"Where's My Period?": The Consequences Of Hot Yoga Every Day.
I ended the yoga challenge early, only having finished 80-something classes. Overall, I felt good. But there were somethings that I realized now were a result of so much hot yoga.
I was easily angered in class by teachers. Very angered, actually. Not at all of the four studios I practiced at. Just one in particular - which was difficult for me to avoid because it was the easiest to get to on my way home. Some very bad teachers there. (Keep it too hot. Cut postures. Don't actually watch the students and give them safe corrections. Saw a few of the teachers give flat-out incorrect corrections.) I don't recommend that studio to anyone.
But besides the "easy to anger at teachers", there was one very noticeable thing it did to my body (besides tone it really nicely)...
It elongated my menstrual cycles. Like really elongated.
On average, my body is like clockwork. Every 26 to 28 days, I get my period. I know when it is coming, and I even know when I am ovulating (the midpoint of my cycle).
I'm pretty well-tuned to my body in general.I don't always listen to it. But I know what it is saying.
Well all of the hot yoga definitely fucked with it. I purged my anger and frustrations... And my body decided to rebel by going completely off-cycle.
Right away my body delayed my cycle from starting. I had gone to Peru, certain that I would get my cycle while there. I ALWAYS get my period in Peru. This time, I did not. I came back and it took another week for it to start. I went 34 whole days.
Definitely not normal. I figured things would get back on track.
But then I waited for my period. Lent started. And for it, my body decided to give up menstruating. I didn't get my period until the day before Easter Sunday. It had gone 44 days.
"Maybe I am in early menopause?" I wondered. It was completely possible. "I've been menstruating for almost 28 years now. So maybe it's winding down?"
Two weeks later, I knew it wasn't yet winding down. My mid-cycle cramps that come with ovulation were back. They'd been absent during the yoga challenge... And came back in full force now that I was done with hot yoga every day. And exactly two weeks later, my period arrived.
"Babe..." said the boyfriend, "Maybe yoga isn't good for you. Not that much, anyway."
He's definitely not anti-yoga. He runs a company that also owns some yoga studios. He preaches the benefits of yoga all of the time. But he had a point... Your body isn't meant to do hot yoga every day. The sequence itself? Sure! Absolutely! But you don't need to do it in a hot room every day. And certainly not one as hot as I'd been practicing in at that bad yoga studio.
Now that my office has moved, I am able to get to the good yoga studio after work. The one in my town. And I can commit to three to four days a week of practicing.
A much more reasonable way to approach the lifestyle.
I was easily angered in class by teachers. Very angered, actually. Not at all of the four studios I practiced at. Just one in particular - which was difficult for me to avoid because it was the easiest to get to on my way home. Some very bad teachers there. (Keep it too hot. Cut postures. Don't actually watch the students and give them safe corrections. Saw a few of the teachers give flat-out incorrect corrections.) I don't recommend that studio to anyone.
But besides the "easy to anger at teachers", there was one very noticeable thing it did to my body (besides tone it really nicely)...
It elongated my menstrual cycles. Like really elongated.
I'm pretty well-tuned to my body in general.I don't always listen to it. But I know what it is saying.
Well all of the hot yoga definitely fucked with it. I purged my anger and frustrations... And my body decided to rebel by going completely off-cycle.
Right away my body delayed my cycle from starting. I had gone to Peru, certain that I would get my cycle while there. I ALWAYS get my period in Peru. This time, I did not. I came back and it took another week for it to start. I went 34 whole days.
Definitely not normal. I figured things would get back on track.
But then I waited for my period. Lent started. And for it, my body decided to give up menstruating. I didn't get my period until the day before Easter Sunday. It had gone 44 days.
"Maybe I am in early menopause?" I wondered. It was completely possible. "I've been menstruating for almost 28 years now. So maybe it's winding down?"
Two weeks later, I knew it wasn't yet winding down. My mid-cycle cramps that come with ovulation were back. They'd been absent during the yoga challenge... And came back in full force now that I was done with hot yoga every day. And exactly two weeks later, my period arrived.
"Babe..." said the boyfriend, "Maybe yoga isn't good for you. Not that much, anyway."
He's definitely not anti-yoga. He runs a company that also owns some yoga studios. He preaches the benefits of yoga all of the time. But he had a point... Your body isn't meant to do hot yoga every day. The sequence itself? Sure! Absolutely! But you don't need to do it in a hot room every day. And certainly not one as hot as I'd been practicing in at that bad yoga studio.
Now that my office has moved, I am able to get to the good yoga studio after work. The one in my town. And I can commit to three to four days a week of practicing.
A much more reasonable way to approach the lifestyle.
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