Ep 9: What Happens When Women Witness Each Other Through Menopause

What happens when women create a space to share their menopause stories? When we feel witnessed and get to witness others? Five women in midlife gather in circle to talk about our menopause transition journeys. We talk about rage and exhaustion, night sweats and brain fog, bleeding that wouldn't stop. We talk about being dismissed by doctors and diminished by a culture that sees menopause as the beginning of irrelevance. And two of us open up about experiencing depression during perimenopause. Midlife women are at the highest risk of depression than any other demographic group, yet we're expected to keep it all together.  But something powerful happens when women witness each other. When we stop minimizing our experiences and start honoring this rite of passage for what it really is... not a decline, but a journey to more wisdom, more inner power, more compassion, more self-knowledge, more self-love. We felt the power of holding space for and witnessing each other and see the opportunity to rewrite the story together. This is what healing in community looks like. Womb Tending Reiki Healing After recording this episode, I facilitated a Reiki healing session for the women in circle that focused on tending to the womb space. This healing experience is deeply supportive for women on their menopause journey, those who have had hysterectomies, women hoping to conceive or who've recently given birth, and those wanting to clear energies from previous relationships. The womb tending Reiki healing session is available on my website. I'm also facilitating ongoing Menopause Circles with Reiki healing—sacred space for women to share, be witnessed, and heal together and to receive Reiki healing Sign up for Menopause Reiki Circle (Wise Blood Collective): https://www.intrinsicly.com/wise-blood-collective Get Reiki for Womb Tending session: https://www.intrinsicly.com/reiki-sessions Connect Instagram: @maridelleleyva Facebook: maridelle.leyva LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maridelle-leyva-855358/ Keywords: perimenopause, menopause, midlife women, menopause symptoms, depression, menopause hormone therapy, women's health, healing circles, Reiki, womb healing, somatic regulation, nervous system regulation