Online Free Yoga Routines for Weight Loss

What You Need

You can find yoga routines online, free. Yoga routines for weight loss do require a few extras, though. You'll need:

• Comfortable clothing that allows you to move freely
• Water
• Yoga mat (or do the exercise on a surface that doesn't enable your feet to slip)
• Peace, quiet, and the time to just focus on the poses
• A computer where you can either watch the workout as you do it or download it onto a disk to play later

One thing you don't need is a pair of sneakers. If you don’t have supportive shoes yet, that's no excuse to avoid embarking on your new fat-burning yoga workout. Yoga's meant to be done barefoot for greater balance and control. Save the shoes for everything else.

Types of Weight Loss Yoga

Some types of yoga are meant for relaxation and don't burn as many calories as other, more intense types. In some styles of yoga, such as Power yoga, you'll find yourself transitioning from pose to pose, sequence to sequence, without stopping. You will work up quite a sweat that way. Some less traditional forms of yoga will move through poses and sequences rapidly, but the poses will again only be loosely based on older forms of yoga, such as Ashtanga Yoga. These are generally meant for weight loss more than stretching, relaxing, or learning the art of yoga.

Find Online Free Yoga Routines for Weight Loss

Looking online for free yoga routines may not be immediately rewarding. However, when you begin to sort through all the links that supposedly take you to the body sculpting yoga stances you desire, you realize they come up short. Some don't involve yoga at all. The best free yoga workouts to look for when you want to burn as many calories as possible is power yoga.

Here are a few great online spots for yoga workouts:

• My Yoga Online is led by innovative instructors such as Michelle Trantina of "Namaste Yoga". The site includes special yoga routines for people at work.

• YouTube is the place to check any time you're seeking a how-to video. A search for "Power yoga" offers a smorgasbord of clips, demonstrations, inspiration, and full-on workouts to try.

• Yoga.org is another site that offers a free workout that will get your heart rate up and increase your flexibility and stamina. There is a free downloadable beginner's yoga video/DVD available. You can watch the introduction on the website.

• Santosha offers pictures of a long list of yoga poses. There isn't a full walk-through of a workout here, but if you have previously been into yoga but are feeling rusty on the poses as you step back in, this may be the guidance you're looking for. Get step-by-step instructions on how to do the poses, then piece your own workouts together in a fluid motion. If you keep moving, you'll get your heart rate up and burn calories.

• Yoga-TV.net has a very nice collection of yoga workouts for free. Watch them right on the website.

• Yoga Cards will walk you through several sequences.

Visit LoveToKnow's Free Yoga Videos Online for even more sites to visit for free yoga workouts. If your goal is weight loss, you will probably be most interested in the routines from Fitness Magazine and Yoga Yak.

Keep in Mind

Please realize that even while doing online yoga for weight loss routines, your weight loss directly from the practice is not likely to be significant. You won't burn as many calories doing yoga as you would by doing traditional cardiovascular exercise.

However, you will gain muscle and flexibility, and more muscle means more calories burned even while sitting still. You'll also be more aware of lifestyle choices that enable you to attain better health. Don't expect yoga courses to single-handedly take you from a size 20 to a size 2, but there's definitely nothing wrong with incorporating a few free routines into your workout repertoire.