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Beginning a yoga practice can be quite intimidating, even more so if you are overweight or have a big body. If the image in your mind of a yogi is someone who is young, slim, and dressed in skin-tight spandex, it can be even harder to get over the mental and physical barriers that keep you from trying yoga for the first time.
However, we're here to help you get over that. When you walk into a yoga studio, you should feel just as much at ease as people with smaller bodies. Yoga is good for everyone, no matter how big or flexible they are. Most of the time, the hard part is just finding a teacher and a place that understands that.
Best Yoga Exercises for Overweight Beginners
Check out the following five easy and effective yoga exercises for overweight beginners:
1) Cat Cow Pose
Cat Cow is the way to go from one pose to the next. The set gives your back a good stretch and makes your abdominal muscles stronger. It's a good place to start if you want to lose belly fat.
To do this yoga exercise:
- Get down on all fours, and make sure your wrists are in line with your shoulders and knees are in line with your hips.
- Your knees and shins should be about as far apart as the hips.
- Once you're in the right place, move into the cow pose.
- As you take a deep breath, drop your belly towards the ground.
- Look up at the ceiling, and make sure your chin and chest are up. Make sure your shoulder blades are wide, and do not touch your ears.
- Slowly move to the cat pose, which requires you to pull your stomach in and pull your belly button towards your spine.
- Your back will round up like a cat's when it stretches. Bring your chin up to your chest.
- Do that 15-20 times.
2) Tabletop Crunch
Tabletop crunches are a simple variation of regular crunches. The main difference between this exercise and regular crunches is that the legs must be lifted off the floor in this one.
You can say that the fact that you have to hold the legs up makes the tabletop crunch more difficult than a regular crunch. Tabletop crunches help you build core strength, improve balance and warm the body up.
To do this yoga exercise:
- Lie on your back with your legs up at a 90-degree angle.
- You can rest a little by bending your elbows.
- Use the strength of your abdominal muscles to slowly lift your shoulders.
- Don't make the mistake of using your arm strength to pull your head up.
3) Utkatasana
A chair pose works both the upper and lower body muscles, like a squat. It engages the quadriceps, glutes, calves and ankles. Just push your thighs together; bend your knees, and squat down. Your body should be such that when you look down, you should see your toes right in front of your knees.
To do this yoga exercise:
- Start by standing on the mat with your feet about hip-width apart and facing forward.
- Put your palms together, and raise your arms over your head.
- Try bending both knees and sitting backwards on an imaginary chair behind you. Make sure your knees are above your feet.
- Let your upper torso bend forward a bit.
- Use your tailbone to keep yourself steady.
- Try to stay like that for a minute, and loosen up.
- You can do the exercise 5-7 times.
4) Dhanurasana
Also called the bow pose, it stretches the front of the body while strengthening every muscle in the back. The chest, stomach, quadriceps, ankles, groin, hip flexors, and throat are the main areas it works.
To do this yoga exercise:
- Lie flat on your stomach, and put your hands on the sides.
- As you let your breath out, bring your knees up to your buttocks.
- Keep in mind that the knees should be hip-width apart.
- Back up your hands, and grab your ankles.
- Take a long, deep breath while pulling your thighs up.
- The same thing should happen to your chest and head.
- Hold the pose, and keep softly breathing.
5) Uttanasana
Also called the standing forward bend, it's good for both the body and mind. Even though it's simple, Utanasana is not easy, as you need to be patient and have flexible hamstrings, calves, and hips. This simple pose shows how both your body and life go up and down.
To do this yoga exercise:
- Stand up straight with your hands on your hips. Exhale and bend forward from your hips.
- As far as you can, stretch from your hips to your head. Use your fingertips to touch the ground or a block.
- Put your head and neck down in the back.
- Feel your torso get longer as you breathe in, and your chest move towards your toes as you breathe out.
- Hold the position for up to a minute.
- Bring your hands back to your hips, and slowly lift your upper body to get out of the pose.
Takeaway
Everyone can get a lot out of yoga, which helps you feel grounded and sure of your body in many ways: from making you more balanced to making you live longer.
Yoga helps bring the mind-body connection to the fore, which can help people feel better about themselves and accept themselves more. Most importantly, it can make you feel better by making you more physically fit and feel happier.
