Many thanks to the folks who got back to me, glad to hear this is a journey I'm not going to be doing alone. I thought I'd share five of the questions I received:
1. A few folks who had said they were post-menopausal were wondering what they could get from the course.
Let me let a previous student (of the pilot course) answer that question:
When I signed up for the menopause course, I hadn’t bled in a decade. I had never talked to anyone about my experience. I had no idea if what I had experienced was “normal”, and wished I didn’t have such a negative attitude about being post-menopausal. Jude’s course had a community of women at all stages of menopause. It was great to hear them share where they were on the path, their wide variety of experiences, and to reframe my own recollections. I was able to change my view and embrace that I was holding a different kind of life-blood, wiser and nurturing with time. I came away with a sense of richness for being among women who are not made small by this transformation.
So yes, this course is relevant for wherever you are on this menopausal journey.
2. Here's what community the course offers:
- Online course website with the course material - plus a place to share your thoughts and feedback
- Zoom gathering for each lesson.
- Dedicated Facebook page, a place where we can share more of our own thoughts as well as articles, etc
- The community keeps going even after the course finishes. You'll be invited to join me each month for a 'Dark Moon' gathering
3. What's your big picture on menopause?
I loved this question!
The very core of the course is viewing menopause as a rite of passage. The way I approach this is inspired by the Wheel of the Year and the stories of the Ancestral Mothers of Scotland.
This rite of passage is broken down into 3 parts, the descent(peri-menopause), the deep (menopause), and emerging (post-menopause). When we look at it this way we can easily relate it to the festivals of the Wheel of the Year in the dark of the year.
4. Do you get into the biology and treatments for menopause?
The answer is partial as this is primarily a course whose aim is to give meaning to menopause through story. There is a section called Radical Self Care in which we look at hot flushes (as the most common experienced aspect) as a case study - exploring:
Experience - What does it feel like
Biology - What's going on?
Story - Giving it a story eg. Some women say a power surge, I relate it to a powerful prayer evoked with the Goddess Brighid
Ally - What helps. Help with side effects and plant power
We also look at the reasons why we might get angry and look at theories that describe a literal rewiring of the brain is happening.
5. When does the course launch?
Registration opens on Tuesday and I'll be sharing the course page with all the details of the course including scholarships.
So keep an eye out for Tuesday's email - and sign up below if you’re not already on the mailing list.
Thanks,
