175 © The Author(s) 2017 S. Feraro, J.R. Lewis (eds.), Contemporary Alternative Spiritualities in Israel, Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-53913-7_10 CHAPTER 10 The Menstrual Discourse in Israeli Yoga for Women: Narrative and Ritual, Agency and Control Carmit Rosen Even-Zohar C. Rosen Even-Zohar (*) University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel What is the core problem regarding women’s health? Luce Irigaray addressed this question at the end of the 1980s, claiming that ‘A body can only be sound if it has a personal or spiritual project or objective, keep- ing it together and bringing it to life’. This basic condition is denied for women because they suffer from a lack of self-approval and are ‘deprived of a subjective order, by which they can unify their corporeal vitality’ (Irigaray 2007, 98). It seems that menstruation, a phenomenon unique to the female body, can serve as a dismal test case proving Irigaray’s still-relevant words. The constitutive meta-narrative about menstruation in Western society con- structed it as a dirty experience, repulsive and even profane, that should be concealed and kept out of sight. Yet, it is through menstruation that the body signals the reproductive ‘working order’ of women’s bodies. With the development of consumer society, menstruation has been constructed as a hygienic-sanitary phenomenon, addressed mainly within the limited scope The original version of this chapter was revised. The erratum to this chapter is available at: DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-53913-7_13