Menopause Awareness Month by Paula Hines
Hello, I’m Paula and I’m guest editing the Mindwalk Yoga blog for October to share my experience and some helpful practices to support Menopause. I’ve been practising yoga for 20 years and teaching for 10 years. I specialise in restorative yoga, yin yoga and yoga nidra, and I’m also an accredited Menopause Yoga teacher. I draw on my own experience of yoga as a tool for transformation and to aid recovery from injury, trauma, and stress and to support menopause symptoms. I’ve also published a book, Rest + Calm, an accessible guide to gentle yoga and mindfulness.
When I was growing up, I never heard the word ‘menopause’, though I did hear hushed mentions of “the change” between my mum and her friends. So, when I started to experience symptoms in my late thirties it was a big shock and it took until my early forties to join the dots. Because menopause (the point of twelve consecutive months without a period) usually occurs in our early fifties, it can be easy to assume menopause won’t impact our lives until then. In fact, it's during perimenopause – the years leading up to our periods stopping – when many of the symptoms related to menopause become apparent as our oestrogen levels deplete. As I share in my book, Rest + Calm, all our experiences of menopause are different:
“According the NHS around 1 in 100 women (in the UK) reach menopause before the age of forty. This is known as premature menopause or POI (premature ovarian insufficiency) and though more research is needed, it appears that your ethnicity may have a bearing on your experience of symptoms and your age when you reach menopause. (The results of the SWAN study suggested that women of colour tend to experience more intense symptoms compared to white women and also tend to reach menopause earlier.)“
It’s possible that you’ll sail through this transition and barely notice, or you might – as is more likely – experience some symptoms. Officially, there are thirty-four main menopause symptoms, though unofficially there’s many more including but not limited to hot flushes, night sweats, anxiety, fatigue, depression, brain fog, sleep disturbances, joint pain, tinnitus and the appearance of new allergies.
Thankfully, nowadays the conversations around menopause are becoming more open and there’s an increasing amount of information available on interventions that can be of help. One thing we do know is that stress exacerbates all menopause symptoms, so finding ways to address the stress we face becomes even more important during midlife. Yoga is just one of the tools proven to be helpful in navigating the stages of menopause when it comes to calming the nervous system and helping with some symptoms. For instance, restorative yoga is known to be particularly effective in easing chronic stress, fatigue and helping to improve sleep quality, among other benefits. Yoga has been (and continues to be) invaluable as I navigate my perimenopausal years and in 2020 I trained in Menopause Yoga to deepen my knowledge in this area. I’m excited to be sharing some short practices with menopause in mind especially for Mindwalk Yoga. If you are in any stage of menopause – peri, meno or post – these are for you and I hope they will be of benefit.
I’d love you to join me at Mindwalk Yoga on Tuesdays for Restorative Yoga from 8-9pm.
If you’re currently experiencing menopause symptoms know that you are not alone. Even something as simple as taking a few minutes out of your day can help. Mindwalk Yoga members can access some of my special Menopause practices in our VOD library. Not a member? Sign up for our 7-day free trial and give them a go. Hope to see you soon. Be well, Paula.
