Reclaiming Our Well-being: Midlife as a Turning Point for South Asian Women

Well-being is not a luxury. It’s not a spa day, a green juice, or a bubble bath wrapped in hashtags. For South Asian women in midlife, well-being is a radical act of self-preservation.

World Well-being Week (24–30 June) is an opportunity to redefine what health and wholeness look like, especially for women who’ve spent decades putting others first.

At The Sattva Collective, we honour well-being as a deeply personal, multi-layered journey. For many South Asian women, midlife is a powerful invitation to finally prioritise ourselves – body, mind, and soul.

What Does Well-being Really Mean?

Well-being isn’t just the absence of illness – it’s about how we feel, function, and connect. And for South Asian women navigating menopause, identity shifts, and inherited expectations, it can feel incredibly complex.

You might be:

• Caring for your children and your parents, while barely sleeping
• Experiencing hot flushes, anxiety, or memory lapses without support
• Questioning your worth as your body changes and your roles evolve
• Feeling lost between two cultures – expected to be strong, silent, and selfless

But here’s the truth: You matter. Your needs are not negotiable. Your health is not optional.

Building a Culturally Safe Foundation for Well-being

Well-being for South Asian women must be culturally informed and emotionally attuned. That means:

• Menopause support that reflects our lived experience, not just Western biomedical models
• Mental health conversations that honour spiritual beliefs and ancestral wisdom
• Community spaces where vulnerability is met with compassion, not shame

Five Pillars of Midlife Well-being

Here are five gentle, grounded ways to begin reclaiming your well-being:

1. Body Respect
   Nourish with balance. Move with joy. Rest with purpose. Ditch the diet culture and listen to your body’s wisdom.
2. Emotional Honesty
   Name your feelings. Journal, cry, talk. You’ve held enough. Midlife is for emotional release, not emotional repression.
3. Cultural Healing
   Challenge inherited patterns that keep you silent or small. Redefine strength on your terms.
4. Soulful Connection
   Seek out like-minded women. Join circles. Laugh. Grieve. Dance. Community is medicine.
5. Menopause Empowerment
   Get informed. Speak to specialists. Try lifestyle changes, HRT, or Ayurvedic approaches. Find what works for you.

You Are Allowed to Feel Good

This World Well-being Week, don’t just survive – reclaim your right to feel vibrant, seen, and supported. You are not invisible. You are evolving. And the second half of your life can be the most soulful chapter yet.

Let’s start writing it together.