Yoga-Avoidant? Try this Freakish Yoga Alternative

photo: James Vaughan

By Crabby McSlacker

Having recently written about my twisted take on walking meditation and aqua-aerobics, I'll now confess that I've been messing around with yoga too.

I struggled with what to call this bizarre stretching/modern dance/meditation combo I've come up with. Yogatation? Crab-Chi? Dork-Fu?

But considering all its various components, and especially how weird it looks, allow me to introduce the shiny new Massively Mortifying Mindfulness Movement Meditation Method©, now available absolutely free!

Yeah, that's "Mmmmmm©" for short. Because "Mmmmmm" is kind of how you're supposed to feel doing it. At least I'm finding it pretty yummy. But then we've already established I'm a little odd.

October Goals and Yoga Giveaway: Flexibility and Stability

So we have a great giveaway for our goal check-in this month: it's a year's subscription to My Yoga Online. This normally costs $89.95 and it's pretty cool: they have vast numbers of streaming videos featuring yoga classes, pilates, meditation and other related om-o-licious things. Plus anyone who has an internet connection anywhere in the world can win, not just U.S. folks for once.

Another aspect of the giveaway I'm psyched about?  The prize also fits quite nicely into a fitness and self-improvement theme, as yoga is known for developing flexibility, and well as its opposite/complement, stability. Hooray for abundant metaphorical opportunities, the lazy blogger's best friend!

Got Fitness Questions? Plus Gaiam Giveaway Winner

The Random Number Generator has spoken!

And the winner of the Gaiam TV subscription plus Yoga mat or other comparable accessory is...

Oh wait! A brief pause first before we get to that for Yet Another Blog Announcement!

A new feature which may or may not be called "Ask the Personal Trainer" is coming up at Cranky Fitness, which will probably run once or twice a month.  Since Crabby is decidedly NOT one of these well-informed creatures, she has recruited a panel of 3 actual Personal Trainers to answer your questions. Crabby may also contribute her thoughts, a fake question or two, some whining, a completely irrelevant picture of an adorable animal, and probably some swear words, just on general principle.

I'll wait to introduce them until we get started, but it's a fun, well-informed panel.

So if you've got a question for a Personal Trainer, either leave it in a comment below or email me (email address cleverly concealed on the schmooze page). 

And if you're a Personal Trainer yourself, we can always squeeze in more expert opinions, so feel free to inquire and we'll see if it's a good match!

OK, and NOW let's announce the Gaiam giveaway winner, who is.....

Gaiam Giveaway!

So, hi there! I'm finally crawling out of my dark cave-like hole (blinking furiously and weaving a bit), attempting to re-enter the bright light of Real Life again. The first Cranky Fitness eBook has been sent off!   It should be coming out sometime in October, unless the publisher takes one look at the first effort and says, "Reeeaaally Crabby? Reeeeallly?" In which case who knows.

But it's been a while since a giveaway, and this one is kinda fun! It's from Gaiam, and they'd like to introduce you to the Gaiam TV channel.

They are kindly supplying a 3 month subscription to their streaming video service as a prize to a random winner, on which you can watch any of nine billion or so exercise videos. (OK, that number may be approximate).

It's not just exercise either: they also cover personal growth and travel and relationships and sustainability and a ton of other topics, in case you'd like help with meditation, metaphysical questions, or have a pressing need to troubleshoot your compost pile. (Seriously, they have that covered).

AND THAT'S NOT ALL! (to quote my favorite line from infomercials). For this giveaway, they're also tossing in a yoga mat or some stretchy bands or other similar accessory from their catalog for a value up to $60.

Wanna find out more?

Dear Yoga: I'm Sorry About What I Said

The Journal of the American Dietetic Society came out with a study this month, claiming that practicing yoga has been linked to mindful eating and thus to keeping fit.

Goodie, I thought. Now I can apologize properly to all the people who protested that yes, damn it, yoga really is exercise. Then I looked closer at the study.

Um... or maybe not.

I mean, come on.
It's a questionnaire.
28 questions.
300 humans: 90% female and 80% white

How the heck can I apologize based on this study? It's too small of a sample study for me to use it as the basis of anything. I agree 100% with the researchers that "Further evaluation in more diverse populations is warranted." (I've read a lot of studies and very, very few of them did not end with a similar sentence.)

So I'll apologize based on my personal experience. When science lets us down, we at Cranky Fitness go for anecdotal experience as a last resort. (At least, I do. Crabby has higher standards.)

In the spirit of the great Charlotte (of The Great Fitness Experiment), I tried my own fitness experiment. I followed the Element AM/PM Yoga for Complete Beginners DVD mornings and evenings for a period of three weeks. (Then I had to go do a road trip which did not allow enough time for an entire half-hour each morning and evening devoted to following a DVD.)


Because I want to sound like I know what I'm doing be more like the guys in white coats who get paid huge amounts of cash to post these studies, I put together a questionnaire.

My results are presented below.

Q:Merry, did you like doing yoga?
A: Not at first. But after I finished each session, I noticed that I was in a good mood. And the morning good-moodiness extended into my day at work, while the evening g-m helped me get to sleep more easily. (In itself, an amazing feat. I have me some probs with insomnia.)

Q: Merry, did you feel like you were getting a workout when you did yoga?
A: Again, not at first. Some poses, I had to let my arms carry a lot of my body weight, and hell yeah I felt that while I was in the pose, though not afterwards. But what I got from doing this was a sense that I was part of my body. And I think that I might enjoy a more vigorous form of yoga as well.


Q:Um... what do you mean you felt like you were part of your body? Is your head normally not attached to the rest of you?
A: Well, it might as well be unattached. Usually my mind is off thinking what I have to get done today, what's for dinner, why the guy in Accounting is being so annoying at the weekly meetings, what would I do if I won the Lottery tomorrow... things like that. My mind is rarely focused on the physical body that carries it around so patiently. Doing yoga makes me feel more integrated, mind-and-body united. I know that sounds kinda metaphysical, but it is fitness related. If I'm listening to my body, I'm much more likely to go out there and exercise rather than sitting at a computer playing Free Rice. Thus, my conclusion: if yoga isn't (strictly speaking) exercise, it is an aid to exercise and therefore to be recommended.

Survey details

The CFQ (Cranky Fitness Questionnaire) was distributed to one sample between June 2009 and July 2009, with an overall response rate of 100% (n=1). Participant was woman (100%) and Celtic (100%), and had a mean age of 17 um... 23 oh heck, 45±a few years. Multiple regression analysis would have been used to measure associations of demographic characteristics, obesity, yoga practice, and physical activity with CFQ scores if there had been more than one participant.

But hey! The results were 100%!


Have you performed any one-person research studies?



Woman on the Beach photo credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/akalat/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Is yoga exercise?

Well, it looks pretty. But once people start practicing yoga, they seem to do it everywhere.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiarescott/ / CC BY 2.0

Is yoga exercise? You're just standing around striking a pose and breathing.

Seriously. Everywhere. Thankfully, yoga is good for your balance.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/a4gpa/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Looks pretty, good for your balance, but it's just standing around, right? I mean, I could do that at a mall. (Maybe not some of the poses... they might call Security...)

Why is it considered exercise? I can see that it develops balance and can help with stress reduction. What I can't see is how it qualifies as exercise. I'm not trying to act like I'm wearing the CrankyPants; I just don't get it.

In fact, I think this calls for a chart. I figure if yoga's exercise, then it burns a respectable amount of calories. Let's see what the chart has to say about that:

The caloric estimates presume you have an average metabolism, weigh 70 kg (154), and perform the exercise for 30 minutes.

According to the chart, yoga burns only slightly more calories than doing the dishes. To me, that's not a highly aerobic activity. (Plus, you still have a sink full of dirty dishes after you do the yoga.)

To an outsider, yoga looks mysterious and sometimes a little odd.

To someone well-versed in yoga, no doubt this pose makes sense.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiarescott/ / CC BY 2.0

Translating Yoga into English

Actually, this whole post is the fault of the Fit Bottomed Girls. They did a review of AM/PM Yoga for Beginners that was the most enthusiastic review I've ever read on their site, and I've read a lot of good reviews on their site. They got me curious enough to overcome my innate yogic inertia and check out the DVD myself.

The nice thing about trying something out on a DVD is that no one is going to kick you out of the class because you're such an obvious doofus who doesn't belong. (Actually, I really doubt people would kick you out of a beginner's class for being a beginner, but that's always the traditional long-rooted fear of the clueless newbie.)

I have to confess that I found some of the instructions confusing. "Hug my heels with my elbows... without moving the elbows"?? I'm presuming that this instruction is supposed to create an intuitive reaction, of the mind rather than the body, i.e. I'm supposed to encourage my elbows to feel huggy toward my heels. If it's anything more concrete than that, then I'm totally lost.

Is a plank a pose where I'm supposed to become stiff and rigid? (And apt to become warped if left out in the rain)?

I did feel energetic afterwards, but that might have been due to the 2 cups of coffee I drank beforehand. Note to self: try this pre-caffeine.

Seriously. People are doing yoga everywhere...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vikramvetrivel/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Look, I'm not saying yoga is evil. I can see that it would have some stress-relieving benefit, but shouldn't it be classified as therapy or something? Why is it grouped in with exercise classes? Taught at gyms? Dang it, people are even doing yoga at the mall. Why?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyb/ / CC BY 2.0

The 2nd Annual Cranky Fitness Exercise Review

It's time for the second annual Cranky Fitness exercise review. Once more we have assembled experts on various forms of exercise to give us their best suggestions, and once more they have disappointed us by turning in serious, researched, and well thought-out reviews. Since that sort of thing would make the rest of our posts look bad by comparison, I decided the only thing to do was conduct the review myself.


Boot camp

Pro: Some of them boots are pretty stylish looking.
Con: There are no happy boot-campers. Not until the muscle soreness fades.
Tip: Don't show up in drag.

It's not that kind of 'camp.'

Burpees

Pro: This can really work the diaphragm muscles.
Con: You can't have a burpee without a burper, right? So methinks this form of exercise is not suitable for all social occasions.
Tip: Drinking a lot of carbonated drinks beforehand can help with this workout.


Crossfit

Pro: This fitness program will make you feel like a martyr to exercise. No wait, sorry, I was confusing this with Crucifix-fit. Crossfit is a fitness program designed to make you feel cranky. And fit.
Con: You might feel like a martyr anyway.
Tip: Sounds like it would be a good idea to get fit, at least a bit, before trying crossfit.


Doga

Pro: You don't have to worry about Fido canoodling with the couch while you're at the gym.
Con: This is a form of yoga where your partner might lick your face. (I understand this is not common in other forms of yoga.)
Tip: Do not wear the burger-scented cologne to the gym.

Mmmmm... smells good...

Parcour

Pro: Can be done on your lunch hour.
Con: Unless you're a cattle farmer or someone else who doesn't live in a city.
Tip: Do not try vaulting over a police car, especially if you're running away from a bank.

Parcour dress code FAIL.
(Note the bolt cutter between his legs, and no that's not a euphemism.)

Pole dancing

Pro: Really works the arms and core muscles.
Con: Wearing a helmet while learning to dance might make you look silly.
Tip: Make sure your outfit has pockets in case people want to stuff money into your clothing.

I still think that's rather sweet...

Editor's Note: If anybody has any other, better exercise reviews, please let me know.

Yoga for Dogs?

Doga? Yoga... for dogs?

Put this in the category of Things Merry Doesn't Get. Right up there with taxes and garlic ice cream.

Regular yoga may well be good for you. The jury is still out on that one. (Translation: I really keep meaning to try yoga, really I will, honest.)

But doga?

A trendy-looking yoga place in New York describes it thusly:
"Doga is all about bonding with your pet and giving the dog 45 minutes of undivided attention and praise from their favorite person in the world. The dogs do sun salutations and you’ll learn specific massage techniques to calm your dog and aid both circulation and digestion processes."

But Pookie already knows downward-facing dog!

Maybe I'm biased because my dog would think this a totally bizarre concept. She was raised very strictly, and has Firm Beliefs about how humans and dogs should interact. (She gets upset if I sit next to her on the ground. She'll happily lie at my feet while I'm sitting in a chair, but it's Not Right for humans to sit on the same level as the dog. In other words, she knows her place, and expect me to know mine.) Perhaps that's why I think this is a strange idea.

Instead of yoga with dogs, try picturing yoga with cats. Even the most amenable cat, who doesn't mind being wrapped around your neck like a living fur stole, will look askance if you try wrapping his legs into a meditation pose. He'll probably think you're trying to give him a pill or something suspicious like that. Don't try it. It's not safe.

Loads of people believe that T-touch and giving a dog massage will help the pooch relax. I can see doing these things as therapy. Where I part company with these people is the idea that it is useful to do these yoga poses with your dog as a form of exercise.

One of the many strange things about humans is that we are a species that need to make ourselves exercise. Dogs make it a natural part of their lives.

I realize a statement like that calls for people to write in and leave comments like "My dog Lazybones sits on the couch all day watching t.v." Your dog might be the original couch potato, but if you offered to take Lazybones to the beach, or to a park, or for a good walk, would he say no?

Dogs get overweight because of humans. Dogs don't get out and run around because of humans. Left to their own devices, dogs would do the dog yoga moves when they felt like it, not because exercising daily is a responsibility. Stretching is instinctive. Why should they do it because someone else wants them to?

Humans can be a bit stiff, even wooden.

It strikes me as absurd is that doga is trying to get the dog to conform to this human "hafta" paradigm. What we should be doing instead is trying to adapt to the dog's approach toward exercise: it's spontaneous, it's fun, it's play.

Pookie contemplates playing with Woodrow

Not that we should imitate dogs in all ways -- I wouldn't mind lazing around all day while someone else brings home the bacon, but I'm not that keen on chasing cats, and the rolling-around-in-something-that-smells-disgusting part is right out thank you very much.

Pookie wrestles with the temptation to roll...

Trying to share your exercise session and use it as a way to bond with your dog is laudable. Because of the constraints and compromises we have to enforce on dogs so they can share their lives with us, they spend most of their time behaving according to our rules. For once, let the dog be a dog and let your hair down and frolic with Fido.

Photo credit: jere-me

As I said, I haven't tried this with my dog. I'm basing my opinion on what I know about dogs, especially mine. Has anyone tried doing yoga with their dog? Was it good exercise for you or for the dog?

(Anyone out there ever contemplated trying yoga with their cat?)

Moments in Yoga and "Real Life"

[Special Guest Post by Little M]

Note: this is another great inspirational guest post from LittleM, enjoy!--Crabby

In principle, and when I’m in something resembling shape (Hey! Trapezoid is a shape), I love extreme yoga.

Sometimes it loves me back. Sometimes it doesn’t.

I remember the first time I tried one of Bryan Kest’s DVDs. Like being in class, only more ridiculous. I’m face down, in chaturanga (that’s something like a deformed pushup, for those of you not into the Sanskrit), nose about 5 inches from the mat, dripping from my forehead onto it, and Bryan’s droning authoritatively on about: “This … yoga … has a tendency to expose our weaknesses. So that … we have the opportunity … to make those weaknesses … strengths.”

You can imagine that the blood was rushing in my ears after Sentence One so much that I barely heard Sentence Two. I wavered between nodding – in the miniscule part of my mind that was still conscious – thinking, “Yup! Suuuuure does!” and calling him something unprintable.

(Not his fault that I had no tricep or transverse strength at the time. But I digress.)

Gradually, I got better. I got through the DVD and its variations. I went to workshop. I had focus. I could do crow pose (balance your knees on your triceps, use ab muscles for control – nifty) and wheel pose (push up using the whole back of the body, from triceps to hamstrings - also nifty).

And then life happened. (Again.) And I lost it all.

I know from comments here that so many here are much better at the discipline thing. Of remembering right then – before you do the dishes or finish the report or run across town for the meeting or text someone in your family with just one more thing – how much better you feel when you’ve done your regular fitness thing.

But it gets away from some of us. I mean waaaay the way away, until you start wondering if it’s true what they say about losing a pound of muscle per year after 21 or so, and whether that’s going to affect anything besides your pant size, like blood flow to the brain since the heart is a muscle – and whether that’s – eventually - going to affect your performance review at work.

So I rearranged the schedule yet again – whining the whole time – and paid the membership to a new gym (a 24-hour one this time!). And took my resistance bands. And did my HIIT. And did a different set of yoga DVDs to prep for strength, to see if there was any possible way I could get back to that place where wheel pose, (that bada** combination of flexibility and strength) while never a walk in the park, was a challenge I had the body confidence to meet.

But I was scared. I mean, it had been more than a minute. I didn’t know if I could get it back. I didn’t know if I’d ever get it back.

I also knew – gritting my teeth a bit – that I was never going to find out if I didn’t try.

I felt my strength in my arms. I planted my feet. I breathed in deep (like they always tell you to), looked at the world – upside down – and I thought (aping the guy on my HIIT CDs, who sounds much more convincing when he says it):

“Nothing to it.”

And up I went.


So now I have a whole different question: What am I going to do with that moment – the moment between “yes I really can do this” and actually doing THE THING, when you thought you’d NEVER be able to do The Thing, or never be able to do The Thing AGAIN – once I get off this mat??

What do you do? How do you use it? How do you carry your “moments” from “fitness” back into “real life”?

Advice From Your Yoga Instructor

This guest post is written by Heather, who blogs at http://findingatman.com yet another blog you should be visiting! It's really very good.


I know you think you should try yoga.

You need to relax. Lower your blood pressure. Maybe your doctor told you so. Maybe to lose a few pounds.

I know you're not flexible. I understand you can't touch your toes.

I'll tell you what though - I like you a hell of a lot better than 20-year-old Missi Stretchy, the ex-high school cheerleader who is there to show me how flexible she is.

I love people who can't touch their toes. Want to know why?

I've been a yoga instructor for several years now. I started as a hardcore aerobics instructor, back when I was Missi. I kicked ass. I tried yoga. I hated it. A friend forced me to take another one. That one was better and soon after I started studying to teach yoga.

I was still young, I still kicked ass, but now I was kicking it through round after round of powerful sun salutations with extra push ups. I saw my arms tone up like never before while my students groaned. I ignored savasana - bah!

Then I got hurt. It wasn't an ankle twist or a rotator cuff suddenly and screamingly doing something it shouldn't. Studying a style that didn't focus on form and consistently pushing my flexibility led to overuse injuries that I still have today.

My sacroiliac joint was completely out of whack. My shoulders ached and I slouched. I had headaches that nothing could touch.

Then I discovered a different style of yoga, one that focused on basic alignment and letting your heart open to the practice. The theory being that if your body is optimally aligned, then every pose becomes endless. You can just enjoy it instead of struggling to hold it up. There's a life metaphor in there somewhere.

I learned a new way to align my body and use my muscles. My SI joint was out because I was so flexible and kept pushing splits and back bends. My shoulders ached because my shoulder joint was hyper-extended in down dog. By hyperextending my shoulders, I was clenching my trapezius muscles, turning them into iron bands that caused my headaches.

Yoga is a balance of strength and flexibility. Missi’s don't listen when I cue them to try something differently, because to do so would force them to back off for just half a second.

If you tell me you're not flexible, I'll tell you that learning yoga will be easier for you because you have built-in stability. You just need to coax your muscles into letting go a little.

Learning to draw back from flexibility and build the strength you need to safely practice even basic yoga poses requires not being the most flexible, bendy person in the class.

Getting over the competitive spirit of comparing yourself and coming out on top in the flexibility game is way harder.

If you tell me you don't have time, I’ll tell you that you probably need to be there more than anyone. I don't practice poses every day, but in my book even remembering to back away from your desk and stretch and breathe for 5 minutes counts as yoga.

If you don't know where to go, most places will let you try a free class. Look in the phone book or gasp! use the Internet.

If you don't enjoy the class, YOU'RE NOT IN THE RIGHT CLASS. There are hundreds of different styles from restorative to power. If your brain is resisting what you're doing for the entire duration of the class and you come out more exhausted or agitated than when you went in, something's wrong.

If you don't click with the teacher, FIND ANOTHER. Ask questions. Some use music, some don’t. Some have grating voices. But someone teaching at a studio where you pay $20 per class isn’t necessarily better than the teacher at your gym where classes are included as part of your membership. There are good and bad instructors everywhere.

I bet you're stressed because you've been meaning to try yoga for ages now, and it's just one more thing on your to do list.

Don’t worry about it. It will still be there.

If you’re a Missi, don’t take this personally - just be willing to listen next time you take a class.

And to answer that other burning question, yes I heard it and I knew it was you when you farted on your mat the other day.

Yoga and Wine: Together at Last?

Cranky Fitness has been alerted to a surprising new development: did you know you could combine yoga practice with wine tasting? Crabby sure didn't!

The New York Times was on it many months ago (registration might be required), but Crabby missed the boat and needed a nudge from the helpful vital juice folks, who emailed to let her know about it. Apparently there is not just one venue, but several, that offer both activities together.

On hearing this, Crabby was at first confused. How can you sip wine if you're standing on your head? Or what if you're bent over at the waist, or crouched on all fours, or flat on your back? Crabby is capable of dribbling wine down her front when seated upright at a table in a nice restaurant. How on earth could people do their tastings during yoga class?

But then Crabby realized: Oh. Probably they both don't mean at the exact same time. Probably they mean do the yoga first--then taste the wine.

Got it now! You go on a retreat or to a workshop that features both yoga and wine tasting, but not simultaneously.

Still. Do they belong together?

Crabby has lots of opinions. Problem is, her opinions totally contradict each other. Perhaps she needs to do a sun salutation or pour herself a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and meditate further on what it all means. Or, better yet, she may have to ask her Smart Readers what to think.

So please help Crabby sort this out. Here were some of her first impressions:

1. Smart marketing! Lots of people like both wine and yoga, and many of these folks have $$$ to spend on retreats.

2. How crass! Yoga isn't just an exercise, it's part of a spiritual practice. What's next--Yoga retreats combined with tummy tucks? Or with seminars on "How to Profit from Real Estate Foreclosure Sales?"

3. But most people don't do yoga as a religion. They do it for exercise. Why should they have to get all picky about what they combine it with?

4. So what if "most people" only dabble? You shouldn't subvert the deeper nature of the practice by treating it as some consumer product to exploit.

5. "Deeper nature?" What do you know about the "deeper nature" of yoga? You've never even been to a yoga class!

6. Well, I saw a video once. Some nice pony-tailed man with a cute British accent kept talking about his "sit bone." Anyway, it still seems kind of cynical. I bet most real yoga people would object.

7. So they can stay home! Think about it--gentle stretching and mellow people and wine? What's not to like?

8. Hmm. Would there be, like, a really nice restaurant? And a spa with deep tissue massage?

9. Sure!

10. What was the question again?

Please help the bewildered Crab.

Yoga + Wine Tasting. Yes? No? Maybe?

Guest Post: Sara G. On Yoga

Today's Guest Post is brought to you by Sara Grace, who has a very cool blog called The Flying Trapeze. You should definitely check it out! Cranky Fitness is of the opinion that Yoga is a Good Thing, and Guest Posts are a Good Thing, so this works out well.

(Note: That is not Sara in the photo. Crabby does not mean to cause any confusion by swiping a stock image of a yoga pose.)

And now, here's Sara!


Light on Yoga: Five Benefits of Yoga for Weight Loss

If someone had told me 10 years ago that I'd be sitting here today, basking in Los Angeles sunlight, writing a blog about the virtues of yoga, I would have laughed my size-14 pants off. Yoga was for stick-thin, pretzel-bending new-age idiots who might try to read my aura if I got too close. (And while I'm at it, LA was for blondes with boob jobs, and blogs…did they even exist?)

And yet, yoga has become the single most important factor in the healthy life I live today – 40 pounds lighter, still not thin but a whole lot happier with myself. Yoga not only helped me get fit, but gave me reasons to love my body whatever size my pants were.

I encourage everyone to give yoga a try – a real try, meaning several months of classes with a real, live teacher. Or several teachers; finding the right one – in my case, one who didn't wax prolific about chakras – makes all the difference.

In case you're still skeptical, I offer some incentive: A list of five ways in which yoga will help you along your weight-loss journey.

Five Benefits of Yoga for Weight Loss

1. Yoga increases lean body mass. It builds and tones your muscles. More lean body mass means higher resting metabolism. In other words, you can eat more without gaining weight.

2. A secondary benefit of sculpting your muscles: As you see your yoga practice improving, your body toning up and becoming beautiful before your very eyes, it's hard not to marvel – and want to feed it healthy, wholesome food to allow it to function at its best.

3. Yoga has been shown in studies to reduce stress and increase beta-endorphins, one of your brain's built-in happy drugs. Besides being pretty unpleasant in itself, stress and/or depression often lead to cravings and binging. Stress has also been shown to promote belly fat storage due to elevated levels of the hormone cortisol.

4. The exercises and breathing in yoga are intended to focus the practitioner on the moment—not the past, not the future, just the sensations the body is experiencing in that moment. This mindfulness helps a yogini practice intuitive eating – that is, paying attention to hunger and eating appropriately in the moment. What you'll eat tomorrow ("when you're on your diet") stops becoming an excuse to overeat today.

5. During a class, you are your body; the Cartesian Divide slips away. Having that experience regularly makes it much harder to fall for our mind's typical rationalizations for shoveling in the junk: I've had a hard day. I'm already fat anyway. I'll work it off at the gym. With the regular practice of yoga, all those thoughts just start to sound like chatter. You learn to sit still, take a deep breath, and let them float on by.