How Yoga is Supporting Menopausal Women around the World to Thrive
Press Release | 4 June 20201
Cape Town-based Yin, Vinyasa & Aerial Yoga teacher, Josie Laurie, took up yoga 7 years ago to help her with her depression. ‘After my first class, I was hooked,’ she confesses. ‘I was left with a sense of profound joy, peace and belonging that I’d never experienced before. Over time, a deep recognition of my true self arose. I grabbed onto this feeling like a life-raft, signed up for teacher training, and never looked back.’
Josie continues: ‘Yoga taught me to quieten the mind, and to be present with what is. I learnt the importance of breath and meditation to support the psyche and nervous system. If anxiety and depression are best friends, then so are the breath and yoga. I discovered it was OK to let things be as they are, and to bring to peace unconscious patterns wanting to be in control. Finally, after a lifetime of finding myself unbearable, I tentatively started to quite like myself! Through the holistic practice of yoga, I was able to nurture a primary relationship with myself, and this has had a positive effect on every other relationship in my life.’
As a single mother who raised 4 children on her own, Josie recognises the challenges many women encounter when faced simultaneously with empty nest syndrome and menopause. This ‘change of life’ constitutes a window of vulnerability during which wild mood swings, body dysmorphia and a loss of identity can result in fairly severe psychiatric and physical disorders. However, it can equally be a threshold for liberation where, for the first time since adolescence, women may live more vibrantly and fully than when they were preoccupied with nurturing partners, children and businesses.
’In my view yoga is beneficial for all ages. However, I’m particularly passionate about connecting with women of my own age. We may act all tough and successful on the outside, but secretly most of us are struggling on the inside. In the blink of an eye our children have grown up and left home. We feel stripped of our purpose, nobody seems to need or see us anymore. We can get caught up dwelling in the past. On top of that, our hormones are all over the place, our bodies are changing rapidly, and we are advised to have regular mammograms and Pap smears. We question whether we’ve lived on purpose and achieved anything meaningful in our lives, and we may feel scared of getting old. In my case, I suddenly felt invisible, and to make matters worse I put on 6kg around my belly, and developed batwings under my arms. It’s a bitch if you let it be,’ says Josie with a twinkle in her eye.
‘I wanted to find a style of yoga best suited to support peri-menopausal and menopausal women, and that’s when I discovered Aerial Yoga.
It’s fun, exciting and a unique way to gain strength and flexibility. I love the way the aerial silk fully supports us to get into poses we may be unable to achieve on the mat. I adore the playfulness and sense of achievement we get when we’ve mastered a new flip or trick. So if you want a play date with your inner child, then Aerial Yoga is for you,’ she says.
At Josie’s studio, A Little Bit of Yoga, the classes are conducted with a sense of humour. Keeping it real and being authentic is Josie’s way of demonstrating love and respect for her clients. It allows them to feel less intimidated and at ease with her, and each class has the atmosphere of a group of good girlfriends practising yoga together ~ which is what it is. It’s a space to rediscover ~ maybe even re-invent ~ oneself, and feel happy, with the fabulous by-product of getting fit and flexible. Negative emotions are replaced with gratitude for our strong, healthy bodies and minds.
Josie’s clients attest to this, and is best articulated through one of her earliest clients: ‘I have improved my strength, balance and flexibility. My arthritic symptoms, like tender swollen joints and back pain, have eased. But most significantly, there has been an increase in my mental and physical energy. I’m a happier calmer person because of my daily yoga practice. Through Josie’s classes I’ve met amazing women, and several have become my closest and most trusted friends.’
The classes begin with the breath, then progress to strength and stretching asanas, with a focus on strengthening the abs and biceps. There is also a very playful element involving many hilarious moments learning new flips and tricks whilst being totally present and absorbed in having fun. Ending in Savasana in an aerial yoga hammock is true bliss. Nothing can compare to the profound relaxation it evokes.
The benefit of a regular yoga practice has exploded since lockdown, because anyone with an internet connection living anywhere in the world, can access classes being offered from anywhere in the world. Says Josie, ‘Although technology is scary, I had no choice but to master the art of Zoom and fast! I made sure I never missed a class by rallying my existing clients to download Zoom. Most did, and our classes carried on as usual, but in a different way. Teaching yoga online is not the same as in person, but every cloud has a silver lining, and mine is the way it’s given me access to a global audience. I’m in awe of how I’m now able to reach women globally, and even though I’ve never met some of my clients in real life, I still feel a very deep connection to them. Furthermore, I feel practicing yoga from home encourages my clients to make the practise their own. I encourage them to use anything they can get their hands on as props ,to suit their needs ~ such as cushions, books, blankets etc. We have kids popping in and out; pets joining in ~ we even have a squirrel that joins us on occasion! You can wear what you want and some join in their PJs! Also, if you feel self-conscious, you can turn off your camera.’
Josie offers a great variety of classes all under one studio and/or Zoom code. Vigorous Vinyasa and Sculpt in the morning, Aerial during the day, and gentle Yin in the early evenings. She also offers private classes, and Aerial Yoga for kids.
One of Josie’s yogis, Nelly November, says, ‘I guess the reason why I never really considered yoga before was because I didn’t think I looked the part...there’s definitely a typical yogi body, and I believed I was far from it. However, since I’ve started I’ve realised it’s a beautiful embodied spiritual practice, and so much more than just keeping up with the idealised yogi body. For me, it’s become a way of life.’
Another says, ‘Josie’s yoga gives me a sense of equilibrium. If I miss classes I feel out of sorts. If start out stiff, afterwards I feel relaxed. If I begin feeling tired, afterwards I feel invigorated. It’s given me a weekly mind-body routine, and has kept me sane within my four walls.’
Contact Josie: +2774 112 9553 | Email | Instagram | Facebook
