Phase 2 · The Active Weeks

Part of the 8 Week Yoga Program for Menopause Sleep and Stress

35 Minute Active Yoga Sequence for Menopause

Weeks four to six. Standing strength and a fuller practice, with the same ending.

The middle three weeks are the active ones. Standing poses held long enough to be work, a chair pose, and a hip lift on the floor. The trial that ran an eight week programme in perimenopausal women built its sessions around a sun salutation, and this is the same idea in a form that does not need one. The ending stays exactly as it was.

35 min · Level 2

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When it helps

For weeks four to six, twice a week, earlier in the day rather than late. Thirty-five minutes. A wall, a block, a bolster and a blanket. For perimenopause and after, alongside whatever else you are doing about it. The sleep and mood effects are the ones with the evidence behind them: the strongest single trial found no difference in hot flushes against ordinary daily activity, and a clear improvement in insomnia. If you have or may have osteoporosis, keep twists gentle and leave out deep backbends, and get bone density checked before starting if you have risk factors. Any bleeding after the menopause needs a doctor regardless of anything on this page.

Mood and stress

In one trial, yoga improved menopause symptom scores, stress and depression more than an exercise group did.

Strength

Weight bearing standing work. Worth doing for strength and balance, and not a bone density claim: the meta-analysis found no significant effect there.

Sleep

Still the aim. The session ends the same way as every other one in this program.

Standing

Eighteen minutes upright, longer holds than phase one. A wall in reach for the balance.

Tadasana

3 min

Mountain Pose

Feet hip width, weight even, standing tall. Eight rounds of the cooling breath to begin.

The same opening as week one, with the breath already learned.

Learn more about Tadasana

Urdhva Hastasana

2 min

Upward Salute

Arms overhead, front ribs staying down.

Overhead reach, and the front ribs are the detail that makes it useful rather than decorative.

Learn more about Urdhva Hastasana

Uttanasana

2 min

Standing Forward Bend

Knees soft, folding from the hips, spine long throughout.

A hip hinge rather than a spinal curl. That distinction matters more every year after menopause.

Learn more about Uttanasana

Virabhadrasana II

90 sec each side

Warrior II

Wide stance, front knee bent, arms long. Longer holds now, and come up when the thigh has had enough.

Ninety seconds is where the legs actually have to hold something.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana II

Trikonasana

1 min each side

Triangle Pose

Feet wide, hand on the shin rather than the floor, chest turning open.

A long side body over a wide base. No reason to reach lower.

Learn more about Trikonasana

Utkatasana

1 min, five times

Chair Pose

Sitting down slowly to a count of three and standing back up to a count of three, five times, in front of a chair.

Leg strength in the most usable form there is, and a good measure of what is changing.

Learn more about Utkatasana

On the floor

Seventeen minutes lower down, ending with the wall and a long rest.

Adhomukha Shvanasana

1 min, twice

Downward-Facing Dog

Hands on the floor or on a chair seat, hips back, back long.

The shoulders and the back of the legs together, in whichever version suits your wrists today.

Learn more about Adhomukha Shvanasana

Marjaryasana

2 min

Cat Pose

Hands and knees, rounding on the out breath.

The spine, once you are down.

Learn more about Marjaryasana

Bitilasana

2 min

Cow Pose

Chest forward on the in breath, moderate range rather than deep.

Extension without loading the front of the vertebrae, which is the version that stays safe with thinning bones.

Learn more about Bitilasana

Bharadvajasana 1

90 sec each side

Bharadvaja's Twist

A seated turn, half range, never forced.

The same gentle twist as phase one. This does not get deeper as the program goes on, on purpose.

Learn more about Bharadvajasana 1

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

1 min, three times

Bridge Pose

On your back, feet flat, hips lifting. Or rest the hips on a block and lift nothing.

The hips and the back of the legs, with a version that has no effort in it.

Learn more about Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Settling

Eight minutes with nothing to do, unchanged since week one.

Viparita Karani

4 min

Legs Up the Wall

Legs up the wall, or knees bent with the feet down.

The same four minutes, in week six as in week one.

Learn more about Viparita Karani

Savasana

4 min

Corpse Pose

Flat, covered, cushion under the knees.

The ending, and the part most likely to be cut when a session runs long. Do not cut it.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 2 · Weeks 4 to 6

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to The Active Weeks, the second phase of the 8 Week Yoga Program for Menopause Sleep and Stress. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

See the whole program →

Integration

Twice a week for weeks four to six, with the evening sequence once a week. If a session late in the evening leaves you too warm to sleep, move it earlier in the day rather than dropping it.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

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Go deeper into the poses

Every asana in this practice has a page of its own. You will find alignment cues, what the shape actually works on, and the energetics behind it.

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