Perimenopause can catch us off guard with symptoms that seem to creep up on us, even if we lead healthy lifestyles and practice yoga. I am a yoga teacher but I was stopped me in my tracks by perimenopause. And I’m not the only one; I train teachers all over the world, many of whom join my Menopause Yoga courses because they have personally struggled with symptoms. While many women will transition through menopause with few symptoms, many others struggle and feel a failure or ashamed. This breaks my heart. It’s not their fault. If you have symptoms, it is not your fault. We are all unique individuals whose hormones, genetics, and lived experiences affect our experience of menopause. Nobody told us how to prepare for our perimenopause – it’s not taught at schools and it wasn’t a conversation I could have with my mother.
But thanks to the menopause revolution now sweeping the world, there is help and support out there. Trust me, here is so much we can do to support ourselves. This is why I created Menopause Yoga in 2013 to educate and empower people to embrace their menopause as a positive opportunity to improve their health and wellbeing.
I was a mum of two children, a career woman and an Ashtanga yoga practitioner who loved Mysore in the mornings, but joint inflammation and dizziness affected my practice. Night sweats and fatigue floored me. I was in extreme agony for months on crutches or too tired to move. It was so frustrating! I missed my yoga community, the physical endorphins and the mental health benefits of yoga. I had to learn how to be gentle on myself and focus on easing the pain, softening into stillness in Yin yoga poses, developing a more meditative mindset, easing my joints with somatic movement – and breathing. Some days my yoga was meditation and breathing. It was transformative.
My mantra for perimenopause is REST, DO LESS, REDUCE STRESS, and learn how to RELAX into restorative poses. Why? Because the hormones changes affect tour brain’s ability to produce the happy calming hormones that help you cope with everyday stress. Add to this the confluence of stressful responsibility that may come at midlife, loss and bereavement. The unpredictable hormone fluctuations may also create an internal stress event in your body – until it learns how to manage on lower levels of oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone.
Menopause can be as an awakening to yourself, a wake-up call to rebalance your life and lifestyle. In traditional Chinese medicine, menopause is a chance to detox and let go of whatever feels toxic in your life. It is also a time to befriend yourself, practice self -compassion and self-acceptance – you are awesome. This cultivates emotional resilience that helps to lift the low mood and lethargy that doctors call Anhedonia. We need to bring in more joy – every day.
Menopause Yoga came from personal experience, and listening to the feedback from clients so that I could learn what does and doesn’t feel good for you. I’m a member of the British and International Menopause Society’s so I use evidence-based scientific research, but also lean into centuries old eastern wellbeing practices of yoga, qigong, traditional Chinese medicine.
In post menopause, I left my old life behind, shed the baggage (literally) that was clogging up my life and holding me back. As I entered by Second Spring, I only brought with me what was essential, including my family and fabulous friends.
I now live by the sea, cold water swim with new friends, practice yoga on the beach and appreciate how fortunate I am to be alive. Some of us don’t make it this far.
I am now confidently astride my Second Spring, feeling physically stronger than ever, bouncing with energy, and enjoying a wider range of yoga styles to suit my mood and energy levels.
I also lift weights and love feeling stronger, practice qigong and all kinds of yoga classes. And sometimes I simply sit with my dog Alfie on the beach and listen to the waves – because being connected to nature is the best therapy.
I have just written my second book especially for you: ‘Menopause Yoga & Wellbeing – a Daily Practice Guide for perimenopause to Second Spring’. I know you are busy and overloaded, so I’ve given you bite-size Menopause Yoga ‘snacks’ that you can fit into your daily life. It includes 5 minute, 15 minute and 30 minute practices to help ease common symptoms. You can practice these at home, in a hotel, at work or waiting for a bus.
This book also gives you evidence-based medical information about your menopause, the hormones changes, plus wellbeing from experts in nutrition, natural herbal remedies and supplements, CBT counselling and complimentary therapies.
Each class is accompanied by illustrations and a video you can watch.
Menopause Yoga uses props to support different body shapes, levels of flexibility and common Menopause symptoms/ side effects of low oestrogen. These side effects are:
– JOINT & MUSCLE PAIN (musculoskeletal) caused by inflammation in joints, ligaments and (potentially) fascia. This may cause Frozen shoulder pain and restricted movement, lumberspine L4-L5 compression and nerve impingement, Sciatica, sacroiliac joint inflammation, as well as hip socket, knee and wrist pain, and plantar fasciitis in feet/ ankles. So we use bricks and an optional chair to support standing poses and bolsters, and cushions for seated and restorative poses.
– HOT FLUSHES, HEADACHES, BLOOD PRESSURE THROBBING IN HEAD AND NECK when in a forward fold pose and DIZZINESS/ NAUSEA/ when transitioning from a forward fold to a standing position. So we modify our movement and poses.
– OSTEOPOROSIS/ OSTEOPENIA weakening of bone density which means practitioners need to avoid rounding their back in deep forward flexion, avoid deep backbends if the pressure is felt in the lumber spine, and avoid using arms to increase spinal rotation. So we practise open twists
– PELVIC FLOOR muscle weakness which can affect other genitourinary conditions.
And ALL women/ people coming through menopause experience daytime tiredness, burnout and fatigue caused by: broken sleep due to urinary urge incontinence, night sweats and body heat, anxiety night wakes, restless legs, sleep Apnea.
So we always practice refreshing Restorative yoga poses, energising breath work and meditation.
LOW MOOD (called Anhedonia) and LETHARGY are common in post menopause so we use props to help us practice longer holds in Hatha yoga poses that also build muscle strength, heart health and can give you a brain energy boost.
So props can help you maintain your yoga practice through perimenopause.
We also really need to feel emotionally supported at this stage of life, so the props can help us feel like a queen with maximum comfort.
Here are the Yogamatters props that I recommend you have at home, but if you can also swap out some props for household items such as your own blankets and cushions.
1. Bolster round https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/yoga-bolsters/products/yogamatters-hemp-bolster-natural-choice-of-filling (
2. Bolster rectangular – https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/yoga-bolsters/products/yogamatters-hemp-small-rectangular-buckwheat-bolster
3. Mat – https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/eco-yoga-mats/products/yogamatters-eco-cork-yoga-mat
4. Soft Blankets x 2 – https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/yoga-blankets/products/yogamatters-fleece-yoga-blanket-1?variant=42466411675823
5. Two cork bricks – https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/yoga-blocks-bricks/products/cork-brick.
6. A meditation cushion or thin foam block – https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/meditation-cushions/products/yogamatters-hemp-meditation-kit-new OR https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/yoga-blocks-bricks/products/yogamatters-yoga-block?variant=42756579590319.
7. Yoga strap/belt – https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/yoga-belts/products/yogamatters-organic-cotton-classic-yoga-belt-2m.
8. Eye bags (1 for eyes, 2 for palms of hands) – https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/eye-pillows-sandbags/products/yogamatters-organic-cotton-eye-pillow-2
9. Weighted sandbag – https://www.yogamatters.com/collections/eye-pillows-sandbags/products/yogamatters-hemp-sandbag-filled
