As I travel around the world and attend yoga conferences, I converse with a lot of yoga students and famous yoga teachers, many with thin bodies. At Yoga Centers, our yoga studio in Bellevue, WA, many students come in the door and ask if yoga will help them lose weight. Now in my early 50's, I notice that my body is not as trim as it used to be. I am sometimes asked why I don't use my yoga to lose weight, and if the size of my body puts me out of integrity with the yoga that I practice and teach. 

There are a lot of ways to look at body weight and size, but many of us fall easily into the habit of judging and comparing ourselves to others. When contemplating whether or not you need to lose weight, here are some things to consider: 

First, is my body the size it is because I do not move or exercise enough? Do I move my body regularly, bringing light and joy into the muscles and joints; or do I sit all day at work, then return home and sit on the couch or in front of the computer? For me, I answer this question by saying that I practice yoga at least one hour every day, and teach yoga over 150 full days a year, which makes me feel I can say with integrity that I feel fine about the amount of exercise I give my body.

Second, is my body this size because of the foods I eat? Do I eat food with little nutritional value, laden with toxins, refined, processed, chemically isolated; or do I feed my body whole food that is alive with life? Personally, I am extremely aware of the effect that food has on my body, so I make very clear choices about the food that I put in my body. I choose to eat organic foods as much as possible, whole grains, and a lot of Sunrider foods.

Third, what is the manner in which I eat?  Do I eat without awareness, eating beyond fullness or unconsciously putting food into my mouth while watching TV or distracting myself; or, do I eat with gratitude, appreciating each bite? While I do enjoy eating when I sit down to a meal, I am very aware of how much I need, and do not take more than my body needs at that moment. When I am teaching classes all day, I usually take very little food, preferring to keep my energy and focus through liquid nourishment.

At Yoga Centers we have a quote on the bathroom wall that says, "Almost all of our unhappiness is the result of comparing ourselves to others" - and of judging others. One size does not fit all, nor does one size fit one person for her entire life. Our body's needs change over time. Sometimes the body needs thinness, sometimes it needs weight. We would do our heart good by not comparing ourselves to others or to unrealistic "Photoshopped" images. We must dethrone the false god of thinness.  We must be gentle with ourselves so we can hear what our body needs, not what others tell us it needs. And we must also be courageous and honest with ourselves if we need to make a change.

So, will yoga help you lose weight? Maybe. Maybe not. Yoga will help you find your ideal weight by increasing your awareness, by giving you strength to see yourself with honesty and compassion, by helping you make peace with the way your body is right now, and by loving it just as it is. Yoga helps you listen within, so the next time you make a choice about food or exercise it will be made from love, from the union of your body and your heart, from your Yoga. Integrity can never be judged from the outside. It is an inner state of honesty with the Self.