Winter, Cycles & Menstruation: Start Now for Menopause

This week I was deeply inspired by the work with one of the incredible women inside my Perimenopause to Power (P2P) Pathway. She's still cycling—navigating the beautiful, messy terrain of perimenopause—and she asked me something that many women wonder:

"How will my hormones balance out once I hit menopause?"

The answer: Start now.

In Chinese medicine, we don’t wait for the symptom or the crisis. We nourish, tend, and prepare. 
Just as we observe and work with the seasons of nature, we honour the seasons within a woman’s body.

Right now, we are in winter, a time governed by the Kidney system in Chinese medicine. The Kidneys hold our Jing (our essence), our ancestral energy, and are considered the root of hormonal balance. They govern the reproductive system and play a central role in menopause.
Winter is an invitation to slow down, rest, and go inward, to tend to the deep soil of your being. 

This season the energy or Qi is in the kidney system which govern the bones and marrow, brain and adrenal function, reproductive hormones, and overall vitality. Winter is time to recharge in preparation for the rising energy of the spring - (we know it will arrive).

Strengthen your bones with mineral-rich broths (add kombu, shiitake, and goji berries).

Support adrenal health by cutting back on stimulants (coffee, alcohol, sugar) and prioritising rest (yin yoga, qigong, journaling, walking, communicating, reflecting).

Nourish brain and nervous system with quality and clean fats like walnuts, sardines, sesame seeds and the medicinal mushroom available fresh now, Lion’s Mane (and so delicious).

Warm your digestion with long slow-cooked meals. Thick soups, congee, stews. Use warming herbs like fresh ginger, cinnamon, cloves, star anise.

This is the season to rebuild what’s been depleted through the earlier months.

There is a season for everything. This one - rest restore reclaim. Tend to the roots beneath the soil. The unseen. 

The 5 Elements offer a framework to understand the menstrual cycle and the entire arc of a woman's life. When you begin to connect your monthly rhythms and life transitions to these elemental forces, you begin to see yourself more clearly—not as broken, but as part of a larger system of constant change called, life.

The most powerful part of this work? It becomes yours.

Once you start to see your body, your symptoms, your emotions through this lens, you can’t unsee it. You begin to relate to yourself (and others) with compassion and wisdom.

So if you’re still cycling and wondering how to support yourself now to prepare for menopause?

Start here. Start now. Nourish your roots. Honour winter.

And our qigong community is waiting for you. Gorgeous morning practice to set you up for the day. 

With love, Dr Anny