I'm a patient woman. Most of the time.

As a wellness pro, I know that healing takes time.

That's why I cry "bollocks!" to quick fixes and miracle pill promises.

It's also a reason I canceled my subscription to Yoga Journal years ago.

Tired of magazine spreads with titles like "Yoga for Body Positivity" on one side of the fold and "Herbs for Quick Weight Loss" on the facing page incensed me.

How can I possibly love the body I'm in when you're telling me I'm only worthy if I drop a few pounds?

This kind of crap marketing is just one of a million examples of media striving to convince women we're not good enough.

It's also a reason I want to be fully transparent about my intentions as a yoga teacher so that any potential student in my new yoga class for women in perimenopause and menopause feels like they've landed in the right place.

Here are 3 things my yoga classes CANNOT PROMISE to offer.

1. Weight loss strategies. From the day we're born, vulva owners are pressured to look a certain way and be a particular size. Diet culture perpetuates toxic patterns of restrictive eating and promotes movement as a form of punishment for consuming too many of the "wrong" foods. After adolescent girls, menopausal women are at the highest risk of disordered eating. Natural shifts in estrogen production tack a little extra around our midsections and, for some women, this is cause for starving themselves and over-exercising as "remedies." Because my teaching has at its core body acceptance and health at any size, I want to make clear from the start that you will never hear the words "yoga for weight loss" roll off my lips. You are perfect as you are.
2. A cure for hot flashes. Dang. I wish I could wave a magic wand to tame your vasomotor shifts. I can't even make the claim that yoga will end your night sweats once and for all. What I can promise is that for many students, the breathwork practices and stress management benefits of time on their mats helps them keep their cool when life heats up.
3. A map to your lost libido. Along with sagging bits and dry skin, changes to a woman's libido in peri- and post-menopause are about as common as my use of the F word. (For those who may not know, this means very common!) While I can't promise you'll be riding the O-train to Pleasureville after my classes, I can say from personal experience that my yoga practice gives me space to Emily Nagoski my life and "turn off my offs" for a bit. If you've read Nagoski's book "Come As You Are," you'll appreciate her alluringly practical guidance that rediscovering your libido is in part a result of identifying what hits your brakes on the way to Sexyville and what keeps your foot on the feel-good gas pedal. If an hour of yoga gets you back in touch with what feels good in your body, imagine the ripple effect of taking those good feels into your romantic partnerships!

Enough with punishing messages that draw us away from what I understand is a central tenant of wellbeing: change happens only when we accept ourselves first and foremost as we are.

Come as you are to class if it feels aligned with your highest good.

Promise I won't leave your innards burning with ire (but maybe with the fire of your forgotten power?),

Jennifer (she/her)

VIRTUAL CLASS STARTS MONDAY MAY 2 @ 7:30 PM ET!

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