Yoga makes being a woman easier

Personally, despite all of its woman-specific hardships, I wouldn't trade in being a woman - it's so divine to embody this powerful somatic and socio-cultural experience. I live in acceptance of the opportunity to empower myself. In advance of Women's History month, our March Yoga Therapy Groups center on two afflictions historically plaguing many women in differing life phases: dysmenorrhea (menstrual pain) and osteoporosis (reduction in and deterioration of bone mass - by all means, not limited to women!).

Yoga’s value through all of the cycles of a woman's life is inherent in it’s primary premise: Everything is real, and everything is subject to change. We start changing in adolescence, and we don’t stop. Change can be a source of suffering, until we gain the skills to navigate it. Practices begin to ensure that the abdomen area stays toned and nourished, that elimination is encouraged, that emotions are acknowledged and processed as hormones literally pull us to extremes throughout the course of each month. They continue to sustain reproductive health and fertility, if we choose to procreate. They support our bodies and minds through drastic identity, physical and physiological changes of pregnancy. The uncertainty, joy, pain and fears that accompany birth and labor. Thereafter, they shrink everything back to health and balance, and sustain us as we hold our children through the phases of their lives. Eventually, we shift into the menopausal years, perhaps encountering acute or chronic pain, new urogenital realities, bone loss - shedding our youthful identities and fostering self compassion and emotional stability as we weather our own aging, that of our parents, of our children.

Through movement, breathing and meditation practices, we address the various dimensions of our system so we can balance the ups and downs, waxing and waning of hormones and the drastic changes we endure - with some degree of acceptance and grace. And when deviations from health arise, there’s cikitsa, therapy, specialized application of tools to each woman according to her physical, psycho-neuro-immunological, emotional and spiritual needs. Whether it’s cancer, endometriosis, miscarriage, infertility, Yoga is there to fill in the blanks that, as a non-invasive, empowering modality, only we ourselves can do.

Which one will you join or tell your loved ones about? Give us 40 minutes, once a week, for four weeks, and we'll teach you a relevant practice (online or in person) to repeat daily at home. You'll be surprised how Yoga's intelligent process will improve the quality of your life experience, sustainably.