Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause: A Guide to Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Health at Midlife and Beyond [Paperback]

Suza Francina (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 2003

Hormone Treatment Is Called Harmful-Washington Post, 7/10/02
Estrogen Use Linked to Higher Cancer Risk-Boston Globe, 7/17/02

31.2 million women facing menopause in America are concerned by these headlines. Most women today will live over one-third of their lives post-menopausal, but what about the age-old solution of hormone replacement therapy? In 2002 the U.S. government halted a major study of hormone therapy because it increased the risk of invasive breast cancer. Now, millions of women are left wondering whether they should approach menopause without hormones, suffering from hot flashes and low sex drive or take hormones and live in fear of being another statistic. Suza Francina has a simpler solution: Yoga.

In this practical book, Francina, a leading yogi and author of The New Yoga for People Over 50, shows how yoga can be a powerful tool to help women turn menopause into a positive and empowering experience, both physically and spiritually. Included are easy-to-follow, indexed photos of yoga poses that alleviate key menopausal problems including: hormonal changes; hot flashes; irregular bleeding; fibroids; stress and anxiety, mood swings, depression and fatigue; bone loss; heart disease and cancer.

Francina delivers a timely and truly heartening message to women: you don't have to get weaker or depressed when facing menopause, it can truly be an empowering, restorative time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This latest work from Suza Francina -- registered yoga therapist, certified Iyengar teacher, and author of The New Yoga for People Over 50 (Health Communications, 1997) -- is poised to join the auspicious ranks of The Woman's Book of Yoga, by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden (Shambala, 2002), among the key volumes for women seeking help from yoga in negotiating crucial life passages. Francina provides both how-to practice guidance and encouragement in plentiful portions. "Yoga can help us move joyfully into the second half of our lives," she writes, and her enthusiasm invites the reader to partake in the wisdom that follows.

Francina devotes most of the book to examining the role yoga can play in promoting physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being in the face of dramatic hormonal changes, the potential for and onset of osteoporosis, and even the experience (and possible avoidance) of cancer and heart disease. She thoughtfully presents scientific research and her own experiences as a yoga teacher -- and a woman -- alongside the testimony of more than a dozen radiant "women of a certain age" who embody the vitality that yoga can help cultivate. The rest of the book (about 50 pages) outlines a compact but well-rounded practice that even a newcomer can readily begin exploring.

This practice is divided into several section: restorative poses for "crossing the menopausal bridge," supported weight bearing poses, supported standing poses, simple seated poses and relaxing lying down poses, hanging and backbending poses that require props, and poses "to learn under the guidance of an experienced teacher." Helpful appendixes, including an extensive list of resources and an exhaustive bibilography, are included. Taken together, the many elements of Francina's book constitute a highly readable and extremely helpful guide for women approaching, navigating, or reflecting on menopause, and those who love them.

(Yoga Journal )

About the Author

Suza Francina is the author of The New Yoga for People Over 50 which has been published in several languages and reviewed on dozens of health-related Web sites, including WebMD.com. She is a certified Iyengar yoga instructor and registered yoga therapist with thirty years' experience in the field of yoga and exercise therapy. Francina teaches internationally and conducts workshops for the Yoga Journal Convention, the annual Prevention Magazine's Walker's Rally and the Omega Institute. She has written for many publications, including Prevention, Yoga Journal and Herbs for Health. Some of her books and contributions include Women's Health Care: A Guide to Alternatives, The Holistic Health Handbook , American Yoga and Living Your Yoga. She has appeared on numerous radio and television shows including Fit TV: Healthy Living (Body by Jake Productions) and the AARP Maturity Broadcast News. Her work with older students will be featured in an upcoming issue of AARP's Modern Maturity magazine. She is based in Ojai, California.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Health Communications, Inc. (April 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0757300650
• ISBN-13: 978-0757300653
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Suza Francina was born in 1949 in The Hague, Holland, and is of Dutch-Indonesian heritage. A yoga teacher since 1972, she is the author of four bestsellers on yoga for people at midlife and older: Yoga for People Over 50 (Devin Adair, 1977); The New Yoga for People Over 50: A Comprehensive Guide for People at Midlife and Older (Health Communications, Inc., 1997); Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause: A Guide to Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Health at Midlife and Beyond (HCI, 2003); and The New Yoga for Healthy Aging: Living Longer, Living Stronger, and Loving Every Day (HCI 2007). She is a contributing author for many other books.

Suza's new book, Fishing on Facebook: A Writing Yoga Memoir, will be released in February 2012. Fishing on Facebook is the first in a planned series of "writing yoga" memoirs.

Suza lives in Ojai, California, where she is a former mayor and long-time community activist. She considers her social and ecological activism to be an essential part of her daily-life yoga practice. The mother of a grown son and daughter, she is a passionate animal advocate whose family also includes several dogs and cats.

suzafrancina.com
Suzaji.com (Suza's Writing Yoga Memoirs Blog)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, June 17, 2003

By 

Carin A. Seebold (Beaumont, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause: A Guide to Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Health at Midlife and Beyond (Paperback)

Whether you are premenopausal, menopausal or post menopausal, Suza Francina's newest book has something for you. "Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause" offers advice and specific yoga poses to practice for hormonal changes, mood swings, fatigue, hot flashes, osteoporosis, stress and heart health among others. I was adamantly opposed to HRT and feel practicing yoga during my premenopausal years made my transition so much easier. I loved Suza's first book, "The New Yoga for People Over 50", and this new one is filled to the brim with her research on menopause and how yoga can be used as a tool to balance the effects of the natural hormonal and glandular changes of menopause. I consider it an excellent resource and highly recommend it for women seeking alternative methods of dealing with this natural mid-life transition.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause, July 18, 2003

By 

beehive332 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause: A Guide to Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Health at Midlife and Beyond (Paperback)

I read Suza Francina's book, "Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause" because I am a yoga student and a menopausal women. I am also a nurse working in women's healthcare. I was pleasantly suprised to find that this book helped me on a personal level as well as a professional level.
The book is a wealth of information that can answer many questions regarding menopause and what our bodies might endure.
The book explains how yoga can support one's health during the menopause transition. Topic's discussed are hormonal balance, fatique, hot flahes, pelvic health, osteoporosis, cancer, and heart disease. The book shows how yoga can help women with any of these health concerns. The yoga poses suggested to relieve side effects of menopause are clearly described and illustrated with photographs.
This book is very inspiring and I highly recommend it to my associates, clients and friends.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom and Yoga working together, November 25, 2006

By 

Ashwini Aragam (Worcester, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause: A Guide to Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Health at Midlife and Beyond (Paperback)

With this book, Suze Francina - Certified Iyengar Yoga teacher, applies Yoga and its therapeutic use to the challenging stage of menopause in a women's life. Her vast experience with Iyengar Yoga and her personal experience of the stage gives her real-life experience about how Yoga can be useful for calming the mind and the body during menopause.

As with any problem or symptom, it is useful to know what all parts of the body are affected first. The book addresses each of the symptoms that are a result of the phase - hormonal changes, hot flashes, pelvic health, stress, etc. You will find sequences of postures that are suitable to address the symptom. Suza encourages the use of props which is critical for people starting Yoga at these ages.

A key aspect of this book as in her earlier book is the inspirational stories of women who have faced the challenges by practicing yoga. The stories are alone enough to motivate you to look at Yoga as a cure to the problem. It is true that Yoga is extremely effective in calming the mind and this itself is a key aspect in its therapeutic effects on various ailments. What this book stands out is to help one choose a challenging aspect such as hot flashes and go straight to the chapter and see how Yoga could help. As a yoga teacher myself, I find the guidance extremely useful in letting women know how Yoga can help.

Suza's experience in dealing with the issue goes to a higher level than merely a prescriptive approach. 'Menopause is indeed a wake-up call to take care of ourselves' she writes. She rightly brings spirituality into the cure. A lot of physical and mental ailments can be faced effectively by feeling spiritual; the strength you find in being spiritual is stronger over the long run than many medicines. 'Yoga has helped me embrace my menopause, heal, grow, let go and move on. I want the same for you'.

If you know that Yoga can help many ailments and are getting to or into menopause, you will certainly benefit from this effort coming out with a good amount of knowledge about what happens and how Yoga can help.