Phase 3 · The Version You Keep

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

25 Minute Yoga Sequence to Keep Through Menopause

Weeks seven and eight and afterwards. Short enough to survive a bad month, with the tools you actually use.

Menopause is not an eight week event, so the last two weeks are about arriving at something that carries on. Twenty-five minutes, the cooling breath, one long supported forward bend and the wall. This is the version to keep, and the evening sequence stays underneath it for the weeks when the nights are bad.

25 min · Level 1

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When it helps

For weeks seven and eight, twice a week, and afterwards for as long as it is useful. Twenty-five minutes. A wall, 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.

Sleep

The same components as the evening sequence in a slightly fuller form. Sleep is the outcome that responds most reliably here.

Mood and stress

Consistent across trials, and the reason this is worth continuing past week eight.

Cooling breath

By now it should be automatic. That is the point of practising it when nothing is happening.

Standing

Nine minutes upright. Enough to count as weight bearing and short enough to keep.

Tadasana

2 min

Mountain Pose

Feet hip width, standing tall, eight rounds of the cooling breath.

The opening you have done fourteen times by now. Familiar is what makes a practice last.

Learn more about Tadasana

Urdhva Hastasana

2 min

Upward Salute

Arms overhead, front ribs down.

Overhead reach, kept because it disappears quietly if nothing asks for it.

Learn more about Urdhva Hastasana

Virabhadrasana II

1 min each side

Warrior II

Wide stance, front knee bent, hand on a chair if you like.

One standing pose that asks the legs to hold something.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana II

Uttanasana

2 min

Standing Forward Bend

Knees soft, folding from the hips with a long spine, coming up slowly.

The hip hinge, kept in because it is the movement of every ordinary day.

Learn more about Uttanasana

On the floor

Sixteen minutes lower down, ending the same way as everything else here.

Marjaryasana

2 min

Cat Pose

Hands and knees, rounding on the out breath.

The spine, unhurried.

Learn more about Marjaryasana

Bitilasana

2 min

Cow Pose

Chest forward on the in breath, moderate.

And the other direction.

Learn more about Bitilasana

Janu Shirsana

2 min each side

Head-to-Knee Forward Bend

One leg out, forehead resting on a bolster or cushions. Two minutes each side.

The supported forward bend from the evening sequence. It belongs in the version you keep.

Learn more about Janu Shirsana

Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

90 sec each side

Reclining Hand-to-Big-Toe Pose

Strap around one foot, knee bent as much as you want.

The last thing that asks for anything.

Learn more about Supta Hasta Padangusthasana

Settling

Seven minutes with nothing to do.

Viparita Karani

4 min

Legs Up the Wall

Legs up the wall, or knees bent with the feet on the floor.

Four minutes. It has been in every session and it stays.

Learn more about Viparita Karani

Savasana

3 min

Corpse Pose

Flat, covered, cushion under the knees.

Three minutes. In week eight as in week one, and for as long afterwards as you like.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 3 · Weeks 7 to 8

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to The Version You Keep, the third 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 seven and eight, then keep it for as long as it fits, with the evening sequence for the difficult nights. The trials with the strongest sleep results ran twelve weeks or longer, so continuing is not a formality.

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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