Wise Women Conversations

In this episode of Menopause Conversations I chat with Beverley Webb from Step Forward Coaching. Beverley had a really tough childhood but she managed to survive and eventually become a very successful business woman. But Beverley hadn’t left the trauma of her childhood behind her, it started to show up in her health and also her relationship with her children. After losing everything, including her health, Beverley saw this as the chance to remove the masks that she had been hiding behind and find her voice. Once Beverley healed the trauma of her childhood she knew that she had to help others find their voice as well. As a constant high achiever managed to retrain as a coach in a short time frame so that she could start helping others as soon as she could. Beverley that silence makes the guilt and shame worse, this is why she believes it is her legacy is to use her voice to help others and she does this every single day with her words and her actions. This was a truly inspiring conversation that I thoroughly

This episode of Menopause Conversations Podcast is a little different from normal. The first difference is that I have a Wise Man on the podcast rather than a Wise Woman. The second difference is the topic – saving children from sex trafficking. I wish that I didn’t have to have this conversation with Marc but the work that Marc does with Destiny Rescue is real and it is needed. Destiny Rescue is a Not-for-Profit organisation started in Australia over 18 years ago and is dedicated to fighting the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children in seven nations. Their highly trained agents run covert and raid rescue operations, day and night to locate and rescue children being used and abused. With the ongoing support of generous donors, Destiny Rescue has successfully liberated over 5,200 individual victims of human trafficking. They have been instrumental in the closing of many bars, clubs and brothels known to be targeting children for sex work and have seen numerous perpetrators prosecuted. Their tireless

In this week’s episode of Menopause Conversations I am speaking to Doris Mounsey about her health journey and how that led her to experience medically induced menopause. I often speak about natural menopause but when you have medical conditions or treatments that result in you being in menopause prematurely things can be very different. Women in this situation often experience sudden and severe symptoms as the body has to quickly adjust to the dramatic loss of hormones. This was Doris’s experience and she was left feeling lost and alone as the Drs didn’t really have any solutions for her. Have a listen to the story that Doris has to share, of how she found a way to manage her symptoms naturally and now helps other women who are on a similar journey to what Doris has been on. If you have enjoyed this episode or any of the previous episodes of Menopause Conversations please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you are listening to this podcast.

This week's episode of Menopause Conversations was a fun one when I had Bron Roberts who is a Laughter Yoga Teacher. I had heard of laughter yoga before but I wanted to find out more. Bron shares the years when she lost her laughter and what she did to get it back. Bron also found that laughter got her through some tough times when her Mother was very sick. There was so much fun and laughter throughout this episode particularly when Bron shares the story of the time she turned "crazy old lady" to get a flight upgrade. Bron has so many fun stories to share and she is proud of her "crazy old lady" status. You will also learn a quick exercise to help you start laughing, follow along with Bron and I guarantee no matter what mood you are in, you will very quickly feel your mood lift as you experience the healing effect of laughter. If you want to learn more about Bron you can visit her website or find her on LinkedIn as Bron Roberts.

What happens to relationships as you move through your menopause years? For some women it is a time of new beginnings, for others it is a time of endings. In this week’s episode of the Menopause Conversations podcast I chat with Couples Counsellor Iman Iskander. Iman shares the different stages a relationship goes through and what happens if we happen to get stuck at a particular stage of relationship development. We also talk about women who “stay for the kids” and what happens once their kids are older and no longer dependent on them. Relationships with one person for a lifetime can be hard, but are we really supposed to be with the same person for our entire adult life? This is the question that I ask Iman and she shares different research studies that show whether this is a good thing or not. This leads to a conversation about different cultures and how they see relationships and the role of women. This was a great conversation and I am grateful to Iman for share her expertise in this episode, it certainl

In this week's episode of Menopause Conversations I am talking with Janet McGeever who is the Co-Author of Tantric Sex and Menopause (with Diana Richardson). This was a beautiful conversation with Janet gently sharing how it is possible to be intimate after menopause despite the changes that happening in our bodies. Janet's book and this conversation is about relearning what we think we know about intimate relationships. She shares the importance of understanding energy, receiving and giving, when it comes to intimacy. I really enjoyed this conversation with Janet, her voice is so gentle and she holds space while we talk about a topic that can be a sensitive one for many women. I thoroughly enjoyed reading her book and had many ahha moments as I was reading through. There is so much that we can still learn about intimate relationships, things that are completely different to what we have learnt in the past. I hope that you enjoy this conversation and if you would like to learn more about Janet you can visit h

What do you do when you reach your mid-stage of life and you look in the mirror and don't really know who you are anymore. Anne McKeown is my guest on this week's episode of Menopause Conversations and she shares what happened when she went through this. Anne is now a Life Coach who helps other women to find themselves and create successful lives, in ways that are meaningful to them. We discuss discovering who you are beyond your label as a mother, wife, daughter etc. and the endless possibilities that are available to you. Anne shares a simple exercise that you can do to discover who you really are. Anne is so passionate about the work that she does with women particularly when it comes to finding your purpose in life. If you would like to learn more about the work that Anne does you can visit her website or on social media: Facebook  Instagram  LinkedIn  Twitter 

In this week’s Menopause Conversations Podcast with Lisa Fitzpatrick we go on a journey to find your inner wise woman. Lisa shares a time when she was looking for a wise woman to guide her through a troubling time in her life, but she couldn’t find anyone. This led her on a journey of discovery and now she works with women to help them to connect to their internal guidance system. In this conversation we discuss breaking the rules that we have been taught by the dominant patriarchal society that has kept women trapped for many generations. And yes, there is a discussion around witches, in fact it was a question about witches that first attracted me to Lisa and why I wanted to have her as a guest on the podcast. As we uncover what it is to be a wise woman Lisa shares that wise women are comfortable with the mystery of life whereas before finding our wisdom, we often are looking for certainty and control. She shares how our wisdom comes from deep within our wombspace and how we can connect to our own womb. In t

In this week’s episode of Menopause Conversations I am chatting with a dear friend Franziska Iseli about her new book The Courage Map. Franziska is an adventurer who wants to make a positive impact on the world. Franziska is always looking for great moments of humanity and she found many when she decided to take a motorbike ride across one of the most difficult and notorious highways in the world – the Silk Road. Whilst she was on her journey Franziska had many different adventurers and met so many people who showed her those moments of humanity that she was looking for. This is a fun conversation with Franziska as she shares stories from her journey and what she learnt about courage from the back of her motorbike. You can learn more about Franziska and get a copy of her book The Courage Map on her website. You can also get a free copy of the Courage Map Journal from her website as well, so that you can start your journey of courage. If you would like to see some of the videos that Franziska created of her jo

As we reach the end of 2022, I invite you to reflect on the past 12 months – the good, the bad and the ugly. In this episode I share with you an exercise that I do with the members of my embrace Inner Circle to reflect and celebrate your achievements for the year as well as let go of the experiences that have not been so great. Grab your journal and create a quiet space where you can spend some time simply reflecting on the year that was. You could make a ritual of this experience by lighting a candle, making a relaxing cup of tea, burning some beautiful essential oils, anything that helps you to get into a calm place. This is the final episode for 2022 but that doesn’t mean you need to miss out on your weekly dose of the Menopause Conversations podcast. For the next 2 months I will be re-publishing some of the past 100 episodes. Many of these episodes will be under the title of Wise Women Conversations because that was the name of the podcast before this current name of Menopause Conversations. Enjoy listeni

More and more women are experiencing menopause after cancer, whether it is from the disease itself or from the treatment.  I wanted to make sure that we covered this topic with the respect that it deserves so decided to ask a friend who has experienced a medically induced menopause at the age of 47.  Sonya Lovell is a personal trainer and has always led a relatively healthy life until she received a cancer diagnosis almost 5 years ago.   The diagnosis shocked Sonya but what was to come was chaos and confusion as Sonya was plunged very quickly into menopause.  Sonya shares her story of not feeling well informed about what would happen to her when it came to her menopause and the lack of support that she received from the medical fraternity. In this episode Sonya not only shares her experience she also shares what her dreams are for the future of cancer treatments and the support of women through medically induced menopause.  I am thankful that Sonya was open about her story and that sh

In this week’s episode I am sharing an interview that I did with Yvonne Shepherd from Women’s Fitness Adventures (WFA) for her community.  I share some of my challenges around osteoarthritis and weight gain and how I was able to recover from a full hip replacement and complete a 27km walk 6 weeks after finishing my rehab program.   I don’t think of myself as inspiring when I share my story because I am simply doing what I need to if I want to be able to stay health and mobile as I age but I have been told that my story is inspiring. If only one woman gets inspiration from what I have achieved, then I will continue to share.   Mobility, balance and flexibility is so important as we age.  These are what will continue to give us a good quality of life and for me it means that I can continue to do the multi-day hikes that I love to do.  I love the challenge of deciding to do a hike and then the planning process to get fit and strong to be able to complete the hike.  My next big hike

As we age and our hormones shift, many women start to notice that their skin changes. It isn’t as tight as it was in the past and often, they start to notice lines and wrinkles that weren’t there in the past. I get so many questions about the best skincare to use as you age that I decided to chat with Kim Morrison, the Founder and Creator of a fantastic natural skin care brand called Twenty8. Kim Morrison is a 5 times best-selling, award-winning author, founder of Twenty8 Essentials, an aromatherapist, health and lifestyle educator, mentor, Master NLP Practitioner and Time Line therapist, Advanced Hypnotherapist and a multi-tasking wife and mum. With two aspiring athletic children, one a ballerina and the other a rugby player, Kim is married to former NZ Cricketer Danny Morrison who, as a family, moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2006. With athletic goals herself, she played netball well into her 40’s and proudly represented Auckland from 1983-1986. Kim took up the crazy sport of ultra marathon running in her ea

I often get asked about some of my favourite books, podcasts, communities etc when it comes to the topic of menopause. In this episode I share with you some of those resources and their links Books Queen Menopause by Alison Daddo Art of Self-Love by Kim Morrison The Upgrade by Dr Louanne Brizadene  Goddesses Never Age by Dr Christiane Northrup  The Wisdom of Menopause by Dr Christiane Northrup The Hormone Repair Manual by Lara Briden  Magnificent Midlife by Rachel Lankester  Podcasts The Self Love Podcast with Kim Morrison  Magnificent Midlife Podcast with Rachel Lankester  Essentially You by Dr Mariza Synder  Dear Menopause by Sonya Lovell  Self-Kind with Erica Webb  Thriving Thru Menopause with Clarissa Kristjansson  Communities Menopause Conversation Facebook Group  Women’s fitness Adventures  The Self-Kind Hub  35+ Where to Shop Facebook group  Magnificent Midlife Women 40+ - Self Love, Body Love

It was an honour to have Maryon Stewart as a guest on the Menopause Conversations Podcast. Maryon is the author of Manage Your Menopause Naturally and 27 other books. She is considered a pioneer of the Natural Menopause Movement. She has helped tens of thousands of women around the world overcome PMS and menopause symptoms without using drugs or hormones. She has had her own TV and radio shows as well as contributing to many other shows and series. In 2018 she was awarded the British Empire Medal and was recognized as one of the 50 most inspirational women by the Daily Mail. In this episode we talk about - Women’s expectations and fears around menopause - The role that phyto-oestrogens can play in helping you to get through your menopause transition with relative ease - The different research projects that Maryon has conducted to understand more about women’s experiences in menopause and the best method to support women through this transition without the use of additional hormones or drugs. If you would like

Headlines like “Menopause is Costing Women $17bill in lost income a Year” or “Nearly 1mill women leave the workforce due to Menopause” are quite scary and give women the idea that menopause will cause them to lose their jobs. While it is possible that some women make decisions to leave their job while they are in their menopause transition the issue is not as big a problem as the headline makes out. In this episode of the Menopause Conversations podcast I have a look at some of these headlining statistics and delve into the ‘real’ truth behind the numbers. One thing that I learn many years ago when I was studying to be an Accountant is that you can often “mold” the numbers to tell the story that you want to tell. Add these headlines to the fact that women are being told that everything is “normal” leads women to feel like they are not being heard or that there is nothing that they can do to feel great again, and that life is a downward slide as they reach their menopause transition. This episode is a little b

Don’t we all sometimes wish that our face looked a little tighter or that we could hide some of the wrinkles that seem to be appearing? In this episode of the Menopause Conversations podcast Vanamala Mayr-Reisch shares some of her tips to naturally lift and tighten your face using face yoga. Vanamala’s mission is to empower women to build their confidence and feel proud of who they are. She is a certified face yoga teacher, physiotherapist, eye fitness trainer and the founder of Face Yoga Australia. Face Yoga is a natural way to lift the face and a pathway to profound inner transformation. Vanamala is deeply passionate about sharing her extensive knowledge about the body, mind and spirit, acquired over 35 years of working with people. Have a listen to the episode and try a couple of the exercises that Vanamala shares for a couple of weeks and see if you notice a difference. Vanamala offers a variety of face yoga classes, workshops, coaching programs, one-on-one consolations and corporate classes in person and

When I heard that the largest demographic of homeless people in Australia were women over the age of 50, I was completely shocked.  These women are often hidden from society and lose their homes after marriage breakdowns. This statistic is one that my guest on the podcast this week also wants to change. Some people would say that Bernadette Jansen from The School of Renovating is simply a renovator. She is so much more than this.  Bernadette shows women how it is possible to make money through renovating to support you through the second half of your life.   In this episode Bernadette shares: Her first attempt at renovating when she was 13 years old How you can renovate for a profit without being ‘on the tools’ yourself Why the popular renovating TV shows are unrealistic How you can get started with renovating even if you don’t have a lot of money to start with If you have ever thought about renovating as a way of funding your retirement, then this is the episode to listen to. Bernadett

It was recently reported that Drs in the UK are prescribing walking to maintain great health rather than medications, this was music to the ears of our guest on the Menopause Conversations podcast this week.  Yvonne Shepherd is the owner of Women’s Fitness Adventures a company whose mission is to encourage women to become stronger for life through fitness, adventure and social connection.  Yvonne has seen the impact that getting out and moving in nature has had on the health and lives of women in her community.  Many of Yvonne’s members are over 50, with some enjoying life on the trail well into their 70s.   Yvonne has built a great community of women who train with her to get fit and strong for different adventures and she also creates those great adventures as well.  With hiking trips all around Australia and overseas there are always a variety different experiences available for various levels of fitness, and if you don’t feel fit enough to do a specific adventure Yvonne will suppo

If you have ever felt that you have missed out on precious summer memories because of how you feel in a swimsuit, then this episode is for you. Anita McLachlan from Sequins and Sand and Summer Confidence Society chats to me about the very real issue that many women experience in summertime. Having owned an online swimsuit retail store for many years Anita soon realised that she wasn’t really in the business of selling swimsuits, she was actually in the business of giving women back their confidence and their self-acceptance In this episode we discuss The difference between body confidence and swimsuit confidence The role of the media in women’s confidence about their body, particularly in a swimsuit The annual Cossie Confidence photoshoot that has women coming back year after year to have their photos taken in their swimsuits and how this event has changed the lives of many women The importance of finding the right swimsuit that provides support and confidence Speaking with Anita is always fun, and sh