Your menstrual cycle is guided by a symphony of hormonal shifts, rising and falling levels of estrogen, progesterone, and other key messengers that influence your energy, mood, digestion, and reproductive health. When these hormones flow in healthy rhythms, you’re more likely to feel grounded, resilient, and comfortable in your body.
This 5-minute yoga flow blends gentle movement with targeted breathwork to support hormonal balance all month long. Practiced regularly, not just during PMS, it encourages circulation to the pelvis, calms the nervous system, supports digestion, and helps your body self-regulate. As a bonus, this same steady practice often reduces PMS discomfort over time.
Why This Flow Supports Hormonal Health
Improves circulation to pelvic and abdominal organs, nourishing tissues and encouraging healthy cycles.
Supports lymphatic drainage to help clear hormone byproducts.
Balances the nervous system, reducing the stress load that can disrupt hormonal rhythms.
Aids digestion, easing bloating and sluggishness that often accompany hormonal fluctuations.
Encourages body awareness, helping you notice subtle shifts in your cycle earlier.
The 5-Minute Hormone-Balancing Flow
1. Child’s Pose with Belly Breathing (Balasana + Dirgha Breath)
Nestle your belly between your thighs, forehead resting on the mat or a block. Let each inhale expand the belly into the thighs, and each exhale soften the hips and shoulders.
Why it helps: This grounding posture quiets the mind, releases pelvic floor tension, and uses deep belly breathing to massage reproductive organs and stimulate healthy blood flow.
2. Cat-Cow with Ujjayi Breath (Marjaryasana/Bitilasana)
On hands and knees, move the spine fluidly with your breath; inhale to arch, exhale to round. Keep Ujjayi breath soft and steady, creating an ocean-like sound at the throat.
Why it helps: Mobilizes the spine, stimulates abdominal and pelvic organs, and generates gentle warmth. Ujjayi breath helps regulate the nervous system, which plays a major role in hormonal stability.
3. Downward Facing Dog with Kapalabhati Breath (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
Lift hips toward the sky, lengthening through the spine. Keep knees bent if needed. Add a short round of Kapalabhati (quick exhalations through the nose) if you have energy for it.
Why it helps: Enhances circulation from legs to pelvis, supports digestion, and clears mental fog. Kapalabhati stimulates the digestive fire (Agni in yoga) and boosts vitality, useful in phases when energy dips.
4. Cobra Pose with Lion’s Breath (Bhujangasana + Simhasana)
Press hands lightly into the mat, lift the chest, and breathe in deeply. Exhale through the mouth with your tongue out and a “ha” sound.
Why it helps: Opens the chest, stretches the belly, and increases blood flow to reproductive organs. Lion’s Breath helps release jaw and throat tension, which are often linked to pelvic tension and suppressed emotion.
5. Supine Twist with Bhramari Breath (Supta Matsyendrasana)
Lie on your back, knees together, and gently drop them to one side while arms extend out. Add Bhramari (humming bee breath) for a soft vibration on the exhale.
Why it helps: Twists massage the digestive organs and encourage lymphatic flow. Bhramari breath calms the mind, soothes anxiety, and supports balanced stress hormone levels.
6. Reclined Bound Angle with Extended Exhales (Supta Baddha Konasana)
Lie back with soles of the feet together, knees apart, and supports under the thighs. Inhale naturally, then exhale for twice as long as you inhale.
Why it helps: Opens the hips and pelvis, improves circulation to reproductive tissues, and extended exhales deepen parasympathetic activity — helping hormonal systems function in balance.
How to Use This Practice Throughout the Month
Daily Maintenance: Practice once a day to keep circulation, digestion, and stress regulation in balance.
Phase-Specific Adjustments:
Menstrual Phase: Keep movements slow and omit Kapalabhati if energy is low.
Follicular Phase: Enjoy the full sequence; this is often a naturally higher-energy phase.
Ovulation: Use to ease any tension or bloating and support pelvic circulation.
Luteal Phase: Focus on longer exhales and gentler variations to calm the nervous system.
Your hormones respond best to consistency, not crisis management. This short flow is more than a PMS fix, it’s a whole-cycle care ritual. By giving your body a few mindful minutes each day, you create the internal environment for your hormones to work in harmony, making every phase of your cycle a little more balanced and a lot more comfortable.