These are words I have said, andsung, over and over. Words whose truth rings in the hearts of so many women whohear me speak. Words that prompted one (famous) female MD to throw her armsaround me and exclaim "I thought I hated my patients. Now I know I justneed a year off!" But words whose full meaning took some time to getthrough to me. The idea of taking time off duringmenopause is an extension of a moontime mystery teaching: A woman benefitsherself and her community if she takes a day off during her menstrual flow, togo within and tend to herself. By taking care of herself, a woman has more togive to others. But even more importantly, when she gives herself this time, shemay sense the presence of her "spirit band" (angels) - those who aretoo faint to be noticed when one is focused on the hubbub of everyday life.



During menstruation, and duringthe menopausal years, say my Native teachers, the "veil between theworlds" is thin and easily parted. Our abilities and senses are heightenedand we are open to guidance, inspiration, illumination - but only if we giveourselves quiet time alone, free of responsibilities.

I believe in this idea so stronglythat I actually pay my apprentices to take one day off during their monthlyflow. But it was exceptionally difficult for me to give myself the same timeoff. After all, I had to keep appointments that had been made months in advanceand involved dozens to hundreds of people. I can't agree to be the keynotepresenter at the National Institutes of Health conference on Women andBotanical Medicine and then tell them after I get there that I have to have theday off because I'm bleeding, can I?

So, even though I knew that mymenopause would be more severe if I remained in the public eye, I again foundmyself unable to say "No." And for once I was sorry to be right.

The first summer of my menopausewas exceptionally hot, and it seemed to trigger hot flash after hot flash. Atone big conference, I was so hot they finally put me to bed on a cot in theclimate-controlled (air-conditioned!) herb storage building while everyone elsebraved it in tents. I awoke not totally refreshed (I woke those days four andfive times a night), but not melted either, and smelling decidedly fragrant.

And then there was the class thatwalked off and left me. It was another hot summer day. My memory of most ofthose insufferably hot menopausal summer days is mercifully blank - or, perhapsmore to the point, welded into a recollection of one ongoing unrestrained surgeof molten energy blanketing me from belly to crown. But this particular day isvivid in my mind's eye.

It was a staggeringly hot day. Itwas so hot that I decided after lunch to take my class of about twenty women tothe river which runs through the back of my land. First, everyone had time fora little break to tend to necessities; then we were to meet at a certain placeat a certain time to stroll to the river and look at plants along the way.

At the appointed hour, I showed upat the appointed place. By ones and twos, the students gathered. One asked meif I had a remedy for her headache. I asked her to get a glass of water andwent into the house to get the herb she needed: skullcap. (How aptly named itis!) When I returned, in moments it seemed, no one was there except for thewoman with the headache. I put ten drops of skullcap tincture in her glass ofwater, and asked where everyone was. "On their way to the river," shereplied, much to my surprise, chagrin, and dismay. They had walked off and leftme with no students to teach.

It took me some minutes to workthrough my feelings of abandonment, and more still to work through my sense ofloss. But when I did, I could see that my students had given me the gift of theafternoon off. They somehow understood - I finally understood - that I neededtime alone, time away from responsibility and leadership. And if I didn't havethe sense to go into my cocoon, the Universe was willing to see to it that Iwas placed there by circumstance.

Ten years later, I look back andsmile: remembering those sultry menopausal nights and steamy hot flash days. IfI had it to do over again, I would squash my qualms about global warming andbuy an air-conditioner as soon as those first strong hot flashes hit. And Iwould pull every string I could so that I could take as much time as possibleoff during my menopause metamorphosis.

http://www.menopause-metamorphosis.com Menopause Metamorphosis:Gentle solutions for body, mind, and spirit - alternative approaches, herbalremedies, wise woman support. Includes solutions for: thyroid health,fibromyalgia, hairy problems, male menopause, fertility after forty, herbs forwomen taking HRT, and more insights into the menopausal years by Susun Weed.

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Vibrant, passionate, and involved,Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreakinglectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challengesconventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vastencyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animatedand enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative.

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