The ancient Chinese approach to the menopause and andropause - part 2

Part 2

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this blog, exploring the gifts and challenges of this time. Did you think of an alternative word for the menopause? Or andropause? I’d love to hear from you if so. If you haven’t yet read it I suggest you read it before reading this one. In this blog, I look at the menopause and andropause as gateways of change and explore the differences between male and female changes.

If you want to have some ideas of how to support yourself, you might want to see some of my exercises and meditations on YouTube. I am in the process of creating much more content, so please let me know what you would like to see.

The menopause as a gateway of change

The ancient Chinese recognised that there are times in our life when we have opportunities to break free from the past, make lasting changes and connect with our infinite ( ∞)  potential. These gateways are:

1. Conception

2. Birth

3. Standing upright

4. Puberty

5. The beginning of sexual activity ( ‘marriage’ in the oriental texts )

6. Pregnancy and childbirth – for men and women.

7. Menopause, ‘andropause’ and ageing

8. Dying

Photo by Syuhei Inoue on Unsplash

The menopause and andropause are the 7^th gateway, and the last one before our death. This gateway is important because it prepares us for the second half of our life. You can perhaps now understand more about why, in the previous blog, I feel it is so important to look at this seventh gateway in light of how our life has been up to this moment. How we have experienced the previous gateways will have a huge impact on this last gateway before death. The changes are perhaps less clearly defined than most of the other gateways and, occurring over many years, it longest one to pass through.

Many of the gateways are accompanied by hormonal changes, along with changes in our brain and body, including this one. Although only part of the picture, the main female and male reproductive hormones drop dramatically after 40, but they are only going back to pre-puberty levels.

Growth can happen till the day we die

The menopause and andropause offer opportunities to re-wire our brain like puberty

It is an opportunity to re-wire our brain, like in puberty. The ancient Chinese understood this, even if they didn’t understand the role of neurons and how new connections and growth can always happen.  Even trauma can be released .They explained that we need to be flexible and adaptable like a child full of wonder. Being like a child enhances the neuroplasticity of our brain. Some people say that our brain function declines with aging, but this needn’t necessarily be the case if we retain the wonder of the child.

Photo by Leo Rivas on Unsplash

Activities to keep us like a child- full of wonder and flexibility.

There are certain activities which we know help keep our brain more vibrant. Learning a new language or music “rewires” brain more than learning new facts. Activities which enhance or boost neuroplasticity (adaptability of the brain) include:

Intermittent fasting increases synaptic adaptation, promotes neuron growth, improves overall cognitive function, and decreases the risk of neurodegenerative disease. Fasting has a long history of being practiced in Qigong.

Travelling exposes our brain to new stimuli and environments, opening up new pathways and activity in the brain.

Learning a musical instrument may increase connectivity between brain regions and help form new neural networks.

Reading fiction increases and enhances connectivity in the brain.

Expanding our vocabulary activates visual and auditory processes as well as memory processing.

Creating artwork enhances the connectivity of the brain at rest (the “default mode network” or DMN), which can boost introspection, memory, empathy, attention, and focus.

Dancing reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s and increases neural connectivity.

Sleeping: encourages learning retention through the growth of the dendritic spines that act as connections between neurons and help transfer information across cells.

Why are men’s and women’s changes different?

Women’s changes are about the ending of their menstrual cycle and eventually having no more eggs. Men’s changes don’t involve the ending of a cycle and men continue producing sperm until they die. This of course makes sense because men don’t need to nurture the fertilised egg for nine months in the way that women do.

The Chinese recognised, like modern science, that the quality of the sperm declines after 40.  They understood that energy needs to change for men too, but saw the depletion of men’s energy as more directly related to the release of sperm through ejaculation. This is why they gave guidelines on how often men should ejaculate , dependant on their state of health and their age. Women’s energy is not depleted by sex in the same way.

The “ andropause “ is an even less accurate term for men. There isn’t the same switching off of a cycle as for women. What words could we use instead?

I like the ancient Chinese view that at a certain age, women need the energy that they make  available to nourish an egg to create a baby, for them!  A woman’s body needs to adapt to this shift. Hot flushes can be signs of this happening.  One of my students said she saw them as sparks of energy being directed to her in a positive powerful way! Yes, it is true that for some women these hot flushes may be quite extreme and upsetting, but there are ways we can support this.

Photo by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash

Menopause – a time to nurture ourselves instead of a baby

We are the “baby” we need to nurture

In Chinese medicine, the changes are similar to the changes of the first trimester of pregnancy when we need to send more energy to our womb to nurture a fertilised egg. This involves a shift in our Essence and the powerful Extraordinary Vessels (more in next blog) especially the Penetrating Vessel which regulates our Blood. Blood is more than simply blood flowing in our blood vessels and cells but an energy which nurtures us physically and emotionally. As Blood changes its movement it can become erratic, like the changing hormones. We can support it by being grounded, taking time to rest, to eat nourishing foods and to be supported by nourishing relationships and environments. When women are supported in this way, many find they either don’t suffer from morning sickness (pregnancy) or hot flushes (menopause), or these symptoms become much more manageable.

We need to rest and replenish, like after birth

The Chinese recognised how much energy being pregnant and giving birth takes and felt it was important after birth to have an extended period of postnatal recovery – ideally at least a year! They felt that if women didn’t take this time to fully renew their energy, then severe depletions are created which are more difficult to replenish later on. It is a little how I described the importance of gathering in and regenerating after the release of menstruation (in the menstrual cycle blog), but, since more has been released, we need to take more time to build our energies back up again.

Most women in modern societies don’t take enough time after giving birth to recover  - often only a few weeks. We could argue that they need longer than in the past because they have often had more stressful and depleting births, and many were working right up till the end of their pregnancy. Most women continue focusing on activity rather than rest and so it’s not surprising that they are depleted going into the menopause.

Photo by Dan Burton on Unsplash

In the final part of this series of blogs, I will look at our Essence, and explore how we can support it through working with the Extraordinary Vessels.

I’d love your feedback.