Meditation For Weight Loss: How to do, Benefits
Meditation is a simple and powerful technique. Here you will be amazed to read how something related to the mind will be helpful in losing weight. Let us see how meditation for weight loss is naturally helpful.
How meditation helps to lose weight?
Meditation can an effective tool to help you lose weight. By the way, not much energy is spent in meditating, so direct meditation is not helpful in your weight loss. But indirectly by meditation, you can reduce your weight.
Admittedly, energy is not spent in meditating, but meditation makes you mentally healthy. Experts believe that eating habits have no relation to hunger. When you are hungry, you do not eat much food, but when you are under stress or anxiety, you tend to overeat. Which can be controlled through meditation.
When you are thinking of losing weight, then you should spend some time keeping yourself calm. Meditation to calm down reduces the production of cortisol hormone (stress hormone), which makes it less likely to cause stress, as stress increases weight gain. (study)
Actually, meditation develops discipline and will power in you and helps in removing the contaminated thoughts that come into your mind. It helps you overcome unhealthy food addiction, lose weight, and redirect other unwanted habits. In this way, meditation indirectly helps you lose weight.
On the other hand we can say, The practice of yoga and meditation increases the ability to assimilate food, and the desire for high-calorie food is automatically reduced. Therefore, when you are hungry, you are satisfied with small amounts of food. This means that your body’s excess intake of calories decreases. Losing weight is a natural result of meditation.
Science-based tips
Scientific studies have found that practicing meditation helps improve sleep, reduce stress, and improve health. In the same way, they have evaluated the role in which meditation can affect weight loss and some behaviors that are associated with poor eating habits. According to science, mindfulness meditation can help reduce the frequency of emotional eating, binge eating, and overeating.
Of course, researchers also insist that the practice of meditation alone is not a way to lose weight. But since meditation is a free practice, it can have a positive effect on many outcomes without side effects.
How to do it?
There is no need for special equipment or expensive classes for anyone to practice meditation, the need is for your precious time and access to a quiet place.
There are many meditation techniques, which have different physical and mental effects. If you want better results then you can follow the same basic technique. It is best for you.
Make sure that you first have access to a quiet and clean natural environment. Here you can meditate in any position by sitting or lying down, which makes you comfortable. Here, your sitting position can be Padmasana, Sukhasana, Vajrasana, and the lying position can be Savasana and Yoga Nidra.
Make any mudras with your hands like Gyan Mudra, Varun Mudra, Surya Mudra, Linga Mudra, Prana Mudra, and apart from this Surya-Agni mudra for weight loss is beneficial. Mudra is also known as a spiritual exercise.
Keep your eyes open or closed, whatever you like or feel comfort.
Start by focusing on your breath, take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds, now slowly exhale. Looking at the stomach as it falls up and down.
Feel the breath in and out of your nose. Keep your mouth closed, because it is never good to breathe in and out through the mouth during meditation.
After this, focus on the movement of the breath and experience how the breath is filling in your lungs, then how the stomach inflates and exits through the throat.
- Keep focusing on your breathing and exhalation for 5 to 10 minutes.
- If during meditation your mind starts to wander, then focus on the movement of breath again.
- Now slowly open your eyes and feel the awareness of the surrounding environment.
- Notice how your body is feeling right now.
There are also apps, fitness trackers, and gadgets to help you learn how to meditate, which is perfect for beginners.
Benefits of Meditation For Weight Loss
Meditation is no magic that will help your overnight weight loss. But for this you need to do some regular exercise which can potentially have a lasting effect on not only reducing your weight but also your emotions.
A 2017 review of current studies suggests that mindfulness meditation effectively helps in weight loss and changing eating habits. Regular practice of mindfulness meditation may also have long-term benefits. It is faithful in curbing food-related stress.
Mindfulness meditation is also particularly effective in reducing emotional and stress related eating. You become aware of your thoughts and feelings. When you are under stress, you can identify what you should do when you are hungry because you are stressed instead of hungry.
On the other hand, Meditation reduces stress levels. When you are under stress, the body releases cortisol hormone, which increases appetite, and fat starts accumulating in your body. Meditation releases oxytocin and serotonin in that case. This reduces the effect of cortisol and does not increase your weight.
Conclusion
Everybody is different, so the result of practicing yoga and meditation varies from person to person. Your experiences and body weight may be different from others. Do not compare and nor leave hope and patience. Meditation does not give immediate relief. Therefore the regular practice of meditation for weight loss is necessary to see good results.
