menstruation...

[Guest guest]

I agree with sally. I decided some years ago that menstruation is not an

obstacle to my practice and I just listen to my body about the practice.

Having a menstruation doesn't make my body feel any different so I can't

think of any excuse or idea why I wouldn't practice during that time of the

month.

 

I am also a yoga teacher and I never ask women to alter their practice on

"those" days. I always tell everyone to honor their bodies and listen to

them for yoga should be a harmonizing of the body, mind and soul.

 

sincerely,

jana

 

 

 

on 6/18/03 6:02 AM, Sally Dukic at sallycentral wrote:

> Hi Edyta

>

> I too was confused about the many different approaches that different teachers

> take to menstruation.

> I was initially trained in the Iyengar tradition where teachers ask at the

> start of class if any students are menstruating (they are then given mostly

> supported standing poses and forward bends. I have recently begun exploring

> the delights of the Ashtanga system where menstruation is not addressed unless

> you actually ask the teacher for an alternative sequence (which can make you

> feel out of place).

>

> For me now, it depends on how I'm feeling on the day and this informs me of

> how I should practice. Some periods I hardly notice any difference in my body

> so I just do the primary series right through and avoid the finishing

> inversions. But sometimes during those first few days of a period I can feel

> quite full and luscious in the lower belly and prefer to do an open, passive

> Iyengar sequence at home like the one below (from Richard Rosen on the

> yogajournal.com website).

> So learn to listen to your beautiful body and it will quietly guide you to

> what you need to do.

>

> namaste

> sally

>

>

[Guest guest]

It may be helpful to ask not whether menstruation is an obstacle to

practice, but whether practice is an obstacle to menstruation.

Ashtanga is a little different than most styles of yoga. We have a

strong emphasis on near-constant uddiyana and mula bandha, which work

with prana, and against apana, and which would also contract and

compress a part of the body which is meant to be expansive by natural

design during that time of the month. Menstruation is governed by

apana, which is a natural outward rather than contractive physical

and energetic process in the body which needs to occur. There is no

point in working against the body during this time. My teacher

(direct student of Guruji for 30 years and female) can cite many

instances during her 20 years of teaching where when a stubborn woman

finally gave up practicing Ashtanga during her period, seemingly

unrelated long-term physical or other problems resolved themselves.

If you can't yet feel the differences in your body during

menstruation, go on faith. Do any other kind of activity, but not

Ashtanga yoga.

 

ashtanga yoga, jana <jana@s...> wrote:

 

I agree with sally. I decided some years ago that menstruation is

not an obstacle to my practice and I just listen to my body about the

practice. Having a menstruation doesn't make my body feel any

different so I can't think of any excuse or idea why I wouldn't

practice during that time of the month.