Yoga For Obesity-Part I

Obesity or excessive fat in the body is becoming one of the major problems of this century. There are three stages of obesity, enviable, laughable and pitiable. If you are a little over weight then your face will look round and smooth and beautiful (although concept of beauty changes from time to time). This is the enviable stage. If you put on some more fat and you look ugly, people will laugh at you. But there are people who cannot move their body because it is so bulky and they need help even to get in and out of the body. This is the pitiable stage.

Excessive fat that accumulates and makes you obese could be due to several causes. A small percentage of these cases could be due to some organic cause like lack of thyroid hormone, too much of adrenal cortisone or female sex hormones. Rarely it can be due to damage to a part of the lower brain which controls hunger and satisfaction. But the majority of cases do not belong to this category. The major cause of obesity is clearly recognized to be due to the modern life style.

What are the factors in the modern life style that contribute to obesity? Our body is like an elastic bag. What you put inside the bag (high calorie food) and what you take out of the bag (exercises) decides the size of the bag. In the present day lifestyle with advanced technology and busy schedules life has become sedentary; hence there is no time or the need to do any physical work. Most of us are involved in brain work which consumes much less calories than muscular activity as in walking, running, playing etc.

To Be Continued