The Menstruality Podcast - The Power of Menopause – Book Title Reveal! (Alexandra & Sjanie)

Episode Date: June 2, 2022

Menopause is an immense life event, a great initiation. Not only is it a complete hormonal shift in the landscape of your overall health, it’s also a psychological and emotional transformation. In today’s episode, we explore this incredible, initiatory power of menopause, and the great potential it awakens in us. This power has been an obsession for Alexandra and Sjanie for most of the past couple of years as they wrote their long-awaited menopause book, and today we have an exciting announcement - we’re revealing the title of the book!Today, we break down the title and  explore:What the writing of the book taught Alexandra and Sjanie about the truth of menopause (and how it kicked them up the backside along the way). The number one thing we each need to learn how to get through menopause.The liberating power of menopause… and how the book launch events we're dreaming into for September will invite us all into a meaningful experience of this power. 

Welcome to the Menstruality Podcast, where we share inspiring conversations about the power of menstrual cycle awareness and conscious menopause. This podcast is brought to you by Red School, where we're training the menstruality leaders of the future. I'm your host, Sophie Jane Hardy, and I'll be joined often by Red School's founders, Alexandra and Sharni, as well as an inspiring group of pioneers, activists, changemakers and creatives to explore how you can unashamedly claim the power of the menstrual cycle to activate your unique form of leadership for yourself, your community and the world. Hey there, welcome back to the Menstruality Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Today is the next step in our quest to debunk a big myth. The myth is this, What if menopause isn't a disaster waiting to happen? What if menopause isn't the problem at all, but rather a culture that says that we have to be a certain way and

not the other? And what if the critical, provocative energy of menopause is actually a sign that you're coming to your senses? In today's episode with Red School founders Alexandra and Sharni, we explore the power of menopause and the great potential it awakens in us. And this power and potential has been an obsession, I don't think I'm over-egging it there, it's been an obsession for Alexandra and Sharni for most of the past couple of years as they wrote their long-awaited menopause book and today we've got an exciting announcement because we're revealing the title of the book and it's a beauty. So whether you're beyond menopause now, maybe you're in the thick of it, maybe you're feeling the quickening of the years running up to menopause, maybe you're like

me, you're bang in the middle of your menstrual cycle years, wherever you're at, this episode is full of gold and possibility for all of us. So enjoy. Wow, you two, this is a really big moment. I'm so excited for this conversation. We are about to reveal the title of this amazing book, this amazing body of work that you two have been so devoted to for so long. How are you feeling? I feel something very momentous in my being around this. Momentous because it was a momentous process trying to articulate the fullness of what I was sensing and feeling about the whole magnitude of menopause,

the profound depths of it, and the huge possibilities that could be liberated with a conscious menopause um so there is all that but also underlying that for me is um it's i feel now you know if i think back 30 odd years when this work was inside me it's like I have been I've been holding something in me and finally now I feel as though I've been able to get out with the the um with the working with Shani it would never have happened on my own it's this collaborative process it's been utterly extraordinary that has allowed what has been so kind of ineffable and without words but so profound in me and so unrelenting in me and that something had to be articulated and

it feels now that I have articulated I have fulfilled something in myself through what Shani and I have done together, both on our first book together and now on this book, that I have really consummated something. I have fulfilled something. and so it I remember when we had you know when the book was finished a little while back and you know we'd sent the manuscript in I almost just I just wanted to weep I just wanted to weep and weep for the relief of having

done it and that was so personal for me and it just would never have ever happened on my own. I just want to name Shani has been together, our two brains, our two souls, our two beings have cooked this and worked this magic together. So I'm feeling incredible gratitude as well for my working relationship with Shani, you know, over all these years. So there you go. I feel really a momentous feeling in my body.

It's so nice to be able to speak that and acknowledge that oh just hearing you say all that again alexandra i have so much feeling moving through me and a big part of it is just the joy i feel at knowing that you have fulfilled really what you came here to do. I mean, that is just for me feels like the start of a whole new conversation that really has just not happened before. And I feel like we're at this place is really good. And, you know, Alexander, thank you for acknowledging me. system now that we're ready to tell people about the book and bring it out into the world is how gosh I feel like I'm in such new ground in myself because the experience of writing this book Sophie Jane it was quite something just you know I haven't been through menopause,

but by engaging as deeply as we did, you know, with each other and with these ideas, we really let ourselves be touched by all that was coming to us and through us. We were so worked out as we worked out the articulation of these ideas. And honestly, the stretch that has happened in my body, heart, mind, soul over the past 18 months has been ginormous. Like I've just been raw. And at the same time, it's been this very intimate creative process you know between us we've been

so immersed in something and we've been really been through something together haven't we Alexandra oh my god yes I mean no our first book wild, was a ride in the park compared with this one. Yeah, and that's saying something because I had like a tiny baby when we were writing Wild Power. I wasn't grappling with that, but this was really big school. I mean, we both had to grow up and our relationship had to grow up as well. We had to grapple so deeply with what we were wanting to share but also with each other and uh and you know there were some moments which were incredibly hard um and we had

some moments of deep ecstasy like what we call vocational orgasms right do you remember in the summer when we met up Alexandra oh my god at the end of the week I said to Alexandra I said don't tell my family this because I should probably you know they should probably be in my top three you know best ever life experiences but honestly this week that we have spent together immersed in the book being cooked for by Jane Power so we had all this food delivered to our door buying food all we did was write and eat gorgeous food and walk but that week goes down as one of the most satisfying joyful ecstatic most beautiful experiences of

my life honestly just that experience of creating as one as one we felt like we were in the same river it was so good oh my god all that slog just for that week was worth it so yes we've really been through something together so I feel like I'm on new ground I feel like our relationship is on new ground Red School's in a new place, and this is just the beginning of something momentous. So who would like to do the grand reveal? I am going to step back and let Alexandra take the platform here to share the title with you. The title was a hard one by the way. Yeah I actually want to begin with the, I'm going to meander into the title because have we been through titles?

And when I name the title everyone's just going to crack up because it's so freaking obvious. And here's the funny bit, Sharni and I didn't actually come up with it in the end. It was actually Hay House, because we got into a whole conversation with Hay House, because, you know, it was this to and fro. We had like a whole team throwing comments at us, and we were going, no, no, no, no. I can't remember who sent in the sort of final one.

It was just the main title. The subtitle came later again, and that took a lot of wrangling. All right, so that's the background story. But the big reveal is our book is called Wise Power. Discover the liberating power of menopause

to awaken authority, purpose, and belonging. The crowd goes wild. Wise power. Discover the liberating power of menopause to awaken authority purpose and belonging so let's let's unpack it let's explore it let's talk first about i mean we're going to talk about all kinds of things today, but let's talk first about the word wise. Well from years ago I realised, this was long before I'd met Shani, that my inner process was all about, and therefore my business in the world was all about this word power, really understanding power and kind of reclaiming it for myself

because I could feel a huge force in me. I didn't have the confidence to be with it. So power has been this, and I realized then that in all the menstruality work you know from way back it was always about what is powerful about the power of the cycle i was always answering that question for myself so i've been on this journey with this word power and of course we have wild power for our first book and that was just to do with this organic, natural force that each of us hold, you know, a unique calling that comes with its own kind of chi and energy to help us manifest it in the world. Yeah.

And we unpack lots of ways of understanding that word power. And why wise power? Well, the thing about power, power is a double-edged sword. We can't live without it, and it's quite challenging living with it. It's quite something learning how to use power in a way that's not abusive in our world. You know, power is just a force. It is a kind of agency to realize something in the world. It's like a kind of creative chi that wants to go, yes, you know, here I am. And this is who I am. am and to show and reveal ourselves. And we can abuse power and we can all do it.

It isn't just all those people that we see in power at the moment who are messing up all the time. All of us. No one is excused the possibility of abusing power. And at menopause, you're stepping into... So yes, sorry, when we're in our menstrual cycle years, there is this enormous force that we're learning to ride. It's the power of who we are.

I love the phrase wild power because it really captures, as you said, Alexandra, this liberated force in us. And then what's so beautiful about the cycle, which is what we unpack in our book Wild Power, is that the cycle process is this training ground in coming to know your power and learning to inhabit this wildness that is you, to actually find that sweet spot of really allowing your magnificence and enormity while at the same time being deeply discerning about how you use the impact that you have at your fingertips. So the cycle process is really this, it's a practice ground for power. And really, if we engage with our cycle over time, bit by bit, we all get a little bit smarter with our power.

We all make better friends with our power. We learn to appreciate our singular power. And then as we get closer and closer to menopause, we start to reach this kind of final frontier it's a there comes this graduation moment really in in how we relate to our power and how we can wield our power so yes go on alexandra so then that's really great shani what you've said there, that's really framed those menstrual cycling years very clearly and sort of set it up for this business of transforming into something called wise power at menopause. And you use that word graduation. So at menopause, there is a sort of fulfillment of something. There is there is this glorious moment of that comes is at the heart of the menopause

initiation which is to finally accept yourself in all your fullness and all your complexity and all your shadow and everything that this is this is the central task of menopause and it is that acceptance of yourself oh and to get to that place of acceptance of yourself you have to go into the valley of death sorry you have to go into the underbelly underbelly of yourself you have to go into the shadow of yourself and be undone and this is key to this thing of wise power, it is, menopause is going to undo you for a little while, but you're prepared for it. And this is what takes that, you know, that kind of raw power of you, if you like,

from your menstruating years. And it's like this alchemy you go through at menopause. And as part of that stage of that alchemy process you you have to the kind of sacred task at the heart of it is to fully accept yourself then it's sort of you are now stepping into another kind of relationship with power and I can only describe my experience of it how I understand this phrase wise power and it is this I saw my own ass at menopause basically and I'm not the only one who has said that.

I got to see how gloriously arrogant I was. And I'm probably still a bit now too. And I'm not condemning that. I'm not condemning that. But, you know, it's a bit one-sided. And I thought, oh, oh, the world is a little bit more complex than I had actually thought. Oh, you know, suddenly it was like this lens, you know, expands your sight, your inner sight. Suddenly it's like you've got 360 degree awareness of things. It's like, oops, you know, know because you know you it's like that innocence of youth and you think you know it all and you know no yeah and you should feel all that

i'm not you know it's necessary you must feel all that anyway and menopause you go oh oh right there's a bit more information here i'm not quite as brilliant as I thought I was. And here's the irony, or the contradiction rather, which is that actually it's true I'm not quite as brilliant as I thought I was and I mustn't abandon the fact that I am brilliant, that I have a genius, and we all have that. So it's this interesting contradiction. So I'm emerging from menopause, having had this kind of incredible revelation, one about my shadow side, and two about who I am. And that is glorious. It's just

the most exquisite feeling of freedom. Oh, this is who I am. Joy of joys. So it is the fact, wise power for me comes from this place of having been broken open, basically, and made, you know, I've been made, I've been broken open, and made you know I've been made I've been broken open tenderized you know and now the thing about getting I should just let you know that you know you are getting older postmenopause and in getting older I'm becoming you know this initiation of menopause has prepared me now for the process of getting older. And I hope into eldership, if I've, you know, cracked this thing. Oh, gosh, it's so big to articulate all this. So it is this, I cannot go back to that hardened place I was

before menopause, you know, because there is, you know, there's a kind of an identity or somebody, you know, you've got chi in your system, and it gives you buffering and you're post menopause, you can't rely on that kind of energy anymore. You can't, you don't have that kind of armoring. But if you've, if you can really allow yourself to be worked by menopause, you come out with another kind of force inside yourself. And it's sort of tempered by humility and tempered by vulnerability. And it is the power of the undefended self. I would say that is at the heart of wise power. And I would say that is my lifelong work now, how to live as an undefended self.

And it's an imperfect business, you know, because, you know, my ego has not died, nor would I want it to. My ego is alive and well and remarkably healthy. And I've been through this experience and I'm getting older and you know there are certain things that go with that so what is wise power it is it who you are using that power and for me um it's the humility piece that you know humbling piece it also is a thing around dignity i feel you know

menopause needs to be dignified but when it is dignified and if you hold that you come out with a fierce kind of dignity so it's kind of humility involved there's dignity involved and then the other thing that's involved this is actually really really crucial then i'll stop which is that i am wired for life now almost whether i like it or not so i what that means is what what menopause does is it it blows you open and makes you permeable to the whole of life and um and it's about stepping into service of that and it's not about my needs anymore. It's about something bigger than that. So who I am becomes less significant.

That's literally the wiring, I believe, that happens if you do it consciously. So I'm just wired for that, almost whether I like it or not. And so wise power really is power that's in service of life. Bloody hell. That was amazing.

I haven't thought all that through before. You've only just written a book about it. Sharni, is there anything you'd like to add to that, particularly about the words wise and power? Yeah, just to say, really, and this is what was so interesting about landing on this book title, was once the title landed for us, we began to transition in a way that really matures you and evolves you rather than capsizes you or just leaves you done for. So we really began to understand what it takes but more than that we named really

for the first time ever what the elements of this wise power is what the elements are and you know alexandra has spoken about it really beautifully and what i came to appreciate through writing the book is how these wise powers menstruation that are growing us into these into this wisdom bit by bit by bit by bit and it's you know we talk about the via negativa it's these via negativa qualities that are the bedrock ultimately of this wisdom so it really, I found it comforting as somebody who hasn't gone through menopause yet, to recognize that we are, as Alexandra said, prepared for this evolution, and for this upgrade in wisdom. And I know when the word wisdom first kind of landed in the, you know, the running possibilities for titles, I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, wisdom. It's like, it's like an archetypal quality people can't relate to. It sounds so like, you know, the thing that other people, I don't know, it's not This is so not true. We are all wise. We all have the capacity to be wise because we all have something in us that is so full of love

and so in service of life. And we're all learning how to bring that to the world. And that's what wise power is. It's like, how can I use who I am and what I've got to serve rather than to destroy or, you know, dismandate? How can I use it? So we all have the capacity to be wise. And actually, as Alexandra so beautifully said, wisdom is in fact a very humbled state. It's very human. It's very down to earth, it's very very real, it's so full of bloody imperfection and it's full as Alexandra said of complexity and our

premenstrual really teaches us this like how we can inhabit the complexity and how we can really hold more of life as we go through our day to day rather than get into this sort of either or type of mind, which is so uncreative. It's so uncreative and it really limits what's possible for us as a human species. So, yeah, I was grateful for the title that came to us. And I have to say a little interesting piece about the title as well. Although we didn't come up with the title, we did really meet the creative tension of not knowing what the title was. And we really knew what it was not. And we kept saying no, no, no.

And in that, this new thing came and that is such a beautiful demonstration of how we grow into wise power and how menopause alchemizes us it's the no it's all that discernment it's all that letting go and shedding and meeting the complexity and tension and all the mess of our lives it's that that then gives birth to this wisdom. So I just love the whole way the title came and all that it taught us. It was just brilliant. It was brilliant. I was marveling at you both

because it went on and on and on. Like these conversations going round and email threads. And I was like, this is so, I knew how important this book was to both of you and I was looking back going how are they how can they stand that the title isn't here yet you know I know we were close to the end of the book I mean if this wasn't early date this was right up to the end I mean it was but months ago really I mean late last year or so yeah and that's what I mean by this book work gave us a kind of menopause workout

because we were having to hold the tension. And if you follow any of our work at Red School, you know that holding the tension is this major premenstrual skill we have to develop. But it is also the number one thing you need to learn in order to get through menopause in a good way. So we had to practice holding the tension you know life life really laughed at us didn't it alexandra we got taken right on a full-on ride we did get taken on a ride by menopause didn't we i've got so many questions luckily, we are doing a podcast series over the summer, where we're going to be exploring why we need to rewrite the cultural story of menopause, how menopause awakens our power, what that really, really looks like in day to day life,

you know, we're going to have a great time this summer. and I can't wait to share it with our listeners. What I'm present to right now is that what you're describing is very, very different to most of the conversation that's happening in the world now around menopause. The cool thing is there is conversation happening in the world around menopause. Very good. Very, very good. People are being seen and heard in new ways which is fantastic and you're telling a new story and i want to bring us back to the subtitle now because the new story is that there is a liberating power in menopause to awaken our authority and purpose and belonging knowing that we're going to go into this all summer and then through to the amazing book

launch that we have planned for september or that we're putting together for september can you walk us into the subtitle discover the liberating power of menopause to awaken your authority purpose and belonging right have a crack at it this phrase liberating power menopause holds a liberating power. I feel very strongly about this. There is something that's unleashed in menopause and we're calling that power. However, if we're not prepared for that unleashing, then it feels like a madness. And if we're not prepared, but also not resourced, not supported, because if you're prepared, I guess you're resourced. But there really needs to be support for menopause itself so it's not just about the preparation up to it it is the time of menopause itself so there menopause is

an awakening that's the liberating power you see things like you've never seen them before and first of all you see everything you see all the shit basically in yourself and in the world you see all that but this is all it's just you're being liberated by something you're the blinkers you've had on your life and we all have blinkers to some extent or you know they the kind of even the kind of the identities we've chosen to live by and i'm sure we've all chosen you know entered identities to some extent to please the status quo to something because we all want to be accepted as well as you know choosing not to do that and to try and be ourselves is that conflict and and then you get to menopause and it just happens you suddenly see through things i call it you know the emperor's new

clothes moment it's a bit like what happens premenstrually only it's on steroids now it's a completely different level and goes on a bit longer so it's like your sight is liberated. You suddenly, and you'll hold, and because of that, your feeling sense, everything is liberated. There's a freeing up. But if we're not, I mean, that's huge. And if there's no support, if there's no consciousness that this is happening, there's no support for it. There's no holding. There's no respect. It comes out as madness. You go around going, you just are reactive. I really, when I see people going into menopause, women going to menopause, and I see them being humiliated, I just want to weep.

You know, the humiliation that we've had to go through, the way they are diminished and belittled, and the jokes made about menopause. I'm so sorry. It is so profoundly upsetting to me because what's happening is they're waking up and seeing the shit and naming stuff, but they are not supported. Therefore, they're not aligned with themselves. So we are coming out as crazy

we do sound crazy because we're simply not able to because it takes time and energy to be present with yourself and it takes people respecting you and it takes

being rooted in something how many have had the luxury of that at red school we want to create a world where that time and space and dignity and respect is given to everyone through menopause. I imagine since you're listening to this conversation you feel the same and that's why Alexandra and Sharni have written this book, Wise Power, discover the liberating power of menopause to awaken authority, purpose and belonging. Wise Power will be released through Hay House on September 20th this year. And we would love to invite you to join us for our book launch events where we will gather to rewrite the story of menopause.

You can pre-order your copy of Wise Power today at wisepowerbook.com. And when you pre-order, you'll receive a series of pre-order bonuses, including a live gathering with Alexandra and Sharni, our guidelines for initiation and our Menopause Reclaim the Dignity and Power video series. So we warmly welcome you to join us as we rewrite the cultural story of menopause together at wisepowerbook.com. So, I mean, it's really wonderful now, at least that there's this fierce campaign going on in the UK, at least it's not actually everywhere right now. UK is like head of the game right now. And we have some wonderful people out there to thank for that you know people in the public eye who are really politicians and people in the media who are and they're going this is a something doctors have to be trained in it there has to be information you know it is so amazing it's so good the only the only bit that's missing for me is the new story,

which is what we're telling. It's like, at least it's being named, but it hasn't really been dignified yet. So this awakening is this liberation. It's like an uncensoring that happens and opens everything up. And you have a kind of spaciousness. Well, you should have, i.e. because menopause, you need a sabbatical.

It's an initiation and in initiations, you have to be away from the world to some extent. You can't do daily life and an initiation. Nobody can. Full stop. You know this very well, so if you've just come through the initiation of motherhood, you're right on the page of this you know if if if there is space to slow down if there is

space to push the world back and you can pace yourself a bit i mean you know i didn't take a huge sabbatical i mean actually i wrote a book but i was in my own bubble. It's this spaciousness. And then, you know, if you've got some wherewithal in yourself, some sort of ego strength there, even as your ego is getting severely battered, there's got to be something there. You can start to, it's like a deeper self, actually. That's what it is. It's this kind of deeper self that arises.

It's very wonderful actually I'm not I'm inside my own experience of this and it'll be everyone will have their version of this but that's what I'm calling or we are calling well authority you feel your own kind of, yeah, yeah. And then purpose. What becomes clear is what you're here to serve. Oh, yeah, this is what I am. And that's why, you know, menopause women and people just change their whole lives. I mean, it's not called the change for nothing. Truly, it's all change.

And everything that is not you anymore anymore doesn't matter how brilliant you are at it or even how much you sort of enjoy doing it if it's not actually connected to the core of what you're about it's out but it's it's you will find usually it can be repurposed in some way to serve the calling like i was a therapist and uh and i kind of repurposed those skills for this work so authority and purpose your purpose before you come on to belonging yeah yeah because there's there's some good things to say about that i just want to add a little piece here which is we grappled over the subtitle as well, and each word was purposefully chosen. And that word discover is really important to us because menopause is an organic process. And the potential, this liberating power we're speaking of is available to us all however as

alexandra said the culture doesn't get it and mostly we haven't been brought up we haven't been educated about it and because of that this power gets distorted people suffer from all kinds of it's a health crisis and, you know, mental health crisis, of many it's an emotional crisis, can be really disruptive. So the discover piece is, this book, Wise Power,

is a guide in the way that what we're pointing to is we're really helping people to recognize what are the conditions we need to create in order to discover this liberation for ourselves. And we go through each phase of menopause and really name very clear, it's very practical, it's like, ah, if you do this and if you hold this kind of awareness and if you have in the back of your mind the kind of deeper story that's going on this is what's possible this this is what can be gifted to you this is the alchemy that can arise here so Alexandra has kind of spoken on that which talks about a medical menopause

sabbatical in a way that's the kind of catch-all guide basically time and space but we really break that down and and look at actually what it how we can discover this liberating power and there's something again about realizing on one hand this is an initiation which is this profound spiritual process we're going through and for most of us we're going through it as we go through our lives. We're living normal lives, we're householders, so how do we discover this power in the context of our everyday life? Okay, so that's really funny. My husband was hoovering outside as I was saying that, which is just such a classic example of how profound initiations happen with normal life going on.

Yes. Okay, so discover the liberating power of menopause to awaken belonging. To awaken belonging. To awaken to awaken authority purpose and belonging so the word belonging is something that's very very important to me and i feel this is the sweetest most magnificent gift of menopause i would dare to say this is the sweetest, most magnificent gift of menopause. I would dare to say this is the ultimate goal of menopause, is to bring you into a place of union with yourself, with life. That's the mission of menopause.

Belonging. To feel I belong, I have a place. To feel, I'm hesitating around this word, but it is to feel the beloved, to feel beloved, to feel the beloved. It is union with, it's oneness, it's union with life. And I've had a taste of that. I mean I had a taste of it every month when I bled at menstruation. So menstruation is delivering us to that. It's the void moment just before bleeding but you know anytime but particularly that void place and and that is it's like preparing you and menopause itself is that that's the ultimate goal for me of menopause belonging

and on its kind of simplest level it is to feel at home in yourself at its simplest level is to feel at home in your own skin with who you are with where you are in your life with what you're doing it is that is there anything you'd like to add to that, Shani? I think one of the reasons it feels so important to me to have written this book is because it seems like if each one of us is able to find our way home to ourselves. We will see and feel and recognize that we are connected and that we are a part of life and part of the natural world. And I feel very moved saying this because that seems to me to be the most promising prospect for humanity. You know, like if each one of us could find our way home to ourselves and our place in the natural world, that we stand a chance of something and that's why this book feels so

precious is because it really names how this well how indeed the whole menstruality process from menarche to post-menopause life is in service of this, but particularly how menopause has the potential to rewrite the future, to create a world that we all want to live in. It's a big thing. Yeah. So you can see why we're excited to launch this book and delightfully the book is now available for pre-order at wisepowerbook.com and we're beginning slowly this process now of launching this book into the world. So as I mentioned, over the summer, we're going to be sharing a series of podcasts which expand upon the themes in the book

and make it practical and real for people who are experiencing menopause right now. And this is all building towards the book launch event that we're going to have in September, which we're still dreaming into. It's an online gathering retreat conference which is really launching the conscious menopause revolution and we need a revolution here because what we're speaking about is is huge it's a huge new story and the world needs to change the world needs to change there are systems of oppression that are holding

people back from being able to access any of what we're talking about you know that need to be dismantled there are there's this great dignifying anding that needs to happen of this profound process. There are people who need tending to in all kinds of ways in order to be able to reach this. It's huge. We're so excited to be able to bring this book out as a resource for people to be able to dignify and honour this experience to change the story about menopause yes yes absolutely i'm so looking forward to getting stuck into sharing some of the ideas uh in the book and as you said sophie offering um teachings and tips and tools that can help people who are going through menopause now. So we don't have to wait for the book and, you know, get a copy because there's so much detail and so many great stories in the book that I find very comforting to read.

And a good dose of humor. It feels important to share. We just need to touch on this now because we've got a couple of things to do before we wrap up. But important to share that this work has been evolving for years and years in your work with groups. Could you say a little bit about that, if it's possible to say a little bit? I'll try, Sophie. Yes. I mean, I've been living and breathing this work for over, you know, 35, close to 40 years. it's it's it's one of a better word it's been cooking all this time cooking and maturing and and uh evolving um over this time so it's come from a deeply held place a deeply rooted place these aren't just ideas that have popped into my head they have emerged uh through through my personal lived experience and then from working with women and people, you know, sharing it.

So there's been this sort of feedback loop of bringing what I've been sort of picking up and then teaching and hearing back stories and sort of digesting that and evolved taking that out so it's been this dance or a sort of evolutionary dance that's gone on and what's really interesting is you know we spent many many years teaching about the power of the menstrual cycle and that and the conversations we had with people and the experience we heard in all the workshops and online programs that we ran really taught us about cyclical consciousness and the nature of initiation and that really became the bedrock for our understanding and the way we've articulated the menopause transition we share the map of the five phases of the menopause transition and that has grown out of all the engagement and work we've done with people around the menstrual cycle process initially because as we said the menstrual cycle prepares you for menopause it lays down the imprint of this initiation in your being so you

have a blueprint for it really and then it's been through the work that Alexandra predominantly has done with people in menopause with me there supporting and like a little whippersnapper listening in on all the conversations. I feel like I've got, you know, all the heads up. But that then has then landed this articulation of the map that we share. I just have to say what's really amusing about this is that for a long time, I just could not teach on menopause. I mean, I was through menopause and I'm going, I just couldn't do it. How do you do it? How do you encapsulate it? It was too amorphous and unknown, even though I'd come through it.

And I just want to tell a little silly, funny story. It was actually an Italian woman that kept pestering me because I was going to Italy and running menstrual workshops. I think her name was Antonetta. And she kept pestering me and saying, will you do a workshop on menopause? And I'm going, no, no, no, I can't. And then I sort of finally relented and said, yes.

And then, you know, so it was in Italy. We did the first one. And I remember close, I was in Italy and it was really just almost before I had a plan, you know, I thought, well, this is a workable plan. But then I had this huge download about these sort of phases just before it and it was the act of sort of saying yes to the workshop that kind of really brought through another layer and the honestly the response we had we ran two workshops in the end because we filled one almost instantly so the next weekend we did another so we had like 30 or 130 on the next

and it was those Italian women that kicked this all up it was so amazing you know what I'm so excited about over this summer and autumn as we're launching the book is how this work evolves as we each bring it into our own experience I'm saying we I'm not menopausal I get like you Shani I'm like wow I can't believe I get a thought a gateway to see what's happening here a heads up as we get into the autumn and then as we launch our annual menopause the great awakener program for people to have had the book and then to go into that work yes it's going to be amazing that's going to be so good it transforms things when you've got the book out there really so there's so much to come we have our podcast series to come we have we have our book launch

series of events it's going to be this great online gathering with incredible interviews and partners. We'll share more as it becomes clear. And for now, you can pre-order the book and there are some bonuses that you receive when you pre-order the book and it's all available wisepowerbook.com so for now in closing i wondered if you would be willing to read the vision from the book this is a vision that you hope it's your vision for the world that we're wanting to create here and one that you hope you hope will open up possibilities for people okay so this is the vision that we want to share that rewrites the story for future generations and opens up a new dream for where that might lead us as a society Imagine a world in which it's entirely normal, cool in fact, for women and people who menstruate to understand their menstrual cycle. Imagine growing up in the cycle-aware world.

Imagine experiencing a fluid and seamless evolution into menopause, knowing that you've been prepared for this moment by your menstrual cycle. You're resourced for menopause. Imagine a world in which everyone understands this dignified story and all those going through it are supported on the deepest level. Imagine feeling inside the change rather than at the mercy of it. You experience the change as an invitation into an expansion and you willingly accept the necessary challenge knowing that it will prepare you for your vital and powerful role of serving your community and the world. Imagine that you've experienced a dignified menopause.

Now you stand wholeheartedly in yourself, able to celebrate who you are, occupy your place in the world and let your voice be heard let your power be seen imagine a world in which post-menopause you're recognized and valued for your wisdom and leadership a trustworthy voice beholden to no one and loyal to life. Imagine that over time you deepen ever more into an abiding presence and stillness, growing your capacity to be a sentinel, keeping watch for the soul of the world. You have the ability to take the long view. Your eyes and ears are for the world, for the community of life, and you lead through being a living example. Imagine the blessing of that imagine that world i was so touched by this episode and i feel

really humbled and honored to be learning about menopause at the stage of life that I'm in from Alexandra and from our amazing menopause community at Red School. So Wise Power, it's here, it's coming. Wise Power, discover the liberating power of menopause to awaken authority, purpose and belonging. This book tells a radical new story of menopause. You can find out more about it and pre-order your copy today at wisepowerbook.com. This book is a story of initiation through trials, through tribulations, through tears into freedom, love and inner authority. And importantly, it's a story about how our conscious menopause is a gift to the future. And it all begins with the simple but profound act of consecrating our menopause as a holy event. And this shift in our perspective of ourselves in menopause is igniting this global shift in consciousness that our world is so hungry for so desperately longing for so thank you for listening today thank you for

being part of this conscious menopause revolution we really look forward to continuing this conversation with you over the summer and into the autumn when the book is released so thank you for being with us and until next time keep living life according to your own brilliant rhythm