The Luminescence Podcast with Schuyler Grant

Menopause is usually talked about in terms of hot flashes and mood swings. But beneath those symptoms are silent, system-wide changes and one of the most important ones happens in the heart.

Cardiovascular disease doubles after menopause, and most women aren't told why, when it starts, or what they can do about it. The truth is, perimenopause can begin in your mid-thirties, and the decisions you make in the decade that follows shape the next third of your life.

The Heart of Menopause is a master class bringing together four of the leading voices in women's health: journalist and filmmaker Tamsen Fadal, Harvard-trained physician Dr. Sara Szal, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Vonda Wright, and board-certified OB-GYN Dr. Mary Claire Haver.

Together, they unpack the science of estrogen and the cardiovascular system, the window of opportunity for hormone therapy, and the practical tools — from biomarker testing to nutrition to resistance training — that protect your heart for the long run.

You are not invisible. Let's change the conversation together.

For decades, almost everything we knew about sexual desire and arousal was based on research done on men — and simply assumed to apply to women too.

In this conversation, Dr. Cindy Meston, professor of clinical psychology and director of the Female Sexual Psychophysiology Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, breaks down thirty years of research into how women's desire and arousal actually work, and why the male template got it wrong.

Why the science of women's desire is decades behind the science of men's

The surprising model that flips the usual order of desire and arousal

What an eight-year study found about desire through menopause — and who defied the trend

Why a woman's body and her mind don't always agree on when she's turned on

The unexpected 20-minute intervention that changed the research

This conversation is part of Sex in Menopause, a free masterclass with Naomi Watts featuring sexual health expert Dr. Somi Javaid, Dr. Cindy Meston, and real women navigating changing bodies and desire most of us were never prepared for. Watch it for free at sexinmenopause.com.

Right now there is only one trained menopause provider for every 32,000 women who need care. This episode is for anyone confused by their own changing desire, and anyone who wants the actual science instead of the myths.

Two women, one shared reckoning: perimenopause and menopause arrived and rewrote everything they thought they knew about their bodies, their sex lives, and themselves.

In this extended conversation, #1 New York Times bestselling author Gabby Bernstein and sexologist Emily Morse (host of Sex with Emily) open up about the messy, unglamorous entry into midlife hormonal change — rage, hot flashes, vanished libido, and in Gabby's case, a fertility journey that included IVF and pregnancy loss. Emily, meanwhile, is living out her own perimenopause in real time, testing on herself everything she's spent over twenty years teaching other people about pleasure.

Both conversations are part of Sex in Menopause, a free masterclass with Naomi Watts featuring sexual health expert Dr. Somi Javaid, psychologist Dr. Cindy Meston, and real women navigating changing bodies, mismatched desire, and identity shifts most of us were never prepared for. Right now there is only one trained menopause provider for every 32,000 women who need care. If sex has disappeared or changed in ways you can't explain, that's not a personal failure. That's a gap in the medical system.

In this episode:

Menopause as a "spiritual shakedown" — Gabby's reckoning

Early perimenopause symptoms & finding real support

Marriage, communication & educating a partner

Fertility, IVF & pregnancy loss

HRT, lifestyle shifts & feeling more herself than ever (Gabby)

Preparing for menopause & a message of hope

Emily's own perimenopause & why she's not exempt from the confusion

Medical dismissal & why doctors aren't trained on this

Communication as "lubrication": talking to partners about sex

Letting go of duty sex

Desire, burnout & the nervous system connection

Toys, lube & modern arousal aids, without shame

Why midlife can mean the best sex of your life

Topics covered: menopause, perimenopause, women's sexual health, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), fertility, IVF, pregnancy loss, low libido, desire, arousal, sex toys, lube, communication in relationships, medical dismissal, nervous system regulation, self-pleasure, healing, spiritual growth, midlife identity, Gabby Bernstein, Emily Morse.

If this episode landed for you: watch Sex in Menopause, the free documentary with Naomi Watts, at sexinmenopause.com. For more conversations like this — plus live events, retreats, and past seasons — head to Luminescence.health.

In this episode, board-certified gynecologist and sexual health expert Dr. Somi Javaid — founder of HerMD, who raised $40 million after being told she had "less than a half percent chance" — breaks down exactly what's been missing from women's health care, and what's finally starting to change. She walks through the real gender gap in FDA drug approval (six months for Viagra, six years for the first female libido drug), the black box warning that scared a generation of women off hormone therapy, and why testosterone — not just estrogen — matters for female sexual function and almost nobody gets properly tested for it.

Her work is featured throughout Sex in Menopause, a free masterclass with Naomi Watts featuring Dr. Somi, psychologist Dr. Cindy Meston, and real women navigating changing bodies, mismatched desire, and identity shifts most of us were never prepared for. Right now there is only one trained menopause provider for every 32,000 women who need care. If sex has disappeared or changed in ways you can't explain, that's not a personal failure. That's a gap in the medical system.

In this episode:

The phone call that became her calling — her mother's dismissed heart symptoms

The patient who couldn't get help — and why she left traditional OB-GYN care

Building HerMD from scratch, and raising $40 million against the odds

The real gender gap: Viagra vs. the first female libido drug

The black box warning and the hormone therapy scare that set women back decades

What HSDD actually is (and what it isn't)

Spontaneous vs. responsive desire — why "wanting sex out of nowhere" isn't the only normal

Testosterone's role in female libido, mood, and energy — and why almost no one gets tested

The surprising reason birth control clears skin (and quietly lowers libido)

Your brain as your biggest sex organ

Thyroid, medications, and other overlooked causes of low desire

When low libido gets mistaken for a lack of love

The truth about orgasm and anatomy

Femtech tools and innovations — vibrators, erotica apps, and evidence-based supplements

The real barriers to care, and her message to women who feel dismissed

Topics covered: menopause, perimenopause, women's sexual health, testosterone therapy, HSDD (hypoactive sexual desire disorder), low libido, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), medical dismissal, gender gap in medicine, sexual desire, orgasm, femtech, Dr. Somi Javaid, HerMD, Viagra, Addyi, birth control, brain health, thyroid, biopsychosocial approach, sexual wellness.

If this episode landed for you: watch Sex in Menopause, the free documentary with Naomi Watts, at sexinmenopause.com. For more conversations like this — plus live events, retreats, and past seasons — head to Luminescence.health.

You came into this season navigating a transition. You're leaving with a different relationship to what's on the other side of it.

This is the season finale of the Luminescence Podcast. Schuyler Grant, Dr. Somi Javaid, Dr. Sarah de la Torre, and Elena Brower close out by looking forward — to grandchildren, creative reinvention, travel, radical career pivots, and the profound privilege of becoming a wise woman elder.

They discuss:

Why the mild depression of perimenopause can be a form of protective cocooning — the difference between hormonal anhedonia and clinical depression, and why one might actually serve a purpose

What the grandmother hypothesis is — the anthropological theory that women's post-reproductive longevity isn't a biological accident but evolution's design for women elders to hold things together and pass wisdom down

How oxytocin shifts in menopause redirect empathy toward more authentic connection — and why women between 45 and 55 are starting businesses at record rates

What each panelist is genuinely excited about for the next chapter — grandchildren, music, Qigong, language, travel, and the versions of themselves that are still coming

Lightning round verdicts on early retirement, radical career pivots, staying together for the kids, forcing couples therapy, and abundant cleavage after 50

For any woman ready to see this transition not as decline, but as preparation for what might be the most powerful chapter yet.

For information on our upcoming events, retreats, and to connect with specialists and other women in our online community, visit www.luminescence.health.

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Try Schuyler's new personalized yoga app: https://schuylergrant.com/app