PARENTING
Om
36
may/june 2017yogajournal.com.auHOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT
MENSTRUATION? Did an enlightened
parent create a beautiful coming-of-age
ceremony? Were you told by friends?
Or did you have no idea until the first
day of your very first cycle when you
were handed a sanitary towel by your
mum without a clue of what to do with
it? How much would you have loved a
class on menstruation? It’s one of the
most impactful and touching topics I
cover in my Zenergy teacher training
courses and teen girl classes.
In our society today, girls still feel
embarrassment, shame and negativity
about a natural part of being a girl and
a woman. The education received in
school is clinical and usually talks onlyabout the reproductive cycle, not the
menstrual cycle. It’s time to demystify,
uplift, educate and take back the
sacredness of being a girl. These simple
yoga exercises can help empower teens
and encourage an easy and regular
cycle.
Women’s bodies emulate the patterns
and cycles of the moon, the ebb and flow
of the tides — physically, mentally and
emotionally. Every woman’s cycle is
unique to her body. For some women it
can be 20 days, for others it will be 30.
Each month a different ovary fires. One
month it will be the right side and the
next it will be the left, which means that
if one ovary isn’t working as well, every
second cycle the period may be painful PHOTO: MISHAKAMINSKY/ISTOCKPHOTO.COMEmpowering teenage girls
during their transformation to
womanhood will help reduce
negativity and encourage
healthy menstruation.
By Loraine Rushton
or heavy and the next month it will
seem easy and ‘regular’. Any pain, PMT,
length irregularity, bloating or nausea
can be helped with some specific yoga
therapy exercises.Yoga therapy for
healthy menstruation
- Butterfly hip lifts: to relieve
back pain and balance hormones
Ask your teen to lie on their back,
with their hands behind their head,
knees open wide and the soles of the
feet together. Then say to them, “Take
a big breath in and, as you breathe out,
lift the hips.” Then inhale back down.
Repeat this four times. - Hip lifts and squeezes: for even
blood flow, strong blood quality and
to prevent missing periods
Instruct them to lie on their back, knees
bent and feet hip-width apart. They hold
their ankles if they can reach. Then say,
“As you exhale, lift your hips high up to
the ceiling and exhale back down.”
This is repeated 10 times quickly. - Half bow: for regulating the length
of the cycle to the same number of
days every month
Tell them to lie on their bellies, bend
their right knee and hold the ankle.
Their left arm is extended next to their
left ear. Explain that it is important to
keep their face looking down so as to
lengthen their neck. Say, “Keep your
knees squeezing together. Take a big
breath in and as you breathe out, lift
the bent knee and the straight arm
and torso.” They then inhale down.
Work out the harder side with them
and, if they do more on the difficult
side, it will help with the ovary side
that is weaker or not working as well. - Sit-ups: to correct imbalances
in the ovaries
Have your teen lying on their back,
hands on their belly and one knee
bent out to the side with their foot
against the straight knee (Tree Pose
lying down). Encourage them to exhale,
sit up and inhale back down. To help
them sit up, hold their ankles. Again,
work with them to find the harder side
and do more on the hard side as that
relates to the ovary that may not be
functioning as well.
Sacred
cycles