Yoga helped me reduce weight from 84 kgs to 76kgs in two years!

Hi, I am Govind, a 38-year-old regular guy who had never tried any form of Yoga until I turned 36. My exercise routine was walking half an hour a day. I used to skip that too, on most weekends, due to late-night parties.

My gymming stint would last a week to a month – I used to make an ass of myself by paying the annual membership rather than taking a monthly one. I was potbellied and my kids were happily calling me Daddy Pig.

DM Rishu for personal classes at instagram.com/yogawithrishi_

However, all this changed since I started Yoga two years back.

I was introduced to Yoga by my wife who called in a personal trainer Rishu. When the Yoga training started, I was so stiff that I could not even half squat, let alone doing complex asanas. My thighs were so stiff that I was not able to even sit in a cross-legged position. I used to scream like Monica Seles while doing simple asanas. My oohs and aahs during stretches could easily be misinterpreted :).

I was good at only one thing and that was saying Oooooooommmmmmmm for an extended period of time.

Believe me, it was such a pain initially! I used to even dread hearing the doorbell when Rishu used to come. However, the amount of motivation I got from her and my wife got me going.

I started with flexibility asanas like camel pose, shoulder stand, frog pose, tree pose. I slowly graduated to doing Surya Namaskars. I started with Hatha, then I started practicing Ashtanga series. I started losing inches and everyone started noticing.

My trousers which had a waist size of 35-36 inches couldn’t fit now. I was comfortably wearing trousers with a waist size of 34. My weight, however, for first six months, remained the same.

For the first time in my life, I stopped checking the weighing scale. I was feeling so well physically and mentally that I didn’t feel any need for the same. However, after six months of Yoga, I went to a clinic with my wife for her annual checkup. While we were waiting, I saw a clinical weighing scale, lying idly next to the doctors room, and stood on it. Voila! The scales were showing 79 – I couldn’t remember in the last decade or so, the scales showing anything below 80.

I instantly knew that I was doing something great. I had not changed my diet – I am strict non-vegetarian – chicken curry, mutton keema, fish fry, rice, rotis are my staple.  However, one hour yoga for five days a week was working wonders and my weight had reduced by 5kgs. I was no way going to leave this.

Since then, I try doing Yoga wherever I am. Even when I am traveling, I do some sort of stretches, few Surya Namaskars, headstands. I make it a point of taking photos while doing headstands whenever I am traveling.

If I can reduce weight so can you! You need to just start doing yoga. It is advisable that you start with a personal trainer who can guide you and keep you motivated. (if you are based in Bangalore and require a personal trainer, email me and I will happily share my personal trainer’s details).

You may require certain Yoga props like Yoga wheels, Yoga belts, bolsters, etc depending on how flexible you are. I would advise that if you are starting Yoga,  blocks and mat are a must. I understand it is quite daunting selecting one when you are a newbie. Therefore I have dedicated many blogs on my website which can help you choose the best Yoga accessories available.

Just start doing Yoga! It is addictive. It gives you energy. You feel good throughout the day. Your metabolism is high. I can go on and on and on and on about the benefits. Also, you can read on and on and on and on about it. But it’s time for Yoga now. Its 8 am Bangalore time and I am signing out for something I like the most. It’s Yoga time!!!

P.S., By the way, my waist size is 31 now and my kids have stopped calling me Daddy Pig!