How To Do A Monthly Cleanse for Perimenopausal and Menopausal Women and Why It Matters.
The Change.
This has been written about by many in know about holistic health. There is an opportunity to for women to minimize signs and symptoms of malaise related to perimenopause and menopause. This is a created opportunity that invites the natural wisdom of a woman’s menstrual cycle into a monthly experience for those with irregular periods as you move into menopause. For those already in menopause, you can add this ritual to your monthly routine and notice beautiful benefits from a natural cleanse cycle can balance your mood and other symptoms that menopause brings.
For many, perimenopause is a season of life that presents confusion, dysregulation, and overall a time when women feel not at home in their bodies. For some it can be less of a feeling, for others, it can create a sense of a new reality or the idea of a “new normal”. It is a bit of a reckoning for anyone who identifies as being pretty because estrogen and progesterone wanes. These hormones allow for an unctuous quality in the body with moistness and slipperiness in the body. This presents as glowing skin, lush hair, full lips, clear eyes, moist vagina, ease in digestion and elimination and so on..
When female hormones wane, we find a natural rise of testosterone, the masculine hormone. When this happens, we find women may struggle with acne, hair growing in new places like under the nose, along the jawline, and more precarious body areas. The voice can change, and the typical shifts of hormonal balance to imbalance begin. When this happens, the aforementioned symptoms of hormone shifts can quickly turn into symptoms beyond malaise and turning toward disease or strange rashes, overt dryness in the sacral and root chakras that make life uncomfortable and may even send you to the doctor to figure it what is going on.
How identity shapes how we age.
The reason I share the detail here, is that some women begin to think they are ill and don’t identify with going through perimenopause and menopause. In our culture, more and more women are discussing this, so it may be that you are looking ahead to these changes coming and will understand when they do. However, in our culture which celebrates youth and young-looking and feeling vibes, we find that our identity can be skewed by cultural paradigms. We may not identify as a women going through perimenopause… yet. I share this with you because I speak from experience.
When I went through perimenopause, I was experiencing hormone flux and then discovered that I didn’t really need a series of expensive allergy tests. I actually needed a girlfriend chat about what was happening in my body. It was an experience that I had with a celebrated dermatologist who had experience with the intersection of endocrinology, women’s health, and allergic reactions. She sat with me in a way that felt more like a friend sharing the wisdom of perimenopause with me than a Stanford-educated doctor. She took her time in explaining that my allergic reactions that I was having were symptoms of being depleted of estrogen and progesterone. When these two are are waning, the skin can present this way, simply because it is dry from the lack of moisture estrogen and progesterone add to the body’s integumentary system.
She went on to tell me, that rashes are very common for perimenopausal women.
At that moment, I felt normal. I began to identify as an aging woman.
Not identifying with aging.
In a culture which focuses on young beauty, it is also very common to NOT identify as an aging woman. Things are certainly changing. However, change is slow. Maturity is skewed for those of us women who are still coloring our hair, getting botox, or injectibles, wearing clothes from Forever 21, or whatever you can think of that reminds us of being youthful. It is a cultural phenomenon.
I share all of this to let you know that I fully get it. I still color my hair. I do face yoga and gua sha to resolve fine lines and wrinkles for myself. I also wear yoga clothes most days and love celebrating my yoga teacher body. I do run around celebrating life for myself, but also celebrating a youthfulness that is truly a modest state of arrested development. It doesn’t have to be such a bad thing, I tell myself. I will continue to grow old and have plenty of opportunity to dive into the bliss of being gray haired and wearing Eileen Fisher clothes. It’s coming. When I am ready, I will embrace it all!
For now, I want to move into an adaptation that my new friend, the endocrinologist-allergist doctor shared with me and that is to do a holistic “cleanse” every month to mimic the period I once had regularly to foster efficacy in the remaining elimination systems of the body. This can help hone and refine them with regular cleansing. Over time, this monthly cleanse can foster longevity. I love UCSF doctors, as I find that they do embrace holistic supports alongside western medicine. This is actually a ritual that I learned about the first time I read the book, Women’s Bodies Women’s Wisdom by Dr. Christian Northrup. This book was a profound primer to my first years early twenties. At the time, perimenopause seemed so far off. I didn’t realize how fast time would fly by.
Beautify you.
Since then, I have studied Ayurveda and learned from female Ayurvedic doctors that this monthly cleanse can offer a magical experience for women to return to themselves in a way that nature forced you to deal with. Now, you can choose a natural cleanse because you know that it is good for you… all without force. To be connected with the earth in a way that is less physical in your body’s nature, but through the choice of foods and connecting with the seasonal environment through nourishing cleansing seasonal foods. This invites a depth in your experience to nurture your biome with foods from your surrounding areas while also drawing from an inner well in your body of strength in your digestion and immunity. In a co-creative way, you restore your digestion and immunity with a week of simple local seasonal fresh foods. This week literally beautifies you.
Beautification is revealed as your skin begins to clear and radiate light. Glowng skin reveals a clean diet, lots of water, and simplicity in the diet. This is a beautiful balancing agent to restore the way your body is processing hormones. This is important because during perimenopause, your liver is processing the elimination of toxins and the imbalance of hormones becomes taxing for the liver to cleanse. Within the framework of a monthly gentle cleanse to the system, you can leverage this time by doing simple twists to improve the efficacy of the liver through exercise.
I love this practice and now look forward to it. I have found that every six weeks is the right balance for my body. Some may do this once monthly. You can do it over a weekend, or try to duplicate the timeline of your unique menses cycle when you were in your reproductive years. Whatever kind of cycle works for you is the one you need to do. If it is for long week or up to 7 – 10 days, simply try to adhere to a system that is manageable and one that you can stick with. You see, when you create rituals like this, you will find that the body becomes viscerally trained and balanced in a way that will move you toward craving this time of clarity an turning into yourself. It will remind you of the days of youth, which can be sweet.
With all of this in mind, I am sharing three fall recipe ideas in your inbox to get you started on moving into a seasonal cleanse that can include three simple recipes that you can tweak and re-invent to offer some ease in the kitchen when you are preparing food. I am excited to share this with you! Please find the link to sign up to receive monthly seasonal recipes to bring you to a new state of being over time.
It is a pleasure to share these recipes with you. They are designed for you to interchange ingredients and use the ingredients you have. I would love to hear from you about your (peri)menopause experience! Please sign up below for the monthly cleanse recipes to help you freshen up your seasonal meals with a trio of go-to recipes.
I shared this story with more detail in a Facebook LIVE in my Wellness Lifestyle Reminders group. If this topic is intriguing to you, I recommend joining this group so you can stay connected and reminded to stay on a wellness lifestyle path with gentle reminders. If you’d like to join this group of friendly women, please sign up that the link here:
Please feel free to write to me at angela@beautifyfaceyoga.com, it would be wonderful to hear your story and get inspire by you.
Angela Rosoff holds certifications in yoga, face yoga, and Ayurveda Digestive Health. Holistic support for women is her focus. She is also a content creator for local and international media outlets and has been featured in the Sun.uk, Sun.us, and The New York Post. Angela teaches weekly yoga and face yoga classes, as well has hosts online courses to help women and yoga teachers beautify from the inside out! As a Healthstyle Emporium Wellness Coach, Angela shares an affordable way to work 1:1 to bring more health into the world.
Feel free to reach out with any questions or for personalized guidance on your face yoga journey. Embrace the glow and enjoy the process of nurturing your beautiful skin! 🌟