Julie has a BFA in dance from the University of Michigan and has been teaching creative movement and ballroom dancing since 1977.  She completed her yoga teacher training and began teaching in 2000.  She has taught a wide variety of classes in the community for all age groups and continues to teach classes at West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation.  In 2008, she completed training in a yoga therapeutic program, “Yoga of the Heart,” based on Dr. Dean Ornish’s study on reversing heart disease.   She feels proud and fortunate to be an employee at Henry Ford Vita Wellness Center, teaching yoga classes which focus on the health benefits of yoga. In addition to the daily yoga classes, she also teachs Zumba, Ballet Stretch and Tone and Dance Your Way to Fitness.  She recently answered my questions about how Yoga may benefit women during menopause and beyond.

 I know you teach a Yoga for Wellness class now and have offered a Yoga for Menopause class in the past.  What prompted your interest in yoga and specifically yoga for menopause?

When I began my first yoga classes in 1995, I truly had little understanding of yoga.  I was recovering from a dance injury and thought yoga would be a good way to stay in shape while I was recovering.  I quickly recognized that yoga was as much about the body as it was about the mind.  In short order I began to notice the many benefits from practicing yoga.  I was inspired from my earliest classes to become a yoga teacher, guiding others to discover the benefits. The overall benefits of yoga, which include stress reduction, improved focus, mood regulation, improved sleep as well as strength, balance and flexibility have served me well as I have made the transition through menopause.  

 Yoga is well known for its benefits in managing stress.  How is it specifically helpful for menopausal symptoms?

 What  are the other health benefits of Yoga for women as they age ?

Is Yoga safe for everyone?  Are there any precautions women need to be aware of?

How would you recommend someone get started with Yoga?  Do you have any good resources you can share?

written by Deborah McBain, CNM MSN

The longer I live in my body the more amazed I am at how connected my mind and body is.  So many women who are  bothered by hot flashes and even urge incontinence do not realize that they may actually have some control over some of their symptoms by training their minds.  There is good scientific evidence that this is so.  Practice the exercise below during a hot flash or with urgency to urinate.  Concentrate on relaxing your abdominal muscles.  Don’t give up if you don’t see results right away.  Like anything, it takes practice to achieve effective performance.  It is not hard but takes just a little persistence. Good luck.

Paced respiration

With regular paced respiration, women reportedly achieve a noticeable drop in the number of hot flashes they have, as well as a lower average skin temperature (used to measure hot flashes).

Paced respiration takes practice. Try to do paced respiration twice daily, for 15 minutes at a time. Also, when you first feel a hot flash coming on, stop what you are doing, find a quiet place, and practice paced respiration until you are feeling comfortable again.

• Sit in a comfortable, quiet place.
• As you breathe, keep your rib cage still. You will be lowering and raising your diaphragm to fill and empty your lungs.
• Inhale for 5 seconds, pushing your stomach muscles out.
• Exhale for 5 seconds, pulling your stomach muscles in and up.
• Repeat this cycle of breathing until you feel calm and relaxed or your time is up.

To reduce stress, you can also use paced respiration for 1 to 2 minutes in the middle of a busy day.

written by Deborah McBain, CNM MSN

It amuses me when I hear about studies trying to prove things that seem pretty obvious to me.  So when I read about a study led by Hilary A. Tindle, M.D. at the University of Pittsburgh which showed that women who were happy were healthier than those who weren’t, I just thought- Duh!    And then I thought that maybe being healthier makes you happier.  In any case, happy and healthy go together and and in case you need it there is scientific proof!

Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) followed 97,000 postmenopausal for more than 8 years and found that optimistic women had a lower rate of heart disease than those with higher levels of cynical hostility and mistrust.  In fact, cheerful women had a lower risk of dying from any cause.

This is not the first time optimism and better survival has been looked at.  A study published in the British Medical Journal last year found that optimistic women had a 25% less chance of breast cancer than pessimists.

Other studies have not found a link between optimism and survival rates but a positive outlook has been found to be linked to reduced pain and eased side effects of cancer treatments.

The whole mind-body connection has achieved much more attention in recent years.   Several books are available addressing the subject.  Leslee Kegan M.S., FNP from the Mind-Body Medical Institute at Harvard wrote a book and developed a whole program called Mind over Menopause.    Check out this link for her essay on the North American Menopause Society site-  http://www.menopause.org/positivepassage.aspx.   There are some great suggestions about getting into a positive frame of mind. 

 But if life is really getting you down and you are tending toward crotchity as you get older, what else can you do to put a smile on your face?   How about Laughter Yoga.  Just going to the web site and looking at the video will crack you up! Go to www.laughteryoga.org.

For the sake of your health find ways to cultivate your happiness.  As  Abraham Lincoln himself once said-” Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

written by Deborah McBain, CNM MSN \\ tags: mind-body medicine