What is Menopause?

There are 3 stages to menopause the first stage is called Perimenopause and this stage some women are not even aware they have started, like me.

This is why I’m writing a blog on this topic to help other women be more aware and improve their quality of living during the menopause stages.

For me, it started in my early 40s and began with irregular periods and mood changes. I noticed my emotions were going up and down, with lots of mood swings and irritability. Then the hot flushes and night sweats began. Some anxiety started to creep in and being overwhelmed when I was working too much or some jobs seemed too hard!

Remember everyone will experience symptoms of menopause differently, as we all have different bodies and lifestyles. Always seek professional medical advice to help you cope with symptoms or before you start any new exercises.

One of the biggest changes was my weight and I noticed more weight gain around my hips and belly when my Oestrogen levels dropped more. So I had to re-assess what I was eating and how I was exercising. Plus a little less wine did help…

The next phase, which I’m in now is Menopause at the age of 52. This is when you haven’t had a period for at least 12 - 18 months. This is one of the positives of being in menopause. The symptoms are still there like peri-menopause but sometimes a little less often.

What are some symptoms of menopause?

1. Breast pain or tenderness

2. Mood swings

3. Depression and Anxiety

4. Headaches

5. Vaginal dryness

6. Irregular periods

7. Joint and muscle aches

8. Irritability or overwhelmed feelings

9. Brain Fog!

10. Insomnia

11. Low libido

12. Hot flushes and night sweats

The last phase is post-menopause. This means you are no longer fertile and periods have definitely gone. You may still feel some symptoms still like in menopause, but this will gradually lower. During this period we need to look at other risks like Osteoporosis, Depression, Heart Disease, and incontinence and prevent this from occurring by adopting a healthy mindful lifestyle. We can do this by practicing Yoga for our body aches and de-stress the mind, Pilates for our core and bones, eating more greens, and drinking less alcohol and coffee.

Self-care is very important for everyone, but even more for women going through all these menopause changes in body, mind, and emotions.

To help you all, I have carefully created the best Yoga poses for menopause, peri-menopause, or just to balance hormones.

Watch my Yoga video for Menopause here.

7 Best Yoga Poses to Soothe Menopause Symptoms

1. Supported recline Butterfly

2. Cat/Cow Flows

3. Low lunge

4. Sphinx

5. Supported Wide knee child pose

6. Supported Deer pose

7. Supported Seated forward fold

All you need is some blankets, cushions or yoga bolster for your restorative menopause yoga practice.

Some yoga breathing techniques can also help with menopause symptoms, such as the Cooling breath (Sitali) and three-part breathing (Dirga). You can message me here, to have a chat with me about the information on this breathing or learn in my live stream classes.

Remember this is a new phase of your life to enjoy and start to live healthy and happy.

Learn more about yoga for menopause in our 14-day free unlimited live yoga classes.

Namaste

Jodie