As someone whose personal and professional life has been so blessed by Yoga, I am grateful to find ways to use yoga’s principles to help people with other types of physical exercise. Walking is a great way to get in shape, build endurance and lose weight.

A study conducted by the University of Virginia discovered that women who did three short fast-paced walks lost more belly fat than those who walked moderately. Women who walked at a higher rate dropped over 2 inches from their waistlines and shed 4 times more body weight without changing how they ate!

Since walking is such good exercise, I thought it would be great to add hints from yoga practices that I share with my celebrity clients so that you can benefit too!

Pick up the pace

The quickest way to calorie burn on a walk is to pick up the pace. At first it can be a challenge to speed up your walk and sustain that pace, so learn how much your body can safely handle.  To start with, If you are walking in a neighborhood walk the first block moderately, then pick up the pace for the second block, and repeat this for the entire walk. If that feels like too much, walk to the first mailbox slowly and then pick up the pace to the next one, and repeat for the whole walk.

If you are walking in nature get creative and pick landmarks, the oak tree or the bend in the creek. Or if you are listening to music let every other song can be your guide to pick up the pace. As your endurance builds you won’t even notice the passing landmarks and you will get the most out of your walks.

Walk like an Egyptian

The “Breath of Fire” is a yogic way of breathing that generates heat and stimulates the body to speed up caloric burn and tones the tummy. Using this yogic breath provides a quick burst of oxygen to your system so that you can maintain a great walking pace. Here is a quick way to learn the “Breath of Fire.”

In a comfortable seated posture breathe in through the nose with a short, sniff-like inhalation. When you do this puff the abdomen outward with inhalation.

• On the short exhalation, draw the abdomen back in toward the backbone but also up toward the diaphragm and make a forceful vocal “huh” sound.
• Breathing in should be the same amount and forcefulness as out breathing. Thus the balance is created. Internal heat is generated.
• Ease of this type of breathing comes with practice. This can be done a few minutes a day for effective results in a few weeks.

In the kundalini yogic tradition they say that this breath releases the energetic serpent in the spine and brings mental clarity, so start your walk with breath of fire and practice it whenever you feel like you are cooling down.

One way ticket

If you have a goal of walking 2 miles have someone drop you off a mile from home or park a mile away from work. This way you have to hustle to get to work on time and you meet your mileage goal. Giving yourself structure is a fast track to optimum health.

Take a seat

Stuck at a stop light? Pull up a chair, A chair-pose!! Calorie burn really increases when you use large major muscle groups simultaneously. A chair-pose engages the glutes and the quads while helping to build on, and maintain the heat you created on your walk. Here is how to do it.

Bring your feet together with your heels slightly apart. This helps the feet become solidly parallel. Squeeze the knees together and lower your hips as if you were going to sit in a chair. Lift the frontal hip points, tuck the tail slightly so that you don’t have a huge sway in your back and lift the arms up along side the ears and send energy all the way yip to your finger tips. Lift the your chest and breath deeply. Hold until the light changes then keep on walking!

Head for the hills

As you develop more stamina you can choose walks that offer increasing levels of difficulty. Look for hills and inclines. One major key to burning more calories is to add resistance. Not only will you burn more calories but you will also tone and firm all the major muscles in the legs.

Ujaii walk

To burn more calories during exercise you need to increase oxygen consumption. Our bodies use oxygen to turn food into energy, so focus on your breath. Another form of yogic breath called “Ujaii” will help circulate blood through the body while enhancing oxygen uptake and metabolic rate. As you inhale, your diaphragm expands and squeezes the blood out of your internal organs and blood vessels. Then as you exhale, the diaphragm relaxes as new blood rushes in.

So as you walk, focus on deep breathing from the stomach and create a slight constriction at the back of your throat. This creates a slight hissing sound and gives you a physical cue on which to focus. It will slow the airflow and encourage a longer deeper breath and allow your body to use more of the oxygen that it takes in. This type of conscious breathing will increase your endurance and give you more energy.

To practice Ujaii breathing, take a deep breath in, and as you exhale through your mouth make a long Haaaaah sound. Feel how the muscles in the back of the throat constrict to make this sound. Now try to make the same sound as you breathe in. Try breathing in and out several times through your mouth as you make this sound.

Close your mouth, and make the closest approximation you can to that sound while breathing through your nose. This is ujaii. Some say it sounds like Darth Vader breathing, or like the sound of the ocean. Your breath should be smooth and even. Breathe this way for several minutes, then return to a normal, unforced breath. The normal breath will be deeper without effort.

Get your groove on

The best way to burn calories on a consistent basis with your walks is to have fun! Set your self up for success.

-Choose a walking buddy. Nothing makes a walk go by faster than good conversation. A reliable buddy will help you keep a walking schedule and pass the time.

-Take the dog. Let’s be honest the dogs often walk you not the other way around. Let their four legged pace encourage yours.

-Choose up-tempo music. Go ahead give yourself the freedom to get down on your walks. Let the music push you and get those arms swinging to the beat. When you get your whole body involved caloric burn goes way up.

-Smile! Smiling even if you don’t mean it at first, naturally release oxytocin which will fuel your walk and inspire others to get out and get moving.

-Outfit yourself with the right gear. Nothing will slow you down faster than uncomfortable clothes or shoes. Dress lightly in clothes that move and indulge in a good pair of walking shoes. Your feet are the foundation of your walk so be good to them and they will be good to you.

Wrap it up

When you are finished with your walk, take the time to do some simple yoga poses like forward bend, up-dog and down dog to give those worn out muscles the chance to stretch and realign. Find a way to celebrate your yoga-walk and tell yourself that you well feel better each time you treat yourself to this fusion of exercise and fun!