The Cleansing Fire of Menopause: Finding Alignment Through Ayurveda

For years I joked that I was looking forward to hot flashes — I’ve always been someone who runs cold, so I imagined a little extra heat might be a blessing. Now that they’ve arrived, I find myself smiling at that thought. Some days they feel intense, other days they’re gentle waves, but what’s most surprising is how fascinating this process feels.

In Western culture, menopause and perimenopause are often treated like a disease — something to dread, medicate, or hide. Ayurveda reminds us that this is not an illness, but a sacred transition. Just like puberty, menopause is a natural stage of life, full of change, wisdom, and yes — fire.

Hot Flashes as Cleansing Fire

In Ayurveda, heat in the body is connected to tejas — the inner flame of clarity and transformation.

One thing I have noticed is that my hot flashes don’t just bring sweat and intensity; they bring clarity. I actually feel cleansed by them, like my body is burning off what no longer serves me.

I’ve even noticed that my skin takes on a rose glow during a flash — a vibrancy I sometimes miss at other times. Instead of seeing this as something “wrong,” I choose to see it as my body expressing its radiance.

This shift in perspective has been powerful, and it sets the stage for noticing how my inner fire is not separate from the world around me.

Alignment with the Seasons

Just as the leaves begin to shift from green to gold, my body too mirrors this seasonal transition — moving from summer’s heat into autumn’s grounding. Nature always knows what we need.

What feels especially interesting to me is the timing. As these hot flashes have started to surface, we’re also moving from summer (pitta season) into autumn (vata season). Ayurveda also teaches that perimenopause and menopause mark the transition from the pitta stage of life into the vata stage of life. This shift feels like alignment — as if my body and the natural world are mirroring one another.

This past summer I noticed my internal temperature running higher than usual, and I intuitively took steps to prepare for the transition: more oiling to keep dryness at bay, cooling yet grounding foods to balance the fire, and making rest a true priority. By honoring these rhythms in myself and in nature, I feel supported as I move through this stage.

This awareness also led me to reflect on how our past shapes our present experience of menopause.

Life Experience and the Menopause Journey

Every step of the journey leaves its imprint. The rougher roads of our earlier years shape how we move through transitions — and yet, with awareness and care, they also prepare us to walk forward with steadiness and grace.

It’s my belief, drawn from life experience, intuition, and Ayurveda, that the rougher our early years were, the more challenging perimenopause and menopause can be. Stress, trauma, overwork, and depletion leave their imprint, especially on ojas (our vital essence) and Vata (the subtle energy of movement and stability). When these are low, the transition can feel more turbulent.

But Ayurveda also teaches that symptoms are not punishment. They are messages — invitations to slow down, nourish, and restore what has been worn thin. With conscious care through food, herbs, rest, and self-awareness, we can soften the intensity of this stage. In fact, for many women, this becomes a turning point — a time when they become healthier, steadier, and more rooted than ever before.

I find this perspective empowering: our past shapes us, yes, but menopause can be the moment we finally give ourselves the care we always needed.

This realization naturally brings me to advice I would offer my younger self.

Advice to My Younger Self

If I could offer guidance to my younger self, it would be this: make self-care and rest non-negotiable. Build solid morning and evening routines that set you up for the day and ease you into sleep at night. These rhythms become anchors that help the nervous system handle stress more gracefully when transitions come. Eat a diet that truly suits your constitution, not just what is convenient, and honor the need for lighter schedules and more rest during menstruation. The foundation we lay in earlier years directly shapes how gently we move through perimenopause and menopause.

These practices create resilience — and they set the stage for the kind of nourishment that now feels essential to me.

Nourishment as Medicine

I’ve been experimenting with foods and herbs to support this transition, and one simple recipe has become a favorite: creamy oats cooked with ashwagandha, shatavari, cardamom, cinnamon, raisins, and toasted pumpkin seeds. It’s warm, soothing, and satisfying — the kind of nourishment that calms Vata while cooling Pitta. I’ve even noticed that on days I enjoy this bowl, my hot flashes are a little softer, my body feels steadier, and my energy more grounded.

Adaptogen-Spiced Oats with Ashwagandha & Shatavari: A nourishing breakfast bowl topped with seeds, offering a balanced start to your day.

Alongside these meals, I also lean on my Ayur-Chai, a milk-based chai latte I make with ashwagandha, shatavari, and balancing spices. It’s become a daily ritual before I step into body treatments or teaching, a way to center myself while also sharing these healing herbs with others.

I’ve also leaned on specific foods in this season — warm, cooked milk; beets, carrots, cucumbers and summer squashes like zucchini fresh from my garden; and simple, grounding meals that mirror the abundance nature provides. Each bite feels like nature saying, here is what you need right now. For abhyanga, coconut oil has become my go-to, offering both cooling relief for heat and grounding for Vata.

Nourishment, awareness, and breath have become my guiding lights in this season.

Mood, Awareness, and Breath

Another shift I’ve become curious about is mood. During this transition, emotions can rise and fall with surprising speed. Rather than labeling that as instability, I use it as an invitation to awareness.

When the waves of change rise, I return to the breath. Hand to heart, hand to belly — a reminder that awareness transforms discomfort into presence.

When a hot flash begins, I pause and return to the breath. Slow, steady, grounding breaths help me ride the wave without resistance. This simple act transforms the experience from one of discomfort to one of presence.

A New Story for Menopause

What if we stopped seeing menopause as a decline, and instead saw it as a doorway? A time when the body and mind purify, when clarity rises, when wisdom begins to shine?

Menopause is not an ending, but a doorway — rooted in the earth, guided by wisdom, and open to the light of what comes next.

For me, this transition has become a teacher. It’s reminding me to listen more closely, to honor my body’s cycles of change, and to welcome the fire not as a curse, but as a blessing. The alignment I feel between my inner fire and the seasonal shift from summer to autumn is teaching me that this process is not random, but beautifully timed.

Ayurveda teaches that every stage of life has its gifts. In perimenopause and menopause, the fire may feel strong, but if we work with it — through awareness, breath, nourishing foods, and gentle practices — we can experience not just symptoms, but transformation.

If you find yourself in this transition of life, I warmly invite you to reach out. Whether through health counseling, abhyanga, yoga, reiki, or a personalized blend of my services, there are many ways I can support you. I’m happy to offer a short call to explore what might be most helpful for you as you move through this stage with more ease and balance.

With warmth and love,

Jennifer