What is Menopause Yoga?

Menopause is an inevitable milestone in every woman’s life. With specific lifestyle changes and active practices, it doesn’t have to be a challenging time.  

What Is Menopause Yoga?

Menopause is typically the absence of menstruation for at least a year or more. It is a milestone in every woman’s life that they hit anywhere between 40 and 50. In some rare cases, women may experience menopause at a later age.

Although the symptoms vary from person to person, the most common symptoms include:

• Hot flashes
• Mood swings
• Absence of periods
• Irregular periods before the onset of menopause
• Fatigue
• Weight gain
• Hormonal disorders

Yoga is a form of exercise which has its roots in ancient India. However, with more than a dozen benefits, more and more people worldwide embrace yoga and integrate it into their fitness routines. Menopause yoga is the exercise of this ancient practice to help regulate one’s hormones, stabilize mood swings, and use it as an excellent transitional therapy when entering menopause.

Menopause yoga uses gentle techniques, emphasizing floor poses, which can help relieve many symptoms that women feel during menopause. Moreover, yoga inherently helps alleviate pain, stress disorders, mood swings, and even stabilize hormonal irregularities.

When individuals practise specific yoga techniques under the guidance of a professional, they can effectively alleviate several symptoms of menopause, allowing them to ease their mind and body in the process. Menopause can be challenging for women, with all the changes happening in their bodies and minds.

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Why Is It Important?

Menopause Yoga (MY) is slightly different from regular yoga practices. MY combines various ancient practice techniques, such as mindfulness meditations, breathing techniques, and specific yoga poses to achieve individual results.

Menopause is a difficult time in a woman’s life. Typically, an individual going through menopause will experience many scary, confusing, and honestly, quite tricky to get through.

Most women report experiencing issues with their weight, anxiety and depression, mood swings, hot flashes, and much more. However, Menopause Yoga uses specific techniques that can help relieve many of these symptoms.

The benefits of Menopause Yoga are as follows:

1. It is a slow, gentle technique that helps alleviate the physical discomfort which we associate with menopause.
2. It combines breathing techniques and mindfulness meditation, allowing women to become more self-aware and better manage their symptoms.
3. Individuals can practice this at any time of the day, and start at absolutely any age.
4. There is no set time limit for long how you need to practice it daily.
5. You can practice MY at home, in a studio, outdoors, or anywhere else you feel comfortable.
6. It allows you to regulate your hormonal fluctuations, thereby easing many painful and uncomfortable symptoms.
7. It is an entirely natural treatment and does not require any equipment, medication, or tools.
8. The poses can relax your nervous system and help you stay calm during this challenging period.
9. It helps improve the functions of many systems in your body, such as the endocrine system, thyroid, pituitary gland, the hypothalamus, and the parathyroid gland.
10. It relieves insomnia, anxiety, and irritability.

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Types of Menopause Yoga

Dealing with mood swings, irritability, insomnia, depression, anxiety, and hot flashes is difficult. However, you don’t need to suffer through your menopause alone. Here are some of the best types of Menopause Yoga, which you can try, helping you alleviate your symptoms significantly.

Reclining Bound Angle Pose

Most people with interest in yoga will know this pose as the SuptaBaddhaKonasana. This pose opens up your entire front body, liberating the stomach, organs, and tight feeling around your pelvic bone region.

It is essential to ease into the pose and not push yourself, as you may hurt tender zones. Practice this yoga pose on your back, while relaxing- allowing your body to soothe itself slowly.

Bound Angle Pose

The Buddha konasana or bound angle pose is a type of menopause yoga that stimulates your ovaries, bladder, kidneys, prostate gland, and abdominal region. It also boosts your heart and helps increase circulation.

It is common for people to find the pose slightly hard to get into at first, but it gets easier with practice and feels more comfortable.

Hero Pose

The Virasanais often an alternative to the famous Lotus pose. This pose is excellent for tired legs, and also helps with digestion. It is an excellent menopause yoga pose, which you can also use while practising mindfulness meditation.

The pose not only stretches all your lower muscles but can also help with gas and indigestion. It is relatively easy to get into and a relaxing posture.

Standing Forward Bend

The Uttanasana is excellent for your back, hamstrings, and helps in facilitating blood flow to your brain. Although it can be quite challenging to get into the pose, it gets easier with practice. It is a gentle pose that will de-stress your entire back and body, and so you can practice it at any time if you experience back soreness or aches.

Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose

The ViparitaKarani is a popular menopause yoga technique that quiets your sensory system, takes the pressure off your lower back, and helps you battle with insomnia or other sleeping disorders. The best part is, you can practice this pose in your bed, and you don’t require any props for it!

Along with these standard Menopause Yoga practices, you can also practice mindfulness meditation and breathing practices, which are a part of MY.

“Yoga is not a work-out; it is a work-in. And this is the point of spiritual practice; to make us teachable; to open up our hearts and focus our awareness so that we can know what we already know and be who we already are.”

If you know anyone going through menopause, recommend Menopause Yoga to help them through this challenging but essential life journey.

Now that you know about the benefits of practising Menopause Yoga, will you implement these practices into your own life?