Menopausal Medicine

First off, medicine is a misnomer, because this blog is about finding what feeds you, what thrills you and what makes you feel whole. Medicine of the soul is more like it.

I don't believe menopause is a disease, I believe it is a transformational journey, a walkabout for your inner woman, an initiation into your inner wise self.

I believe what you need is not more hormones but more harmony. Not more estrogen or progesterone but more self-love. Okay, some of you may need hormonal treatment just so you can sleep through the night and not wake up all ragged and worn-out. I don't blame you for wanting a remedy, any remedy, just to stay sane.

But most of all, dear menopausal, mid-life journeyers, what you are getting from life and your wisdom body, is a major wake-up call. It's time for you to take care of you! It's time for you to listen to your own wisdom. And do what you love, manifest your creative dreams.

Many great doctors, neuro-scientists and teachers are exploring the female brain and body at menopause and two of my favourite doctors, Dr Mona Lisa Schulz http://www.drmonalisa.com/ and Dr Christiane Northrup http://www.drnorthrup.com/ both say that our intuition is 80% based in the body. That's right, we get messages from our shoulders about taking on too much that is not ours; we get messages from our necks that we are working too long and too hard on the computer (and probably our posture is off too). We get messages from our gut that we are not 'digesting' something - not able to swallow the bullshit/lies being fed to us from co-workers, bosses, friends and relatives. Our breasts may be warning us that we are giving away too much of ourselves to others and not practicing good self-care.

We just don't always pay attention until it's too late. Then we wake up, fast, very wise all of a sudden, because of an emergency that calls us to slow down - my first such wake-up call was in the form of a broken-leg that forced me to enlist help in the running of the household and taking care of children departments. Lying in bed for a week or six mending the bones and the spirit was very good medicine. But did it have to hurt so much?

The challenge is to listen in - to pay attention to the soft whispers. The easy way would be to write things down, messages that come to you through dreams, gut feelings, intuitions and those under the radar kind of 'feelings' that get corroborated later. Learn to trust them, learn to follow them, even if it means a little risk. The more you follow the feeling, the stronger the next one gets, and then you begin to trust the larger universe. Are there angels and guides helping us tune into our own wisdom? I don't know but I like to think so.

So take your medicine, work on believing in your own wisdom, practice keeping track of when it leads you in the right direction, write it down. You are being initiated into a new phase in your life. You can begin to feel empowered, and look for people, books, classes that make you feel proud of that womanly power. I've just signed up for a newsletter from Mama Gena for example because I am curious about her Pleasure Intensive classes, and the good things I've heard. http://www.mamagenas.com/

May you never stop learning and growing and claiming your territory, and knowing your own power as a mid-life woman.

Namaste,
Musemother/Jenn
aka www.jenniferboire.com
author of The Tao of Turning Fifty