5 Best Yoga Asanas to melt away pounds and Stay Fit

If you are dreading to go for a party just because you can't fit into your perfect dress or suit, then try yoga for weight loss. Yoga will help you to lose extra flab and make you feel good about yourself.

How to lose weight with Yoga

Yoga is always thought as calming and not as a cardio exercise. But when you do yoga to lose weight, you will see the results in some time. It offers an excellent cardio workout, resistance training and stretch training to regain and maintain flexibility besides weight reduction.

Most of the yoga asanas for weight reduction emphasize on breathing that creates calm and serene states of being. It increases oxygen supply to the cells of our body and helps in burning the fat cells. Some of the examples of weight loss yoga asanas that involve deep breathing are Kapalbharti, Pranayama and Anulom-Vilom. Each time you practice these asanas for weight reduction, you burn extra calories to get rid of layers of fat on your body. These asanas also help in toning the muscles and increasing their endurance level.

Yoga asanas to reduce fat

Following yoga regime regularly helps in fat management of our body. The most effective one is Surya Namaskara or Sun salutation. For a week if you do 51 rounds of Surya Namaskara in a day, you will be amazed at the results.

5 best yoga asanas to lose weight fast

Note: Please practice the below yoga asanas under the supervision of a trained yoga instructor.

Ardha chandraasana

To do this asana, first you have stand on the yoga mat in tadasan pose.
Take a deep breathe and relax for 30 seconds.
Inhale, bring your both arms at the chest and hold against each other.
Now exhale and raise your hands upwards .
Now inhale and slowly bend towards left side.
Hold in this position for 30- 60 sec of time, observing the pressure on the waist part of the body mainly and on hips.
Now exhale and come back to the normal position.
Do repeat the same procedure for right side also.

2. Veerabhadrasana or Virabhadrasana

Stand straight with your legs wide apart by a distance of
at least 3-4 feet.
Turn your right foot out by 90 degrees and left foot in by
about 15 degrees.
Lift both arms sideways to shoulder height with your
palms facing upwards.
Breathing out, bend your right knee.
Turn your head and look to your right.
As you settle down in the yoga posture stretch your arms further.
Make a gentle effort to push your pelvis down. Hold the yoga posture.
Breathing out, bring your hands down from the sides.
Repeat the yoga posture for the left side (turn your left foot out by 90 degrees and turn the right foot in by about 15 degrees).

3. Utkatasana

Stand erect with your feet slightly apart.
Stretch your hands to the front with palms facing downwards. Do not bend your elbows.
Bend the knees and gently push your pelvis down as if you are sitting in an imaginary chair.
Be comfortable or at least try to be! To get a better feel of the Chair Pose, imagine reading a newspaper or typing on a laptop as you remain seated.
Ensure that you keep your hands parallel to the ground.
With awareness, sit straight and lengthen your spine. Relax.
Keep breathing and flip through the pages of the newspaper, enjoying national and international news.
Sink deeper into the chair by gradually going down but ensure that your knees don’t go beyond your toes.
Keep going down slowly and then sit down in Sukhasana (cross-legged posture). If you want, you may lie down on your back and relax.

4. Vrksana

Start in Mountain pose. The feet should be hip width apart and toes spread out wide to create a firm base. With arms hanging by your side, hands opened, and fingers spread apart.
Find a focal point on the floor about four to five feet in front of you. This can be any point on the floor where you should focus your eyes on. As you focus on this point it will help you concentrate on the pose and keep your balance.
Raise your right foot off the floor and place the bottom of your foot against the inside of your left thigh. See the image above for proper foot placement.
Extend your arms out to the side so they make a 90 degree angle with your body and are parallel to the floor. This will help you establish your balance. See the image above for a reference of proper arm positioning.
Bring your hands to heart center. In heart center the hands should be placed with the palms together, fingers to the ceiling, arms bent at the elbow, and pointed away from the body. The image above shows the finished position.
After several deep breaths, or you feel that you have spent enough time in the pose, slowly and controlled bring you hands back to your side and place your right foot back on the ground, stepping out of the pose.
Repeat steps 1-6, on the opposite side, raising your left foot and placing it on the inside of your right leg, in order to have balanced stretching.
If you are looking for more of a challenge and a better test of balance try the following modifications. After completion of step five you can extend your arms, straight up, above your head with fingers extended towards the ceiling. Or with your arms raised above your head, you may place your palms together above your head as well.
If you cannot bring your foot up to your thigh you may also place the bottom of your foot against the inside of the calf. Or you may place the heel of your foot just above the ankle joint and place your toes on the ground. Make sure to avoid putting your foot over the inside of the knee joint.

Picture of Steps for more advanced Yoga practices

5. Uttanasana

Stand with your feet together. Bend your knees slightly and fold your torso over your legs, moving from the hips, not the lower back.
Place your hands next to your feet or on the ground in front of you.
Inhale and extend your chest to lengthen your spine. Keep your gaze directed forward.
Exhale and gently press both legs toward straight. Lift the kneecaps and gently spiral your upper, inner thighs back. Keep your legs straight without hyper-extending.
On an exhalation, extend your torso down without rounding your back. Stay long throughout your neck, extending the crown of your head toward the ground. Draw your shoulders down your back.