Yoga: Manage Menopause, Embrace Calm

Yoga—as you likely already know if you’re reading this—is a wonderful way to improve

one’s quality of life in general. Specifically, and remarkably, it may also be a powerful tool to relieve the symptoms of menopause. This may not be relevant to you, at least not now, but for at least half the population, that rollercoaster of hormonal imbalances as the female body slowly ceases to be fertile, is a misery most of us are either suffering through or will have to face. To put it very, very simply, it is Not Pleasant. Even the mildest symptoms can be uncomfortable and disrupting. And worse, going through menopause normally takes ten years or more. That’s ten years of hot flashes, mood swings, night sweats, headaches, bloating, aches and pains, and other, equally Not Pleasant things.

Being a woman is difficult. (Go hug your mom!) Luckily, yoga can make menopause

easier. Of course, most types of exercise are helpful for menopause, as with all aspects of life.

But yoga is particularly excellent at balancing and rejuvenating one’s system something which can be difficult otherwise for a mature woman who’s enduring the near-constant hormonal fluctuations. I certainly feel calmer and more settled after my yoga class, regardless of how out of whack I may have felt beforehand.

Studies seem to show that the controlled breathing and mindfulness required to move

between and hold yoga poses helps calm the nervous system. Pranayama which is the yogic practice of breath regulation, is also tremendously helpful for menopausal symptoms on its own. It’s especially effective in blunting stress because our breathing gets shallower and faster when we’re emotionally agitated. If we can control our breathing for long enough, we will automatically calm down. Interestingly, no one knows the exact mechanism that makes yoga such a good support for symptoms of menopause.

Reducing stress has the additional benefit of reducing stress-induced inflammation. Inflammation, if it goes on long enough, is an enormous factor in illness, and while menopause is certainly not an illness, inflammation makes the Not Pleasant aspects of it worse. Anything that can alleviate stress offers welcome relief. I consider myself very lucky. I’m in the throws of menopause and have endured plenty of Not Pleasant symptoms, but hot flashes are very few and far between. I attribute it to my conscious effort to reduce inflammation, which includes reducing stress whenever possible. On the other hand, the mood swings are many and often! I’m looking forward to my yoga session this afternoon; I could use some balancing.

For further reading on yoga and womens’ health check out The Woman’s Book of Yoga and Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness by Linda Sparrowe, available on Amazon.