Menopausing - it's a verb
Menopause - the name implies a fixed moment in time. However the pause is felt as a transition; sometimes steady, sometimes, smooth, sometimes intense and volatile.
While menopause is unavoidable; suffering is optional. Suffering is one way to experience the raw, physical or emotional sensations of menopause. It’s a way of engaging with our signifiers of change – the sensations, the symptoms, the storytelling our mind enmeshes with that creates the struggle and the suffering.
Menopausing - navigating the journey
It's not linear
Not only is perimenopause not linear, straightforward or predictable - the experience is unique to every woman. Some women will glide through with a couple of uncomfortable moments, and for others it will feel like their hormones are taking them on a rollercoaster with no end.
The list of discomforts and changes is long and include - sleep disturbances; hot flashes; mood swings - low mood, new or amplified anxiety and uncharacteristic irritability; fatigue; brain fog; wandering libido; changes to condition of hair, skin, nails, bones.
Every cell in our bodies has oestrogen receptors - it's no wonder every aspect of our lives is affected by "the change".
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When matrescence meets perimenopause
Researchers have found the hormonal changes of perimenopause can begin in one’s mid-thirties. This means women birthing in their thirties and forties, may experience the hormonal and emotional challenges of early motherhood being amplified by the onset of what can be a decade-long journey of perimenopause.
I am particularly drawn to supporting women who find themselves at the often-confounding intersection of matrescence and perimenopause.
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It can be an amplifier
If you are experiencing other health conditions - the intersection with perimenopause may bring an amplification of physical and emotional symptoms.
I'm not depressed - I'm angry!
What is the irritability and anger telling you?
What is the withdrawal of people pleasing oestrogen saying about your need to set boundaries and put your needs forward?
How are these boundaries showing up in your relationships?
Womanly Counselling for menopausal mental health is trauma oriented practice​. Womanly Counselling can support ways to change your relationship with the sensations experienced during menopause; helping to transform the narrative around these challenges creates space to let go of the struggle against change. Cultivating an attitude of self-compassion, kindness and curiosity is helpful to understand and respond to difficult emotions; after all how often did being in denial, or being harsh and self-critical help you feel better?
My practice integrates Trauma Focussed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (TFACT) with somatic psychotherapies created from my therapeutic womanly yoga practice offer you a place to be sincerely seen and heard in your pain and tools of breath awareness, subtle and effective somatic movement to help you find a place of acceptance and healing on your own terms.
Recognising that your mental health during your menopause transition is not separate from your whole body, therefore a natural consequence of engaging with these practices will be felt in your capacity to accommodate each moment in your cycle/ life-stage; building energetic and emotional reserves; stimulating circulation; soothing tired mind and frayed nerves; boosting immunity; improving sleep; moderating your metabolism and building healthy emotional boundaries.
In this time of deep change, gift yourself with holistic preparation to shed a positive light on the transformative process of the menopausal years.