Your Chakras, Life Lessons, and Menopause
Be sure to check out Lisa’s new book and corresponding web seminar, both of which are based upon the specifics of the feminine energy body.
Cycles and phases are part of what defines womanhood. More than any other earthly creature, our bodies run according to cycles and phases – whether it is the monthly cycle of menstruation, or the life cycle of ‘mother-maiden-crone’.
Menopause represents our birth into the ‘wise woman’ phase of our life, although when I say ‘menopause’ I really mean perimenopause too, because as the medical community has come to realize, the life transit that menopause represents is actually one that spans 10 years or more for many women. For most of us, hormonal shifts begin in our early 40s or even mid to late 30s, whether we notice them yet or not. And with this comes the energetic, psychological, and spiritual shifts that usher us into our wise woman years. It’s a long birth!
Changes to our subtle body – our chakras and energetics systems – mirror many of the changes in our physical body. In spiritual traditions that work with the chakras, working with these changes is a big part of the transition into wise woman status – they are part of what enables a shift into a new spiritual perspective and skills. Specifically, it is during this time that we are guided to revisit any themes from earlier in our lives that we have left unexamined, or any wounds we have left unhealed. If we rise to this challenge, we come to own a new relationship to our subtle body, our intuition, and our spiritual selves.
From an energetics technical perspective, this ‘prompting’ often occurs through bursts of kundalini, or spiritual awakening energy, in our chakras. In chakra meditation traditions, ideally the kundalini is brought up gradually from the root to the crown chakra, enabling a smooth spiritual awakening process. During perimenopause, instead there are often sporadic bursts of kundalini (some even connect hot flashes to these bursts, since the kundalini rising often triggers a similar feeling of warmth or ‘fire’.) Just as our hormones swing during this time, so does our energetics system.
Many women experience these energy bursts as actual sensations of warmth or tingling in a part of their body associated with a chakra. If you meditate on your chakras or work with them in some other way, you may feel active energy in the chakras themselves. If not, you may not be aware of these bursts at all, but instead may see the results of them in the patterns or themes of your life during this time, because these bursts bring forth that which you are asked to heal or learn.
Whether we experience them physically or not, these energy bursts represent a tremendous growth opportunity. Each chakra is related to life themes, and we are usually called to focus on the one or two that are the most central to our growth. Although there can be a lot of complexities to our lessons, here is a basic guide to the chakras and the corresponding ‘life themes’:
- First/Root Chakra (Tailbone, Legs, Feet) – Security, Safety, Life Foundation, and Familial Heritage
- Second/Sacral Chakra (Lower Belly, Pelvis, Womb) – Emotional Openness, Creativity, Sensuality, Sexuality
- Third/Navel Chakra (Navel, Solar Plexus) – Personal Power, Will, Boundaries, and Identity
- Fourth/Heart Chakra (Chest) – Ability to Love/Feel Loved, Compassion, Acceptance
- Fifth/Throat (Neck, Jaw) – Self-expression, Clarity, Authenticity, Integrity
- Sixth/Third Eye (Forehead) – Intuition, Wisdom, Seeing Beyond Surface
- Seventh/Crown (Back Crown or Head) – Spiritual Connection, Faith, Insight
The best way to work with this knowledge is to consider how the life experiences you are having during this time corresponds to these themes. Consider how they relate to your past, especially your childhood – what has been left unresolved? Do you harbor buried fears or resentments related to any of these areas deep in your psyche? Or alternatively, are you experiencing health problems related to any of the chakra physical correspondances?
The energetic shifts of this time can manifest in any number of ways. If you approach this phase of your life as an opportunity to really work through anything that you have avoided facing in the past, your overall energy will be freed up, allowing it to flow through your subtle body. You can also benefit from working with the chakras directly, particularly with any techniques that help free up chakra flow – the energy moving between the chakras. Yoga is excellent for this, as are meditation techniques that focus on the movement between chakras (here is one from my blog if you are interested.)
When the energy flows freely through our energetics system, we experience a flowering of spiritual gifts, particularly of intuition – a key part of the wise woman archetype. Our ability to sense and connect with energies and spirit is magnified. As the reproductive aspect of our physical body winds down, the spiritual aspects of our subtle body ramp up! And this shift is something that can continue to deepen for the rest of our lives. This is the heart of conscious aging to me – embracing the shift from a focus on our physical to the focus on our wisdom and insight instead. It is a new birth, a transit into our higher selves, and an exciting time, if we can truly come to embrace it in this way.
Mommy Mystic 
This is a great article. It explains what’s going on with me without all the New Age terminology. I’ve been trying to figure out if a spiritual shift always occurs around menopause or if a spiritual shift can occur separately, and if it can, does it mimic symptoms of menopause, or is it a bit more subtle.
From your article, it seems that you are saying that it’s primarily menopause and the physical symptoms that prompt other changes, including a spiritual shift. However I always wonder if the spiritual shift could come first, and could that cause menopause. With me, I started seeing 11:11 and remembered I always did as a young child. I will admit that prompted me to question if there was something weird going on.
Around the same time, I had a profound awakening about how I thought about the world and I decided to meditate. After that, without any knowledge of what was on the internet about such “awakenings” or kundalini or the New Age term “ascension”, I had experienced major white lights during meditation, pressure on the top of my head and prophetic dreams and telepathy. It was amazing. Better still, it continues today, seven years later.
However, I was 39 then. After that, my period got very irregular, after being 28 days like clockwork for my whole menstrual life. I started getting the hot flashes and weird skin tinglings. I then researched menopause and found websites that included menopause, kundalini rising, and then ascension and Lightworkers, Starseeds…
I was very confused because I did not know what was what – is a “kundalini rising” caused by menopause? Is menopause caused by kundalini rising? Do they go hand in hand? Can you have one and not the other…and as for ascension, I gather it’s referring to the same kind of experience except there’s a focus on terms like light workers, star seeds, and focus on otherworldly beings (aside from regular spirits of deceased) and other star systems…channelings…
But in the sites that described “ascension”, they would all say that certain people were prompted, or “awakened” usually by number sequences like 11:11 or other ways. I had been doubtful about all of that, and the claims that your crown chakra opens and you feel pressure or you see lights…the whole list of “ascension symptoms” I have had for seven years and I’m forced to wonder if they are right (although I still prefer to call it a spiritual shift).
But from your article, I can at least know that these changes are normal. I guess I’m not sure if it would have happened to me if I hadn’t been aware of the abnormal amount of 11:11 I’d seen, if I hadn’t questioned most of my beliefs..because at age 39, I think it’s way too early for menopause to occur. Well, as you can tell, I am confused still as to what prompted this menopause/spiritiual shift in me – real menopause or my “new mindset.” I hope I’ve made sense. This is the first time I’ve actually written my thoughts out about this on a blog.
Thanks a lot for this article!!
Kathyg, thanks for sharing your experience. Kundalini shifts occur all of the time, and as you may have found, there are meditation traditions that are focused on techniques that consciously cause the kundalini to rise. Many other things can cause kundalini experiences as well, including other kinds of spiritual practices (that don’t explicitly focus on trying to raise the kundalini), and sudden life events. Really, the kundalini rising is just one way of talking about the energetic shifts and experiences that can occur as someone goes through the spiritual awakening process. And that process can begin at any age, with or without omens like 11:11, and can progress slowly or quickly (and sometimes one for awhile and then the other.) It really depends on the individual.
The new age writings on ascension that you speak about are based on the idea that in this particular day and age, these kinds of kundalini shifts are happening for more and more people, often seemingly spontaneously (meaning they weren’t on a conscious spiritual path when they begin.) I’m not sure about that honestly. I think there are some energetic shifts occurring in the world, and a rising sense of intensity (partially because of our sense that the earth is in crises) that may be accelerating the spiritual paths of some people. But I don’t feel it’s a mass movement, and am not sure it’s really more than in the past. It’s hard to tell. If you study religious history, in every age there are usually some people who feel that about their current age.
In terms of menopause, it’s just one time in a women’s life when the potential for a kundalini rising, and a corresponding spiritual shift to occur, is especially high. But it’s by no means the only time, and many women go through menopause with no such awakening. In your case, at 39, that does seem a bit early for menopause, so your shift seems more likely to have been spontaneous, or related to other things going on in your life. Then one of the physical symptoms of kundalini rising in women at any age is an irregular cycle, so that may have occurred because of that. Although it’s also not unusual for perimenopause to start in the early 40s, which also includes an irregular cycle. So it’s hard to say exactly what came first – it’s like the chicken and the egg!
In any case, it sounds like you were launched onto an intensive spiritual search from there and have been learning and changing a lot since then, so many blessings to you on your continued path!
I just had to start off by saying that so much of what you say feels “right”. Like Kathy I am fairly confident that I experienced an awakening of kindalini energy. My experience was definitely spontaneous in the way that I didn’t know anything about kundalini/chakra system at the time and I wasn’t meditating or anything of that nature. I was home alone and my 4 yr old was away so I had time to myself. I felt like I was kinda in a crabby funk so I got up and started to pick up around the house (this tends to relax me). As I walked around the house picking things up and walking them to wherever, I was thinking about all the seeking, questioning, analyzing I had been doing over the last year. As I thought that thought (I’m going to describe the best way I can lol) it was as If my “search for truth” became it’s own energy in the form of two spirals (the one on the left going counter c.w. and the one on the right going c.w). I stood in the middle of it and felt the energy shoot up my body and I saw what seemed like a green lazer light coming from the area of my third eye chakra, moving up and down in a scanning type motion. There is a little more as well as another different experience but I am trying to stay specific as to when I think it was activated…that was a year ago and it is safe to say it has not been fluid!!!! I have experienced some sexual abuse as a young girl and I never saw my mother again after I exposed her family member at 5 years old. I’m sure now you can understand why I relate to your writings so much!!!! This is also the first time I have ever shared my experience outside of a few people closest to me!!! I am so text book for almost every topic you cover. Finally I am given some tools to untie my own knot!! I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say it has been extremely emotional and stressful for me, BUT it has also been the most magical twist of synchronous events I could have ever hope for.
Flowergirl, thank you so much for sharing your experience and personal story here. It sounds like you are navigating through some profound and powerful changes right now, and if I can support you in any way, please let me know – questions always welcome.- Lisa
Hi there,
I have had various spiritual experiences in my life,seeing my father’s soul 2 wks before he suddenly passed away, a deep awakening at the age of 37 which resulted in the feelings of oneness etc it was great. Since then I’ve had other experiences a strong one being in 2013 in which I received a ‘message’ via the pineal gland. Just now at 44 I seem to be going through a strange phase, insomnia for the last couple of months, anxiety, emotional, and I’m wondering if these could be symptoms of an spiritual kind? Just wondering what your thoughts are on this
Many thanks
K x
Hi K, it’s hard to say without knowing more, but certainly sleep disturbances and emotional swings can both be signs of both perimenopause and a kundalini awakening. And really, as you can see from this post, very often they occur together, especially in someone like yourself, who is spiritually oriented. Here are a couple other articles that may have info that is helpful:
http://enlightenedenergetics.com/kundalini-the-energy-of-change-part-1-of-3/
I was 21 when I underwent an emergency hysterectomy. Am 27 now and still often struggle with being in full blown menopause at my age while so many of my friends having children and creating new lives for their families. I am constantly on the lookout for articles such as this to help myself in my journey, as I haven’t met too many others that are my age that can relate.
Hi Natalie, yes this can be difficult, but it really is also an opportunity for great growth, psychologically and spiritually. I hope you have all the support you need, and if not, hope that you will find it. I’m glad this article was able to help in some small way.
I am Dawn Dunham I am 47& I have been going through perimenopause my night sweats are so bad I have change my shirt two or three times my emotions my just everything is crazy inside me right now I haven’t had my period or three years and I’m afraid to go get on estrogen because all the cancer but you hear about the ✈️ my menopause is Making y husband want to leave me &So do our teens cause I FLIP OUT for no reason then I laugh it off . wants my husband
Thank YOU 💚
I was so blessed since I have been going thru my changes. I have taken this time to grow more and more and reading has opened me to a whole new understanding. ..Thank u
Hi Sharon, that’s great, I’m so glad you found this helpful, good luck in your journey.
blessings! i am 42 years old and i have in the past 3 years, and especially the past 6 months, undergone an intense and rapid ascension process.. 🙂 I have experienced all the symptoms related to such, physically mentally emotionally and spiritually and i have emerged in My High Priestess self, into my Wild Woman and Crone.. and this month i actually didn’t have my period … it’s now nearly 3 weeks overdue, as i have been like clockwork on a 4 week schedule all my life. Is it possible I actually reached menopause?? just curious about your input.. it’s early, but makes so much sense… blessings of love light and abundance in your every Now moment.. namaste Willow
Hi Willow, the perimenopause stage most commonly begins in the 40s and can last for many years – as long as 10, although usually it is more like 3-4. During this phase it is common for a woman’s cycle to become irregular, or perhaps another way of putting it is that your body has its own time schedule. So it’s very likely your period will return again, and may even return to regularity again, but then become irregular in phases. Or for other women it does stop all at once, although that is less common. When going through strong transition cycles due to kundalini movement – which is technically what has been happening for you – it is also common for a woman’s cycle to change or become less predictable. So as your energy stabilizes at the tail end of this transition, your cycle may stabilize again too.
So really, anything could happen right now! But as I mentioned in this article, the entire perimenopause stage is one of lessons and energy shifts. Emotional patterns and cycles from the past that haven’t quite been let go of often rise up for us to deal with once and for all, and each time we do so with insight and power, we release a block from our subtle body. Each release triggers a reorganization in our subtle body, preparing us for our full ‘wisdom body’. And of course since our subtle body and physical body are so linked, the transition is reflected there too, most often through our perimenopause ‘symptoms’. So it’s a magical, though unpredictable, time. Blessings to you as you navigate through- Lisa
Hello my dear , what you wroteis of tremendous help and it is so precious to know, and I have a question , Is it possible through knowing our energetic characteristics to attract in a man who is perfect for empowering us and honoring us as women
Hi Rim, I’m glad this information was helpful. Certainly as we come to know ourselves, and work through the blocks to our happiness and personal power, and our capacity to love grows, our vibration shifts and that influences who we attract to us and who we are attracted to. And certainly there are men in the world today who are part of the larger shifts going on and can be in a relationship with women in a new way, one that honors and empowers us. However, I always get a little nervous when someone uses the word ‘perfect’ when it comes to a romantic partner. There are so many projections that we make in relationships, and those projections often have more to do with what we think we lack in ourselves than anything else. Women in particular are conditioned to believe deep down that we are not complete without a man, and so we look outside ourselves for a sense of wholeness, rather than within. I recently wrote a blog post about some of these patterns: Why Not to Believe in Soulmates.
Then in addition to that, there is so much healing that needs to occur right now for both men and women, in order to be in relationship in a different way, one that is not based on past patriarchal expectations. We are in a transition phase right now, so it is often challenging to overcome these patterns.
So overall my answer is nuanced. Yes, I believe it is possible to attract and be in a relationship with a man who can both empower and honor us as woman. But we have to really be careful we are not falling into projection patterns of expecting a man to ‘save us’ or complete us. No one can do that for us. And we have to recognize that both men and women have much healing and personal work to do to learn to be in relationship in a new way.
The article you have written is comforting to me. There is very little information out there that explains the changes women’s body goes ththrough and how to effectively manage them. My relationship with my mother hadn’t always been strong ,subject matter such as this was never really discussed. I have looked through numerous websites seeking educated information on this and alternative methods to treat the physical effects. Most of what I have read pre menopause they afvice on hormonal therapy, scented oils, massage ect… I’m scheduled to see my doctor and am pretty sure with the severity of my symptoms I will start some hormone treatment. I also have a diffuser fory essentially oils I use on occasion. Please continue posting articles on women’s health. As their is little to no information out there. Again thank you for posting! Love & Light
Hi Holly, I’m so glad you found this useful, and keep looking outside the box – the menopausal transit impacts us in so many ways, and it’s a very individual journey. Most women benefit from a combination of approaches. Many blessings to you as you come into your full power. Lisa
I just wanna say it is a relief that I found this article. I have been living 2 years with a Kundalini awakening and going through a rough perimenopause stage. I am still new to all this spirituality. I was very unawakend and triggered awake by a twinflame. I feel like I had a walk in and take over me because I started doing things I normally would never do. But anyway I feel like the woman who are going through these rapid kundalini awakenings are actually birthing the new energies onto this planet. We are wormholes. I dunno just a thought! But I had just showered and decided to look this up right after, I had an interesting day where I hyperfocused, an ADHD term where I got stuck today on the coach. My ADHD has been alright but I feel because of this moment in time My dilemmas are coming up to heal and this is one of them. I feel pregnant and holding extra fat. I heard somewhere that it could be the higher self merging, I dunno though. I am having trouble remembering the things I read. But anyway I am comforted finding this thread! And I can see others have been going though it longer than me! I just turned 45 … 4 days ago sigh!
So weird it says I posted this on April 15 2:43 am… It’s April 14th 10:43pm
Hi Barbra, I’m glad it was helpful and wish you luck in your processing. If you feel you would benefit from some specific energy tools check out the Women’s Energetics page which contain some free meditations, or my book Chakra Empowerment For Women.
Interesting perspective. Will pay more attention to the “life themes” as I experience them
Hi Lisa, here we are into the first week of June. Wanted to stop by and let you know that my mother and I are working through your book together, after having worked with it individually after it became available. I had forgotten ALREADY how appropriate this is for readers of my book. My days to run our forum are Wednesday/Thursday, and I will post a link to this post. Thanks for all you do! Take care of yourself and be well.
Thanks for stopping by Cate. I am still running behind on my own reading goals, and so looking forward to reading your book and recommending it in my menopause course!
Hi Barbra, thanks so much for your sharing, for some reason I missed this comment when you first posted it. Lisa
Hi Lisa, I just finished your ebook on Healing the Subtle Body Wounds of Sexual Trauma and Abuse and found the chakra exercises to be wonderfully helpful and healing. I experienced an intense Kundalini crisis during perimenopause back in 2005 and know well what havoc having overloaded chakras can have on the midlife transition. My experience with mind/body/spirit healing during this time was so profound that I wrote a memoir/research project about my experience and am currently offering Wise Woman Chakra Tarot Readings for Menopause & Beyond to women in transition. I see that you’re in the process of writing a book about chakras and menopause….please feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss Kundalini and menopausal healing. Thanks so much for providing such helpful resources! Many blessings, Lynda Wisdo
Hi Lynda, thanks so much! I did end up covering menopause a little in my book released last year, Chakra Empowerment for Women, and periodically do webinars on it as well that go more in depth (this is an older post so it doesn’t reflect that yet.) It sounds like you are doing wonderful work in the world, I will check out your site when I can. Thank you- Lisa