Women’s Yoga Teacher Training – The Power of Sisterhood

Learn why women sometimes learn best in the company and community of other women.

By Sara Avant Stover.

Let’s be honest. Men and women’s bodies are not the same—and neither are their yoga practices. Yet people constantly ask me, “What is women’s yoga, anyway?” and “How are women any different than men when it comes to yoga?”

Emotionally, physically, and biochemically, women and men operate in very different ways. We all know this, and yet I’m constantly amazed at how few women realize that (a) they are practicing yoga designed by men for men, and (b) they have no idea how to care for their unique, feminine (and wonderful!) body, heart, and mind.

After years of traveling, teaching and practicing, I’ve distilled everything I have learned about women and yoga into 5 facts that have truly transformed my practice and my life; and I hope they will transform yours as well!

The 5 Truths About Women & Yoga

Fact 1: Mula Bandha is a Guy Thing

If you think about it, Every major system of yoga was created by men. And while I respect these men for their significant contributions to yoga, I also recognize their limitations. The bottom line is, that they all have very masculine approaches to practice.

Women who follow these practices often overdevelop their masculine side. They control and harden their bodies, become competitive, and value the goal over the felt experience. In the process, many women stop menstruating, have problems conceiving, and become emotionally closed and uptight.

One of the many ways that women can start to cultivate a more feminine approach to practice is in how they use mula bandha. Usually, students are taught to always engage mula bandha (a lifting-up of the tissue between the anus and the genitals). In contrast, a woman’s yoga practice should teach her how to contract AND relax her pelvic floor for optimal health. She needs to learn how to let the base of her body be full, vibrant, and relaxed.

Fact 2: Girls Need Yoga to Be Creative

The feminine body and heart wants yoga, and all of life, to be a creative dance of mood and sensation… this means moving according to how one feels in any given moment, day, or season. On days when she’s sick or menstruating, that might mean a restorative or yin practice. On days when she’s feeling fearful or hopeful, it could mean a more celebratory practice to her favorite music. Sometimes she might want to practice inside, other times with a group of girlfriends, and still sometimes, maybe all alone with candlelight and incense.

The bottom line is that women crave (and need) intuitive movement—rather than pre-defined scripted routines that lock them into a goal-oriented series that gives no attention to how she is feeling.

Fact 3: It’s a Right Brain Thing

Women have a tremendous capacity to feel deeply, which calls on the right brain. However, abiding in this feeling state takes committed bodily practice, as well as courage. It means that you feel all of life—it’s highs and lows and in betweens –more intensely (without numbing out, collapsing, or running away).

So, in your yoga class if you’re always focusing on which way to rotate your thigh bone and how to engage your shoulder blades, you’re missing out on understanding who you really are as a woman—which is how to feel into the depths of your heart and the hearts of all beings.

Don’t get me wrong, alignment is very important. But once you have that down, you need to move much deeper than that. You need to really drop down into feeling, trusting, and LOVING FROM your whole body.

Fact 4: You Need a Big Belly

Holding in your belly cuts you off from your feminine life force. If you want to really feel alive and in love, then, ladies, you NEED to learn how to take a REAL breath.

99.9% of the women who come to my yoga classes and retreats aren’t breathing. Seriously. I sort of jokingly/sort of seriously tell them that I’m surprised they’re even still alive! Their bellies do not move when they inhale and exhale. And this is really dangerous.

Stop right now and notice—how is your breath? Where is your body moving with the breath? If you answer anything other than—”my belly,” then you need to re-learn how to breathe. And to really breathe means to let your belly and pelvis be big and full as you inhale, and soft and relaxed as you exhale. There’s much more to it, but at least that’s a start.

Fact 5: The Time of the Lone Wolf is Over

Women NEED community. No more asceticism, isolation, or hiding out in your cave! Sure, that’s OK from time to time, but feminine beings truly thrive when they are in a relationship. That’s why we love romantic comedies, fairy tales, and talking about our love lives (or lack thereof) whenever we get together with our girlfriends. Our primary desire in life is to love and to be loved. Because of this, your yoga practice needs to teach you how to relate more skillfully and lovingly to everything and everyone around you.

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About the Author

Sara Avant Stover has taught some 3,000 students in over a dozen different countries. She is a prolific writer whose articles have been featured in half a dozen magazines including Yoga Journal, Yogi Time Business, Pilates Style and Fit Yoga. Sara takes yoga very seriously, but teaches with kind, gentle understanding of the human spirit.

Listen to an interview with Sara Avant Stover.

To learn more about Women’s Yoga Teacher Training courses, please visit Sara Avant Stover’s training website, “The Way of the Happy Woman”: www.thewayofthehappywoman.com.