Oh thanks! Sorry, I wasn’t sure because I have absolutely no idea what women’s magazines do say, so I thought that might be all they talk about! :smack: I should’ve known better, I believe they tend to be about how ugly women are unless they wear this or that, and about what you should do in bed so that your man stays interested…
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If you like the class, lie and tell her that your birth control prevents you from menstrating. She can stop asking and you can go on your merry bendy way.
Maybe collect some data on the subject and leave it on her desk…
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Haha, that’s funny because most of the time, that’s actually true! Only it wasn’t holding up anymore during yesterday’s class, but I still didn’t tell her because I thought I’d take the challenge and see if I survived I might drop in occasionally, as there was some good stuff, but it wasn’t quite my thing, so I’ll try the weekend classes I think.
I was actually thinking, if anyone has some good cites, I’d print them off and leave them lying around…
I’ve always heard it was twisting poses that you should avoid. Personally I attempt everything and just stop if it hurts - but then this applies to day when I’m not menstruating as well.
Here’s the thing about menstrual cycles. Every woman’s is the same and every woman’s is different. That is to say, the basic formula is all the same, but women react differently.
By the time you are in your twenties or thirties, unless you are unlucky*, you pretty much know what you can and can’t do on your period. So you’ll know if you can do headstands or not.
I wonder if she has had someone have an accident. I’m still not sure what that has to do with headstands…but to be 100% honest, I haven’t attempted a headstand since I was a very young girl.
*Some women do not have regular periods of any kind.
And yes, I agree. There should be nothing wrong or humiliating about saying “I’m not feeling well, I’m on my period.” Why is that shameful?
I didn’t meant to imply that it’s shameful to admit when you’re on your period. I just don’t think it’s anyone else’s business, with the possible exception of a lover who might find the information relevant and useful. But a yoga teacher? I don’t see why she has to know about my cycle, unless we can come up with some hard data about why this yoga instructor is correct and we are not. It’s not like I go around announcing and discussing other bodily functions. “Man, am I constipated today; I’d better have some extra fiber in my lunch!” There’s nothing shameful about constipation; I just don’t see my reproductive or digestive systems’ functions as anyone’s business but my own and possibly my doctor’s in the event something’s gone wonky.
You don’t see gymnasts* sitting out a competition because they’re on their periods, do you? Well, they invert, twist around, jump around, and in general beat their bodies to shit on a daily basis. Their periods don’t seem to effect much of anything.
My niece was a gymnast. Got her first period the morning of a huge invitational competition. Yes, Virginia, gymnasts menstruate too.
I did find this one, which says that yoga is good for depression and can actually help regulate irregular cycles.
This article implies that it’s all about the Qi or energy flow and that inverting while menstruating interrupts your Qi. Uh-huh. So it is all about the woo.
This study suggests that women athletes are at higher risk for knee injuries during menstruation. Yoga was not singled out.
This guy says " From a yogic perspective, the reason for not inverting during menstruation has to do with apana, the hypothesized downward pranic force that is said to help facilitate things such as bowel function, urination, and menstrual flow. The concern is that reversing this normal energetic movement could interfere with the period, leading to a cessation of flow and possibly heavier bleeding later on.
It may be wise to avoid inversions while menstruating. But from a medical standpoint, the belief is based mostly on speculation. Women are often warned that if they invert during their period, “retrograde menstruation” could occur. That is, blood could flow in the opposite direction and lead to endometriosis, a painful condition in which small clusters of uterine cells grow in the abdominal cavity. One study, however, found that retrograde menstruation naturally occurs in 90 percent of women, most of whom never develop endometriosis. So we do not know for sure if inversions increase retrograde flow or whether the backward flow increases the risk of endometriosis."
Because we don’t hear this about any other form of exercise, including team sports, gymnastics, dance (ballet dancers don’t take off for a week during their periods), my assertion is that this is Hindu-based woo and not to be taken seriously unless one is Hindu.
Are you sure it’s Hindu based woo and not the provenance of white people who teach yoga? I mean Hinduism certainly has rules about menstruation like every other freakin culture but I don’t remember hearing anything specific about yoga. I mean, that guy you linked to in your fourth interview is named Timothy McCall - certainly not a Hindu name!
I know that’s not what you meant, and you’re right that in this particular situation the reason that she asked was actually wrong, though she had the right intention.
I see what you mean about not telling the world that you’re constipated etc, but I sometimes feel that there is an extra taboo on menstruation. I don’t think it’s necessary to announce to every room you enter, but it would be nice if you* could feel comfortable saying it if there were a reason.
Oh yeah, she also mentioned twisting poses. See, the whole “can’t do this, can’t do that, or that or that”- thing about menstruation. Hate it! Sit still, look lady-like and suffer, that’s all you’re meant to do.
Well, I’m taking the idea that white yoga instructors are teaching – about prana – as one of Hindu origins. For the most part, we do not teach yoga in this country as part of Hindu religious practice. My understanding is that the many forms of yoga taught in India is not your California granola-cruncher’s yoga. However, American yoga instructors still try to use elements that come from Hinduism without any real understanding of the religion. Much the same way Taoism gets diluted and misunderstood when white Americans teach Kung fu (without ever having studied under a Chinese sifu or without having studied much of Taoism in general). So perhaps these white American yoga instructors hear words like “prana,” “asana” and “namaste” and maybe they have some understanding and maybe so much they don’t.
Yes, that’s what I was trying to say. What the American yoga instructors teach is indeed a watered-down version of yoga, designed to make it sound exotic or whatever. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Thanks for explaining.
My yoga teacher also recommends no inversions for women during their periods. He’s heard it all in India at the feet of Geeta Iyengar herself, whose yoga teaching focuses on women’s health.
However, he also makes sure to tell us that being a male and an American, he can’t speak against our personal experience, and recommends some experimentation to see what works for any student.
It makes sense to consider that a system as old as yoga MIGHT have a clue about these issues, and some useful guidelines. But it’s even more sensible to also consider both scientific evidence and your own body’s response.
I personally never admit in class when I’m having my period, and do inversions. My teacher is fine with that. Since so much of what we do in yoga will never be subjected to double-blind studies, and we’ll never absolutely know which specific traditions should be embraced or avoided, we really must rely on our ongoing evaluation of what works, and whether a teacher has proven to be trustworthy.
Despite my skepticism about this facet of yoga tradition, I still find Iyengar yoga immensely useful in keeping my old body functioning.
I don’t think the age of a discipline has much merit in determining whether its edicts are true. Gynecology is a much younger than yoga, but given that it’s evidence-based, I’d trust what a gynecologist - especially one who begin his or her career some time in the past couple of decades says about inverted menstruation long before I’d trust any yoga instructor in the world.
My point was just that some few old traditions can be valid and have been empirically tested over and over again. Some of the ideas that survive do so not just because of inertia or social pressures or religion or commercial greed, but because they have a little something to them that has worked often enough, and possibly been refined to the most effective components.
It’s just impossible to know which ones are those (versus the ones that are just old–and wrong). So if my yoga teacher tells me about the not-doing-inversions thing, I’ll at least allow the possibility that the ancestors learned a few tricks, and then start finding out the evidence-based medicine and examining my own experience. I don’t dismiss all the old stuff automatically (just a lot of it). This specific old teaching didn’t stand up for me, but I did pay attention for any ill effects when I flouted it.
I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that competitive gymnasts have such low body fat that menstruation would be affected, especially given how young they tend to be.
In my yoga class you got to just start shavasana early if you were menstruating, and the teacher would come make a nice little nest of blankets around you and you could just zone out while everyone else was doing headstands. I admit I claimed to be on my period when I wasn’t when I just didn’t feel like doing headstands (which was pretty much always). It was nice.
I might drop in occasionally, as there was some good stuff, but it wasn’t quite my thing, so I’ll try the weekend classes I think.
