by Bianca Barban, Melbourne, Australia
At an Esoteric Women’s Group presentation earlier this month, the women of Melbourne were graced by a presentation on Women’s Health given by Sara Harris, Serryn O’Regan, Nina Stabey and Mary-Louise Myers. Each spoke with a strength and wisdom that was both very inspiring and deeply supportive, offering a reflection on how to take honouring ourselves to a deeper level.
Fertility is not just about getting Pregnant
Sara has worked for many years in clinical practice supporting women with specific Women’s Health issues and at the Women’s Group she presented a deeper understanding to the meaning of fertility. It was not a presentation that included the desperation some women feel when trying to get pregnant, but a powerful presentation that allowed us to feel how
- Fertility is a wholeness, something that is part of a complete cycle
- It cannot be isolated from every other part of our cycle
- Fertility is part of our womanhood and way of being
- It is not something to just focus on when trying to become pregnant
- Or a focus to avoid becoming pregnant
Sara presented a lovely analogy of soil and a woman’s fertility: just like soil needs loving preparation to be “fertile” and supportive of growth, so too do our bodies need loving preparation and nurturing to support them to be fertile, and that this nurturing is tended to, the whole way through our cycle. This supported me to feel how our fertility is a constant part of our cycle, an opportunity to confirm who we are as women and deeply appreciate our divine preciousness. And so, our fertility is about our ability to grow and nurture, firstly ourselves and then others and not just something to focus on at individual moments in the cycle, when trying to avoid or become pregnant.
There was a consensus within the group that when growing up most of us knew little about fertility. If it was discussed it was in the realm of having a baby, rather than the true gift it brings of a new beginning every month. This was true for me, the first time I focused on my fertile cycle was when I wanted to get pregnant, but I also remember being in awe of the body and the possibilities it held.
Tracking the days of our menstrual cycle and getting to know our cycle deeply can be an amazing support and bring a deeper appreciation of who we are as women. Many women amongst the group were using the app Our Cycles Period and Full Moon Diary and loving it. This App has supported me to reflect on how I am feeling on a daily basis and consider how this might relate to my choices throughout the month.
Nutrition can be a huge support within our Menstrual Cycle
Nina presented nutritional information to support “Our Cycle of Honoring” – the 28 day menstrual cycle can be divided into 4 equal parts; each part can be viewed as a cycle within the menstrual cycle. I felt this was a lovely way to present the cycle. It supported me to feel the continuous cycle that we live in – that every moment supports the next and that nothing is isolated because we are in constant relationship with everything.
The Time for Cleansing and Rebuilding
Day 1 (the first day of bleeding) to Day 7 is a time for cleansing and rebuilding – “Our cervix is like a self cleaning oven” and these days support us to deeply cleanse any of our old, destructive behavioral patterns and thoughts (that we nominate in our clearing days 21-1) and make physical adjustments to deeply honour ourselves as women. We may notice for example that we feel to dress differently, rest more or exercise differently. The role of food in this time is to build and or confirm the body, foods that help to build the vitality of the body and blood. I have noticed at this time I feel like eating red meat and that it feels very supportive in my body.
The Space for New Foundations
Day 7-14 is a time to review how our cycle was this month and to create a new foundation to the way we live. Paying close attention to how we feel on Day 8-9 often reveals how we have lived, for example, we may feel how tired we are and how we coped during the last cycle. It is a wonderful gauge of our vitality. The focus of food was on regenerating foods, for example, utilizing meats, fresh herbs and nutrient dense foods like sea vegetables and avocados.
A Time for Deeper Understanding and Appreciation
Day 14-21. The focus is on confirmation. Acknowledging that we have cleansed and created a new foundation, it is now an opportunity for us to be honest about where we are at and bring loving understanding to ourselves. Physically it is a time with less symptoms, a time where we may be feeling more confident and open. Food focus is on foods that confirm these feelings in our body; we were encouraged to feel what these were for us.
Tenderness and Reflection
Day 21-28 is a time to reflect on how we have lived the previous 3 cycles. Often physical symptoms that may be experienced in this lead up to bleeding time can offer us the opportunity to be honest about the way we have lived in those preceding cycles and allow us to feel why we may be having each particular symptom. The focus on these last days of our cycle is on foods that will support the body towards cleansing. In this time we can be super tender and honouring of ourselves.
Honouring ourselves as Women
Serryn’s presentation focused on how she honours herself and brings her sacredness to every aspect of her life including her role as a corporate lawyer. “As women we are sacred – we know this very deeply but we focus on what we do instead of who we are.”
If we connect with our preciousness and honour ourselves in every moment, the work (or anything we do) will be imprinted by that quality; people will get the fullness of you. Serryn spoke about how she worked before this deep honoring of her preciousness, compared to how she works now. The love, fullness and joy Serryn brings to her work now is palpable. In the past she was task oriented but now, work is all about people. Serryn’s commitment to herself and humanity was very inspiring.
What does Self-honouring look like?
Mary-Louise introduced a new Esoteric Woman’s Health Programme: A 12 session programme including the modalities of the Esoteric Breast Massage (EBM), Esoteric Arm or Back Massage and Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy. This programme is completed over 3, 6 or 12 months with an EBM practitioner and is an amazing opportunity for deep healing.
It was acknowledged how far so many women had come through the support of the EBM, EWH and the Esoteric Women’s Groups and Presentations and their own commitment to bringing more love, nurturing and honouring to themselves as women. We saw some before and after photos of women and the changes in them, brought about by this commitment, they were amazing.
The importance of confirming where we are at and appreciating what we have healed was discussed and Mary-Louise proposed a beautiful question…. “Could we take our self honoring to a deeper level?” The answer from my body was a resounding YES.
Mary-Louise gave some examples from clinical practice and one resonated deeply with me. She spoke about how a woman did not feel her amazing love while she was in a session, but was focused instead on ‘what was not her’. This was GOLD… I could relate to this, how often had I felt the loveliness of me, the deep love that I am, but allowed myself to become distracted by the fact that I was feeling pain or that I needed to heal my issues and therefore missing the opportunity to just appreciate the gift of feeling the love I truly am?
Further reflection of this day has left me pondering how often I choose to focus on ‘what is not me’ – wow it is a lot! I realised I still have this programme of perfection running that says, “sure you are love, this can’t be denied, but first you need to fix everything and then you get to live as the amazing love filled woman you are”. This is pure illusion because I will never be perfect and there will always be issues to look at as I unfold. So, if I choose to follow this ingrained pattern I will never get to live the full me, because by allowing it, I am living in separation to the wholeness that supports me to live all of me in every moment. The beautiful, still, super-precious being I am and have tangibly felt on many occasions, has always been there just waiting patiently to become the focus. I can feel how my cycle would be different and my life be different if I made the focus on being this love… all of the time.
I know this sounds simple but when you feel something deeply in your body it is profound. It is an absolute truth that I AM LOVE and all the other stuff is not me; yes it needs to be looked at, but if it becomes the focus it is like I am rejecting the love I naturally am. It is time to take this knowing to a deeper level and celebrate the joy of living all of me in every moment, and the way this is done is just bringing my presence to every moment and the rest will unfold.
Heartfelt appreciation to the awesome foursome, it was a truly beautiful day, very inspiring and supportive, leaving all the gorgeous women in attendance much to ponder on – and a foundation from which to take our experience of love to a deeper level.
The wisdom and support I have received from these esoteric modalities and presentations has been immense and allowed me to bring a deeper clarity and honouring to how I am living. I feel deep appreciation for the Esoteric Women’s Health practitioners, the Esoteric Women’s Groups and the Esoteric Women’s Presentations by Natalie Benhayon.
You may also like: