Kay Parry shares her experience and discovery regarding inversions and Iyengar yoga after meeting with Guruji in 1983.
Guruji’s first visit to Australia was in 1983. His guidance was life changing especially for me.
I had been practicing Iyengar Yoga for seven years prior to Guruji’s visit. The women in our yoga group were told at that time to do everything including inversions even when menstruating. It was a highlight in our teacher-training sessions to do one hundred and eight back bends – bleeding or not. Then one day after doing the backbends I fainted. I was in menses and had continued as usual doing all the asanas. But I started to question this practice and thankfully Guruji arrived with the answers.
In Light on Yoga menstruation is only mentioned once in a section – Special Provisions for Women – which states ‘Menstruation: Avoid asanas during the menstrual period. But if the flow is in excess of normal, Upavistha Konasana, Baddha Konasana, Virasana, Janu Sirsasana, Paschimottanasana and Uttanasana may be performed with beneficial effect. On no account stand on your head during the menstrual period’. However, the leading male teacher in Australia at that time advocated that women should do all poses while menstruating.
However, after Guruji’s 1983 visit everything changed. Guruji made the relationship between yoga practice and menstruation very clear during a question and answer session in Sydney.
Question: What are the ill effects of doing the inverted postures during menstruation?
Guruji: In western countries ladies say ‘why shouldn’t I do anything I want during my menstrual period’. You can do anything you want but this is careless behavior. The menstrual period is a natural process where the natural flow has to be excreted outwards. When you are doing a head balance what happens is it goes the other way, and some clots may remain in the system, which later can cause problems. So inverted poses are not permitted for this simple reason that instead of getting rid of the blood you are inviting the diseases to settle in the system and that is why they are not given. We give forward bends, Baddha Konasana, Upavistha Konasana where the flow is downwards not upwards at all, that is why such poses are introduced.
Female teacher: I didn’t have my period for three months.
Guruji: Overdoing is another problem. Some girls see my practice, which I have developed with fifty years of endurance, and they think when the teacher can do so many hours in such comfort that they should also do. So they overdo without training their bodies, without listening to their bodies whether the body tissues can hold on or not. When the tissues do not allow the free flow then there will be a break in the menstrual cycle for some time. When we become aware of this we say, ‘stop immediately, don’t do this, don’t do that’, and do poses so the natural period will come.
It was Guruji’s daughter, our beloved Geetaji, who devoted her life to yoga and its gifts particularly for women. Her book ‘Gem for Women’ is written and published for the betterment of women during every stage of the life cycle. Her teaching reminds all women to look after ourselves, to encourage acceptance of our organic body and its biological function, through out every stage of life’s journey.