Writing Your Menopause Story - Autumn Workshop

WRITE YOUR MENOPAUSE STORY

Autumn Online Workshop Sunday October 17th from 2pm-5pm (2021) - £18.00

Celebrate International Menopause Month (October) by writing your own menopause story. Join Petra Coveney writer and founder of Menopause Yoga, and best-selling fiction author Noelle Harrison for an Autumnal workshop of yoga and creative writing exercises designed to release your creativity. Absolute beginners welcome!

Cultural and societal taboos surrounding the menopause have meant that real women’s life experiences have been left largely unwritten and unheard. And the historically negative narrative about aging menopausal women affects how we feel about ourselves as we go through this natural, but often destabilising, transition.

Now is your opportunity to find your menopause voice and create your own story on this 4-hour online workshop. The afternoon will include:

·  Yoga stretches, meditation and breathwork to get your creativity flowing.

·  Creative writing exercises to help you find your voice

·  Storytelling tools to help you tell your own Menopause story

·  Creating new narratives within our supportive women’s circle

·  A lot of laughter and a warm sense of community.

Absolute beginners welcome! You do not need any previous experience of creative writing or yoga to participate.

Petra Coveney (founder of Menopause Yoga, former BBC radio and print journalist, and published author) will be joined by best-selling fiction writer Noelle Harrison whose latest novel ‘The Boatman’s Wife’ hit No.3 in Women’s Literary Fiction on the Amazon Bestseller Lists (2021). Noelle’s most recent play ‘Witches’ Gets’ was performed to sold out houses in The Scottish Storytellers’ Centre as part of Audacious Women’s Festival in Edinburgh (2020). Noelle’s new novel ‘The Girl Across the Sea’ will be published in November 2021. 

Noelle Harrison, who is one of the founders of Aurora Writers’ Retreats says she’s excited to be co-leading this workshop themed on the season of Autumn, which is linked in Menopause Yoga to the perimenopause transition: “Autumn is a season of change when we can emotionally release and gather our creativity. This creative writing workshop will be used as a means of processing the transition of menopause through storytelling.”

This workshop is part of a project launched earlier in 2021 by Petra and Patsy Isles who are both journalists, authors and yoga teachers with a passion for helping women to express themselves. They teamed up to launch a new women's empowerment project called MY Voice - ReWriting Your Menopause - helping women find their literary voice. They are skilled in holding safe and supportive spaces with yoga movement, breathwork, meditation and guided visualisations to draw out the authentic voices of women who can choose to express themselves through poetry, short stories and other forms of prose.

Petra Coveney says: “Although the menopause symptoms can cause pain, discomfort and affect our relationships and work, the hormonal shift can also trigger a creative wellspring. I believe that by tapping into this creativity we can rewrite the menopause in our own words and encourage real women’s stories to be heard.”

Patsy and Petra’s previous 6-hour workshop was a sell-out success with participants praising the event as a perfect way to spend their Sunday. Here’s what women said:

“WOW!  What can I say?  I absolutely LOVED yesterday!  The time just seemed to melt away and it was so wonderful to spend it with you both and the other wonderful women on the call.  I learnt so much and felt so much lighter when we finished.  I felt nourished, supported and held .. in a way I don’t think I have experienced before.  Thank you both so much.” (Victoria Churchill)

“What a delicious day, yoga and writing, what a delicious combination!

The day had a beautiful steady pace!

I practice yoga regularly, but my practice has drifted a bit, due to covid and achey menopausal joints!

Today the strong practice really sparked something!

I loved the writing, I am hoping there will be more, if only to develop Matilda menopause and her friends!” (Saran Flowers)

About your workshop guides:

Petra Coveney is in her post menopause Second Spring the founder of Menopause Yoga which she launched in 2013. She has led hundreds of Menopause Yoga classes, workshops, retreats and now trains other yoga teachers all over the world. In her former career, she was a national newspaper and magazine journalist, and a BBC radio and independent television producer. She is the author of a new book - 'Menopause Yoga - a holistic guide to supporting women on their menopause journey' - to be published by Jessica Kingsley/ Singing Dragon, in October 2021. Petra is passionate about encouraging women to find their menopause voices and is in her post menopause Second Spring. 

Patsy Isles is a writer, yoga teacher and founder of ifeyoga.com. She teaches hatha, kundalini and Menopause Yoga and has a particular interest in the transformational power of the breath. She is a creative wellbeing associate with Words of Colour, a social enterprise that supports, empowers and develops writers of colour. She is also co-founder of the Sangoma Wellbeing Collective – a group of wellbeing professionals working together to increase the visibility of people of colour in the wellbeing industry. She is in her perimenopause transition. Patsy Isles will be back leading another Writing Your Menopause workshop in November 2021.

Noelle Harrison

Noelle’s is the author of many bestselling novels. Her latest novel is ‘The Boatman’s Wife’ published in January 2021, which hit No.3 in Women’s Literary Fiction on the Amazon Bestseller Lists. Her most recent play Witches’ Gets was performed to sold out houses in The Scottish Storytellers’ Centre as part of Audacious Women’s Festival in Edinburgh in February 2020. Noelle’s new novel ‘The Girl Across the Sea’ will be published in November 2021. Noelle lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, is one of the founders of Aurora Writers’ Retreats and teaches meditation, journaling and restorative yoga.

Check out Noelle’s website to read more about her writing & books here.

You can follow Noelle on Instagram@noelle.harrison5

Twitter: @NoelleHarrison Facebook: @NoelleCBHarrison