Most of yoga’s benefits are universal and well-documented. Neither age nor gender matter as far a…

Most of yoga’s benefits are universal and well-documented. Neither age nor gender matter as far as the practice being a boon to joint health or concentration, among other examples.

That said, yoga does impart certain benefits particular to women, including easing pregnancy and perimenopause and strengthening key parts of the body after childbirth. Also, yoga boosts bone health, which matters a lot for women, given they’re at higher risk than men for osteoporosis.

Yoga offered me a way of relating to the body that had nothing to do with accomplishment or cosmetics,” Mather says. “As I was introduced to yoga, the most important objectives were simply to breathe, feel and be curious about my experience within my own body. For a populace trained from birth that women’s value lies within the material beauty and allure of the body, this was a radical alternative proposition. That a female body could be valuable just because it existed was mind-blowing. It opened up possibilities that were previously invisible or taboo. It gave me permission to be big, to take up space, to have an appetite, to trust my sensations and emotions as benevolent and to view the world through eyes trained to see more than just what is visible. Yoga can be a process of re-wilding.”

Gaining a stronger sense of self through yoga requires more introspection than doing asana (postures) to, say, strengthen your pelvic floor.

Here are 3 tips from Mather so you can get the most from—and for—yourself through yo