The benefits of yoga in menopause

Throughout her life, a woman goes through various stages that are affected by changes in hormone production. The first symptoms of hormone deficiency or imbalance occur during premenopause, when estrogen and progesterone dosages begin to drop. They are hormonal fluctuations that bring physical and emotional changes with them.

Menopause is often associated with the beginning of old age and with a negative connotation, linked to disorders that can appear as osteoporosis, irritability, sudden hot flashes.

They are simply symptoms and disorders entirely due to the hormonal deficiency typical of this phase of female life.

Yoga is a useful therapeutic tool to know and understand what is happening, to become observers of one’s changing body and to get in tune and harmony with these modifications. The practice can represent a rebirth especially for those he never came close to yoga.

«With its holistic approach, yoga is a discipline that does not replace medicine but can be supportive. For this Bali Yoga has undertaken the virtual consulting service BY Offering Week with which for one week a month we support people with physical problems, pregnant or precisely in menopause, in the most suitable choice of the activity to be carried out, identifying practices and sequences that support the well-being and natural functions of the organism “, explains Simona Tarabini, founder of the Bali Yoga centers and the digital platform Bali Yoga @ Home.

YOGA IN MENOPAUSE

«During menopause, women experience a loss of muscle tone and bone density. Yoga allows you to keep the body flexible and elastic and we often suggest combining it with another physical activity aimed at muscle tone to combat sarcopenia ”, says Simona. Yoga works not only on the body, but above all on the spirit. «The prayanama, or the conscious breath, works in a profound way on our nervous system, acts positively on emotional changes. Dedicated pranayama sessions can be held, which refresh and calm the fluctuations of the nervous system ».

The most suitable yoga is a Hatha Yoga dolce, with practices that work a lot on the breath and maintaining the positions for a long time allow you to work more on tone. «Some asanas allow you to massage the internal organs, and to act on the nervous and endocrine systems. In menopause, for example, I advise against inversions which, if not part of your usual practice, can raise the pressure. On the other hand, positions such as Suptavirasana e Salamba Sarvangasana. Other positions like Janu Sirsasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana e Pascimottanasana they act on the endocrine system ».

HORMONAL YOGA TO REDUCE THE SYMPTOMS OF MENOPAUSE

Hormone Yoga Therapy it is yoga that balances the hormones. It is a therapeutic and anti-aging yoga, a holistic rejuvenation technique. Some asanas designed specifically for female physiology, combined with the right breathing, stimulate the ovaries, thyroid or pituitary gland to improve the functionality of hormone production. It is a method developed by the Brazilian psychologist and yoga expert Dinah Rodrigues, author of the book Hormonal Yoga for women’s health, published by Fabbri Editori.

Compared to Hatha Yoga, which strengthens the muscles of the spine, improves posture, breathing and digestion, balances the nervous and circulatory systems while maintaining health and preventing diseases, hormonal yoga, which is based on a fixed sequence and whose benefit is validated by some studies carried out by the University of Sao Paulo, it has a more therapeutic function, which can correct a hormonal deficiency, reducing the symptoms of menopause.

The asanas of hormonal yoga are dynamic, are accompanied by specific prān.āyāma and work on the abdominal area which is the most important center of individual pranic energy. “Our endocrine system is made up of glands that produce many different natural chemicals, hormones; these play an essential role for the health and youth of the body and since each cakra corresponds to a gland or a nerve plexus, by stimulating the right cakras with hormonal yoga we reactivate those we need “, explains Dinah Rodrigues in the book.

Is hormone yoga for everyone? As Dinah points out: «Do not practice during the menstrual cycle or in case of health problems for which an increase in estrogen is contraindicated (breast cancer, for example). Talk to your doctor before you start practicing, explaining that hormonal yoga reactivates ovarian function and increases estrogen levels ».

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