Focus: Living in the present! one reason yoga can help with weight loss .... or whatever change you want/need to make in your life

Here's something I wrote on my yoga-oriented tumblr. I added a little more content here though. You guys get the non-abridged version.

Yoga can help with weight loss! Those who think they are *failures* for messing up their diet may often think “What’s the point of trying to change?? I screwed up anyways. Where’s the ice cream?” … stop living in the past or future, live in the present!

Yoga can physically change the body through the poses but, more importantly, through concentration during the poses we can change the mindset. Even during the simplest of yoga poses, we try to be *present* by focusing on the body parts "not in use". Are my abs still supporting my chest, shoulders, my upper body? Am I using my leg muscles or just resting in the bones? If you're thinking about potential texts you have on your phone, what another person is doing in the class, or the hectic day at work that has passed you can't really concentrate on your pose. So, in a way, just concentrating on the poses can bring your mind to a calmer, present state.

Your current appearance is a result of your past - the immovable past. Do not live in the past with guilt. Also, do not live in the future by worrying. The event hasnt happened yet, why stress now? Why dwell on a future event you want to lose weight for when your current actions and thoughts are the true measures of what you will be at that event? Didnt make your "goal weight" and the event is in 30 minutes? Its funny how most of us will go full circle and regress by living in the past again with regret. "I should have dieted more last week" "I didnt exercise enough" Blah blah blah. Then, another event or meeting that you *should* look a certain way for arises and many of us go right back into living in the future, worrying about that event. If you're peering into the future on your tiptoes all the time, you can't stay balanced. (Also, if you want to add a Law of Attraction angle -> if you worry about something you will manifest it in your life. Simple example: if you worry about the future, you currently ARE a worried person. I was also watching The Biggest Loser - Season 9, Ep. 2? maybe - The contestants had to cross a narrow beam over water. Maria had an immobilizing fear of water. She knew water would somehow bring her harm - which, again, is living in the future. She displayed an obvious fear of getting hurt at this challenge. And if that woman didnt stumble off the beam and smack her face on the pavement, I'm not sitting here right now! She manifested her thoughts into reality.). If you want change in your life, you MUST live in the present. It doesnt mean we do not make goals or have dreams, just do not trust the future. What you do today matters.

Eat mindfully. Eat calories that provide for the body (with vitamins, fiber, nutrients) - not empty calories! Low calories can still be empty calories (I’m looking at you rice cakes). Stay away from processed foods. Take on a karmic stance towards eating. Ask yourself - how far removed is this food from what my body needs to be strong? Be mindful of lustful cravings. Your body might take time to acclimate to healthful eating so be patient. Be, eat, and live today who you want to be tomorrow.

Listen to the body! The body knows what it needs and has its own type of intelligence. Stop overthinking and mandating what your body should look like. Your body already looks like what it should look like.

Don’t dig your grave with your teeth!

Action: Practice being still in your poses. Move, find your pose. Once you find that comfort, don’t fidget. When you fidget, you aren’t in the present moment.