Fertility Yoga for the Menstruation, Winter

00:00:00 Hi and welcome to today's practice. We are focusing on the menstrual phase, the winter of your menstrual cycle. This is a time when your body is releasing the uterine lining and preparing for a fresh start. It's a phase of rest, release, and renewal, much like the new moon. We are transitioning from the energy of the waning moon, which aligns with the luteal phase and moving fully into the quiet and introspective energy of the New moon. This shift from fall to winter mirrors your body's need to slow

00:00:34 down and turn inward. If you've been trying to conceive, this can be an especially emotional time bringing up feelings of grief, frustration, sadness, and even confusion. It's okay to feel all of this. We'll honor these emotions today by moving gently, creating space for both physical and emotional release. In this practice, we'll focus on restorative poses that support your body's natural process of letting go, while also nurturing the body's natural process of letting go, while also nurturing the

00:01:04 emotional side of this phase. This is a time for reflection, for rest and self-compassion. So grab your blanket, a bolster, a block, and let's move through this phase with intention aligned with the quiet energy of the new moon. So for this practice, we're going to start on our backs. So come down into your mats. You're going to bring your knees together and your feet are going to be more distance apart. And you're going to bring both hands to your belly. And you can close your eyes here.

00:01:57 Start to bring your awareness to your belly to all the sensations there. Start to bring your awareness to your belly to all the sensations there. Maybe you're feeling a little bit of cramp. Just taking your awareness down there and just feeling what you feel. Now bringing your awareness to your breath. To the rhythm of your breath. Now bringing your awareness to your breath. To the rhythm of your breath. Noticing the sway of the inhales and exhales of your belly as it rises and falls. And as you cradle your womb,

00:02:55 your womb. Space your lower belly with your hands. Just notice the warmth that you're creating with your hands and. The heat. The support that you're giving your body as it moves through this phase. And then bringing your attention to your internal landscape, your emotional landscape, your thoughts. Taking a moment to honor all these emotional landscape, your thoughts. Taking a moment to honor all these feelings, all these thoughts, all that is happening inside your body.

00:03:52 Allowing the confusion to be present. Allowing the frustration to be Allowing the confusion to be present. Allowing the frustration to be present with us as we move through this practice, allowing the emotions to also move. As we connect the emotions, observe them, and gently release. Gently start to bring your feet into a more. Straight position. Stamp the lower back into the floor. Gently release your hands and inhale. Reach your arms all the way up. Exhale. Bring both arms back down.

00:04:51 Reach your arms all the way up. Exhale. Bring both arms back down. Now, I want you to imagine that you are moving through hot chocolate. So really slow and easy and soft. As you inhale and exhale, the arms move. Slow and soft. Last one. Inhale. Arms up. Exhale slowly. move. Slow and soft. Last one. Inhale. Arms up. Exhale slowly. Bring the arms all the way down. Gently draw the knees to the chest. You can leave a little room for your belly if it's cramping and you can hug your knees. And slowly release. We're going to draw circles

00:05:54 hug your knees. And slowly release. We're going to draw circles slowly with our knees. So move very slow and with intention. Just allowing the pelvis to open and release so that you can allow everything to move out of the body. This is a process of detoxification that the body moves through every month. So helping your body to really take out anything that's not So helping your body to really take out anything that's not supposed to be there so that the next cycle can come stronger,

00:06:41 can come even better. And. Maybe finally open up for a potential pregnancy. Move to the other side with the circles if you haven't already. It's really feeling to the lower back as you move, the lower back might be sore. back as you move, the lower back might be sore. So connecting to that space and releasing the tension that you might feel there. Gently release the left leg down. Keep holding on to the right knee and then press that knee

00:07:23 into your chest. Breathe here. into your chest. Breathe here. Slowly bring the left knee in. Grab onto that knee and release the right leg in front of you straight and then press the knee into the chest. Gently release. And we're going to move very slow today. So turn to the side first, roll over to the side. Gently start to bring yourself up,

00:08:19 going to move into a child's pose. So here you can bring the toes together and open the knees to the sides. together and open the knees to the sides. If you want more sensation, you can bring a pillow or a bolster in between your legs and then slowly come down to the floor. So for this child's pose, I want you to bring your arms close to you. Make a little pillow with your hands and press your head to the hand. If you are with a bolster, you're going to turn to one side.

00:08:59 If you are with a bolster, you're going to turn to one side. I'm going to let you know when it's time to come to the other side so that the head job. And here I want you to feel the breath into your lower back, into your belly as you inhale. And as you exhale, slow and deep sigh out. If you have a bolster, now it's time to move to the other side. Bringing your awareness to. Your lower back. the back of your heart. All of your back body.

00:09:57 the back of your heart. All of your back body. And sending it love. Sending your entire body love. Slowly start to move out of this pose. Come up if you have a poster in front of you, Come up if you have a poster in front of you, gently release it to the side. We're going to use it later, so keep it close. Come back to the child's pose and this time I want you to reach your arms forward.

00:10:41 Really creating a lot of space from the fingertips all the way to your toes and lower the head down. From here, take a deep breath in. As you exhale, walk your fingers with that same length that you just created. Walk the fingers out to the length that you just created. Walk the fingers out to the right and keep your head down. Breathing to the side the left side of your body. Exhale. Come back to center. Inhale. Reach with the hands. Create a lot of space from the

00:11:22 fingertips to your toes, and then gently walk all the way to the left side. Same thing. Inhale. Taking all that prana, the left side. Same thing. Inhale. Taking all that prana, all that oxygen to the side, the right side of your body. And then exhale gently come to center again. Reach with your hands forward, creating room and space in that body. Exhale. Start to come out of the pose. Come back up. Now we're gonna come into an all

00:12:09 fours position. And here we're going to draw big circles, allowing the lower back to release, allowing the body to move all of that energy, all of the sensations, all of the emotions, so that it can digest it and release it. all of the emotions, so that it can digest it and release it. So move from side to side. You can even sink the hips here if that feels good. Now just draw big circles. Maybe you let the head drop, close your eyes and feel into

00:12:52 your body. Feel into your breath. Allow the breath to help you wash away all of these emotions, all of the pain. Maybe that your the physical pain that you're feeling. Allow it to wash it away. And gently, let's come back to stillness and sit on your heels. You can keep your toes tucked just for us to prepare for our next pose. So if you have a bolster with you, you can bring it close to you. If you don't have a bolster, you can always use a chair and

00:13:41 you can just lean your body onto the onto the seat of your chair. You might want to cover it with a blanket for softness. If you're coming with me And you have a bolster and blocks. You're going to grab the blocks and you're going to make a You're going to grab the blocks and you're going to make a little runway for your just a support for your bolster. You're going to open the legs to the sides and just go as wide as it's comfortable for you. One block is in front of you,

00:14:20 the highest height, the other one is on the second highest height, and you're going to place the bolster on top. So if you need to be propped up higher, you can also add a So if you need to be propped up higher, you can also add a little pillow for comfort. Now from here, slowly grab on to all of those props. Give it a hug and come down. And allow the body to drop. I'm going to stay a little higher up just because of the mic. You can drop your head to one

00:14:56 side and release. We're gonna stay here for a few breaths. So allow the body to release and open and let go. This is a great pose for menstrual cramps if you're feeling them. This is a great pose for menstrual cramps if you're feeling them. So even if you're not doing this practice, but you're feeling the cramps, you can always go back to this pose on your own. Gently turn the head to the other side.

00:16:02 I know you might be questioning yourself, asking yourself, why am I not pregnant? Why is my body doing this? What's wrong with me even? And know that you're not alone in the questioning and the losing of hope and faith. in the questioning and the losing of hope and faith. That what we're doing here is allowing all of these feelings to come and stay and move through them so that we can allow the body to feel ready, supported, and open for the new cycle to come.

00:16:53 With the new cycle, there's always hope. So eventually we're going to connect to that. Hope for a new beginning. So eventually we're going to connect to that. Hope for a new beginning. This doesn't have to mean it's the end. It could also mean it's a new beginning. And gently start to bring yourself up out of this pose. You can bring the props to the side. There's a lot of props today. You can bring the props to the side. There's a lot of props today.

00:17:35 And then bring your the soles of your feet together in front of you and bring the feet close to your pelvis. Lift the heart lift and lengthen the spine up. And gently start to lean forward the spine up. And gently start to lean forward to fold over your legs. You don't have to go far. You can stay where you are. Just move until you find a comfortable place for you to relax, allowing the upper body to become really heavy.

00:18:31 And. Gently start to bring yourself back to center. Inhale. Lift the chest up. Exhale. Twist to the side. Inhale back to center. Exhale. Twist to the other side. Twist to the other side. Inhale back to center and gently extend the legs out in front of you. Want to move to the side? And you can even give it a little shake. You can draw circles with your

00:19:23 ankles both ways. A lot of us can feel the retention ankles both ways. A lot of us can feel the retention of liquids before this phase, so it's a nice way to allow the circulation to come back and the liquids to move through our lymph, move through our body, and detox with the menstruation. And gently we're going to come down to the floor again. So. Bring your back to the floor. And we're going to start with a little bit of movement to find stillness. So reach arms up.

00:20:14 Feet are on the floor and with your arms either in a V shape or even a T shape as you wish, you're going to bring both knees to the floor, to the left side, and then you're gonna bring them up and all the to the left side, and then you're gonna bring them up and all the way over to the right side. Now here you can move with your own breath. For a few rounds. And this time when you reach one side, you're going to stay. And breathe deeply into your belly. Open the mouth. Release.

00:21:18 Stay for another breath. Let's move all the way to the other side and hold. Take a deep breath in. Let's move all the way to the other side and hold. Take a deep breath in. Open the mouth. Let go. Inhale, come back to center. And if you have your props nearby, we're gonna prop ourselves for their final pose. And you're going to need the blocks. If you have an eye pillow, you can use the eye pillow as well. If you have a blanket.

00:22:15 Bring that to you as well and blocks. So we're going to start with the back. So you're bringing the bolster back. So you're bringing the bolster to the side. If you don't have a bolster don't worry. You don't need it. But if you do have a bolster, it's nice to have that additional support. Bring your blocks on both sides of your mat. The pillow is going to go is going to go on top of the bolster for your head.

00:22:54 Your hips are really close to that end of the bolster. You're going to bring your the soles of the feet together in front of You're going to bring your the soles of the feet together in front of you in that same diamond shape that we just did, and then bring the blocks to a position where you feel like you can just release without any effort on your part. And if you like, you can bring the blanket for comfort to your belly, to your lower belly, and then you're going to lean back. Make any adjustments that you need

00:23:23 and then you're going to lean back. Make any adjustments that you need before you release and relax. If you have the eye pillow, you can cover your eyes. Palms are up and open to the sides. And here we're going to do three rounds of B's breath, which is great for this time of the menstrual cycle. And B's breath is a very simple for this time of the menstrual cycle. And B's breath is a very simple breath that you can do anytime that you need to stop any negative thinking. And it's just a simple inhale.

00:24:16 And as you exhale, you keep your mouth closed and you just hum like a bee. It's very soothing. It's very calming. We're going to do three rounds. Inhale. Exhale. We're going to do three rounds. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale through the nose. Exhale. Last one. Inhale through the nose. Exhale. Be. Last one. Inhale through the nose. Exhale. Be. Beautiful. Allow your body to sink deeply

00:25:23 into this pose. Create space between the breath. Create space between the thoughts in your head. If you have the time to stay here for as long as you like, please do so. If you're coming with me. You're going to gently bring a deep breath into the body. You're going to open the mouth and release out. Start to bring tiny movements to and release out. Start to bring tiny movements to

00:27:06 your fingertips, to your toes. And gently take the props out of the way. The blanket. The blocks to the sides. The eye pillow. Gently close the legs. The eye pillow. Gently close the legs. Bring the feet to the floor. Bring your right elbow to the right side and just turn to the side while you push yourself up into a seated position. Just like we started. You can keep your eyes closed if you like. Bringing the right hand to the belly,

00:27:56 the left hand over your heart. Reconnecting again to the love the left hand over your heart. Reconnecting again to the love that's pouring from your heart down into your womb. Imagining this phase as the new beginning. The new opportunity. Wishing you an incredible new cycle ahead. Full of health, joy, and potential for a pregnancy. Full of health, joy, and potential for a pregnancy. Bring both hands together in front of your heart and gently bow down

00:28:39 to the wisdom of your heart. Thank you so much for practicing with me. Namaste.