Bloating, Slowness, Heaviness: Menstrual Rhythms in the Ashtanga Movementscape

How does it feel to be a menstrual body during Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practice? This paper draws on findings from my PhD research, in which practitioners described how their menstrual cycles affected their kinaesthetic experience of self-practice. Practitioners reported feelings of ‘bloating' and ‘heaviness', leading them to consciously ‘slow' their movements and cultivate kindness towards themselves. Such qualities of bloating, slowness and heaviness contrast with the valorised aesthetics of Ashtanga, which privilege sensations of floating, flying, opening, and lightness. At the same time, some practitioners noted that maintaining an intense six-day a week practice induced exercise-related amenorrhea, raising critical questions about kinaesthetic and temporal agency in yoga practice. Do menstruating practitioners require greater sensitivity, creativity, and variation in order to recalibrate temporal rhythms? Post-menopausal practitioners described increased energetic consistency in their practice, yet also a need for slowness as they commented that their recovery from injuries lengthened with age. This paper amplifies these voices on menstrual kinaesthetic experiences, considers the pedagogical implications of group self-practice classes for the menstruating practitioner, and theorises the role of ‘rhythm' in producing the Ashtanga movementscape.