Riding the Wave: A Yoga Inquiry into Midlife and Beyond
An invitation to people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond—and the teachers who guide them.
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Menopause is a transition that unfolds over time.
For many of us, it begins quietly in our late 30s or early 40s—long before we would use the word “menopause” to describe ourselves. (It’s telling, though, that if you get pregnant after age 35, they used to call it a “geriatric” pregnancy, now at least they’ve softened the stigma to “advanced maternal age” (AMA).)
Clinically, menopause is defined as the 366th day after your last menstrual period. But the years—before and after—surrounding that day? That’s where the real story lives.
And here’s the part we really don’t talk about enough:
This change affects 100% of people with ovaries, regardless of whether we’ve had children.
Yet most of us were never taught what to expect.
The Symptoms Are Real
The late reproductive stage and peri-menopause—which can begin 4–10 years or more before your final period—may include:
Irregular or heavier cycles
Hot flashes or night sweats
Insomnia
Anxiety, irritability, or low mood
Brain fog and forgetfulness
Vaginal dryness or urinary urgency
Lower libido
Breast tenderness
Joint pain and stiffness
For some, this transition is smooth. For others, it is destabilizing.
Culturally? It’s often dismissed.
We support puberty as a rite of passage. Menopause? Not so much.
Instead, we’re handed narratives of decline, invisibility, fragility. Or we’re offered quick fixes, miracle supplements, or vague spiritual platitudes.
What if we did something different?
What if we opened a real conversation—an inquiry grounded in yoga’s frameworks?
Pain, Fascia, and the Changing Body
For some of us, perimenopause isn’t about heat—it’s mainly about pain.
Hip pain. Shoulder pain. Stiffness. A body that feels unfamiliar.
Emerging research from scientists like Dr. Carla Stecco shows that deep fascia contains estrogen receptors. As estrogen fluctuates and declines, collagen organization and tissue glide change.
Translation?
Tissues can become less hydrated, less adaptable, more sensitive.
Add long-standing hypermobility—so common in yoga communities—and the picture becomes more complex.
Treating isolated joints isn’t enough. A whole-system approach matters.
Yoga—applied skillfully—can support load transfer, adaptability, and nervous system regulation.
But only if we stop pretending aging isn’t happening.
This Is Not a Breakdown. It’s a Threshold.
The word menopause comes from the Greek men (month) and pausis (pause)—the end of the monthly cycle.
This pause is not a failure of the system. It is a profound biological shift. A recalibration across body, mind, and identity.
And because human lifespan has nearly doubled in the last century, many of us will live30–40 years after menopause.
That’s not an ending. That’s an entire chapter of life.
Yoga philosophy frames this as a movement toward elderhood—a transition toward wisdom. Not in a woo-woo, incense-and-platitudes way. But in a grounded, lived, embodied way.
We are entering a stage of deeper discernment.
That can be empowering. It can also be confronting.
Why Yoga Has to Be Part of This Conversation
Most 200-hour teacher training programs spend significant time on prenatal modifications—and very little, if anything, on what happens at the other end of the reproductive lifespan.
And yet every single one of us will age.
Many practitioners quietly step away from yoga during perimenopause because the practice that once supported them no longer fits their nervous system, sleep patterns, joints, or bones. They assume they’ve failed—or that yoga no longer works.
But yoga is not just a set of poses. It is a system of principles applied to the human condition.
And aging is the human condition.
Bones, Fear, and Misinformation
By age 30, we’ve built nearly all the bone we’ll ever have.
In the seven years after menopause, we can lose up to 20% of bone mineral density due to estrogen decline.
And then many of us are told, vaguely:
“Don’t twist.”
“Don’t forward fold.”
“Be careful!”
This fear-based messaging often comes from well-meaning professionals who don’t understand yoga’s frameworks—or from yoga teachers who defer entirely to rehabilitation models.
Yoga can be informed by science without being subsumed by it.
We need nuance. Not panic.
A Multi-Dimensional View: The Pañcamaya Model
Yoga does not view our human system as just muscles and bones or hormones and tissues.
Through the pañcamaya model, we recognize five interwoven dimensions:
Annamaya—Physical structure
Prāṇamaya—Physiology and breath
Manomaya—Thought patterns
Vijñāñamaya—Behavior and identity
Ānandamaya—Emotional experience
Menopause touches all of these.
Hormonal shifts influence fascia and collagen.
Estrogen decline impacts bone density.
Sleep disruption alters cognition.
Nervous system dysregulation affects digestion.
Cultural narratives shape our identity.
This experience is not just about hot flashes.
It’s about relationship—to your body, your partner, your children, your aging parents, your work, your sexuality, your time, your mortality.
This stage of life asks deeper questions.
The Invisible Load of Midlife
Menopause doesn’t happen in isolation.
You may be:
Parenting children
Launching adult children
Caring for aging parents
Navigating intimacy shifts
Managing a career — or retirement
Questioning identity
All while your body is changing.
No wonder it can feel overwhelming.
Or—if your transition has been smooth—quietly disorienting.
Where do we talk about this honestly?
An Invitation
Join me for a one-day immersive workshop—Riding the Wave: Yoga for the Stages of Menopause
This workshop is for:
People in their late reproductive years, perimenopause, or post-menopause
Those in their 30s and 40s who are beginning to notice subtle or pronounced shifts
Those in their 50s, 60s, and beyond who are navigating life after the final period
Yoga teachers who want to better understand and support students through these stages of life
This is not a quick fix.
And it is not a promise to eliminate symptoms.
It is a space to:
Recognize what is changing
Understand what is happening physiologically and systemically
Build resilience in body and mind
Cultivate discernment in a sea of information
Stay in relationship with yoga as you age
Please bring your own snack — we'll pause mid-afternoon for community connection time.
Bring a journal.
Bring your questions.
Bring your lived experience.
We will explore:
Sleep and restoration
Bone health without fear-based messaging
Fascial adaptability and mobility
Pain and hypermobility
Nervous system regulation
Discernment in the sea of menopause remedies
Identity shifts and family dynamics
The power of pause
And perhaps most importantly: community.
Because aging is universal.
Because these stages deserve nuance, not stigma.
Because none of us should navigate it in isolation.
You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to ride them.
Aging is change.
Everything changes.
Let’s practice being with that—together.
