Yoginis in Menopause?

[Guest guest]

Just wondering what my yogini sisters have experienced or are

experiencing out there..?

I feel great (at 49) but have bigger need for sleep.. Having been

blessed with sadhana for much of my life, thank God for that, I do my

practice and all, but amrit vela is hard to reach at the moment.. (My

life and work is such that I cannot take those yogically recommended

naps..) Is this a transitional phase and will the need for sleep

reduce again when the years of perimenopause are through..? I dearly

hope so (yawn..)Pritam

[Guest guest]

Kundalini-Yoga , "tept2free" <khalsa wrote:>> Just wondering what my yogini sisters have experienced or are> experiencing out there..?

In my menopausal years I have come to lavish a good deal of attention on getting enough sleep. The less sleep I get, the less initiative, optimism and energy I have. I have had to discover and accept the amount of sleep I need and strategize how to get it. Prioritizing sleep crashes into prioritizing sadhana. What a depressing prospect (especially to my sleep-starved brain)!

Surprisingly, prioritizing sleep revitalized sadhana. making conscious choices about balancing rest and sadhana has been good for both. As you have observed, it means getting up later, going to bed earlier, or being able to nap. Getting to sleep is not as easy for me as it once was. It is even harder when my bedtime varies, so I have to do the math: Sadhana time minus optimal snooze time equals bedtime. Even after pushing my sadhana start time back some I still have to face a bedtime that severely limits my participation in evening events.

Sometimes I get slippage in my bedtime or restless nights and I may sleep in. Whenever I get up I do my "daylight sadhana." Amrit vela sleep is not as restful as nighttime sleep, but as a temporary measure, in the face of serious mental or physical imbalance, it may be better than not enough sleep. When I have the blessing of group sadhana or a sadhana buddy, I rest or sleep at sadhana as needed. Yogi Bhajan declined to criticize sleeping in sadhana. He maintained that 80% of the benefits come from just showing up. When I need them, sadhana naps are deliciously restorative.

 

My sleep needs seem pretty consistent now, a few years into menopause. My requirement has not necessarily increased, but my "sleep credit" has been revoked. Through the first two 18-year cycles of life I was able to carry a sleep debt. (I always fell asleep in sadhana, though. I figured it was a spiritual problem. In retrospect I think it was a math problem).

 

In my first 18 years, as Yogi Bhajan teaches, I could do almost anything without noticing the consequences. In the second cycle I was living off my reserves. Sadhana and positive habits preserved and built those reserves. Heavy schedules, challenging environments and persistent neuroses drew them down. From 36-54 exhaustion (and sometimes rage) prompted me to remove from my life anything that did not work for me. (I call these "The Kali Years). Guilt and denial about my need for sleep had to go.

"I eat and sleep but little," Guru Nanak said. This does not mean that less is always better. Over the years I have put a lot of thought and energy into tweaking my diet to get the right amount and quality of food. Now I take similar care to get my rest. Yogi Bhajan taught that two to four hours in deep sleep is the prime requirement. How many hours in bed does it take to achieve that? Clues come from gauging my levels of initiative, optimism and energy. This is my practice of the yoga of awareness.

 

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