Your thoughts and your female reproductive system
Images courtesy of Weronika Marianna
This may not resonate with everyone, and there’s next to no literature in this area. But that’s not to say it’s not real, it is very real. I’ve seen it enough times in clients, friends, family and even myself to have so much faith in this mind-body connection within the female reproductive system. There’s an absolute abundance of females out there that experience awfully debilitating menstrual cycles and other conditions affecting our girly bits. Whether that be painful, irregular or heavy bleeding, chronic thrush, persistent UTI’s. Over time we’ve learnt to just deal with this and accept that everyone has their own experience with their periods and health (which is absolutely true), but can we improve our quality of life by not living with these symptoms anymore? 100% yes. The core representation of the female reproductive organs is based on one’s own beauty, sexuality, self-love and acceptance of feminine power. The thoughts/emotions you have about different parts of your body will direct energy and oxygen either towards or away from that area, resulting in a physical aspect depending on whether those thoughts/emotions are positive or negative. This is a cool little visual I found from a study-based article on our emotions. The colours are representing heightened activity in that area like body temperature, heart rate and muscle tension.
A classic example, you have painful heavy periods, so the weeks coming up to your period you dread it arriving. You’re looking at your calendar/app thinking, “Erh, what have I got on then”, “How many days have I got left”, you’re thinking of what ways it’s going to affect your life. Subconsciously, this is directing negative energy towards those organs and your body is holding tension in those coming weeks because you’re nervous about it. So when your period comes, you can bet your bottom dollar it’s going to be painful and awfully heavy because you’ve put that expectation in, and the cycle repeats. Pain in general quite often represents guilt, your body is punishing you for something deep down in your mind think you’ve done wrong. So pain in a menstrual cycle connects with that idea of guilt about sex or your own beauty. Cliché as it is, I believe self-love and acceptance is extraordinarily important in female health, so encourage that mental discipline to find yourself beautiful and accept your feminine body. Be grateful for your menstrual cycle and try switching that mindset from it being a burden, because that’s what your body will allow it to be otherwise. Don’t get me wrong there are absolutely still medical reasons behind a lot of women who suffer from endometriosis, PCOS, fibroids etc., without any of this mindset that occurs. But I encourage you to check in with yourself about how you truly feel about your sexuality and beauty if you suffer with any of these conditions. Instead of looking at your menstrual tracking app every day, maybe keeping it to once a week, or only tracking symptoms when they arise like breast tenderness, discharge etc. This will avoid that unintentional tension you’re creating in your body by seeing how many days until you get your period so often. September was female awareness month, which is what inspired me to write this blog. But more importantly, my own story with female health and changing that mindset. I’ve had debilitatingly painful and heavy periods for as long as I can remember, earlier this year I even recall feeling close to vomiting from the pain. Ponstan and Panadol did nothing, Nurofen and heat packs helped mildly. And yes being a naturopath I’ve tried multiple pain herb mixes which did moderately help if I took it soon enough. Ultrasounds, tests, investigations were all normal so medically, nothing was wrong. I LOATHED my period arriving. Then I discovered this quirky little connection between your thoughts and these symptoms, and realised I was guilty of a lot of them. After a good 5-6 months of enforcing these elements, my bleeds are now lighter, shorter and ridiculously less painful; rarely needing pain killers. I’ve seen these positive changes in other women around me with PCOS, fertility issues and endometriosis. This mind-body connection relates to all of our systems, not just female reproductive issues, so this is just a little snippet! If you’d like to learn more about how your thoughts can affect your health, book in online or call the clinic for an appointment.
Teresa Oddi is a degree qualified Naturopath with a special interest in treating immune conditions such as autoimmune disease and allergies as well as fatigued states. She is available for consultation Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. To book your appointment with Teresa click HERE
