Dancing with Menopause’s Magic

It has been a bit of time since I posted here! Take a seat dear female friends… I have much to tell you and good Menopausal Magic to share with your feminine spirits.

My Natural Health Education / Functional Medicine Consultation practice is a busy space for me to be in!  And… I have been up to other stuff as well: new book released co-authored with a dearly loved, local healer friend, Jenny Morrill.

And…Keep reading for a peak into the new Vaginal Love herbal product I am releasing, soon, with another local healer and dear soul sister: Acupuncturist Shelby Connelly of Five Elements Living Retreat Center in Colton, NY.

Our New Book To Inspire Your Self Healing

I am here today to share a bit of Menopausal Magical Wisdom. I confess, I do not have many symptoms of menopause. Once in a while a skipped period… but that is to be expected at 52.

Keeping the body healthy and avoiding symptoms of any dis – ease is an easy path to walk when you commit to self-care, self healing:

1. Whole Food Eating 100% of the time
2. Whole Health Lifestyle Choices

If interested in healing self… the resources on my Natural Health Education website can get you there for Free if you are committed to you!

So, what if I do have some symptoms of menopause, Paula?

Hot flashes, gushing periods leaking all over the place, moodiness, heart palpitations, etc., etc., etc?

Following the above whole food & whole health choices will self heal these menopausal change challenges.

Using herbs to nourish the body back to health is another great choice to assist the above whole health living habits. Herbs are plants. Plants are food. Food nourishes body cells.

Red Raspberry Leaves tone the uterus. Who doesn’t want a fit, muscular, sexy uterus at any age? This helps to prevent all the “medical reasons” we get advised to cut it out of our bodies. Keep your beautiful uterus… it was meant to be in your pelvis: the bowl of your feminine wisdom!

Red Clover Flowers balance hormones and help to clean the blood.

Stinging Nettle Leaves are an awesome, amazing, whole body cell nourisher. If you took the time to read the Whole Food link back there… you now know that nourishing your body cells is key to vibrant health!

Motherwort: Hot flashes, heart palpitations, and moodiness anyone? Feel like you are about to snap? Let your Mother love you up.

 

Sarsaparilla Root: a healthy liver breaks down hormones to be excreted through the colon. Sarsaparilla root helps to keep the liver healthy and doing its job of detoxing and breaking down hormones. Dandelion root, burdock root, and milk thistle seeds are other liver nourishing herbs to assist in healthy liver menopausal magic. (Shhhh, I did not make this tincture!)

Flooding periods leaving a mess in your life (and clothes? Not to mention car seat, bed…) Wild Yam to the rescue! Years ago I used wild yam for birth control but that is another topic.   ; )     I came home to wild yam after I had my first, and only I might add, flooding period. I take 3 of these capsules every AM & every PM. No floods ever again for me. I suspect Wild Yam also nourishes my body cells to create a peaceful & magical menopausal transition for me (along with my whole food & living habits.)  So many women suffer from flooding and are told to get ablation (I would never, ever, recommend this procedure to anyone… find the root cause of your struggles and heal them!) and/or a hysterectomy (another procedure I would not recommend save for the very extreme reasons). Wild Yam also helps to keep our bones strong well into our Medicine Woman / Crone Wisdom Years! (This Link will take you to several post I have written on the magical nourishing effects of Wild Yam.)

Stay with me here good Women… I have a lot to say after so long a hiatus!

OK, another HUGE issue with the menopausal years in what the medical field calls vaginal atrophy. Let me just say, creating such negative terms around the female body is just wrong. It keeps us in the mentality that there is something wrong with our bodies, that our feminine organs are innately weak and malfunctioning. This my friends is pure and unadulterated bullshit. We are strong; we have powerful and wise feminine organs!

If we follow Wise Woman Nourishing Healing Ways… see all my whole food / whole health suggestions above… our vaginas can remain strong even as we age.

Will they not age?

No, we can’t be silly, aging happens.

But, we can age with grace, strength, and divine dignity!

Eat well, play well, whole food – whole health yourself up, use herbs to nourish that which needs nourishing, have sex, do kegels… AND… here’s the biggy I have been waiting to share:

A while back in my Wise Woman blogging career, I wrote a post on Voluptuous Vagina™’s.  At that point, I had been making a vaginal cream / ointment for a couple of years. I had friends and clients who complained of the vaginal dryness and issues that accompany aging in our amazing female bodies. I, of course, recommended all of the whole health lifestyle changes but I also whipped up this above Luxe Feminine Emollient pictured as I had a 60 year old gal friend who wanted relief and comfortable sex with her new man. It is now several years later and I have shared the formula with a handful (or two) of friends and clients who just love it!

I was telling my acupunturist friend & soul sister, Shelby Connelly, of this magic elixir I make for friends and she said…

• Let’s perfect it and go into business together. I said,
• You are kidding, right?  To which she replied…
• Hell No!

And so the story goes… we have started our self care, self healing business together.

Voluptuous V™ is available now, click here.

Sending healing, feminine love, Paula

 

 

New Book: Lucy Pearce, Full Circle Health

From Lucy Pearce, Cork, Ireland… powerful female writer!

“So… Full Circle Health… the book I wrote when I couldn’t write Medicine Woman in the first part of this year… is available to pre-order! I’m very proud of it – it’s not just a book… but a charting system!

http://shop.womancraftpublishing.com/Full-Circle-Health-integrated-health-charting-for-p/fch.htm

For most of my adult life I have been trying to explore and express what it means to inhabit my cyclical female body. I have picked up many tools and tried many approaches to charting my inner and outer life. I have charted my menstrual cycles, my moods, energy, habits, food intake, dreams… This was done in various written journals, sketchbooks, Excel spreadsheets, Leonie Dawson’s Life and Business Planners… not to mention my dream journal and cycle-tracking diary. So many books and scraps of paper piled beside my bed, with my computer balanced precariously on top. Keeping track of my health and life was almost a full-time job… but guaranteed I could never lay my hands on the right book at the right time.”

Launch Bonus TODAY June 5th FREE Stuff!

Grab your launch bonuses… today, Friday June 5th only!

http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=f33f4efdfc31ea310c013e42a&id=508033f279&e=bc4d82c472

Moon Time, 2nd Edition is Out. A Book to Read!

The second edition of my book, Moon Time, has LANDED! And until Saturday, there is a FABULOUS LAUNCH BONUS… read on for details… and grab it whilst you can.

Read the whole post here and grab your copy & your FREE gifts from the author, Lucy Pearce.

Honoring the Female Within

Maiden                Maid-Mother           Enchantress           Wise Woman

Women go through phases of our female selves every month during the course of our moon cycle. The 10 lunar months of pregnancy go through the same Maiden (Spring), Maid (Summer), Enchantress (Autumn), and Wise Woman (Winter) energies. Females go through these phases on a larger scale as we live through our entire bleeding – menstrual years. On an even bigger scale, we women go through these phases from our birth to our death. Autumn has to be the notorious 40s!

At 19 years of age, as a nursing student, I observed my first birth.

I was fascinated and in total awe of the whole process. When I began to think about it further, what brought this birthing moment to us, I was even more amazed at the miracle and magic that is brought forth by a female’s body. I am still amazed that a half cell, egg, can be fertilized by another half cell, sperm, and create a whole new human being. One cell goes on to form an entire embryo (each and every one of the different organ systems!), placenta, umbilical cord, amniotic sac, and amniotic fluid. That is one very busy little cell!

The Magical, Creative Uterus

Sometimes that one cell does all of that busy work twice (identical twins) and even more rarely to form identical quadruplets or more!

This entire process has captivated me from that day in the birthing room when I was 19 years old. I never cease to be amazed at woman’s, human’s, creative capacity.

Over the course of a female’s lifetime she walks the earth as a maiden, a maid-mother, the wild woman enchantress, and finally the wise woman elder.

At menarche a woman enters her power,
Through menstruation she practices her power,
At menopause she becomes her power.
Native American Wisdom

Honor the divine feminine energy within through every phase of your cycle and life for the creative gift it is.

Want to “Re” – learn more about your beautiful female ways? Join Moon School, it is never too late to join or re-learn!  Hugs of love & light, Paula

Female Empowerment Poem

Jaine Rose Art: http://www.jainerose.uk/

Honoring Our Cycle is

Honoring our Divine Female Soul.­

Spring Enlivens Us Because

We Embrace the Winter,

The Full Moon Enchants Us Because

We Invite the New Moon to Wash Over Us,

The Light Nurtures Us Because

We Walk Through the Darkness with Grace.

Females who Embrace Life In the Flow of

Their Cyclical Nature,

Walk in Empowerment

With the Natural Beauty of Themselves.

Paula Youmell, RN

♀Moon School

Voluptuous Vagina™s

The Voluptuous Vagina™ (located in the box!)

The Vagina is an amazing organ. Truthfully, most females do not give their vagina a second thought unless:

1. They are having struggles with it,
2. They want to use it, or
3. They discover they are pregnant (please refer back to #2).

Women’s mysteries used to be shared knowledge. All females knew the intricacies and expectations of puberty, menarche (first bleeding), sexuality/sensuality, pregnancy, laboring & birthing, postpartum, breastfeeding, and the menopausal years (peri-menopause, menopause, post-menopause) because females shared this information with each other in the moon lodge, menstrual hut, red tent, etc.

Fast Forward to Modern Life:

Women no longer gather together at their bleeding times, taking respite from the world, and sharing womb wisdom with each other. Most females fumble through all these life transitions learning street information from friends, out of books, or the modern-day “Google Knows All” experience.

I am going to focus on #1 above: You are having struggles with your vagina and specifically help for the struggles of the menopausal years. I have clients in their menopausal years who are dealing with symptoms of vaginal aging and the distress this can bring:

• vaginal atrophy (I truly dislike this word as it is so negative and medicalizes a natural, normal process of aging. Just as our skin on the rest of our body ages, thins, etc. the mucousal membranes are not any different. We cannot stay young, juicy, and plump celled forever. This process is the cycle of life of everything on this planet.)
• low lubrication for every day living and more so for sexually active menopausal years
• burning
• itchiness
• vaginal spasms
• vaginismus (painful contracting of the vagina so penetration, even with a finger, is painful and even impossible)
• achiness…

These vaginal issues are something I never gave a second thought (who does until menopausal years are lurking around the corner). Rarely do females share conversation about such things unless you happen to hang with an amazing groups of females.

I have started conversations with close female friends and family only to be “shut up” quickly with looks of “oh my, how dare you speak of this stuff.” To which I am then amazed. We all bleed. We all go through these transitions of femaleness. Why can’t we chat about them openly, honestly, and support each other’s growth and change. Who cares if men are present?! They can learn too and be better partners, brothers, fathers, etc. to all females. I am always open to learning more about men so I can better understand them, their struggles, and support their growth and changes. I want my 2 sons to be better males in this world.

Vaginal health, reproductive health, is a touchy subject and females are often concerned there is something wrong with them, they will be viewed as different, or even seen as strange if they admit their struggles. We have grown so accustomed to our reproductive tracts being labeled as malfunctioning and diseased that simply avoiding the topic lets us forget our medically implied ills. Sticking our heads in the sand is a coping mechanism better let go. As one drifts towards menopause (I still have regularly scheduled monthly bleeding but can see very obvious changes between now and 20 years ago) these struggles become more apparent in our every day life.

Why not embrace the beauty of the reproductive tract, the beauty of our vagina and all she does, and the beauty of our feminine self? Let’s talk about our vaginas, uteruses, ovaries, vulvas, breasts, fallopian tubes, and cervixes with love, honor, and glory. Think about this… they all do incredibly amazing things!

I want to offer up 2 simple solutions for vaginal dryness, burning, itching (assuming symptoms are not caused by an infection): fresh aloe and a wild yam ointment.

   

Let us start with aloe. If you are fortunate to have a huge potted aloe, like my aloe plant above that my sister calls Medusa, this aloe thing is easy.

1. When ready for bed I break off a big juicy leaf (thanking the plant) and
2. Cut off a piece about 1 1/2 inches long. The remainder I put in a wide mouth canning jar, cover, and place in the fridge for nightly use)
3. Break open the piece so you expose the gel.
4. Remove the spiny protrusions on the edges of the leaf. Trust me on this one.    ; ) 
5. Go to bed. When you are lying down, insert the piece of aloe as high up in your vagina as you can. Literally push it gently until you reach the cervix. Yes, it is ok to have sex with it in place. Just make sure it remains inside to work its magic overnight. Aloe does have a bitter taste. Use this information as needed.
6. Leave aloe in place until AM and then…
7. Remove by inserting a finger inside the vagina and dragging out the aloe. Removal an issue for you? Stay tuned, more on this later.

Aloe helps to keep the vagina moist, heals tissue, relieves symptoms of irritated menopausal vaginal mucosa, and even helps with yeast infections. More on vaginal infections later.

No aloe in the home? Find an organic plant and raise it organically, in your home, for personal vaginal use.  Need an aloe juice that is chemical free. Aubrey Organics is, at present, the only one I recommend. (If you live in my area, waaaaaay Northern NY, Nature’s Storehouse in Canton carries this wonder serum. It’s also nice for aging faces.) Paint the inside of the vagina with this aloe juice or soak an organic cotton tampon in the aloe and place in the vagina for the night.

I also recommend you do something to remove all yeasty discharge from your vagina before putting the aloe or any natural healing remedy into the vagina. Simply using a teaspoon works well. Reach up high in the vagina, with the spoon, until you touch the cerix. Gently slide the spoon out using the edges to scrape, gently, down the walls of the vagina. Remove yeasty discharge from the spoon & repeat until your spoon comes out cleaner than not. The aloe is more effective when it has less yeast to contend with if yeast is an issue in there.

Wild Yam Cream/Lotion/Ointment/Lube

I make a senuous, vaginal love preparation at the Five Elements Living Retreat Center in Colton, NY. This Vaginal Love, Menopausal Magic product is available for purchase through Shelby & My collaboration to care and love up women in our circle and our women’s circle is getting bigger quickly as word of VV spreads.

Voluptuous V™ is available now, click here.      VV™ for short.

You can use Voluptuous V™ (VV™) on & in irritated, dry vaginas and vulvas caused from menopausal symptoms or too much sex!

OR…

Use as a lubricant for happy sex.

 

Stayed tuned for my next posts on retrieving the aloe from your vagina and healing help for vaginal infections… that yeasty demon!

Cheers and happy Voluptuous V wild yam use. With Love, Paula

 

2018 Update… where did 5 1/2 years go?

Live in Northern NY? Join me Monday, November 12th, 6-8 PM for more Lifestyle Medicine Tips on creating health on your menopausal adventurous journey.

Science of Functional Medicine: Prepping Self for Menopausal Health.

More Info Here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2159466950936353/

Register Here: https://www.fiveelementsliving.com/register/