MENOPAUSE
MENOPAUSE – THE GREAT TRANSITION
Menopause is not a disease, and its symptoms do not mean anything is wrong or necessarily needs to be treated hormonally. However, menopausal symptoms can bring us into the awareness of some deeper issues which may have remained unaddressed during the fullest time of our childbearing years when hormones abound.
This is a time of transition, and all transitions tend to challenge us. But when we understand the language the body/mind is speaking during this time, we can find harmony within the shifting inner milieu. Yin Qi Gong provides impactful support for the journey!
During this time of transition, the body wants to stop producing estrogen and progesterone; and unfortunately, even bioidentical hormones can stagnate the Qi (energy) and lead to depression. The prevailing conventional medical narrative tells us that we need estrogen for bone strength and cardiovascular health. Since we know that nature didn’t err however, in ceasing hormone production, we have to look a little deeper to understand what’s actually going on.
In Chinese medicine, we look at hormonal production as a function of Yin and Yang. As estrogen (a cooling, Yin hormone) declines, the resulting Yang excess can flare up, causing symptoms. This transformative Fire is meant to burn off any unhealthy patterns that were not addressed earlier in life, so we can move past residual egoic drives for emotional gratification. This is the time to face the dark heavy places so that they can be left behind and no longer burden us.
Perimenopause is an opportunity to re-weave the fabric of one’s life – picking up lost threads along the way; loosening and reworking the cross fibers of the weft to be consistent with the warp or blueprint of our soul’s very reason for being.
Regardless of where you are in your journey (perimenopause, menopause or post- menopause), it can help to evaluate your life as a whole in order to settle into this new phase of life.
HOW THE COURSE SUPPORTS THESE TRANSITIONS
Yin Qi Gong has a balancing effect on the hormones, lifts the mood, improves lymphatic flow, and opens up the joints, especially of the hips and shoulders. As we continue the practice and our bodies begin to open up, it is not uncommon to witness accumulated tension and experience the stress held in the body-mind. As we stay with the practice, inner tension begins to unwind, and any symptoms of imbalance tend to drop away. As we learn to understand our own psychic holding patterns, we become stronger, more balanced, flexible, and self-compassionate.