Magnificent Midlife

A solo podcast from Rachel with more midlife musing on life, the universe and everything in between! Let's lean into midlife and our wisdom years!

She talks about:

- The new BSI Menstruation and Menopause in the Workplace Guide launch with Mariella Fostrup

- How we need a revolution in how women especially older ones are viewed in the world

- The inaugural MenoClarity Live summit in September

- Out and about talking about midlife and menopause

- The podcast season so far

- One year off the booze!

- How we only make change when we decide to

And more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #14 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Niamh Daly is the founder of Yinstinct Yoga and focuses on creating yoga practices to help especially with menopause, training teachers around the world in this. She also runs courses in Menopause Awareness and Strategies for fitness professionals, nutrition and health coaches as well as accredited courses for Psychotherapists and Counsellors.

We talk about:

- Why Niamh is so passionate about yoga and especially for menopause

- How to adapt our practice through menopause and as we age

- The stages of menopause

- The importance of pleasure

- Connecting with our nervous systems

- What we can learn by listening to our bodies

- The importance of movement throughout the day

- Being cautious of people making big promises about menopause

- Looking out for misleading narratives

- Learning to trust ourselves

And more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #14 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Liz O'Donnell is the founder of Working Daughter, a global community for women balancing eldercare and career. She's the award-winning author of Working Daughter: A Guide to Caring for Your Aging Parents While Earning A Living, which is a brilliant book. She's a longtime marketing executive who's become a recognized expert on caregiving and in 2020, she created National Working Daughter's Day.

We talk about:

- Why Liz wrote the book, Working Daughter: A Guide to Caring for Your Aging Parents While Earning A Living

- The importance of moving from resentment to acceptance

- The power of unconditional love and showing up

- Why Liz focused on daughters in her book

- Why it's helpful to look forward to the time when you're no longer caring (even though that means your parents are not there anymore)

- Flexibility and the cost of being flexible

- How the Covid-19 pandemic put everything in perspective

- Living through the caregiving

- How workplaces can help carers

- The expectation that it will always be the daughter

- Judging your actions not your thoughts

- Finding alternative solutions to a difficult situation

And more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #14 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Meet Mia Maugé, a 57 year old model championing broader representation in the modelling industry. She burst onto the scene in 2020 in the midst of the global pandemic when she was picked up by a modelling agency, allowing her to leave her career in digital marketing and PR . She's passionate about occupying spaces previously reserved for those who look nothing like her, be that her hair texture and colour, age, skin tone or body type.

We talk about:

- Mia's experiences of Black Power as a mixed race child of the Windrush Generation growing up in the 70s

- How she discovered her passion for writing

- Working at Notting Hill carnival

- How Mia became a model

- Going public with her Instagram page in 2020

- Facing the fear of aging

- Dyeing her hair and finally stopping

- How Mia connected with the community of silver sisters

- The low point in Mia's life

- Elderhood as the youth of old age

- Practicing gratitude and being grateful

- How the language around aging has got to change

- Aging and how society views older women

- Being comfortable in one's skin and knowing one's worth

- The importance of supporting women at any age

And more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #14 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Follow Rachel on:

Facebook: facebook.com/magnificentmidlife

Instagram: instagram.com/magnificentmidlife

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rachellankester

Twitter: twitter.com/MagnifMidlife

Pinterest: pinterest.co.uk/MagnificentMidlife1

Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCEteu6Z2mW1z1wnHiVB08uw

Tiktok: tiktok.com/@magnificent_midlife

Jessica Kupferman is the CEO and co-founder of She Podcasts, the largest women's podcasting community and organiser of She Podcasts LIVE. The She Podcasts brand currently supports over 20,000 female podcasters. She Podcasts Live Virtual is happening 20-22 June 2023. I've been a member of this brilliant community for years so it was great to sit down with Jess.

We talk about:

- How Jess got started in the podcast world

- Why podcasting is so important especially for women

- The She Podcasts live event and community

- The challenges of organising such an event

- Having ADHD and what that means for Jess

- Being both a young mom and an old one

- Life before She Podcasts

- Her ChatGPT obsession

- Top AI tips to make life zing!

- Why podcasting is great for midlife women

- What Jess has learnt along the way

And more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #14 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Follow Rachel on:

Facebook: facebook.com/magnificentmidlife

Instagram: instagram.com/magnificentmidlife

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rachellankester

Twitter: twitter.com/MagnifMidlife

Pinterest: pinterest.co.uk/MagnificentMidlife1

Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCEteu6Z2mW1z1wnHiVB08uw

Tiktok: tiktok.com/@magnificent_midlife

Dr Sharon Blackie is an award winning writer, psychologist and mythologist. She's the author of the best selling, If Women Rose Rooted and more recently, Hagitude: Reimagining The Second Half Of Life. I love both books. They completely re-envision how women fit in the world. Hagitude is a wonderful analysis of how women used to be in later life, before the modern era, and the inspiration we can take from that. Sharon is focused on the development of the mythic imagination, and on the relevance of myth, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, cultural and environmental problems that we face today.

We talk about:

- Why she wrote Hagitude

- What is it about the hags and mythology that delights Sharon

- Sharon's favorite character, the Cailleach

- What mythic imagination is

- The things Sharon hates about how old women are currently presented

- How the second half of life is about turning inwards

- The importance of listening to your body

- How if you don't stop, you don't make space for a new story to grow

- What women can do to change the narratives of older women

- The nature of an elder woman's wisdom

- Baba Yaga

- The intersection of sexism and ageism in patriarchal religions

- What Sharon discovered about herself by writing Hagitude

And more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #15 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Follow Rachel on:

Facebook: facebook.com/magnificentmidlife

Instagram: instagram.com/magnificentmidlife

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rachellankester

Twitter: twitter.com/MagnifMidlife

Pinterest: pinterest.co.uk/MagnificentMidlife1

Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCEteu6Z2mW1z1wnHiVB08uw

Tiktok: tiktok.com/@magnificent_midlife

Rebecca Wrigley is one of the founders of Rewilding Britain, and now its chief executive. She has worked in the voluntary and public sectors for 23 years, and is passionate about engaging local communities in decision-making about their land and resources. There is so much we can all contribute to protecting the environment, starting with rewilding, often on our doorstep.

We talk about:

- How Rewilding Britain got started

- The unique contribution it makes

- The highlights of Rewilding Britain since it started

- How people can show support for the initiative and make a difference

- Why rewilding is so important to the environment and climate change

- Beavers as an example of an ecosystem engineer

- How a peat bog can hold carbon

- Understanding the keystone species

- Species Rebecca would like to see reintroduced to Britain

- How we all benefit from prioritising nature

- Diversification of jobs and livelihoods

- Frustrations about the work Rebecca does

- Top lessons we can learn about rewilding

And more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #15 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Follow Rachel on:

Facebook: facebook.com/magnificentmidlife

Instagram: instagram.com/magnificentmidlife

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rachellankester

Twitter: twitter.com/MagnifMidlife

Pinterest: pinterest.co.uk/MagnificentMidlife1

Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCEteu6Z2mW1z1wnHiVB08uw

Tiktok: tiktok.com/@magnificent_midlife

Dr Kathryn Mannix has devoted her life to the palliative care of the dying. In this episode, she talked about death, the process of it and how we can all prepare better for it. She also wrote a remarkable book called With The End In Mind which everyone should read! It was such a pleasure to talk to her about death! This is a much longer interview than usual but I thought the topic deserved it. Kathryn came back on the podcast to talk about her second book, Listen and you can listen to that episode here.

We talk about:

- Why Kathryn was inspired to write her book, With The End In Mind

- Opening up conversations about death

- How our experience of death is much improved by honest communication

- Denial is one way of coping which works for some people but isn't ideal

- Thinking about accommodating immobile older relatives

- Sometimes being practical is better than sacrifice when it comes to caring

- What normal dying actually looks and feels like – it is very gentle

- Why it's important for people to understand the stages of death

- What the 'death rattle' really is

- Asking for more pain control if death is not progressing normally

- The importance of discomfort management as people approach death – otherwise the process of death itself is prolonged

- The opioid crisis – how Western addiction concerns stop pain relief availability in poorer areas of the world

- Morphine used properly for pain relief is safe

- Dan's death plan and how he went on TV to talk about it

- The impact of faith on death

- How many of us start a process of reckoning as we get closer to death

- The importance of some form of belief (not necessarily religious) when it comes to evaluating our lives

- The importance of being clear about what you want for your own death

And lots more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #15 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Follow Rachel on:

Facebook: facebook.com/magnificentmidlife

Instagram: instagram.com/magnificentmidlife

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rachellankester

Twitter: twitter.com/MagnifMidlife

Pinterest: pinterest.co.uk/MagnificentMidlife1

Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCEteu6Z2mW1z1wnHiVB08uw

Tiktok: tiktok.com/@magnificent_midlife

Tania Elfersy is a transformative coach, speaker and award-winning author, specializing in midlife women's health. She's spent years researching what causes and what can relieve symptoms associated with perimenopause and menopause and became free of her own physical and emotional symptoms naturally and simply. Rachel quoted her extensively in her own book. Tania set up The Wiser Woman project in 2015 to help women transform their experience of midlife change. She's the author of a brilliant new book, The Wiser Woman's Guide To Perimenopause and Menopause.

We talk about:

- What lead Tania to the work she does

- How the body doesn't malfunction suddenly in midlife

- The innate brilliance of the body and what that means for menopause symptoms

- The difference between how we respond to issues in pregnancy and menopause

- The importance of focusing on the emotional and spiritual side of the midlife journey

- The insight that allowed Tania to free herself from her own menopause symptoms

- The interplay between Mind, Thought and Consciousness

- Tania's concerns about the narrative in the UK

- Difference between the UK menopause narrative and North America

- How women can best help themselves during midlife change

- Tania's thoughts on the Davina McCall documentary Sex, Mind and the Menopause

And more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #15 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Follow Rachel on:

Facebook: facebook.com/magnificentmidlife

Instagram: instagram.com/magnificentmidlife

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rachellankester

Twitter: twitter.com/MagnifMidlife

Pinterest: pinterest.co.uk/MagnificentMidlife1

Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCEteu6Z2mW1z1wnHiVB08uw

Tiktok: tiktok.com/@magnificent_midlife

Rachel's back with a solo update on what's been happening in her world and the exciting launch of MenoClarity.

She talks about:

- An update on her mum post breaking her hip

- Adapting to a new way of living

- The fluctuation of mental capacity

- Digital exclusion and Internet upgrade issues

- Levels of customer service for older people and how those need to change

- The wonders of the Amazon Alexa Show

- Her trip to the Philippines

- Working remotely and more wonders of technology

- Setting up MenoClarity – who the team is and their aims

- Creating unbiased balance when it comes to menopause

- Stopping the climate of fear and creating better narratives for all women especially young ones

- Questioning the over promotion of hormone therapy and especially as a preventative medicine

- The original source of the menopause as a hormone deficiency narrative – the 1966 book Feminine Forever, financed by HRT manufacturers

- How the women in the Blue Zones do not owe their long healthful lives to hormone therapy

- Use of the phrase medical gaslighting to shut down discussion

- International Women's Day and what older women need to thrive

- Equity versus equality

And more!

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it and leave us a 5* review on iTunes or wherever you're listening.

Order the ebook or audiobook (narrated by Rachel) versions of Rachel's book, Magnificent Midlife: Transform Your Middle Years, Menopause And Beyond at magnificentmidlife.com/book

The paperback can be purchased on Amazon or other online retailers:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

US & Canada: https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Magnificent-Midlife-Transform-Middle-Menopause/dp/173981150X/

You can listen to all the other episodes and get the show notes at magnificentmidlife.com/podcast.

Recommended by the Sunday Times.

Feedspot #3 in best midlife podcasts and #15 in best women over 50 podcasts worldwide.

You'll find lots of strategies, support, and resources to help make your midlife magnificent at magnificentmidlife.com.

Check out Rachel's online Revitalize Experience, a 6-week intensive small group mentoring experience or 1-1 Midlife Mentoring.

Follow Rachel on:

Facebook: facebook.com/magnificentmidlife

Instagram: instagram.com/magnificentmidlife

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rachellankester

Twitter: twitter.com/MagnifMidlife

Pinterest: pinterest.co.uk/MagnificentMidlife1

Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCEteu6Z2mW1z1wnHiVB08uw

Tiktok: tiktok.com/@magnificent_midlife