Breathe In Love. Breathe Out Fat.

Dear Yogis,

I have often been asked if yoga helps with weight loss. Well, undeniably, we can see how bodies change with daily, vigorous Ashtanga practice. Daily vigorous anything would do that. But my wonderful book by James Nestor, Breath, has this bombshell line: 'The lungs are a weight-regulating system of the body'! How? Nestor says that exhalation has weight! He says: ‘for every ten pounds of fat lost in our bodies, eight and a half pounds of it comes out through the lungs; most of it is carbon dioxide mixed with a bit of water vapour’.

Australian researchers clarified this in 2014, Ruben Meerman, and professor Andrew J Brown. They said that ‘there is surprising ignorance and confusion about the metabolic process of weight loss’ after their survey of doctors, dieticians and personal trainers showed that they had no idea what happens to fat when we lose weight. No, it isn't excreted in the faeces or converted to muscle or converted into energy or heat. Fat is exhaled! (Complete oxidation of 10 kg of human fat requires 29 kg of inhaled oxygen producing 28 kg of CO2 and 11 kg of H2O)!                     

Science Alert explains: We put on weight when excess carbohydrates and proteins that we've eaten are converted into triglycerides (compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen) and are then stored in lipid droplets inside fat cells. To lose weight, you need to break down those triglycerides to access their carbon, which is exhaled.

How do you do that? Fewer, slower breaths per minute, not too deeply, and longer exhales = means higher carbon dioxide levels. More carbon dioxide exhalation attracts more oxygen in. Carbon dioxide also has a profound dilating effect on blood vessels, opening these pathways so they could carry more oxygen-rich blood to hungry cells.

The breath has so many secrets to unlock. We have only scratched the surface!

Zoom Classes

Mornings are darker! Coolness is coming. I’m even teaching without fans on. Bank holiday weekend is here but I’ll still be teaching on Monday, if you fancy a stretch. Also, September is here so I’ll be teaching a Restorative class from now on, on Fridays at 6.00-7.00. I’ve written about it in a previous Friday Email, here.  It will show up on the timetable and be bookable tomorrow. It will be £5, as the others, but, I’m afraid, not included in the Class Pass. (You will need a bolster for it: £38 here or £24.99 here). Give it a go!

Yoga in the news

The Telegraph has: Stiff Guy Yoga: the workout for non-bendy men. For the ‘more slovenly, less supple, and a recurring bulging disc issue’ yogis! Stiff Guy Yoga is to ‘appeal to the average man who might otherwise be put off’. No ‘twinkly Indian music, incense and ‘oms’.’ The creator, Lynds-Xavier of Winchester, says that men “tend to do more physical activity when they’re young and either stop, in which case muscles seize up, or continue and experience tight hips and hamstrings”.

Globe Newswire Worldwide has: Yoga Mat Industry to 2025 - Emerging Players and Luctrativeness. Here are the reasons: growing health awareness; rising prevalence of obesity and associated disease is pressurizing people to opt for a healthy lifestyle; opting for yoga over gyms which is more affordable; governmental promotion of yoga and Ayurveda; and mat companies manufacturing yoga mats using recyclable, degradable, and eco-friendly materials. Why didn’t we invest!

The Spectator has: We all breathe – 25,000 times a day – so why aren’t we better at it? Circulation, obesity, mood swings and sexual function are all linked to the way we breathe, and James Nestor has some useful tips.

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend.