If your reaction to the phrase “menopause decade” is dismay, sit down, let me pour you a cup of tea and let’s talk.
When I say the “menopause decade”, I mean the 10 years before, during and after your bleeding stops. The technical definition of menopause is when you have gone for 12 months without a period. But it’s rarely that your periods just stop. Rather, it’s a process of starts and stops, and all the symptoms that surround that process. For many women the whole experience lasts several years.
When is your menopause going to start? How long is it going to last? Well, like many things in life, you won’t know exactly. Of course unexpected things can invoke menopause – removal of the ovaries or uterus, cancer, autoimmune or thyroid diseases and other significant conditions can catapult you into early menopause. But in the absence of these, you can get a pretty good idea by talking with the women in your family: grandmothers, aunts, mothers, sisters. If you hear a trend, particularly on your mother’s side, it is likely you will start menopause around the same age.
So what’s happening during this time?
I talk about the symptoms you might experience and more about Ayurveda’s take on menopause other articles.
But let’s start with what mother-nature wants to be happening during this time: a streamlining of the efficiency of estrogen-producing glands like the adrenals to smoothly compensate for the decrease in the amount of estrogen your body is producing, finding alternate ways to release the heat principle, Pitta, that your body was previously able to release during your monthly menstruation. More importantly, a gathering in and opportunity, spiritual and material, for reengaging with what you desire to live life to its fullest.
I call menopause “the Great Revealer”, because these years in our lives unearth buried histories, emotions, and hidden imbalances in our hormones that so far, you were able to push down or ignore. You get to decide whether what is unearthed remains a burden or becomes your greatest treasure. That’s why it’s such a passion of mine to help women prepare for and reduce the vaious waves physical symptoms they may experience during their menopause years- so they can get on with the transformation that will bring them into their best selves. It’s about stepping into being fabulous – you know who you are, you reduce what’s no longer serving you and have the courage to go for what you really want, you rock the most productive time in your career, you discover the deepest intimacies in your relationships, you develop a strengthened connection to your spiritual side, you have the best sex in your life – all of this is possible when you effectively manage the physcial symptoms.
Too often the physical symptoms keep you treading water, or worse- only able to put out the next fire.
But what if I told you it’s easier than you think? With a little dedication to adjusting some habits, some herbal support specific to your body type and needs, and definitely some shifts in the agreements you’ve made in life, like your approach to stressors, you can get to the real business of flourishing with your personal transformation and coming home in yourself again.
Want to learn more? Join Menopause by Design
