A Letter to the Yoga Industry About Female Pelvises
A radical feminine critique of the harmful way we treat women as small men.
Below is a letter I’ve been writing to a studio I’ve been practicing in, edited for privacy. It turned into a novel and I probably won’t send it, but maybe you want to read it or *crazy idea* modify it and send it to your own studios…
This is my way of opening up a dialogue with the yoga, fitness, wellness, and athletic industries. The second-wave feminist ideal that “we can do anything men can do” was actually detrimental to the progression of women’s empowerment because this swept our significant physiological differences under the rug, and thus, made an entire generation unwell. Radical Feminism honors the biology of women’s bodies.
Hello __________,
Thanks for reaching out personally and promptly to my email, I really appreciate that. I've delayed responding because I’ve been back and forth about how much I want to say.
I’ve injured both of my hamstrings, and both sides are presenting injuries differently. On one side it’s a hamstring attachment at the knee where I have pain, on the other side it’s an attachment at the ischial tuberosity.
As a fellow professional movement teacher, I offer the following as my humble, yet educated opinion. To qualify my feedback here’s a little more about me. I’ve been teaching yoga for women’s bodies and for pelvic health specifically for over 15 years. I’m also a somatic bodyworker, doula, women’s pelvic health & movement educator, and avid mover. My professional focuses are women’s bodies and athletes.
I knew there was a risk coming into this style of yoga, but I know how to modify my practice when I need to. Despite my experience and knowledge, I still was injured and will have to stop practicing all yoga, and most of my other athletic pursuits while I heal. Luckily I can still walk and work.
It’s unfortunate because many of my body's general aches and pains have been kept at bay. I thought this would be the perfect cross-training. There is so much to love about this practice. However, after trying to practice with blinders all winter, trying to ignore the things I was noticing, there are things that don't sit well with me from a physiological safety and anatomy perspective and are the reason for my injury.
I’ll admit my bias right now - I’m passionate about the female pelvis.
It is my work to support female athletes because as I see it, the yoga, fitness, and athletic industries (all the way up to elite levels with a few exceptions) are teaching and training without consideration of the physiological differences between male and female bodies (the pelvis most pointedly). I treat women every day who have been injured in yoga, fitness, and athletic spaces, who unknowingly make their issues worse by the way they’re guided to practice and train.
In my observations, most teachers & trainers do not know the unique movement needs (and contraindications) of menstruating, birthing, and menopausal women. Women as a consequence suffer lifelong injury cycles including low back and si joint pain, painful sex, fertility decline, disrupted hormones, prolapsed organs, incontinence at alarming rates, traumatic births, high hysterectomy rates, not to mention nervous system and mental health issues because most of the time their bodies are regarded as just smaller versions of male bodies.
This couldn't be further from the truth considering women’s obvious physiological pelvic differences, including nervous, skeletal, connective tissue, and muscular systems.
One day, I hope movement practices initially designed for male bodies will be prefaced as such, have anatomically correct cues that address both pelvises, or offer modifications tailored to women's pelvises.
Additionally, there is the topic of hypertonicity versus hypotonicity in the pelvic musculature. Without knowing where a woman’s core tone is, it’s inappropriate to cue pelvic floor engagement of any kind. If she is hypertonic (has weakness due to muscles that cannot release tension), and is cued to ‘suck in her stomach’ or ‘squeeze in the midline’ or ‘lift the perineum’ this can exacerbate her weakness and wreak havoc on her body with lifelong consequences. Without knowing why the musculature is unwilling to release, (it could be physical injury, emotional armoring, from a fall or birth trauma, because she’s scared, or has been abused) a teacher or trainer could be out of integrity with their instruction.
Often the fitness industry does unintentional harm when its goals are to help.
I know the pain of this realization firsthand because I used to teach similarly before I knew all of this. Luckily no one was severely injured on my watch. Still, I know that I spent many years exacerbating underlying issues rather than helping women heal their bodies through movement. I had to reconcile that.
And I went further, to study and educate myself about other things that affect women in movement spaces. I took trauma-informed training that helped me see how often yoga, fitness, and athletic training can result in unintended retraumatization for women with:
existing birth trauma (1 in 3),
histories of sexual trespass (1 in 4),
eating disorders (1 in 20),
body dysmorphic disorder (1 in 50).
As a woman with a history of trespass, my first experiences with yoga back in Seattle were very triggering to me, and it took time to find a teacher I felt safe with. Looking back, I remember shouting, shaming, calling out, strict bathroom rules, making examples without consent, forceful physical modifications, inappropriate touch, and horribly unsafe, anatomically improper cueing. All of that sounds pretty extreme, and thankfully it rarely happens anymore, but that doesn’t mean we have finished evolving. I have become passionate about these issues in part because of what happened to me, and because I know there is a better way. I believe movement spaces should be inclusive, respectful, and knowledgeable about women’s physiological differences. I believe when they are, we find these spaces to foster true empowerment and healing, rather than being competitive and potentially harmful.
I know this is an uncommon stance, but I ask you, why is that? Why is it that something that affects half of the population still isn’t mainstream knowledge? I’m pretty sure if there was a similar statistic of failed pelvic diaphragm function in men, we would have changed things by now. The two most common surgeries for women are #1 Cesarean and #2 Hysterectomy - both of these are often a result of pelvic diaphragm dysfunction, often exacerbated by the lack of education in our unique needs as movers.
When I come to practice at your studio, I have a really hard time keeping my body safe. I have been disturbed by much of the language and improper anatomy used in cueing action. I feel like I have to work very hard to reframe and alter the cueing in my own body, to keep from getting injured acutely, and from doing long-term harm. I also become distracted when I notice other women who are obviously pained, confused and struggling, with no support coming from the teacher.
Despite my best efforts, extensive knowledge, and training, I still wasn’t able to stay safe, and I injured my knee. In all my life, 30+ years of extreme athletics and yoga, I’ve never had knee problems.
Stretching the hamstrings this intensely is especially contraindicated for women, due to the naturally more anterior position of the pelvis. The ligaments and tendons are endangered by the cueing to 'tuck the tail’, ’legs like lampposts’, and 'suck in the stomach' during hamstring stretching - which creates varying levels of instability in the pelvic diaphragm of women, leading to all the complications I listed above.
I am not saying it was your fault, the teachers, the method, or the studio's. I am one hundred percent a believer that I am responsible for taking care of myself in any fitness class, or athletic pursuit for that matter. But the fact remains, despite my best efforts, being a person with highly developed body awareness and skill at movement, I was unable to remain safe. Suppose we use my body as a barometer. In that case, there are other women in class that are similarly being cheered on for their perfect form, who are unknowingly creating hip and pelvis destabilization that may require surgery or worse down the road. And knowing that, wouldn’t you want to do everything you can to help them avoid those outcomes?
One reason I see improper and unsafe cuing being justified is because of ‘tradition’. But asana practice isn’t really a tradition, it has no lineage, and it’s not thousands of years old. Even the oldest asana practices aren’t an ‘ancient yogic tradition’. The roots of modern yoga are not just Indian, they are also Scandinavian. What we now call yoga goes back a little over 100 years, and is a mix of Indian yoga and Scandinavian gymnastics / physical training techniques that were employed as British military exercise drills.
From Contesting Yoga’s Past: A Brief History of Āsana in Pre-modern India (A Harvard Divinity School Center for the Study of World Religions essay): "Although today the word “yoga” is practically synonymous with the notion of āsana or bodily stretching, this is a relatively new phenomena that has arisen in the last century. In pre-modern India, āsana has always been one auxiliary among many, of a complete psycho-physiological system of disciplined yoga practice, enjoined alongside other yoga technologies including: ethical restraints and observances (yama and niyama), breath control (prāṇāyāma) and retention (kumbhaka), bodily seals (mudrā) and binds (bandha), and meditation techniques (dhyāna), among others."
My question to you is, when does ‘tradition’ need to be examined, in order not to become ‘dogma’?
Another reason for these unsafe fitness industry standards for women is unexamined misogyny. Misogyny is a big word and I do not use it lightly. Everything in the female body is designed to support optimal sexual and reproductive health. Literally every system. And yet, female pelvic health is most often overlooked in women’s healthcare, exercise spaces, perinatal care, and our modern culture as a whole.
Overlooking these extreme negative health cascades that women uniquely face - that is ignorance. Failure to do something about it once you know, that is misogyny.
One of my teachers, Adelaide Meadow speaks to this very intelligently, if you are curious to learn more about what I've been communicating here: Critiquing the Fitness Industry - My Thoughts on Saying "it's better to do some movement than none at all"
Encouragingly, there is emerging evidence highlighting the benefit of athletic institutions valuing the specific needs of women’s female physiology - with huge performance success, as seen by How tracking their periods helped USA women's soccer team win the World Cup.
In menstruating women, cycle syncing with exercise and fitness routines is paramount for these routines to actually be healthy long term.
Women’s reproductive systems (and therefore their whole body) operate on a 28-day infradian rhythm, not only a 24-hour circadian rhythm. There are 4 phases of a menstruating woman’s fertility cycle, and each phase asks for something different. Women should not exercise the same way every single day.
This is best understood through the analogy of a battery, it’s important to charge the battery, but it’s also just as important to spend the battery. The scope matters. That’s why looking through the lens of the solar 24-hour cycle isn’t really appropriate for women, and why exercising the same way every day, isn’t appropriate. We have to zoom out and look at things in lunar 28-day cycles.
Women who take an entire day of rest on the first few days of their bleed, are actually more productive.
And women who really focus on *hitting it* during their peak expenditure window actually have more energy and vitality over their whole cycle. Because when a woman rests and fully charges her battery when it’s time, she will have surplus energy at other times of the cycle when she needs it most.
Here is how fostering energetic vitality goes, in a more linear description, phase by phase. And remember, this is suggested as general upkeep of a standard healthy cycle. If women (not on hormonal birth control) have cycle irregularities, like missing periods, cycles shorter than 27 days, or longer than 32, or PMS symptoms like painful cramping, clots, brown blood, breast soreness, etc. these are examples of irregularity. I encourage women with irregularities to book a menstrual cycle analysis with me if they want to get a full personalized workup and protocol for achieving a standard healthy cycle.
These are my phase-by-phase suggestions for Women for energy management through exercise to promote longevity, sustainability and whole-body health:
Menstrual (Winter) Phase - Period Days 1-4 | REST
Rest during the period helps to recharge a woman's energy. The better rested a woman is during her period, the more energy she will have for the rest of the month. (It's a lot like sleep--the better you sleep at night, the more energy you'll have throughout the day).
Rest during the period should include sleeping 8-10 hours per night and napping during the day if tired. Additional activities might include easy breathing exercises, stretching, gentle abdominal massage, slow walks, nature watching, journaling, restorative yoga, yoga nidra, using a heating pad, and so on.
To the extent possible, refrain from work, heavy lifting, social engagements, stressful activities, news, strenuous exercise, entertaining, going outdoors at night, eating cold food, and sex.
Failure to rest, and to continue with intense activity and exertion can destabilize the pelvic organs causing prolapse, can overstretch the softened ligaments within the pelvis causing injury and pelvic asymmetry, and can cause the uterus to stop-start, flood, or cease its healthy releasement of blood.
Follicular (Spring) Phase - Days 5-13 | Warm Up
The week after the period is the time for a woman to collect energy through warm-up activities. She is still charging up her energy at this time. These warm-up exercises should give a woman energy and not deplete her. Practicing at 25-30% effort is a good goal.
Examples include prana-building breathing exercises, stretching, fast walking, 5-10 minutes of cardiovascular exercise, Iyengar or Hatha yoga, Qi-building movements like Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and so on.
Ovulatory & First Half of Luteal (Summer) Phase - Days 14-24 | Cardio
Cardio and heavy exercise is recommended every day during Days 14-24. This is a woman's highest energy point in her cycle and she must use her energy so that it does not become stagnant and slow circulation.
To aid circulation, do lymph drainage massage, sauna + cold dips, 1 minute of cold at the end of a hot shower, abdominal massage, deep tissue massage, and breast massage in this window.
Examples include: skate skiing, running, swimming, weight training, vinyasa yoga, HIIT, hill sprints, up-regulating breathwork (Biodynamic or Holotropic), hot steamy long sexual encounters!
Second Half of Luteal (Autumn) Phase - Days 25-29 | Cool Down
Days 25-29 is a cool-down period. The body is preparing for the upcoming bleed. During this time heavy exercise should slow way down and then cease. Backing down from 30% effort towards rest.
A woman should engage in relaxing activities like walking, yin yoga & long-held stretching, gentle massage, milder hot/cold therapy, down-regulating breathing exercises (like box breathing, alternate nostril breathing), cross-country skiing short distances, gentle lap swimming, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and so on.
Pregnant & Postnatal, & Breastfeeding Women
Knowing how women’s bodies change after birth and the specific contraindications are CRUCIAL.
There are too many details to name, psychosomatically, physiologically, mentally…
Core instability and the presence of diastasis recti must be assessed before most movement protocols are approached, and if present, particular movement actions to re-strengthen the transverse abdominus (and NOT engage the rectus abdominus) are required.
The symphony of adductors + pelvic diaphragm + transverse abdominus all performing together should be the #1 goal of any movement.
For women with hypertonicity, down-training the pelvic diaphragm and relaxing it should be the focus.
We must acknowledge the presence of relaxin, a hormone that helps the soft tissues stretch and allows the bones to accommodate the passage of a baby through the pelvis. This means women can accidentally overestimate their flexibility, overload the joints with their body weight, and cause debilitating pain and lifelong injuries.
Jumping right back into fitness classes without a personal assessment is unwise.
Perimenopausal, Menopausal Women, and Women Without a Uterus
If women no longer bleed, there is still great benefit in following the lunar rhythm, on psychosomatic and emotional levels, as well as the subtle ways the infradian rhythm still affects the brain.
The way a woman’s body changes when she stops producing reproductive hormones is phenomenally under-studied, by both medical science and the fitness/athletic industry.
Basically this messaging says, “You are now obsolete.”
But these women are re-entering the fitness world with vigor, after being out for childrearing, and are extra motivated because their bodies are changing.
Some women have superhuman strength in their ‘crone’ years, compared to how they felt when their bodies were growing, feeding, and raising children.
Some women were very depleted by their role as a mother and need to build themselves back up from scratch - like many people do following an injury.
Jumping right back into fitness classes without a personal assessment is unwise.
Women on Hormonal Birth Control
Whether or not women on HBC bleed, it’s not an actual period, but there is still great benefit in following the lunar rhythm, on psychosomatic and emotional levels, as well as the subtle ways the infradian rhythm still affects the brain.
It’s a bit off-topic, but that stuff is toxic.
It’s tricking women’s bodies into thinking they’re pregnant and throwing the entire pheromone navigation system off, affecting who they’re actually attracted to and their ability to know their edge in movement spaces.
I highly recommend watching The Business of Birth Control if you haven’t already
I offer help transitioning off HBC.
The second-wave feminist ideal that “we can do anything men can do” was actually detrimental to the progression of women’s empowerment because this swept our significant physiological differences under the rug, and thus, made an entire generation unwell. Radical Feminism honors the biology of women’s bodies.
“Women's oppression is based on our biological reality. So women's liberation must center our female bodies.” - Adelaide Meadow
I may be on a personal crusade to change the fitness industry, and yoga specifically, to be genuine spaces for female wellness, but my hopes are that upon reflection, you will also see that this is of the most importance. Again, I am critiquing the industry, not just your studio alone. That said, big impacts for the people in your community could be made, and injuries like mine could be prevented.
Questions I pose to you: are the scripts so important, that they should be upheld over the health of the female students in class? At what point do we pivot? I am absolutely willing to sit down with you and your teachers anytime to begin the process of education and re-languaging. Please consider me an ally.
Here for any further thoughts you have,
Sarah Louisignau | thelivingpelvis.com
This is so helpful and agree with all of your points. Thank you for providing this info for us! Would you be open to providing a masterclass or training for yoga instructors on common mistakes/misalignments made in vinyasa classes that we can avoid and how to properly cue? Something we could implement into our classes ASAP