BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Yoga Yoga and your Period

I had read in one of my yoga books that you shouldn't do certain positions when you have your period.

Is this really true?? I have *never* given any thought to doing or not doing things just because I had my period. I've gone out biking, dancing, you name it. Is this some sort of ancient superstition?

No, it's not superstition - it's any of the inversion positions where your heart is lower than your pelvis (ie, you want that blood to keep flowing with gravity, not pooling in the other direction).

Shoulder stand and head stand in particular are not recommended, but bridge pose can be substituted for a short duration if you really need to work on your thoracic area during your period.

I was thinking the same thing! your period flows with gravity and there is nothing to push the blood out of your body so if you invert yourself it could cause problems. I know one of the girls in my massage class said that if she inverted herself during her period her period would stop completely and she thought it was cool until she had medical problems because of it. the blood would run backwards and back up into her tubes... I am not sure how commen this would be but I would not take the chance because I have problems already.

But I used to do headstands and stuff all the time as a teenager!! Does anybody tell teen girls "don't put your legs in the air during your period time"? Wouldn't we have girls with all sorts of medical issues if this was a serious problem? Do gymnasts really not perform during their period?

This still amazes me ... we're only talking about a few minutes, not a full day session of inversion

my friend use to spend hours upside down just to relax and let the blood come back to her head and decompress her spine that is why she had the problems I would think because of the length of time she did was upside down... I would not think this would be commen in most people. I mean most people would not find standing on there head relaxing! Gymnist also dont stay upside down for long they keep moving so the blood does not have time to reverse or thats what I would think anyways. I dont know! I might be talking out my backside here... I am just going by what my friend said...

Sure, but young girls and teens don't spend up to an hour standing on their heads... Even gymnasts only do quick inversions.

The warnings really are more for those who use yoga as meditation, where a pose may be used to go into a trance and you would have little idea of how long you've been inverted. In these instances, it's not just a few minutes.

OH so you're not just talking about doing a 30 second downward dog - but really long headstand meditations?

OK that starts to make much more sense to me

yes Sorry I thought that was what we were talking about... I didnt realize in your first post that you ment for a short length of time..

i wonder if yoga helps cramps?

Ha ha! I didn't realize it was common for people to spend so much time standing on their heads.

Do women in Australia have that problem with the blood going the wrong way??

hahaha I dont know but I want to go visit and see if it helps my cramps! I am in Texas.

I think the the abs and back would help but cramps are more in the uterus and ovories so.... I dont know how much it would help.

I think I'm pretty lucky - I normally don't have cramps. But I would think that yoga would help because a lot of it is about relaxing and gentle stretching.

And also the deep breathing which helps to get oxygen to all the muscles. Cramping is sometimes an indication of lack of oxygen - the muscle cramps to try and get some blood pushing through it to bring it more oxygen because it is being overworked. So yoga might well help relive menstrual cramping too.

I just looked up menstrual cramps and apparently they're caused by certain hormones which then cause muscle contractions just like with labor - so the cramps are the muscles having oxygen problems. The websites say that muscle - relaxing activities therefore help - hot baths, heating pads, and exercise and stretching. So if they're saying to exercise and stretch, yoga sounds like the perfect solution

Thanks everyone, good info!

In one of my yoga books it says that certain positions help with the pain of ovulating, PMS, cramps and even menopausal symptoms.

With the cycle imminent for me, I will give it a try - using yoga instead of Ibuprofen. Wish me luck!

Let us know how it works - I bet it will at least help out a bit!

I have been using bellydanceing. it streaches and strenghtens those muslces.... it also gets the blood flowing into that area. that has helped. of course the last period I had lasted two months and before that It has been 10yrs since I have had a normal one so... I just started and so far no cramps. the dr put me on meds for polycysicfibroid....something.... last month I was out two week with cramps and no period so this month i still have some cramps but not bad like last month!

Bellydancing is a great idea, freespirit! We have a whole site on that topic too

yep that is were I got the idea. A few years ago I got to reading a post about a girl who was big that bellydanced so I go a type and have played around with it off and on for a few years now. there was another post on another site that someone posted about belly dancing massages your insides from the inside out and it draws the blood into that area so it relieves cramps. after last month having cramps so bad that i prayed to die I thought well if I do belly danceing then next month I may not have then so bad and I may have a real period! and it kind of worked! maybe if i keep it up nextmonth will be better!

Good for you Freespirit! it sounds like you have found something that really works. I would hate having a two month period. That sounds really draining. It sounds like bellydancing is a big success for you.

yeah now all I need is the talent to do it! I am about as graceful as a elephant in high heels! or a bull in a china closet... I can do the hip moves and the basic stuff I just cant walk and do them or look graceful when I do them. Maybe I need the yoga to help with that!

I've always liked the idea of bellydancing - I have a friend who bellydances. Maybe once I get the hang of yoga I'll try that next

That's great freespirit that it is helping you!

well, I have been trying some inverted poses as recommended by my books to relieve the cramps. It seems to be helpful so far. DH thinks I am very brave to be trying this w/o ibuprofen.

I think sometimes I don't appreciate my life until I hear from others what they go through. I never even think about taking any medication during my period - it's amazing to me how much it affects other women! I should be grateful every time I get my period that it's so mild. I think it's my new resolution!!

Let us know how you do!

Sometimes the breathing techniques for labor help...of course you might want to avoid doing this in public.

Lisa, that's funny, my mom and one sister are the same way. My sister was having a procedure done and the doctor told her the pain would be just like when she has cramps during her period. She asked him what a cramp was....if only I was so lucky.

My mom is past those days, but even labor was easy enough for her. Go figure. I was the oldest and when I started my mom realized that maybe her sister wasn't such the drama queen about it since she had them bad too.

I even have pain when I ovulate. I think I'm PMS free during about one to two weeks every month LOL.

Jill, Black Cohosh is good natural remedy but read the warnings about not taking during prenancy.

Yes I get some ovulation discomfort as well. It's so much fun!

Ah, well, the pain of womanhood. But at least I won't have any childbirth pains to compare it to.

Lisa, you've certainly got me beat there. I have no idea how women do it and then turn around and have another child.

Well, I had James when I was 19 and flexible, and I come from sturdy Ukrainian stock. So I began contractions, in about 2 hours we went in to the hospital and only a few hours later he was born. Then I made sure we went home the same day because I hate hospitals and wanted to be home in my own surroundings again.

So I would easily have had many more

I loved being pregnant, I was dancing around barefoot, quite content

my mom said that the night I was born she sneezed and her water broke but she didnt know it she just thought she peed.... so she changed her cloths and went on to bed she woke up at 12 am and had cramps... then the contractions started at 130am. her brother drove her to the hospital and I was almost born in the car! she was in laber 30 mins. I was born at 2.15am mom was out on the farm and it was icy and blizzard weather so...

I dont want kids and with my health the way it is I cant have them anyways! dr orders

That's a funny story, Freespirit!

It's very good that your health and your interests align like that! You are very lucky in a way

At one point today I had the cramps getting underway, and this was after excersize (which is said to help). So I told Dan i had cramps and he said, "well, go do some inversions"...and they worked! So still no ibuprofen. Yeah! I am probably over the cramps hump by day three (in the morning) but we will see what we get.

Wow, that is excellent news, Jill!! This sounds so much more natural and healthy for you!

So what kind of invertions are you doing? downward dog or something more complex? Just curious...

Downward dog, yes, but also Standing Forward Bend and the one with the feet above the head while you make a triangle with your shoulders. Let me look up the name of it: shoulder stand. That seems to work the best.

So is it still helping? This could be really cool!

Yes, but we can't really tell from one sample. This may have been an easy period (sometimes that happens). So I'll just keep logging each month for a little while and we will see.

Hey, if other people are trying this out, please be part of this informal study by writing down what you are doing and if it's helping, okay?

Right certainly, the more feedback we get from the more people, the better!

I'm an awful test case since I don't get pain anyway, so I won't have any "change" (unless I suppose it begins to hurt!)

Grrr, now you are just bragging... heehee

Oh sorry I didn't mean it like that! It just like I said seems so intriguing to me, I never really thought it hurt anybody that much since it didn't bother me. It makes me wonder what other things I take for granted just because people don't talk about them.

I mean what if it hurt everybody to pee, and I never realized it because it doesn't hurt me and nobody said anything about it?

I am just teasing you Lisa. No worries! It's wonderful you are pain free! (maybe we can dissect you and find out your secret??)

Good point about the peeing. It's true - how many things do we not know about others b/c the subject is generally off limits?

(it does NOT hurt when i pee, for the record).

This period I have been experimenting with Backbends and Hip Openers to try and ease the pain.

They seem to work, although not as well as the inversions did last time. Next period I will try a mix of these poses, which seem to work best:

Downdog
Full Cobra
Standing forward bend
Child Pose
Reclining Twists of any kind
Bridge
Fish
Shoulder Stand
Legs Up the Wall
Plow
Cat/Cow
Reclining Half Lotus
Reclining Supported Cobblers
Half Lord of the Fishes
Locust
Happy Baby
Pigeon
Reclining Pelvic Tilts
ALL of the reclining spinal twists!
Reclined Big Toe (hamstring stretch with strap)

WOW I never realized yoga poses had such odd names!!! half Lord of the Fishes?? is that anything like the fish and chicken basket at long john silvers? lmao! I am back to not having periods so I am no help either!

LOL freespirit. Yeah, some of the names are pretty bizarre. But some also make sense if you look at them, like Scorpion pose. Eeeeks! I am totally not trying that one yet!

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I was like Lisa for years--never had a cramp until after my son was born & I had my tubes tied. Then, very mild until my late 30's. Now, sometimes I need some ibuprofen or midol.

For a couple of days, my lower back has been hurting a bit and so I have done some yoga for it. Turns out to have been PMS. (Another perimenopausal thing--I went from a lifetime of 28 or 29 day cycles every single month to "Surprise!" the last couple of years.)

So, I am having some mild cramps and a bit of backache, so I looked up some poses for them. Found this article:

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By the way, I don't know what some of these are, so I'll have to look them up first.

Cool Deb, I am excited to hear how it goes for you.

So Deb, how did it go?

Oh, wow--very well. I only resorted to drugs one time, when I had a bad headache, cramps and the pain in my neck/ shoulder. And, I just wasn't in the mood to deal with it in an enlightened manner!

I really liked one pose in particular-- Head to Knee Pose.

It seemed to work very fast for cramps and lower back tension, too. This one is going into my regular routine.

That is great Deb!

When you get cramps, where do they usually live? My worst ones lodge in my sacrum.