Ladies, when did you last set aside a whole day to understand your health, with time to listen, learn and spend time with other women asking similar questions? If the answer is “not for a long time”, tomorrow could be the day. Perhaps your sleep has changed, your energy feels unpredictable, or you are wondering where to begin with the often-conflicting advice around menopause. Or perhaps you feel well and simply want to stay informed as you move into your next chapter. Either way, the Women’s Integral Health Festival in Palma offers a rare opportunity to give yourself that time. Tomorrow, Saturday 17 October, the festival brings together healthcare and wellbeing professionals at Sadhana Works, in Palma’s central Borne district, for a day focused on women’s health after 40. With talks in English and Spanish, practical experiences and opportunities to connect, its aim is to help women approach midlife with greater understanding and confidence.
Changing the narrative around menopause
The festival is organised by María del Mar García, founder and director of Beyond Health, and centres on a simple idea: everything is connected. A physiotherapist specialising in emotional and nervous system regulation, María del Mar has created the event to bring different professional perspectives into the same conversation: hormonal health, sleep, nutrition, movement and emotional wellbeing.
Life can feel distressing and confusing when perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms arrive, and you find yourself trying to make sense of several changes at once: perhaps insomnia, anxiety, mood swings, weight changes, chronic pain, brain fog or a loss of sexual desire. Each symptom may be treated by a different specialist, without anyone necessarily connecting the dots.
The organisers’ intention is to offer an informed, positive perspective, so you can hear from people with different areas of expertise rather than piecing together all the information yourself, and to provide a space where women can explore subjects that can be difficult to raise elsewhere.
The questions we want answered
Maria del Mar, Founder of Beyond Health, opens the event with “Everything Is Connected”, about the importance of understanding ourselves as a whole, interconnected ecosystem. Artist Sylvia Baker de Perkal offers an inspirational reflection on creativity, It’s Never Too Late…, before the programme turns to some of the questions many women want answered.
Gynaecologist Dr. Mercedes Febles will discuss hormone therapy, separating fears from facts, and Dr. Michelle Germe will look at the brain during perimenopause, exploring sleep, memory, concentration and emotional wellbeing, topics that may feel especially relevant if you have been wondering why you no longer quite feel like yourself.
Dietitian Antonela Granados will address the gut microbiome, nutrition and emotions, while physiotherapist and longevity specialist Álvaro Mejía will focus on strength training during perimenopause. For readers who have followed my recent bone-health series in this column, it is a chance to continue the conversation about muscle, bone and movement. Pelvic floor physiotherapist Marika Fraczek will explore incontinence, sexuality and intimate wellbeing after 40, giving these sometimes-overlooked subjects a place on the agenda.
Space to reflect and experience
After lunch, the programme widens to mindfulness, emotional experiences and the ways our environment and lifestyle relate to health. Author and mindfulness teacher Anton Teruel presents Awakening After 40. Dr. Mariana Harpeet, founder and director of Sadhana Works, introduces family constellations and transgenerational patterns, and Dr. Alexandra Stivaletta explores the exposome and epigenetics: our health beyond our genes. Breathwork in the morning and a Kundalini energy activation in the afternoon sit alongside the talks as opportunities to pause, participate and feel, rather than simply listen.
Take the conversation out to sea
For those with a catamaran ticket, the day continues after the main programme closes at 5pm. A mindful walk towards La Lonja leads to boarding for a sunset cruise across the Bay of Palma from 6pm to 8pm, with a sound healing session and closing ritual. It is a memorable way to round off the day, continuing the conversation with new friends as the evening settles over the bay.
More than a conference
Yes, this is a day about connection, but it is so much more than that. For many women, it could be one of the most valuable days they ever give themselves. Perimenopause and menopause are not just something to get through. How we understand and manage this transition shapes how well we age, in our bones, our brain, our heart, our mood and our relationships.
Bringing together specialists who are rarely in the same room offers something hard to find elsewhere: the full picture, practical tools you can use straight away, and the confidence to approach menopause and beyond as the start of a healthy, vibrant next chapter. Although the focus is women aged 40 and over, the festival is open to women of all ages, and the earlier you understand what lies ahead, the better prepared you will be. Knowledge is power.
A message from the founder
“I created this festival because I believe women deserve to understand what is happening to them. For far too long, we have normalised symptoms, discomfort, and changes without really understanding their origins. No single professional has all the answers. But when different specialists work together, we can offer a much more complete understanding of health. It is not about simply surviving this chapter of life. It is about living it to the fullest.”
María del Mar García, Founder of Beyond Health
There is still time to book
Tickets start at €45 for a full-day pass, with Premium and VIP catamaran tickets for those who want to stay on for the sunset sail, and an optional lunch. Bring a companion and her ticket is half price.
Places are limited. For the live booking link and an exclusive 10% discount for readers, visit mallorcawellnessliving.com.
If there is a friend you have been meaning to catch up with, or someone with whom you keep having conversations about midlife health, send her this article today. Tomorrow could be a chance to spend time together, learn something useful and give your wellbeing a little more attention.