Reflecting on your beliefs on perimenopause

Hello, I'm Kelly.

I'm a registered somatic movement educator and former body worker for over 20 years. I've practiced various forms of embodied movement and somatic therapies.

And I want to offer in this video to start thinking about or continue thinking about what collective beliefs have you been told by outside sources about aging and perimenopause that you may have brought into yourself. So what might have you picked up from your family, your culture, the dominant culture?

And collective beliefs, belief systems about bodies in regards to aging and perimenopause and menopause.

And then take a deep breath. Breathe that out. Because I am aware that those are big questions and may bring up some uncomfortable stuff, right? There's a lot to unpack there. And I invite you to take some time to unpack it because...

This all shapes, of course, our beliefs from the dominant culture, from our families, from wherever. They end up shaping our identity and they end up shaping the way that we are going to approach perimenopause and aging. And I'm sure some of you have thought a lot about this already.

Mostly I've picked up from the dominant culture that this stage of life, perimenopause and menopause, it's just all shit. Excuse my language, I do swear sometimes. There's this all shit and it all sucks.

You know, some of it does suck for sure. Some bodily changes for sure are unpleasant. Change is uncomfortable for many of us. It is for me.

And I wrote about this in an article that I called Is It Perimenopause? Not sleeping and a list of other new fun symptoms or worsening symptoms can suck. And trying to navigate the healthcare system for help can be extremely hard, more so for some populations of people than others.

And there's a lot that we pick up from our society about our bodies that we think comes from ourselves, but it's not. We hold others' energies and beliefs inside of ourselves. So how do we put any unhelpful, harmful, toxic beliefs about perimenopause down?

And I don't know what you're dealing with specifically, how you might be looking at your aging body and experiencing your body. Maybe you're thrilled about the gray hairs that are coming up and changing shapes of your belly and your hips, if that's happening to you. And as well, maybe you're stepping into leadership and you are feeling more powerful than ever these days, which a lot of people talk about in their forties and just giving less fucks.

And also maybe you're just fucking tired and feel a subtle sense of power building inside of you that's kind of more quieter than the boss being a boss or whatever. Everyone is going to deal with aging and perimenopause in their own way, right? And if you're socialized or identify as a woman, you know there's so much to unpack around.

You know, the male gaze, a woman's worth being about beauty and looks, and a lot of fucking bullshit from patriarchy and other systems of oppression, depending on your skin color, age, body size, gender, and ability. All of this is a lot to unpack. And if you're at this offering that we're giving to you, you've probably already done some unraveling around this.

And this undoing from the collective and our conditioning will come in layers over time. It takes a while to transform what you may have absorbed and isn't actually your own truth. So I want to ask you, what is your truth?

You know, I don't know what that is for you. Your body is different than my body and what you are dealing with specifically. But I encourage you to take some time and to reflect and to journal about it.

And I also suggest you contemplate in some ways what is empowering about perimenopause as well, about this life stage. What have you taken in that feels empowering or uplifting to you? What do you know about this? Maybe it's not something you've taken in, but it's something you know in your heart.

So what have you picked up from the dominant culture, your family, your friends, TV, media, social media, whatever that you wish to release? And maybe feel into that.

You know, go for a walk and reflect, do some movement if that feels right. Walking is movement, but you could walk, roll, jog, roll on the floor, do some other type of movement practice and just reflect on some of those beliefs about perimenopause that you might carry and particularly ones that you want to let go of.

So I invite you into starting to dialogue in a way with these external beliefs and then come back for the next video and a ritual practice.