In honour of International Yoga Day, we thought it’d be the perfect time to explore how yoga can support female health in a deeper, more holistic way. If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll know we often talk about how stress is one of the biggest disruptors when it comes to hormonal balance. (If you haven’t already, check out our full blog on that here.)
But when it comes to taking care of our bodies, it’s not always easy to know exactly how to lower stress. That’s where yoga comes in. And not just for flexibility or fitness, but for its ability to reset your nervous system and help your hormones find their natural rhythm again.
In this blog, we’ll walk through exactly what yoga does to your body, why that matters for your hormones and how you can start using it to feel more balanced, calm and energised.
What is Yoga?
Let’s clear this up: yoga is so much more than stretching or touching your toes. At its core, yoga is an ancient practice that brings together movement, breathwork and mindfulness to help you feel more connected – to your body, your breath and yourself.
The word “yoga” comes from Sanskrit and means “to unite” – which feels pretty fitting when we’re talking about whole-body balance.
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Āsana (Postures): These are the physical poses like downward dog, warrior, or child’s pose. While they build strength and flexibility, they also encourage circulation, release tension, and help shift stuck energy. (Fun fact: “āsana” actually means “seat” in Sanskrit — a reminder that each pose is meant to be a place of presence.)
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Prāṇāyāma (Breathwork): This is the art of conscious breathing. “Prāṇa” means life force, and these techniques help clear both physical and emotional blockages. In everyday terms? Breathwork that helps calm your nervous system and ground your mind.
When movement, breath and mindfulness come together, yoga becomes a powerful tool – not just for stress relief, but for supporting hormonal health at the root.
What Is Your Nervous System (and Why Does It Matter for Hormones)?
Think of your nervous system as your body’s internal communication network – it’s constantly processing what’s going on both around you and inside you, and telling your body how to respond.
It runs the show on everything from your heartbeat and digestion to your mood and hormones.
Here’s what matters most when it comes to stress and hormonal balance:
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Sympathetic Nervous System (Fight or Flight): This is your body’s emergency mode – useful in short bursts, but when it’s always “on” (like it often is in modern life), it can lead to burnout and hormonal chaos.
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Parasympathetic Nervous System (Rest and Digest): This is your calm state. It helps your body relax, repair and regulate – exactly what your hormones need to stay balanced.
Chronic stress pushes us into a fight-or-flight loop that throws off this balance. Digestion slows, sleep suffers, periods get irregular and your body starts to feel like it’s running on fumes.
Yoga helps reverse this — gently guiding your nervous system out of stress and into a state where your body feels safe again.
How Yoga Calms the Nervous System
One of the most beautiful things about yoga is its ability to shift you out of stress mode and back into balance. In today’s always-on world (with to-do lists, late-night scrolling and the pressure to be everything to everyone) many of us are living in a state of low-key burnout.
Yoga is like a gentle nudge that says: Hey, it’s safe to slow down now. It does this by activating the parasympathetic nervous system – your calm, healing state. And one of the most powerful tools for this is something you’re doing right now: breathing.
The Science of Breathing
Breath is your built-in stress relief tool — always available, totally free. In yoga, prāṇāyāma (breath control) is used to slow the heart rate, calm the mind and regulate your stress response.
Techniques like:
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Diaphragmatic breathing (deep belly breathing)
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Ujjayi (ocean’s breath)
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Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing)
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Chandra Bhedana (single nostril breathing)
These practices help activate the vagus nerve, a major player in your nervous system. When the vagus nerve is stimulated, it tells your body: You’re safe. You can rest now.
And here's the ripple effect: when your breath slows, your heart rate steadies, cortisol drops and your body re-enters a state of healing and hormonal harmony.
Movement & Mindfulness
When you flow through yoga postures (Āsanas), you’re not just stretching muscles – you’re releasing tension, improving circulation and creating space for your body to reset.
Combined with mindfulness, this physical practice brings you back into your body, helping you shift out of anxious thoughts and into the present moment.
This matters so much because your hormones are deeply sensitive to stress. Constant overwhelm can disrupt something called the HPA axis — basically the communication loop between your brain and adrenal glands. When that’s out of whack, everything else can be too.
The result?
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Increased cortisol (stress hormone)
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Imbalances in estrogen and progesterone
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Worsened symptoms of PMS and PCOS
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Irregular cycles or missed periods
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Low libido, fatigue, skin issues and mood swings
But when your body feels safe (when you’re calm, grounded and breathing deeply), your body can prioritise the factors that influence hormonal balance. And that’s the magic of yoga.
Yoga & Hormone Support
You don’t need to nail a headstand or spend an hour in a sweaty flow. In fact, gentle styles like yin, restorative or Hatha yoga are often best for hormone support. Why? Because they prioritise calm, connection and recovery.
Here’s what consistent yoga practice can support:
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Lower cortisol levels
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Improve insulin sensitivity (especially helpful in managing PCOS)
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Better thyroid function (which affects energy + metabolism)
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Regular menstrual cycles
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Reduced PMS, anxiety and perimenopause symptoms
The Bottom Line? Your Hormones Love When You Slow Down.
In a world that constantly pushes us to do more, yoga offers something different – a moment to pause, breathe and reconnect. It’s not about being the most flexible in the room or flowing through a perfect sequence. It’s about creating space in your body and mind so your nervous system can soften… and your hormones can finally exhale.
So whether it’s five minutes of breathwork or a full restorative class, consider this your invitation to roll out the mat and come back to yourself.
Because when you support your nervous system, you support your entire hormonal ecosystem – and that’s where real balance begins 💛