An Empowered Approach to Menstrual Cycles, Perimenopause and Menopause with Dr. Mariza Snyder [Episode 941]

This week’s topic: 

Hi everyone and welcome back to our Monday interview show. I am so excited for my very special guest today. Her name is Dr. Marisa Snyder and she is a functional doctor, a perimenopause and menopause expert and author of eight books, including the essential oils menopause solution and the essential oils hormone solution. She is also the host of the top rated Essentially You Podcast   We had an amazing heart centered conversation just a few weeks ago. Marisa is also a personal friend of mine and I will say she is a heart based warrior and boy mama as well.

 

About Dr. Mariza Snyder

Dr. Mariza Snyder is a functional practitioner, women’s hormone expert and the author of eight books: The newest book, The Essential Oils Menopause Solution, focuses on solutions for women in perimenopause and menopause and the #1 National Bestselling book, The Essential Oils Hormone Solution, focuses on balancing women’s hormones naturally.

For the past fifteen years, she has lectured at wellness centers, conferences, and corporations on hormone health, metabolic health, nutrition, and detoxification.  She has been featured on Dr. Oz, Oprah Magazine, Fox News Health, MindBodyGreen and many publications. Dr. Mariza is also the host of the top rated Energized Podcast, (with over 10 million downloads) designed to empower women to become the CEO of their health. Check out her website, drmariza.com, for women’s hormone tips, including recipes and supplementation.

 

Guest Resources

Dr. Mariza Snyder Website: 

Dr. Mariza Snyder Books:

The Essential Oil Menopause Solution  

The Essential Oil Hormone Solution 

 

Episode Chapters

00:00 Heart-Led Living and Wellness Introduction
00:57 Empowering Women Through Hormonal Health
02:51 Understanding Hormones as Messengers
05:59 The Creative Power of Hormones
09:13 Menstrual Cycle as a Vital Sign
12:04 Navigating Modern Environmental Challenges
15:09 The Role of Stress in Hormonal Regulation
18:12 Essential Oils: A Natural Approach to Wellness
21:05 Connecting with Nature Through Essential Oils
24:10 The Wisdom of Menopause and Life Transitions
28:45 Embracing Change: The Journey Through Menopause
39:34 Navigating Modern Menopause: Tools and Technologies
46:00 Empowered Choices: Individualized Care for Women
52:32 Finding Balance: Self-Care and Boundaries in Midlife

 

Episode Sponsors

LMNT

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SUN WARRIOR

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USE LINK: Sunwarrrior.com and enter code KIMBERLY at checkout to get 15% off

 

[RESOURCES / INFORMATION]

SOLLUNA PRODUCT LINKS

• Glowing Greens Powder™
• Feel Good SBO Probiotics
• Feel Good Detoxy
• Feel Good Digestive Enzymes
• Feel Good Starter Kit
• Feel Good Skincare

KIMBERLY’S BOOKS

• Chilla Gorilla & Lanky Lemur Journey to the Heart
• The Beauty Detox Solution
• Beauty Detox Foods
• Beauty Detox Power
• Radical Beauty
• Recipes For Your Perfectly Imperfect Life
• You Are More Than You Think You Are 

OTHER PODCASTS YOU MAY ENJOY!

• Wellness Insights: How to Listen to Your Body for Nutritional Guidance [Episode 878]
• How the Power Foods Diet helps with Weight Loss with Dr. Neal Barnard EP. 877
• How Not to Age with New York Times best-selling author Dr. Michael Greger [Episode #873]
• How to eat to reduce anxiety with Harvard nutritional psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo [Episode #867]

 

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Transcript:

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:00.238)
Welcome to the Feel Good Podcast, which is all about heart led living and wellness. When we awaken the power of our hearts and let that guide us through our daily choices and decisions, through our four cornerstones, food, body, emotional well being and spiritual growth, we will experience the most incredible results and create more vitality, health, strength, peace, abundance and love in our lives. I am your host, Kimberly Snyder, New York Times bestselling author, founder of Solluna, creator of the research-based Heart Aligned Meditation, wellness expert, nutritionist and international speaker. I am passionate about supporting you on your unique heart and wellness journey. Let’s get started.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:57.902)
Hi everyone and welcome back to our Monday interview show. I am so excited for my very special guest today. Her name is Dr. Marisa Snyder and she is a functional doctor, a perimenopause and menopause expert and author of eight books, including the essential oils menopause solution and the essential oils hormone solution. She is also the host of the top rated energized podcast, which I’ll mention that

We had an amazing heart centered conversation just a few weeks ago. Marisa is also a personal friend of mine and I will say she is a heart based warrior and mama, boy mama as well. So. mama. Marisa, thank you so much for being here with us today. I am so excited we could make this happen. It’s so lovely to connect with you again. I feel that. Thank you so much for having me, Kimberly.

So happy to be here. You know, the last few months in particular, I feel like we’ve run into each other in different events. And then you came to some of my book launch events. And you know, when you really connect with someone on a heart level and it just felt so authentic, so passionate, your real desire to support others, especially women, and to come from this, you know, what I really connect to from this, this more holistic place.

When we’re not just, even when we’re talking about hormones or we’re talking about functional medicine, not linear, right? There’s this dynamicism, there’s this individuality, there’s this intuition that comes forward. And I feel like you really embody that and also just this passionate energy, this aliveness. I love serving women. I know that’s, it’s literally my Dharma. I always say I serve everybody by serving women.

And most importantly, I love serving mamas because they are, you know, they’re the epicenter of their family’s health and wellbeing. So I am just so, so grateful and I’m very passionate about it. That is for sure. Well, you know, it’s interesting when we talk about hormones, you know, back to this dynamicism, this nonlinear, just the energetics of hormones, I think is a really fascinating topic. And then even when I was doing research for my last book, there was a research study that’s in the book around

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (03:19.81)
how we can shift cortisol and DHEA from awakening our heart’s power, from doing the heart align of meditation and these heart coherence tools. So it just shows how much empowerment there is around this topic as you and I have also spoken about Dr. Marisa because sometimes women get sort of funny when we start to talk about hormones and it can start to feel a little bit scary or disempowering as we age, as we go through certain cycles, there’s things happening that are, no.

we’re alleged to believe are totally out of our control. Can you talk a little bit about your perspective about how much we really can add into this mix with hormonal regulation and continuing to feel our best? Yeah, I think the first myth I would love to kind of dispel, you I don’t know how you grew up, Kimberly, but I grew up in a Mexican Catholic family and my period was something to, you know, to tolerate, to deal with.

It was shameful and I didn’t understand what a superpower my menstrual cycle was. How incredibly beautiful and harmonizing. How much our hormones are doing for us. always say our hormones are literally messengers that are making it all work at all times. They are doing the best they can with what they got in the moment based on our external environment, our internal environment, and they are such

a profound blessing in really helping that cell to cell communication and for us to thrive. Like I even think about, you know, throughout our menstrual cycle, have these, you know, every single day our hormones are shifting. And as a result, our microbiome shifts, our energy shifts, the way that our brain functions, all of it. Like there’s this ebb and flow, this adaptability.

But then there’s a couple of times of our month where we see this estradiol peak day 12 or progesterone peak day 21 and that facilitates immune system regulation, reducing inflammation, brain function, know, suppressing, activating tumor suppressor cells, driving reproductive health. You one thing a lot of people don’t know is that

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (05:33.678)
When we think about mitochondria, which is a little energy powerhouses in every cell of the body and are really driven through coherence as well, and you the ultimate energy connection and creation, that the most amount of mitochondria in any system of the body, any organ, is going to be the ovaries right before ovulation. Because it’s such an energetic process, like initiating the possibility of life.

And so when you think about it at that grand scale of the amount of energy and life that is being created through this beautiful orchestration of hormone regulation and menstrual cycle, you know, rhythmic, you know, the way that it runs every single month, it’s just, honestly, it is miraculous. It’s miraculous. And I wish we talked about it with that much reverence.

Because you know, it’s always been kind of shrouded as this like thing we have to endure and the main event has always been the period. Whereas no, the main event is ovulation. Like she’s the one running the show. And so I wanted to just speak into shifting our mindset around what a blessing and what a superpower our bodies are and our hormones are. So beautiful. And then I’d like to

I’d love to expand our discussion around, you know, I have friends who have PCOS or they have issues with their monthly cycles. And then also this ovulation, this potency for all our community members who want to redirect that energy into their projects, into their friends, into their other work. So many women today are choosing not to have children as well.

And as creatives, you and I are both sisters in the written word. We both written eight books. To me, my books also writing a book right now. my gosh. I feel like it’s almost like a child, right? These projects. can you speak a little bit about this creative power, which is an alignment with the hormones, but it doesn’t always have to be so literally giving birth or creating life. mean, life in different forms can come about.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (07:50.228)
absolutely. Gosh, you think about all of the levels of creativity we can connect into. Even if we break down, let’s just say the phases. Well, first I want to, the PCOS part, the polycystic ovarian syndrome. I want to just speak into that really quickly, that our menstrual cycle is a vital sign. It’s just equally as important as our respiratory rate, as our blood pressure, our temperature. It is a vital sign.

our menstrual cycle because it’s so energy, it requires so much energy to run, understandably so. mean, think about moms or women who are pregnant are 3D printing people. That’s what is going on. Let’s just call it. There’s a very energetic process that goes into that. It’s no wonder that when our bodies are out of equilibrium, whether it’s our gut microbiome or it’s our thyroid,

or it’s our mitochondria or maybe there’s some type of metabolic issue going on that the reproductive system will be or the menstrual cycle will be a signal, a beautiful signal kind of a, I always say that symptoms are gifts. It’s a gift and it’ll tell you like, you know, all of a sudden there’s irregularity or if your cycle is being skipped or maybe you’re not ovulating or you’re having pretty serious PMS symptoms that in that late luteal phase and again,

people always want to blame hormones. Like, my God, it’s my estrogen, it’s my progesterone, it’s FSH or whatever it may be. it’s really, it’s not your hormones. Again, they’re doing the best they can with what they’ve got in any scenario. And in those moments, they’re just signaling to tell us something else is happening in the system that we get. And it could be cortisol deregulation. It could be serious trauma. So just a heads up that your menstrual cycle

Again, it is just letting you know that there’s the time to do a full on body scan to investigate what may be going on in the body that may be throwing off your menstrual cycle. So I wanted to just speak into that. No, thank you so much, Marisa, because we want to be aware and also to approach these potential challenges or things that we have to deal with without shame, right? Just the same way we are not just what we look like. We are not just our achievements. We are not just

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (10:12.066)
you know, how well our cycle is functioning. We’re so much more than that. We are the hearts, we are the true self. And so I feel sometimes shame from women that come to me and they’re like, this is off or I’m not able to carry a child or, you know, I’m having challenges here. And that really, you when we feel that compassion in our hearts to share with our sisters, this isn’t something to feel shameful about. These are, you know, things we need to look at, potentially things that we can adjust, things we can.

do, things we can flow with. Yeah. It’s a beautiful thing when we really think of it from that perspective that when we start to see, you know, irregularities or issues with our cycle, it really is an opportunity for us to go inward and to see, okay, what could be happening under the scene or under the hood? Is it inflammation? Again, you know, with polycystic ovarian syndrome, it often is more of a metabolic issue. And, we live in a time

I won’t go too deep into it, but I know you and I as women, mothers with protector energy, I don’t know if we’ve ever lived in as much of a toxic time as we live right now. And so our systems are being bombarded with so many different, whether it’s plastics or it’s endocrine disruptors, or it’s a lot of the additives, preservatives and chemicals in our food that are being disguised as something okay, that we’ve never had kind of an external.

assault to the system the way that we do right now with so many different stressors hitting us. so it’s no surprise that our metabolic system, which is what I call, what our dear friend Dr. Casey Means calls good energy, right? Good cellular energy is getting, you know, could potentially be getting compromised. And if one of the most energetic systems of the body is the reproductive system, and that is at, you know, that’s being, you know, kind of stressed upon by our environment, it’s really important to

be looking at that. So it’s no surprise that polycystic ovarian syndrome, which affects one in six women and is one of the biggest reasons for infertility in the US and other, you know, other countries is more of a, it’s a metabolic concern. And, you know, in a lot of ways, you know, we, we, you know, we’re talking about you living in such beautiful nature and just being embodied in nature and how many of us don’t really have as much access to that. Or we’re not, we’re not as

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (12:31.406)
fully embodied, which is not necessarily, I always say that there’s nothing about the modern day experience that is conducive to healthy hormones or healthy metabolic health unless we’re being very intentional. We’re being very intentional about our heart coherence. We’re being very intentional about regulating our nervous system. We’re being very intentional about our water and our food and being out in nature. But if we’re just kind of in default mode,

which I know so many of your listeners are not, but if we are, we’ll notice those metabolic shifts happening, and then we start to see a presentation of polycystic ovarian syndrome. And so I just wanted to bring that full circle, but there’s a lot that we can do to really support our hormones and our metabolism so that our bodies are really beautifully functioning. Yes, I agree. And as someone who entered the wellness pathway through nutrition and food and more physical wellness,

As I’ve gone along the journey, Maurice, as we’ve talked about with the heart, with so much around stress resilience, avoiding stress, not just trying to minimize stress, because sometimes we can hear, there’s so many microplastics and there’s so much everywhere, we start to feel that fear. But as Dr. Roland McCready, who I did the research study with, says, emotions run the show. And as you know, emotions have a profound impact on hormones.

just on our ability to have tools to stay centered. So yes, we can do our best. We do live in a toxic world to minimize that environmental exposure, but we do have so much in our power by having tools to stay centered, to stay regulated, to not go so much into the stress response, which I know in your work you see has such a direct impact on hormonal dysregulation.

Absolutely. It’s very much a yes and yes, we do our best to mitigate our environment so that we’re really thriving. I always, one of my so many great meditation teachers that I’ve worked with over the years, I’ll never forget one saying that, you know, you could eat all the organic food, you could make all the green smoothies. And if your body is deregulated, if you’re constantly in a stressed state, you’re just making organic stressed proteins.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (14:41.012)
in hormones. You know what I’m saying? It’s on top. they’re deregulated. Like, yeah, maybe the substrates coming in are okay, but what is the body, a deregulated body turning that into? Yes. Most likely a deregulated system. And so yeah, that is at the heart of so many things. When I’m working with women, yes, we get to work on those pillars, kind of the basic pillars that I’m sure people talk about all the time on the show. But the one thing that I think women, they want to go outwards.

with a lot of people, we want the solution, the exogenous solution, the medication or the protocol. And so much is the inside work is really regulating the nervous system and coming from the heart. So much of what’s causing disease or distress in the system is really a very stressed system. And that could very much be coming from us directly, whether it’s fear or whatever it may be. Yes.

you

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (15:45.742)
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Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (17:43.234)
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Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (19:00.118)
you focus on essential oils. And can you speak a little bit about that, how something that’s very accessible can have such a direct impact and also a little bit, I know this was a whole subject of the whole book, but how we can safely use them, right? Because I’ve heard some people, know, concerned there are certain companies that tell you to ingest them or, you don’t want to put too much on your skin because they’re so concentrated. But how can smelling and how can these oils have such a profound

effect on our hormonal function and regulation. Yeah. I think one thing it’s important to think about, well, when I think about essential oils is one, they’re energetic. They have a beautiful energetic property to them. so I think using them can really align us to, especially depending on the oils we’re using can really be very heart centered. I always say that you can choose your mood.

by smelling them because they can go straight into the limbic system and just calm things down, especially, you know, for some people, it can be hard to learn initially to help to regulate themselves. mean, thank God you have a beautiful book and so many beautiful tools to help people. But I find a scent can really anchor us into that experience and into the present moment. So those are the reasons why I love them so much. Yeah, like it can shift your, it can help to shift your state. So, you know, so let’s say you’re having, you’re really, gosh, just.

Today is not one of those days. It’s just not working out. All the things that could be happening, it just kind of feels like it’s stacking. Yeah. Yeah. And you just need a little reset. And for some reason, breath or maybe that meditation isn’t, you need a little more of an anchor. I love using an oil like a lavender or rose or jasmine to just anchor me into the moment. It kind of just shifts state.

It can definitely shift the central nervous system and kind of do you re-regulate you back to the parasympathetic from that kind of fight or flight sympathetic mode and just allow you to drop in a little bit deeper into the practice. So I do love that. The other thing that I love about oils, I mean, we use them on our son every night. We diffuse them in the house. smell so good.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (21:05.486)
is it? How would you in the moment use it in a safe way? Would you actually put a few drops? Yeah, you can dilute it. You got some right there. I put some on before this interview. I’ll get you speaking to that in just a second. But this is already pre-diluted. It’s probably…

I want to say 50 % diluted. And what I do is I’ll just drop a couple of drops on my hand. Your palms are pretty safe. Think about how rough your palms are. It’s not one of the most sensitive skin of the body versus like, you know, your face or your neck or something. And I just breathe it in just a couple of deep breaths. And this is peppermint.

And peppermint’s one of my absolute favorites. It just awakens the senses. It opens up the pathways, your air pathways. It helps you to breathe. It feels like you’re breathing more clear and it opens up everything and it just awakens the brain. And so it’s one of my favorites. Anytime before I go on a podcast interview, whether I’m showing up to serve or I’m getting to interview someone like you, my love, I just open things up and I just feel so clear and ready. I’m like, okay, let’s go. But for my son, yeah, go

as soon as you said that and you described the energy, I’m, you know, I’m connecting with you. Yeah, exactly. We talk about, you know, the heart coherence and the heart fields, how it intersects. And it was like I tuned in to what you were smelling and experiencing. was like I tuned into the medicine of that peppermint. And it, I felt, you know.

connection. Isn’t that amazing? really does connect across time and space. I’m going to put it towards the mic. Because we can feel these energetic properties, right? We can connect to, and that’s the whole thing with David Crowe we had on here, who is a plant medicine expert herbalist. And he talks about how these plants, these trees have different properties. again, back to centering ourselves.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (23:03.252)
Using nature, my energy is to center. beautiful. Yeah, I mean, that’s what you’re using. mean, if it’s a pure essential oil, you’re encapsulating those chemical constituents. we have always been, we are nature. Yes. Let’s just call, I mean, let’s, we are nature and we’re meant to bio-harmonize with nature.

and through our deepest intuition, through connecting to mother nature. And so what I love about essential oils is we’re getting to encapsulate their therapeutic constituents and our bodies were always meant. We think about all medicine originated initially from plants.

As I’m sure you’ve had a lot of speakers on the show talk about. And so that’s really what we’re doing with essential oils is we’re facilitating those beautiful chemical properties that come from plants that are designed to be helpful for plants as well. And I think one of the ones that everyone’s so familiar with is lavender. And for good reason, lavender, I mean, there’s lots of research, especially in Europe, where it can reduce feelings of anxiety and feelings of just…

panic attack, energy, anxious energy. And again, you know, I think at times when we may be in that energy, it can be hard to pull ourselves out when we’re in the throw of it, when we’re in the eye of the storm. And I love an oil that can anchor you again into the process of helping to facilitate you out of that really hard moment. And we also use it for sleep. So I’m a big fan of anchoring.

using something physical to anchor to beautiful, healthy habits. And so we use lavender on my son. It’s diluted on my son every night on his back. That’s a part of his routine. He’s like, okay, guys, where’s my oil? Where’s my lavender? My sleepy time blend is what he likes to call it. He’s three. That’s what we talk about. yesterday he felt like he had a little tummy thing. We have a little tummy blend for his tummy.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:56.986)
But for me, I love using it. I used it in my hot yoga session last night. I used a combination of lavender and jasmine. I use them before bed to anchor me in. You know, I’m of an age where, you know, when I was in college, I could just like fall into bed and fall asleep. Now I kind of got to, I got to work myself into a into a relaxation state. And so I use oils to kind of anchor along with meditations to really just calm the system down and show myself into

Yeah. So that’s what I love about oils. The other thing I love is, we live in a time where, you know, again, leveraging heart energy and connecting to our heart is probably one of the most powerful tools we can have to feel more present and harmonious in this world. But also sometimes, you know, whether it’s a little health issue or we need a little bit more energy, or we just need our brain to be fine a little bit better. I love that essential oils can act as an instant win.

They can really be a win. I believe that when it comes to health, and I know sometimes it can be hard to be consistent about our habits, or it can be hard to start something new that we know is good for our bodies, maybe even like a meditation practice. So many people, I just can’t, I’m not good at meditating or whatever the story is. I love that we can, again, anchor, I always say that essential oils accentuate the ritual. They are the beautiful win to really

move you in the direction of all these beautiful, healthy habits and lifestyle tools. And so that’s how I think about oils. And so for women, whether moms or women just doing life, I am a big proponent that we deserve all the wins that we can get all the time. agree. so that’s kind when I think about essential oils. And if we can help to deregulate our, again, stress response system, our kind of that spillage of

cortisol, you know, our bodies are in just better harmony. in better harmony. They’re able to really function in the way that creates homeostasis, you where we’re, you know, it’s just kind of running like a fine-tune machine. And if oils can help to make that happen, then I am a big fan. I love that. And again, it just feels very accessible. It feels empowering. You can get oils, high quality oils for not, you know, crazy amounts of

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (27:19.982)
money. They’re more like $20. I think it’s last me probably six months. And you know, they last a long time, a little goes a long way. very little. Marisa, when you were speaking about this flow, and this just smelling the oils, and we’re just those of you that are watching this on YouTube, especially as you know, as sisters as women, I don’t know, there’s almost this natural organic

swaying energy that comes in. I don’t know, there’s just a feeling, right? And it reminds me how back to the brain and the amygdala and how sometimes we are wired to feel threatened by the unfamiliar or by shifts or by change. And as women, especially in men, of course, too, all of us, we go through these different shifts through life. And sometimes people can feel resistance, they feel fear going into, again,

your period cycle shifts, or you start to enter perimenopause, or you enter menopause, and it’s like, what’s going on? This feels different. I don’t know what this is. Or can you talk a little bit about just the power of wisdom and having more knowledge? And so much of your work is around educating around these different shifts. And also an empowering way to look at menopause, like this leadership that rises up in us. Well, I will say that

Menopause is inevitable, but suffering is optional. And it’s important to know. the one, what I will say is the one constant about us as women is that we are always changing. We are always evolving from when we ascend into puberty, into our childbearing years, or it’s the monthly cycle where again, we’re literally a different person chemically every single day, given hormone shifts that are happening naturally.

And then as we move out of those childbearing years into that transition of perimenopause, which is about four to 10 plus years, depending on the woman, until we get to menopause. And yes, there are a lot of changes. There are shifts in our hormones. Our hormones are declining. And I do believe that the more we understand, the more that we understand what’s going on with our bodies.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (29:40.238)
What does it mean for our hormones to come offline? What does it mean, the reproductive hormones specifically, what does it mean for that connection between the ovaries and the brain to stop running the way that it did for decades? And how do we make those pivots, not only informed pivots, but empowered pivots so that we step into that second phase of our life? The other thing I think that’s really important is as we step in and ascend into menopause,

is really asking ourselves some important questions. One, like what did we love and savor about our reproductive years? What was sacred about that time? What can we really have appreciation for our bodies moving through that rhythmic cycle pretty consistently every single month? Like, wow, what a gift. Yeah, decades, right? And what did that bring when you’re talking about birthing creativity, whether it’s a book or it’s a project?

you know, how we really enjoyed every phase of those cycles, whether it’s the first part, that follicular phase where we’re more energized, we’re more outgoing, we’ve got that like sexy, you know, just, yeah, we feel good, estradiol energy, or we step into the follicular phase and we’re more inward and we’re more creative and we get to really hone in listening to ourselves.

Yeah, being introspective in that luteal phase and how did we get to dance with all of those phases? And then we step into menopause and it’s an opportunity for us to show, like to really step into those years of wisdom and to really take ownership of what are our non-negotiables? What are our full body yes for us? What are our full body no for us?

what are our boundaries? Maybe if we hadn’t had boundaries in our reproductive years, we were, you know, however that may have played out, how do we stand in the power of stepping into these wisdom years? But then also asking ourselves, who do we want to be? And how do we want to show up as women with wisdom and women with empowered education? And so when I think about shifting the mindset about

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (31:55.954)
who do I get to step into? Who am I going to become? How do I get to use energy? Yeah, exactly. How do I want to use my energy? Right. Because our mental cycle is a very energetic process. We’re releasing that and we’re going to get to utilize that energy in a very different way in the second half of our lives. And so I think when we come in with a purpose and a vision for what we would love, like knowing our future vision selves and knowing how we’re going to get to, you know, leverage that energy to something

to another level of creativity. And again, making the pivots based on empowered knowledge about our bodies, man, it just opens the door to something very beautiful and miraculous. So beautiful and such a, you know, this awareness, having these conversations. I’m actually on my moon cycle right now. Marisa, my menstrual cycle, and I can hear it in my voice a little bit softer, a little bit more inward. And in the past, it was like,

keep plowing through the to-do list, have to do enough in a day. And now over the last few years, I’ve really come to honor that I do need a little bit more rest time. And I do move a little bit slower and there’s not anything wrong. It’s not that I’m gonna get behind, but these are the natural cycles that we really have to honor at any phase because that’s how nature is. There’s the sun and the moon. That’s what saloon means by the way, right? There’s these seasons.

And I think so much of our culture is like, you know, one track, go all the time, what’s expected of us. And it isn’t in tune with nature. It isn’t how nature works at all. Yeah, I mean, I always want to forgive my younger Marisa self where on day 27, day 28, I would try to go to the gym and I would be so disappointed in my, just.

could not work out the way that I could, maybe day 13, day 12. I always say that everybody wants day 12 us, right? That’s where estradiol is peaking. We feel, we are feeling sexy, good at energy. Extroverted, we’re very lovey, very intimate. I mean, all the things that I think we portray women are supposed to be sensual, you know? And then we get to day

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (34:10.83)
day 27. And you know, it looks a little bit different than day 12. It feels a lot different, right? And in the, you know, I wish I knew then what I know today. But what I know for sure is that I forgive that version of me who just I just didn’t know. And now I get to really honor I honor the way that I schedule my

my calendar, I’m even, I’m honoring you and just the beautiful extra grace to you for even doing a podcast interview today. Like I, so often won’t do them, you know, cause I want to honor that introspective. I’m usually writing at this time or I’m walking, I’m walking outside in nature more often. I, and I really, my husband’s very attuned to my, my, my cycle as well. And we carve out more alone time for mom. You know, cause it’s time for me to just really be by myself. I’m still.

I’m still mama, like nothing changes that, but yet I get a little bit more time. Like the boys go on a- Gentle. They have boys outings. Yeah, so it’s much more gentle for me. And that’s me nourishing my body. That’s me honoring my body. That’s me honoring the process of what my body is asking for. extra care. Yeah, yes, listening. And so to me, the greatest gift you could give yourself is honoring your body and listening to what your body is needing.

And for us as women, we aren’t meant to push hard at that late luteal, early, early, the early part of our menstrual cycle. We’re meant to go inward and to tend to ourselves. That’s how it’s meant to be. And really listen. And maybe on day two or day three, you’re feeling a little bit more energized and like listen to your body by all means. But just honor the phases of that cycle as well. Honor the fact that your hormones,

are down pretty low at this point. And you’re not going to see that estradiol rise until about day four, day five. And if we do keep plowing through, Marisa, if we don’t listen, that’s where we can start to feel depleted on a tissue level, organ level. This is where we just start to feel like we’re running on empty. And we’re not really in the fulfillment, the enjoyment of the fullness of what life could be.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (36:24.43)
Yeah, our poor little bodies, our poor mitochondria. There’s a reason why you can’t push it. You are pushing against resistance when you are trying to plow through at a time. you’re plowing against what your body is inherently designed to do, is really let that part of the cycle be what it is. It’s a time to replenish is really what it is.

Again, every woman’s a little bit different, so always listen to your body. One of the things I always recommend every morning and evening is a body scan. You’re just checking in, doing a full body, it’s a very beautiful mindfulness practice. But I think again, in this very busy, very rushed world that we’re plowing through.

we often aren’t listening to those signals, listening to those cues. And the more that you attune, especially if you’re still cycling to the phases of your cycle, you’re going to begin to realize, this is where I can push. This is where I do have a little bit more resilience. This is where I do have, I want to be out. want to be, meeting up with friends, extroverted. And then, this is where I’m really honoring my body where it’s kind of, it’s downtime for me. It’s more creativity and what a journaling or meditation or whatever it looks like for you.

So just honoring that process. And then in perimenopause, just know it’s all up for grabs. So a lot of it’s changing and shifting. And that’s when it becomes really important in midlife to really do those body scans and really listen to your body. Because every day is going to be a little bit different. Hormones aren’t running 100 % rhythmically anymore. Some days are going to be high. Some days are going to be low. And we really have to be attuned to our bodies to kind of honor that process as well.

Let me ask you a question, Marisa. When I think about, you know, we were talking about modern times and not just environmental stress, but just the stress of modern living and how busy everything is. I think about my grandmother, for example, who I spent a lot of time with when I was little. She was from the Philippines. They grew up in a very rural place and they moved here. And it feels like, and I asked her and my mother about this later, menopause wasn’t such a big deal for them. It wasn’t like

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (38:39.15)
Nowadays you hear a lot about hot flashes and things that are extended, some of it’s environmental. I don’t really understand how things shift so much based on culture, based on modern times, based on environmental toxicity. My question though, so we can talk about that, but my question is, our ancestors didn’t have access to hormone replacement, right? So they would kind of go through these cycles.

And nowadays we do have access to these different technologies. How do you approach, okay, here’s the natural cycles of our shifts and how we go through. And then there’s these modern technologies that a lot of people are calling on that are accessible to us as well, the actually taking hormone replacement therapies. Yeah, I love that question. I first want to answer with what I believe for women, for half of our population is that we deserve

all the tools in the toolbox, as long as they’re aligned with you and your body. And so you deserve all of it. You deserve top-notch care. You deserve somebody to listen to you. You deserve to have a regulated nervous system. You deserve to have all the tools in the toolbox. so yeah, times have changed. Even growing up in the 80s, surprisingly so, it wasn’t as toxic as it is today. That’s true. stress, stressors.

the amount of stress we experienced. And again, when we talking about stress being a major, having a major impact on our hormone, our endocrine system, we’re dealing with more of it today than ever before. And so it has had a profound impact on how we kind of navigate perimenopause and menopause. Also another reason why, in different cultures, absolutely there’s more reverence for women.

in stepping into menopause. And there’s something to be said about that, really honoring women and celebrating them as they head into menopause. But that unfortunately really isn’t the case for us here in the US. And so there’s a couple of different factors that are at play. One, it is a bit of a more toxic soup that we live in. We’re dealing with more chronic stress than ever before. And there’s a lot of ageism in our country.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (40:58.178)
And so there’s a lot of things like that. And so one, I think it’s important that women have a beautiful mindset about menopause and what it means to step into that next ascension. But then also making sure that they’re really feeling fully supported. And if hormone replacement therapy is a tool that can help to support women, then I am a full body yes. Now, may every woman need it? No, not necessarily. I’m not going to pretend like I don’t use it.

Yeah, it’s never like a, it’s not hot, you know, hot, cold, right, wrong. Yes, no, it’s not black and white. it, how and if you know, if you don’t mind me asking, how does it help make you feel balanced? Like, what is it? You know, what does it do for you? Absolutely. You know, I, I’ve, I haven’t, I’ve always been very honest about my mom’s perimenopause journey, that it was, it was really hard for her a lot of mental

mental struggles and changes, brain changes. And I remember I was a big, a big part of that journey for her, but I remember thinking to myself like, my goodness, I hope that what happened to her isn’t going to happen to me. And as a little girl, were witnessing this or a teenager. I mean, she was, she was a young mama when she had me, honestly, I have a real, I have a real on Instagram right now and everyone thinks she’s my sister my whole life. She’s gorgeous, youthful.

I’m 45, I have no problem calling her out. She’s 64. So she had me when she was 19 years old. And so when she was 48, I was actually in my 20s. I had just been a doctor. Yeah, amazing. I know. And to think that I had my son at 41, I would have been 20 something at the time. So I definitely spaced out the generations.

And so I was an adult. was actually, I was a doctor at that point in my life. And so I actually took over my mama’s care because this was at a time where we took away hormone replacement therapy for women after the Women’s Health Initiative. And a lot of women were just being gaslit. My mom was told that she, that, you know, she was just going to have to deal with it. And there, there, there were months out of the, out of many years where she would literally lock herself in her house because she was afraid she was going to hurt people. has such horrible rage.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (43:14.082)
rage, emotional swings. Yeah, major. That just felt uncontrollable. And so when I stepped into perimenopause, one, it’s, you know, always my intention is that I am always heart centered, heart focused, gentle, loving, compassionate, especially as a mom. Yes. And when I started to notice the emotional swings that I didn’t ever have when I cycled.

I was pretty even keeled during my menstrual cycle, but this time last year, I started experiencing these rage moments and this irritation and just the way that the loss of progesterone in my brain, which is a little bit more extreme than others, kind of similar, not as intense as my mom, but I really was like, okay, well, what tools in my toolbox do I have? One, I do a lot of

yelling into pillows. do some rage dancing. I do a lot of walks in nature, but I did find that bringing on oral micronized progesterone in the luteal phase of my cycle really eased things out for me that my brain really, really loves it. so that has been my journey. I’ve been so grateful for that tool, that beautiful medicine, opposed to, you

lot of women are offered, and there’s wrong with SSRIs or antidepressant medications, but I knew that it was due to declining hormones that I had some major shifts. And so bringing on progesterone really, really supported me in a way that I am beyond grateful for. Thank you so much for sharing, Marisa. That’s so beautiful. And I think it’s an important message for all of us to hear. In this day and age, we do have access to these tools. There are different medicines. And so it’s not all or nothing.

and it’s individualized. Women deserve that. And that’s what I believe. I know we’re just finishing each other’s senses. I like that’s been the energy of us ever since we met. But I think that’s, if I had to come through, is that we all deserve top notch care. We all deserve all the tools in the toolbox, but especially women where we just, we kind of just, women weren’t our focus. We’re not small men and our hormones,

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (45:32.75)
are who we are in a lot of ways. It’s how we are women. It’s our essence. It’s our energy. It’s a part. It’s a fabric of who we are. And as those begin to shift, it’s going to affect us differently. And just note that it could be generational trauma that was playing out for my mama and I. I don’t really know why it’s a little bit more elevated for us and my sister too. But I’m also grateful that I have this beautiful array.

of tools at my beck and call that I get to use so that I really do show up with the energy that I desire. I really do show up as the mama that I want to be and as the woman I want to be for women. And then I feel, like I said, I meditate every day, I walk in nature every day. So there’s all these things that I implement. And again, if a little progesterone can help this mama operate with more ease and grace and compassion, then…

then I’ll take it. That is such a beautiful message. And also, like I said at the beginning of our show, so much aliveness, right? So much passion. There’s a genuine heart energy coming out of you. And these tools, which are different for each person, the ways in which we use them to allow us to express that authentic nature at the heart of Marisa. So I think it’s beautiful. For anyone listening to this, it sounds like it is

very important to have the knowledge because not everyone has access to a healthcare provider that may be as attuned to this spectrum of women’s energy and women’s hormones. It’s so great we have access to your books. What would you say to that woman? Educate yourself, learn more for yourself. because some people can shift to a different healthcare provider, perhaps some.

but at least we can have more empowered knowledge within ourselves. We absolutely can. I mean, we live in a time, although again, a little bit of a toxic soup situation and definitely more stressors, but also more empowered information at our fingertips. These conversations, right? We really have the opportunity to gain agency over our health.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (47:47.55)
And in a time, even going to your OBGYN, who is very much a surgical residency than anything, when it comes to perimenopause and menopause care, even really understanding hormones, it’s like trying to get milk from the hardware store. And so you want to have a baby, those are your people.

you know, for emergency, maybe some of us do midwives and, you know, we have other options, but, you know, I’m just saying that that’s more of a surgical residency. so, we’re living in a time where we have a lot of tools in terms of bio-observability. I mean, honestly, we’re, women are the ultimate bio-harmonizers, even tracking our menstrual cycle. Like, what?

what like how to know our bodies in that way. And so I always tell women one track your cycle if you’re still cycling, yes, and track any types of changes or things that are shifting for you, whether that signs or symptoms to really get to know your body. But then yes, there’s so many wonderful places that you can go and tap into. We talked about my podcast energized, it’s really, it’s about it’s all about women’s health, but particularly women in midlife and

I love to get into the nitty gritty of really answering those questions that many of us have as we navigate the second half of our life, honestly. You know, in a time in our life where, I don’t know about you, Kimberly, but there’s a lot that I’m holding. And then get to do it in a beautiful way, but I also, I’m holding it. know, whether it’s my beautiful, whether it’s my career or it’s my son or it’s my community.

Halloween, know activities whatever it may be like, you know, I’m there’s always things that are happening and What I’ve learned is that you know the more that we can be educated about our own bodies and know our bodies like no one’s gonna know your body as well as you do and no one’s going to Pay attention to it the way that you do as well

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (49:43.862)
And so whether it’s, you you’re tracking on a whoop strap or a Fitbit, or you’re just tracking your cycle and paying attention to the signs and symptoms around it, there’s a lot that you can learn about your body. And then tapping into people that you love, that feel in alignment with what you believe to be true, and implementing things that feel the most aligned with you and your body. And so that would be my advice as we navigate this. There’s no cookie cutter approach. There’s no one protocol.

it’s gotta be tailor fit to you based on your life, your circumstances, your health history, your symptoms and your goals ultimately. And no one can dictate that or be the CEO of that like you can. Beautiful. It is important to have that these times to introspect and to even be curious and to ask ourselves and to introspect about what are our goals? What do we wanna do with our energy in these different phases? And you know,

Like you said, we’re holding so much. think I speak for all of us in all the different ways through life. I feel as a mother in my household, I’m like the foundation, right? I’m the root. And there is stability that’s called on the kids, my husband all look to me. And so sometimes that feels like, you know, I’m stable, but I need to take care of myself, right? There’s those natural fluctuations within.

being regulated and I have to take care of myself. Otherwise it’s felt throughout the household. Everybody knows. Yeah, the more coherent I am, the more coherent everyone is. Even though days like today when I am on my period and I’m down here in my cave, I call it my office, my writing cave, I’m not doing as much and I’m okay with that, like you said. So I these conversations are so important.

And permission. Not that any of us need permission from somebody at all, but giving ourselves permission more than anything. And I think this is a time, really any time is a great opportunity to get clear on your non-negotiables for you. And you’re right. If you are the epicenter, I always say I’m the epicenter. Kind of similar to you, the root, the grounding. The only one, I mean, ultimately the only one looking out for you is you.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (52:02.656)
you know, especially as women and we’re really there’s an expectation that we’re kind of kind of just give and give and give. And so if we’re going to, you know, show up with that giving energy, we got to make sure that we’re coming from that rooted place, as you said, that regulated place. And so if anyone’s looking for permission today, we are giving it wholeheartedly to honor you, to take care of you. And, you know, again, a part of that is empowered information and education. And I promise you it’s more available now than it ever has been.

And I know sometimes it could feel like, that doesn’t feel fair. Like I shouldn’t have to be the one navigating my own journey. But again, it’s a mindset shift of what a blessing that I get to be the captain of my ship. Yeah, I get to be the one who gets to collaborate with practitioners and people to take care of me. I think when we shift ownership, it’s powerful.

You I want to share a really quick story that came to mind when you were speaking about this. Sometimes we hear, know, menopause means bad or I’m getting old or I’m supposed to look the same way I did when I was 20 and all these messages, you know, in society versus for me, it’s like, you know, 20s, 30s beyond you start to rise up into this, you know, heart into throat, your real expression. A parent at my child’s school approached me a few days ago in the

Drop off, preschool drop off. We in the play yard. I know preschool drop off. Yeah, you know, preschool drop off. So I’m just kind of like there with my child and she kind of cornered me and she’s like, Kimberly, I see all the stuff you’re up to. And she asked me to be part of her new venture in her business. And I felt kind of thrown off. Like I wasn’t expecting it. I don’t really talk about work at my children’s school. And so for a moment, I was just sort of like,

You know, we were kind of walking to the car. gave her a copy of Chilla Gorilla. I gave her copy of my children’s book and got regulated right into the heart. a couple of years ago, I’d probably been like, sure, right? Just say yes to everything. Always the giver. Like I’m here to serve with no boundaries. And then I centered myself, Marisa. And I said, I’m so excited for you. I said, the truth is I’ve got so much on my plate right now.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (54:24.584)
My schedule is so full from the minute I drop off my kids to the minute I pick them up, I’m full on. And then when I pick them up, I’m full mom. So I don’t have the space for this, but I wish you well. And that felt so empowering, right? In the past, I would just give myself away and that isn’t honoring myself. And that would probably bring in more cortisol and stress hormones and depletion.

Yes, absolutely. love that. I love that story so much. And this happens a lot, right? When people are like, let me get some, let me have some of that, know, what you’ve got. And if people are thinking, gosh, I don’t know if I have the bravery or I don’t have the boundaries in place, you can always just say, Hey, do you mind if I think about it? Yes. You could always have been a no, but at least it gave you pause to be like, you weren’t ready to say, give the the beautiful no yet.

You could always say, you know, let me think about that. Let me think on that. And then, and then it’d be no. Well, and I do think, you know, this heart energy we’re talking about, it’s the centeredness. It’s grounded through our whole being. And so then we can really discern what is right for us, because if we’re depleted, our family members suffer, all the women, you know, we’re serving in the community, all the different ways, all the energies, right? When we are depleted, we really don’t help anyone. just saying as someone who’s been a

people pleaser, you know, saying yes all the time in the past, how we can really come into more of our grounded self-expression from the heart, saying things with love, but also with firmness and boundaries. But you, and that was so, I just want to just celebrate you and how loving that was. And you gifted her something. You still showed up to serve in that moment, Kimberly, with the book. How sweet was that? I keep them in my car. just give them out when I can. You’re like, here, take the but no, I’m good.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (56:18.06)
Marisa, I love you so much. I really honor you as a sister, as a friend, as a passionate woman, as a doctor looking to help and support really authentically coming from your heart. You have all these amazing books, which we will link to in the show notes. Can you also share where we can connect with you, your work on social and so on.

Yeah, absolutely. again, the podcast energize with Dr. Marisa. And on Instagram, it’s at Dr. Marisa, A D R A R I Z A. So those are the places all the books are on Amazon easy to get there. But yeah, I mean, if you are looking for that empowered, just feeling empowered in your body, you know, understanding what’s going on in your body, and also feeling heard and validated. Like that’s what’s so critical for me is that women feel validated. So I mean, we just want to feel

Belonging is such a critical part of the human experience and community and soul sisterhood. Like I’m so grateful to you for your beautiful soul sister love. And it’s through community, I feel, and through connection that we become bigger expanders and we really open up that energy. Beautiful. Thank you so much once again, Dr. Marisa, for sharing all your wisdom and your beautiful energy.

And we will link to everything on the show notes, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Please head to mysaluna.com to get access to those show notes, to also get links to other shows I think you would enjoy, other resources. We will be back here Thursday as always for our next Q &A show. Until then, take great care and sending you so much love.