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MENOPAUSE

YOGA

A Holistic Guide to
Supporting Women on their
Menopause Journey

PETRA COVENEY

Foreword by Dr Louise Newson

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by Singing Dragon, an imprint of Jessica Kingsley Publishers

An Hachette Company

Copyright Petra Coveney 2022

Foreword copyright Dr Louise Newson 2022

Front cover image source: David Caines.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

There are supplementary materials which can be downloaded from https://library.singingdragon.com/redeem for personal use with this programme, but may not be reproduced for any other purposes without the permission of the publisher.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is not intended to replace the services of trained medical professionals or to be a substitute for medical advice. The complementary therapy described in this book may not be suitable for everyone to follow. You are advised to consult a doctor before embarking on any complementary therapy programme and on any matters relating to your health, and in particular on any matters that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library and the Library of Congress

ISBN 978 1 78775 889 6

eISBN 978 1 78775 890 2

Jessica Kingsley Publishers policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Carmelite House

50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

www.singingdragon.com

This book is dedicated to my children, Sushila and Harry Ghose-Coveney, who encouraged their middle-aged mum to follow her passion, and to all of the women in a stage of the menopause who shared their wisdom and trusted me with their personal stories.

DR LOUISE NEWSON BSC (HONS) MBCHB (HONS) MRCP FRCGP

As a medical doctor, I work hard to provide holistic and evidence-based treatments for all my patients. Frustratingly, the menopause is still often not managed optimally by many healthcare professionals, resulting in far too many women suffering.

Over the past 30 years, I have spoken to thousands of women who are perimenopausal and menopausal who have received inadequate advice, support and treatment.

Symptoms related to reduced hormones often start when a woman is in her 40s, and the low hormone levels then last forever. There are health risks associated with the menopause, such as an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and dementia. It is really important that women receive individualised help and treatment for their menopause that will improve their symptoms and also improve their future health.

We all have responsibilities for our individual bodies, and we all choose lifestyles that work best for us. Having a combination of healthy eating, regular exercise and hormone replacement therapy is usually the optimum approach for the majority of perimenopausal and menopausal women.

I have practised ashtanga yoga regularly for many years and certainly I find this the most powerful and rewarding exercise to strengthen my body, keep physically fit and provide me with mental clarity and vision so I can optimally focus on my work and family.

I first met Petra a few years ago at a British Menopause Society conference and I was very impressed that she was attending to learn more about the menopause. The work she is doing to educate yoga teachers in a holistic way regarding the menopause is commendable and I am so thrilled to learn about her ongoing successes and wonderful feedback from her students that is so well deserved.

For many women, I really feel that yoga is the optimal exercise and it has many advantages. With regular yoga practice, some women find that their menopausal symptoms can improve and many women find that their physical strength improves. It is really important that menopausal women consider ways to improve their future bone, heart and brain health and certainly yoga will help with all of these.

I have been thrilled and privileged to work with Petra and help her launch her menopause course in my menopause and wellbeing centre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Im very fortunate to have a yoga studio there, which I personally use regularly, and I always enjoy welcoming women to come and practise in this safe space.

Petras work is enabling so many women to make more informed choices regarding their future health, and this work is enabling women to learn about how yoga can become part of a persons life and enable them to experience a far more positive and healthier menopause going forwards.

This book will also help so many more people to understand Petras work and dedication to yoga and the menopause. It has been wonderful to be part of Petras journey and I am looking forward to hearing about future developments in this space!

I would like to thank Dr Louise Newson for giving me the opportunity to work with her and the team of doctors and nurses at Newson Health Menopause & Wellbeing Centre, where I launched the first Menopause Yoga Teacher Training (MYTT) course, in 2019.

As a yoga teacher, I am grateful for Jean Hall, Mimi Kuo-Deemer, Max Strom, Anna Ashby and Sarah Powers, all of whom I trained with, as well as the pioneers in the field of yoga for menopause: Geeta Iyengar, Suza Francina, Judith Hanson Lasater, PhD, PT and Donna Farhi, whose knowledge helped shape my approach to the menopause. My personal experiences of the menopause and the social taboo, lack of information and absence of womens support groups was the driving force behind creating Menopause Yoga (MY), so that other women would have a smoother journey. I am grateful for the women who took part in my classes (starting back in 2011) and provided feedback, the participants who volunteered for the MY online study in 2020 and Michelle Spencer, who took on the role of teachers assistant after she graduated from the MYTT course and continues to provide invaluable support, excellent communication and laughter.

Menopause Yoga is a more than just a style of yoga and an approach to the menopause the teachers who graduate from this course are part of an international network of women whose wisdom is celebrated and shared as a collective. Women in past societies would have shared wisdom about the menopause down the generations, so I honour that forgotten tradition by including contributions from other women who are experts in their field, including guest speakers and some graduates of the MYTT course. I wish there were space to include more in this book; there is a growing library on my website of skill-sharing videos filmed by other teachers.