Category: MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Repose: taking a back seat in the front row

~ womeninlivingness

I have recently completed a program called Stillness and Cycles with Sara Harris from Follow Your Flow. It was 6 weeks of finding out everything and more about our cycles. Each week we attended a presentation, discussion and an Esoteric Yoga session, charted our cycle every day, learned about the cycle on a physical and energetic level, and kept a daily journal of body awareness and observations of each phase.  

The program has taught me about repose, and I have had a physical taste of what that really means.  Continue reading “Repose: taking a back seat in the front row” →

No periods… a message from my body

~ womeninlivingness

Six years ago the doctor asked me if I wanted anti-depressants and suggested I saw a psychotherapist for eating disorders. I’d had some big life changes and reacted with a huge amount of emotional turmoil and stress. I lost about 12kg and went down to 42kg within a few months. My periods stopped and I had no energy or enthusiasm for anything in life. 

I thought I didn’t have an eating disorder because I wasn’t obsessed with my weight or my body – I just didn’t care, about myself or anything else. I shut myself down as a woman, to myself and the world, and gave up. Continue reading “No periods… a message from my body” →

My journey with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome

~ womeninlivingness

Since my early twenties I have had severely irregular periods and could go three to six months, sometimes longer, without any.   

I was overweight, moody and had excess facial hair. 

I felt uncomfortable as a woman. 

I was diagnosed with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and so began my journey with ‘fixing’ my periods.  Continue reading “My journey with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome” →

Amenorrhea – Where do you look when your periods stop?

~ womeninlivingness

Amenorrhea is the absence of menstruation  

In 2014 I moved to London and my periods stopped.  

Within a couple of months the stress I had placed myself under to get a flat and job resulted in me eating very little and dropping from 50/55kg to 41.7kg.  

Prior to 2014, my periods came every month. I rarely had any symptoms in the week leading to my period, but when it came, it was nothing short of horrendous.  Continue reading “Amenorrhea – Where do you look when your periods stop?” →

The True Purpose of Periods

~ womeninlivingness

What is the true purpose of periods? Many of us have reduced our idea of periods to mere function, a messy inconvenience whose only useful purpose is to reassure us that we are not pregnant, but there is so much more to our monthly menstrual cycle, which we are ignoring to the great detriment of all of us.

I recently read an article (1) by a physician on the benefits of taking the oral contraceptive pill continuously, rather than allowing for a monthly bleed, as has been done in the past.

Continue reading “The True Purpose of Periods” →

Premenstrual Syndrome – Prozac or making new Choices?

~ womeninlivingness

Many a conversation amongst women has been about Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). PMS is fairly common although exact statistics are hard to find as some symptoms of PMS are unreported. Women’s Health Concern (1) state that “One in three women suffers discomforting symptoms in the days before their period. For one in 20 the symptoms are bad enough to more seriously affect their lives.” Premenstrual Syndrome can have various symptoms (2) including irritability, tiredness, depression, mood swings, night sweats, bloating, anxiety, breast pain.

Continue reading “Premenstrual Syndrome – Prozac or making new Choices?” →

My Journey with my Periods – Discovering Cycles 

~ womeninlivingness

It has been nearly 7 years since my first period at the age of 13 and since then I have been on an amazing journey in my relationship with myself as a woman. During those years there were many changes taking place – it is generally known and accepted that puberty is a big time for teenagers as their physical body and hormones shift, but with the support of Esoteric Women’s Health and Universal Medicine practitioners, this time has been far more than a biological change for me – it has been an amazing journey where I have blossomed from a girl into a woman. Continue reading “My Journey with my Periods – Discovering Cycles “ →

Finding the Gift in Menopause

~ womeninlivingness

Exploring how women in the past and in other cultures have approached menopause was fascinating to me, and I used it as a guide to open up and deepen my own experience.

Part of continuing to expand my understanding of menopause meant, for me, finding simple ways to keep it real and maintain lightness. I tend to learn more when I don’t get hooked into an intensity of trying to absorb knowledge and information. It has to make sense in my body so I can experience the feeling and mark that as a learning point to use as my guide to evolving. One of the examples of this was my choice associated with experiencing the hot flushes.

I decided to rename “hot flushes” as “my meeting with the Elders”.

Continue reading “Finding the Gift in Menopause” →

Menopause, Motherhood and Ageing: Discarding the Ideals and Discovering True Beauty

~ womeninlivingness

I recently became aware how the ideals of motherhood and related beliefs have an enormous longevity and persistence in women and girls of all ages, and can even affect how we enter and experience menopause.

I have observed girls and women from ages 12 to 50 make the possibility and reality of motherhood the focus of their lives: their sole purpose of being a woman. The number of women seeking fertility treatments has skyrocketed over the last two decades as the desire, and often desperation, to have a child kicks in, with the promise of motherhood and a complete family. In truth, and perhaps, surprisingly, this motherhood ideal continues after menopause.

Continue reading “Menopause, Motherhood and Ageing: Discarding the Ideals and Discovering True Beauty” →