Permission to Breathe: A Menopause Podcast That Says It Out Loud
Maybe you learned the word perimenopause from a search bar at 3am. Not from your mother, not from a friend, not from a doctor. From a stranger on a forum, while everyone else in the house was asleep.
That's how I found out too. I searched my symptoms in the middle of the night, and an online thread named what was happening to me before my own gynaecologist did. That gap, between what women go through and what anyone tells them, is why we made a podcast.
In short: MySakhi Permission to Breathe is a menopause podcast where Nandita, the founder of MySakhi, and Sakhi, MySakhi's AI companion, talk honestly about what nobody tells women about perimenopause and menopause. It isn't medical advice and it isn't a lecture. Each episode ends with a short guided breathing moment. Episodes 1 and 2 are out now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
What is the Permission to Breathe podcast?
Two voices, one honest conversation. Nandita brings her own experience: unpolished, bilingual, the occasional यार slipped in mid-sentence. Sakhi asks the questions you might be too polite to ask, adds a little context, and gently reframes the hard parts.
In Episode 1, Nandita is clear about what the show is and isn't. It's not medical advice, because neither of them is a doctor. It's not a guru with all the answers. It's not "ten steps" to anything. It's two voices talking about the things nobody warned us about: sleep, brain fog, rage, body changes, relationships, anxiety, guilt.
You don't need any meditation experience to listen. You don't need to know what perimenopause means yet. You need to be willing to listen, and maybe to breathe.
Episode 1: Nobody Told Me
Nandita opens with a moment on a client call when an everyday word simply vanished from her mind. Not tip-of-the-tongue. Gone. And the first thing she felt wasn't confusion. It was shame.
She talks about lying awake with her heart racing, wondering whether she was burnt out, depressed, or just bad at being a person. She didn't tell anyone. She thought it was stress, and that the answer, as always, was to do more. Nobody around her said the word perimenopause.
"This is biology, not burnout." Nandita, Episode 1
The episode ends with Sakhi leading two slow breaths, and a reminder that you are not broken and not losing your mind. Your body is changing. You're allowed to be in the middle of figuring it out.
Episode 2: The 3 AM Club
This one is about sleep, and the particular loneliness of being awake at 3am. Nandita describes waking soaked, heart pounding, the whole house asleep, and lying there wondering if sleep would ever feel normal again.
She talks about how the dread of not sleeping became its own trap, and what actually helped her. She talked to her doctor, after months of feeling "I can't sleep" wasn't a real enough complaint to mention. She kept the room cool with light cotton layers. And instead of lying in bed getting angrier, she started getting up, going to another room for a short breathing practice of about five minutes, then going back to bed.
Sakhi mentions After the Wave, a MySakhi practice made for the moment right after a night sweat.
After the Wave. A 5-minute practice for when you've just woken up hot and wide awake.
If night sweats are your 3am, the night sweats breathing reset goes deeper.
Try this now: a breathing moment from Episode 2
Each episode closes with a short practice led by Sakhi. Here's the shape of the one from The 3 AM Club. It takes about a minute, and you can do it lying down.
- Let your shoulders drop. You're probably holding them up near your ears.
- Breathe in slowly through your nose, counting to four in your head.
- Hold it gently for a moment, like holding something fragile.
- Breathe out slowly through your mouth, letting the out-breath be longer than the in-breath.
- Repeat twice more. Make the last one the slowest breath you've taken all day.
You can't do this wrong. You don't need to be good at sleeping tonight. You just need to be gentle with yourself while you're awake.
Who is this menopause podcast for?
- You're in perimenopause and nobody warned you
- You're tired of pushing through and pretending you're fine
- You're sceptical of wellness fluff and want something honest
- You want to hear another woman say, "That happened to me too"
Listen in the car, while the dal cooks, or lying awake at 3am. It's okay to cry in the middle of an episode. It's okay to laugh, too.
Not this: another expert telling you what you're doing wrong. This instead: a conversation that sounds like the one you wish someone had had with you years ago.
Is the podcast medical advice?
No. Permission to Breathe is honest conversation, not medical care. Nandita says so herself in Episode 2: the biggest thing is to talk to your doctor. If your symptoms are affecting your sleep, work, mood or relationships, please do. You can take the full list of menopause symptoms with you to that appointment.
If you have thoughts of harming yourself, contact your local emergency services or a crisis helpline now.
Where can you listen to Permission to Breathe?
Listen free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Two episodes are out now, Nobody Told Me and The 3 AM Club. Follow the show so you hear when new episodes arrive.
Permission to Breathe is one of three MySakhi shows. If you want guided practices rather than conversation, there's the free MySakhi meditation podcast, and for bedtime there's MySakhi Sleep Stories. Breaking the menopause silence is a good read if this episode stirred something up.
MySakhi is a free app for women in perimenopause and menopause, with short guided breathing practices, sleep stories, calming 432Hz music and Sakhi, an AI companion who suggests what might help tonight. If an episode leaves you feeling raw, I Am Here is a 4-minute grounding practice to come back to yourself.
What would it feel like to hear someone say the thing you've been carrying alone? Press play on Episode 1, or talk to Sakhi tonight. As Nandita says at the end of Episode 1: बस. Go breathe.
5 minutes. No mat. No mantra. Just you.
Questions women ask
What is the MySakhi Permission to Breathe podcast?+
MySakhi Permission to Breathe is a menopause podcast where Nandita, the founder of MySakhi, and Sakhi, its AI companion, talk honestly about perimenopause and menopause. Each episode ends with a short breathing moment.
Where can I listen to Permission to Breathe?+
It's free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Search MySakhi Permission to Breathe, or use the links on this page.
How many episodes of Permission to Breathe are out?+
Two episodes are out now: Episode 1, Nobody Told Me, and Episode 2, The 3 AM Club. Follow the show to hear when new episodes arrive.
Is Permission to Breathe a medical podcast?+
No. It's honest conversation, not medical advice, and neither host is a doctor. If symptoms affect your daily life, talk to your doctor.
Do I need meditation experience to listen?+
Not at all. The breathing moment at the end of each episode is short and simple, and you can do it in bed, in the car or in the kitchen.
Listen free, wherever you are