Category: MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Menopause: a Deeper Connection to Myself as a Woman

~ womeninlivingness

My journey into menopause began as I started noticing and feeling certain changes in my physical body: my shape rounded slightly around my hips and lower abdomen, and there came a series of what felt like a volcanic heat erupting in my body, particularly from the chest upwards. These sweats would come and go quite quickly in duration but vary in their intensity as well as their frequency. At times the heat felt prickly and all consuming, and at other moments it was a feeling of letting go, with a quality of freedom. There were intermittent feelings of frustration, with a yearning to understand more of what was going on inside me. I found I experienced varying degrees of feeling light and heavy within my body throughout the months, and the cycles of no bleeding became longer and longer until a year had passed with no period.

What I am describing here are only some of the physical changes I began noticing. But there is more to menopause than just the physical symptoms.

Continue reading “Menopause: a Deeper Connection to Myself as a Woman” →

Me and my Menstrual Cycle: Connecting to my Body and Myself as a Woman

~ womeninlivingness

I am a 43 year-young woman and for most of my life I have had no relationship with my menstrual cycle. At some point, I found out that there was such a thing as ‘menstruation’ and at the age of 14, wearing white pants on that particular day (how convenient…), it started for me in the toilet at school. I had my first menstruation and I had no idea what to do. I felt awkward and embarrassed, especially because it was on a day that my father picked me up and suggested we go for a long walk with the dogs. That was the longest walk of my life. I asked my two older sisters for support and I was introduced into the world of sanitary pads. And having my monthly period.

And so my life continued…

At the age of 16 I had my first boyfriend and my mother suggested taking the pill. Not because I had difficulties with my period, but for birth control. After that, for many years to follow, and having several relationships, I took the pill, had my monthly ‘fake’ menstruation, put in a tampon (so much more convenient than those big sanitary towel ‘mattresses’), and I lived my life; A life without any connection to my cycle, my body, my uterus, my ovaries, my breasts, my menstruation, my ovulation – in other words, to the fact that I was a woman, with a menstrual cycle.

I never took a moment to ask myself what it actually means to be a woman, let alone what it means to live as a woman.

Continue reading “Me and my Menstrual Cycle: Connecting to my Body and Myself as a Woman” →

Dysmenorrhoea (Painful periods) and the Joy of Coming back to Me

~ womeninlivingness

Dysmenorrhoea is a medical term used in association with periods to describe frontal low pelvic pain.

Soon after my first period started I began to get severe pain most, if not every month. Usually within 3 to 4 hours of starting I would be on the floor with sickness and diarrhoea from the contractions in my womb. It would only last a few hours but the intensity was crazy.

I would make noises like a woman having a baby; I would scream, shout, swear and I would roll about the floor like a possessed (mad) woman. I could quickly go from feeling boiling hot and sweating to freezing cold and hugging a hot water bottle – this between hugging the toilet and hugging a sick bowl. Continue reading “Dysmenorrhoea (Painful periods) and the Joy of Coming back to Me” →

Menopause and Me – A New Chapter in life, Listening to My Body and Making Wiser Choices

~ womeninlivingness

I was truly inspired after reading the blog My Reincarnation through the Menopause by Susan Lee. I couldn’t agree more that there is definitely a life afterwards, and that older women are not ‘over the hill’, or ‘invisible’!

The Change

I am a woman of 61, and I went through the menopause about 9 years ago at aged 52. I am married and had my 2 children in my 30s. In my 40s I was very curious to know what to expect from both a physical and emotional standpoint, it seemed a rather bleak outlook with nothing much to look forward to after ‘The Change’. I even went to a conference on menopause with experts speaking on different topics, like HRT, and I reflected to myself asking, “Isn’t menopause just a natural and normal event in a woman’s reproductive cycle and not a disease?”  Continue reading “Menopause and Me – A New Chapter in life, Listening to My Body and Making Wiser Choices” →

My Reincarnation through the Menopause

~ womeninlivingness

My menopause began when I was 47 years old and this was at a point in my life when everything was changing. My marriage had come to an end and my daughter and my son were preparing to leave home. Little did I know at that time that this was just the beginning of life, and that I was about to be reincarnated. I use the word ‘reincarnated’ because that is how it feels in retrospect – as though:

All that I had been before was a shadow of the woman I am today.

I am now 69 and the intervening years have been a gradual unfoldment from a point where I felt discarded and where:

I had no concept of how it would be to live life without the recognition of being needed. Continue reading “My Reincarnation through the Menopause” →

The Awesome Foursome present in Melbourne

~ womeninlivingness

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. Continue reading “The Awesome Foursome present in Melbourne” →

The Joy of Having my Period and Ovulation – Yes, it’s true!

~ womeninlivingness

by Danna Elmalah, 20 years old, student nurse, the Netherlands

Yes, it may sound really silly… but I love having my period and ovulation. The joy I now feel when having my period and ovulation is indescribable – I never thought I would be feeling like this about it.

In all the years that I have been having periods I had many ideas about how having periods would look like and I was not even aware of the fact that I was experiencing ovulation!

I will tell you how it all began.

Before I had my first period I spoke about it with friends and read a lot of stories in magazines about women’s experiences with it. With all this received information I thought that I would be ready for my first period; I got my first period when I was 15.

I remember that first moment when my period started, I was on vacation with my mum and of course I could not hold back to share this with her. At the same time I felt a little ashamed to tell others, feeling a need to keep it a secret.

Although I was pretty happy about finally getting my first period, I felt a little unsettled and actually disappointed. I had built up many expectations and when my period arrived it felt like I had missed something. I had thought the period would make me a woman… but surprisingly I did not really feel like a woman.

The way I was feeling about my period was actually not that great at all and having ovulation was nothing more then the cause of my period later that month. My periods were not regular and they were super, super painful. I felt ashamed of them, like there now was something that I needed to hide.

Over the years I became more and more tough and I desperately tried to escape what I was truly feeling. Having my period became more like a ‘bothering thing’ then a moment for myself to nurture my body. Nevertheless I did always feel more sensitive and fragile around the time of my periods but I did not give those feelings any attention. There were many signals my body was giving, but I did not listen to it.

Then on top of this there were the comments made about periods; I used to react to them either by not saying anything or when a comment was made I would laugh along.

Comments such as:

  • Oh you are emotional today, are you having your period again?
  • It’s really gross to have a period, don’t you think?

This made it even worse to talk about periods or share feelings about them. As long as you were using tampons and did not talk about it much, it was fine. It felt to me that I had to cover up my periods.

The idea I had about having a period – that I would become a woman – made me wonder how was it that there was nothing that really changed after my first period; that I did not become more beautiful or more womanly.

Why did I not feel like a woman, I started to ask myself? There was something not right, but what was it?

A few years ago I came across Universal Medicine (UniMed) and Serge Benhayon and after attending many workshops and teachings it became very clear for me that it was time to change. The teachings presented that there is a way of life – a simple and loving way for one to live.

As I became more aware of how I was living and how that old way did not work for me, I decided to start new. With the support of Serge Benhayon, the Unimed Team and especially Natalie Benhayon, I started to get to know myself more. This was all in revelation to the relationship I had with myself.

It was really confronting to see how I had lived and to than accept it. Nevertheless it has been an absolute gift to see and be aware of, as I started a true way of living that has changed my life incredibly. I started to look honestly at where I was at, how I was living my life and to listen and trust what I was feeling. I can say it has been a miracle to be part of this process.

I started to look at why I was having such extreme pain during my periods. I found out that my monthly living was very much influencing my period every single month. The way I was living with myself then got reflected back to me while having my period. The more racy, stressed, emotional, anxious and contracted I was during the month than the more pain I had during my period. This was a real revelation.

It was like a package of how I had lived that month that said ‘Here for you to consider’, so I decided to observe. I started to change the way I was living, as it felt that I had no other choice if I were to change my life.

I found out that being a woman is not a role you take on, through a period or any other way, but by connecting to who you are – the woman is naturally within. I just wasn’t aware of this, as I never really made a true connection with myself before.

I started to appreciate my body and myself and boy oh boy I could not believe – the more I felt who I truly was the more ‘feeling like a woman’ started to make sense to me.

It felt to me it didn’t matter if we got a period or not, we are that beauty, we are women. The most important thing is to accept how beautiful we are and that we are made to nurture and honor ourselves in full. Never were we meant to be judgmental, unloving, disrespectful or anything like that about ourselves.

I started to accept more of who I am and it became simpler to truly love myself and also truly love others.

My pains during my periods have decreased so much that they are not common anymore, however, if there are occasional pains I hold myself lovingly. In the past I would have never dreamt of looking at my periods in such a loving way. My periods each month become more of a loving reflection. I started to even notice body changes while having my period and ovulation, whereas before I would have not been aware of having an ovulation in the first place.

I got to see how powerful my livingness – the way I live every day – is and how much responsibility I have to life as a human being here on earth in a true and loving way.

I started to use the Our Cycles App created by Natalie Benhayon and it has been a beautiful App that inspires me to write about my daily living and how I am feeling. I even started to write about how my body feels and about my periods/ovulation. I do highly recommend this App for women to use (also if you are in menopause) and even for men.

My periods have become a time of the month to love and to be playful with. These days are not hard anymore, like they had been before. I no longer have thoughts like “Oh no, here we go again, got my period!” but instead “YES, I have got my period again”.

I would have never thought that I would feel so joyful about having my periods and ovulation or the joy and love that I feel when I connect to who I truly am – which is amazing. The woman I was looking for all that time was already within me… a very loving and nurturing woman.

Body Talk – I Love the Way my Ovaries, Absent Periods and Fingers all Speak to Me!

~ womeninlivingness

by Priscila, 35yrs, UK

I never paid much attention or given much importance to my little finger (or any of my fingers), not until something affected them would I notice.

Have you ever had a finger cut from a sheet of paper? Yes, a sheet of paper! I didn’t know how sharp a sheet of paper could be until I cut myself with one by accident… or should I say by perhaps being distracted with multi-tasking?! And then you have to use your hands for cooking, writing, dressing yourself, having a shower etc. and realise how it affects your activities and how much you miss your little finger (and it hurts too!). Until that moment I had no idea I had a little finger! And more so, that a finger could actually ‘speak’!!!! How our body talks to us is amazing. Continue reading “Body Talk – I Love the Way my Ovaries, Absent Periods and Fingers all Speak to Me!” →

Men, Periods and the Our Cycles Period App

~ womeninlivingness

by Lee Green, Business Owner, Perth

Until recently there has been a game played the world over that men and periods are two very separate things. Until recently I subscribed to the same belief – men and periods did not exist. Periods were a women’s subject.

In my life as a man I had always seen one long pathway that never had a stop sign on it. I was always trudging through life with no vitality, no love of me or the life I was living. Along the way I found things to use and numb me from this drudgery, but for all the immediate relief there was still the heaviness rooting me almost to the spot.

WOMEN AND PERIODS… WHERE IS THE REST FOR MEN? Continue reading “Men, Periods and the Our Cycles Period App” →

Hot flushes, Menopause and True Responsibility

~ womeninlivingness

By Sharon Gavioli, Registered Nurse, Birth Educator, Counselor, Brisbane, Queensland

At the age of 46, my body decided to commence the first signs of impending menopause with intense hot flushes.

This came as a shock to me, as my mother had told me she did not reach menopause until she was 55 and that her periods had continued regularly, until one month after which they never returned. I felt at 46 that I was too young for menopause but despite my objections this cycle had begun.

I experienced irregular cycles and significant hot flushes for the next five years. Continue reading “Hot flushes, Menopause and True Responsibility” →