Top yoga tips for managing perimenopause
Find more peace and comfort as you transition into your wisdom years
If you’ve been through perimenopause, please share your wisdom in the comments for the yoginis here who are in or approaching the transition.
Dear yogini,
One year ago as I was recovering from my ovarian cyst rupture, I started paying more attention to how my body was feeling, functioning, and what felt off. I started to wonder if I might be experiencing the very beginnings of perimenopause and felt vindicated when I learned that hormonal fluctuations can start around age 35. Right on cue. I don’t think I’m perimenopausal yet, but I did dive headfirst down the perimenopause rabbit hole with a specific interest in yoga practices that can support women during this transition.
Defined as the years leading up to menopause,1 perimenopause is an initiation into your wisdom years. Perimenopause symptoms can appear spontaneously, last for decades, and mimic other health issues. Brain fog can leave you feeling frustrated, hot flashes can disrupt your sleep, and mood swings can affect your relationships at home or work. There isn’t much you can do to prevent perimenopause symptoms but you can educate yourself, mentally prepare, and assemble a yoga practice toolkit to help you manage your personal experience.
When perimenopause begins
Perimenopause symptoms can start as early as your mid-30s or as late as your mid-50s. During perimenopause estrogen production in the ovaries decreases as the menstrual cycle winds down. Perimenopause is not a disease, medical issue, or disorder. It is a key female biological transition and a natural part of life. Most women experience symptoms for four-eight years but some people experience symptoms for ten years or more (bless you)2. Surgical menopause occurs when the ovaries are removed before menopause and can lead to the immediate onset of the symptoms outlined below.
Common perimenopause symptoms
Irregular menstrual cycles
Hot flashes
Brain fog
Mood swings
Pelvic organ prolapse
Heavy periods
Insomnia
Exhaustion
Vaginal dryness
Anger
Depression
Hair loss
Bone density loss
Managing perimenopausal symptoms with yoga
Prepare
Establishing a consistent yoga practice is great preparation for perimenopause. Starting something new when you’re exhausted and feeling unwell is tough. A daily yoga routine is one thing in your life you can control when everything else you thought you had a handle on seems to fall apart. Start building an appreciation for gentler practices such as yoga nidra and restorative poses before you reach perimenopause. Fast, hot, intense practices may exacerbate perimenopause symptoms such as hot flashes, joint issues, and exhaustion. You will resent your perimenopause symptoms less if you befriend gentler practices now before more intense practices leave you feeling depleted.
You can also bring cyclical wisdom back into your life by tracking the lunar cycle. No matter how irregular your periods become, the moon will always wax and wane in 28-30 day cycles. Aligning with lunar energy can help you reconnect to universal consciousness.
Practice the Yamas & Niyamas
Perimenopause is a time for getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. Rhythmic cycles become irregular, fog descends upon the brain, and intimacy may dry up. Practice ahimsa, compassion, by initiating self-love every day. Cultivate santosha, contentment, even on the days when you’re struggling. Moderate your energy (brahmacharya) by adjusting your practices based on how you’re feeling. Release your grasp on the past by letting go of the younger you and embracing the wise woman you are becoming (aparigraha). Surrender (ishvara pranidhana) to the universal wisdom of your female forebears. Be gentle with yourself as your body and life change.
Yoga styles for perimenopause relief
Don’t stop moving! For some women, practicing vigorous asana may moderate hot flashes by giving their body an occasional outlet to release excess heat. Gentle practices may be more appropriate if you experience joint pain, exhaustion, or mood swings. Support your practice with props such as blocks, the wall, chairs, etc. I’ll dive into the many asana considerations for pelvic floor support in future posts.
Release stress with breath work
Breathing practices, including the cooling breath to help manage hot flashes, alternate-nostril breathing to soothe the nervous system, and breath counting practices to develop concentration are wonderful for managing energy.
Build focus with meditation
A consistent meditation practice with a point of focus can help build concentration, calm the mind, and assist with sleep. I like mantra meditation. Yoga Nidra is also a fantastic practice for resting the body and calming the mind.
Find community
You are not alone. Sangha, community, is never more important than when you are experiencing change. Make sure you have a supportive community to help you navigate perimenopause, including women who have been through the journey already who can serve as positive role models.
Perimenopause can be challenging but yoga offers many tools to help you manage your symptoms. You don’t have to move through the transition alone. Please pass on your wisdom and share what’s worked for you.
P.S. - Many of the practices mentioned in this post will be shared as video practices in upcoming posts. Stay tuned!
P.P.S. - Yoga is but one subset of tools in your toolkit for managing perimenopause symptoms. I am not a doctor. Discussing HRT and other medical interventions is beyond my scope of practice as a yoga teacher.
With gratitude,
Ashley
Resources
Here’s the cooling breath practice mentioned above:
Stay cool with this simple breath practice
Cooling Breath Practice for relieving hot flashes, anger, irritation, and releasing heat.
Some of my trusted resources for perimenopause info:
Uma Dinsmore Tuli’s book Yoni Shakti is the Bible of yoga practices to support women’s health
Note their unnecessary medicalization of perimenopause in the URL categorization. I repeat, perimenopause is NOT a disease. 🙄
With that said, the Cleveland Clinic does have a Center for Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine and offers yoga classes at its campuses. It is nationally ranked in gynecologic care at its OB/GYN and Women’s Health Institute.
Though I have not read the book, I respect Dr. Jen Gunter’s work (despite her disdain for complementary and alternative therapies like yoga) and she has a whole book called the Menopause Manifesto, which a friend has recommneded. Her most recent book Blood on menstruation, has been a great resource for me.
*some links in this post are affiliate links and if you choose to purchase from these links, I may receive a small amount of compensation for making the referral.
You reach menopause after you have not had a period for 12 months
And then there are the angels who only experience symptoms for a few months…🙇♀️
I love this, "Practice ahimsa, compassion, by initiating self-love every day. Cultivate santosha, contentment, even on the days when you’re struggling. Moderate your energy (brahmacharya) by adjusting your practices based on how you’re feeling. Release your grasp on the past by letting go of the younger you and embracing the wise woman you are becoming (aparigraha). Surrender (ishvara pranidhana) to the universal wisdom of your female forebears. Be gentle with yourself as your body and life change."
Of the many transformations we are invited to go through as women — I found this to be one of the very most difficult. Perimenopause caught me by surprise. I wasn't planning a complete reorganization of self identity!
Obviously, our culture is still very hard on women. For me (and this is just me) I felt a profound dissolving into invisibility. I needed to reformulate — for myself — my usefulness and importance within my family, my work, and all that I expressed in every aspect of life. I was evolving and unfortunately, didn't at all realize what was going on. It all felt like loss...at first.
The most difficult part of it was that at the time I didn't know that this was an important developmental process and would bear so much delightful fruit in terms of vision, creativity and embodied wholeness. If I had known that perimenopause was such an important developmental process I wouldn't have resisted it so strongly and I'm sure it would have been an easier and perhaps joyful process of letting go and journeying into the new!
A door opens and we are asked to release what we hold in order to pass into the gifts of the new. Hmmm, something like birthing. Birthing hurts! But where would we be without it?
Thank you, Ashley for starting this conversation. 💖