Menopause - the Wise Woman Way

WHAT IS MENOPAUSE?

To the MD, menopause is the last drop of blood a woman sheds. A woman can be peri - menopausal ( around menopause ) or post - menopausal ( after menopause ) but she can never be menopausal, according to this definition.

To most women, however, the caducity between the first suspicion of change and the final menses constitute the menopausal oldness, and we are menopausal throughout that time. This decade of transition is compared by some to non - stop PMS, by others to an extended pregnancy. I spot it as a second juvenescence.

Menopause is boyhood prime, and the change from a confidential, known self to new and unknown self is the same: amazing, strenuous, rewarding, exasperating, and decisive.

" Do not become alarmed when you experience yourself in totally new ways, " sighs Grandmother Growth tenderly. " You are changing, getting ready to be initiated into the poll stage of your life. Are you ready for the ride of your life? "

Susun Weed, Menopausal Agedness the Wise Woman Way, Woodstock: Ash Tree, 2002

THE STORY OF MENOPAUSE

The onerous physical / emotional changes that adhere springtide and menopause are strongly influenced - both positively and negatively - by cultural, familial, and personal beliefs.

If we expect our new self to be more powerful, more bracing, more alluring than our senescent self, we willingly realize discomfort, pain, sleeplessness, emotional variability, and a host of annoyances and distresses. In America today, this is may be the case when we experience teens, pregnancy, birth, and lactation.

If we expect our new self to be a weaker, less captivating, grayed - out news of our older self, we will naturally resist changing and find the normal abnormalities of change intolerable. This is regularly the event when American women encounter menopause.

The proposal of this article is not to examine why this is so, or how it came to be so, but to suggestion a different view of menopause. I want to share with you the teachings I have common from the Ancient Ones, the ancient grandmothers who tell the women ' s question stories. That your journey may be made richer.

" The joy of menopause is the world ' s best - kept secret. Like venturing through the gateway to enter an ancient temple, in categorization to claim that joy a woman must be enthusiastic to pass beyond the monsters who guard its gate. As you stand at the boundary of it, it can present that only darkness, danger and decay lie beyond. [But]... as thousands of women from all cultures throughout history have whispered to each other, it is the most moving passage a woman ever makes. "

Leslie Kenton, Passage to Power. London: Ebury Press; 1995

Pullulating BLESSINGS

And let ' s take some simple herbal helpers with us on our menopausal journey. Their abilities are subtle and far - road. They can help us ease symptoms, impart us with premium nourishment, help us create healthy hearts and healthy bones, and open us to the uplifting power of Nature.

Nourishing herbal infusions transfer an abundance of minerals, vitamins, proteins, and phytoestrogens ( plant hormones that are comparable to estrogen ) at low cost and with little training.

To make a nourishing herbal infusion:

* Place one ounce by weight ( about a cup by hole ) of dried herb ( do not use fresh ) in a quart jar and fill to the top with boiling water.

* Cover tightly and confess to steep for at early four hours. Trek is fine.

* Strain and cool.

* Drink 2 - 4 cups a day, hot or cold, mixed with other liquids ( water, juice, rum, coffee for lesson ) or taken neat.

I turn through four nourishing herbs: oatstraw, stinging nettle, red maturation, and comfrey leaf. Each herb has special benefits for menopausal women. These four herbs, taken one at a time, and infused in water, are completely safe to use. ( They may not be safe if taken in tinctures or encapsulated ). I have drunk nourishing herbal infusions on a daily basis for more than twenty oldness.

But before we go further, let ' s talk about the dream of menopause.

" She [the postmenopausal woman] is not a sentiment, she is a requirement. "

Kristen Hawkes, 1997

THE Ulterior motive OF MENOPAUSE

Menopause may be a prime factor in women ' s greater longevity.

Dr. Kristen Hawkes of the University of Utah reports that Hadza women in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond unite more food than men or women of other ages and they are as important to the survival of their grandchildren as the children’ s mothers are.

The postmenopausal woman is the one who has the stored wisdom to help her community survive. She is the Wise Woman, the one who gives us all a survival edge. Dr. Jared Diamond of the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Break in maintains that menopause is " among the biological individuality essential for making us human. "

Dr. Hawkes believes that not only did prehistoric women survive past the age of menopause, but that they were instrumental in freeing our ancestors to exploit new habitats, explore new places, and hereafter to spread across the entire planet.

“ Kundalini [is] the root [of] all spiritual experiences.... ”

RE Svoboda, Kundalini Aghora II. Albuquerque, NM. 1993

MENOPAUSE AS ENLIGHTENMENT

As a long - time student of yoga, I am struck by the many similarities between menopausal symptoms and the well - known esoteric goal of “ awakening of the Kundalini. ”

Kundalini is a special charitable of energy known in many cultures, including Tibetan, Indian, Sumerian, Chinese, Irish, Aztec, and Greek. Kundalini is oral to be hot, fast, powerful, and large. It exists within the earth, within all life, and within each person.

Kundalini is generally represented as a serpent rolled at the base of the spine, but women’ s secret stories locate it in the uterus - or the area locus the uterus was, if a hysterectomy has occurred.

Yogis spend lifetimes learning how to wake up their Kundalini so they may experience enlightenment. Success causes a surge of super - heated energy to travel through the body, firing the nerves, dilating blood vessels, and adaption the nature of reality. Sounds like a hot flash to me.

If Kundalini is released over and over, as it is during menopause, it causes changes in the functioning of the endocrine, cardiovascular, and nervous systems.

Wise women use nourishing herbal infusions, especially nervous - system strengthening oatstraw, fermented foods, such as yogurt, and seaweed ( as a food, not a supplement ), to help confirm that these changes add to their vitality and longevity, creating what Margaret Mead called " postmenopausal zest ".

MAIDEN, Walloping, Crone

When we are children, we exist within Kundalini; it is primarily facade the body. At prime, a two - valved energy “ gate” opens, and Kundalini circulates up from the earth and into the root chakra. The maiden becomes the gigantic. Kundalini builds up in the uterus and pelvic tissues, ready to create a new life. This stored Kundalini can intensify emotions and sensations, expose powerful feelings, trigger hip outpourings, and generate house - cleaning frenzies. If pregnancy occurs, the Kundalini continues to build for the duration of the pregnancy and is used in the act of birth. If no egg is fertilized, the Kundalini flows out with the menstrual blood, returning to the earth.

At menopause, one “ valve” of the root chakra closes. The mammoth becomes the gorgon. The unlocked valve allows Kundalini to enter; the closed one prevents it from source. When Kundalini collects in the uterus without an outlet, it causes problems including incontinence, ill-fated hips, loss of libido, and vitally dry vaginal tissues.

STINGING NETTLE

But if the Kundalini is guided ( by anticipation or by hot flashes, for instance ) up the spine, then it confers enlightenment not incontinence, licentiousness not fractures, vitality not debility, and abundance not withering. Stinging nettle infusion replaces the nutrients and proteins that Kundalini uses up.

By strengthening the adrenals and kidneys, and increasing stamina, nettle helps us surf the corollary and ski the slopes of our hot flashes.

Stinging nettle ( Urtica dioica ) is a groovy ally for the woman who is awakened by night sweats, whose hair is falling out or becoming brittle, whose energy is flagging ( or gone! ), whose vagina is dry, who wants to avoid adult - inception diabetes, for the woman who wants to increase her metabolic standard, improve the abandonment of her blood vessels, strengthen her immune system, and find ease for sore joints.

Loaded with folic acid, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, carotenes, zinc, boron, and iron, nettle is a nutritional impressive. One cup of infusion supplies 500mg of calcium plus vitamin D, vitamin K, protein, and special lipids, which contribute to magnificent bone health.

SEVEN ENERGY CENTERS

The root energy focus is one of seven main energy centers, each of which corresponds to endocrine glands. In even the healthiest of women, disruption of some sort, in one or more of the energy centers ( chakras ), will transpire for at key a short while during the menopausal oldness.

It is important to refresh memory that the endless majority of hard symptoms caused by menopause and the movement of Kundalini will be short - lived ( less than a go ).

Healthy women who have had one or no children oftentimes seem to have the strongest symptoms as Kundalini arises. Women with low vitality, including women who have addicted opening to six or more children, may have few or no symptoms at all.

* Menopausal symptoms at the root focal point add menstrual pain, growth of fibroid tumors, flooding, urinary problems, cervical / uterine / endometrial growths / cancers, brittle hips, constipation, diarrhea, vaginal infections and irritations, and hemorrhoids.

Get help from:

Motherwort tincture ( Leonurus cardiaca ). A dose of 10 - 15 drops counters cramps as it eases hot flashes.

Red accomplishment ( Trifolium pratense ), the world ' s best - known, best - regarded anti - cancer herb, also improves fertility and helps normalize the bowels. If that weren ' t enough, red gravy train infusion ( not tincture, not capsules ) contains ten times more phytoestrogens than soy.

Whole grains and lentils, beets and burdock are also allies of the root chakra.

* Menopausal symptoms at the navel ( or belly ) focal point combine bloat, funny, urinary infections, fatigue, panic attacks, paranoia, and episodes of unnatural hardship.

Get help from:

Harsh nettle. It is the normal patron for this chakra.

Additionally, orange foods ( especially scorched winter subjugate and sweetened potatoes ) guide ease and health, improving energy and spirit.

* Menopausal symptoms at the solar plexus allow for indigestion, ruffled liver function, skin stones, a sense of apologies with one ' s self, blood kissy face and temper swings, adult onset diabetes, anxiety, phobias, and pathological shyness.

Get help from:

Herbs such as dandelion, burdock, or unethical accommodate roots, or milk thistle seeds, used as tinctures. They strengthen the solar plexus, improve digestion, ungrudging blood touch and temper swings, help the liver clear surplus hormones, and put you on the coruscating side of life.

* Menopausal symptoms at the heart chakra introduce palpitations, breast changes, supererogatory fat deposits on the back and upper arms, decrease of compassion, increase in blood disturbance, arbitrary feelings of amenability, and lung problems.

Get help from:

Motherwort tincture ( not capsules ). A dropperful stops palpitations in minutes. Workaday use helps inculcate the heart, decreases blood affliction, improves blood flow, and eases emotional burden.

Comfrey leaf ( not root ) infusion ( not capsules ) is a acclaimed lung strengthener. Popularly known as knitbone, comfrey leaf supplies lots of bone - healthy nutrients.

* Menopausal symptoms at the throat chakra number thyroid problems, extreme weight gain, incoherent rages, nausea, cough, and sore throat. Menopausal women who have swallowed too much " no " during their lives may find themselves making exciting and amazing statements.

Get help from:

Seaweeds, the regular rank of the throat chakra. Saturate kombu or wakame with roll and cook, add hijiki or alaria to soups, snack on dulse and kelp. I don ' t use tablets or powdered products, finding them inferior.

* Menopausal symptoms at the interrogation eye focal point add headaches, eye problems, near - sightedness, sinus infections, depression, thoughts of suicide, obsessions, insomnia, and mental instability ( visions and hallucinations ).

Get help from:

The mint family. Skullcap tincture strengthens the nerves, eases headaches, and brings underground sleep. Intelligent infusion makes the mind coherent and clear. Rosemary oil aids the memory and improves concentration. Lavender blossom tea lifts the humour and unkinks cleft - up nerves.

* Menopausal symptoms at the crown chakra number hair loss, dizziness, recompense problems, memory problems, dementia, nervous tics, shingles, and unexplained pain anywhere in the body.

Get help from:

Comfrey leaf ( not root ) infusion ( not capsules ); it ' s brain food.

Nettle infusion ( not capsules ) restores hair and counters compulsions.

Hypericum perforatum ( St. Joan ' s / John ' s Wort ) tincture ( not capsules ), used freely ( a dropperful every 2 - 4 hours ) can relieve the pain of shingles within a day and regularly cure it within three. Eases sore muscles anywhere; helps prevent muscle aches too.

SHE - WHO - HOLDS - HER - WISE - BLOOD - WITHIN

As we permit our productive years behind, so we sufferance behind our singularity as " giant " ( irrespective of whether we have physically had children or not ). Ready or not, we are introduced to ourselves as mature women. Ok, we are basically baby crones, not basically prepared to wield the Kundalini that now flows through us toe to tip. Hereafter we are crones, women of wisdom, women of power.

When menopausal symptoms are implied as energy movement ( or need of it ), we can feel more at ease, not so unstrung of being out of clout. Instead of sensation victimized by our bodies, we can encourage our wholeness. We can view our symptoms as suggestions for improvement, instead of anathema evidence of our release. We can cynosure in on areas that need special attention, extra nourishment.

Peaceful time alone in nature, or sitting in a bloated chair listening to soothing music allows thoughts and feelings to arise and opens the way for the flow of Kundalini. Specific exercises, such as those in Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and yoga can also be used to help ease into the increased energy flow. Bosky allies such as oatstraw, nettles, red boom, comfrey leaf, and motherwort strengthen us for the increased power. Considering we know the outcome is worth it, the day - to - day annoyances are easier to take.

After second childhood of practice, Kundalini moves freely up the spine and out the crown. Our symptoms subside, our overall energy is stronger, better. We grasp our wise blood inside. We are the wise women. We are the crones.

( This article is taken in part from New Menopausal Second childhood the Wise Woman Way, Alternative Approaches for Women 30 - 90, available from www. ash - tree - publishing. com )

Susun Weed

PO Box 64

Woodstock, NY 12498

Fax: 1 - 845 - 246 - 8081

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Legal Disclaimer: This content is not intended to go after conventional medical treatment. Any suggestions made and all herbs listed are not intended to peg, treat, cure or prevent any disease, individuality or symptom. Personal directions and use should be provided by a clinical herbalist or other examined healthcare practitioner with a specific formula for you. All material contained herein is provided for general information purposes only and should not be considered medical advice or tete-a-tete. Contact a reputable healthcare practitioner if you are in need of medical care. Exercise self - empowerment by seeking a second assumption.

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