You can only target muscle with exercise, fat is reduced by reducing or burning calories. There is some research that eating a lower carbohydrate diet helps the body not hold on to fat in the belly. Has to do with insulin and some other complicated processes in the body. But, if you want to get rid of fat, the best way is to lose weight. That is assuming you are overweight and not just obsessing about an extra ½ and inch on your tummy you might want to lose when the rest of you is stick thin.

Hot yoga. That’s the one that burns up the calories.

“Ultimately, fat loss comes down not to targeted exercises, but to the basic principle of how many calories you expend versus how many you take in.

Doing 100 crunches a day can effectively strengthen your abdominal muscles, but it probably will not make them any more visible unless you also take other steps to reduce your overall body fat.

If you combine cardiovascular exercise with weight training and sensible nutrition, however, those fat cells will not stand a chance.”

More detail here if you want the science. http://www.yalescientific.org/2011/04/targeted-fat-loss-myth-or-reality/

Yoga is not a fitness routine. It is an integration of the mind, body and spirit, and you will become fit by a diligent yoga practice, but by itself it does not reduce weight or ‘target” fat.

“Hot” or “Bikram” yoga will cause you to sweat, but that is not the same as losing weight from burning more calories than you consume. And there is controversy in the Yoga community over Bikram and whether it is a valid yoga practice.

“Core“is not a yoga term, but your core refers to your trunk, not your belly. A strong core is based on a total fitness of your abdomen, your back muscles, and your pectorals. Your core provides support and influences balance, so it is important to work on it. Cyclists and runners need to work on their core too, not just their legs. It is part of overall health.

My nephew is a fitness trainer in Dubai. He says, “Abs are made in the kitchen.”
In other words, 90% diet, 10% exercise.

There is no such thing as spot reduction. It is a myth.
You have to lose fat everywhere in order to lose stomach fat. Muscles don’t burn away the nearest fat, and you can’t “replace” fat with muscle. You can build muscle and reduce overall body fat, but that’s pretty much your only option.

(There is lip suction, if you have the nerve and the cash.)

Edit; Urgh. Lipo-suction.

@gailcalled oh, I thought you were describing some new exercise with a partner!

@zenvelo: It is the poltergeist in the Mac spell-check. I turn my back for one minute and look what happens.

“Targeting” fat is a myth. The only way to get rid of fat is to utilize calories, while depriving the organism of the fat and carbs in the diet that produce fat, thus forcing the body to make up the difference by using up the fat stores.
It is simple. Only the enablers and excuse makers try to make it complicated.
Not that you are either of those, but it is definitely a feature in the current fat culture.