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Yoga exercises are widely practiced by many to reduce weight. Along with the weight reducing diet yoga helps shed excess weight effectively.

How, and Why does yoga help us loose weight?

One way is by a medium level cardio workout. This is best trained with Power yoga, since you will raise your heart rate there, other forms of yoga can be more relaxation oriented and will not give you this result.

One Key ingredients needed is that you raise your heart rate to 60-65% of its Maximum.

How do we know our maximum heart rate?? You can use the following formula to figger it out.

HRmax = 220 minus your age For Maximum Fat burning you should aim for 60-65% of your HRmax

At this rate you will burn aprox. 50% of your calories from Fat (and yoga can bring you to this level) , if your heart rate is to high you will not have as much success. For example if your heart rate is aprox. 75-80% of your max only about 39% of the calories you burn is from Fat (Yes you will burn more fat working out that hard but you will be working ALOT harder to burn just a little more), another drawback is you will also burn muscle.

Also remember that burning fat takes time. The first 15-20 min of your workout you are mainly getting your energy from carbohydrates, only after about 15-20 min do you start burning the fat... so classes that are 1 1/2 hour long are perfect.

Here is a free yoga exercise for weight loss routine you can try.

Here are the main things you need in your yoga training to help you loose weight.

1. Go thought the Sun Salutation 10 times. This should be at a good pace with only 1-2 breaths in each pose. In other words keep moving...Do not rush but stay consistent.

2. Pick a mixture of poses for the remainder of your training that will keep you in movement. Also pick postures that are primarily strength training in nature. I will be adding ALOT more postures in the coming months to this site. But for now check back in a few days and I will give a couple recommendations about DVD's that have routines very good for this.

3. Be aware of your body throughout the practice of these free yoga exercises. This awareness of yourself is carried into your life and many experts believe that this is why yoga is so good at helping people loose weight. Not only because of the cardio (because honestly swimming is still the best fat burner) but because with this awareness of your body, you feel more what your body needs from moment to moment.

Many yoga practitioners I know have become vegetarians (even after saying the never would), when I asked them why, they said that all the food they used to eat made them feel heavy and sluggish, now they feel great. Do not be surprised if your diet changes, not because you think you have to but because you want to (and with that reason you will never be on a Diet, you will just eat healthy because you like to... no effort, no chance of falling off the wagon).

This formula will give you an estimate of what your Max HR is. But remember there is more to it then this formula, your overall physical health also plays a part.

The most accurate way to know your HRmax is to use a cardiac stress test. However this can be expensive and most people find the above formula enough for planning their exercise routines.

If you are interested in a cardiac stress test to check your HRmax, then you need to consult your doctor or possibly the department of Kinesiology or Physical Education at your local university (they may have the ability, and it could be free if someone is doing research and you can be a subject).

Source: http://www.mind-and-body-yoga.com