Yoga
Yoga has its origins in far east philosophy as well the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Normally I would be the type of person that would advise any Christian to steer far clear of anything with a history tied to paganism such as this. So why would I be so bold as to advocate incorporating Yoga into your fitness routines?
The main reason is that a person can participate in Yoga as a form of exercise without participating in it on some type of mystical/spiritual level. Yoga is a form of exercise that concentrates on strength, flexibility, balance, and breathing. Working out to a Yoga routine on a consistent basis will bring benefits in all other areas of fitness.
Another major benefit is that Yoga is an extremely low impact (maybe even no-impact) form of exercise. This means that if the last time you were in good health was so long ago that it is a fuzzy, distant memory, you can work out at your pace and have less chance for injury.
Having been around lots of different “flavors” of believers over the course of my life, I know that there are some borderline legalists that would feel that yoga is wrong regardless of the fact as to whether or not you are using it as a spiritual medium. I’m sure that there would have been the same types who would have been up in arms in the early Church about eating meat sacrificed to idols. It’s important then to consider both the stronger and weaker brother in this regard as instructed in Romans 14. A stronger Christian will probably look on using Yoga as a form of exercise as little different from any other type of strength training. A weaker brother, or someone that has been saved out of the Hindu culture where Yoga IS a form of religion might be burdened in his conscience against participating. For someone with these feelings it might be best to switch to a similar form of low-impact strength/flexibility training like pilates.
If it’s been a long time since you have worked out then I suggest a minimum of 60 days where you do a short session of yoga for 30-45 minutes early in the morning while walking for a full hour at a moderate pace in the evening. Do this six days a week and rest for one day then repeat until you’ve worked your way through the full two months. Ideally this should be considered an “life overhaul” period in which you are removing all toxic foods full of man-made filth form your diet, are eating high-quality foods, taking proper natural health supplements, and possibly going through an internal body cleanse regime.
Don’t get discouraged if you see an initial loss of weight that plateaus for a week or so. This is a transition period where your body is building enough muscle that the net weight loss is zero. Keep going and you will pass through to continue losing weight.
The combination of walking and yoga routines will have strengthened your body without discouraging you. You should also be much more flexible than when you began and possibly have already begun losing weight. Starting a strength training program after a work up period like this will reduce the initial shock such changes usually place on the body and increase your chances for long-term fitness success. Below you’ll find the most recent posts related I’ve put up that are related to yoga.