Yoga for Wāhine
What is yoga and why is it so beneficial for wāhine?
The word yoga comes from Sanskrit, the language of ancient India. It means union, integration, or wholeness. It is an approach to health that promotes the harmonious collaboration of the human being’s three components: body, mind, and spirit”. –Stella Weller
Yoga is a blessing for women through all the stages of our lives. It is a self-care practice that is incredibly beneficial for the whole of our well-being. Yoga is for everyone, every body, every shape, every size, every ability. You don’t have to be flexible or bendy to do yoga, it is wonderfully adaptable to each individual.
Often the view of yoga, is that it is ‘just’ stretching, but yoga is a vast body of knowledge that is deeply concerned with all aspect of life within the universe; from our own being – tinana, hinengaro and wairua – to universal energies, and right through to the ecosystem in which we live. And like may bodies of ancient knowledge, the practices and philosophies of yoga are as apt today as they where when they were first brought into the world of perception and understanding.
Yoga is a holistic practice and a life science that encompasses many different tools and techniques that can enrich our lives in so many ways. Often when we think of yoga we think of physical postures, but there are many tools in the yogic toolbox – yogic breathing techniques, meditation, mudra, bandha, deep relaxation practices and more.
It can be a physical practice, a psychological practice, a spiritual practice or all of these together.
Our hinengaro, tinana and wairua, (mind, body, and spirit) are not separate from each other and yoga as an innately holistic practice has positive effects on all aspects of our being.
It Increases feelings of well being, relaxes, rejuvenates and regenerates!
Yoga is great for stress relief, sleep problems, anxiety.
Yoga not only helps us maintain a strong body, but also a strong and flexible mind.
Yoga is working with the nervous system, it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, our rest and digest, tend and befriend system, and soothes the sympathetic system, our fight or flight mechanism.
Yoga is adaptable to the individual and can take us through all the stages of our lives.
Yoga teaches us to live in harmony with ourselves, within our surrounds. To be accepting of circumstance, to live deeply aligned with our life purpose, and with compassion, for ourselves and for others.
Yoga is not about standing on your head, yoga teaches us to stand with our feet firmly on the ground!
Yoga is a personal, practical and experiential journey. It is a life science that gives us a set of tools to develop not only the body, but all aspects of ourselves, physical, mental, spiritual and psychological.
When should I practicing to help with period issues, perimenopause and menopause? – Now and for the rest of our lives.
How often should I practice? – Ideally, you should practice daily, but practicing one to three times a week you will feel the benefits. You also don’t have to practice for an hour a day, research shows that just 12 minutes of daily yoga imparts all the benefits you need to see improvements in your health, and is especially beneficial for osteoporosis and keeping our bones strong and healthy!
Yoga is a lifetime journey, and like every journey in life, it is one step at a time. With each step it may not feel like much change is happening – “Oh, I have only moved these few inches” – but over time those inches add up, and one day we look back and see just how far we have come.
The secret is simple, it is consistency. Day after day we take more steps, stay on the path and keep moving forward. Yoga is the science of life, it is not a lofty idea only for those able to meditate for days at a time, it is for all of us. It is a lifelong journey, the learning in yoga never ends. It is a vast endless ocean of infinite knowledge.
"Ko Hine-ruhi koe, te wahine nana i tu te ata hapara"
“You are like Hine-ruhi, the woman who caused the wonder of the dawn to appear.”