Yoga for Menstrual Health 101: Meet Ratika, A Certified Yoga Expert!

By Ruchi Sharma

Taking care of your health has become more important than ever. We all do it in our own way, be it hitting the gym early in the morning, going in for a walk or simply practising YOGA, a small part of everyday routine is all about exercise. It’s really a necessity too! When we talk about specifically Yoga, it is becoming increasingly popular and rightly so, considering it is great not only for your physical health but helps in mental well being too! And that’s why when we came across a young beautiful lady, Ratika from @roootedindia, we couldn’t resist asking her a bunch of questions all related to women’s menstrual health, yoga for PCOS, yoga for beginners and much more. 

Ratika’s passion for sustainable living along with being an expert in the field of yoga will surely make you feel inspired and in awe. She is a certified yoga instructor and a digital creator too. 

As they say Yoga is for everyone, but we are sure many questions are ringing in your head, so let’s begin with this awesome interview and get to know the amazing lady behind ‘roootedindia’ and learn a lot from her expertise.

• Hey Ratika, we would love to know more about you, tell us something about yourself.

Hi!

I am a certified yoga teacher & a digital content creator in the spaces of yoga, gardening & sustainability with over 50k following on Instagram & Youtube. I am available on social media as ‘Roooted India’. Prior to coming into content creation & yoga teaching, I have worked in a finance corporate for around 4 years as a business analyst. 

• How did your Yoga journey start? Were you always interested in it? Did you take any formal training for the same?

I have been interested & practicing yoga since standard 8th. My yoga journey as a teacher started when I was looking to shift my career from finance. 

Yes, I have taken formal training in Yoga. I have done a 2 months & 9 months teachers training course i.e. PGDM from Kaivalaydham i.e. equivalent to Level 3 as per Yoga certification board. 

• The name RoootedIndia is so unique and has such a beautiful vibe to it. Any mystery behind this name? 

Thank you. 

Yes, I wanted to keep the name which depicts some essence around India. Basically the idea was to promote anything & everything that is rooted in our Indian culture. I am a very firm believer of the fact that the health of the human race & Mother Earth was at best in 80s because the our Nani’s & Dadi’s led their lives is simply marvellous. The 3 Os in Roooted depicts Yoga, Gardening & Sustainability. 

• Your beautiful Instagram handle shows your love for greens! Lush greens and Yoga sounds like a perfect combo! Are you interested in gardening? We would love to know more about your hobbies!

Yes yes! Totally. 

I just can’t imagine my place without the plants. It feels like as if they bring liveliness to my day & that’s actually the truth, the fact. Isn't it?

Talking more about my hobbies apart from gardening, would be DIYing stuff- I am big time hoarder of all the bottles, jars, boxes & like to create something out of them whenever time allows, i like to clean, listen to music are few others,

• There are so many types of Yoga, is there any specific one you follow?

I follow traditional Hatha yoga as it is mentioned in our ancient Hatha Yogic texts, the most organic one. 

• Our audience would really be curious to know if there are like 2-3 poses of Yoga which anyone can start off with. Something for just the beginners.

For sure, there are yogic asanas categorised for beginners, intermediate & advance. For beginners, I would suggest supine positions like padmasana, setubandasana, spinal twisting positions, sitting positions like- cat & cow pose, parvatasana, etc & standing ones like tadasana, Ardh chakrasana, trikoasana. 

• Coming to our main topic for the day, women nowadays feel so many issues with regards to their menstrual health. Do you have some suggestions or tips for them?

Yes!

• eating healthy & right
• Not wearing really tight clothes at abdomen at least, letting your body & organs breathe
• Moving your body at least for 10 mins daily
• & yogic posture focused at lower belly are highly helpful 

• PCOS has also become really common, can Yoga help with it? Is it possible to cure it or get relief from its symptoms? Can you share with us some pics of the poses?

Yes, yoga can definitely help to control or even reverse the condition. Yogic cleansing processes with yogic asanas focused at lower belly & inverted postures will be highly helpful in the same.

• Women also face a lot of issues during Menopause, can you suggest any yoga routine for them as well that would help in getting relief from the effects?

During menopause, practising inverted postures will be very very helpful. Eating right, healthy & having good amount of calcium because all the more important during menopause.

• Thank you so much for all this wonderful advice. Since you are an expert, we are really curious to know if Yoga is only about physical exercise or can it help with mental peace too?

Yoga is not only about the physical exercise rather physical exercises in just the 1/8th part of it. Maharishi Patanjali has described yoga into 8 limbs- 1. Yama, 2. Niyama (which are social & personal principles), 3. Asana, 4. Pranayama, 5. Pratyahara, 6. Dharana, 7. Dhayana, 8. Samadhi

From limb 4th to 8th are all the different stages of meditation, so yoga is more about mental peace than physical exercise. 

• One myth you feel has always been associated with Yoga but you would like our audience to know it’s not true.

That yoga is only for flexible people.

It is important for people to know that yoga does make you flexible but it is not the case that if you are not flexible, you can’t practice it. The main motive of yoga practice is not to go in the final pose, rather a lot of benefits can also be achieved while in the process itself. 

• Do you feel Yoga has changed or impacted your life in some way? 

Yes! In a lot of ways. 

If you talk about physically, it has helped me to reverse my migraine, digestion & colitis issues. Psychologically, it has really helped me to make me more patient & calmer.

• You are an amazing expert! Do you teach Yoga too? If yes, please share with our audience how they can reach out to you?

Yes, I do take online personal & group yoga & meditation classes. I also take corporate sessions. People can reach out to me at my Instagram DMs at ‘roootedindia’ or email me at ‘roootedindia@gmail.com’. (Please note it is Roooted with 3 Os)

• So what’s next! Where do you envision yourself and RoootedIndia a few years down the line?

Sounds like an interview question :p 

But I can't really say. I see myself with a bigger yoga community, maybe will do some yoga show on TV, I am also in process to launch my sustainable & yogic product range, would like to maintain consistency on YouTube, so ya! lots of plans! Let’s see where the universe takes us. 

• Is there any thought you abide by or any piece of advice for all lovely women out there who are reading this?

Just one thing, there is no one who can do self- care for you, it’s you who will have to do something, pay some respect to your body. It’s like a machine, if you will not maintain it properly it will go off in the later years quite frequently.

Just make it a thing to move your body, maybe only for 10 mins but then maintain consistency with that. 

We are surely inspired and intrigued by Ratika for sure. You can follow her on @roootedindia on Instagram for extraordinary content not only on Yoga but also sustainable living and gardening tips. You can even subscribe to her youtube channel by the same name.

Ratika shared her expertise with us about yoga for PCOS and yogic diet too. If you missed it, you can watch this video.