“When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we have an idea how much we would need each other as women always do. Sisters by blood, Sisters by friendship, Sisters in sprit. Sisters.” -Geeta Iyengar
There are many ways yoga helps with womanhood. Women can get a lot of benefits from yoga: balancing hormones, regulating menstruation, calming mood swings, reducing period pains and menopause effects, getting the body ready for birth and so on (the list is long). It brings women closer to their cycle, listening to what their body needs. Yoga also empowers women, giving them physical as well as emotional strength. It is a great help to cope with difficult or challenging situations.
Geeta Iyengar wrote a wonderful book called "Yoga: a Gem for Women", a highly recommended reading for female yoga practitioners as well as yoga teachers looking to adapt their class to the cycle of women.
You might also be interested in this special yoga sequence for menstruation by Geeta Iyengar.
Recommended and insightful interview on yoga and women.
And here are some quotes by great Yoginis
- Geeta Iyengar
In an asana, the mind has to reach inside the body to find a quiet space until a point comes where perfect balance is felt.
- Indra Devi
"Yoga is a way to freedom. By its constant practice, we can free ourselves from fear, anguish and loneliness."
"We must keep both our femininity and our strength."
"We women must listen to our inner voice. It is easier for women to do this as they are not afraid to say what they feel."
“There is no age to yoga. You can start at 70, 80 because if it’s done with gravity and breath, you receive and you don’t go against, and you will never damage the body. The first thing is not to fight yourself. Be ready to receive energy. Energy helps, breathing helps. There is no age.”
“Practicing yoga is like being on a body holiday.”
“Be careful, very careful about organisations. Yoga cannot be organised, must not be organised. Organisations kill work. Love is everywhere, in everything, is everything. But if your confine it, enclose it in a box or in a definite place, it disappears.”
“Yoga is an effortless dance with breath and gravity.”
- Nirmala Srivastava
"What do we have to achieve? Not your position, not your wealth, not all these outward things, but you have to achieve a loving heart."
- Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma)
“In today’s world, both men and woman need motherhood, the nurturing motherly feeling, the feminine energy. By receiving this energy, it will make them independent and free.”
Let us women diffuse this feminine energy and make the World a better place (as a mum of 2 boys, I can easily relate to this last quote by Amma).
Happy woman's day!