Menopause as a Threshold, Not a Decline

A Chinese Medicine Perspective on Transition, Essence and Renewal

Menopause in the Cycle of the Five Elements

In Chinese medicine, menopause does not exist in a vacuum. It is part of a larger cycle of transformation — the Five Phases — and therefore also part of the natural stages of life.

Childhood and youth belong to Wood: growth, emergence, exploration, discovery.
Early adulthood corresponds to Fire: blossoming, expression, love, visibility.
The time of motherhood, work, care, and responsibility is Earth: nourishing, carrying, organising, being the centre.
After this phase, Metal begins: clarification, reflection, letting go, essence.
Old age finally belongs to Water: wisdom, depth, retreat, origin.

Menopause lies exactly at the threshold between Earth and Metal. It is not an ending, but a transition. Earth stands for integration, maturity, care, and centre. Metal distils, sorts, and reduces things to their essence. This is the passage we enter when bleeding ends and the body opens a new chapter. And to understand what is happening, it’s worth looking back — at the first half of life.

The First Half of Life – What We Bring With Us

We are born with a certain constitution — strengths, weaknesses, and a given foundation in our Jing, our essence. Some start with a lot of substance; others with a finer, more sensitive base. What happens afterward is rarely balanced: we consume, perform, function.

Many women have children — every pregnancy draws from Jing, every menstrual cycle costs blood. Meanwhile, we juggle relationships, work, household, expectations, and often the pressure to be both sufficient and pleasant.

But even without children or traditional family structures, the pattern appears in other forms: little space for personal boundaries, old loyalties, adapting to external roles, constant functioning — often at the expense of rest, the body, and inner voice. Few treat themselves in a way they would allow for someone they love. And that has consequences.

So when we enter menopause, we don’t arrive empty. We carry a backpack — and it is filled not only physically, but also emotionally.

The Backpack Opens

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