Fluctuations of Female & the Bleed…
Women. We are strong, flexible, and looked to for healing, teaching and nurturing. All of these amazing aspects of female create the whole affect of what we bring to this earth. The Peaceful Warriors of living this green and good life on our collective mother. Monthly, we are broken down to be curled up on the floor, or our beds as we endure a cyclical journey of physical pain. As the wrenching and clenching of our uteruses ensues, our emotions are hay wire, our heads are pounding, and we long for this to be over. For our blood to release, and leave us in peace for another couple of weeks. What if I told you, that this picture of a monthly experience, didn’t have to be, what if I told you, you too, can LOVE your bleed.
I was this picture, I was the one who wished for it to be over, I would cry, and lay in a bath, in the dark. These days, and I honestly can’t pinpoint when the shift occurred, but in the last few years, I have come to love my cycle, while I was nursing Sawyer, I even missed it. This struggle you know too well, as a woman living in the modern western world, truly does NOT have to be. The struggle of accepting this as normal, when looking through the lens of ALL traditional medicine, it is far from normal. It is a sign of imbalance, malnourishment, spiritual unrest, stagnation in physical and energetic bodies PMS does exist. There is no pill to be taken. This is a journey of rebalancing into the vibration of what it is to be in our Divine Feminine POWER.
Does It Have To Be Normal…
As an Herbalist and Energy Healer, I have chosen not to accept this as normal, nor something to just bear and deal with. I see our bodies as perfect, divinely woven through the eye of our Creator. What isn’t perfect is what we are ingesting into our bodies, through food, water, media and thoughts. Our Diving perfection does not come from the toxic energies that the Modern Western Society feeds us. This Divine perfection does not include heavy work and life load, that leads to chronic stress, anxiety and worry. We are told to rely on our resiliency. To just deal with this normal. Some of this is out of our control, the larger picture of what Western Society holds as normal, the rat race and quick fixes. The air that we breathe is a difficult one, especially in City Life. But there is MUCH that we can control, in other powerful areas of our life. And that comes down to the water that we make available to our bodies, the food that we CHOOSE eat, and the thoughts that we allow to enter and live in our minds and bodies.
There are chemicals in our water even on a rural well, here at the farm, I have to be mindful because Glyphosate amongst other chemicals is sprayed each spring, these chemicals become a constituent of the soil. The reason I grow a lot of our food, is because of the scientific altertings of what is available in the stores… do I still go grocery shopping for some key pieces, yes, and I strive each year to grow more and more of our own, fresh food, while focusing on storage crops for the winter. Our waters and foods are so much ladened with these ‘scientific methods”, that it is no longer recognizable on a structural level as nature. And, with all of this, I KNOW we can get back to nature, and guess what… you don’t have to be the ONE growing all the food.
Back To Nature
After many years of living the way that I do, I have finally come to realize that it is indeed this simple. It is as simple as going back to what is nature, as we are nature, when we align with that which we all fundamentally are, our health falls into place. When we take our power back into the choices we make, our nature shines through, and we cannot help but to walk the path. Women, I feel are incredibly sensitive to this re-awakening, after-all, we create within our bodies, just as the big lady downstairs does, and our Creator intended.
I turned away from the Allopathic Model of Care nearly 2 decades ago, I have not since then, taken a pill manufactured in a lab, nor have I visited a Doctor, my son has seen one, one time, and our primary care, came from our midwife, just the way tradition was done before it was burned from us. I feel more vibrant now, in my late 30’s than I did in my early 20’s when I started this journey. I truly, and honestly, look forward to my cycle, and honoring of the blood. I want all women to know this power too, the magic that happens when we tune into this innate connection to creation, the universe and nature. Your period, too, can be a time of joyful anticipation. Lets get into how.
A Decade Long Light Bulb
The big ahhaaaaaaa moment was through the usual modes of contemplation for me: hormones are chemicals too, and processing them in this modern life of ABSURD amounts of foreign chemicals is it. Not only do the management tools of taking control where we can play a massive role here, we need to strengthen the beloved detoxification organ that our bodies already have… the liver. How incredibly stressed out that magnificent organ is because of the modern ways of our world while also attempting to do the jobs it was created for… it, like most of us, is completely over worked.
My Herbalist career was catapulted into the liver and digestion at the very beginning, this because I specialized, in private practice with Problematic Skin Conditions like acne, rosacea, eczema and psoriasis as a Holistic Esthetician (a previous life that led me to where I am today). I coached my clients on diet and lifestyle, while using the more mainstream understanding (because I didn’t know better then) of liver detox and cleansing protocols. Which worked, mostly. This is the click and shift into place that I had been looking over.
My cycles are truly a joy now, and I know many women who have settled into a balanced rhythm too, simply by adding nourishment and strength to the liver. Now, there are always caveat, this existence, especially in the modern realm, is dualistic, we have lots to consider. How much are you tending to the controllable that I have mentioned in the beginning of this article? What is the toxic load, including microwave radiation exposure are you saturated in? This is where my deep dive sessions are essential, I want to be YOUR guide in getting to the root of this issue, so please, don’t expect to have the massively life changing results that many have had, without addressing your toxic load.
IT is time for us all to take our power back, and doing that, which was once easy for our ancestors, takes work in the times we are living in. I’ve got you sister.
It Stops Here…
The beginning is the worst part. Suggest a lifestyle, and rhythm shift in your day to day habits is one thing but implementing it, sticking with it until it becomes a complete infusion of who you are, takes time. It takes DEVOTION, and I encourage you to call upon support when you need it (I am getting ready to open my books again for just this very reason!) Some of these habits have been ingrained into your flow of days, even the hours to the minutes for decades and centuries. It will not be easy, as change never is, but I am willing to assure you that the shift will be worth it.
Devotion is key, there is no going about this if half way, full commitment is the answer. I have tools that can help, and I can be your GUIDE, soon. Since you have read this far, I know that you will do all that you can. I fully encourage you to reach out to me, because, I know the struggle is real, and support is where we can ease that discomfort!
Remodeling Modern
The first place that usually needs a massive remodel is that of our refrigerators and pantries… removing old habits from these places where we would rush to for solace. “Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food…” Hippocrates knew this before science could tell us the chemical makeup of our bodies. The foods that we eat, physically create the body that we are.
How often do you find yourself in the drive through, or sitting at a bar eating a meal that slightly resembles something that might have been real at some point, but, now to find it is coated in vegetable oils, GMO breading, or something of the like? What about noticing how many times you get yourself so rundown from the work day, that you just shove whatever is most convenient into your mouth to ease the grumbling in your gut?
Mindful eating is a daily practice, really a thrice daily practice, that takes the question… Why am I eating this right now? What is driving me to eat this in this moment? As you begin to play the mindful eating game with yourself, you will begin to realize where certain compulsive eating modes come from and better know the mind that drives you every day.
The Mind of Your Microbime
Our cells, our tissues, and most importantly our brains, literally need to have vitamins, minerals, ions, electrolytes, fats, and proteins to survive. We are designed that way, we also need an abundance of water, and real bacterium to have our system functioning the way that it was meant to, which is thriving, healthy and growing old to feel younger! It truly can happen. And, how does that happen? How does a 38-year-old human know that they feel better than a 16-year-old? It all comes right down to food. But by the time we are in our 30s, most of our food habits are steadfast, this is the hardest shift of all.
We have somewhat trained our guts to deal with what we are feeding it, so much that modern science is making realizations that our microbiome in our guts are telling us what they want… ever heard of food cravings? Ones that you cannot seem to ignore for the life of you? Well, research is showing that our flora can indeed speak to us through our nervous system, and they are being shown to be different in an obese person versus someone who is of naturally normal weight. So, what are you feeding your microbes?
Retrain Yourself!
How do we retrain our flora then? How do we retrain ourselves? Most people go right to the cleanse section at the health food stores (and back in the beginning of my previous life, this is where I would send my clients too… paradigm shifts are possible!). They want a quick clean out, something to reset their metabolism, and go looking for that in a magical pill, or drink, to get it done with and get it over. Though, that is something that is also flawed in our healthcare system. Instant gratification to fix me now!
Resetting the palate, just like the rest of this takes time, effort, and discipline. Cleansing the habits can be done and with some effort and 60-90 days of a new existence in the refrigerator and our bodies follow suit. This is the sweet-spot, and where you won’t be able to turn back from, because your entire existence will be showing gorgeous signs of shifting.
Reset to Restore
Restrictive diets are a great way to reboot your system, they can be used as a cleanse, and are a super effective cleanse to reset your palate, but they shouldn’t be adapted into your lifestyle, as they are very limiting, and that is not something that is sustainable. I have tried many of these reset diets, and some have become a part of my life, but I do not restrict myself regarding elimination, what I have stuck with is what is real food, eating mostly veggies, raw dairy, and high quality cheeses, meat and fruit, and the best part… delicious high-quality fats and oils! This is another subject that I could go on and on about regarding what truly is beneficial to our bodies and that is fat.
Our brain is comprised of 60% fat! The fear revolving around fats started in the 60s, and we need to turn away from that thought, cholesterol is a good thing when insulin levels are in proper balance, it is what our body needs, plain and simple. Just look at how bodies have changed since the 60’s… beach photographs are telling…
Trends and Real Lifestyles
Paleo, FODMAPs, SIBO, the Candida cleanse and the like are all great bases of what and how to eat and live. BUT when they become the cure all save all in your life, you begin to miss out on key components of nutrients. The biggest rule of thumb that I have found to work and regulate the intake of real food starts at the grocery store, and moves into your gardens, back yards, and sometimes, if you know where to look and what to look for, the forest floor.
Shopping Habits…
When you are at the store, the perimeter is the place to shop. Stores are set up to have the perishable REAL food on the outside, then when venturing into the aisles, you find shelf stable products in boxes, with ingredient lists, and labels of claiming what they are and are not. This generally defines what is not real food. If it must contain these labels, and lists of ingredients, and has been processed to become what it used to be in the garden, to be something that it is now, truly the food is not as real as it could be.
You will just need to be mindful when you shop the aisles of the grocery stores, and of course eliminating most of what is there will be the end result. In my deep dive programs we go through the ingredient lists of the foods you currently have in your pantry (supplements too) this is where you will really get the deep education that is needed to understand what a list of ingredients contains… there is a lot hiding here too.
When you go to the store. Stay out of the aisles. Work your way from produce, to the bulk section, to the meat counter. Graze through the coolers and be sure that cured meat doesn’t have a list of ingredients more than 3 or 5 deep, truly, bacon should not have more than pork, salt, and maybe some herbs for flavoring. I do poke into the aisles for Coffee, Nut Butter, Maple Syrup, and vinegar, occasionally, coconut oils and some specialty pastas, but I love to purchase my sourdough breads from local bakers… as of course, they do it better.
My frozen berries are organic as is my juice from concentrate which I consume in GREAT moderation. Everything else contains too many ingredients additives and hidden soy… eeeeww.
EAT Meat…
Meats can be tricky too. If you are lucky enough to know a hunter, or to have one in your household, this meat is so incredibly valuable as the animals are always eating and existing in the way that they were meant to be. My family is lucky to have a couple of avid hunters in it, and I feel so incredibly blessed to have a regular source of game to fill my freezer and eat off. When I run out of that delicious game, my grocery bill does go up, because sourcing is important.
Grass-fed, and pasture raised meats are the ones to eat, as they are also living in the way that nature intended us all to live, off the land. The price increase of this sort of meat, I look at as health insurance, which I do not carry or believe in (this has to be your choice, I am in no way telling you to cancel your insurance, but planting a seed of considering options), Know your farmer is really what it comes down to with meat. Go forth and find them, or hello, hi, you already know one ;).
The Herbs
Bitters are first. We need them back in our lives. These herbs are supportive to the liver processing hormones, as well as ones that stimulate secretions from the pancreas and gall bladder for more thorough digestion of the foods we eat. They come from our wild, and pungent plant allies and get our system moving in a way that it has not been moving since we invented the microwave. GREENS -arugula, kale, dandelion greens,yellow dock leaves, to a point plantain. ALL these amazing plants are ones that used to be the first sign of spring to our foraging ancestors.
Next in line are the tonics to the female reproductive system. These guys are magical, as they are the ones that have been used for centuries and have not activity regarding science recognizing a chemical reaction. Angelica root is one that I play with often (though not at the exact moment, as I am pregnant!) known as ‘the great balancer’ in Traditional Chinese Medicine for the action it holds for women in bringing our hormones into a nice even space. There are also digestive bitter properties to angelica root, an ally I encourage all women to lean on. Some times of our lives it is key to take this herb daily, and others, she will flow into our cycles, for example beginning to take angelica root the week leading up to your bleed, and through the shedding process. Then tapering off with ingesting angelica root, to only pick her back up again, as your cycle comes to an end and beginning.
Every day I take a collection of tinctures, and teas. They are a part of my morning and evening ritual, the bring me balance, and what they have done for my body is life changing. I do not miss having emotional mood swings that would and did change the course of my entire day,nor do I miss that fetal position on the f look… best case scenario would be my bed, but that couldn’t always be accomplished.
Bitter herbs are the assistance our liver and digestive organs are CRAVING because of the modern life we lead. They help to cleanse the blood, to create a clear slate each month, before the next fluctuation of hormones come through. Other herbs to employ are ones that tonify the reproductive system of a female. Those of you who know Womb Wisdom Bitters are most likely a component of the cult following that it has. This blend was made with all of this in mind, a one stop shop for MOST women (as all herbs are for most of us).
It’s time for us to shine, ladies, this will be where the revolution fully takes place.
If you are looking to work with me on a deeper level, I am weeks away from opening up my books again. So get on my email list here… I SO look forward to bringing you fully into balance.
