International Yoga Day: 5 Yoga Poses For Weight Loss To Try Before Going To Bed

If you’re a working woman, we know the struggle you do to keep your life together while juggling through responsibilities. With excessive busy schedules, your diet and fitness regime may go for a toss. In this case, consider doing yoga for weight loss right before you snooze.

As we know there are a lot of asanas and flow vinyasas that one can do to lose weight while practicing yoga, but there are limited ones you can do at night before sleep as you don’t want to disturb your sleep, au contraire you’d like to enhance it.

Sleep is a very essential part of our lives, and yoga has emphasized upon it immensely in order to regulate our cycles, digestion and our hormones. Sleep can in turn lead to even more sustained weight loss. So let’s get down to it.

# Cat Cow Pose (Vyaghra Shwasa)

With synchronized slow breathing, this asana helps relieve the tension in spine, back and neck muscle. It helps in creating mobility in your spine and relaxes and ease the entire body.

Here’s how to do this yoga for weight loss:

* Begin with your hands and knees on the floor. Keep your palms shoulder distance apart with your wrist right below your shoulders and keep your knees hip width apart. Start by keeping your spine in a neutral position.

* Inhale- roll your shoulder blades back, lifting your head up and arch your back.

* Exhale, round your back pulling in the naval into the spine. Tuck your chin towards your chest. Continue this fluid movement and connect your breath to each movement.

* Repeat this for 10 breaths.

# Butterfly pose (Baddha Konasana)

Baddha Konasana or the Butterfly pose is a simple yoga pose that works wonderfully for treating PCOS naturally. This pose also helps relieve cramps and back pain during menstruation and pregnancy. This is an effective yoga for weight loss, relieving stiffness in the ankles, knees. It helps in opening the hips and improves hip mobility. It also helps give a good emotional release.

Variation-1:

* Begin by sitting on the floor with your legs stretched out straight in front of you and spine erect.
* Now, bring the soles of your feet together, bending both your knees out to the side.
* Place your feet in front of your pelvis, around a fist distance from your groin.
* Now, take deep breaths and press your thighs and knees down towards the floor providing gentle pressure.
* In a slow and controlled motion begin to flap both your legs from the hip like the wings of a butterfly for around 60 seconds and then release.

Variation-2

* Once you come into position with your feet pressed together, hold your feet with your hands and open your feet like a book towards the ceiling.
* Take a deep inhale and on your exhale, bend forward bringing your chin or forehead towards the mat.
* Hold for 30 to 60 seconds and then on the next inhale come back up.

Variation-3

Supta Baddha Konasana (For this, you need to lie down on the floor with legs in the same position).

# Spinal Twist Pose (Ardha Matsyendrasana)

Regular practice of this asana improves pelvic and waist circulation and aids weight loss. It also helps in preventing menstrual disorders and is good for your reproductive organs. This asana helps ease out any stiffness and improves spine flexibility.

Here’s how to do this asana for weight loss:

* Begin by sitting on the floor with your legs stretched out straight in front of you and your spine erect. Bend both your legs for the knees.

* Place your left heel under your right hip and take the right leg across the left knee by placing the right foot on the left side of the left knee.
* Inhale, pulling the abdomen in and straightening the spine.
* Exhale and twist to the right.
* Place the right hand behind you on the floor for support and place your left hand across your right leg bringing your armpit in line with your knee and try to hold your right foot.
* Look over your right shoulder. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds. With every exhale try to get deeper into the twist.

# Bridge pose (Setu Bandhasana)

This basic but beautiful asana opens your hips, creates new awareness in your
lower body, tones and strengthens the back, glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings.

Here’s how to do this yoga for weight loss:

* Start by lying down on the mat on your back. Bend your legs from the knees and place your feet hip-width apart.
* Inhale lift your hips up to the ceiling pushing into the feet. Exhale slowly with control and drop the hips back onto the floor.
* Repeat this movement for 10 times and then hold for 1 minute.

# Child’s Pose (Balasana)

This is one of the vital yoga poses that brings relaxation by soothing the central nervous system. It also helps in losing weight by releasing lower back tension. It helps ease the menstrual cramps, and PMS symptoms and normalizes blood flow throughout the body.

Here’s how to do this yoga for weight loss:

* Kneel on the yoga mat and sit on the heels keeping your knees separated about hip-width apart.
* Now, bend forward from the waist and bring your head down in front to touch the floor. Lay your torso down between your thighs.
* Place your hands on the floor at the side of the torso and relax the shoulders towards the floor.
* Rest in this posture for 30 seconds to 1 minute.