208 Pausing without a Plan

Often times, clients will see me for an assessment, they'll read their treatment plan and then quietly disappear.  It's like their mind convinces them that this is going to open up a whole world of trouble. Of course your mind does that!  It's standard.  It's doing exactly what it’s designed to do.  Protect you.  It wants to keep things predictable and contained.  So when the invitation to go deeper starts to become a possibility, it makes sense that your mind wants to pull you back.  It believes "this inner work malarky might be too much"  And yet, there’s another part of you which is quieter and deeper but just as important.  It's the part of you that knows an intervention is needed because it wants to release something, it wants to come home to itself.   In this week’s episode, I gently demystify what “doing the inner work” actually looks like in reality and why it doesn’t have to be as intense or overwhelming as you might imagineWork with me 121:  www.sallygarozzo.comJoin Becoming Waitlist:  www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming Send me a direct messageSupport the showSend me a direct messageSupport the show

Most menopause conversations focus almost entirely on hormones. But what if that’s only part of the story? In this episode, Sally Garozzo explores emerging neuroscience on estradiol, fear circuitry, and trauma exposure, including a 2025 study suggesting that estrogen interacts differently with the brain’s threat regulation system depending on prior stress and trauma history. We unpack why HRT helps many women but isn’t always the whole answer, how the nervous system shapes our menopausal experience, and why understanding the intersection of menopause, trauma, and nervous system regulation can offer a more complete picture of midlife wellbeing.Research referenced in this episodeStevens JS et al. (2025). Estradiol modulation of threat circuitry and PTSD vulnerability. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12745815/Sartin-Tarm A et al. (2020). Estradiol Modulates Neural and Behavioral Arousal in Women With PTSD. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7606348/Glover EM et al. Estrogen and extinction of fear memories. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25796471/Wegerer M et al. (2014). Low estradiol and fear extinction responses. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4256064/Zeidan MA et al. (2011). Estradiol enhances fear extinction recall via vmPFC–amygdala interaction. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3197763/******************************************Work with me 121:  www.sallygarozzo.comJoin Becoming Waitlist:  www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming Send me a direct messageSupport the showSend me a direct messageSupport the show

In this episode we explore what it's like when your 'felt sense' isn't believed especially in childhood and how this impacts our health and our menopause.  We look at how subtle, repeated invalidation shapes the quality of our attachments, why women often become the emotional regulators of their families, how functional freeze develops, and why menopause can feel like all of this unravels at once.  We also examine the difference between attunement and optimisation — and why healing begins with being met, not fixed.It's a good one for anyone who feels there's more to menopause than 'just' hormones.  ***********************Work with me 121:  www.sallygarozzo.comJoin Becoming Waitlist:  www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming Send me a direct messageSupport the show

I currently have six paint samples on my living room wall.  They are all technically blue. None of them are the same.  Which feels… symbolic.  In this episode, I’m thinking about menopause not as art and refinement. As the shift from fluorescent to tonal. From performance to composition.  There’s a turtle.  There’s London. There’s a river that looks like it’s meandering but absolutely knows where it’s going. And somewhere in the middle of all that: the quiet realisation that midlife might not be demolition, it might be editing.If you’ve ever stood in front of a wall thinking, “This one almost works… but not quite,” this conversation might feel familiar.Bring your undertones :)***************************✅T o put your name down on the waitlist for Becoming, here's the link:  www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming***************************📲 Connect with Sally:Email: [email protected] [On-Demand Masterclass] How To Heal The Trauma Underlying Your Menopause Symptom Severity [£17]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/healingtrauma [Online Practitioners Diploma - Self Paced] Menopause Wellbeing Practitioner [£127]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/meno[One to One] Bespoke Transformational Hypnotherapy & Coaching: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/rapid-transformational-therapist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallygarozzomindmentorLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallygarozzo/Send me a WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/FTARBMO7CRLEL1Send me a direct messageSupport the show

The DUTCH test has become one of the most talked-about hormone assessments in the menopause space. Some women describe it as illuminating and empowering. Some medical professionals describe it as unnecessary, over-interpreted, or a waste of money.So why the disagreement?In this episode, I step back from the noise and explore what’s actually being argued. What assumptions sit underneath functional hormone testing? What assumptions sit underneath conventional medicine? And why does this debate feel so emotionally charged?Rather than taking sides, we look at the psychological and structural differences between these two paradigms — and what happens when menopausal women find themselves caught in the middle.If you’ve ever felt validated by testing… dismissed by medicine… or confused by the intensity of the conversation online, this episode is for you.Join the waitlist for BECOMING🔗 Join the waitlist:https://www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming*********************************************📲 Connect with Sally:Email: [email protected] [On-Demand Masterclass] How To Heal The Trauma Underlying Your Menopause Symptom Severity [£17]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/healingtrauma [Online Practitioners Diploma - Self Paced] Menopause Wellbeing Practitioner [£127]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/meno[One to One] Bespoke Transformational Hypnotherapy & Coaching: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/rapid-transformational-therapist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallygarozzomindmentorLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallygarozzo/Send me a WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/FTARBMO7CRLEL1Send me a direct messageSupport the show

We live in a culture that rewards certainty.  In this episode, I reflect on the energy surrounding recent public controversies and ask a different question: what if moral outrage is sometimes a nervous system strategy rather than moral clarity?  Drawing on anxiety physiology, childhood conditioning, and midlife change, I explore how certainty can feel like safety, and why building capacity for uncertainty might be the real work as we step into midlife.  Join the waitlist for BECOMING🔗 Join the waitlist:https://www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming*********************************************📲 Connect with Sally:Email: [email protected] [On-Demand Masterclass] How To Heal The Trauma Underlying Your Menopause Symptom Severity [£17]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/healingtrauma [Online Practitioners Diploma - Self Paced] Menopause Wellbeing Practitioner [£127]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/meno[One to One] Bespoke Transformational Hypnotherapy & Coaching: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/rapid-transformational-therapist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallygarozzomindmentorLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallygarozzo/Send me a WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/FTARBMO7CRLEL1Send me a direct messageSupport the show

There’s a kind of care that looks loving on the surface,  yet somehow leaves both the receiver and giver more tense than before.   This episode delves into this often unexplored territory.  It’s called ‘the discipline of not intervening’.  Of course I'm not talking about neglectfulness, but I am talking about healthy restraint.  And what becomes possible when silence and space are allowed to make room for the natural order of things to emerge.  If you’ve ever noticed yourself holding everything together,  or sensed the quiet cost of always stepping in,  this episode may be for you. ********************************************Join the waitlist for BECOMING🔗 Join the waitlist:https://www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming*********************************************📲 Connect with Sally:Email: [email protected] [On-Demand Masterclass] How To Heal The Trauma Underlying Your Menopause Symptom Severity [£17]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/healingtrauma [Online Practitioners Diploma - Self Paced] Menopause Wellbeing Practitioner [£127]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/meno[One to One] Bespoke Transformational Hypnotherapy & Coaching: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/rapid-transformational-therapist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallygarozzomindmentorLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallygarozzo/Send me a WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/FTARBMO7CRLEL1Send me a direct messageSupport the show

We talk a lot about slowing down and how it's really good for us, but we talk much less about what it means to stay.  Like really stay.... without doing it for productivity gains.  This episode explores holding space for yourself,  not as a technique, but as a way of inhabiting yourself, experiencing yourself without the need to learn from it yet (and why that's really good for your HPA axis!)Join me for this short but profound episode. ******************‘Becoming’ is the new membership I’ve created for this phaseBecoming is a space for women in this in-between phase where old identities no longer fit, and new ones haven’t fully arrived yet.The waitlist is now open.🔗 Join the waitlist:https://www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming*********************************************📲 Connect with Sally:Email: [email protected] [On-Demand Masterclass] How To Heal The Trauma Underlying Your Menopause Symptom Severity [£17]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/healingtrauma [Online Practitioners Diploma - Self Paced] Menopause Wellbeing Practitioner [£127]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/meno[One to One] Bespoke Transformational Hypnotherapy & Coaching: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/rapid-transformational-therapist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallygarozzomindmentorLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallygarozzo/Send me a WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/FTARBMO7CRLEL1Send me a direct messageSupport the show

If you’re tired in a way rest doesn’t touch…If you’ve done the work but still feel slightly on edge…If being “strong” or “capable” no longer feels like something you want to keep doing…This episode is for you.This is a quiet, spacious fireside conversation about something that sits underneath anxiety, exhaustion, relationship strain, and the sense of feeling subtly disconnected from yourself, especially in midlife and menopause.This is about attunement and what happens in the body when it’s missing.If you want to feel:less braced against lifemore settled inside yourselfunderstood without having to explaincalmer without being told to “relax”a sense of warmth, steadiness, and inner permission…this episode is an invitation to listen.******************‘Becoming’ is the new membership I’ve created for this phaseBecoming is a space for women in this in-between phase where old identities no longer fit, and new ones haven’t fully arrived yet.The waitlist is now open.🔗 Join the waitlist:https://www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming*********************************************📲 Connect with Sally:Email: [email protected] [On-Demand Masterclass] How To Heal The Trauma Underlying Your Menopause Symptom Severity [£17]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/healingtrauma [Online Practitioners Diploma - Self Paced] Menopause Wellbeing Practitioner [£127]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/meno[One to One] Bespoke Transformational Hypnotherapy & Coaching: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/rapid-transformational-therapist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallygarozzomindmentorLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallygarozzo/Send me a WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/FTARBMO7CRLEL1Send me a direct messageSupport the show

What if menopause isn’t a breakdown, but a house renovation you’re living inside?In this episode, I reframe menopause in a way I wish someone had offered me. Not as decline. Not as loss. Not as something to “push through.”But as a neurological remodel happening in real time, while I’m still expected to function, work, parent, decide what cheese to buy, and hold everything together.No wonder it feels chaotic.What I share in this episode:Why menopause is not just hormonal, but deeply neurologicalHow fluctuating estrogen affects mood, memory, focus, and emotional regulationWhy brain fog, emotional sensitivity, and slower thinking are not failures, but signs of reorganizationWhat’s really happening when my tolerance for noise, pressure, people-pleasing, and nonsense disappearsHow the amygdala shifts and threat sensitivity gradually dials downWhy decisions feel slower, more embodied, and less driven by urgencyHow identity itself begins to shift during menopause, not collapseThe grief, the disorientation, and the unexpected clarity that emerges on the other sideWhy post-menopause often brings deeper contentment, discernment, and grounded leadershipIf you’re like me and feeling:Less sharp but more sensitiveSlower but more discerningLess tolerant of bullshitLess available for emotional labourMore interested in depth than surface-level busynessNothing has gone wrong.Something is reorganizing with intent.Join me!******************‘Becoming’ is the new membership I’ve created for this phaseBecoming is a space for women in this in-between phase where old identities no longer fit, and new ones haven’t fully arrived yet.The waitlist is now open.🔗 Join the waitlist:https://www.sallygarozzo.com/becoming*********************************************📲 Connect with Sally:Email: [email protected] [On-Demand Masterclass] How To Heal The Trauma Underlying Your Menopause Symptom Severity [£17]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/healingtrauma [Online Practitioners Diploma - Self Paced] Menopause Wellbeing Practitioner [£127]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/meno[One to One] Bespoke Transformational Hypnotherapy & Coaching: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/rapid-transformational-therapist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallygarozzomindmentorLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallygarozzo/Send me a WhatsApp: https://wa.me/message/FTARBMO7CRLEL1Send me a direct messageSupport the show