You’ve seen her mentioned quite frequently on our blog, because we refer to Amy Matthews‘ teaches a lot!  She is an amazing anatomy and movement teacher.  Amy can help you to reach levels of understanding/sensing in your body and looking at others that is just about miraculous.  If you haven’t had a chance yet, you need to go to one of her classes or workshops.  (We’re lying; don’t come to NYC.  She’s all OURS!!!)

You know on this blog we love busting yoga myths.  Well, Amy elevated the myth busting thing to a whole other level.   Take a look at this excerpt:

Yoga Guide: Inversions seem to inspire a lot of anatomical claims. Can they cause retrograde menstruation during your period?

Amy Matthews: We are constantly in relationship to gravity, and when we change our relationship to gravity it has an effect on our body, definitely.

Our bodies are constantly adapting to changes in our external environment and in our internal environment and seeking a dynamic and shifting state of balance, called homeostasis. While the events of the menstrual cycle are in many ways highly evident, we are constantly dealing with all kinds of factors that affect our balance. More important than coming up with proscriptions for every condition (like not inverting during menstruation) is learning to listen to our bodies and not imposing ideas – either about doing something everyday, or forbidding something on certain days.

Chances are good that different women’s bodies will respond differently to inverting during menstruation, and for some women it will feel balancing and for some women it will throw things out of balance. Nothing is true for all women, just as nothing is true for all people.

Amy’s language is illuminating and can instantaneously increase your depth of understanding of why formulaic yoga prescriptions may not be the most effective way to use this practice.  Please read the rest of the article and learn just why Amy influences our work so much.