Menopause Awareness Month: Knowledge is Power
Menopause is a normal stage in a woman’s life. Every woman will experience menopause, but every woman’s experience will be unique. Some will sail thorough and barely notice, for others it can be super challenging and even traumatic. No matter how it happens, menopause will affect the rest of a woman’s lifespan. What do you know about menopause? About your own, unique body and this life-changing shift? About YOUR menopause?
Change is challenging. But it is also inevitable. What is the best tool for managing change?
Knowledge.
Knowledge is power.
Yes, change is challenging - but it can also be an opportunity. An opportunity to become more deeply connected to our bodies and ourselves. Learning more about our bodies and what they are experiencing at this time of life is key - what we plan ahead for and meet head on, we can often better manage.
And while it’s never, ever too late to get started - prevention and intervention beats catching up every. single. time. There is so much you can do to support yourself all throughout your menopause, and you are worth every second of it.
From a movement and yoga perspective (the only one I can speak to as I am not a doctor!), there are some accessible but powerful tools at our disposal that deepen our understanding of our bodies and ourselves:
🌿 We need to work on building strength to help protect our bones and muscles. And we need to move more daily to help our joints, balance and agility.
🌿 Rest is essential. When we sleep better, we feel better in a multitude of ways - less stress and anxiety, better management of mental fogginess.
🌿 Movement and rest can help support the brain. Doing what we can to protect our brain is essential for women at this time of life.
🌿 Breathing better is everything.
There is sadly still a lot of stigma around menopause - for many of us going through menopause we may not want to talk about it, or want anyone else to know we’re going through it. But we don’t help ourselves OR the women/daughters/sisters/granddaughters that come after us if we continue the silence and sense of shame that surrounds this very natural life stage. What we normalise, we can better face and deal with. And when we do it together, with support from and for each other, we can help end this stigma and grow in our power. Wiser, stronger, together.
Fortunately for us gen x-er’s (and other generations, of course!) there are more voices than ever telling their stories and offering their wisdom to help shed the past and make menopause visible. Here are just a few that I recommend checking out:
https://celebratemuliebrity.com/
https://www.overthebloodymoon.com/
https://thewomensalzheimersmovement.org/
October is Menopause Awareness Month, and I’m offering weekly tips on my social media pages that will help you get started with some simple tools for common menopause symptoms. You can access them at the links below the pic. If you try them out, get in touch and let me know how you got on!
With love,
Laura
