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Active Baby Boomers

Embracing Menopause, Path to Peace & Power
By Susan Winter Ward

The Baby Boomers are hitting 50, and in a big way! In the next 10 to 15 years, about 40 million American women will go through menopause. When thousands of people voice concerns about social or political issues, it's news. When millions of women are going through menopause at the same time it's a sociological hot flash! What might be the effects of such an unprecedented shift? Hang on, guys, it's a country of powerful menopausal women on the move!

 

As a generation of about 76 million Boomers, we've always done things our way. Experimenting, pushing the edges, and demanding social changes. The entire US economy, seeing dollar signs spinning from our sheer numbers, catered to our desires and needs. From Gerber's Baby Food to the first hot cars, Corvettes and Thunderbirds, our generation has steered major business, marketing and economic decisions. Now, how will the menopause phenomena be addressed in our culture? How do you view yourself as you transition through this phase of maturity? We need to really think about what it all means and how we want it to be. We'll decide what menopause means, and do it in our unique way.

 

Recently, I saw an ad in a prominent newspaper which targets the "senior" population. Its headline blazed across the top of the page. It implied that estrogen loss caused physical, mental and psychological degeneration. The ad also implied that the "findings" were the results of research conducted by a research institute specializing in women's health. A more critical look at the ad revealed that there was no actual study completed to support the frightening implications described, and that the ad was actually run by a major drug company which manufactures estrogen replacement drugs. Are we to believe that menopause is a disease which needs to be treated with pharmaceuticals? Are we willing to give our power away to the fear of the loss of our beauty, sexuality and our value as creative women?

I don't buy it! The physical changes associated with menopause are not a disease, but a natural transition from the child-bearing years to the closure of that phase of life. Menopause is just as natural as the onset of menstruation. In fact, we may look on menopause as a blessing. Its freedom from the ups and downs of our hormonal cycles, the end of menstrual cramps and bloated bellies, the end of tampons! We can focus our energy and become more creative, more empowered, wiser and more deeply beautiful.

Now we'll stop looking toward fashion magazines that determine our value based on what we wear and how we look. We'll inwardly honor ourselves and create a new concept of beauty and power. Its time to bury the Barbie doll image of beauty and claim a deeper, more spiritual definition of our inner beauty which we express outwardly. Enough of the "blond" jokes, and "only her hairdresser knows..." We can wear our silver hair as our crowning glory. Laugh lines on our faces reveal our joy, frown lines reveal our intensity. Its all a matter of perspective, we can create an attitude honoring who we are and where we are in our lives.

All over the world native cultures honor and celebrate this stage of life. Some Native American cultures call those women who have completed their last moon cycle "women of wisdom," a position of power and respect. As we begin to take our position as the "elder women," as the women who have experienced life, given birth, raised children, created careers, and have gained wisdom from our journeys, we can also take responsibility for how we approach and process our menopause experience. We can appreciate menopause as our special time for physical, emotional and spiritual reassessment. We can take responsibility for how we want to live the rest of our lives and honor who we are.

Honoring ourselves means taking care of ourselves. There is certainly a time when extra psychological, hormonal and spiritual support is invaluable, and there is also an invaluable gift to us from India. A rejuvenating, relaxing, energizing, revitalizing "Fountain of Youth" called yoga. Through the ageless art of yoga, we can balance our energies physically, emotionally and spiritually as we go through menopause. We can ease our transition naturally into this new stage of our lives. Yoga soothes, balances and rejuvenates all of the parts of us, bringing us to wholeness, allowing us to shine.

Just an hour of yoga three times a week is enough to make a difference. If you can make a commitment to yourself to take two or three classes a week for a month, then assess how you feel, I'm absolutely sure you'll notice the difference. The benefits of a yoga practice have been demonstrated over 5000 years...and it works if you do it!

The most obvious benefits of yoga are the increased strength and flexibility of your body, your calmer mind and a more centered feeling in your heart. But yoga works on very subtle levels as well. Yoga balances the endocrine system which controls your body's production of hormones and it calms the nervous system, reducing stress which aggravates hot flashes. Yoga is a weight-bearing exercise which strengthens your bones and helps to prevent osteoporosis. It can massage the reproductive organs and ease pelvic congestion, relieve headaches, boost the immune system, reduce fatigue and even out mood swings. Deep breathing oxygenates the blood, cleansing the organs, nourishing the nervous system and cleansing the respiratory system. Yoga brings a deeper awareness to ourselves, tuning us in to our bodies and taking us inward to that place of peace and power.

Through consciously embracing the menopause experience and deciding how we want to live the rest of our lives; by being responsible for how we choose to navigate this transition time; and by taking care of ourselves physically, emotionally and spiritually, we can regard menopause as the opportunity for rejuvenation that it is and live more fully than ever with renewed vitality, inner peace and power.

Here are a few simple yoga poses to get you started:

Begin with your breath: Sit up straight and create as much space as you can for your lungs. Take a long, deep breath. Exhale completely. Tune into how deeply you can bring your breath down into your lungs and take a couple of breaths.

Now visualize a ribbon. Inhale your ribbon as deeply into your lungs as you can, then exhale the entire ribbon. Breath your ribbon rhythmically, focusing on your breath. Allow the rhythm of your deep breathing to relax your entire body.

Benefits: Oxygenates the body, deep relaxation, cleansing and rejuvenating. Lowers blood pressure and brings attention inward.

Cat Stretches Come to your hands and knees. As you inhale, bend your elbows slightly and press your hands into the floor bringing your chest forward and upward between your arms. Lift the crown of your head and your tailbone toward the ceiling and drop your belly toward the floor. As you exhale, arch your spine up, bringing your belly button toward your spine. Draw your forehead and your pubic bone toward each other. Repeat the movement several times developing a smooth, flowing rhythm, combining your movement with your breath. Benefits: Increases spinal flexibility, strengthens thighs, arms, shoulders, tones the abdomen and massages abdominal organs.

Child's Pose Come to your hands and knees and gently lean back as you bring your buttocks into contact with your heels. Stretch your arms out in front of you on the floor and breathe deeply. If you need support for your upper body you can

1. Place a blanket between your heels and your buttocks, 2. Between your chest and your thighs, 3. Roll up a blanket and place it between your legs, supporting your chest, 4. or all three.

Benefits: Relaxation, stretching the lower back, relaxes the spine, arms, shoulders, and legs. Pressure on the abdomen brings more circulation to the organs, cleansing, stimulating and massaging them.

Lying Bow Pose Lie on your tummy and bend your knees, bringing your feet toward your buttocks. As you exhale reach back and grasp your ankles or feet, Take a deep breath and as you exhale begin raising your feet toward the ceiling, lifting your legs and chest off of the floor. Breathe deeply. Release gently and return to the Child's Pose.

Benefits: Opens the chest, strengthens arms and stretches thighs, stimulates the endocrine system and the spinal nerves, increases spinal flexibility, stimulating, relaxing and rejuvenating.

Cobbler Sit up straight with the soles of your feet together, Allow your thighs to relax gently out to the sides as you tip your belly button slightly toward your heels. Keep your back flat.

Grasp your feet and lift your chest as you carefully flatten your back. Slowly, as you reach through the crown of your head, begin to lean forward, hinging from the hips. Find your edge and back away, inhale, then soften as you exhale forward.

You may support your thighs with folded blankets or pillows under your knees. Benefits: Opens the hips and increases circulation in the abdominal area, bringing stimulation and detoxification to the area.

Supported Cobbler You may also lie on your back on the floor with the soles of your feet together and support your thighs with blankets under your knees. This is a relaxing and restorative pose with similar benefits as the seated Cobbler pose.

Shoulder stand Lie on your back with a folded blanket under your shoulders and your neck extending beyond the edge of the blanket. Allow your head to rest on the floor. Gently bring your legs toward your chest and your feet behind your head. Bring your hands to your back near your waist for support. Walk your shoulders toward each other to support your neck and slowly raise your legs overhead. Your body weight should be on your shoulders, not on your neck or head. Try to keep your legs together, feet pointing straight up toward the ceiling. Breathe deeply. Stay up as long as you comfortably can.

Benefits: Increased circulation to the upper body, the heart, lungs, brain, endocrine system. Relieves pressure in the legs, good for varicose veins and swelling in the legs. Brings circulation to the abdominal organs, cleansing, revitalizing them. Improves digestion and elimination.

Legs up the Wall Alternative You can get similar benefits by lying on your back and stretching your legs up against a wall. If its too much of a stretch for your hamstrings, move your buttocks slightly away from the wall.

You may also place a folded blanket under your lower back for support. Rest, breathing gently, for about 10 minutes.

Susan Winter Ward, internationally recognized yoga instructor, author, and video producer, is the creator of Yoga for the Young at Heart™, a multimedia publisher which publishes an informative and inspiring collection of CDRoms, videos, audio tapes, books and television programs, as well as exciting vacation retreats. Her product line is available at: Yoga for the Young at Heart