The Power of Ayurveda: Nurturing Adolescent Menstrual Health Holistically
Updated: Apr 19
Your menstrual cycle is a window into your wellbeing. According to Ayurveda, each month your cycle shows you which doshas may be imbalanced. A balanced cycle is one that arrives on schedule with no drama. Can you imagine? It is important to use menses as a vital sign of overall health and wellbeing, physically and mentally.
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The Power of Ayurveda: Nurturing Adolescent Menstrual Health Holistically
According to Healthy Children, "Within a year or two of their first period, 50 to 75 percent of young women begin to experience painful menstrual cramps, or dysmenorrhea."
That's a staggering statistic.
It's tough enough to have this happen one time, much less every month, and potentially for several decades. Being a tween, teen, and adult is challenging, we want to restore balance to this monthly cycle now, so it's functioning optimally for your whole life.
If your cycle is too heavy, too light, prolonged, infrequent, too frequent, absent, unpredictable, those are menstrual issues that need attention.
What Is A Balanced Menstrual Cycle?
What is a heavy flow? That is changing a pad (tampon, cup) every hour.
What’s an irregular cycle? One that does not arrive every month.
What’s too frequent? A cycle that occurs more than once in a month.
What’s an absent period? Amenorrhea is a cycle that has not occurred for more than three months.
"Heavy and irregular bleeding, referred to as dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB), can indicate serious underlying medical problems in teens. DUB is caused by a disturbance involving the hormones that regulate menstruation..." according to healthychildren.org
Menstrual imbalances often go hand in hand with mood related challenges--there's biology behind that mood.
According to the National Institute of Health, "Altogether results show, that up to 90% of women of reproductive age experience several premenstrual symptoms varying from mild to severe..."
The physical pain and emotional stress that accompanies an imbalanced cycle is consuming and disruptive. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health's list of physical and mental symptoms of PMS is below.
Physical symptoms of PMS can include:
Swollen or tender breasts
Bloating or a gassy feeling
Cramping
Backache
Clumsiness
Lower tolerance for noise or light
Emotional or mental symptoms of PMS include:
Feeling tired
Sleep problems (sleeping too much or too little)
Appetite changes or food cravings
Trouble with concentration or memory
Tension or anxiety
Depression, feelings of sadness, or crying spells
If any of those symptoms sound familiar, please keep reading.
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Ask yourself, do you truly know what a healthy cycle is? Or do you cramp, take Midol, use birth control to suppress disruptive symptoms, and still find yourself saying you’re “all good?”
In many parts of the world, menstruation was once revered as a time for women to recharge and reflect. Today, we’re expected to maintain long school and work weeks, demanding extracurricular activities, maintain social connections, developing networks, learn and grow– all while bloated, cramped, and suffering.
Contemporary lifestyles simply don’t support a balanced cycle. As a result, many people endure painful periods for years, even their whole lifetime. But with Ayurveda, menstruation doesn’t have to be synonymous with suffering.
"Many things we experience, especially when it occurs regularly or ongoing, we tend to adjust to and think that's just the way it is. But it's our body telling us our doshas need balancing to function more optimally. Symptoms are the body's way of communicating with us, that it needs help. Let's not just deal with it, let's address it!" - Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
Let's look at some more detailed symptoms of menstrual imbalances according to Ayurveda.
Symptoms of Menstrual Imbalance
Heavy flow and clotting
Irregular or scant periods
PMS
Blood clots
Dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB)
Constipation or diarrhea
Weight gain or bloating
Joint or muscle pain
Headaches, weakness and exhaustion (may lead to extreme tiredness or shortness of breath)
Acne flare-ups
Migraines
Headaches
Anxiety or feeling tense
Crying spells or depressed moods
Mood swings, irritability, anger
Trouble sleeping
Feeling faint
Vomiting
Nausea
Diminished concentration
Extended symptoms (feeling like your cycle lasts all month)
Bleeding between periods
Endometriosis
Painful periods (dysmenorrhea)
Your day, week, or month are dominated by your cycle and disrupt your life
Chances are you’ve experienced one (or many) of the symptoms above. You might even consider them an unavoidable part of getting your period. Menstrual suffering is so common we treat it as a natural side-effect of having a female reproductive system.
Modern medicine rarely treats these issues as part of a deeper imbalance; it seeks to alleviate symptoms instead of addressing the underlying cause. Unfortunately, while birth control and IUDs may help relieve your suffering, they do little to help you regain balance.
Heavy Flow Symptoms:
Anemia (fatigue and shortness of breath or feeling of oxygen hunger)
More than a week of flow
Blood clots
Changing pads (or equivalent) every hour or so and/or requiring two products to control the overflow)
Waking at night to change pads or tampons
Too Light a Flow Symptoms:
Continual, very light, or spotting only during the cycle
Flow for only a day or two
Needing to change pad, tampon, or cup once or twice a day
More frequent and lighter cycles
Irregular Flow Symptoms:
More often than 21 days, or skipping months
Cycles stay irregular for 3 years once cycles arrived
Pain and cramping
Spotting between cycles
Cycles that were regular, but became irregular
Hair growth on chest, face, or abdomen
Symptoms of Doshic Imbalance
When we understand how the doshas influence our menstrual cycle, it’s easy to see how problems arise when we become imbalanced. If a dosha becomes inflamed, stuck, or built up – it’s reflected in our monthly cycle.
Looking at the list above in terms of the doshas:
Vata: Scant, irregular, or absent flow. When your period is present, imbalanced Vata manifests as anxiety and insomnia, sharp or stinging cramps, and blood discoloration.
Pitta: Burning cramps, fiery emotions like anger and irritability, acne, and a clotty, hot, or heavy flow. Severe menstrual hemorrhaging may even require blood transfusions. Whew!
Kapha: Heavy or long-lasting periods, bloating, and yeast infections. Feeling sluggish, depressed, and unmotivated – preferring food (and Netflix) binges to a regular routine.
It's about balance. A healthy menstrual cycle is balanced, meaning it's not too heavy, not to light, not too often, not too infrequent. How do we achieve menstrual balance? By balancing the doshas and the whole you!
Self-Knowledge Is Power. Explore More: Wild List of Vata Imbalances Hot List of Common Pitta Imbalances Sturdy List of Kapha Imbalances
The Ayurvedic Approach to Menstrual Health
Rather than treating individual symptoms, Ayurveda treats the whole person. In Ayurveda, menstrual health is a window into your overall well-being. The goal is not to control and suppress your symptoms, but to use them as guideposts pointing to the root of your dosha imbalance.
Your menstrual cycle influences how you feel in your body, mind, and emotions throughout your entire life. Ayurveda helps bring your doshas and reproductive system back into balance, which can bring balance back to your entire life – sounds nice, right?
Ayurveda and Menstruation: Creating a Healthy Flow
Click here to explore how Ayurveda approaches restoring balance to not only your monthly cycle, but to your life.
The Power of Ayurveda: Nurturing Adolescent Menstrual Health Holistically is something to prioritize now. "When clients come to me and balance is restored to the doshas and their monthly cycle, they say--'I wish I would have come earlier, I suffered for years.' Don't suffer. The health of our monthly cycle is so important AND it's an indicator of our entire state of balance according to Ayurveda." -Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
"How to Keep Your Cool" is an invitation to transform your menstrual cycle... and while you're at it, transform your life. From menses to menopause, you deserve to keep your cool. This guide will show you how. Get your copy here.
“Oh my gosh this is an amazing book! The WORLD NEEDS THIS!!!”--Dr. Melissa Persons, Minnesota
There is a saying, "The mind is more in the body, than the body is in the mind." The Saumya 3 step meditation process shifts us from fight-flight-freeze mode, to rest-restore-relax mode. Give it a try for forty days and observe the changes. The more grounded and relaxed we are, the smoother life flows.
"The breath is the connection between the mind and body, so by training the breath, we become calm, focused, and grounded, we slow down the aging process by decreasing stress. These practices are so simple and easy to have as part of our daily life. We actually feel and look younger."
- Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
1. Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing and Change Your Life. When we re-learn to breath diaphragmatically, we move from the flight-fight-freeze mode, to rest, restore, relaxation mode where we want and need to live.
2. Daily Guided Practices: 11 minutes in the morning and in the evening, as anchors of your daily Ayurveda routine
3. Ayurveda Daily Routines: Ayurvedic Morning Routine | 6 Rituals for a Calm and Centered Day
"Choose a couple of practices from the routines that provide you with the greatest support. Perform them while applying our two minute meditation technique and your mundane tasks, just transformed into a mellifluous meditation. This is meditation applied to daily life." - Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
“After six months with no period and increasing concern, I am happy to report that my periods are completely regular. With just two months of Veena’s treatment, they are almost symptomless except for mild cramping. I am feeling very good and well balanced overall. My skin has improved as well. I am looking forward to doing the cleanse with you this spring. “ – A.K. Minnesota
“I sought support from Veena related to irregular menstruation, skin issues, and overall stagnation. After a comprehensive assessment, Veena provided an intuitive yet simple plan that included recommendations for gentle changes to diet, daily routine, and a few herbal supplements.
The changes were profound. I had not had my period for six months and after four weeks of following Veena's suggestions, my period returned and has been regular since. Veena's approach works with available resources to make sure that change happens on a deeper level than medication can reach. I am so grateful for her help and would recommend her services!”
-Anna, St. Paul, Minnesota
“Veena has been a dream to work with! I came to her with a number of concerns around my digestion, skin, and menstrual cycle, and she has helped me find so much improvement in all areas and more!” – Meg McNeil, Boulder, Colorado
“With Veena’s guidance, with herbs and diet changes, I soon realized that my symptoms were very real. After making the changes, I made small victories along the way, and became better with each appointment with her.
Now almost 6 months later, I am a completely different person. I still have some things to work on, but with Veena’s help, I know I will be able to take control of my health and not leave it to Western medicine that was giving me little to no help and covering up my symptoms with another medication.
I highly encourage getting the longer package, especially if you are working with challenges with your monthly cycle. Working with Veen has been the best decision I have made for my health. You won’t be disappointed!” -- Maria Fumagalli, San Diego, California
“It is with great pleasure that I write this review! Working with Veena has remarkably changed my life – even in the places I was unaware that it demanded to be changed! Throughout the course of four months, Veena’s gentle and succinct approach allowed me to easily refine my routines into a more structured foundation that left me feeling more in graceful governance with myself – emotionally and physically.
Not only had she brought forth awareness in how I prepare/ relate to the food I eat, but she also prescribed me wonderful herbs to help calm my anxiety, detox my liver, and heal the ugly night sweats I’ve been experiencing due to hormonal imbalances.
Lastly, her guided meditations are a great grounding force, and I have since continued to explore the euphoric benefits of Yoga Nidra.
Veena is a well of divine knowledge, and her humor and light will be eternally appreciated!”
--Rachel Monson, Wisconsin
Discover the Saumya Ayurveda Way
We all want to be heard, understood, and cared for as whole beings, not a set of isolated symptoms. True health is more than the absence of disease, which is why Western medicine so often leaves us feeling hopeless and unseen.
Deep down, you already know what you’re searching for: a new framework for living – one that brings your entire being back into balance. With Saumya Ayurveda, you’ll receive individualized guidance to create the physically, mentally, and spiritually vibrant life you crave.
Saumya Ayurveda provides concierge, top-notch, award-winning Ayurveda care. We strive to keep it simple, so you can focus on you! Opt for virtual consultations and we'll come to you.
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Veena is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and meditation teacher, and monk.
She is President Emeritus and teaching faculty of the Meditation Center.
Veena fell in love with the traditional medicine used in her family’s home, learning herbal remedies at her grandmother's knee.
These childhood experiences were the seeds of a lifelong passion. For over 30 years, Veena has dedicated her life to the world’s oldest healing system: Ayurveda.
She draws on this ancient wisdom to help others find their compass to a healthy life – and support those left wanting by Western medicine.
An experienced Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, Veena’s deep, intuitive knowledge of Ayurveda empowers her clients to reclaim their fullest, most vibrant lives –mentally, physically, and spiritually. Veena individualizes treatment plans to each person, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all approach, so it fits your life and becomes woven in your lifestyle, naturally..