Second Spring: Menopause as a new chapter, not an ending

How menopause can become a season of renewal

Menopause as a time of renewal and a new beginning.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, menopause is known as Second Spring — a phrase that instantly shifts the perspective. Not an ending, but a new beginning.

In Western culture, we’re taught to fear this phase — to “anti-age,” to battle wrinkles, to shrink from change. But what if, instead, we saw it as a threshold? A time to pause, reflect, and ask:

🌀 What is waking up in me now?

Change your perspective on Menopause, see it as a new season, a Second Spring and a shift of energy.

When our cycles stop, we don’t lose our vitality — we redirect it. The energy that once flowed outward each month preparing for new life now moves inward and upward, becoming creative, intuitive, powerful. This is at the core of the second spring menopause idea.

The Shift Beneath the Science

Hormones drive the physical changes — oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone all fluctuate — but something deeper is also happening.

As the reproductive cycle quiets, the body enters a new rhythm. This is the shift from pro-creative to creative energy — the same life force, now freed to express itself in new ways.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, when menstruation (“the heavenly water” - can I just say they got their names much better than us?) ceases, that energy rises toward the heart.

It’s a time to redirect that power — to create, lead, nurture, or simply be, in a new way.

🌀 How do you want to use this energy?

The Seasons of a Woman’s Life

Start from bottom right 'Summer to Autumn' and proceed anti-clockwise. Look at life stages with the lenses of Nature.

If we look at life through nature’s lens, each stage has its season:

Summer to Autumn — Peri-Menopause stage, a time to release, let go (look at trees and leaves) and also cleanse, detox and prepare for the cold season

Autumn to Winter —Menopause stage, a time to restore your energy, reflect and draw inward (look at nature again, it's hibernation time!). Use this time to work on your self-knowledge, get the insights and reprioritise.

Winter to Second Spring — Post-Menopause stage and the time to RE-EMERGE, renewed, re-energised and empowered!

Menopause sits right at the turning point between autumn and winter — a time to pause.

And maybe that’s the clue: it’s right there in the word men-o-pause.

A gentle invitation to slow down, to listen, to rest — so that the Second Spring can follow.

My Yoga classes always include deep relaxation and guided meditation at the end.

How to Embrace Your Second Spring

• Listen first. Your body is talking — track your symptoms, moods, and triggers. Awareness brings agency. Journaling is a great idea.

• Move with kindness. Choose movement that supports strength, mobility, and balance. Listen to your body. And remember, movement is not punishment.

• Nourish deeply. Food, rest, laughter, and connection all count as nutrients. Get that coffee date with your friend in the diary.

• Let go. Of old roles, expectations, and self-criticism. Growth needs space.

• And Let them! I borrowed this from the very talented Mel Robbins who wrote 'The Let them Theory' which I highly recommend as it does help cultivating a liberating mindset shift: stop trying to control others, and start reclaiming your own energy.

Listen. Be kind to yourself. And press PAUSE. It's your Winter season after all!

---

Yoga supports this transition beautifully.

Through movement we release,

through breath we restore,

and through stillness we rediscover.

Join my Menopause Yoga

---

My Invitation

Second Spring is a choice — to see change as renewal, not retreat.

To soften into who we’re becoming, rather than cling to who we were.

To channel this creative current toward what truly matters.

Because this isn’t the end of something — it’s the beginning of your Second Spring.

Check my Menopause Yoga Class

You might also like

The Menopause Toolkit Workshop - recap

How yoga works

Sources & Further Reading

• Petra Coveney, "Menopause Yoga, A holistic guide to supporting women on their menopause journey"

• British Menopause Society (BMS): Information on hormonal changes and symptoms — thebms.org.uk

• Mimi Kuo-Deemer, “Qigong and the Tao of Menopause” — discussion of the Second Spring concept and energy shift

• Traditional Chinese Medicine & Menopause: British Acupuncture Council, “TCM and the Second Spring” — acupuncture.org.uk

• Dr. Vonda Wright – “Movement is Medicine” podcast on midlife vitality (Mel Robbins Podcast, 2023)

• Mel Robbins, "The Let Them Theory"

• Harvard Health Publishing: “The role of oestrogen in bone and brain health.”