Joyfully Transitioning Through Menopause in Your Healing Home
Menopausal women transitioning in their lives require unique, self nurturing spaces that support time for reflection, growth and managing menopausal symptoms.
Experimenting with ways to relieve my menopausal symptoms has led me to rethink my home and how it supports this transition in my life. I’ve got kids coming and going from college, searching for jobs and exercising. In many ways, watching my twenty year olds navigate their own way is not all that dissimilar to my menopausal mid life shift.
Giving as much attention to myself as I give to letting go.
I look forward to the snippets of solitude that my husband and I now share, I am enthusiastic to reinvent my vocation, nostalgic to reconnect with old friends, enjoying the benefits of my yoga and exercise routines, sifting through 25 years of accumulated stuff, and carving out my own personal spaces.
“Perimenopausal women can be likened to the full-blown rose of late summer and fall as it begins to transform itself into a bright, juicy rose hip-the part of the rose that contains the seeds from which hundreds of other potential roses can grow.”
7 Ideas To Surf Through Menopause At Home
1
Creating An Exercise Area
To help reduce stress, increase dopamine, improve sleep, manage increased abdominal fat, weight gain and the risk of osteoporosis due to bone loss. Dedicate an area with a few inexpensive pieces of equipment like a yoga mat, resistance bands and a few light weights.
If possible, position yourself to enjoy a healing view of nature out a window or a piece of artwork like a sunrise.
Manage sound with inspiring music that will energize you for aerobic exercise or to focus during yoga and perhaps some meditation. This self care space is the perfect opportunity for an inspirational quote or a mantra that meets your transitioning needs.
2
Rethink Your Kitchen
Rethink your kitchen to support a new hormone balancing diet that is nutritionally dense to relieve menopausal symptoms, manage weight gain and protect overall health. This is your time to reclaim your kitchen, purge clutter, packaged foods and simplify your counters with a basket of fresh fruits and vegetables to support a clean diet.
Give yourself plenty of space to experiment with new recipes and new foods.
Maybe you have china tea cups that have been packed away, now is the time to display this feminine element. If not, treat yourself to special mugs and enjoy Black Cohosh Root, Ginseng or Chasteberry Tree to ease the side effects of menopause. Invest is a beautiful wooden bowl to toss a healthy salad paired with a bottle for homemade EVO salad dressing. Repurpose a large glass jar or a pitcher to keep water with sliced lemons readily available to hydrate and reduce hot flashes.
Creating spaces which inspire one’s food is another passion of mine.
3
Redefining Your Bedroom
Now is the time to create your nurturing, feminine, self care space. The goal is to increase the quality of your sleep and balance hormones to control hot flashes, night sweats, and reducing insomnia.
Selecting colors that are monotoned will create a calming environment. Accent with a wide range of blues and greens that are calming, relaxing and serine to reduce blood pressure and heart rate. Soft pink is a protective, compassionate and feminine color that heals and soothes.
Feng Shui tells us that the energy in your room will be disrupted by clutter, this is your self care space, keep it free of anything that does not support a good night sleep. Also, keep the images you see before going to sleep in your bedroom calm and sparse, otherwise it can create visual stimulation and disturbances.
Open, contemplative space to “pause” a temporary stop in action.
Try to shift your nightly routine by reducing blue light from a TV, computer and your phone. Dim your light as low as possible, try a cup of chamomile or valerian tea, a personal favorite of mine is Yogi bedtime tea. Rub 3 drops of Clary Sage essential oil on the tops of your feet and the back of your neck, as many as 3 times a day, to balance hormones, reduce anxiety and balance hot flashes.
The goal is to increase the quality of your sleep and balance hormones to control hot flashes, night sweats, and reducing insomnia.
Window treatments that block out light at night will eliminate light from disturbing your sleep, however be sure to open them in the morning to balance circadian rhythm with the need for daylight. When possible, sleep with windows open for fresh air flow and ventilation. More oxygen will clear your mind, rejuvenate your skin and energize your whole body.
Incorporate plants to add oxygen, filter toxins and add a natural healing element to further increase the quality of air in your space. I love Peace Lily plants as they do not require a lot of light, can be compact, and produce a lovely white flower that is the perfect fit for your feminine space.
To cool night sweats, I have found that a small table top fan on my beside table is a must. Nothing feels more luxurious and cools hot flashes better than bedding made with natural fibers such as cotton, linen and natural filling for duvets.
4
Cozy Place’s
Menopause can be a time of unrest, we must set the stage to feel better. Bring more hygge into your life with a natural candle, a soft all natural fiber blankets and a cup of relaxing tea to help with insomnia, anxiety, headaches, and stress. Create this sacred self care space to read or journal, surrounding yourself with the things that make life good.
Hygge (hyoo-guh) is a Danish word for a mood of coziness and comfortable feelings of wellness and contentment. Hygge are those small everyday moments that makes you feel happy and warm inside. It is the little things that sometimes can get overlooked, it is being cozy and relaxed in your surroundings, it is the things that sparks joy to you.
Think of this as a place to pause and possibly drift into a meditation, a place tranquil solitude.
Relish the here and now. Mindfulness and gratitude are key components of hygge, says Schiff. Turn off your phone and other digital devices and focus on the present moment. Listen to music that soothes your heart and soul. Light a candle and treat yourself to good scents that have a calming effect (think: lavender, rose, jasmine, or bergamot). “It is about experiencing happiness in simple pleasures and knowing that everything is going to be okay.” Holly Schiff, PsyD
5
House Plants
Taking care of houseplants is a new form of self care. Watering, feeding, repotting, pruning house plants creates a refuge for transitioning women from nurturing our families to nurturing indoor gardens. Watching these live plants flourish can be a satisfying hobby that reduces stress and fosters positive feelings. Studies show that house plants increase productivity, improve mood, reduce stress, strengthen concentration and fosters positive feelings of empowerment.
Invite nature in.
Some might think that house plants are only for “skilled gardeners” who “know what they are doing” but anyone can bring plants in and they will thrive. The positive returns from these plants is not worth missing out on. A few of my favorites that require low light and will tolerate dry soil are Anthurium, Calathea and Dracaena, these are not your grandmothers plants.
“Caring for a plant, giving it water and sunlight, the simple consistent habits required to thrive, lay the foundation of doing these things for yourself. This can also create a positive feedback loop, in which you are taking on a measured responsibility, following through, and witnessing the effects,” says Sabrina Romanoff, PsyD, A Harvard trained clinical psychologist currently working at Lenox Hill Hospital, Northwell Health, in New York City. “Plants are a metaphor for ourselves. Tangible evidence of what can happen when we are consistent, do what needs to be done, and adapt to our environmental needs. Plants teach us the outcome is worth the effort and that we are constantly growing and evolving.”
6
Creativity
For many women, menopause is a time of creativity. Dr Christiane Northrop has theorized that it may be due in part to high levels of oxytocin and prolactin. In addition to the hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause, a woman’s body returns to a relative stability when menopause is complete, allowing her to focus her full attention on other things. Creating is a way to help relieve irritability, bring a sense of joy and satisfaction.
This may be the time for a study space to research a hot topic or journal or explore creative writing or earn that degree you have always wanted.
Build a space to express yourself through art with multimedia materials, collage making, painting, weaving or sewing. Explore your creative abilities to refurbish a piece of furniture, paint a room or frame artwork that represents rebirth in nature such as a rosebud that is symbolic of menopause, the strength and flexibility of a fully grown tree, the metamorphosis of a butterfly, the moon representing femininity.
“There is no more powerful force in the universe than a menopausal woman with zest.”
Empower yourself, by doing it yourself
7
Feng Shui
Feng Shui is a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (qi), and whose favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings.
Feng Shui tells us to make outer surroundings reflect the rejuvenation of what is going on inside. The tools and elements of Feng Shui, will help you see that our homes reflect our lives and that by consciously changing our living space according to the principles of Feng Shui we can actually create improvements in our lives on all levels.
Enhance your health area by displaying a bouquet of flowers.
You want to enhance your knowledge and self cultivation area when you want any kind of self-growth and a more peaceful mind and lifestyle. In this area you can add artwork that depicts the mountains and quiet places.
