February | 2016 | From Fat to Fit Girl

What is body awareness?

Body awareness can be defined as a perception of your body of how you feel it internally. In simple words it means that your mind memorises where your body parts are so you don’t need to look to find different parts of your body.

Some of the benefits of increased body awareness include:

the skill of self regulation: accepting the limitations of your body and adapting your movements and behavior

getting more out of the exercises that you do: you can feel when your form is off and you can make adjustments.

When you lose body awareness

Body awareness can be defined as a perception of your body of how you feel it internally.

She lost her body awareness. And her sanity.

What happened when I’ve lost 28kg/62lbs as my body transformed from 86kb/190lbs to 58kg/128lbs is that the boundaries of my body shrinked. Imagine living your life for years in an inflatable sumo costume and then suddenly you take the suit off. Your mind plays crazy games with you: avoid a chair to sit in because it has arms when in fact they don’t even touch you anymore; you ask people to move their chair so that you could fit in the row between them and they look weirdy at you because you already fit; you think that you can’t sit on the bench where the seat and the table are attached and then you fit; in the elevator you move closer to the corner to make place for one more person and you look silly because he already entered and there’s plenty of room. The list is endless and it just drives you crazy that your mind is playing tricks on you because it can’t sense the limits of your body.

Looking in the mirror tackles another kind of creepy feelings: you don’t recognize yourself. You see the reflected image, you know it must be you but it doesn’t feel like you. Or you walk past a shop and in the window you notice someone handsome and fit on the inside and you realize that what you’re seeing is your own reflection. These are the small things that drive you crazy when you lose body awareness.

So the next thing you must do is gain your body awareness back. I already shared some of my tips that can easily help you develop your body awareness after weight loss. See these 3 easy exercises to develop body awareness here>>>

My secret to developing body awareness: yoga

Yoga is a discipline where specific bodily postures are practiced for health and relaxation. Yoga reintroduces you to your body and your body parts while strengthening your inner knowing and body awareness. I found that in yoga the body, the breath and the mind become a union. This union helps you develop self awareness and body awareness as well.

Just by doing a simple morning routine of 20 minutes of yoga will help you a great deal to become once again in tune with your mind and body.

I suggest you start with a simple morning sequence such as Sun Salutation. You can find a detailed instruction on how to do the Sun Salutation over at Yoga Journal.

If you get further into yoga, then you can try the advanced balance poses and back-bends. Those are really good for developing body awareness!

Or if you are a beginner, then sign up to a yoga class near you to experience the benefits of yoga and to help you develop your body awareness once again after losing weight!

Need more help seeing your new fit body image in the mirror? Get more tips by clicking here >>>

The health benefits of doing yoga are endless: relaxes you and makes you focus, improves flexibility, builds muscle strength, perfects posture, increases blood flow, helps you sleep better, boosts immunity and so on. But can doing yoga help you deal with phantom fat after significant weight loss and help you accept your new fit body?

If you are following my blog, you are familiar with the issue that I had to tackle after losing significant weight: when I looked in the mirror, I saw a new fit body and I couldn’t relate to it. I had many other symptoms regarding of not being aware of my smaller body. Read more about my struggle with dealing with phantom fat here>>>

How can doing yoga help you accept your new body after weight loss

Yoga is not just a simple form of exercise. It is way more: it helps you develop a mind-body-soul connection. Your body can influence your mind. If you’ve taken a nice long walk in the park after a long stressful day to ease your mind and set yourself in a better mood, you know exactly what I’m talking about. On the other hand, your mind can influence your body as well: becoming embarrassed makes you blush in an instant. As social psychologist Amy Cuddy illustrated in her TED talk: just try one of the power poses – stand in a gladiator posture of confidence even when you don’t feel confident in order to improve your level of confidence immediately! This is a simple demonstration of how a certain body pose has an affect on your mind.

4 yoga exercises for accepting your new body after weight loss

Here is a list of yoga poses that helped me accept my new fit body after losing more than 26 kg / 57 lbs and having a hard time adjusting to my new fit body:

1. Tree Pose (Vrikshasana)

How: Start from standing straight and shift your weight to your left leg. The entire sole of the foot should remain in contact with the floor. Bend your right knee and bring your right foot on the left inner thigh.The hips should be open with the right knee pointing toward the right. Bring your hands in front of you in a praying position. If you feel comfortable, raise your hands clasped together above your head. Hold this position for 20 to 60 seconds, and then bring down your right leg and repeat on the other side.

Why it works: It improves balance, posture and concentration. Practicing this pose has positive benefits on overall balance and coordination.

Contraindications: Knee or hip injury.

2. Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana I)

How: Stand straight and stretch up your arms, palms touching. Inhale and spread your legs sideways by creating a gap of 2/3 body height. Exhale and turn your trunk facing right while rotating your right foot to face forward and slightly rotate your left foot to the left. Bend your right knee for your thigh to become parallel with the ground. Now your head, chest and right knee and foot should face forward. Hold this pose for 5 breaths, and then repeat on the other side.

Why it works: Helps you develop concentration, balance and achieve groundedness.

Contraindications: Hip, knee, back or shoulder injury.

3. Cobra pose (Bhujangasana)

How: Lay on the ground with your chest facing down. Keeping your palms and legs on the floor, lift your chest.

Why it works: It strengthens the spine and stretches your chest and stomach. It relieves stress and fatigue.

4. Bow pose (Dhanurasana)

How: Lay on the ground with your chest facing down. lie Grasp both of your feet with your hands to lift your legs and chest to form a bow. Remain in this position for some time, and try to swing back and forth or to the side.