Guest guest Report post Posted June 23, 2003 I've been reading all the comments about menstruation and ashtanga and finally feel that I should comment. I agree that it is important to listen to your body and if you feel the need to do a practice then that is okay however, sometimes you may not feel the effects of doing something that is not healthy for the body immediately. And it just doesn't make sense contradict the natural funtions of the body. When I started practicing ashtanga I didn't believe there would be any problem practicing during my period, I thought that I feel good (actually during my period I had more energy than usual and pre-period I felt heavy and tired), so why shouldn't I practice. As a beginner I don't think it effected me too much since I probably wasn't fully contracting the bandhas and I couldn't hold the head stand for very long and I wasn't doing intense back bends. However, about a year and a half into my practice I went to practice the first day of my period and by the end of my practice that day my period had stopped, and didn't come back until the next cycle, 3 weeks later! Even with that, I thought it was just a one time thing. A couple of months later, it happened again. Since then I haven't practiced during the first 3 days of my period, except for sometimes a very gentle home practice, without inversions or bandhas. And I don't do any inversions or fully contract the bandhas during the last 3 days. A few times when I have done inversions at the end of my period I have found that it lengthened it by a couple of days (which is a pain in the neck) and it didn't seem as healthy as when it ends when it should. Another note, when I asked my teacher about practicing during my period, way back when I first started ashtanga, I told him that I didn't want to stop practicing for almost a week of every month because I wouldn't improve my practice as quickly. He was quite direct and stern when he told me that if so and so (he named a few very advanced, well known female yogis) can stop their practice and still be at an advanced level of practice, then so can you! I still didn't listen to him (being as stubborn as I can be) until my body finally told me that it wasn't healthy. Looking back at this conversation, I realize that accepting that it is healthier to stop my ashtanga practice during my period and continue a meditation practice is part of the ashtanga yoga practice. Non-attachement to my practice and honoring and respecting my body. Well, I hope my story is interesting and helpful to a few of you. Namaste. pfstrikes <no_reply> ashtanga yoga ashtanga yoga ashtanga yoga Re: menstruation... Thu, 19 Jun 2003 15:04:56 -0000 It may be helpful to ask not whether menstruation is an obstacle to practice, but whether practice is an obstacle to menstruation. Ashtanga is a little different than most styles of yoga. We have a strong emphasis on near-constant uddiyana and mula bandha, which work with prana, and against apana, and which would also contract and compress a part of the body which is meant to be expansive by natural design during that time of the month. Menstruation is governed by apana, which is a natural outward rather than contractive physical and energetic process in the body which needs to occur. There is no point in working against the body during this time. My teacher (direct student of Guruji for 30 years and female) can cite many instances during her 20 years of teaching where when a stubborn woman finally gave up practicing Ashtanga during her period, seemingly unrelated long-term physical or other problems resolved themselves. If you can't yet feel the differences in your body during menstruation, go on faith. Do any other kind of activity, but not Ashtanga yoga. ashtanga yoga, jana <jana@s...> wrote: I agree with sally. I decided some years ago that menstruation is not an obstacle to my practice and I just listen to my body about the practice. Having a menstruation doesn't make my body feel any different so I can't think of any excuse or idea why I wouldn't practice during that time of the month. _______________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
