Published April 27, 2026 03:17AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cDid you hear that?\u201d Bryan Goldner<\/a> asked before backtracking along the cattle road. \u201cRoad\u201d might be a generous way to describe the path we were walking on. The prior day\u2019s rain had turned the ground into a sticky, tacky clay. Hoof prints and footprints, deeply embedded in the earth, suctioned my feet in place one moment before sending them sliding out from under me the next. I only managed to turn my torso and watch as he peered up at the leafy canopy above us.<\/p>\n Gray clouds blotted out the sun, casting everything in a dull light. I was in Panama for a weeklong menopause retreat and Goldner was leading our group of 12 on an excursion near Cerro Hoya National Park. The park contains some of the last remaining primary forest in the area and its namesake three peaks rise approximately 5,000 feet above sea level before crashing down to the ocean.<\/p>\n The area is remote in more ways than one. It\u2019s hard to get to: we traveled an hour by boat along a section along the Pacific coast known for its tuna fishing. It\u2019s also geologically remote\u2014one of the oldest parts of the country that began forming almost 90 million years ago\u2014and ecologically isolated, making it a haven for rare species of plants and animals, some that only exist here.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a mini-Galapagos,\u201d Goldner told us before we set out that morning.<\/p>\n The sound he\u2019d heard wasn\u2019t just another bird. It was a great green macaw, a critically endangered species. \u201cRight there,\u201d he said, pointing up at the branches above us. His excitement was palpable.<\/p>\n The leaves shifted like a kaleidoscope. The repeating patterns of green and yellow morphed and revealed a lime green parrot perched above us. Only a hint of red on its head and bright blue flight feathers tucked down by its side set it apart from the lush vegetation. We quieted down and just stared. What were the chances of catching a glimpse of one of the estimated 1,000 remaining adult great green macaws on the planet? And while on something called a \u201cmenopause retreat,\u201d of all things?<\/p>\n When I told a friend that I was going on the retreat, she asked, \u201cWhat the f\u2014\u2014\u00a0is a menopause retreat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure. I think it\u2019s like a wellness retreat, but we talk about hormones?\u201d I answered before adding, \u201cWatch, I\u2019m going to go and have a life-altering experience.\u201d I laughed\u2014the possibility of such a thing seemed absurd.<\/p>\n But that day did feel a little magical. Half an hour after our impromptu birdwatching stop, we swam under a waterfall, one that only appears during the rainy green season. The rest of the year, the waterfall is dry, and the swimming hole disappears. The skies threatened to release a torrential downpour, but held off until we returned to the covered shelter for lunch. Rain beat down around us as we ate tostones and pico de gallo, arroz con pollo, and stewed lentils, but stopped in time for our boat ride back to the resort. A few hundred feet from shore, branches and leaves swept downriver by the rain created a natural border between the brown, brackish water on one side and clear saltwater on the other. When our boat passed over the line in the water, it felt like we were crossing back into reality.<\/p>\n It sounds clich\u00e9, but I felt alive, attuned to my senses and the sensations around me. It had been a long time since I felt present, not simply trying to make my way through an endless mental checklist. And right then, I was exactly where I wanted to be\u2014sitting on a boat, salty spray prickling my skin. I smiled.<\/p>\n Maybe this was the start of my life-changing experience?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I approached my late forties, my body started changing. It was disorienting in a way I had never felt before, even during adolescence and pregnancy. I couldn\u2019t concentrate and kept forgetting words as I was about to say them, too. I knew that my shifting hormones were the likely culprit, but there was a part of me that was loath to admit that I was getting older, like I was ashamed of it somehow.<\/p>\n When I first heard about menopause retreats, I admit that I rolled my eyes. From the outside, they seemed like just another iteration of a \u201cwellness retreat,\u201d a mash-up of educational workshops, yoga, and spa treatments set against the backdrop of a scenic locale like Costa Rica, Portugal, or Miami, that promise support with expert guidance and in community with like-minded women.<\/p>\n As someone who has reported on health and fitness for more than a decade, I\u2019ve seen how the wellness industry can prey on people\u2019s insecurities and frustrations, especially when there\u2019s a juicy market to capitalize on. With the increased attention on women and changes in midlife and a market estimated at roughly $17.8 billion in 2024<\/a>\u2014growing to more than $24 billion by 2030\u2014it\u2019s not surprising that menopause is getting a glow-up.<\/p>\n But I\u2019ve also seen that the industry can shine a light on taboo topics and bring them into mainstream conversations. The current enthusiasm for all things menopause is in stark contrast to its previous black-sheep reputation. Menopause, defined as a year without a menstrual cycle, is the bookend to puberty. No one used to talk about this phase of life; it was associated with images of The Golden Girls <\/i>rather than women in the prime of their life and career. (Menopause occurs, on average<\/a>, between the ages of 45 and 55.) Symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, anxiety, depression, achy joints, and brain fog\u2014caused by wildly fluctuating hormones like estrogen and progesterone, especially during the lead-up to the final period known as perimenopause\u2014could be debilitating and embarrassing.<\/p>\n The biggest blow to menopause\u2019s reputation came in the early 2000s with the publication of the Women\u2019s Health Initiative (WHI) study<\/a>, a long-term national study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The findings raised concerns that use of hormone therapy by postmenopausal women increased risks of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody stopped using it, literally overnight,\u201d Stephanie Faubion, MD<\/a>, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women\u2019s Health and medical director of The Menopause Society<\/a>, told me. \u201cWe went from roughly a quarter of women in the United States using systemic hormone therapy down to four to six percent.\u201d And today, she said, the number of women on hormone therapy is even lower. \u201cWe stopped teaching menopause because there wasn\u2019t anything to do for it \u2026 no one was prescribing hormone therapy anymore. It stopped being in the educational curricula at all levels\u2014medical school, residency training programs, continuing medical education,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Even though it has since been shown that there were flaws with the original WHI study and that hormone therapy can be a beneficial and effective treatment option<\/a> for women younger than 60 years old or within 10 years of their final menstrual cycle, many doctors are still reluctant to prescribe it. \u201cYou have this 25-year gap in knowledge, when no one learned how to take care of menopausal women, a generation of doctors that has no education about menopause,\u201d said Jen Wagner, MD<\/a>, chief health and performance officer for Canyon Ranch<\/a>, one of the original wellness resort companies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Recently, there\u2019s been a shift as more women come into menopause. An estimated two million women in the United States enter menopause each year. Globally, approximately 1.2 billion women will be postmenopausal by 2030<\/a>, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, Gen Xers are in the thick of or are post menopause while millennial women are preparing for or entering menopause age. Celebrities like Oprah, Naomi Watts<\/a>, and Gwyneth Paltrow are talking about it.<\/p>\n Everyone wants better information, better solutions. There\u2019s a refusal to suffer from symptoms, which affect four in five women, to grin and bear it like our mothers and grandmothers. \u201cThis age group of women is at the peak of their careers. They have money to spend, and they have a problem that hasn\u2019t really been solved,\u201d Dr. Faubion said.<\/p>\n The menopause market has exploded to fill this void<\/a>, with everything from supplements and skincare treatments to menopause-specific diet and fitness plans to wearables and telehealth platforms designed specifically for midlife women. Combined with a social media algorithm that favors quick-fix, simple, short-form videos and influencers hunting for the next viral trend, it\u2019s incredibly easy to share information\u2014or misinformation\u2014instantaneously, especially if it appeals to people\u2019s needs and insecurities. With so many conflicting messages, trying to get good, science- and evidence-based advice has become a bad game of telephone.<\/p>\n Which is where the menopause retreat comes in. While the concept isn\u2019t new, it\u2019s starting to reach scale, says Beth McGroarty, vice president of research at the Global Wellness Institute (GWI).<\/a> Wellness travel is one of the fastest growing segments of the wellness market. It was valued at $894 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2029, according to GWI\u2019s latest report<\/a>. Interest in women\u2019s health has exploded, particularly around longevity, leading to a greater emphasis on \u201cgender-based programming,\u201d McGroarty said.<\/p>\n So in October 2025, I attended Midlyfe Retreat<\/a>, which was founded by a group of women\u2019s health experts to help people negotiate life in perimenopause and menopause.<\/p>\n Everyone\u2014five-star resorts, spas, health experts, your local fitness instructor\u2014seems to have some version of a menopause retreat. Typically, these programs offer workshops on the hormonal and physiological changes that happen in perimenopause and menopause and how to navigate symptoms. Some\u2014like M\/Power<\/a>, the retreat that Canyon Ranch launched last year\u2014offer testing, like a DEXA scan for bone density, body composition testing, and comprehensive blood work and hormone panels; and one-on-one consultations with experts in women\u2019s health, mental health, exercise physiology, and nutrition. All offer women social connection and group support for symptoms and a lived experience that their doctors have dismissed and no one else around them seems to understand.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to empower women to be their own best advocates by having the knowledge to be able to go back to their doctor or healthcare provider and have an informed conversation,\u201d said Jen Baker-<\/a>Porazinski, MD<\/a>, a menopause-certified physician and M\/Power\u2019s resident medical expert at Canyon Ranch.<\/p>\n Ultimately, empowerment was the inspiration behind Midlyfe. It was founded by a group of women\u2019s health experts to help negotiate life in perimenopause and menopause.<\/p>\n A few years ago, Skylar Orton<\/a> and Jane Hopkins<\/a> both noticed that their clients (Orton is a physical therapist, Hopkins is certified Pilates and yoga instructor, and both are certified menopause coaches through Girls Gone Strong<\/a>) were coming to them with questions about menopause. It coincided with changes in their own bodies. Orton and Hopkins, both based in the Denver area, had discussions about how they were managing their symptoms and resources they found. When they both read a 2023 New York Times<\/i> article on menopause retreats, they texted each other. Did you read this? This looks like something we should do.<\/i><\/p>\n That\u2019s when the idea for Midlyfe was born. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the medical space, people ask you questions and all you want to do is support them and help them understand what\u2019s happening to their body,\u201d Orton told me over matcha lattes one morning. Orton convinced her friend Alyson Miletich to join them. Miletich is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and owner of Surya Medicine<\/a>, an integrative health practice in North Carolina.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to put these pieces together so that women felt supported, gained knowledge so they know what they\u2019re dealing with and talk about it with their doctor,\u201d Hopkins said. \u201cWe want to help them feel more equipped to handle what\u2019s going on now and to plan for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Two years to the day from when they first dreamed of Midlyfe, the founders boarded a plane to Panama to host their first retreat, which I attended. Our group included nine women. Most lived in the Denver area and are clients of or friends with Orton and Hopkins. Most came to the retreat in pairs.<\/p>\n We traveled by private bus for the six-hour drive to Sansara, a wellness\/yoga\/surf resort in the village of Cambutal and our home for the week. The beachfront property is luxe zen, with minimalist boho decor\u2014textured neutrals, wooden beams and furniture, a palette of creams and neutrals, and a wall of windows that gives everything an airy, relaxed vibe. My cabana had a bathroom that\u2019s as big as my living room in Brooklyn, a kitchenette, and a private saltwater soaking pool. I\u2019d be lying if I said I didn\u2019t think about moving in permanently.<\/p>\n Most mornings started slowly: a yoga class; breakfast of eggs, avocado toast, or a smoothie bowl at the Buddha Bar, the resort\u2019s on-site restaurant; some people scheduled spa treatments. You could also sign up for surf lessons or an excursion, like the waterfall hike or a sunset horseback ride.<\/p>\n The main draw was the educational content. Every afternoon, we gathered for a deep dive on one of the troublesome areas of menopause: hormones, bone and muscle health, nutrition, injury, sleep, stress, and the pelvic floor. \u201cUnfortunately, this isn\u2019t really part of public knowledge. It\u2019s not being disseminated broadly yet because it takes time to get from scientific understanding to getting it into standard of care,\u201d Dr. Miletich said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe get fed all this information through social media, books, and articles, but how do you know what they\u2019re telling you is right?\u201d Sunny Heydorn, 51, a Midlyfe attendee, told me. \u201cAs a woman, you have to be your own advocate in this healthcare system.\u201d<\/p>\n Two years ago, Heydorn was dropped into menopause after a hysterectomy. She tried to research what that meant for her, but it was so complicated. \u201cI wanted to come here to help me make sense of the information. What am I supposed to be doing? Am I on the right track?\u201d<\/p>\n For Amanda Rutenberg, the retreat was a chance to reconnect with Heydorn, a friend she met during a law school study abroad program but who she hasn\u2019t seen in person in 20 years. Rutenberg, 51, hadn\u2019t thought much about menopause prior to the retreat. \u201cBut I thought maybe they can give me some strategies for maximizing my energy and getting back to feeling more like I used to feel,\u201d she told me. Another participant, Susan, told me that she appreciated Midlyfe\u2019s mix of expertise\u2014a medical doctor with a functional health focus, a physical therapist, a yoga instructor\u2014because it creates the space to explore issues in a more integrated way.<\/p>\n Still, there were limitations. Several people wanted more specifics about hormone therapy and other treatments or what their exercise program should look like, but in a group setting, it\u2019s impossible to tailor the content to any one person. Even though we left with many handouts, there\u2019s a lot to sort through when you get home. To some, it might feel unsatisfactory, especially if you were hoping to walk away with an action plan rather than general guidance.<\/p>\n The sessions on injury prevention, posture, and the pelvic floor were more hands-on and interactive. During one, Orton and Hopkins demonstrated six functional movement patterns\u2014push, pull, squat, hinge, lunge, and carry\u2014before observing us individually and offering form adjustments as needed. They also demonstrated range-of-motion exercises using a resistance band, a series that addresses issues Orton frequently sees with her middle-aged clients.<\/p>\n I left the session motivated to recommit to strength training and incorporate what we learned into my routine at home. Building and maintaining strength not only helps keep up with an active life, it also guards against injury and falls in the future, a key to longevity. Studies have found that women who fell repeatedly were more than four times more likely to die within the next ten years compared to women who didn\u2019t fall repeatedly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you\u2019re considering attending a menopause retreat, here are a few recommendations.<\/p>\n Cambutal, Panama<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2026, Midlyfe will return to Sansara Resort in Cambutal, Panama, from October 18 to 24, with some tweaks to their programming such as more breakout sessions and facilitated discussions. There will also be optional activities like hand-dying silks and painting in addition to outdoor excursions like surfing and hiking. Prices start at $3,400 per person for double occupancy and includes accommodations, three daily meals, transfer to and from Panama City, educational workshops, and daily movement classes.<\/p>\n2026 Menopause Retreats to Try<\/h2>\n
Midlyfe Retreats<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
M\/Power<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n