Yoga is more than just a physical practice. It’s more than just sweat & stretch. It’s an holistic practice that supports physical, mental & emotional wellbeing & it can be a valuable support during the life changing transition of menopause.

There is literally something for everyone. There are so many different styles of yoga ranging from powerful, flowing practices like Ashtanga & Vinyasa to Yin & Restorative yoga which are slower, with poses held for longer. Then there are more spiritual practices like Kundalini yoga which is all about energy.

Yoga in Sanskrit means union – union of body, mind & breath.

When we’re starting out, we tend to focus & concentrate on the pose which has a calming effect as we think of nothing else but practicing the pose.

As we become more experienced, we start to combine the pose with the breath & this helps to clear space in both the body and mind.

This is when yoga moves onto a whole different level: it starts to become a powerful, holistic practice for mental and emotional health as well as physical wellbeing.

This is why I believe it’s an important part of our self-care toolkit during the menopause: it’s more than just a physical exercise.

But let’s start with the physical benefits of practicing yoga: holding poses builds muscle tone, bone density, strength & resilience; gentle stretches improve mobility & flexibility which helps to ward off injuries & relieve aches & pains.

At some level all asanas (yoga speak for poses) benefit both the external body and cleanse internally – the organs, the hormones, the nervous system, flushing out toxins, slowing down the ageing process even.

Did you know that there are breath techniques & yoga poses which can relieve symptoms like hot flushes, menorage, brain fog, anxiety & overwhelm?  Yoga helps relieve & manage stress, improve sleep & eases digestive issues.

Discovering different poses & breath techniques which ease a variety of menopause symptoms enables us to develop our self-care toolkit . We can use these tips when our menopause symptoms start to whisper to us rather than waiting until they are screaming at us.

And this is where the cultivation of awareness is so key in navigating our menopause journey & is another benefit of yoga. As Amit Ray, one of yoga’s great spiritual masters says, “Yoga is the artwork of awareness on the canvas of the body, mind and soul.” Once we’re aware of how our body is ‘talking’ to us through our symptoms we can start to do something about it.

Yoga calms the nervous system. This gets kicked out of kilter thanks to wildly fluctuating & plummeting hormones levels during the menopause. This is interpreted by the body & mind as a stress, initiating the fight or flight response.

This is why stress makes menopause symptoms worse & menopause makes our stress levels worse.

Balancing & aligning our autonomic nervous system by practicing yoga is not only important for longer term health but really helps manage & relieve menopause symptoms.

Apart from the enormous physical, mental, emotional – spiritual even,  benefits of yoga, (for some people) the other great thing is you don’t need expensive equipment & you can do it at home.

Yoga is also accessible to everyone. You don’t need to be bendy. As we say in yoga: yoga isn’t about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down to touching your toes.

Alex is a yoga teacher, mindfulness coach & menopause mentor & you can find out more:

Website: alexbannard.com

For free resources check out:

Facebook group: Mindfulness & Yoga for Self-Care: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MindfulnessYoga4Relationships

YouTube channel: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCQlKZJ7MeyYc6lqkv6seISw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexbannard/