The self-care paradox of menopause and yoga in neoliberal spaces

Bibliographic Data

ID21394495
AuthorsBelinda Steffan (0000-0003-3646-0562, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author), Divya Sivaramakrishnan (0000-0002-3013-4793, University of Edinburgh), Debora Gottardello (0000-0002-8708-7940, University of Edinburgh)
Year2026
Volume74
Issue4
Pages775-794
Publication date2026-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00380261261451663
OpenAlexW7167475877
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited71

Menopause in many societies is dominated by a persistent narrative of decline, as a natural biological transition that must be managed and controlled. While there is a growing societal conversation around menopause, structural supports are often inconsistent, homogeneous, performance-driven and/or performative leading individuals to engage in self-care. The increasingly popular empowerment narrative of managing one’s own menopause is simultaneously and somewhat paradoxically associated with feminist collective action and activism while valorising individualised self-care. In this article, we provide a conceptual analysis for reimagining menopause as a way of undoing societal structures that reinforce the marginalisation of midlife women. Specifically, we draw on our lived experience as menopause researchers and yoga teachers/practitioners to discuss how yoga practice and its spaces promote a self-care paradox: espoused through Indian and Western cultural perspectives as having utility to help ‘manage menopause’, they are underpinned by and in turn reinforce neoliberal feminism, highlighting gendered/ageist contradictions of inclusion/exclusion. We focus on reimagining balance as a gendered physical and metaphorical dimension of the relationship between yoga and menopause to contextualise this self-care paradox, which is applicable to a wider range of women’s issues. We advocate for a reimagining of menopause and its spaces, which sees feminist goals of gender equity and equality achieved through both individual-level self-advocacy and community activism

Action (physics) · Conversation · Empowerment · Medicalization · Menopause · Narrative · Performative utterance · Subjectivity · Undoing · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Menopause: Health Impacts and Treatments · Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions