In the last year or so as part of my service as a Certified Vaginal Steam Facilitator, I have been talking to many women about their menstrual cycles. In my Free Womb Wellness Assessments I discuss the details of women's menstrual cycles with them. We look at the various symptoms of their cycles, from length of their cycles, to discharges, colors and textures of their blood, how many days they bleed each month, if they have a regular rhythm or not, and any pain or unwellness they have throughout their cycles.
At first I was doing these sessions for free because it was required to complete my certification. I have continued to offer them for free because I have seen how few women have any useful information about their menstrual cycles and symptoms. Most women have been told by their doctors and educators that their suffering is normal and have been given nothing to alleviate their pain in any real way. I have heard countless stories of young women put on birth control pills to alleviate the symptoms of ailments as extreme as Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome, Endometriosis, Fibroids, and Pre-Menstrual Disphoric Disorder. The pill does nothing to address the underlying causes of these serious ailments and puts women at greater risk for a whole host of future ailments like obesity, infertility and breast cancer to name a few. Women are even being put on birth control pills to alleviate lesser ailments like severe menstrual cramps, excessive bleeding, and other unpleasant symptoms. The birth control pill and other hormonal based forms of birth control seem to be the medical answer for any menstrual problem.
This is appalling to me, not only because of the extensive and damaging side effects of these hormonal interventions that are usually not fully disclosed to women, but more so because there are so many more effective, gentle, and safe ways of addressing these menstrual ailments available, not the least of which being simply recognizing that these ailments are signs of overall health imbalances that need to be addressed holistically.
I am also appalled by the number of women I have talked with who have received no support at all, not even hormonal interventions, for excessive bleeding. Women have been led to believe that it is normal and acceptable to be bleeding for 6, 8, 10, or 15 days out of the month. I even spoke to a woman who had been bleeding non stop for 8 years. Her doctors had offered nothing to help her. It is very clear that a healthy woman will only bleed for 4 days out of the month and on a regular cycle of around 28-30 days. Any more than that needs to be considered a serious sign of ill-health and addressed immediately. If she were bleeding from any other part of her body, she would be told to stop everything else she was doing and do whatever it took to stop the bleeding. But because of the suppression of information and general foundation of neglect and abuse towards the womb that our society rests upon, it is considered acceptable for women to be bleeding out.
This image of large numbers of women bleeding out through their wombs comes into clear focus when we consider the harmful effects of ongoing rape culture which condones and enables sexual abuse, domestic violence, rape, medical neglect, reproductive exploitation, economic exploitation, and emotional exploitation of people of all genders, but especially women. This is an actual collective physical wound with huge emotional and spiritual components to it. It has become central to my devotion to working to bring humanity into balance once more for the sake of our survival as a species.
So how do we address such a collective bleeding out when it is largely unrecognized as a problem? This is a big question for me as I have talked with many women in this condition, offering them real solutions, but because of this collective blindness and denial of their pain as a problem worthy of investing time and energy into solving, they don't feel they can prioritize their well being. Most insurance companies don't cover the kinds of care needed to remedy these types of menstrual ailments. And usually women suffering from these ailments have economic disadvantages that go hand in hand with the health imbalances underlying them.
The truth is, though, that it only costs a few dollars to plant an herb, yarrow, that actually grows in the wild in many places, that can be made into a tea that can help women who are bleeding excessively to stop doing so. I have one client who was bleeding heavily for a long time, and had undergone extensive medical interventions for her endometriosis to no avail, who now drinks 1-2 cups of yarrow tea at the onset of her menses and no longer has excessive bleeding. And for those who don't have space to plant or harvest it, it costs perhaps $10 to purchase enough of this valuable herb, that also helps with other ailments like bladder infections, to address the issue for months. And yarrow doesn't just put a bandaid on the ailment without addressing the underlying cause. It actually nourishes the body to heal itself.
The ways that come to me to bring healing to this collective health crisis include the following:
*Offering free and low cost educational materials and support to as many women as I can
*Reclaiming the wisdom of midwives and herbalists that has been suppressed and is often much more economically accessible and effective than intense medical interventions become if these ailments are not addressed
*Helping us remember that we can heal ourselves
*Calling in the support of the spirit realm, ancestors, angels, divine beings, plant and animal allies, to reweave our connectedness and belonging within the ecology of all beings.
I recently received permission to record one of the free Womb Wellness Assessments with one of the participants in the Bio-Mystical Womb Apprenticeship program with the intention of sharing it publicly on the Womb Centered Healing podcast so more women could listen and receive the information about how they can empower themselves to be well. Here is the video version of this demo session:
I would love to hear how you are inspired to take action to remedy this deep underlying health imbalance that women bleeding out indicates in our human species. Please share in the comments below.
Sama founded the Womb Centered Healing Temple in 2018 as a collaborative space to support people of all genders to learn about the importance of our experiences in and of the womb, heal the wounds inflicted on all of us by the womb abuse and suppression of patriarchy, and reclaim the power of the traditions of womb reverence that predate the patriarchal system. Together we can remember, re-activate, and re-establish our Womb Power as our center of personal power and inner guidance that will correct the course of humanity away from self destruction towards harmonious communion and belonging in the ecology of life.
She is offering the first round of the Bio-Mystical Womb Apprenticeship program, mostly to women on full scholarship as case study participants in her book writing project, in service to the intentions stated above. To learn more about the program, visit this page: https://www.samamorningstar.com/bio-mystical-womb-healing-apprentic
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