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Time of India
5 hours ago
- Health
- Time of India
No trendy diet plans or gym, this ancient practice helped rewire her body, mind, and eating habits
Klavdiya Finogina transformed her body, mindset, and eating habits—not through diets or gym workouts, but through five years of daily yoga. What began as a short home video during the 2020 lockdown evolved into a consistent practice that helped her gain strength, improve mindfulness, and let go of restrictive food rules. Backed by research from Harvard Medical School, her story reflects how this ancient practice can lead to long-lasting physical and emotional well-being, without the pressures of modern fitness culture. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Strength Built Without Gym Machines Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Letting Go of Food Rules Beyond Fitness: A Holistic Rewiring of the Self In a world full of rigid diet plans, high-intensity workout routines, and ever-changing wellness trends, one ancient practice continues to quietly transform lives. Yoga—often viewed by some as just a stretching routine or a form of light exercise—has proven to be far more powerful. Backed by growing medical research, it is recognized for its ability to improve physical health, enhance mental well-being, and even reshape one's relationship with food. For many, this practice has become not just an alternative to gyms or diet fads, but a complete reset such example is Toronto-based freelance photographer Klavdiya Finogina, whose five-year journey with yoga led to profound changes—without any formal diet, gym, or strict regimen. According to Business Insider, when Finogina tried a 20-minute yoga video during the 2020 lockdown, she didn't expect it to change her life. With gyms shut and routines disrupted, she simply wanted a break from the stress and monotony. At the time, her approach to fitness was driven by external pressure—she visited the gym once or twice a week, not out of enjoyment, but to maintain a thin, toned look. Exercise felt like an obligation, not a form of changed when she discovered yoga. The ancient practice, which combines breath work with physical movement, offered something different—flow, balance, and calm. What started as a one-off video became a 50-day challenge, and eventually, a non-negotiable part of her daily routine. Unlike the gym, yoga didn't demand perfection or performance. It gave her a space to move, breathe, and feel present. Over time, this consistency—not intensity—brought lasting years in, Finogina's body is noticeably stronger and more flexible. But she didn't get there through lifting weights or tracking reps. Yoga, combined with simple bodyweight movements, gradually improved her strength, balance, and endurance. She celebrated new physical milestones like inversions and pull-ups, not for appearance, but for what they said about her especially styles like Hatha, focuses on breath-controlled movement and body awareness. According to Harvard Medical School, this form of exercise promotes strength, flexibility, and endurance, without overwhelming the body. Studies show that even previously sedentary individuals experience improvements in muscle tone and cardio-respiratory fitness after just eight weeks of regular gym workouts that often focus on aesthetics, yoga encourages internal focus. Many studios don't use mirrors, helping practitioners concentrate on how they feel rather than how they look. Finogina's shift from body image goals to functional progress—like mastering inversions or completing pull-ups—mirrors this inward mindset. The physical changes were a byproduct of engagement, not as her exercise mindset shifted, so did Finogina's approach to food. Previously, she restricted her eating, aiming for control. But through yoga, she began practicing intuitive eating—choosing whole foods like grains, legumes, and nuts based on how they made her feel, not how few calories they research links yoga with improved eating habits, highlighting how it encourages mindfulness even outside of class. People who practice yoga regularly tend to eat more attentively, responding to actual hunger instead of emotion or habit. They savor their meals, notice fullness, and avoid the cycle of guilt or restriction. Finogina stopped counting calories and started listening to her body, developing a relaxed, sustainable relationship with benefits Finogina experienced went beyond the physical. Daily yoga brought emotional stability and mental clarity, qualities that many practitioners researchers have observed that yoga not only improves physical strength and flexibility but also plays a significant role in mental well-being and body satisfaction. Unlike traditional workouts, yoga encourages individuals to focus on their current physical state without yoga practice has also been linked to better weight maintenance and cardiovascular health. People who practice regularly tend to have lower BMIs and are more sensitive to hunger and fullness cues. Other studies have found improvements in muscle endurance, flexibility, and even metabolic health markers like blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
Business Insider
10 hours ago
- Health
- Business Insider
A woman did yoga every day for 5 years. Here's how her body and diet changed.
Klavdiya Finogina can do a pull-up, eats nutritious whole foods, and meditates daily — but she never set out to lead such a healthy lifestyle. It started with a 20-minute yoga class in 2020. Like many young women, Finogina, a 25-year-old freelance photographer based in Toronto, felt pressure to work out to look a certain way and restricted her diet in the hope of looking thin and "toned." Before the COVID pandemic, she went to the gym once or twice a week, where she used leg, arm, and core machines, but didn't enjoy it. "It was very passive, mostly just out of obligation. There was no passion involved," Finogina told Business Insider. But when lockdown hit, she switched to doing home workouts, mainly 20-minute abs-focused videos. One day, she stumbled across a yoga channel, selected a video, and something clicked. "It seemed challenging enough and also fun because it wasn't just a repetition, it was kind of a flow," she said. It featured elements like balance, coordination, and flexibility that she said her previous workouts were missing. Finogina was having fun and wanted to get better at yoga, so, inspired by a YouTube video about building new habits, she committed to doing 50 consecutive days of at-home yoga workouts. She felt more coordinated and it boosted her mood. "I really got sort of addicted to the lifestyle of moving every day, where that wasn't the norm for me before," she said. Five years later, it's a daily habit that she said has transformed her body and helped her change her relationship with body image, exercise, and diet, she said. Her experience chimes with advice from personal trainers who recommend choosing a form of physical activity that you actually enjoy if you want to build a sustainable workout routine. The personal trainer Sohee Lee previously told BI: "it's important that you're enjoying the exercise you do" as it's hard to do something consistently if it feels like a chore or punishment. Yoga for building muscle Without intending to, yoga has helped Finogina build strength and muscle. "I definitely look more powerful. I have a lot more defined muscle," she said. Please help BI improve our Business, Tech, and Innovation coverage by sharing a bit about your role — it will help us tailor content that matters most to people like you. Continue By providing this information, you agree that Business Insider may use this data to improve your site experience and for targeted advertising. By continuing you agree that you accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . But she measures progress according to the poses she can do not what her body looks like. Muscle mass is important for metabolic health and helps keep us strong and mobile. By the age of 30, we start to naturally lose muscle mass, but strength training can help us live healthier for longer. More intense forms of yoga, such as vinyasa or ashtanga, can count as strength training. Over time, Finogina selected more advanced workouts that included inversions, poses where your heart is above your head, such as handstands, headstands, and arm balances like crow pose, which require good balance and coordination. "I wasn't yet capable, it was just a fun challenge," she said. With lots of repetition, Finogina got strong enough to hold these poses and felt motivated to add calisthenics and bodyweight exercises like push-ups to her repertoire. "I recently got my first pull-up," she said, "that was something I had never thought I could do." Eating intuitively helped her choose more whole foods Daily movement made Finogina feel more in touch with her body, including noticing if a meal left her feeling full, energetic, and light or heavy and sluggish. She described her past relationship with food as unhealthy, and was filled with guilt if she ate "too much" or had foods she thought she "shouldn't." Now she eats more intuitively and gravitates toward whole foods and larger portions. "When I work out a lot, I eat a lot, and I let myself do that," she said. She's found that whole grains, beans, and nuts make her feel most energized. These foods are features of the Mediterranean diet, which has been voted the healthiest way to eat for eight years running. Exercising for fun not aesthetics In the past, the only reason Finogina exercised was for aesthetics. Now she loves exercising because it gives her an opportunity to connect with her body and let loose. "It's like having a dog in a way, just let it run, just let it have fun," she said. This shift has helped her let go of the beauty ideal she used to strive for and appreciate her body as it is. "With yoga, I kind of got familiar with my body, and my body had the opportunity to be itself and express itself," she said.
