Woman yoga is a form of yoga that focuses on women and the challenges they face. From menstruation to pregnancy and menopause, yoga can help women heal old patterns and find strength within themselves.
Women’s yoga classes typically offer a warm and inviting atmosphere and can include themes like female empowerment. They also incorporate pose modifications to accommodate women’s unique needs such as during menstruation.
Relief from Menstrual Cramps
Women experience hormonal fluctuations from puberty through pregnancy and menopause, which can contribute to the pain associated with periods. A regular practice of yoga can help balance these hormones, making the symptoms of PMS — including cramps and bloating — more manageable.
The physical movements of yoga can help relieve period pain by stimulating blood flow to the pelvic area. In addition, the meditative aspects of yoga encourage deep breathing, which can also alleviate menstrual discomfort.
A gentle back bend such as urdhva dhanurasana (upward-facing bow pose) can help ease menstrual pain in the lower back and hips, while poses that open the groin and the abdomen, such as pigeon pose and supta baddha konasana (reclining Cobbler’s Pose), can relax tension in the pelvic region. For a more restful version of Cobbler’s Pose, place one bolster pillow under your knees and another bolster lengthwise under your spine. Rest here for several minutes. Adding a blanket to support your torso may help you relax even more.
Increased Fertility
Women experience massive hormonal fluctuations throughout their lives – whether it’s during puberty, pregnancy or menopause. A regular yoga practice has been shown to balance hormones and reduce symptoms like mood swings, bloating & sleeplessness.
This is especially helpful if you’re trying to conceive, as a disrupted hormone balance can be one of the biggest roadblocks for women who are TTC. Yoga has been shown to improve the communication between the brain and hormonal glands, which can help increase ovulation and fertility rates.
Fertility yoga is a specific type of yoga that incorporates poses and breathing techniques that focus on the pelvic and hip area to encourage blood flow. It’s also known to strengthen the inner thigh and groin muscles, which are crucial for fertility. You can find many different types of fertility yoga, from Iyengar to Kundalini. The key is to choose a style that works for you and your body. Practicing a variety of poses will improve your chances of finding a practice that fits your needs best.
Better Sleep
A good night’s sleep is essential to our mental and physical health, but millions of adults struggle with sleep problems. Yoga’s calming movements and breathing can help reduce your stress levels and improve your ability to drift off into dreamland for a restful night of slumber.
Several studies have reported improved sleep quality associated with women’s yoga. One study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing yoga to control groups for sleep problems in women with peri/postmenopausal symptoms or breast cancer.
The research showed that the majority of studies showed improvements in sleep quality with yoga, but the low quality of the included randomized controlled trials contributed to the significant heterogeneity. Future randomized controlled trials should follow rigorous methodology, including adequate sample size and blinding for outcome assessors. Several studies also included subgroup analyses, but the results did not reveal any significant effects within the peri/postmenopausal women group. Enhanced flexibility and muscle tone, reduced anxiety, and better sleep are all associated with woman yoga.
Self-Love
When practicing woman yoga, it is important to embrace the polarity of self-love. Self love is tenderness for the self, acknowledging the journey and letting go of limiting beliefs. Self love is also setting healthy boundaries and epic care for the body. Self-love is loving the physical body as it is, and understanding that your worth is not tied to an airbrushed image in a magazine.
When women practice the teachings associated with woman yoga, they get reacquainted with themselves at a very deep level. This allows them to get a better sense of their strengths, weaknesses and aims in life at a physical and emotional level. Then, with a renewed view of the self they can make choices that support and balance them at every stage in their lives. This is a key tenet of yoga philosophy known as ishvara pranidhana. This translates as surrender to the universal energy of the universe. The benefits of this can be seen in the way it reduces stress levels and improves physical health.