How I lost six inches in my waist with yoga and Latin ballroom dancing

First let me begin by writing that even before I lost weight my nutritional diet was good, except for overindulging in sweets. I began increasing in waist size gradually in the year after my youngest brother was diagnosed with an illness that I could not do anything about but pray for his health. I started to become depressed and I would unconsciously calm my sadness with food. I was not depressed so much that I would have to take a medication for it, but it was just enough sadness to make me feel as though a piece of me was dying inside. My youngest brother was someone I looked up to, someone I wanted to emulate because of his academic achievement and when this happened I wasn’t sure where to turn to consistently to feel better again the way praying and attending mass made me feel.

So, I turned to the one place where I could feel at ease with every sensation no matter how bad. I unrolled my yoga mat where I could be on my knees to pray and practiced yoga and practiced and practiced until I hit a breakthrough. My focus for my practice was one of releasing in order to move forward and not so much to lose weight or change my waist size but it was the final physical effect of my dedicated yoga and dancing practice. The yoga poses I practiced most often included: reclining cross legged pose (supta svastikasana), downward facing dog pose (adho mukha svanasana), camel pose (ustrasana), plow pose halasana), mountain pose (tadasna) to arms overhead in (urdhva hastsana). A breathing exercise I used is called ujjayi breathing which lengthens the inhalations and exhalations. What really made a big difference in my practice was practicing yoga with the bhandas (these are interior body locks used in yoga, there are 3 bhandas) in simple seated pose or in other poses. I received the most benefits from practicing poses with mula bhanda and uddiyana  bhanda which should be performed under the guidance of an experienced teacher for easy access to them and instructions on how to utilize them. In just a few weeks I learned how to regain my happiness, lost inches in my waistline and came to the greater understanding that my sadness would not heal my brother and I knew that he would want me to be happy.

If you are not interested in practicing yoga, you may want to try Latin ballroom dancing. It has been another way for me to regain my happiness and is also a great way to lose inches in the waist line. For me, the dance that really made a difference in making me happy again and is also great for trimming the waistline is the waltz. In several of the steps, there is constant twisting of the body which produces an equivalent to doing crunches or abs work, but with minimal pain. The waltz that I danced was more of a flowy type compared to the up-tempo style. If you’d like to try the waltz out for yourself, I highly recommend visiting your nearest dance studio and give Latin ballroom dancing or waltz a try. You will sweat and stretch off the pounds in no time!!! Whether you are feeling a little down or just want to lose inches in the waist, these two exercises are great for making you feel good and look good. 


By: Cristina Tuazon

Yoga instructor/Practitioner 

camtuazon@hotmail.com