3 reasons why you should practice yoga during Perimenopause

Firstly yoga is fantastic for reducing stress, which can be at an all time high during perimenopause.

It’s quite likely that during your perimenopausal years, which could start in your mid 40’s (or sooner) and continue for up to an average of 3-7 years, that you are going to be busy working, raising a family and life is going to jam packed with work/life commitments.

Add into that mix achy joints, night sweats, anxiety, brain fog, disturbed sleep, and any number of perimenopause symptoms (find a list here: What is Perimenopause?) And, well, then you have the perfect storm for stress.

Yoga is a great antidote to stress, many forms of yogic breathing, referred to as pranayama, are specifically designed to help us release stress from the body, bringing us into a calm state of rest and digest. It does this by activating what is known as our parasympathic nervous system. This 20 minute free class is specifically designed to help reduce your stress levels, so give it a go.

Secondly, yoga is also wonderful for reducing feelings of anxiety, which might pop up from out of no where, which feels unnerving to say the least. I remember frequently wondering why on earth I felt anxious when they was seemingly no real reason.

As I learnt more about the hormonal changes during perimenopause, check out my blog on these here. I started to understand that it was these hormonal shifts that were causing my anxiety, which was a relief, but it didn’t mean those feelings just went away.

So I turned to my yoga practice once more. Moving gentle and kindly, and working with mantras like “It’s going to be okay” I found I was able to support myself through those days and weeks each cycle where I just couldn’t shake off my anxiety.

Yoga is designed to help us find a deeper connection to our bodies, minds and souls and when we do this we feel more grounded and centered, which helps those feelings of anxiety slip away. I’ve created a lovely free class for you to enjoy on YouTube here:

And thirdly, yoga is great for getting our joints moving, which helps to ease those common perimenopause aches and pains. I remember waking up some mornings and thinking, “oh my god, I feel like I’ve never even practiced yoga.” I was so stiff and everything ached.

I found that gentle rhythmical movements (like those in the class above) really helped to ease out my early morning aches and pains.

By gently rotating our joins we encourage blood and lymph (a fluid in the body that delivers nutrients and proteins to your muscles) to head to these areas and this really helps us to feel less achy. It’s especially important to do this before you get into a more challenging yoga practice, or before you go running as it helps to cushion and protect the joints.

With limited time I also regularly reached for this morning practice below:

Yoga can support you during the perimenopause transition in so many wonderful ways. In this blog I’ve touched on just 3 of hundreds, and I hope they help you. Heather*

Perimenopause and me

To start the story of my perimenopause journey in many ways I need to travel back into my early teens when my periods started and the role of hormones in my day to day life became more obvious.

As a child of the 80’s periods weren’t really talked about that much and the emotional changes that can occur were never mentioned, but I had all the practical info and like most girls cracked on with it.

In some ways I was lucky, I had light, irregular periods (no 28 day cycle for me) and I didn’t feel that they had a huge impact on my day to day life. Although I knew I was never going to wear white and go rollerblading when I had my period, who remembers those adds!

I was lucky, pregnancy came easily in my 30’s and it was only really towards my late 30’s that I started to experience any symptoms in relation to my periods.

It started with heavy bleeding and periods coming quicker and faster. My periods were so heavy I had to spend the day in bed. These hormonal changes, which I know now were the early signs of perimenopause, soon developed into low moods, anxiety, achy joints, crying uncontrollably, headaches, exhaustion and memory problems. I found it terrifying not to be able to explain how I felt, or equally remember the word windowsill (bit of wood under the window anyone?)

It’s hard to think back to how awful I felt some days, I’ve almost forgotten how bad it was now that I’ve educated myself, made pretty small but dramatic life changes (slowly and one at a time.)

I’ve now grasped this life change with both hands. But it was awful, it really was. And if you’re going through something similar my heart reaches out to you. You will be okay. With time and support, you will.

In some ways I’m now thankful for this journey, I’m happier than I’ve ever been, I feel present and alive and I have a much stronger sense of who I am and what it is I care about than every before.

But the roads been a bumpy one and a long one and I’m by no means at its end. But over the next few weeks, months and years I’m going to share my story here on my blog and everything I have learnt with you. In the hope that it will help. I really hope it does.

Please reach out to me if you’re struggling through this time.

Heather*

email heather@deavilleyoga.com