How to Use Yoga to Manage Period Pain

Tips, poses, and practices for easing menstrual discomfort

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

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Menstruation is a gift. Before you press delete and move on to your next email assuming I’m some period evangelist, hear me out. Period cramps can definitely cramp your style, but discomfort is one way your body communicates important information. Your monthly hormonal shifts can be a source of great wisdom if you listen deeply. Practicing yoga can help you shift your mindset about your menstrual cycle, prevent pain throughout your cycle, and ease suffering from cramping, ovulation pains, and PMS. As a practice of Self-awareness, yoga is the perfect addition to your period self-care kit.

The traditional yoga advice

Traditional yogic wisdom offers this trite advice regarding menstruation:

• Rest on your moon days

• Don’t invert

Really, traditional yoga? That’s all you’ve got after thousands of years? As a proactive, Type-A, pitta constitution, it’s hard for me to rest¹. When asking for advice about what I can do during menstruation, I don’t want someone to tell me what I can’t do.

Resting on your moon days is not bad advice; rest is a great balm for menstrual discomfort. I choose to rest because it feels intuitive, not because someone told me I should. Reclaim rest as an act of rebellion against bodily control and as a sacred practice of self-love.

From a medical perspective there is no evidence to suggest inverting is bad for you while you’re bleeding². From an energetic perspective, however, inverting reverses apana, or downward-flowing energy. During menstruation, downward-flowing energy aids in releasing the blood. Will inverting while you’re bleeding cause irreparable harm? No. Might it affect your downward-flowing energy? Perhaps. Do what feels right to you.

Navigating menstrual symptoms

Many women will experience the following symptoms at some point during their menstruating years.

• PMS—Researchers estimate up to 80% of people who menstruate experience PMS.³

• Menstrual cramps—According to Dr. Jen Gunter, “At least 10-20 percent of high school teens miss school because of menstrual discomfort, and an estimated $2 billion is lost annually in the United States alone because of missed work from painful periods…”⁴

• Ovulation pains/Mittelschmerz—According to Mt. Sinai, twenty percent of women experience ovulation pain⁵.

• Heavy bleeding—Dr. Jen Gunter claims heavy bleeding “affects 20-30 percent of people who menstruate and is one of the most common reasons to see a gynecologist.⁶”

• Irregular cycles—“Up to 27 percent of women report abnormal bleeding patterns at some point, and that number rises to more than 75 percent over age forty-five.⁷”

People who menstruate deserve to have treatment tools, both medical and non-medical, for their suffering.

What yoga can do for your menstrual pain

So, can you practice yoga on your period? Yes! Avoid vigorous asana practices, but meditate, practice gentle breathing, and do all the restorative yoga you want. Listen to your body and choose nurturing, energy-giving practices. The Sadhana of Rest and Replenishment is a restorative yoga practice for your period. Expand your understanding of yoga for menstruation beyond the bleed days. Yoga practice throughout your cycle can affect how you feel during the bleed.

Awareness

Cycle tracking is a practice of svadhyaya, self-study. Figuring out your unique patterns provides useful information about your body’s rhythms⁸. If you use apps to track your cycle, be wary of relying too much on the algorithm’s calculated ovulation and period start dates. Your intuitive observation provides a more nuanced internal algorithm and will beat Big Tech every time.

“…practicing awareness of menstrual cycles, in the form of shifting dream worlds, emotional states and the physical changes that accompany monthly cycles, is a form of feminine meditative consciousness.” ~Uma Dinsmore Tuli (Yoni Shakti; 258)

Mindset

How do you view your menstrual cycle? Do you view it as a burden or a nuisance? Befriending your cycle can be healing. Can you embrace your cycle as a source of wisdom? Connecting with your womb can help you establish or deepen your relationship with feminine energy and align you with your cycle’s seasons (I will share practices in a future post!). You can also practice Yoni Mudra to shift your mindset.

Prevention

Yoga Nidra and restorative yoga postures practiced consistently throughout your cycle may prevent discomfort during your period. When you’re constantly exhausted your body will have less energy reserves to call upon when the monthly bleed arrives, potentially leading to more discomfort. These practices can also be used for pain management as symptoms arise. Resting never hurts.

For menstrual cramps

Lay face down in Crocodile Pose and reach your arms overhead. Breathe into the pelvic cavity, abdomen, and back. You can also rest in Queen’s Chair to open the pelvis, allowing energy to flow freely. Gentle self-massage may feel nourishing as well.

Restorative Yoga Pose - Crocodile Pose

Restorative Yoga Pose - Queen’s Chair

For ovulation pain

Try gentle movement. Move your spine in all seven directions. Move your hips through your full range of motion. Include gentle twists and backbends like Cobra Pose and breathe into these poses to move energy and create space.

For PMS

Embrace rest even though you may feel inclined to resist it (🙋🏻‍♀️). The Cooling Breath may be helpful if you experience anger. If you’re feeling unsettled or irritated, try yoga nidra. Restorative postures are nice when you need a break—Stonehenge is one of my favorites. Legs Up the Wall takes some pressure off the feet and legs.

Restorative Yoga Pose - Stonehenge

Legs up the Wall

Absent any meaningful instruction from men, women have experimented, refined, and shared  their own wisdom on how yoga can support the menstrual cycle. The standard advice regarding yoga practice during menstruation needs to expand to include more nuance, individualization, empowerment, and support.

Start practicing yoga for women’s wellbeing today

Period cramps cramping your style? Take back control of your life with targeted, yoga-inspired practices specifically designed to help you manage the natural transitions and common symptoms of womanhood from menstruation—>motherhood—>menopause and beyond.

1. Herein lies my ultimate lesson in yoga and life—learning how to relax and let go…

2. https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/yoga-sequences/inversion-confusion/

3. Gunter, Dr. Jen. Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Mensturation. (New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2024) , Chapter 15

4. Gunter, Dr. Jen. Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Mensturation. (New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2024) , Chapter 19

5. https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/diseases-conditions/mittelschmerz#:~:text=One in five women have,, during, or after ovulation.

6. Gunter, Dr. Jen. Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Mensturation. (New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2024) , Chapter 16

7. Gunter, Dr. Jen. Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Mensturation. (New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2024) , Chapter 15

8. If tracking your cycle leads to anxiety, set it aside.