Women’s Health Q&A with Anne Barbaret.I

I’ve heard over the years that yoga should be avoided during menstruation; will you share in your workshop how to approach yoga during menstruation?

We are so indebted to Dr Geeta Iyengar’s lifetime work and her book, Yoga : a Gem for Women that paved the path to address how yoga can help women during their cycles and how it should be practiced. Feeling that women needed their own particular practice to honor their womanhood, she specifically developed very supported restorative postures and new ways to doing & sequencing poses to enable women to practice according to what their bodies and minds need during their cycles.

Can yoga be helpful during menopause?
As stated above, women go through the different “seasons” of life from childhood to puberty to pregnancy to menopause and post menopause experiencing major hormonal and physical changes; more often than not yoga can help navigate and regulate these endocrine changes to keep us more physically and emotionally balanced that happen in pre-menopause for months or years. Each woman experiences it differently and can find what will help her.

Is yoga helpful during pregnancy?
While the workshop is not a a pre-natal or pregnancy workshop in any way, I can say that all my students who became pregnant and kept attending their regular weekly classes until (or almost) delivery have had beautiful and healthy babies! Once again, BKS Iyengar and Dr. Geeta Iyengar have given us the guidelines to work with our students during their pregnancy to keep them healthy, safe and physically ready for delivery. The yoga practice becomes attuned to the needs of the baby inside and the future mother feels incredibly connected to the little one inside.( This interview was curated by Misia Denéa , an IYISF Staff member and Art of Teaching student )