Perimenopause brings a whole new set of surprises, from midnight sweats to mood swings and insomnia. Yoga for menopause offers gentle but powerful tools drawn from ancient practices to help you navigate this journey and find steadier ground. In recent years, it feels like the lid has been lifted on what was once a taboo topic, and now it’s the word on everyone’s lips… menopause. Instagram, TikTok and our bookshelves are full of it, and it seems impossible as a woman in her 40s to catch up with friends without it stealthily entering the conversation at some point. Growing up, I had no idea of what menopause was and certainly wasn’t interested in what it meant for those experiencing it, until I was well into my late 30s, headed towards the inevitable, myself. By my mid-40s, for the first time outside of puberty and pregnancy, my hormones were running wild, playing havoc with my body and mind. This was when I was introduced to the phenomenon known as “perimenopause”, the tricky time when your reproductive hormones including oestrogen are plummeting and the body is realigning itself to a new norm. Now it seems “peri”, as we call it, is the hot topic of every catch-up I have with my girlfriends, enthusiastically discussing the latest herbal supplements we are guzzling to prevent our disintegrating hair or get more sleep. The good news is that yoga can help us move through one of the most formative transitions of our lives. What is menopause? Menopause comes from the Greek word mens for months and pausis for cessation, when a woman’s monthly menstrual cycle ceases. After it has stopped for more than 12 months, she is postmenopausal. Technically, menopause is just one day, seemingly insignificant, but the perimenopausal time leading up to that day can stretch for many years and can feel anything but insignificant. The exact age varies but, for most women, it is a natural process of ageing that occurs in your 40s or 50s. However, for some, menopause may be brought on prematurely by medical or surgical procedures such as a hysterectomy or chemotherapy. Some women don’t even notice the process, while for others, it brings on extraordinary mental and energetic symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats, anxiety and irritability, forgetfulness and brain fog, insomnia and pain, among others. The research For those who do find the symptoms challenging, there are various treatments available: pharmaceutical, hormonal and complementary. We now see a growing body of research suggesting yoga may be a highly effective option. A meta-analysis in Maturitas found that yoga significantly reduced menopausal psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression. And a randomised controlled trial by the International Menopause Society demonstrated that yoga led to notable reductions in psychological, urogenital and somatic complaints. The fall in oestrogen during menopause can increase the risk of heart disease and research highlights improvements in heart rate variability (HRV) when participants practice yoga. This is due to increased parasympathetic activity, (the cool, calm and collected aspect of your nervous system), which is associated with reduced cardiovascular risks. An integrated approach Yoga offers a holistic approach. Yoga physiology describes the systems the ancient yogis used to explain how energy moves through you. One model, the koshas, sees the body as a container (uphadhi) with sheaths or layers (each one called a kosha), all of which make up who and what you are – the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and energetic aspects of the self. All the layers affect one another. When there are physical transformations, like the chemical changes from the radical hormonal shift in menopause, it is going to affect all the other layers too, ie sluggish energy, brain fog and mental health issues. According to research done at Monash University, an estimated 40 per cent of perimenopausal women experience depressive symptoms, with symptoms often worse in severity compared to depression in younger and older women. By targeting the physical layer and practising the asana or poses, moving your body more consistently naturally starts to shift all the layers. You feel better in your body and perhaps make more nourishing food and drink choices, you have more energy and your mental health improves. By focusing on the mental layer, and practising meditation, you may find your thoughts settle, you are more willing to move the body and on the loop goes. When you chant, endorphins may be released, improving your mood, and it may reset the vagus nerve (VN), which controls the bulk of the parasympathetic nervous system. Resetting the VN can help menopausal symptoms such as anxiety and insomnia. In addition to chanting, slowing down the breath, or stimulating the throat by taking ujjayi breath as well as other yogic practices can target the VN. Ayurveda and menopause Ayurveda, or “the science of life”, has been used to manage the symptoms of menopause for thousands of years. Ayurveda refers to menopause as rajonivritti, where rajah means menstrual blood and vritti means cessation. Considered the sister science to yoga, Ayurveda originates from the same Vedic system of wellness. Though ancient Ayurvedic texts didn’t refer to menopause in the same way Western medicine does, the physiological and emotional changes associated with this stage of life were recognised and categorised under principles of ageing and “doshic” imbalances. In Ayurveda, doshas are the forces that govern the physical and mental processes of the body. They are made up of the five elements (earth, water, fire, air and space) and form the foundation of everyone’s constitution. The three doshas are Vata (air and space), Pitta (fire and water) and Kapha (earth and water), and each has specific qualities, functions and imbalances. Ayurveda views menopause as a natural phase and believes that the associated symptoms are attributed to imbalances in the body’s doshas. An increase in Vata dosha is considered the major imbalance during this phase and is linked to common symptoms including hot flushes, insomnia and mood swings, though Pitta (hot flushes) and Kapha (sluggish digestion and energy) imbalances also play roles. Ayurvedic practices