Frequently Asked Questions
How is HeavyWeight Yoga different from regular yoga?
HeavyWeight Yoga is built on the 4 P's:
• Pacing — You'll find the pace is slower so you have time to transition from pose to pose.
• Props — Using props, such as a strap and blocks, you'll be able to maintain alignment and reach.
• Pose selection —All poses are selected for safety for anyone who carries excess weight.
• Pose pairing — You get the benefits of poses that might otherwise be unsafe through Pose-pairing. Using two or more poses together
delivers benefits without risks.
Is this safe for people who are overweight or affected by obesity?
Safety is always first with HeavyWeight Yoga. Pose-pairing delivers all benefits of yoga without any danger. Of course, you must always listen to your body. There is NO PAIN IN YOGA. If you ever feel any pain you need to stop. Pain is our body's way of letting us know injury is about to happen.
Is HeavyWeight Yoga about losing weight?
HeavyWeight Yoga is all about bringing you the benefits of yoga — it's never about losing weight. If losing weight is a goal of yours, however, yoga will help you. Not by high calorie burning — you'll use a more aerobic activity for that — but through the 3 A's: Awareness, Acceptance and Affection. Through HeavyWeight Yoga you will become more aware of your body as it is that day, come to accept what you can and cannot do so you can avoid injury, and come to love your body just as it is. Once you find a path to self-love you can find your path to anything.
I've tried to do yoga and it hurt. Is it supposed to be painful like weightlifting?
There is never any pain in yoga — period. If ever you feel pain, stop and observe what hurts and why. Use your time on the yoga mat for self-discovery, knowing that pain is a signpost for self-awareness. That said, Sweet Discomfort can be found after your edge of zero effort but before pain. Sweet Discomfort is the feeling of progress.
How much time do I need to set aside for a HeavyWeight Yoga session?
You can do a HeavyWeight Yoga session in less than a half hour. On the new DVD, Five By 25, there are five 25-minute routines, each based on a different benefit. You'll be fine-tuning your whole body after only 5 days. Also, you can build better balance and stamina by sprinkling yoga into your daily life. Check out the many different ways to sprinkle yoga on the HeavyWeight yoga YouTube Channel.
What are the benefits of HeavyWeight Yoga?
All the benefits you read about yoga are available with HeavyWeight Yoga. Reduced stress, flexibility, increased mobility, and hundreds of other benefits — both those easily seen, such as a stronger core, and those benefits not so evident, such as an improved cardio-vascular exchange and reduced blood pressure. Add to that the mental benefits that yoga delivers — a sense of well being — and you'll see why thousands of people have kept practicing and returning to HeavyWeight Yoga throughout their lives.
How many calories will I burn doing HeavyWeight Yoga?
If burning calories is your goal you'd be better off to find a more aerobic activity that can make better use of your time. Walking, cycling, swimming will all help you burn more calories than doing yoga. That said, yoga can help you do all those activities more efficiently and safer. Creating body awareness, balance and stretching all will help you avoid injury with everything you do.
I'm bed-bound — can I do HeavyWeight Yoga?
Absolutely! First take any movement that you do have and add to it intensity and range of motion. What does that mean? If all you can do is wipe your brow, do that movement with energy and intention, add to it a little more stretch each time, a bit more reach. Look for floor poses that can be done of the soft surface of a bed top. Use the edges of your bed to hold onto to create stability. If you have no mobility at all, do not despair there's still using your breathing to help support all your organs, especially your heart.
Are there any poses should I avoid?
All of the weight-bearing inversions should be avoided. Even beginner poses like Half Shoulder Stand. This is to protect your smaller top vertebrae, which can be damaged with all the extra weight resting upon them. This doesn't mean that you can't get the benefits of inversion — you just have to be mindful about it.
This is where HeavyWeight Yoga's Pose-Pairing provides as a safe solution. Take the benefits of an unsafe pose and find safe poses that will deliver those benefits. For example, in ordinary yoga, Half Shoulder Stand brings the benefits of having the feet higher than the head, along with balance benefits. In HeavyWeight Yoga, you pair Legs-Up-the-Wall or Chair pose with any balance pose and you'll receive the benefits of Half Shoulder Stand — without any of the risks.
