How Can a Menopause Wellness Platform Support You?

Created by Northern Rivers resident Naz de Bono, Xali is a daily personalised program that provides workouts, recipes, education and support to women experiencing menopause.

Tell us about your background in health and fitness?

Health and fitness has never just been a job for me, it is an innate, fire-in-the-belly passion. A passion for the physical body, and of helping others reach their best place of physical health. Health and fitness wasn't always a passion for me as I never found my skill in school. At 17 I joined my local King Fu Kickboxing club and was soon addicted to feeling good and being in great shape. It became my mission to find ways to help people find their ‘Mojo for movement’ - I believe if you enjoy it - you will stick at it AND get better results. I have worked with and studied alongside specialists, trainers, nutritionists and mindfulness experts for over 20 years.

Tell us about the Xali Platform.

I created Xali after my world was turned upside down by menopause, and realising that I had to understand more about ‘cause & effect’, both with the food I ate & the workouts I did. The fact that I felt I couldn't talk to anyone about it really upset me. This is something every woman on this planet experiences yet we hide from. I’m 50, I’m in the middle of menopause and I realised that instead of fighting it, I needed to accept that something profound is happening to me. I’m not the same as I was before. As a woman we are more than just our physical shell. Once I realised that I needed to express the emotional as well as the spiritual side of myself, I was able to find true wellness. I have always been an ‘Emotional Trainer’ meaning I would want to know how my clients felt before getting them to move as well as how they want to feel. As a Health Coach I was trying to train myself back to my 30’s. But I realised that the woman in her 30’s has gone. There’s a new woman, the woman that I’m in the process of meeting. Because of the stigma still surrounding women in their mid-life, I realised it's a scary place to be. Many women talk about feeling irrelevant at this stage of life. Feelings like this keep up disempowered. I feel we need to find ways to meet this woman, find out who she is, what she looks like and how she occupies space in this world. Xali is a safe space to do this, and I invite everyone to join our community… It’s not menopause, it’s metamorphisis.

Who is the platform designed for, and why was the language you used in the platform so important?

The Xali platform is designed for women who wish to experience emotion & intuitive led training. We’re not robots, every day we feel different- high energy one day and low the next. ‘Xali language’ is like speaking with a supportive friend who knows their stuff and will encourage you when you need it. And you’ll see in our social media groups, I regularly jump on to connect with everyone, not as the expert but as Naz - who is right there in the trenches with everyone else. Although designed for women going through perimenopause and menopause, Xali can be for all women of all ages, as monthly hormone fluctuations can affect the way we exercise. Also COVID has affected us on so many levels, so understanding how to train for our emotional health is becoming ever more important.

What can women expect to experience using the Xali platform?

Xali is a daily personalised program that provides workouts, recipes, education and support to women based on the 4 pillars of Move, Eat, Learn & Connect. The program creates recommendations for women who want to be bursting with energy but also provides options for the days when some women might want to pull back. It's about understanding what our body needs each day. Depending on how we FEEL. On top of this as women go through biological changes, the way they exercise needs to also be adapted. A shift in hormones means women have a higher risk of injury and I have created a library of workouts with this in mind. As well as having a personalised daily workout recommended for women the platform also offers personalised daily recipe recommendations based on members journey preferences and dietary requirements paired with their intention. The Xali platform provides women with thoroughly researched information on health and hormones aimed to arm members with knowledge. The Xali platform also provides women with access to a community of like-minded women.

How can women personalise their journey on the Xali platform?

I wanted Xali to be led by emotion and intuition. The drop down boxes are designed to guide the user to something that’s tailor made for exactly how they’re feeling that day. I want women to feel like their journey is personalised for their individual needs and preferences. I encourage everyone to give it a go - we are offering a 14 day free trial, and then women can sign up for a subscription for 12 months, 3 months or choose to subscribe month to month.

Why did you launch Xali?

During my own journey with peri and menopause I was confused as to why I felt so tired all the time, a bit down and my body was not responding the same way to my nutrition & workouts. These hormonal changes are something every woman on this planet experiences yet we hide from. I am 50, apparently in menopause and I realise that instead of hiding it, I need to accept that something profound is happening to me. I am not the same as I was before. I turned to personal training to understand both the strengths and limitations of my body and mind and how I could work with these challenges. A few years ago I decided I wanted to reach more women than I could in my own studio - as my waiting list was getting too large! so I went about building my content with online workouts and recipes. I soon realised that it was imperative that us women moved with an understanding of how we were feeling. We are emotional beings and to ignore this meant we were not training in line with our chemistry. I used my own personal knowledge and journey to drive the creation of Xali, and build a safe and supportive community for women to access.

You recently commissioned a research study into menopause and perimenopause, what were the key findings?

As part of the research we conducted for Xali we found that 64% of women experiencing symptoms connected with peri and menopause do not seek help, and 21% thought that it was just a part of getting older. We also found that only 4% of women aged 40-65 have talked about peri/menopause with their male partner. With Xali, I want women to feel supported, part of a tribe, safe in their community and to feel like their husband, wife, partner, family and friends all have their back. While 90% of Australians claim to know what menopause is, over half (53%) incorrectly defined the definition of menopause, and only 38% of respondents claimed to know what perimenopause was. When I was going through menopause I was completely shocked with the sympotms I was experiencing. I went to bed one night with a flat belly and I woke up with a bloated jelly belly, my skin was on fire , I would cry watching Cinderella with my girls & my husband annoyed me for no apparent reason! I was told that this was hormones, and specifically menopause.

How do you feel about the findings from the research?

It was very eye opening and shows we have a lot of work to do in terms of education, awareness and support! It also made me sad, because not all women can afford a specialist or find a great GP who understands all the hormonal stages peri - menopaise - & post menopause. This is why I wanted to create a platform to bring information, open up the conversation, normalise this time of a woman's life & create a place for us to come together and empower each other. After launching Xali, my next dream is to have menopause education taught in schools.

Why do you think women feel shame around going through peri and menopause?

The sense of shame and ‘secret women’s business’ around peri and menopause is most felt by women aged 18-39, with more than 1 in 2 feeling this way (59% shame, 57% secret women’s). Interestingly, this same group of younger women have overwhelmingly expressed the want to be more open about this stage of life, with 79% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing. Women still feel shame around going through peri & menopause and this is something that I want to break. It is something that is not talked about very often and women can be left feeling very isolated. Perhaps it’s partly wrapped up in feeling like you’ve reached your use by date. One of the worst things society says a woman can do is get older! I know I have wrestled with these feelings. I once was Hot Naz.. and now? I’m a work in progress. But I’m getting to a place of pride in the new woman I’m becoming. If I can help just 1 woman from feeling the confusion & sometimes anguish that I and many of my friends felt , then what I am talking about is really important. I do not want women to approach this time in their lives with confusion and emotional turmoil as I did.

How does Xali help women going through this transition period in their lives?

Xali is designed specifically for this metamorphosis period of peri and menopause. The Xali way is not to challenge you or to push beyond your limits, to drag you through the grades to the point of injury or exhaustion. Rather, the platform is designed to align with your goals and expectations, supporting and guiding you every step of the way. I do not want women to be unaware of the symptoms of perimenopause or menopause. If they know what to expect, they are less likely to ‘feel like they have passed their sell-by date’ as I have heard expressed by too many women going through this hormonal change. And what about Post - Menopause …Well I cannot speak from my own experience but I would love to learn from those who can as well as the experts that have the knowledge. Like I say - it's all a work on progress! As I said before - Xali is for any woman, at any stage of her life who wants to respect her body through movement, nutrition, knowledge & find ‘her tribe’.