How Ayurveda Can Help You Navigate Your Cycle and Menopause
How Ayurveda Can Help You Navigate Your Cycle and Menopause
For a good portion of my adult life, I had absolutely no idea what went on in my body during my cycle and what actually happens during menopause. I thought that keeping track of when I had my period was all I really needed to know about my cycle and I thought that menopause just meant I wouldn’t get my period anymore. Although these facts are true, there is so much more to it! It wasn’t really until I started studying yoga and Ayurveda that I realized how empowering it is to have a body that experiences so many beautiful shifts and changes and how being aware of those shifts and changes is so important.
Ayurveda is often called the sister science of yoga because yoga and Ayurveda are meant to be practiced together. Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old system of natural healing rooted in the ancient culture of India. Ayurveda is the science of life with “ayur” meaning “life” and “veda” meaning “science” or “knowledge.” The more knowledge you have on your own life and how your body moves in and out of balance, the more you can come to and maintain balance.
Have you ever taken a yoga class after eating a meal that didn’t agree with you? It probably wasn’t the best experience. One of the purposes of Ayurveda is to live in harmony with nature at all times in our life so we can connect deeper to our purpose in this lifetime. Ayurveda asks us to pay attention to the way we are feeling when we’re balanced and to also notice what lifestyle choices, foods, drinks, and experiences cause us to move out of balance. When it comes to navigating your cycle and menopause, there are a few Ayurvedic tips that can really help you understand what’s happening and why.
The doshas can help you understand what time of life you’re in.
Ayurveda teaches us that there are three main doshas that are the forces that make up all of nature and govern all emotional, mental, and physical processes in our lives. These are kapha, pitta, and vata. The doshas are actually more dominant during certain periods of your life and when you’re aware of that, it can help you navigate what’s happening with your cycle and with menopause.
Kapha dosha is made up of the elements of earth and water and the time of life for kapaha is around birth to puberty. This doesn’t mean that you won’t have some signs of pitta when you’re a teenager and it definitely doesn’t mean that you wake up on your twentieth or thirtieth birthday and that kapha time of life is over. These times will certainly blend a bit together and some people come into certain times slower than others.
Some qualities of kapha dosha are soft, wet, and slow. Think about how babies and toddlers look and feel. You can see these qualities in them pretty easily. This is the time of life when your body is building and growing. It’s also a time when you’re building your immunity.
Pitta dosha is made up of the elements of fire and water and your pitta time of life is usually from after puberty up to menopause. Some qualities of pitta are spreading, penetrating, and sharp. During this time in your life, you’re probably establishing a career, a family, or practicing ways to understand yourself a bit more. Due to its fire element, pitta gives you that “get it done” energy that allows your gifts to manifest and shine.
Vata dosha is made up of the element of air and ether and yoru vata time of life will begin around menopause. The elements are air and ether with some qualities being light, dry, and mobile. This is such an empowering time of life because it’s usually when you are able to stand behind all that you’ve learned and accomplished. It’s a time to share knowledge with others and to also engage in more creativity.
Ayurveda teaches you to check in with yourself during your cycle.
According to Ayurveda, your actual menstrual flow is a byproduct of your tissues.
After you eat, food transforms through seven tissues of your body, moving through plasma, blood, muscle, fat tissues, bone, nervous system, and then reproductive tissues. Ayurveda sometimes teaches that you aren’t necessarily what you eat - but what you absorb and how you absorb it.
Your flow is a byproduct of plasma, which carries out hormones, water, and minerals. Blood is also a part of your flow and helps release excess pitta. When you tune into how you are processing experience and emotions before, during, and after your period, you can begin to use this information as a way to empower yourself to make choices that balance you rather than imbalance you.
Kapha dominates the first part of your cycle, after menstruation. Ovulation is dominated by pitta, which is the next part of your cycle. Then vata oversees menstruation. When you’re aware of what doshas are dominant during each part, you can begin to notice what qualities are showing up. If something is in excess, you may be able to balance it out before it becomes an issue. For example, if you’re feeling very judgemental or angry, you might have a bit of excess pitta and it might also be during ovulation. Once you put these pieces together, you can take a pitta pacifying yoga class or spray some rose water on your face.
Menopause is an empowering time.
It’s so interesting how if you do a search on the internet for menopause, you’ll most likely find a list of imbalances and things to be worried about. Menopause does not have to be this way at all! Ayurveda empowers you to understand your specific needs, tendencies, and how to feel well and be balanced. Once you just begin to understand Ayurveda, the elements, and what’s currently happening in your own body, menopause can be incredibly graceful.
During menopause you move from the more pitta-dominant time of life to a more vata-dominant life. This may cause the heat of pitta to bring about hot flashes, dryness. Osteoporosis, and digestive problems. One of the teachings of Ayurveda is that like increases like and opposites balance. If you’re having hot flashes and you’re eating heating foods and spending time with people who literally fire you up, you’re going to increase those hot flashes.
To find balance during this time, you might practice meditations that mellow you out and help you find peace around those fiery people. Most people during their vata time of life, especially during menopause, should favor warm, well-cooked foods, stay hydrated, practice oil passage, and also avoid naps so sleep can be deep and uninterrupted.
It’s all about balance and self-observation.
Ayurveda can help you navigate your cycle and menopause when you take the time to actually observe what’s happening in your body and how any outside sources are affecting you. My favorite thing about Ayurveda is that it inspires me to question a craving or an extreme emotion instead of feeling shameful of it. Once you understand yourself a bit more and take the time to check in and feel what you’re feeling, Ayurveda provides the tools you need to feel like you again.
Since you are a part of nature, you will also move with the ebb and flow of it. You’re not going to feel exactly the same from birth through the rest of your life and that’s a beautiful thing! Your yoga practice doesn’t feel the same from day to day and season to season, so your body won’t either. The most important teaching is to do all things with love. When you’re living a life filled with love, you are instantly taking care of yourself and cultivating loving support throughout all of life’s phases. Loving yourself through any change and embracing the changes as they come is key.