Yogic management of PCOD, Conception & related problems

                    Yoga practice for  PCOD, Conception...
                     by
                     Kamini Bobde

                                     Yoga practice Part I for PCOD, conception issues, etc. 

                                    Yoga practice Part II for PCOD, Conception issues, Menstrual problems.


Menstruation, an inevitable natural occurrence in any girl’s life, can be wrought with physical, mental and emotional problems. In ancient India, the coming of age of a young girl was propitiated with puja (Kumari puja) and sometimes celebrations were also held. But, over the years due to some historical reasons, girls were made to feel unclean and inauspicious at the time of menstruation adding to the emotional problems that girls anyway go through at this time.

Now, however, many misconceptions, have been put aside and menstruation as a subject is out in the open with advertisements for sanitary napkins on TV etc.

Most menstrual patterns in a girl are governed by genes. Irrespective of this, it is a trying time for the most healthy and robust girls because of the tremendous hormonal changes that a girl's body goes through at the onset of periods which may continue for quite sometime depending on how it is tackled at the physical and emotional level of the girl.

The greatest relief at such a time for a girl is to have an honest, open and understanding relation with the mother. In rural India, a mother and daughter may shy away from discussing such matters.

However, one must bear in mind that at the onset of this period girls may put on weight, their complexion may change, they may become hyper active, tense and irritable or given to fighting or anger.

Also, irregularities of menstrual cycle are common. These may be caused because of stress, anxiety, emotional shock, bio-rhythm changes, emotional imbalance, bad life style, wrong diet or hormonal deficiency.

Some of the common menstrual problems are :

Amenorrhea: It represents total absence of menstrual cycle. As a natural phenomenon it occurs when women lactate, get pregnant or have menopause. But Primary Amenorrhea is characterized by girls not getting their cycle when they are past sixteen years of age.

The causes for this are many. But very significant factors could be poor diet, lack of fresh air and sunshine, poor physical, mental and emotional state or hormonal imbalance. Such a problem can be managed through specific yoga programme or packages. It is advisable to try yogic remedies with a good teacher before more drastic measure like external manipulation or hormonal drugs are tried to induce menstruation.

Secondary Amenorrhea: This happens when normal menstrual cycle pauses and a girl may not have periods for more than six months for reasons other than pregnancy. Reasons for this maybe:

• low levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which controls ovulation and the menstrual cycle 
• stress 
• significant weight loss or gain 
• anorexia (In fact, amenorrhea can be an initial sign that a teen is losing too much weight and may have anorexia.) 
• stopping birth control pills 
• thyroid conditions 
• ovarian cysts 
• other conditions that can affect hormone levels 

 Excessive exercising be it some sport or gym  combined with a poor diet may also disrupt normal cycles. For example, there was this girl who practiced football in the morning with her college team, went home and did yoga exercises, hardly ate anything before she rushed off to college. Then in the evening she went for an hour of rigorous swimming. She did not realise she was overdoing it until her period stopped completely. It took a year of reversing her life style for the periods to start normally again.

Dysmenorrhoea and Menorrhagia is a condition of painful, irregular and excessive heavy menstruation.

Spasmodic Dysmenorrhoea: Identified with cramps and pain in lover abdomen, sometimes accompanied by nausea and shakiness.

Congestive Dysmenorrhoea : Sometimes called Pre menstrual syndrome (PMS), in this heavy dull aching in the abdomen and lower back along with high level of tension, three to four days before the onset of the periods. Other symptoms are swelling and tenderness in the breast, swollen abdomen, blotted feeling, water retention, constipation, stiffness in body lethargy, irritability may be other symptoms.

Yoga offers natural and highly successful way of managing menstrual problems. The two videos are illustrative of the practice for all menstruation and cenception related problems.