Clara Hughes, the only athlete in history to collect medals at both Summer and Winter Games, has penned a candid second memoir titled Learning to Breathe. The book chronicles her two‑year odyssey to manage the bewildering onslaught of menopause symptoms that began in her early forties, detailing everything from misdiagnosed treatments and hormone therapy to experimental psychedelic sessions and a range of holistic practices. As she reflects on the experience, Hughes reveals how this life stage became a catalyst for profound self‑discovery, reshaping her identity beyond the medals, marathons, and media platforms she has long inhabited.
A Champion’s Unexpected Challenge
Hughes, born in Winnipeg, built a résumé that reads like a national legend. She captured two bronze medals in cycling at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and later amassed four medals in long‑track speed skating, culminating in a gold at Turin in 2006. After retiring from competition, she transitioned into broadcasting, public speaking, and humanitarian work, becoming a national spokesperson for Bell Let’s Talk and an Officer of the Order of Canada. Her love for movement led her to trek more than 20,000 kilometres across iconic trails such as the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide routes, and to cycle 11,000 kilometres across Canada, all while championing mental‑health awareness. Yet, none of these feats prepared her for the sudden cascade of symptoms that erupted when she entered perimenopause. “I thought that I had a really good connection with my body,” she recalled in a recent interview from her Vancouver Island home, “and I now know, it started in perimenopause, that I was completely ignorant of.” The disorienting mix of brain fog, night sweats, insomnia and mood swings left her feeling as though she was “on this runaway train, and I didn’t know who was driving it, but I knew it was going to go off the rails.”
Seeking Relief: From Misdiagnosis to Hormone Therapy
At 47, Hughes hit a wall in her professional life, struggling to recognise herself amid the hormonal turbulence. Initial medical advice proved misguided; a doctor prescribed antidepressants instead of the hormone treatment she requested. Frustrated, she eventually consulted a women’s health specialist who placed her on menopause hormone therapy. The intervention alleviated many of the acute symptoms, but it also opened a deeper dialogue about the emotional undercurrents she had long suppressed. “Menopause set me out on really digging into the feelings and the deep‑rooted sense of ‘not enough,’ that I felt my whole life,” she observed, despite her Olympic triumphs and public accolades. This realisation marked the beginning of a broader therapeutic journey that would extend far beyond the clinic.
Exploring the Uncharted: Psychedelic and Holistic Therapies
Determined to address the inner pain that hormone treatment could not fully quell, Hughes embarked on a two‑year programme of alternative therapies. She attended psychedelic‑assisted retreats, experimenting with MDMA, 5‑MeO‑DMT (derived from the Sonoran Desert toad), “golden halo” mushrooms, the designer drug 3‑MMC, LSD, San Pedro cactus tea and even snorted ketamine—substances that remain largely illegal in Canada outside clinical trials. Complementing these experiences, she integrated meditation, somatic work, breathwork, regression therapy, family constellation therapy, craniosacral therapy, cold‑water plunges, saunas, fasting, journaling, painting and TRE (tension and trauma release exercises). She also tried microdosing and continued her rigorous hiking regimen, often trekking alone at a strenuous pace. One vivid episode occurred on the West Coast Trail in August 2025, when a slip caused her shoe to be swept away by a creek. A chance encounter with a stranger supplied a pair of Crocs, one size too small, which she wore for the remaining 53 kilometres of the trail. The trek triggered painful memories of childhood abuse by her father, but also marked a turning point in reconnecting with her body. “I still think that movement is medicine,” she noted, “but I learned that stillness heals too.”
A New Chapter: From Movement to Stillness and the Path Ahead
Hughes is careful not to position herself as an expert, emphasising that her narrative is “only a person with individual, independent experiences” that have helped shape her. She hopes that by sharing the raw vulnerability of her memoir, women will feel inspired to ask deeper questions about themselves: “Who do I want to be? Who do I get to be?” rather than simply confronting the question of identity. Her story also underscores the broader societal need to reframe menopause as a phase of blossoming rather than decline. Gratitude flows to her supportive husband Peter and to the restorative power of nature, both of which she credits as essential to her healing. In Learning to Breathe, she invites readers to view this life stage not as a closing chapter but as an opening—one that can foster empathy, wisdom, exploration and strength.
Why it Matters
Clara Hughes’s candid exploration of menopause transcends personal memoir, offering a powerful catalyst for cultural change. By publicly navigating the physical and emotional turbulence of hormonal transition, she helps dismantle the stigma that often shrouds women’s health discussions, particularly around a natural yet under‑recognised life phase. Her openness about seeking unconventional therapies also encourages a more inclusive conversation about mental‑health support, urging policymakers, healthcare providers and employers to consider the menopause gap’s impact on workforce participation and overall well‑being. In sharing her journey, Hughes not only validates the experiences of countless women who feel they must “power through” but also champions a more compassionate, informed approach to ageing, mental health and holistic care—one that could shape future health programmes and workplace policies across Canada and beyond.
