List Price: $12.95
Amazon Price: $6.75
Average Customer Rating: 
(14 reviews)
Editorial Review:
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 e...
Customer Reviews:
3 of 3 found this review helpful:
Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause, 2007-09-17
Suza Francina, the author of Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause, dedicates this book to the Yoga Sisterhood, of which I consider myself a member. I have been practicing yoga off and on since my early 30s and have never really lost my love for this practice.
In this wonderfully arranged book with lots of snapshots of many yoga poses (asanas), Suza has provided the midlife woman with "tools" to help her with the transitional period of midlife that we call menopause. Each chapter tackles a specific topic. For example, Chapter One covers alternatives to hormone therapy and Chapter Two delves into the endocrine system. (Hormones are the substances secreted by the endocrine glands. Hormones are also called "biochemical messengers".) Chapter Four is called The Power of Hot Flashes and Chapters Five, Six, and Seven deal with healthy bones, cancer, and heart disease, respectively.
Each chapter is filled with stories of other women's menopausal stories and how yoga helped them through this midlife transition. In this way, the author also draws upon the wisdom of other yoga practitioners and writers in the field of yoga, putting quotes as sidebars in appropriate places in each chapter. In effect, you are getting the wisdom of many authors, not just Suza's.
The book is easy to read and quite comprehensive. Each chapter has photos of poses that help women as they navigate the menopausal trail. The final chapter is a series of photos as part of Suza's Practice Guide. There is also a helpful Resources section of yoga teachers featured in the book and a Directory for finding a yoga teacher in your area. Francina also includes women's retreats that offer yoga, as well as miscellaneous websites and associations.
Here are a few quotes from Francina's book that will hopefully encourage you to read the book and/or join a yoga class, if you have not already done so:
"Menopause is a metamorphosis, a complete change at the cellular level." (p. xvii)
"Yoga is a `unification' of physiological, psychological and spiritual therapies. It is a healing science that addresses all the concerns of women going through menopause." (p. xviii)
"Yoga postures, besides providing a superior form of weight-bearing exercise that stimulates bones to retain calcium, also help to stimulate and distribute the flow of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints between bones." (p. 105)
"Yoga can help reduce the risk of breast cancer by stimulating lymph flow, strengthening the endocrine and immune systems, and helping you be more in touch with your body." (p. 127)
"The feminine path to self-realization unfolds when a woman reclaims her own authority over her body and her life. She learns to honor her own needs and rhythms, and to trust her body's innate wisdom." (p. 179)
This book is an excellent resource for all women. It is informative, uplifting, and powerful. Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause is published by Health Communications, Inc. in Florida and costs $12.95 (soft cover), a bargain for so much information. The publisher's website is www.hcibooks.com.
5 of 5 found this review helpful:
A yogic approach for "The Change", 2007-05-04
I was thoroughly impressed with Suza Francina's other book, "The New Yoga For Healthy Aging", so I thought I would check out "Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause" as well. Once again, I was not disappointed. As a woman who is at midlife, I am concerned about the upcoming 'change of life' and have been reading many books on the subject. Some have been helpful and inspiring - others have been downright depressing. After reading Francina's book, I feel that my yoga practice is giving me options to deal with this new stage of life in a manner that is gentle, life affirming and positive.
"Yoga And The Wisdom of Menopause" is not just a book of poses for your symptoms - it is a friendly guide to this exciting and confusing experience filled with suggested routines and information about a wide range of issues including bone health, heart issues, pelvic problems, cancer and more. Francina is never preachy - instead, she adopts a very kind and spiritual tone, which is comforting. Even when talking about such controversial subjects such as HRT, she states facts without histrionics - this allows the reader to make their own conclusions about what is 'right' for them. Sprinkled throughout the book, other women share their stories about menopause, which gives the reader something to relate to. These anecdotes gave the book a very personal feeling - I found myself nodding in agreement with many of theit experiences.
Although this book is geared towards those of us in the change of life, I think that any woman would find it useful. Francina has an Iyengar background and is strongly influenced by Geeta Iyengar - all female pracitioners of Iyengar style yoga will really benefit from adding this book to their yoga library.
5 of 5 found this review helpful:
Wisdom and Yoga working together, 2006-11-26
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.
9 of 10 found this review helpful:
Suza Francina is a great teacher, 2005-06-13
As the Walking Editor for Prevention Magazine, I was priveledged to invite Suza Francina to teach yoga at our annual Walkers Rally several times. A welcoming and understanding teacher, Suza had classes attended twice a day by many of my participants, most over the age of 50, many 60 and 70 year olds. Her easy going style and attention to the way older bodies "work" (or don't) opened the door for many men and women to this wonderful body science.
This book, as well as The New Yoga for People Over 50 are invaluable guides for folks who are experiencing the effects of aging that can slowly erode range of motion and the pleasure and freedom of uninhibited movement. Thank you Suza!
Maggie Spilner
Author
Walk Your Way Through Menopause
Prevention's Complete Book of Walking
Prevention's Encyclopedia of Walking for Health
8 of 12 found this review helpful:
New to yoga, 2004-07-30
I am totally new to yoga and I found this book to be helpful and confusing at the same time. The first person accounts were interesting although it seems that most, if not all, of the women had been involved with yoga for years so I couldn't relate to that part of their story. I could relate to their menopausal experiences, though.
I think I will be able to do the yoga poses just from looking at the pictures and reading the explanations. I think I will be able to do many of the poses even though I have arthritis in my knees. I am glad about that because I tried to do yoga by following a yoga instructor on a video and I could not do many of the poses because of pain in my knees.
Most of the above is positive, but I do have a problem with the book. The author made charts listing the best poses for different symptoms of menopause, but did not put the page number of the poses that she listed in the charts. She had poses pictured throughout the book and then a comprehensive set of pictures of all the poses at the end. The book could have been smaller and less confusing if she had just pictured the poses once and put page numbers on the charts showing where the poses could be found.
I was glad the book did not go into a lot of the spiritual side of yoga but wondered why she did not go into more detail about the proper way to breathe during the poses. She talked about how important proper breathing is but I did not see a good explanation of what she means by that. ( I have not read every word of the book, so may have missed that, but it wasn't in the same place as where she talked about the importance of breathing, which would be the appropriate place.)
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