Here we are in Spring time, I love this time of year, so many new opportunities with light mornings and evenings. So many more hours in the day to do what you love and create a life which fills you with joy and happiness.
This picture was taken during lockdown first time around so I was 49 and the big 50 was fast approaching. I had worked so hard on myself, my mind and my body for over a year and the results were amazing. The smile on my face and the buttercups in my hair say it all, I was right where I wanted to be. I was on a daily family walk enjoying the sun and enjoying the company of my hubby, kids and annie our dog. I actually loved lockdown, time to just step back and feel all the space which lockdown created. Time to think, play, feel, it was a great time for me personally and professionally.
As you know from previous posts I gave up my gardening business and focused on becoming a yoga teacher. Two years on and fast approaching my 52nd birthday and here I am teaching and practicing yoga in my everyday life. I have created a life I absolutely adore. It's not easy some of the time but then no-one said life was gonna be easy did they! Peri-menopause symptoms make it hard, along with my anemia and underactive thyroid but you know what? I'm living my best life at the moment...I call myself 'happily knackered' and I love it. I go to bed at night sometimes exhausted but i am so excited to get up in the morning and do it all over again. Priceless, sharing your passion with others, just priceless.
So I'm now in month 6 of HRT and a couple of symptoms have been on my mind this last month or so. Firstly, my weight. Over the last year I have put on almost a stone and I have been compassionate with myself and know my body has had so much to deal with as menopause/anemia and an underactive thyroid have all contributed to slowing down my metabolism. Just this last 2-3 weeks I have started to wonder if my body would ever return to how it looked during lockdown. Then yesterday the universe threw me a bone! I weighed myself at the gym (not something I normally bother about but my clothes were getting uncomfortable) and there it was 10 stone 8, I had dropped 4 pounds. That was all I needed to raise my energy and have the confidence to know that I am on the right track, my body is recovering and everything I am doing is helping my body do that. This time of our life can be quite tricky to navigate with Oestrogen levels dropping all the time, energy up and down and life being busier than ever. My Yoga training has helped me to find my way for sure, knowing I am comfortable in my own skin and my life, has been a real bonus. Below I want to share with you some of the tools that have helped me through this trying stage:
1. My own yoga practice, not so much the asana (poses) more the Yamas (how I behave in my life) and the Niyamas (my self-discipline) also pranayama (breathwork) Dharana (meditation) Pratyahara (withdrawing my awareness away from the external world and focusing on what is going on internally) and finally Samadhi (finding peace and joy in my life).
2. Teaching Yoga and Meditation, of which I have increased my classes from 2 to 4 and also doing 1-1 sessions which are really lovely when I can focus on one person and their needs. I love sharing my own journey with students and helping them with theirs.
3. Nourishing my body (most of the time - i am human afterall!) with good wholesome food. My anemia brought up some issues as I haven't been absorbing iron from my food very well for whatever reason, I feel it's due to the peri-menopause and my hormones but it is hard to find evidence on this subject. I have been eating the same food for the last 4 years so something has changed in my body. Fish, eggs, spinach etc all the stuff which is meant to contain iron. The only thing I haven't eaten a lot of is red meat, which could be a contributing factor. So to try and help my body I have been taking iron tablets for a good 6-7 months now along with fish/eggs/spinach most days and red meat once a week. I gave up tea with my meals as research shows it can interfere with iron absorbtion and drink oj as that is proven to help with iron intake. Food can be one of the first things to go haywire when you are busy but I have found it is so important to give my body what it needs and have had to adjust to that.
4. Exercise is so important to me for my mind and my body. Movement helps with so many parts of myself. I weight train to help with bone density as this is something Oestrogen plays a part in and as we loose more and more through menopause, helping our bones in other ways is really important. "Bones are in a constant state of equilibrium between the cells that build them up and those that break them down...After women turn forty, bone formation slowly declines, and after they turn fifty, bone loss is greater than bone formation" Bluming & Tarvis (2018). "From the 1970's through the 1990's, oestrogen was the cornerstone of the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, whether on its own or in combination with progesterone" Bluming & Tarvis (2018). "Both Oestrogen and progesterone stimulate bone formation and inhibit bone loss" Bluming & Tarvis (2018). Putting stress on my bones makes them work harder and keeps me upright and able to achieve what I want to. Strength training also helps with my metabolic rate which appears to have slowed down ALOT. Anemia slows my body down as my cells can't get enough oxygen which means I have to rest more. My underactive thyroid is the centre of my metabolism it literally controls so much and when it is fluctuating, it slows my whole body up. To top it all off menopause slows the metabolic rate down so i need to move more but eat less, very difficult at times so I revert back to my yoga practice in the hard times. I also like to increase my heart rate and look after my cardiovascular system as menopause and the lack of Oestrogen has a part to play there. The arteries can start to clog up as oestrogen starts to fall so keeping all my arteries healthy is really important to me. I do this by jogging/walking the dog/power yoga anything that raises my heart rate and makes me sweat a little. Finally, I practice restorative yoga and meditation. This helps me fill up my cup and rest whilst my body and mind recharge. All three, strength training; cardio and restorative help to bring me into balance and are all as important as the other. In Yoga, we practice Yang to Yin which incorporates strength and cardio (Yang energy) in the first half of the practice. The masculine Pingala is the active, heated part and then the restorative (Yin) part is in the second half of the practice. This is the feminine Ida; softness; intuitive; nurturing side of the practice. It teaches us to slow down and listen to our bodies. It also teaches us to practice off our mats in life too.
5. HRT has really helped me personally throughout this time. It has relieved many of my symptoms listed below:
Uti's and vaginal atrohpy (a huge symptom for me)
Gastrointestinal issues
Hot flushes
Headaches
Irregular menstrual cycle
Itchy skin
Joint pain (a massive one for me)
Loss of libido (another biggy)
Memory lapses (although I still have them now and again and i laugh about them, especially when I am teaching and my students are waiting for me to shout out the pose, I embrace the fun of it all - I forgot my left and right's in class this week but humour gets me through)
Night sweats
Overwhelming fatigue (a biggy)
Sleeping through the night (another big one)
Weight gain
6. Medication this one is also really important. My pill collection has increased in the last few months hugely (and I thought I was doing so well) but without them, I wouldn't be able to fulfil my daily life as I would be dragging myself around like 'Kevin the teenager'. I take Ferrous Sulfate twice a day for my anemia. Thyroxine for my underactive thyroid and inhalers for my asthma.
7. Supplements I take vit D in the autumn and winter and vitamin B12 for energy and repair.
So all of these things keep my mind and my body working together in harmony (most of the time). They all do there own thing and they all help me. They can all be tough at times but I am so grateful that I can take advantage of them all. The benefits are huge compared to what my life would be like without them. So I live my life and take all the help I can get, life is a journey and I am learning everyday.
The other symptom which I have noticed over the last month or so is hair loss. I did have a problem years ago when I first developed an underactive thyroid as it is one of the symptoms however, it grew back. I am not totally sure whether the anemia has anything to do with it as when your ferritine levels drop sharply, your body stops trying to make hair and concentrates on the more important stuff. My levels dipped down to 8 which I believe is low and I hope when I have my tests done this week, that they have risen substantially with everything I have been doing. So I had my hair cut into a pixie style which I love and if I loose anymore I am going for the allover 'buzz cut' i believe the youngsters call it. I know a few years ago this would have really upset me to watch my hair disappear but through my yoga practice, I have learnt to accept myself as I am and enjoy myself.
So in conclusion, since my last blog I have experienced the usual ups and downs of menopause and through having the tools in my toolkit to help me, I have got through and been 'happily knackered' at times. I do hope these blogs give anyone out there who needs it, some comfort. I write them so that you can see my journey and hopefully relate to them. We are all in this together and connection and education really are the keys. Whether you are in peri-menopause, menopause or post menopause I am here if you need to reach out. Life really can be special around the menopause, we may need lots of intervention and help but taking a leap of faith and asking your doctor; friend; family; yoga teacher or any other professional person in your life for help is a start. I was suffering upto the age of 48 and thought my life was slowing down and that I didn't have anything left to contribute but, I was wrong. The last 4 years have been some of the best in my entire life. I have found me again and I nuture myself as I did everyone else years ago. I put myself first, fill up my cup and then help others. The result is one happy bunny living a beautiful life.
Here are a few things that you may want to have a look at which i have been looking at and listening to this month:
WWW.harleystathome.com - a website for everything menopausal. They are doing a back to basics course at the moment with the help of nutritionalists, menopause doctors and other professionals to help women get back on track and live healthy lifestyles. I have started it to see if I can help myself any further.
www.soulsantuarystudios.com - the beautiful place where i changed my outlook on life and was guiding by amazing women. They are offering a £30 for 30 days yoga trial at the moment.
Breath by James Nestor - An amazing book which I haven't quite finished about how our breath has been affected by our faces changing changing shape and our eating habits.
Oestrogen Matters by Dr Avrum Bluming and Carol Tarvis - A book I keep coming back to all the time it has so much information about our menopause.
Podcast Dr Rangan Chatterjee - No 124 Why changing the way you breathe will transform your body and mind with James Nestor
Hope some of this gives you hope that life can be everything you want it to be.
Much love Debs xxx
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