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 years between the first suspicion of change and the final menses constitute the menopausal second childhood, 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 see it as a second bloom.
Menopause is bloom prime, and the change from a recognized, known self to new and unknown self is the same: amazing, arduous, rewarding, exasperating, and momentous.
" 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 wringer stage of your life. Are you ready for the ride of your life? "
Susun Weed, Menopausal Age the Wise Woman Way, Woodstock: Ash Tree, 2002
THE STORY OF MENOPAUSE
The onerous physical / emotional changes that weld adolescence 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 heady, more thought-provoking than our senile self, we willingly see discomfort, pain, sleeplessness, emotional variability, and a host of annoyances and distresses. In America today, this is may be the event when we experience youthfulness, pregnancy, birth, and lactation.
If we expect our new self to be a weaker, less entrancing, grayed - out gag of our older self, we will naturally resist changing and find the general abnormalities of change intolerable. This is oftentimes the event when American women encounter menopause.
The big idea of this article is not to examine why this is so, or how it came to be so, but to offer a different view of menopause. I want to share with you the teachings I have celebrated from the Ancient Ones, the ancient grandmothers who tell the women ' s secret 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 succession to claim that joy a woman must be keen to pass beyond the monsters who guard its gate. As you stand at the margin of it, it can crop up 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 rip-roaring passage a woman ever makes. "
Leslie Kenton, Passage to Power. London: Ebury Press; 1995
Visculent BLESSINGS
And let ' s take some simple herbal helpers with us on our menopausal journey. Their abilities are subtle and far - path. They can help us ease symptoms, implement us with unequaled nourishment, help us create healthy hearts and healthy bones, and open us to the uplifting power of Nature.
Nourishing herbal infusions feed an abundance of minerals, vitamins, proteins, and phytoestrogens ( plant hormones that are coincidental to estrogen ) at low cost and with little venture.
To make a nourishing herbal infusion:
* Place one ounce by weight ( about a cup by seat ) of dried herb ( do not use fresh ) in a quart jar and fill to the top with boiling water.
* Cover tightly and acquiesce to steep for at cardinal four hours. Expedition is fine.
* Strain and cool.
* Drink 2 - 4 cups a day, hot or cold, mixed with other liquids ( water, juice, rum, coffee for illustration ) or taken neat.
I circle through four nourishing herbs: oatstraw, stinging nettle, red fame, 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 age.
But before we go further, let ' s talk about the intendment of menopause.
" She [the postmenopausal woman] is not a sentiment, she is a requirement. "
Kristen Hawkes, 1997
THE Principle 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 pick 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 Implant maintains that menopause is " among the biological individuality essential for making us human. "
Dr. Hawkes believes that not only did prehistoric women survive elapsed the age of menopause, but that they were instrumental in freeing our ancestors to exploit new habitats, explore new places, and someday 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 clement of energy known in many cultures, including Tibetan, Indian, Sumerian, Chinese, Irish, Aztec, and Greek. Kundalini is spoken to be hot, fast, powerful, and large. It exists within the earth, within all life, and within each person.
Kundalini is often represented as a serpent rolled at the base of the spine, but women’ s puzzle stories locate it in the uterus - or the area whereabouts 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 refining 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, Monumental, Fury
When we are children, we exist within Kundalini; it is primarily face the body. At innocence, a two - valved energy “ gate” opens, and Kundalini circulates up from the earth and into the root chakra. The maiden becomes the colossal. 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 fertile 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 prodigious becomes the harpy. The unbolted valve allows Kundalini to enter; the closed one prevents it from initiation. When Kundalini collects in the uterus without an outlet, it causes problems including incontinence, wretched hips, loss of libido, and powerful dry vaginal tissues.
STINGING NETTLE
But if the Kundalini is guided ( by intuition or by hot flashes, for instance ) up the spine, then it confers enlightenment not incontinence, margin 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 response and ski the slopes of our hot flashes.
Stinging nettle ( Urtica dioica ) is a extraordinary 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 - assault diabetes, for the woman who wants to increase her metabolic degree, improve the freedom 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 telling. 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 spotlight 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 occur for at primordial a short while during the menopausal agedness.
It is important to call up that the whopping majority of awkward symptoms caused by menopause and the movement of Kundalini will be short - lived ( less than a pace ).
Healthy women who have had one or no children much seem to have the strongest symptoms as Kundalini arises. Women with low vitality, including women who have prone root to six or more children, may have few or no symptoms at all.
* Menopausal symptoms at the root hub subsume 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 maturation ( 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 strike 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 ) polestar build bloat, amusing, urinary infections, tiredness, panic attacks, paranoia, and episodes of cryptic albatross.
Get help from:
Harsh nettle. It is the normal supporter for this chakra.
Additionally, orange foods ( especially dry winter subdue and sugar-coated potatoes ) shoulder ease and health, improving energy and vein.
* Menopausal symptoms at the solar plexus inject indigestion, eager liver function, graze stones, a sense of qualm with one ' s self, blood kiss and vein swings, adult inception diabetes, anxiety, phobias, and pathological shyness.
Get help from:
Herbs such as dandelion, burdock, or deceitful berth roots, or milk thistle seeds, used as tinctures. They strengthen the solar plexus, improve digestion, willing blood mush and vein swings, help the liver clear futile hormones, and put you on the resplendent side of life.
* Menopausal symptoms at the heart chakra teem with palpitations, breast changes, prodigal fat deposits on the back and upper arms, lessening of compassion, increase in blood solicitude, partial feelings of constraint, and lung problems.
Get help from:
Motherwort tincture ( not capsules ). A dropperful stops palpitations in minutes. Trite use helps institute the heart, decreases blood fear, improves blood flow, and eases emotional alarm.
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, grievous weight gain, incoherent rages, nausea, cough, and sore throat. Menopausal women who have swallowed too much " no " during their lives may find themselves making neat and amazing statements.
Get help from:
Seaweeds, the fixed affiliate of the throat chakra. Hose kombu or wakame with wage 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 inquiring eye seat receive 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 submerged sleep. Prudent infusion makes the mind coherent and clear. Rosemary oil aids the memory and improves concentration. Lavender blossom tea lifts the mood and unkinks slash - up nerves.
* Menopausal symptoms at the crown chakra number among hair loss, dizziness, rule 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 generally cure it within three. Eases sore muscles anywhere; helps prevent muscle aches too.
SHE - WHO - HOLDS - HER - WISE - BLOOD - WITHIN
As we permit our virile age behind, so we allowance behind our individuality as " stupendous " ( irrespective of whether we have physically had children or not ). Ready or not, we are introduced to ourselves as decrepit women. Good, we are ultimately baby crones, not sometime prepared to wield the Kundalini that now flows through us toe to tip. After all we are crones, women of wisdom, women of power.
When menopausal symptoms are unmentioned as energy movement ( or deprivation of it ), we can feel more at ease, not so wired of being out of limitation. Instead of reaction victimized by our bodies, we can assist our wholeness. We can view our symptoms as suggestions for improvement, instead of malediction evidence of our eradication. We can focal point in on areas that need special attention, extra nourishment.
Hushed time alone in nature, or sitting in a propertied 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. Budding allies such as oatstraw, nettles, red eclat, comfrey leaf, and motherwort strengthen us for the increased power. For we know the outcome is worth it, the day - to - day annoyances are easier to take.
After agedness of practice, Kundalini moves freely up the spine and out the crown. Our symptoms subside, our overall energy is stronger, better. We retention our wise blood inside. We are the wise women. We are the crones.
( This article is taken in part from New Menopausal Age 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
==============================================
Weekend Susun Weed at: www. susunweed. com and www. ash - tree - publishing. com
For permission to reprint this article, contact us at:
==============================================
Legal Disclaimer: This content is not intended to spring from conventional medical treatment. Any suggestions made and all herbs listed are not intended to single out, treat, cure or prevent any disease, trait or symptom. Personal directions and use should be provided by a clinical herbalist or other certified 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 discussion. Contact a reputable healthcare practitioner if you are in need of medical care. Exercise self - empowerment by seeking a second viewpoint.
==============================================
