Yoga for Weight Loss with Suzanne Deason

[susan p]

Well, this tape certainly evoked a variety of responses from me. . . I did it for the first time yesterday. Suzanne's little talk at the beginning made me downright MAD, it was so full of baloneyspeak. She says that yoga is the best way to lose weight (huh? --a gentle workout like this one??). She gives a couple of unhelpful "woo-woo" reasons why someone would have excess weight. The one that bothered me most was that "excess weight represents a disconnection between the mind and body which prevents the body from maintaining its own natural inner balance." --I finally figured out WHY this one bugged me, it's because the assumption behind it is that a "natural inner balance" must always be thin. Not true for many body types out there. To say that a natural inner balance will not be overweight is not far from saying that THIN is a natural, normal state. Which ain't necessarily always so. And she says that "while successful dieting can result in temporary weight loss, long term weight loss is the result of balancing mind body and spirit." While balancing mind body and spirit is nice, long term weight loss is the result of a healthy diet and exercise plan, not any mystical inner balance.

OK, so I was mad at the misinformation in the intro. THEN, we get to the little "woo-woos" within the workout, which made me giggle. Like "allow your breath to open your body from the inside out" --would it be redundant of me to say "HUH?" again? hehe. I giggled here at my own ineptitude. And my personal favorite, the one that made me LOL during the workout and lose my focus, was "twisting and breathing in this [seated spinal twist]way helps squeeze toxins from the internal organs." I could just imagine my liver getting wrung out like a sponge. What was really funny, though, was that I was expected to believe that "wringing" my liver in such a way would somehow manage to squeeze out all the toxins and leave all the good stuff in! AMAZING! I giggled here at Suzanne's ridiculousness.

OK, now to the positives. This is a great feel-good yoga workout! The setting is absolutely GORGEOUS, Arizona-ish-looking, red rocks and blue sky and all that. Truly a delight to the eyes, and very well produced, not back-lit or overly bright or any of the problems that can plague outdoor productions. I loved it that she actually had ladies with normal bodytypes. They all looked healthy and flexible although perhaps they were carrying around a little bit of "excess" (??) weight. I always love vids that use a variety of unconventional body shapes and/or sizes, so I really appreciated that. The workout was well-cued, if perhaps slightly lacking in legitimate form pointers. It was a very relaxing, thorough workout, and just the right length. Suzanne's reminders to breathe regularly through the nose and to "keep your face soft" (which is woo-woo for "relax that furrowed brow, girl!!" ) were VERY helpful and I feel that I was able to relax and breathe through poses better in this tape than most that I have because of the timely reminders. I'd have to say I like this workout best of all that I've tried so far. But OH, Suzanne, that intro! Shame on you!

[Susie F.]

I really like Yoga for Weight Loss. But I 100% agree that this tape would have been so much better if weight loss was not in the title. I really like the poses offered, somewhat different in manner than some of the other living arts tapes. Am I right that there is not one down dog in the tape? But lots of forward bending which I love.

The setting is great. It was filmed in Sedona Arizona, right in front of Bell Rock. Me and my hubby got married right on that rock, about half way up, on one of the plateus. I really love the area.

Anyway, regarding her talk. The DVD version came with a nice booklet that explanes that this tape is not really for weight loss. But that yoga and the body awareness it can create is a postive aspect that is essential to weight loss and body acceptance. The booklet also outline general heathly habits for weight loss. Also it explains how the poses were chosen with all body types in mind.

On the whole I think the actual yoga session is a good one, Suzanne has such great form....if only I was so flexible.

[SharonNYC]

And the "weight loss" angle on this tape is absurd. But yes, it's a good workout and I love the variety of body types.

It joings Fat Burning Yoga, another tape with a respected yoga instructor gone wrong somehwhere in sales concept.

[Deanna]

Susan, I've only done this one once so far, but that intro. really annoyed me as well. Actually, the title itself bothers me too. I guess it's just another marketing ploy. It seems like she's saying that anyone who might have some extra pounds on them are somehow less than whole. And as you said, we come in all shapes and sizes, whether we've found internal "balance" or not.

I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery too. It's filmed in Sedona, Arizona. I've done quite a lot of hiking there--it's gorgeous.

[Debs]

Nothing sells videos to the masses like putting "weight loss" or "fat burning" in the title.

[Clare*]

Who never listens to any of those intros for the Living Arts tapes? I think I listened to one of them with Rodney and that was enough for me! I always watch the workout before I do it, so I know what to expect, but I always FF through the intro.

I usually pre-cue all my tapes to the start, or where ever I want the tape to start, which is not always the same. LOL

I hardly ever listen to any intros. Most of the time it's "blah, blah, blah, do this tape 2-3 times a week and your body will change, blah, blah, blah!"

[SharonNYC]

...LA productions don't stand out for me in this area, and the early tapes have pretty good ones.

[Karen N]

Ditto Clare and Sharon. Usually, I'm too busy setting up my step, adding weights to the barbell, or, in the case of winter yoga, arranging the space heater in such a way that it doesn't melt my sticky mat to pay much attention to what they say at the beginning of tapes.

All that said, the yoga class I take often has commentary on "wringing out our livers" and "massaging our kidneys" and such. Just tends to go right out my other ear. Much like Rodney's "breathing into his groins" gets a slight giggle from me, but nothing else. Just as long as no one tells me to have rapport with my floor in a yoga tape, the comments pretty much roll right off. I don't know why that Baron-ism grates on my last nerve, but there it is.

Originally posted by SharonNYC
...LA productions don't stand out for me in this area, and the early tapes have pretty good ones.

[Lisa C]

Well, I always skip the intros, so I just had to go listen to beginning of the tape. The troubling part about her statements to me are the absolutes, and coming to conclusions about someone's inner life based on the size of their body.

On the other hand, I know for myself, that the excess weight I carry resulted from exactly what she said: "a disconnection between the mind and body which prevents the body from maintaining its own natural inner balance". I was put on my first diet when I was 8 years old and just a few pounds overweight. I continued to diet for 25 years and I have always exercised and have usually had a pretty healthy diet. But all the dieting I did just resulted in me being completely disconnected from my body and knowing when I was hungry or what I was hungry for. I craved sugary and/or fatty foods - all the things I thought I couldn't have. I know I am not unique, because an overwhelming majority of people who diet put back on the weight they lost and more. If it were a simple matter of just healthy eating and diet than the country as a whole would probably not be getting fatter.

I know that many people think the title of the video is misleading and probably lots of people assumed this would be a more vigorous workout with some power yoga. But I don't mind the title because I really do think that yoga can help you get in touch with your body's hunger and nutritional signals. When I am paying good attention to what my body is telling me, I eat exactly the right amount of food I need, I eat a healthy diet, and I lose weight (very slowly!). Yoga definitely helps me connect with how my body is feeling.

Another aspect of yoga that helps me is that the slowing down forces me to not run away from my emotions, which is something else that has contributed to my excess weight. In the past, I used food and also used to keep myself super busy to avoid feeling certain feelings. When I am doing yoga I can't avoid my feelings. It was very difficult for me in the beginning.

A third aspect of yoga that has helped me is that doing it is a nurturing act to me - I enjoy stretching and the tapes relax me. Food used to be a way I nurtured myself, and now yoga is an alternative (among other things).

I agree that Suzanne's introduction does a poor job of explaining this, but since this was something I was already exploring myself, I understood the point she was trying to make, however ineptly.

Yoga has helped me a lot, but it hasn't resulted in any great weight loss. I stopped dieting about 1 1/2 years ago, and over the past year I have only lost about 5 pounds. Also, yoga is only one piece of this puzzle for me.

Here is a link to an article about yoga and weight loss some people might be interested in: http://www.yogajournal.com/health/132_1.cfm

[Loretta S.]

I don't listen to the intros either. If it's a tape I FF thru, if it's a DVD I go straight the the menu and figue out what I'm gonna skip. As a matter of fact I skip the beginning "centering" segment of YFWL too. I like the practice, but not a lot of talking.

Of course, now I'm going to have to go home & listen to it just to see what rubs everyone the wrong way.

On a similar subject (Yoga DVD's), I just got Crunch Fat Burning yoga (actually the Total Yoga DVD) and I liked the sequence, even though I don't think it was very fat burning. It was very Erich Schiffman-esque. In his workshops he does those sort of "mini-flow" sequences. I like them a lot, they're not as strenuous as power yoga, but not as slow as non-power yoga.