Unraveling Menopause: From Chasing Fixes to Finding Your Own Way with Sara Larson (Episode 276)

Hit Play Not Pause

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.9 • 769 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we sat down with menopause and mental fitness coach Sara Larson to cut through the noise around midlife, from quick‑fix promises and supplement stacks to rigid “shoulds” about how we’re supposed to look, feel, and age, and offer better solutions for navigating this challenging transition. Drawing on her own brutal perimenopause—crushing joint pain, brain fog so bad she joined an Alzheimer’s study, suffocating anxiety and depression—Sara shares how she went from feeling like everything was coming apart to becoming a menopause navigator, helping women walk into the doctor’s office “ready,” advocate for themselves, and understand their treatment plans. We dig into grief, weight gain and body image, the spiritual and identity unraveling of menopause, and the grounding power of outdoor experiences that reconnect you with strength and embodiment. This is a conversation about gentleness as strength and learning to ask for something different in the second half of life.

Sara Larson is a menopause life coach, educator, and speaker who helps women cut through misinformation and access evidence-based menopause care. She specializes in advocacy, education, and community-building, supporting women through perimenopause and postmenopause with clarity, confidence, and a healthy sense of humor. You can learn more about her and her work at www.saralarsoncoaching.com and follow her on Substack at saralarsoncoaching.substack.com.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Looking for something fun to do this fall? Come join me at the Grand Traverse in Duluth, Minnesota on October 3rd.
0:07.4	As part of Feisty's merger with another mother runner, we are hosting a big fun group trail run and hike.
0:14.0	You get to choose which one you want to do on the trails surrounding Lake Superior in the fall.
0:19.6	It's going to be amazing.
0:21.6	You can choose from distances ranging from 10 to 27 miles.
0:25.3	I signed up for the 27-mileer.
0:27.3	We'll see what a good decision that turns out to be.
0:29.7	But fortunately, we are also offering a Grand Traverse Training Plan, which you get
0:34.9	Training Peaks, Daily Workouts, a nutrition plan, and a supportive community to call
0:40.0	on.
0:40.5	All wrapped up in that.
0:41.9	It's going to be an amazing time.
0:43.6	Click the link in the show notes and let's have an adventure this fall.
0:52.9	You are listening to Hit Play Not Pause, a feisty menopause podcast for active performance-minded women.
0:59.7	I am your host, Celine Yeager.
1:01.8	Each week, I bring you advice from athletes, scientists, researchers, and other experts to help you feel and perform your best no matter what your hormones are doing.
1:10.3	This show is a production of Feisty Media.
1:14.7	Hello, strong feisty women.
1:16.8	I hope you all are well.
1:18.9	So I have a lovely and kind of quiet, if that's the right word, conversation for you this week.
1:27.0	I have been interested in talking to someone
1:29.9	who does menopause coaching. Like, what exactly is that? What do you do? How does it work? And as
	...

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