Honoring the Nature Within: Yoga for Women's Health
By Denise Nichols, OTR/L, ICYT, LMT
Yoga is appropriate and beneficial for women of all ages and abilities. At its most basic level, yoga is about breathing. If you are aware you are breathing, you are doing yoga! Every time you are conscious of your breath, you are connecting yourself to the outside world: this is what yoga teaches. However, the hectic schedules and routines of daily life can make it increasingly difficult to stop and focus our attention on ourselves and our bodies. Stress, poor eating habits, travel, lack of exercise, and difficulties in relationships all can have a negative impact on women's health. These factors are often reflected in symptoms felt during PMS, pregnancy, and menopause and create imbalances in our natural cycle.
Yoga-- from the Sanskrit word meaning to unite, connect, or yoke” – is a wonderful tool that teaches balance and encourages reconnection. Balance of the body in relation to gravity; balance of the mind regarding action/observation; and balance of the spirit through this reconnection can all be obtained through regular yoga practice. There are yoga poses, or asanas, that are particularly useful during the menstrual period as well as throughout the female cycle, including pregnancy and menopause. However, there are also poses that should be avoided during these times, as well; a certified yoga instructor can help determine which poses are beneficial for certain conditions.
Relaxation poses, breathing techniques, and other simple asanas that encourage increased circulation and tone the endocrine system are very helpful during various cycles such as hot flashes during menopause. Simple postures, such as corpse pose” (shavasana: lying on your back with your arms and legs at slight angles to your body) as well as “child's pose” (balasana: resting your stomach on your bent knees, buttocks resting on your heels and forehead resting on the floor) are helpful in relieving nervous irritability and anxiety. Standing or seated forward bends can target the circulatory and endocrine systems.
Yoga, done regularly and properly, can have a tremendously positive effect on women's health through all phases of life. The best and safest way to learn yoga is through the guidance of an experienced yoga practitioner. As is true for all exercise, if it is not done with specific awareness to proper body mechanics, the activities could have the opposite effect desired.
