A Workshop On Transitions with Bobby Clennell - Part 2

“Yoga is a gift for old age. One who takes to Yoga when old gains not only health and happiness but also freshness of mind, since Yoga gives one a bright outlook on life and one can look forward to a happier future rather than looking back into a past which has already entered into darkness.”

~ Geeta Iyengar, Yoga, A Gem For Women

Bobby Clennell’s Workshop on Menopause continued last weekend with a focus on Uttistha Paschima Pratana Sthiti, or standing forward bends and Viparita Sthiti or inversions. In Uttistha Paschima Pratana Sthiti, standing forward bends, and Paschima Pratana Sthiti, or seated forward bends, the heart is positioned to soothe the nerves to bring quiet and calm to the body. When supported correctly for a woman’s level of practice and her cycle in life, it becomes a quieting position and serves to help her recover from fatigue. Bobby half-jokingly said when women come to class at the end of the day, you can pretty much bet they are tired.

To prepare for forward bends, we did supported extensions like arching over a high cross bolster set up where the pelvis is at the apex, legs in Baddha Konasana, crown of the head on the floor, and a rolled blanket for the neck —- it offered such a release from stem to stern that this practitioner could have stayed in it the rest of class.

As with all Iyengar poses, there are many variations to accommodate issues like lower back (lift the legs and feet) or depression (make the chest the apex). The pose mentioned earlier, along with Supta Virasana, extends the abdomen, helps the adrenals, and prepares the body for forward bends. Another action these poses facilitate is sliding the tailbone forward, which positions the pelvis and its contents into an important alignment for women.

While we experienced the poses, Bobby educated us on the Ayurvedic view on menopause. In supporting women during this time, Ayurveda seeks to balance the three Doshas, which are the energetic constitutions of a body and can also be applied to the cycles of a woman’s life. The basic Doshas are Kapha, Pitta, and Vata. Kapha is considered the beginning of life; Pitta is more about the time of pushing, striving, moving, and attaining — “being a householder”. The end part of your life is Vata, which is attributed to the element of wind and said to be a time of wandering in the forest.

When a woman is 45 or over, healthy menopause begins with skipping periods; then once she has stopped her period for a full year, she is in menopause. Bobby recommends giving it more than a year to be certain. She explained that in the Ayurvedic view, menopause is the transition for women from the Pitta to Vata time of life. During the Vata period, insomnia, dryness, indecisiveness, and mental decline. However, it’s also a time of great wisdom as we have experienced with some of our teachers like Bobby.

The Ayurvedic system describes various Dosha imbalances that can occur during the transition time for women. Women may experience a Vata imbalance, which can bring on emotional upset. Pitta imbalances bring hot flashes and night sweats (both of which can be very disruptive). It can bring an estrogen dominance pattern of more or heavier periods. There can also be personality changes in Pitta imbalances that can bring about a fighting spirit enough to destroy relationships. A Kapha imbalance brings about a significant amount of weight gain, lower metabolism, and fluid retention. Yoga and Ayurveda offer ways to bring these imbalances back into balance.

“Older women walk a tight rope between working hard and accepting limitations.” ~ Geeta Iyengar

In Yoga, it is essential to learn to practice simple poses without being goal oriented during this transition. Bobby offered the quote to let us know what many of us (Bobby included) are struggling with, and yet it is this struggle that brings us to a more focused place in our practice. In several of the standing forward bends it is beneficial that the toes turn slightly inward to turn the thighs in, relax the groins, and create a natural concavity in the lower abdomen.

The ever-present, Adho Mukha Svansana, downward dog takes on a starring role during menopause. It has benefits in controlling migraines when done between episodes — especially if they are hormone-related. The pose also helps to balance hormones, ease brain fatigue, and open the chest to strengthen the area that is now more susceptible to colds.

“You are still a cyclic creature.”

A very memorable message, if my memory serves, is Bobby reminding women in post menopause, “you are still a cyclic creature.” She went on to explain that day and night, the seasons, and planetary movements are examples of cycles that we share with men. However, we have cycles unique to women because of our hormones. While Iyengar women practitioners are accustomed to doing mentrual and restorative practive to honor the menstruating cycle, Bobby encouraged post menopausal women to continue to honor these cycles by doing a restorative sequence, or the menstral sequence (no inversions) once a month — perhaps using the cycles of the moon as a guide.

The inversions during the workshop followed a post menopausal sequence for the most part, and began with preparations like supported Prasarita Padottanasana, or wide spread leg pose. The head is down on a blanket, raised to the level needed, elbows pressed outward into the inner knees to align any misalignments that could have happened over the years (estrogen makes the ligaments soften, which can cause things like over stretching or a knock knee type of situation). After other inversions, we double bound a block in our upper thigh and went up into Sirsasana, or head stand. This binding is seen in Iyengar Therapeutics in their remedial classes in Pune. It has therapeutic effects for various injuries. For women, the bind helps strengthen the pelvic floor and bring hope for incontinence and any prolapse issues. Niralamba series, or unsupported shoulder stand, from a chair at the wall offer great support for women in and after transition. Bobby listed the many benefits of inversions as outlined by the Iyengar’s: “Inversion balance the hormones, which is connected to bone density, the mineral loss from bones is checked- tone and balance the uterus, they balance the endocrine, lymphatic, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, lymphatic, urinary, excretory, and central nervous system. They eleviate constipation and hemorrhoids, as well as keep the body warm. “They are the pillars of our practice,” she added.

The weekend closed another segment of Bobby’s six part series leaving us with even more shiny wisdoms and poses to put into our practice and share with our female students, who like us are growing more aware of just how much The Iyengar Family has done to make sure Iyengar Yoga supports us no matter where we are in the cycle of life.

Thank you Bobby Clennell, and all of her hosts at Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics, and The Iyengar Family for continuing to share your wisdom with us.

Please note any information shared here is based on my recollection and interpretation of the workshop. I encourage women to get with their Certified Iyengar instructors, Bobby Clennell, or The Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States, IYNAUS to learn more.

A Workshop On Transitions with Bobby Clennell - Part 1

Bobby Clennell is a name female Iyengar students learn early on in our practice. Many of us found her when we sought to better understand Geeta Iyengar’s Yoga: A Gem for Women, the definitive guide to yoga for women during the various stages of life.

The first lesson women in an Iyengar Yoga class never forget is that they must let their Iyengar instructors know when they are menstruating. I considered that my business and no one elses. I read A Gem for Women through the lens of my ego. At the time, I didn’t understand why I needed to embarrass myself by letting an entire class know my situation by doing “special” poses. Bobby’s book, The Woman's Yoga Book: Asana and Pranayama for all Phases of the Menstrual Cycle with its delightful illustrations, gently broke through my Western ego with the impact of a loving sister sharing her experiences and deep understanding of Geeta’s guidance.

“As women, we witness a constant dance of creation and renewal played out in our bodies. Thus, it is important to take a mindful and sensitive approach to the practice of yoga. Different poses produce different responses within the system. You can nurture a state of vibrant good health by doing the right poses at the right time of your cycles.” ~Bobby Clennell, The Woman’s Yoga Book

Bobby has written several other books for women and children. Later in my practice, her Guide to Pune, became my go-to-book during my trips to Pune. I considered her an indispensible friend, but I’d never met her. I finally did last weekend thanks to Iyengar Yoga Therapeutics (IYT), a research, educational, and training organization that supports yoga techniques developed by B.K.S. Iyengar as a complementary treatment for diseases and health conditions. IYT is hosting Bobby’s six-part menopause workshop.

Bobby turned out to be everything I’d imagined she’d be — engaging, authentics, sharp as a tack, and refreshingly kind.

She holds in her heart a flurry of wisdoms, from her 30+ years studying with the Iyengar Family, that she sprinkles like stardust. She doesn’t expect you to digest them all in that moment. She does hope you’ll hold on to them, and trusts they will all come together for us in good time.

The workshop began in Baddha Konasana, cobbler’s pose, a vital pose for women. While we experienced the hip mobilization and pelvic organ decompression benefits of the pose, Bobby shared her appreciation for life’s transitions. She touched on the various age transitions from youth to teens to adulthood. She shared a recent Ayreveda talk she’d heard where they explained how we are always experiencing transitions. Her favorite example was the simple transition from sleep to wakefulness — if we don’t honor the change and skip breakfast, we will crash. The Iyengar community acknowledges seasonal transitions, and how the body has to navigate sometimes drastic temperatures from freezing to hot.

She offered general definitions of perimenopause, as the run-up before the period stops, menopause when the period stops, and post menopause, after the symptoms of menopause end.

She stresses how important it is to understand that different phases are not a “step down,” but opportunities for svadyaya, self study.

“Having a body means change”

For many women yoga practitioners, pregnancy and postpartum transitions are difficult for them to honor. They are eager to get back to their regular practice, so they don’t respect the body’s need to transition and end up hurting themselves.

“Having a body means change,” she explained, and a woman’s body changes something like every 5-7 years.

It’s not just women who have to deal with transitions. She shared her experience watching BKS Iyengar’s practice over the years. Since his practice was “in the service of everyone else,” he had to preserve his energy. Over time, she witnessed his practice shift, which she associated to his acknowledgement of the transitions he was going through, and his need to save energy so he could continue to serve his students.

The transition of menopause can bring about a sundry of complaints like hair loss, brain fog, sore breasts, and weight gain. Bobby didn’t bring these up to frighten anyone, instead, she strived to put our minds at ease that the symptoms are very real and shouldn’t be dismissed. She explained how Geeta even encouraged women not to lose weight during menopause, but to wait because the extra flesh holds estrogen to ease the hormonal ups and downs of the process.

In the first two days of the workshop, Bobby addressed how to approach standing poses and forward bends with specific variations for perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. We learned about emotional changes: the need for some of us to escape to hear our voice, nurture ourselves, and then return to nurturing others with more balance. We learned about physical changes: things like how osteoporosis begins in the pelvis, and the importance of forward bends to cultivate the water element in our joints and feminine parts. We also learned how the post menopausal variations require the most sharpness and attention. While we may be released (which we will feel in every ounce of our body) from Mother Nature’s grip on us since we can no longer procreate, it may be one of the most critical stages of a woman’s yoga practice.

I look forward to sharing another glimpse of her workshop on menopause next time. Click here to learn more about Bobby Clennell and Iyengar Yoga.

Namaste.