Powering yoga with weights

With modernisation and technology at hand, we have done away with most activities that required us to work with weights. Daily chores like working in the fields, moving heavy items, cooking for large families, washing clothes and drawing water from wells and carrying it for long distances involved physical labour with the added advantage of working with weights.

Weights would range anywhere between two and 15 kg. Weights are required to keep our body in good working condition. It’s even better when you mix it up with yoga. This combination helps you in increasing your flexibility, strengthening your muscles, reducing the risk of injuries, improving your posture and also in improving your yoga poses.

If you are a beginner, don’t rush into exercising. Go slow and only add weights when your yoga poses are perfect. Start working with one or two kg weights.

Here is a simple guide to introducing weights while doing these three asanas that help tone and strengthen the neck, abdomen, thigh and calf muscles. Begin by standing upright with both hands on your sides. This is the basic pose (Tadasana) for all standing yoga postures.

Utkatasana (chair pose) with weights: Start from Tadasana while holding the weights close to the centre of the chest. Slowly lower the trunk by folding the knee joints till the thighs become parallel to the earth as if you are sitting on a chair.

Breathe normally and stay for 30 seconds while weights are positioned closer to the chest. Now, slowly turn your upper body towards the left with your left elbow at the right knee and weights still in both hands. Breathe normally and stay for 20 seconds, repeat the same on the right side.

Parivratha Trikonasana with weights: Start from Tadasana, widen the gap between the legs to maintain a distance of 3-3.5 feet, with feet parallel to each other and hands at shoulder level and parallel to the earth.