The MiDOViA Menopause Podcast

Episode 019: Integrating Holistic Wellness Strategies for Menopause

• April Haberman and Kim Hart • Season 1 • Episode 18

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Ever wondered how to seamlessly integrate holistic wellness practices with traditional Western medicine? Join us for an eye-opening conversation with Emily Peterson, MiDOViA's Chief Wellness Officer, as she shares her profound insights on personalized health journeys. Learn how to listen to your body’s intuitive signals through simple yet powerful practices like pausing, breathing, and quieting the mind. Emily’s expertise shines as she addresses the unique challenges women face during midlife, particularly the critical need for self-care during menopause. Discover how prioritizing your well-being can empower you to better support your loved ones and navigate this transformative life stage with grace.

Unlock the therapeutic benefits of aromatherapy and essential oils for managing menopause symptoms such as stress and insomnia. Emily discusses the importance of choosing high-grade essential oils and explains various applications like diffusers, room sprays, and direct skin application. We cover safety precautions, proper storage, and the role of carrier oils like jojoba and rosehip seed in enhancing the efficacy of essential oils. With personal anecdotes and rapid-fire questions, we explore the liberating journey of menopause, likened to a butterfly's transformation. This episode is a treasure trove of holistic health practices, offering both practical advice and inspirational reflections to enhance your midlife experience.

Emily is the Chief Wellness Officer at MiDOViA. She has been actively working in the holistic healing arts for over 20 years. Emily is an ever evolving student and practitioner of all things wellness. She has a background and passion in holistic bodywork, breath work, meditation, aromatherapy, sound healing, functional fitness, pilates and yoga. 

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Medovia Menopause Podcast, your trusted source for evidence-based, science-backed information related to menopause. Medovia is dedicated to changing the narrative about menopause by educating, raising awareness and supporting women in this stage of life, both at home and in the workplace. Visit medoviacom to learn more home and in the workplace. Visit Medoviacom to learn more. I'm one of your hosts, april Haberman, and I'm joined by Kim Hart. We're co-founders of Medovia, certified health coaches, registered yoga teachers and midlife mamas specializing in menopause. You're listening to another episode of our podcast, where we offer expert guidance for the most transformative stage of life, bringing you real conversations, education and resources to help you overcome challenges and reach your full potential through midlife. Join us and our special guests each episode as we bring vibrant, fun and truthful conversation and let us help you have a deeper understanding of menopause. Hey friends, I'm excited to share a significant milestone that you may have heard mentioned Medovia has launched the first ever menopause friendly US accreditation Program. This program sets a comprehensive standard overseen by a third-party panel of experts, ensuring air quotes here that menopause friendly is more than just a term. It reflects a real commitment to meaningful, sustainable workplace changes. It's important to us that the menopause Friendly logo is meaningful and marks a high standard within the menopause space. We hope you'll join us on the journey to becoming menopause friendly as a leading pioneer in the States. You can find more information at menopausefriendlyuscom.

Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, today we're joined by our very own Chief Wellness Officer, emily Peterson. Emily has been actively working in the holistic healing arts for over 20 years. She's an ever-evolving student and practitioner of all things wellness. She has a background in passion and holistic body work, breath work, meditation, aromatherapy, sound healing, functional fitness, pilates and yoga. Take a listen, welcome everyone. We are so excited that we have the three of us on the show today. This is a first. I know it's like woo, woo. All three of us are here. Amma's usually out in the field, out and about, while Kim and I are just kind of holding down the HQ fort, but today Emily is able to be with us and we're so thrilled that she's going to talk about holistic wellness. So, emily, thank you for taking the time to be with us today.

Speaker 3:

Oh, it's my honor. I'm so grateful to have this time with each of you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. Well, let's start off by having you explain what holistic health means. How does it differ from traditional Western medicine and Western medical approaches?

Speaker 3:

approaches. My understanding is holistic. Health and wellness is really choosing your own path. There's so many different modalities and it's really about customizing what you're intuitively drawn to and how your body really what it gravitates towards in wellness. So that might mean you might use Western medicine, that might mean you might use Eastern medicine, that might mean you might incorporate some meditation, physical therapy, maybe some acupuncture. So it's really just about customizing and intuitively listening. What does that mean for me and my path?

Speaker 2:

Great, and Em, you're so good at listening to what your heart says. Talk more about what intuitive listening. What does that mean for somebody that's never really done that before, for somebody that's?

Speaker 3:

never really done that before, gosh. Well, the way that I teach, I would say even my teenage daughters, is to just really take the time first to just stop and pause and breathe and then listen right. And listening involves usually quieting the mind, because the mind is pretty loud and the heart is pretty wise and sometimes we get caught up in listening to that really loud, looping thoughts in the mind and I would say, intuitively. Listening is kind of hearing yourself and maybe, if something doesn't feel safe or energetically non-cohesive, you, you, you start to learn what that feels like in your body. So it might mean that tingling sensation, it might mean like sudden anxiety in your chest, it might mean just uncomfortable. So it's really just about, as far as I'm concerned, just pausing briefly, breathing deeply, slowly, like taking the time to just stop and like, yeah, that's kind of what that means.

Speaker 2:

Like, yeah, that's kind of what that means. Thank you for your thoughts on that. We hear a lot, as you know, that stopping and even breathing during menopause nobody has time right. And from a holistic health perspective, what do you think are the benefits of doing that during this midlife menopause time of just paying attention and looking at all the ways you could take care of yourself?

Speaker 3:

Well, I think in this mid life point we're almost sandwiched in between taking care of everybody, right, all of these years, and suddenly we're kind of scrambling to figure out what it means to practice self care for ourselves. It's not a habit, usually, it's not your first instinct and in a lot of ways society tells us women like that is just not okay, we got to take care of everybody else. So I think, kind of leading back to your question in regards to what that might mean, is just practicing again, listening, pausing, breathing and starting to put yourself first, because you know the whole adage of putting the oxygen mask on first is true. Right, you got to take care of yourself, you got to fill your own cup and then it can overfill to the others around you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and midlife is such a we know because we're all in midlife right now but midlife can be a really difficult time or just challenging time. I don't know if it's necessarily difficult, but challenging time when we're straddling so many responsibilities and taking care of ourselves right, we call it that middle place here, medovia, with the three of us, it can be hard to take that time to pause when we have so many things that we're juggling as it as. It relates back to menopause, though, and this holistic wellness space. There are so many different modalities that you've mentioned a couple of. I'm wondering, as you think about Emily, the you know 34 symptoms that can present with menopause. What do you think? What do you think is most beneficial? If you could just pick you know your top two modalities, what would you say is the most beneficial for women in this stage, as they're looking at managing menopause symptoms?

Speaker 2:

Hmm.

Speaker 3:

I think breathwork is probably the number one thing you can do for yourself, if anything, just connecting with your breath, like hearing your breath, recognizing when your breath becomes shallow and you're breathing from your chest. We become so disconnected and I would say breathwork is free, right, you just need to kind of start to practice it. And what does that mean? There's you could go down the rabbit hole of information, but maybe even just picking one, maybe two, or even just hey, I'm just going to practice slowing my breath down and noticing if I can widen it, if I can deepen it, if I can recognize it when it's not quite right. I would say, if movement was considered a holistic modality, just mindful movement, that could be walking, that could be Tai Chi, that could be yoga, that could be really just moving your body and feeling, maybe that proprioception, right, that feeling of movement in space, so that we're not so disconnected from what's going on with our symptoms, not so disconnected from what's going on with our breath. Even so, yeah, that would be maybe my first top two.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's hard to pick. I know Sorry to throw that, throw that curveball. But I want to come back to breathwork for just a moment though, because it I think we might take it for granted. All three of us work in yoga, at least work in yoga at least, and breath work is a large part of yoga. For some listeners, they might not understand or recognize or be aware of the fact that that long, extended deep breath can be very beneficial. So can I come back to that for just a minute and have you expand on that a little bit more and tell our listeners why, you know, why is that important and what does that do, physically speaking, to our bodies or with our bodies?

Speaker 3:

Well, I think that's a great question, April. I would say breathing is something we do the second we enter the world. It's what we do until we leave this world or this. You know, life and our breath is with us the whole time. We do take it for granted. We do take it for granted that we, that it is one, a living system in our body keeping us alive, to our lungs, our organs right, and they're meant to expand when we inhale and they're meant to purge out the toxins in our body as we exhale. So physiologically it's essential for vitality.

Speaker 3:

I would say, as an athlete, I have used my breath to, I guess, better my skill, better my performance. I would say as a yogi, I've used my breath to really dig deeper into that body, mind, spirit connection. I would say, just as a human that suffers from anxiety at times, I've used that breath to just counteract the negative effects that anxiety might kind of riddle me with. I'm using that breath right now, just slowing my breath down, moving in and through my nose, down the back of my throat, kind of tapping into that tactile sensation, bringing that breath into my lungs but also into my belly, and just really slowing down. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And it in that extended exhale it taps into the parasympathetic nervous system, right and it's. It's. We move from fight or flight into rest and digest. So it's important because it slows down our heart rate as well. So good for you for practicing the extended exhale right now. We could all do that for a moment, right.

Speaker 2:

We should have done it at the beginning.

Speaker 3:

We could take a few moments to breathe, yes, and you bring up the fight or flight response which, if you think about the fight or flight response versus the rest and digest response, there are stress on our systems and stress, as you know, can do all sorts of havoc to our nervous system, to our hormone system, relating back to menopause. So it's really beneficial to try to find that balance between rest and digest, because we can't be rest and digest all the time, unfortunately, but we can try to be more aware of the difference and try to find that balance and live from a place maybe more default wise, of that rest and digest versus that fight or flight.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. My good friend Amy always goes, ah, and I'm like, oh, what are you doing? She goes. Sometimes I forget to breathe. Uh, yeah, yeah. And is there any triggers that you have, emily, where you remember like, okay, I need to slow down, I need to take a minute to breathe? Is there anything that you know you do to help yourself remember to do that?

Speaker 3:

You know, I am lucky enough to basically teach a lot of yoga classes throughout the week, so I I would say that is a gift in many ways for me, because it it becomes more of a pattern for me. My triggers are I have two teenage daughters. That's probably enough.

Speaker 2:

Said your best friends who have no money isn't that my broke best friends.

Speaker 2:

Um, yeah, I love that. Okay, I'm going to switch gears. Um, we know that you're a big fan of aromatherapy and are the and essential oils that can be used to relieve symptoms of stress and insomnia and other um, you know, other menopause symptoms. Are there some of your favorites that you use that people might want to take a look at to help with some of the things that often sort of knock at your door in terms of all of the midlife stuff that comes in?

Speaker 3:

the midlife stuff that comes in. Absolutely I love aromatherapy. I've taken way too many hours of study. I'm not an aromatherapist per se but I do practice it and I have used them in work, in home life, just in general, for maybe gosh, since 2000. So I would say lavender is a good one, but I would clarify the difference between a high grade essential oil, that is of pure pureness, and the low grade. So you kind of get what you pay for and I would be conscientious and careful of what you put on your skin, what you're putting in the air and micro molecules that you're breathing, that your pets are breathing, that your people are breathing. So again, just check your labels and do your research on sustainability and where they come from and what they're made of and what they may or may not be filled with. But yes, lavender, I use a lot of frankincense. But, yes, lavender, I use a lot of frankincense. Frankincense is anything that's kind of going to bring you down and you think of any roots that, for me, bring you back down to the feet, right out of your head and into your feet, can help you just kind of stabilize and find that kind of, I guess, root system.

Speaker 3:

Lavender we know as almost a mediator in blending. We use it a lot to kind of bring things back into cohesiveness. It's obviously very well known as a relaxant. It does instantly soothe you, right. It helps with that nervous system. I use Clary Sage actually a drop on a tissue, especially in those periods in my life when I'm suffering from just not being able to go to sleep or I wake up throughout the night. I guess any sort of relaxant Vetiver is one of my absolute favorites, but you can't use a whole lot of it. But it too is a root and it can kind of help bring you back down.

Speaker 2:

So you talked about putting it on a tissue on your pillow. I know you mix it with oils that don't have a smell, Jehovah oil being one of your favorites, and you use it, you know, all over your body Right. Are there other ways in which you can use aromatherapy? I know I often I call it burning it, but use my diffuser to steam it if you will. What are some of the ways in which people can you know, best interact with those oils and smells?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, well, there's just a whole science behind it. So you'll definitely want to look up the safety, usage and kind of precautions. Always keep them in a childproof bottle from pets and small people. I like to keep them up high and I like to keep them in the dark because that photosynthesis does, I guess, change the quality of the oil. Citrus at least not so much in this climate, but maybe in a hotter climate you'll keep in the fridge just to keep it shelf stable. But those are some just preliminary safety precautions.

Speaker 3:

I do love jojoba oil. I usually, if I blend anything, I'll use it as kind of a 10% dilution. It keeps it's a natural used as a natural preservative and it helps it go a little like, I guess, a little longer. It is expensive so I won't typically blend with a straight jojoba. I'll use a different carrier oil. I like apricot kernel, um. Mostly because when I'm using it for massage therapy I don't have to worry about people that might be allergic to nuts. Um, I do love a good rosehip seed oil on my face and so I'll blend with that based on the formula and the dilution, depending on. You know what I'm using. I use a pomegranate seed oil, pomegranate seed oil. I'm sorry, and I mean I just. I think oils we forget how beneficial each of them are, based on where they come from too. I was just reading about marula oil and how wonderful it is as a carrier.

Speaker 1:

Huge fan of oils. Side story on that marula oil every time I hear someone say that it takes me back to Africa because they have the nut. I think it's a nut or seed, but they were hand grinding it. It was a hand grinder and they had them in this big cylinder with big bars and there were three men that were just walking and turning and grinding and pressing the marula oil out and it was lovely to be able to take that home.

Speaker 1:

And as you're saying this, emily, the carrier oils are really twofold when we're using those with aromatherapy, because we all also know that skin and dryness is also a symptom of menopause and I know personally. I feel like I could bathe in oil or swim in oil every single day and it's still not going to be enough. So it's it can be beneficial in that respect as well. And then I also use it as a room spray. Just mix it in a little spray bottle with my aromatherapy oils and spray it. And what do you mix with that? I'm at a blank. The brain fog is hitting with the room sprays.

Speaker 3:

It is distilled water. Yeah, it's distilled water. And then sometimes people put about 10 percent of witch hazel. Appear. There you go, that's it, yes, and you can use that twofold, especially if you're starting to feel hot. Right, you could put even a drop of peppermint in there. That's a good cooler, but it's also a multitasker it's both cooling and a stimulant, but also relaxing too, and you can spray your pillows, especially while traveling or even before bed. Yeah, so that's kind of how I might make an air spritz.

Speaker 1:

And we always get this. Thank you for that, emily, because I could not think of which hazel. Um, we, we often get the question too we want to use high grade essential oils. Get the question to we want to use high grade essential oils, where's a good resource?

Speaker 3:

for that. Where can people get high grade essential oils Right? So I love to order most of my oils through Mountain Rose Herbals, which is, um, they actually have a flagship store out of Eugene Oregon now, which I just I just was that kid in the candy store when I found I've been ordering out of Eugene Oregon now, which I just I just was that kid in the candy store when I found I've been ordering out of the catalog for years. But, um, they are really specific about their source and they love to support small agriculture, um, farmers and um, they have a multitude of options teas, spices, oils, butters to make your like, salves and lotions and creams with. So you could ultimately get whatever you want. Spend a lot of money.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm sure Like a shoe store right.

Speaker 3:

That's my go to. I'd say if I were around town and I needed to buy something, PCC has a good selection. I usually look towards the top of the shelf and I always read the label.

Speaker 1:

Good call. And for those listeners that are not from the Pacific Northwest that might not have PCC markets, a Whole Foods, I would assume, would have an essential oil section, just like a PCC would. A higher grade, I would imagine yeah. And then if we were also going to call out, maybe apps that would that are free for breath work and meditation. Do you have a few favorites?

Speaker 3:

I love the Calm app. I've used that for years. They have quite a few, I guess, meditation practitioners on there and you really just kind of they have. Of course you can go down the rabbit hole and buy like the exclusive membership, which you would get more options, but even with the free or like minimal payment, there's just really great people on there and you just find a voice that works for you, Something that kind of helps you just get into that place and I'm a huge advocate for that and just creating space for it in your life. And consistency, as we know, is always key with any sort of lifestyle change.

Speaker 3:

Yeah yeah, absolutely, it's hard Start small right. One small step come out with a small step.

Speaker 1:

What about choosing holistic healthcare practitioners? If I am a woman in midlife and I'm in perimenopause, postmenopause and I'm interested in finding a holistic health practitioner, what's a good source for me?

Speaker 3:

I would say, just I would start asking around you want to ask people that you know I'm a big advocate for that Just kind of referrals and maybe start looking at their websites, figuring out who they are, what they're about. I would even intuitively feel like gosh. You know, this person feels like they resonate with me and I would start to interview them. And I do believe in it being an interview because you're, you know, you want to work with someone that you trust and that has the knowledge but also that bedside manner and you want to have confidence in them. And it's kind of like not shopping around so much but figuring out who works with you and that kind of allowing that to organically shape.

Speaker 2:

You know, em, you've said a couple of times when we were talking about using your intuition, but listening to your gut instinct or your heart, or whatever the kind voice is on the doctor, on the smell that you want like everything from the beginning, on breathing, like spend some moments just with yourself and it doesn't need to be long, but just take a minute and take a breath in and figure out how you feel about things, and I really appreciate that you're always able to do that, no matter what chaos is going on around us. I'm always like what did you think, emily? Because you have this ability to do that, so I appreciate that so much. What advice would you give to someone who's new in the holistic health space, who's interested in these approaches for menopause, where you know, like, where would they start? What kind of? What kind of? Um, if you were just talking to them, what would you tell them to to think about as they're trying to figure out how to, how to change their midlife in a, in a place that's more calm for themselves?

Speaker 3:

Um, keep asking questions. Yeah, I think just keep asking questions. Um, um, ask the questions, follow up If something intrigues you. Keep, you know, keep asking questions. It's not a one size fits all scenario. I think we've been taught in a lot of ways that Western medicine by Western medicine and, trust me, I wouldn't want to live in a world without it. But I think that this holistic kind of wellness path is about asking questions even of yourself, like what does that feel? Like? Does that feel right? You know, can you tell me more? That's a great question. I love to ask myself even that question, like is there more to this? And sitting with that, widening your mind enough to sit with that and hear it and listen to it and then act upon it, but maybe not right away.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. I love that and you know you've already mentioned to for our audience to make sure that, with essential oils, for example, that they're using high grade, that you know, as they're looking for holistic health practitioners, listen to your gut. There are credentials. Look at credentials. Do your homework right. Do your homework we talk about this when interviewing healthcare practitioners as well to make sure that you're doing your homework and find one that fits for you. And you know, who I choose might not be who Kim decides, and who Kim picks might not be who you decide to see, Emily, because everyone is individual and and I think that's important that listening piece. So thank you for that. Should we rapid fire? Yeah, Should we move into some fun rapid fire, because that would be fun. Let's do it, hey.

Speaker 2:

So, emily you go first. This is. This is a tough one. I couldn't figure out how. What you'd say about this, but a warm, cozy fire in a, in a fireplace, in a cabin or a sunny beach, beach and flip-flops.

Speaker 3:

See, I didn't think I thought that warm, cozy fire lit ambiance with a cup of tea Hot.

Speaker 2:

Okay, all right, you're getting a little kind of tea.

Speaker 3:

What kind of tea? My go-to is peppermint Good Good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love peppermint too. Um, okay, okay, I know you read a lot of books, so this might be hard to fiction or non-fiction I'd say fiction okay all right novels.

Speaker 2:

I said, what's that? Romance novels.

Speaker 3:

I'm sure romance one of each on my bedside table right now. I do do a lot of like multi-reading, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Who doesn't? I'm like I'm done with this book. I'll come back to it later, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Nice to get lost in a yeah.

Speaker 2:

I agree Time alone or a big party.

Speaker 3:

Time alone.

Speaker 2:

Oh see in a second.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, no hesitation there. Yeah, yeah, big parties there. Uh, it's just a little much for me these days. I like I guess I really honor my time yeah.

Speaker 1:

Funny how that changes right. All right, uh, moving from rapid fire. A question that we ask everyone, and we're going to ask you, to Emily what is the best piece of advice that you've ever received or given?

Speaker 3:

You know, my grandmother was a very wise soul and she had a lot of things to say. One of the ones that just really have stuck and I think was a guiding light for her and a guiding light for me, and it's just seems to be a theme in our family is to just choose kindness. Sometimes it's not even the easiest route to choose, but you do it anyways. Just be kind, choose kind. Kindness matters.

Speaker 1:

I was just going to say it sounds so simple and sometimes it's not. Yeah, I love that, emily. Is there anything else that we haven't talked about today that you want to share with our audience or want them to know?

Speaker 3:

I'd say circling back to menopause and the entire experience of coming to this point in our life. It can feel very overwhelming, it can feel scary, it can feel lonely, it can feel isolating and it can feel almost freeing, right, and it reminds me just of that butterfly. And it's that butterfly, that kind of starts in this itty bitty, teeny, tiny, I guess, poopa Right, they call it and moving into that chrysalis stage where it starts to open the wings and fly, and it's. It just reminds me a little bit of that whole process, that life cycle, of that whole process, that life cycle, and I'm excited that we're talking about it now because it doesn't feel quite so fearful and it doesn't feel so isolating and it's not quite so scary. I love that, thank you.

Speaker 3:

And it's somewhat liberating right Like because now we just get to be and we get to, I guess, open those wings and, you know, go where we want.

Speaker 1:

You're always so good at imagery too, so thank you for leaving our audience with that, emily. It's been a pleasure having you and I'm so excited we're all three together finally, and that's a wrap. Friends, until we meet again, go find joy in the journey. Thank you for listening to the Medovia Menopause Podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe for future episodes, leave a review and share this episode with a friend. There are more than 50 million women in the US who are navigating the menopause transition. Women in the US who are navigating the menopause transition. The situation is compounded by the presence of stigma, shame and secrecy surrounding menopause, posing significant challenges and disruptions in women's personal and professional spheres. Medovia is out to change the narrative. Learn more at Medoviacom. That's M-I-D-O-V-I-Acom.

People on this episode

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April Haberman

Co-host
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Kim Hart

Co-host