The Graceful Change

Menopause can be a trying time for women, but with a healthy yoga practice, stress about hormone replacement therapy doesn't have to be part of the picture.

By Trisha Gura

The Great Stabilizer

Yoga instructor Patricia Walden, 57, knows firsthand how yoga can help temper menopausal complaints. Like many other women's symptoms, hers arrived like rain: first a sprinkle, then a full-fledged storm. Hot flashes came first, and then--for the next year--she suffered through constant fatigue and insomnia. She often awoke in the night and stayed awake for up to three hours.

On the days when Walden had intense symptoms, she found she needed to modify her yoga routine. She was accustomed to a vigorous daily practice but discovered that unsupported inversions, strenuous poses, and backbends sometimes made her symptoms worse. When that happened, she turned to supported and restorative poses to calm her nerves. She still did inversions, but instead of an unsupported Sirsasana (Headstand), which sometimes brought on more hot flashes, she would do Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose) using bolsters or Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) with a chair. With these modifications, Walden was able to reap the benefits of inversions--relief from anxiety and irritability--without challenging or heating her body.

As Walden's symptoms diminished, her conviction that yoga could be a potent tool for easing the suffering that accompanies hormonal shifts deepened. She began to connect with other women who were experiencing similar difficulties and has since created specific yoga sequences for women with menopausal symptoms. "I was interested in women's issues before," says Walden, coauthor with Linda Sparrowe of The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness (Shambhala, 2002). "But after having gone through menopause myself, I am much more sensitive to it."

A regular yoga practice can make a world of difference in a woman's experience of menopause. And a solid practice before this phase can ease the transition, says Suza Francina, author of Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause (Health Communications, 2003). "If you practice yoga before menopause, then all the poses that are especially useful for coping with uncomfortable symptoms are already familiar, and you can reach for them like an old friend," she says. "If you are familiar with restorative poses, then you have the best menopause medicine at your disposal."

Your Personal Prescription

Here are descriptions of the most common symptoms and specific recommendations for taming them.

Hot flashes. One of the most common (and mysterious) symptoms; nearly 80 percent of all women experience them during perimenopause. Characterized by a rise in core body temperature coupled with a rapid pulse rate, these "power surges" produce a blushing that begins in the face and spreads down the neck and arms. Hot flashes can disappear as quickly as they appear, often leaving a woman feeling chilly and clammy as her body tries to correct the temperature fluctuation.

No one really knows what causes hot flashes, although theories abound. Some say the hypothalamus plays an important role; another possibility is that the hormonal fluctuations in the body irritate the blood vessels and nerve endings, causing the vessels to overdilate and producing a hot, flushed feeling. Most researchers (as well as many menopausal women) agree that stress, fatigue, and intense periods of activity tend to intensify these episodes.

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6

See All Holistic Healing Articles »