Why We Need A New Yoga For Women

Yoga saved my life. It came to me by way of a lineage of Kriya masters and has served to help mend my broken heart, heal my wounded body, and transform me in ways I never thought possible. I have nothing but the deepest respect and gratitude for the people who kept ancient Vedic wisdom alive in spite of almost total cultural, political, and religious annihilation.

While we in the West associate "yoga" with fitness, a deeper purpose unites all traditional yoga practice: realization of the innermost self. Historians and philosophers of yogic tradition agree that the physical practice of yoga developed as a way to calm, strengthen, and prepare the body for meditation.¹

By the end of the 19th century physical yoga had all but disappeared from India. One man by the name of T.K.V. Krishnamacharya was responsible for seeking out one of the few remaining Hatha yoga masters and learning, recording and passing along the classic yogic postures that are practiced throughout the world today.

Krishnamacharya kept the strict codes of his tradition and only accepted boys and men into his yoga school. At the age of 98 he made a radical transformation and began teaching the innermost aspects of his tradition to women. Although female deity worship and female practitioners of yoga are as old as Hinduism, it seems clear that the practice of physical yoga was developed by and for the male body.²

An altogether different form of devotional practice has existed in India for at least 5,000 years and, like yoga, almost disappeared into obscurity before it was resurrected during the 20th century. "Devadasis", which translates as "servants of God", were the temple dancers of India who developed a beautiful style of movement that, like all other forms of ancient female dance, reinforces the natural shape of the female spine and pelvis.

Intriguing sculptures adorning ancient temples show female figures in poses supportive of female anatomy. Figure 1 Classical Indian dance forms are highly complex and difficult to master, which may account for why they have not been as popular in the West as yoga.

Some of the most influential yoga teachers in the United States and Europe were students of the great master, Krishnamacharya. B.K.S. Iyengar has made an enormous impact on yoga in the West by spreading his innovative practice of using props and devices to facilitate poses and improve health. Students of Iyengar, such as his daughter Geeta and the very talented Patricia Walden, have even shown a keen interest in the special needs of women.^{3, 4}

As Krishnamacharya predicted, yoga has become India’s greatest gift to the world. But a strong case can be made that physical yoga understands little about the anatomy of the female body and because it was developed by men does not even possess the intuitive wisdom of natural female movement. This gap between a powerful spiritual and physical technique and the unique needs of women has meant that women practicing Hatha yoga remain segregated from its essential wholeness.

I believe it would take little innovation to make certain yoga postures beneficial for women. Other poses should simply be replaced. Although yoga is over 5,000 years old, it was created by and for human beings and therefore is as modifiable as any other knowledge system and should evolve as our awareness evolves.

Alignment and efficiency of movement are interdependent. If the body is not properly aligned, tension levels increase as organs shift from their anatomically correct positions under the forces of intraabdominal pressure. For women this can manifest as pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence. Hatha yoga teaches that the purpose of the asanas is to bring the diversity of the body into single union so that the mind can flow unimpeded.⁵ If women are not in an alignment that provides optimum support for their organs, energy flow will be obstructed and the mind disturbed. Yogic postures for women should allow for full extension of the female spine. This pulls the pelvis into nutation and in turn stabilizes the pelvic organs.⁶Figure 2

The anatomical issues are very straightforward. The vagina is a flattened, airless tube that takes the same axis as the pelvic wall and remains flat as long as the outer framework from which it is suspended holds it in its anatomically correct position. Figure 3 The experience of vaginal air is a sign that the pelvis is counternutated and the vaginal walls open. The urethra and rectum take the very same axis as the vagina.

The bladder, uterus, and sigmoid colon form right angles to their passageways and are positioned directly behind the lower abdominal wall. All attempts to pull the organs up are misguided when what is required is that they be pulled forward. The organs cannot pull forward if the lower belly is not relaxed and the pelvis nutated. All poses that call for pulling in the belly, tucking the tailbone under, or contracting the “pelvic floor” destabilize the pelvis and shift the pelvic organs away from their normal positions. Likewise, inversion poses offer no influence over pelvic organ support because the factors that work to pin organs into position depend upon pelvic nutation, which in turn relies on weight loading from above. Pelvic organ support arises from a combination of the forces of gravity and the natural shape of the female spine.

There is a great deal of misunderstanding about what poses are best for women and why. I believe that like scientific medicine, yoga has failed to comprehend the essential differences between the male and female spine, and that the consequences of this oversight can be disastrous for women trying to develop “core strength” like men. Women have a differently shaped core than men and this difference must be honored.

The following are examples of poses I believe can and should be modified for women, as well as a few humble suggestions for replacements.

TREE POSE (Vrkasana)

The tree pose is a wonderful pose for women when both hips are externally rotated and the spine allowed to fully extend as the pelvic organs are drawn strongly forward.

Unfortunately, it is not taught this way. The following quote from the well-respected book, Structural Yoga Therapy, is a classic example of how yoga poses require women to forfeit their natural alignment.

"As the normal range of hip abduction [I think he means external rotation] is 45 degrees, your knee should point outward only halfway to either side when in the completed pose. If you turn your bent knee further backward, your pelvis will twist, resulting in instability."

Hip rotation, or "turnout" is greater in women due to the angle in which the femur attaches to the wider female pelvis. It is also the foundation of stability within movement and fundamental to many forms of early dance, including East Indian. The horizontal sacrum combined with a wide, turned-out and deeply bent stance offers the greatest platform from which to move the body. A deep, turned out knee bend also shifts the pelvis and pelvic organs into their most nutated and forward positions.

Performed in the traditional way, Tree Pose misaligns the female spine and can cause some women to feel that their organs are being "pushed down" the pelvic outlet. Figure 4 & Figure 5 While it is true that the pelvis will twist on the standing parallel leg if the bent knee is externally rotated past 45 degrees, if both hips are externally rotated and the pelvis allowed to nutate, the rest of the spine can extend as the pelvic organs become positioned well over the pubic bones. Figure 6 & Figure 7

TRIANGLE POSE (Trikonasana)

With slight innovation this is a superb pose for women with all the benefits of classic Triangle.

The female pelvis becomes highly unstable in the traditional version of Trikonasana as one half is being held in the nutated position while the other is counternuted. The organs are shifted from their normal positions as one-sided internal pressure is exerted upon them. Figure 8

A much more stable form of the pose is to externally rotate both hips and bend forward 90 degrees. Using the oblique muscles of the abdominal wall, twist the torso until the lower hand can be placed on the floor and the upper arm fully extended above. Figure 9 Deep twists and movements that increase intraabdominal pressure are perfectly fine for women when the pelvic organs are positioned forward. Positioning makes the difference in whether the organs are pinned into place or pushed toward the pelvic outlet by the forces of intraabdominal pressure. In this updated version of Triangle Pose, the organs are being held so far forward that no amount of internal pressure can effect them.

WARRIOR POSE (Virabhadrasana)

I suggest Warrior Pose Figure 10 be replaced in women’s yoga by Earth Mother Pose. Figure 11 The same issues apply as with Triangle making it an unstable posture for women.

BOAT POSE (Navasana)

This pose has spawned a number of variations that have become the standard by which "core strength" is aggressively developed. A counternutated pelvis causes the female pelvic organs to lose their means of support and the lower back to take the brunt of internal forces no matter how strong the rectus abdominii become. Figure 12

An alternative is to sit in a 90 degree posture and alternate lifting one leg off the floor. Figure 13 Another is to substitute supine poses with prone ones, such as Cobra Figure 14 and Locust Figure 15. The bladder is well protected behind the abdominal wall and cannot be injured or displaced with these poses.

CHAIR POSE (Utkatasana)

Unless performed correctly, Chair Pose places the body in the same position as Boat Pose, only rotated in space with the lower legs bent for standing. Figure 16 The same issues of pelvic counternutation and instability apply. Create pelvic stability by sitting deeply into the pose and extending the lumbar spine. Figure 17 Quadriceps and knees are strengthened while the pelvis remains stable.

There is no reason women cannot practice the beautiful Pigeon, Scorpion, Firefly, Crow and Headstand poses as easily, skillfully, and safely as men. Bridge and Wheel poses should be practiced with care.

It is an interesting observation that not one yoga pose utilizes bilateral hip turnout, the most fundamental posture of ancient Indian dance and the classic posture of yogic meditation. It does beg the question, Were turned-out postures considered "feminine" and therefore inappropriate by the men who developed Hatha yoga?

Alternatively, will the realization that certain yoga poses destabilize the female pelvis cause women to feel inferior? Traditional yoga demands that women conform to postures that are clearly more easily and safely performed by men. I pose the question, Why would we want to?
____________________________________________________

¹ Bryant EF The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. verses I & II Namarupa: Categories of Indian Thought Spring 1 (2003): 33-38

² Gupta RK A Yoga of Indian Classical Dance Inner Traditions 2000 p.60

³ Iyengar GS Yoga - A Gem for Women Timeless Books 1990

⁴ Sparrows L Walden P Lasater J The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness Shambala Press 2002

⁵ Iyengar BKS A Tree of Yoga Shambala 2002

⁶ Kent CA Saving the Whole Woman Bridgeworks 2007