The vessel with the pestle was broke - the chalice from the palice now holds the brew that is true.
Question about orgasms: my wife informed me that a good hard orgasm early in a period would, through its clenching nature, tend to facilitate expulsion and shorten her period by days. Can anyone corroborate that?
I can’t say for sure from my own experience, but a good orgasm helps mood a lot. 
And cramps. I’ve long found a good orgasm to provide cramp relief.
Orgasms are absolutely wonderful during a period.
Anyway, I certainly do disagree that just because yoga is thousands of years old it knows jackshit about menstruation. I love my culture, I love being of it, but damn if they aren’t stupid about women and menstruation sometimes. While women certainly have a larger role in Hindu culture than many others, they still are treated as an object of mystery and either to be put on a pedestal like Sita or knocked into the dirt.
But I have always been notoriously against following tradition for the sake of tradition.
This might be worth a thread of its own in IMHO? It’s an interesting question. I have no idea; I haven’t had very many periods the last 12 years/ever. But I’d certainly be interested to know if it is possible. I think, when I orgasm, that there are sort of spasms, or clenching, in the area, but I don’t know what that might do to uterine lining. One thing I’m thinking is that surely it can’t be too violent, or it might not be good for a recently implanted & fertilised egg cell. If the contractions of orgasm can reduce a period by days, surely it would endanger a fetus? But, as I said, I really have no clue…
[QUOTE=Anaamika]
Anyway, I certainly do disagree that just because yoga is thousands of years old it knows jackshit about menstruation.
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Yup, 100% agreed. That’s the main reason I came here to ask about it 
AFAICTell, a thousand years of yoga led to really awesome knowledge about stretchiness, concentration and relaxation. Which is great. No need to pretend there is more to it than that.
Well, my niece started at age 14, which is a little late for our family, but her body fat wasn’t/isn’t so low that she didn’t have periods at all. Yes, you do need a certain percentage of body fat to have enough estrogen to menstruate. But I think the stops-your-periods level of low body fat must be much lower than we’ve previously (perhaps) been led to believe. I’ve lost a bunch of weight and increased muscle a LOT in the last couple years and am down to just about no body fat at all, anywhere. I’m not having periods because of my IUD, but not because of low body fat. When I first got the new one (in April), I still had a few, as usual, on my normal timeframe/cycle, until they tapered off.
Healthy female athletes are usually around 15% to 20% body fat. Menstruation tends to stop below 15% body fat (though this can vary significantly), and bone density problems start. Starving-to-death problems start around 10% for women. (Cite and cite.)
Some gymnasts (and ice skaters, and dancers) do indeed cut their body fat to an unhealthy degree, but not all do, even at the highest levels of competition. At competitive-but-not-world-class levels, I have no idea. My impression is that the focus on periods is almost more of a “must prevent puberty so my career doesn’t end” issue than a “must have low body fat” one. It’s kind of sad but true that women have their best power to weight ratio before puberty, so it really makes an ethical mess of the sports that require it.