8 Yoga Poses for Endometriosis Pain Relief

Yoga is a complementary therapy that may help reduce the pain associated with endometriosis. Endometriosis occurs when tissue similar to the uterine lining (endometrium) develops outside the uterus. The condition can cause significant pelvic pain, infertility, and reduced quality of life.

The condition most often affects people of reproductive age (15 to 49). While there is no cure for endometriosis, some people find relief with surgery. Surgery, however, can be quite invasive and doesn’t always lead to relief. Yoga can help endometriosis-related pain through poses, breathwork, and meditation.

Poses and a Relaxation Technique for Endometriosis

The following poses and relaxation technique may help calm endometriosis pain. These can be done easily at home without engaging in a full yoga class.

Happy Baby (Ananda Balasana)

To do the pose:

1. Lie flat on your back.
2. Bend your knees and draw them toward your chest.
3. Grab the outsides of your feet and draw your knees towards your armpits.
4. To promote relaxation, rock side to side.
5. To intensify the stretch, work on bending and straightening your legs.

Supine Spinal Twist (Supta Matsyendrasna) 

To do the pose:

1. Lie flat on your back.
2. Draw your right knee toward your chest.
3. Gently guide your knee across your body to the left.
4. Try to keep your right shoulder on the ground as you twist.

Child’s Pose (Balasana)

To do the pose:

1. Get on your hands and knees.
2. Bring your big toes together and separate your knees wide apart.
3. Shift your hips back toward your heels as you lower your chest toward the ground. Your arms can remain out in front of you or alongside your body.

Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose (Viparita Karani)

To do the pose:

1. Sit with your left side near a wall.
2. Lower your body to the ground on the right side.
3. As you roll onto your back, bring your legs up the wall.
4. Scoot your bottom as close to the wall as possible.
5. Close your eyes and breathe.

Restorative Goddess Pose

To do the pose:

1. Lie flat on your back or on a pillow.
2. Draw the soles of your feet together and let your knees open to the sides.
3. Place pillows under your knees to support your legs and allow the body to enter a more restorative pose.

Garland Pose (Malasana)

To do the pose:

1. Stand with feet hip-width or wider apart.
2. Turn your toes slightly out.
3. Bring your hands together in front of your chest.
4. Begin to squat down.
5. Use props, such as a chair, to hold onto or a block under your pelvis to support your body and help you ease into the stretch.

Reclined Hero Pose (Supta Virasana)

Please note that the full expression of this pose may take time to achieve and could possibly cause more pain. Move through each step slowly and stop where you begin to feel a stretch:

1. Begin in a kneeling position, with your knees together and your feet slightly wider than your knees.
2. Sit back onto your heels. If this is too much, you can sit on a block or pillow to alleviate some of the stretch.
3. Slowly begin to walk your hands behind you to intensify the stretch.
4. Gently lower your back to the ground in between your legs.
5. Close your eyes and breathe.

Reclined Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)

This pose is similar to restorative goddess pose without the props:

1. Lie on your back and draw the soles of your feet together.
2. Let your knees fall out to the sides; for some people, they may touch the ground.
3. Place arms alongside you.

Yoga Nidra

Yoga nidra is a yogic breathing and meditation technique that can help you achieve rest without a full night’s sleep. This practice can help you enter a state of deep relaxation. Here is a shortened version you can try at home:

• Find a comfortable position lying on your back.
• Close your eyes.
• Take a deep breath.
• Allow your body to become heavy. Feel your body relax into the ground, almost as if it’s melting into the floor.
• Bring your attention to your breath. Let it be relaxed and natural as you notice how your breath flows in and out of your nose.
• Set an intention for your practice. This can be one word or a few words. Perhaps, it’s relaxation or release. Find something that resonates with you and repeat it to yourself.
• Now pay attention to your entire body. Observe how each part feels from head to toe. How does your scalp feel? How about your forehead? Your nose? Your cheeks? Keep asking these questions as you move down the entire body. As you check in with each body part, take a deep breath, and as you exhale, imagine relaxing that body part.
• Once you’ve scanned your entire body, let it be heavy again.
• Draw your focus back to your breath. Notice how your belly naturally rises on the inhale and falls on the exhale. Relax even further with each exhale.

How Does Yoga Help with Endometriosis-Related Pain?

Yoga is a gentle or vigorous physical activity that can be done regularly and can help lower pain levels. People who live with chronic pain and engage in regular physical activity experience reduced pain.

One theory is that endorphins (the body's natural feel-good chemicals) are released into the blood with activity. With this release, the perception of pain lessens.

Breathwork

Drawing focus to the breath can take the mind off the pain. One small study found that breathwork, called pranayama, helped people deal with the pain.

Breathwork also promotes relaxation. Slow, deep breathing has been shown to promote pain relief. Yoga’s focus on slowly inhaling and exhaling may be especially helpful for people in too much pain to move.

Meditation

Meditation, the inward practice of drawing your thoughts to one singular point of focus, can help reduce stress and anxiety. Stress can worsen pain. Reducing stress can help reduce pain.

By focusing on one thing, like the breath, mantra, or a simple sound, the brain doesn’t have the chance to wander, worry, and stress.

Risks and Safety Considerations

When beginning a yoga practice, there are some things to consider to ensure safety and reduce the likelihood of exacerbating the pain from endometriosis.

Although regular exercise can reduce pain, some people find that engaging in vigorous exercise exacerbates their pain, especially if they are new to an exercise. For this reason, the more vigorous forms of yoga such as vinyasa, power yoga, and ashtanga may be best avoided.

People who have recently had abdominal surgery to diagnose or treat endometriosis should ask their healthcare provider when it is safe to resume physical activity.

Tips for Practicing Yoga With Endometriosis

Just as not everyone’s experience with endometriosis is the same, the parts of yoga that bring relief won’t be the same either:

Listen to Your Body

Finding the perfect balance between doing too much physical activity that worsens pain and doing too little activity that causes pain to remain may take time and experimentation. Check with yourself after each yoga session and note whether you feel less or more pain.

Do What Works for You

For some people, deep stretching poses may help relieve pain, and meditation is the only thing that provides relief for others. Simply because someone else finds relief in a certain pose or practice does not mean that you will find the same relief. It might take some experimentation to see what works best for you.

Move Slowly

When attending a yoga class or doing any of the poses listed here, move slowly. This way, you can stop at any point that you feel just enough stretch or release to find pain relief but not too much that you’re causing pain.

Summary

Yoga can help with endometriosis pain through physical movement, breathwork, and meditation. However, for some people, a vigorous practice like vinyasa, power, or ashtanga yoga may cause more pain and should be avoided. Instead, a gentle practice of simple poses can help.

Poses that can help with endometriosis pain include happy baby, legs-up-the-wall, and supine spinal twist. A yoga nidra practice can help reduce stress and promote relaxation.

Other tips for practicing yoga with endometriosis include listening to your body, paying attention to what works for you, and moving slowly.