Honouring Your Cycle - Yoga for Healthy Menstruation

Are you tired too much of the time? Do you feel depleted and emotionally overwhelmed? Do you dread getting your period? Do you suffer from PMS, painful, or irregular periods? Are you finding the transition to menopause frustrating? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’re not alone, and its likely stress has something, if not everything, to do with how you’re feeling.

The negative effects of stress are reaching epidemic proportions in our modern lives, and related to women's high stress levels is the rise in menstrual disorders and infertility. Reducing stress and learning how to be more stress resilient is imperative to initiate healing. Managing your stress levels throughout the month is important, but even more so when your energy is compromised during your bleeding time.

When our body relaxes instead of constricts, our entire being integrates – body, mind and spirit. In the same way that menstruation allows the body to cleanse and renew, meditation, particularly at this point in the cycle, offers a cleansing of the mind. By practicing gentle and restorative yoga, guided meditation and breathwork, we can calm the mind and nourish the nervous system, relieving chronic stress, which in turn helps to balance the hormonal system. This feminine, cyclical approach to yoga honours the beauty of stillness just as much as action.

Gift yourself the time to honour the miracle of your body’s potential for renewal.

Within This 4-Week Series:

• Learn the principles behind a feminine approach to yoga for the menstrual phase of your cycle as well as guidelines for what to avoid or modify during menstruation.
• Experience therapeutic practices that work with, not against, the lower energy that naturally occurs at this time of the month.
• Practice breathing techniques to engage the ‘relaxation response’ which counteracts the negative effects of the ‘stress response’ on your nervous system and hormones.
• Explore practices that aim to calm and ground your energy by incorporating slow, meditative movements that include longer holds of gentle and supportive, restorative postures with a focus on floor-based work.

Yoga Nidra – Deep Relaxation for Healthy Menstruation (60 mins)

Yoga Nidra is a guided relaxation practice that means ‘yogic sleep’. The idea is that your body rests completely but your mind remains quietly alert. Yoga Nidra is a powerfully healing practice that can help relieve stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue and depletion. It’s a rejuvenating practice to support you when your energy is low and is excellent during menstruation and to promote a healthy menstrual cycle. Deep relaxation practices can help rest your nervous system on a profound level by engaging the rest, digest and repair response, bringing your mind-body back into balance, allowing for deep healing and regeneration.

Therapeutic Yoga for Menstruation (90 mins)

If bleeding, this practice is great for anytime during your period, but it’s especially beneficial within the first few days of your cycle when your flow is heaviest and your energy is generally at its lowest. This session refreshes your energy when you feel tired and heavy, supporting optimal menstrual balance and health. This restorative sequence includes postures to support circulation and energy flow in the pelvic area to help ease menstrual cramping and soreness at the low back. The effect of this sequence is relaxing, grounding and nourishing.

Heart Opening Menstrual Practice (60 mins)

This is a beneficial practice to do a few days into your cycle, around days 3-5 when the menstrual flow is not as heavy. In this sequence we’re focusing on relieving stiffness in the neck, shoulders and upper back, that can develop due to the lack of activity and natural slowing down during the early part of our cycle. We’re practicing heart openers and postures to support good menstrual flow and reproductive health.

Late Menstrual Practice (60 mins)

This session works as a nice transition practice as you near the end of your period. This practice is designed to help you begin to get your body moving a little more as you start to open your awareness outward again. We’re shifting any stagnant energy that may have accumulated through gentle, mindful movement.

Prop List

• A yoga mat or comfortable non-slip surface for movement, restorative, and meditation sessions.
• A wall to support your back while seated and to elevate legs.
• An eye pillow (eye mask, scarf, or hand towel) to cover your eyes.
• A designated blanket to cover your body for warmth.
• A Mexican blanket (firm woven blanket) or pillow to support your head and neck.
• Mexican blankets (4-5 firm woven blankets, beach or bath towels) to roll or fold as support under arms, knees, ankles, hips.
• It would be beneficial to have 1 rectangular bolster. If you don’t have a bolster, you can fold a large comforter/quilt/duvet/blanket to create a similar shape and tie to hold. As a guideline, aim to create a support of 8-10” wide, 28” long, and about 6-9” thick. Otherwise, 3-4 firm woven blankets (thick beach or bath towels) stacked can work in place of a bolster, for most poses.
• For some sessions, I suggest having 2 bolsters (approx. the same size) or 6 firm woven blankets, beach or bath towels.
• Two foam or cork yoga blocks, 4” thick x 6” wide x 9” long (or similar prop) to create height when needed. You want to be able to support your body weight.
• A folding chair, dining chair, ottoman or surface of standard sitting height to elevate your legs.
• An adjustable yoga strap, 2” wide x 8’ long (long scarf or 2 neckties tied together).
• Optional: A sandbag
• Optional: A hot water bottle, heating pad, or hot/cold therapy bag

Prop Tutorial - I created a video to give an overview of yoga props. We want to support our body in all restorative poses, but also in meditation so that we can relax, and even in our movement practices to create softness. Use of restorative props provide complete support to create nurturing physical postures of ease and comfort. I review the props used within a studio setting, as well as household items that can be used as substitutes while practicing at home.

To learn more about the many benefits of restorative yoga and to watch my prop tutorial, click here.

Details

• Please feel free to contact me by email with any series questions at colleen@wanderwithin.ca, I would be happy to discuss with you.
• You will receive an email following registration with the zoom link and information for setting up your practice space.