7 Ways to Make Your Menopause Work For You

Menopause, if we can allow it, is a natural process of shedding behaviour and roles that no longer serve us, teaching us self-kindness so we can emerge renewed to live more authentically and closely aligned with our passions and pleasures. Unfortunately, because the transformational qualities of menopause are not widely known and support is patchy at best, many women panic, mistaking growth for crisis. Research from the Nuffield Health group found that a quarter of menopausal women were concerned about their ability to cope with their lives and a further quarter who visited a GP found that the possibility of their symptoms being menopause-related was missed altogether.

For those of us coming to therapy in mid-life, we can surf the waves of body-felt change to take a real 'pause', learning to look inside and trust ourselves. With the support of a great therapist we can learn how to develop a kindness that would both improve our long term mental health and take us to new levels of presence and satisfaction in our post-menopausal life.

The transformational process of menopause asks us to clean up our act; to let go of roles that no longer serve us, to heal old traumas, to finally put our own needs and creativity before others' and rest.

There are four phases of menopause to be aware of, present in all life transformations;

• Separation - radical decluttering of what no longer serves you
• Surrender - asking us to stand in the unknown
• Emergence - emerging tenderly back into the world
• Second Spring - birthed into a new way of being