It’s our honor to present this insightful reflection from master teacher Jo Tastula with the Glo community. Jo confronts the cultural narrative around menopause, guiding us to see this transition not as a curse, but as an evolutionary invitation. She reminds us that by dropping deeper into contemplative practices, we can shift our perspective and fully step into our GRAND phase.
Menopause is one of those things that you put at the back of your mind until one dark day in the way, way, WAY-DISTANT future. Then one day it appears, like a jack-in-the-box. Well, that’s how it happened for me… I’m still in a bit of shock and denial that I’m on the other side of my fertility cycle. What does it all mean???
We all have our own unique journey with menopause and for many of us newbies, we come to it with a lot of old taboos and conditioning. I remember my mum hating and cursing her way through hot flashes and mood swings. Luckily, with the help of 30 years of yogic practices under my belt (pardon the pun) I was able to question that narrative.
Was it really a hated curse to bear, or was it an integral part of our human experience? This led me down many different rabbit holes as I grappled with the current cultural narrative and my own need to find purpose and meaning. I found studies on toothed whales in which the older females also experienced longer lifespans post reproductive cycle. These whales took on a matriarchal role and were able to increase the survival probability of their offspring and grandoffspring.
Cited in one study published in Nature, “In human societies, women living under natural survival and fertility can expect to spend an average of 42.5% of their adult life postreproductive. This contrasts starkly with our closest extant relatives: in most wild populations, female chimpanzees spend on average only 2% of their adult life postreproductive.”1
This is potentially half of a woman’s life in the post reproductive phase. This information was stunning to me. I thought it was all over, but really it’s only just heating up! Through this evolutionary lens, I have been able to soften and drop deeper into contemplative practices in order to discover and step into my GRAND phase.
With this shift in perspective, all of the various menopausal symptoms have lost their zing, and have become a guiding light for what practices I choose to do on the mat. Sore joints = Restorative, weight gain = Weight lifting, brain fog = neurological exercises with pranayama, low mood = meditation. To my fellow menopausal mavens, I see you, I feel you and I’m right there with you.
x Jo
Here are some recent classes from Jo to help you step into your GRAND phase:
- Healthy Aging: Morning Coordination
- Vibrant Aging: Morning Flow
- Women’s Slow Flow: Get Centered
- Menopause Support: Uplift Mood
- Healthy Aging: Digestive Support Flow
- Menopause: Maintaining Muscle
- Ellis, S., Franks, D.W., Nielsen, M.L.K. et al. The evolution of menopause in toothed whales. Nature 627, 579–585 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07159-9 ↩︎
