I am having my monthly cycle, can I still practice yoga?
Answer: Yes and No.
Different women have different menstruation experience. Some mild, some heavy and some can’t even get off the bed. It is ok to skip yoga classes if your body is telling you not to. Remember? Yoga is about understanding yourself, your body.
Depends on the types of yoga, you may skip the challenging type like Ashtanga yoga. It is alright to still go into gentle yoga like Hatha or Yin Yoga. In fact, practicing Yoga Nidra or Yogic Sleep in Shavasana (Corpse Pose) at the end of the class does help to soothes the pain; helps one to feel relax and calmer. It would even better for the mind and mood if includes further with breathing and meditation/mindfulness practice.
There is a debate about the inversion poses. Some school advised avoiding inversion as we do not want to stop the energy that is meant to be out of the body but there is no scientific proof that doing inversion is harmful to our body. Though it may be a little messy when one has a heavy flow.
