Cool, Calm And Strong: Free Ebook On Yoga For Perimenopause And Menopause

Angie tried everything for her menopause: hormones, walking, a dietician, a personal trainer three mornings a week. “I found myself waking up angry at the thought of doing it.” Yoga was the thing that worked. This free menopause yoga ebook, for perimenopause, menopause and beyond, explains why.

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Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. His daughter Geeta Iyengar did more than anyone to work out how yoga should change for women at each stage of life. It’s the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online.

Cool, Calm And Strong: Yoga For Perimenopause, Menopause And Beyond. By Chris Lalor, Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher.

What’s inside Cool, Calm And Strong?

About 55 pages, with photos and simple diagrams. Here is a taste.

Angie, a Darwin singer, who lost the menopause waist “without even trying”, lifts 30 kilos of sound gear like nothing, and learnt to stand on her head.
“My partner used to be my personal PMS detector.” Chris’s own easy transition, and the advice she followed from Geeta Iyengar.
Geeta went through it too. She relearned Warrior I in a doorway, and found a way into Triangle Pose that cooled her flushes.
Ina’s hot flushes, and what happened every time she missed her practice for four or five days.
Fewer leaks in twelve weeks. What a trial of 240 women aged 45 to 90 found.
Too tight, or too weak? Why squeezing exercises are not the whole answer for the pelvic floor, drawing on pelvic health teacher Leslie Howard’s book Pelvic Liberation.
Perimenopause can start in your late 30s. Sleep goes, moods swing, periods change, and nobody says why.
The doctor who realised she had been dismissing women like herself.
How we do it at Flametree: soft on the belly, strong in the legs. Rest the head to cool the system. Spread, don’t tuck. Change the practice with the day.
Starting at 53, still practising at 80. It is not too late to begin.

Key findings on yoga for perimenopause and menopause

Yoga eases menopause symptoms. A 2025 review of 24 trials, with 2,028 women, found yoga improved symptoms overall, along with mood, anxiety, sleep, bladder and vaginal symptoms, and blood pressure.
Fewer bladder leaks. In a 2024 trial of 240 women aged 45 to 90 with daily leaks (Huang and colleagues), leaks fell from about 3.4 a day to 1.1 after 12 weeks of pelvic yoga. A stretching and strengthening programme did less well.
Help right through the change. A 2024 review of 11 trials, with 1,005 women in peri and postmenopause, found mind-body exercise gave stronger bones, better sleep, less anxiety, less low mood and less tiredness.
Balance is worth checking. In a 2022 study of 1,702 people aged 51 to 75, about one in five could not stand on one leg for 10 seconds, and they were far more likely to die over the next seven years. Balance can be trained.

The executive summary, in full

This is the opening of the book, the whole thing on two pages. The rest is in the free download.

Yoga eases most of what the change brings, at every stage, and it is well worth starting now, whatever your age.

Easing symptoms is not the whole point. The major benefits of yoga that people seek most are more strength, flexibility, calmness and wellness. In the process, by quietening the chatter of the mind, people often find it brings useful transformations, as well as more contentment and happiness.

This book is for women, at all three stages of the change. Perimenopause can start in your late 30s. Menopause comes, on average, at 51. Postmenopause is the rest of your life. Each stage brings its own problems, and yoga meets each one.

What the research says

Yoga eases menopause symptoms. A 2025 review of 24 trials, with 2,028 women, found yoga improved symptoms overall, and mood, anxiety, sleep, bladder and vaginal symptoms, and blood pressure.
Hot flushes: yoga helps you live with them more than it stops them. When researchers count flushes, yoga has not cut how many come. When women rate how much flushes trouble them, yoga has helped, and in one review it beat other exercise on this. The sleep, mood and anxiety that come with flushes improve clearly.
Mind-body exercise helps through peri- and postmenopause. A 2024 review of 11 trials, with 1,005 women, found stronger bones, better sleep, less anxiety, less low mood and less tiredness.
Sleep improves. Several reviews now rank yoga and other non-drug approaches among the best first steps for poor sleep around and after menopause.
Bladder leaks fall. In a 2024 trial of 240 women aged 45 to 90, leaks fell by about two thirds in 12 weeks of pelvic yoga.
A pelvic floor can be too tight as well as too weak. The pelvic floor needs to lift when needed and let go fully, and it moves with every breath.
The years after 60 benefit too. Yoga has lowered blood pressure, eased stiff knees, sharpened memory in older adults and, in a Sydney trial of Iyengar yoga, improved the main risk factors for falls.
Not yet tested does not mean wrong. Much of what yoga knows about these years was learned in the practice room over many generations. Research is still catching up.

How yoga does it

The long out-breath is the body’s brake. Slow breathing and supported poses switch the body from “rev up” to “rest”. Many women feel the heat and the worry settle.
Rest the head, cool the system. Forward bends and gentle inversions with the head supported are the tradition’s answer to heat and a busy mind.
Soft on the belly, strong in the legs. No crunches and no punishing workouts while the body settles. Standing poses do the strengthening instead.
Standing poses for bones, muscle and balance. They load the hips and spine from many directions, which is what bone and muscle need after the last period.
Spread, don’t tuck. Tone, don’t flop. The pelvis gets tighter in these years. Raise the props, never tuck the tailbone, and open the pelvis with life in it.
A pose takes all your attention. That leaves no room for worry.
Props, so you can stay. Bolsters, belts, blocks and chairs let you rest in a pose long enough for it to work.
Change the practice with the day. Hot day, tired day, period day: the order and the poses change. That is the Iyengar way, and it is what your teacher does for you in class.
Keep coming. The benefit lasts as long as the practice does.

Menopause yoga ebook: chart of fewer bladder leaks after twelve weeks of yoga — Fewer leaks in twelve weeks. From Cool, Calm And Strong.

Get your free copy

2 free classes + 2 ebooks only available via this offer.

What happens next: we email you a link straight away. Click it, choose your two books, and download them on the spot. No payment, no card.

Want to see the other seven books first? See all eight free yoga ebooks.

Questions about yoga for perimenopause and menopause

Does yoga help with perimenopause?

Yes. A 2025 review of 24 trials, with 2,028 women, found yoga improved menopause symptoms overall, along with mood, anxiety and sleep. A 2024 review of 11 trials found mind-body exercise helped women through both perimenopause and postmenopause, with better sleep, less anxiety and less tiredness.

When does perimenopause start?

For some women, in the late 30s. Menopause itself comes, on average, at 51, and perimenopause is the years of change before it. Sleep, moods and periods can all shift, often before anyone says why, which is why this book is written for younger women too.

Can yoga stop hot flushes?

Not in number, so far. When researchers count flushes, yoga has not cut how many come. But when women rate how much flushes trouble them, yoga has helped, and the sleep, mood and anxiety that come with them improve clearly. Supported forward bends, cooling poses and slow breathing are the tradition’s answer to heat.

Can yoga help bladder leaks?

Yes. In a 2024 trial of 240 women aged 45 to 90 with daily leaks, 12 weeks of pelvic yoga cut leaks by about two thirds, from around 3.4 a day to 1.1. A stretching and strengthening programme did less well.

Can a pelvic floor be too tight?

Yes. A pelvic floor can be too tight as well as too weak, and many women are a mix of both. Leslie Howard, a teacher trained in the Iyengar tradition who now works only on pelvic health, explains in Pelvic Liberation that a tight one cannot let go and a loose one is slow to respond. That is why squeezing exercises are not the whole answer: the floor needs to lift when needed, let go fully, and move with the breath.

Does yoga help with sleep around menopause?

Yes. Several reviews now rank yoga and other non-drug approaches among the best first steps for poor sleep around and after menopause. Slow breathing and supported poses in the evening help the body switch from “rev up” to “rest”.

Why do standing poses matter after menopause?

Because bone and muscle need load after the last period, and standing poses give it from many directions while training balance. With thin bones, forward bends are done from the hips with a long spine. That is why an Iyengar class for these years is soft on the belly and strong in the legs.

What helps with hot flushes in Darwin’s build-up?

Heat on top of hot flushes is hard going, and many Darwin women find the build-up and wet the toughest months. Restorative poses with the head supported, gentle inversions and slow pranayama cool and settle the system, and the practice is changed to suit a hot day. Our gentle, restorative, Women’s Wellness and pranayama classes suit these months, in Darwin or live online. See the timetable.

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