Menopause - Mother to Crone

Menopause, I'm kind of really into menopause at the moment. The thing I've been learning about recently is non-resistance, which is so exciting because this is something women can do at home.

When those hot flushes come up, the woman can go "okay, here comes a flush, how do I feel? it's hot, but what's it trying to tell me?" Breathe, move, what's the sound?

Not, "oh my goodness here comes a hot flush, quick, push it down! I'm so angry!"

It's a really hard thing to do because your blood is boiling, you're sweating, you're ripping off clothes and you're waking up from sleep... Resist that, yeah okay.

But what I've been reading and seeing is that women in different cultures like in Japan and Maya and indigenous cultures actually embrace these signs and symptoms because they know as a woman they are entering into an amazing phase of their life, which us Westerners don't really see. We see it as a pain in the butt, with lots of signs and symptoms and who wants to be this aging, changing woman?

Where as in the Japanese and Mayan cultures these woman are actually respected. They're seen as a woman in touch with her intuition twenty-four seven, she's someone to be revered and loved within the community. In the West, we don't quite get that type of love shall we say. These women don't resist their signs and symptoms, they still get them, but they see it as this fire within their body.  What is it trying to tell me? What passion is coming through me? They see the hot flushes as passion and fire to propel them into the next 20-30 years living with menopause. It sounds horrific but women are living with menopause far longer than they did 50-100 years ago because we're living longer.

So if you can try not to resist these signs and symptoms and actually see what they're trying to say because it is the body telling you it's changing whether you like it or not. How are you going to embrace this, or are you going to resist it, because resistance will make those signs and symptoms far worse.

In telling this to a lot of women they get it. These hot flushes are about; do you need to slow down? Do you need to renegotiate all of the mothering relationships that you've had? Because you're moving from the Mother into the Crone. The Crone is all about going within, seeing what she needs and what to do for the rest of her life. Backing away from mothering and having different relationships with her children and the people around her that she has mothered. It's actually time for the woman to start to mother herself.

So menopause, it's such an interesting topic and I just want to get it out there to the women going through this that it's an amazing phase of your life. Let it be a little more joyous, a little more wow! Listen to what is happening to your body, feel the passions within trying to come out, express them!

I think non-resistance is a huge key.

If you've got any menopausal friends, mums, daughters let them know about this blog.

Best, Tabitha