Yoga practice is the most effective weight-loss programme for people between 45 and 55. A new study done by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre (FHCRC), Washington, has found that regular yoga not only checks middle-age spread in people with normal body weight , but also cuts down the extra flab in those who are overweight.

The study, first of its kind to measure the effects of yoga on weight, has been reported in the Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. It involved 15,500 healthy, middle-aged men and women who were asked to complete a written survey recalling their physical activity (including yoga). It measured the impact of yoga with weight change, independent of other factors such as diet or other types of physical activity.

The researchers noted that the greatest effect of regular yoga practice was among people who were overweight. “Men and women who were overweight and practised yoga lost about two kilos, while those who did not practise yoga gained about six kilos in that 10-year period,” said Alan R. Kristal, an epidemiologist at FHCRC.

What accounts for yoga’s apparent fat-fighting potential? Kristal, himself a longtime yoga student, suspects it has more to do with increased awareness than the physical activity itself. He emphasises that yoga is a non-competitive as well as an easy-to-do activity that everyone can go for. Apart from physical fitness, it brings mental resolve which inspires people to follow a healthy lifestyle.

3 tips to ensure weight loss

1: Practise yoga in a room without mirrors, and pay more attention to your internal experience than to your outer performance. Learn to feel sensations more and more subtly, so that you become deeply involved in and curious about small movements, sometimes called micro-movements.

2: In your poses, find an edge for yourself where you are challenged but not overwhelmed. At this edge, practise maintaining a clear, open and accommodative mental state. Pay close attention to what you are saying to yourself as you practise, and make an intentional effort to appreciate your own efforts and innate goodness.

3: Realise that the development of qualities like patience, discipline, wisdom, right effort, kindness, gratitude and many others will arise from your yoga practice. These qualities create a steady and soft mind, an essential ingredient for good health.