And the latter is a brand new addition to the region, with specially tailored menopausal yoga classes starting this month under the guidance of teacher Sue Smith from Dalbeattie.
She has been doing yoga for years, as a student and teacher, but only just qualified in the art of menopause yoga after she noticed a gap in the market locally for such support.
Sue hopes to be able to help, guide and advise women through this period of change and afterwards as they adjust to their new norm.
She said: “Sessions are designed to offer a safe space to support women through their menopause, no matter what age and stage. It’s a holistic approach which includes specifically adjusted yoga postures, breath-work and meditation practices. Guidance on menopausal nutrition, natural remedies and the latest medical advice are included in the workshops, as is group discussion.”
Participants will learn to manage their symptoms, some of which Sue says they might not have even realised are related to menopause.
Her own love of yoga started 17 years ago and was initially sparked by back issues.
She had always ‘liked moving my body’ and yoga seemed a good fit for the mum-of-two.
In addition, she hoped it would help her meet new people after moving back to the area.
She soon developed a love for it and explored different styles, doing a range of classes with all sorts of teachers.
It quickly became more than just a hobby and she qualified as a children’s yoga teacher, running classes in Thornhill and around Dumfries and Galloway.
With a keen interest in diet and meditation too, she went on to do adult zen yoga training and combines all these aspects into her classes, which will soon be taking place within her own studio at the Birchvale Theatre at Dalbeattie, opening next month.
Looking back, Sue now realises she herself would have been peri menopausal at the time of that training and believes it helped her experience a menopause that was largely unproblematic.
When covid hit she transferred her lessons online but also had time to think about how she could develop her offering.
She said: “I was rooting around looking at what I could do that was a bit different.
“I looked into menopause yoga but then there was no official training in the UK so I got lots of books and was reading myself and working it out. However, people do like you to be formally qualified, so that was the next step.”
She eventually found a course with the Yoga Alliance and completed it last month and is now ready to go locally with her inaugural sessions scheduled to happen in Dalbeattie, followed by outreach classes in Dumfries.
“The idea is that it is not just classes, it’s workshops too,” she said. “I am qualified in yoga and can offer nutritional advice and do meditation too.
“I am there to give a safe space where we can all come together, to give the attendee a feeling of safety and security.
“One of the reasons I do it is to help people, give them the tools to cope, or signpost them to an expert.”
Explaining how it differs from regular yoga, Sue added: “There is a specific set of postures that you do in a specific sequence and certain postures are for certain things, e.g restorative, invigorating or calming.
“Every yoga position has a use in the body e.g. the shoulder stand stimulates the lymphatic system and various sequences restore wellbeing, which is a big one for the menopause.
“Certain are good for anxiety too: it all helps to empower women and give them tools for their journey.”
There’s no age limit for attending classes and no previous yoga experience is needed.
The post menopausal period is also covered, as well as early menopause and surgical related menopause.
Positivity is the overriding message and emotion that Sue hopes to spread and she quotes the ‘second spring’ theory of Chinese herbal medicine: “There are various stages of life as a woman and the idea is post menopause is your second spring – you have learned to slow down, know what you like in life, what is good for you but are not necessarily retired.
“I want to give everybody as much positivity as possible, there’s a real need for this class in Dumfries and Galloway.”
