focus on pushing the shoulders back and butt out to intensify the stretch in the back.
Half Lord of the Fishes
Decompress your spine and improve your posture with this pose. As you breathe out, twist your body to the right. You can intensify the stretch by placing your left elbow on the outside of your knee and pressing against it as you twist. Remember to turn your head in the direction that you are stretching to avoid putting any strain on the neck.
Make sure to repeat for both sides.
Pigeon Pose
Pigeon pose is best known for opening or increasing the flexibility in tight hips muscles. You are likely to have tight hip muscles because of a prolonged lifestyle of sitting down for long hours. Bear in mind that these muscles perform many yoga poses better so it is worth improving their flexibility.
Bridge Pose
Bridge pose is good for the booty. Start by laying flat on your back with your heels just behind your butt and your knees bent. As you lift up, concentrate on engaging your core muscles and lifting up with your core rather than your hands.
Make sure to think of your hand as being very light resting on the ground for support. You are supposed to use the strength from your core to lift up and not your arm strength.
Hold for 15 seconds, and work on staying put for up to 30 seconds.
Tree Pose
Tree pose is much harder than it looks and does a decent job of improving balance and stability in the legs. Start it with your hands together at your heart and your feet shoulder-width apart. It is also ok if you prefer your arms straight up in the air. Bonus! Keeping your hands at your heart helps with balance.
Now bend the knee and use your hand to help prop your foot up on your standing leg. Once you feel stable enough, try the following challenges:
- Lifting your hands straight up in the air
- Closing your eyes. Doing this will challenge your balance even more
Warrior II
Perfectly tone your legs with this pose. Start by pointing the front foot forward and positioning the back foot at a 90° angle. Make sure to work on getting your bent knee at a 90° angle. If you stay put here, you will feel it working your quadriceps.
Tips! Try to keep the hips squared and facing the same direction as your back foot.
Why do yoga?
Doing yoga is linked with many health benefits, including improving muscle flexibility, reducing stress, and increasing muscle tone and strength.
For people with large bodies, yoga helps lessen stress on joints by allowing the frame to bear more of the body’s weight. Additionally, it helps develop their balance and bring the mind-body connection to the fore, improving self-image and acceptance of their body. Most importantly, yoga makes you feel better by elevating their mood and improving their physical fitness.
How to start yoga
While there are different ways to get the hang on yoga, we recommend you enroll for specialized classes for bigger-bodied students. That way, you can be guided by trained teachers on the various poses suitable for you at every stage.
Alternatively, book a few private yoga sessions. This will be a great way to learn and advance from basic poses to more complex ones.
You can as well enroll in online classes and follow the instruction of your trainers until you perfect in your practices.
Yoga and weight loss
There is a study that found out restorative yoga was effective in helping overweight women lose weight. But this also requires limiting calorie intake while still engaged in regular practices that raise the heart rate. That means doing yoga alone won’t help you shed some pounds. Basically, in weight loss, yoga boosts your self-esteem and inner peace as you embark on a journey toward shedding some weight.
Tip! If weight loss is your primary goal, you are better off with other effective methods than yoga.
Can an obese person do yoga?
Well, if the primary goal is to calm the mind and relax the body, obese people should practice gentle yoga. But if the primary goal is flexibility, then a more upright practice will be far more effective.
Wrapping up
When it comes to exercises, obese people tend to be disadvantaged. They are limited to a few options. Luckily, yoga gives them an opportunity to achieve a lot once they get the hang on different poses. We recommend obese women to join classes designed for bigger-bodies individuals or book for private sessions for the best experience.