Every New Year, thanks to our resolutions, the gym’s annual subscription numbers hit their peak!  No wonder we can’t find a parking space near a gym in the first 2 weeks of the year. Third week onward, we can park in a place of our choice 🙂

And we are back on our perennial guilt trip.

Or we think it is a lack of equipment and we buy a treadmill. And we end up using it more for drying our towels and inners than for workouts. One more grave reminder of weak willpower!

Our unpredictable work schedules and hugely demanding lifestyles contribute to this, more than our lack of willpower. If we can learn some simple yogic practices or at-home workouts that can be flexibly accommodated in our packed calendars and even during vacations, all we need would be a 6 feet space to sustain it!

It’s very important to understand that “We gain or lose weight more because of what we eat than how much workout we do.” We hit the gym for 2 hours, exhaust our willpower and then eat unmindfully. No wonder we end up not losing much weight despite massive efforts.

Willpower is always limited. When we pull the pendulum towards one side and leave, invariably it is going to swing to the other side by the same distance. There is a yin and a yang. When we use our will to follow a diet and exercise regime that we don’t enjoy following, we would be subconsciously counting the days left for the program to get over. Then definitely we are going to go back to our old ways of eating and gradually gain back in 6 months what we lost in 3 months. What’s the point of expending enormous will, time & money and getting back to where we were?!

Practising kriya yoga does the exact opposite. It increases your awareness. With the heightened awareness, cravings for food come down along with other compulsions of the mind, if done right. For every person we have worked with, food intake drops by 40-50% without any deliberate use of willpower. As our mental focus and clarity improve with yoga, our commitment to stay steady with our yoga practice is enhanced. With sustained regular practice, food cravings don’t make a comeback. And, we start spiralling up! This leads to sustainable weight loss without expending much of will.

As mental health is becoming a growing concern, regular yoga practice and a yogic diet would also greatly enhance our equanimity and emotional balance.