Introduction to ShapeShifter Yoga
Ever heard of "yoga butt"?
No, I'm not making that up. Yoga practitioners are so famous for having great butts that they even invented a term for it.
You see, if you want your body to look great, you have to give it some SHAPE. And it's the form of the MUSCLE under your skin that gives you your "look."
GOOD yoga is a fantastic way to shape those muscles. After all, yoga is a systematic approach to bodyweight resistance training.
But beyond simply sculpting your muscles and giving you a nicer shape, there's solid evidence that regular yoga practice can even help you lose fat.
In 2005, researchers from Seattle found that overweight people who practice yoga tend to lose weight. "Those practicing yoga who were overweight to start with lost about 5 pounds during the same time period that those not practicing yoga gained 14 pounds," says Kristal, the head researcher.
One of the ways yoga may affect weight loss is through something called "insulin sensitivity."
Insulin is your body's "storage" hormone. It shuttles energy and nutrients from your blood into your cells.
If your insulin sensitivity goes down, you store more energy as fat instead of storing it in the muscles and other lean tissue.
In 2008, Indian researchers discovered that a regular yoga practice of at least one year's duration increases insulin sensitivity. That's great news if you're trying to lose fat and sculpt a more shapely body!
Sculpting a beautiful, healthy and energetic body requires balance, strength, core stability and flexibility. All of these attributes can be im- proved by regularly performing the 8 essential yoga postures in my Fitness Yoga Starter Kit.
Finally, the benefits of flexibility training go beyond the purely physical.
Yoga has been proven to connect body, mind and, spirit, and over time this connection can enhance your physical, emotional and mental capacities, relieving stress and improve overall health and well-being.
It will also change your posture, confidence and poise in ways you never imagined possible.
Yoga is for Everyone
Before we get started, I'd like to ask you to do one thing for me...
If you're new to yoga, then please forget everything you've heard about it.
The media has given people the inaccurate impression that yoga is something for slim, extremely flexible women. And others seem to think yoga is about taking your leg and putting it around your head.
Even more people will tell you, "I'm too inflexible to do yoga."
And that's just not the truth. Yoga meets you where you are.
Everyone knows they need to stretch. Unfortunately, far too few of us make the time.
Yoga contains so many tools to help you improve your flexibility and your overall sense of well-being. If you don't physically feel good, then your quality of life will decrease dramatically. And it doesn't have to be that way.
That's why this easy Yoga Starter Kit was put together.
This Kit is for someone who doesn't want to spend a lot of time on stretching or yoga. It's for those who say "I'm not sure I can really do a whole yoga routine." And it's for those who need to warm up before a workout. Something to get your blood pumping your muscles warmed so you don't hurt yourself. But the benefits go beyond just warming up.
I'll bet you'll find that you have more strength and flexibility within your routine after doing this sequence of yoga moves.
This fun intro program was designed as a quick way for you to develop your yoga practice, increase your fitness, quickly start losing body fat and get yourself ready to join me in doing the full Shapeshifter Yoga program.
The full program takes over where this Starter Kit leaves off. It accelerates your fat loss, increases the toned and sculpted look of your muscles, continues to enhance your energy and improves your overall sense of wellness.
And it's all based on scientific principles woven into a traditional yoga practice for maximum body transformation in the least amount of time.
The 8 Poses That Will Give You A Toned, Sculpted, Lean & More Balanced Body
I hand picked these 8 poses to give you the greatest benefit in the least amount of time.
Each movement in the Fitness Yoga Starter Flow requires significant mus- cle contraction to move into and hold the pose. This is what helps develop the improved insulin sensitivity we talked about earlier. And that will in- crease your fat loss.
Building your strength in these 8 key poses also tightens and tones your body, giving you a more attractive overall shape.
Beyond the powerful physique benefits of this Starter Flow, each pose also has significant health and wellness benefits.
The palm tree pose helps loosen up the chest and shoulders. It increases breath capacity, and is also great for digestion.
The swaying palm tree works the sides of the body. It helps to balance the right and left group of postural muscles, and gives you a really nice stretch up the side too.
The cat/cow pose gives you an extension and a flexion in the spine.
Most people have back issues from sitting for long periods at a computer, driving, and from not doing enough flexibility training. This pose is great for extension and flexion of the torso. If you can only do one pose per day, choose this one.
The bow pose is another back extension, and it also helps stretch the hips and thighs.
The half moon pose is a hip extension that also helps stretch the quadriceps. It loosens up the low back because it's an extension. And because the arms are extended upward, it's good for opening the chest and shoulders.
The downward facing dog is a great weight bearing pose. The focus is on stretching out the hamstrings, but this pose also works on the hips and low back if you do it correctly. The idea is to have a completely a flat back. When you eventually get your heels down in the pose, your body will form a nice mountain shape.
The eight point pose is another weight bearing pose. This one builds upper body strength. It strengthens the legs and arm muscles, develops the chest and stretches that hard-to-reach area between the shoulder blades.
The child's pose is a great rest pose. Any time you're doing a lot of extensions, you should do a forward flexion pose to release the back muscles.
The Unique Yoga Method That Accelerates Fat Loss & Body Sculpting
The starter program I've designed for you is performed using a "flow".
Let's take a second to define that term.
Instead of just moving into and holding each pose individually, you'll actu- ally be flowing smoothly from one pose to the next, as if you were doing a dance. Once you've flowed through all 8 poses, you'll begin the sequence again.
I suggest you work up to 5-10 rounds of the entire flow, 3-5 times per week, before moving on to the full Shapeshifter Yoga program.
When you perform yoga in a FLOW - or a string of poses linked together in a continuous workout - you put your body into a perfect fat burning zone. I've actually measured this in a lab.
During an informal study I performed for my Master's degree in Exercise Science at Cleveland State University, I used special equipment to meas- ure fat burning during a vigorous yoga flow.
I burned around 7 calories per minute. And about 6.3 of those were from FAT. So the percentage of fat calories burned was 90%.
That's pretty much identical to the most popular weight loss exercise on the planet - jogging - but with one BIG difference.
Long, slow and repetitive workouts like jogging or cycling can actually increase a hormone called cortisol. Elevated cortisol forces your body to STORE more fat - especially around the belly - and LOSE muscle!
That's NOT what you want if you're interested in sculpting a beautiful, toned and shapely body.
With yoga, you avoid the problem of increased cortisol while simultaneously getting the powerful fat blasting effects of mainstream cardio exercise.
In fact, in 2009, Indian researchers conclusively demonstrated that cancer patients who followed a yoga program had lower levels of cortisol than those who did not.
Plus, treadmills and stationary bikes are incredibly boring. But doing a yoga flow gets you into a groove that feels almost like dancing.
What a crazy idea! Getting toned and dropping belly fat can actually be FUN!
Let's Get Started - Lose Fat, Get Toned & Feel Great In Just Minutes Per Day
In the next section you'll find detailed instructions for each of the 8 poses that I've selected for you.
Flow smoothly through each of the 8 poses and then start the sequence again.
I suggest you perform anywhere from 5-10 rounds of the flow each time you work out. Do the routine 3-5 times per week, or as often as once a day.