Why it's crucial for you to "come off" the pill
Many women aren’t primarily using the pill for contraception but to take care of painful symptoms and emotional imbalances so they can – humbly and simply – live normal lives.
On a personal note:
About 8 years ago I decided to get on the pill because of this stupid burden called PMS. I was suffering to a degree that I saw my relationships and my self-image deteriorating more and more each month. We’re talking emotional outbursts, anger, sadness, sudden loss of a sense of self-worth, fatigue and strong pain.
Once I was on the pill however – PMS magically disappeared. I found relief and security at first and emotional disconnection from…well…everything later. The world lost colour and I lost soul.
Ohh that sounds strong doesn’t it? And yet, this was the way it felt at the time.
Over time my longing to gain back my feelings got stronger than my fear to fall back into old “symptoms”. Eventually, I decided to “come off” the pill. I never looked back ever since.
Why am I telling you this?
I understand why many women would rather take the pill than live a life in pain and insecurity.
I mean, why would you want to bring back your natural cycle when this means bringing back pain, acne, PMS, emotional imbalance, fatigue etc. ? Seriously, why when the symptoms you want to rid yourself off can be “cured” simply and effortlessly by taking the pill?
Simpler? Why make the effort when it can be easy?
I hear you. And yet, I must call on this bullshit because…
…by taking the pill your’re not curing anything. You’re suppressing! It’s an illusion of relief and on a subconscious level you know that.
The things is this: What we want on the surface when in pain is to find relief FROM our body but what we want on a deeper level, always, is to find relief IN our body. Pease, read that again to really get the depth of this.
We want to feel at home in our bodies.
We want to feel, live and engage in our female form, we just – understandibly – don’t want to do that in pain.
So the question isn’t “how do you get rid of the symptom?” but
“how can you trust your cycle again?” and “how can you understand the symptoms as messages that are calling you to action in some way?”
Deeply ingrained in us women is the need to understand ourselves and our cyclical nature. Our nature and therefore our cycle is encoded IN our bodies.
Deeply ingrained as well is the need to restore wholeness within ourselves and use our creative power in this world – confidently and consistently and our creative force and our creative purpose is encoded IN our cycle.
Connecting to your cycle means that you’re connecting to your creative power.
We cannot seize our potential wholeheartedly as long as we’re in pain, I get that but we also can’t seize our potential as long as we’re suppressing the very thing that is our strongest ally and our deepest support in realising all that we came for.
And who’s that you ask?
The most natural expression of a woman – our menstrual cycle.
With access to ALL the creative seasons in your cycle (by taking the pill, you have access to only half of them) you restore your sense of wholeness and ultimately stop looking, unconsciously, for the other half of you (the healthy, happy, creative half) in vain.
The question you need to ask yourself before you continue reading is this:
Do you want more from life or stay put with a grey veil across your face?
If the answer is yes, you need to know this:
The “cure” to your symptoms and your pain, the one that we call “pill” prevents not only contraception it also prevents us from knowing our creative power as women.
It prevent us from experiencing all the blessings and benefits of being in this beautiful female form.
It frees you from taking responsibility to take care of your body on more levels than physical and from finding the cause for the symptoms that have a grip on your life. It prevents you from treating them at the root finding true and lasting relief. To be very clear acne, PMS, food cravings, anxiety, creative blocks, fatigue, low libido, toxic relationships, lack of stamina, painful periods, no period, painful gut issues etc. they all have a source and the source is always found on a deeper level than the level on which the symptom occurred.
With cycle work, you’re already looking deeper.
What do we need to do to find joy and health in our cycle?
Before reaping the benefits of being in a female body we need to let our female system remember what it was created for in the first place. Once it does, we thrive, we create and we love!
Once we understand our cyclic nature we experience life on a more vivid level – we feel healthy, alive and we’re ready to take on the world.
So let’s look at some ways we can actually support our body and spirit in ways that are neither invasive nor too passive.
Remember we’re aiming to find and release the source of your symptoms so you can be happy and engaged in the world.
We want to rebuild a consistent outflow of your creative energy for optimal health, well-being and fun!
The following suggestions might require some changes in your thinking and some require you to take action. Once you get going though they will soon reveal the real benefits (like symptoms disappearing) that will have you want to learn more about yourself.
The various points will touch on different layers of yourself, they all lead to each other and they all lead to (creating) Rome.
- NUTRITION
This one’s obvious, isn’t it? I know because it’s so very important to know – from your own experience – which food effects your body in what way.
I won’t go in depth here as my work focuses on the emotional, spiritual and mental components of the imbalance. I’m convinced that by simply tuning into what you really want, you’ll naturally arrive in a nourishing way of eating, your cycle will lead you there.
What I suggest you do to understand the physical aspects of the cycle is visit Lara Briden, Alisa Vitti or use some other great resources on hormonal support. What I can say in general is that more greens, less sugar and regular eating hours have helped me – a lot! I stopped consuming meat, gluten, alcohol, reduced caffeine and ate no later than 7:30pm. I supplement with magnesium byglycinate and I have noticed significant changes in mood, energy level and stress reduction because of it.
- LIFESTYLE
8h sleep, a good natural rhythm in your day (meaning seasonal breaks outside, taking deep breaths, regular eating times), enough water, spending time in nature and with the right people. I won’t go into depth here either as this touches on the previous point.
- WOMB MASSAGE AND WOMB CLEARING
During your cycle it’s important that you clear your womb space on a regular basis (except during bleeding time) because your womb does absorb alot of the energies of the world, your partners during sex, conflict, unprocessed emotions etc.. You can clear in many ways i.e. through women yoga, breath work focusing on the womb, visualisations, crystals, essential oils, sacred rituals whatever rocks your boat. Get really creative and state your intentions very clearly before you start the clearing process. This can be done in 2 min. or 1 hour do what resonates and leaves you feeling better and clearer than before.
Here’s my favorite: A beautiful way of starting your day is to massage your womb in the morning before you leave your bed. When you wake up lie on your back and start massaging your womb centre softly. Once you get up (and you’re not bleeding) start shaking your belly a little bit and let your whole body join in, this will support your body in the waking up process clearing any sticky energy that was building up naturally during the night.
Maybe you have a health practitioner near you specializing in women’s health or an osteopath that will work with you in the womb area. Get the support you need and enjoy this practice and the intimacy that is building through this.
- EMOTIONAL RELEASE
We have emotions stored in us that are unprocessed. This is normal considering that we often didn’t have the maturity and the support to deal with what we had to face when we were young. This storage of emotions runs our behaviour unconsciously, it is information in our cells that is waiting to be released before new patterns can form and serve us in life.
Unprocessed emotions also block the energy from flowing naturally and effortlessly causing all kinds of symptoms (the ones we’re writing this article for). For this to change we have to tend to our emotions rather run from them.
On a level of personal emotions this is very clear. What we as women also have to understand additionally though is the ancestral and collective trauma we are carrying. The way women were treated in the past does still run in our blood and it’s on us to release the deep sadness and the grief this has caused in us. We are free today because of the women who came before us, our work is to honour them by acknowledging the pain we as a collective had to go through and still going through. It’s time to let go of it so we can create a better future for us.
There are, as always, several ways to do that. One would be working with a coach or therapist. Depending on the intensity in which unprocessed, past emotions are interfering with your daily life you can choose who to work with. If you want to touch on your past more than the present, I suggest working with a therapist. If you want to focus on present moment potential, I recommend working with a coach. The benefit of working with a coach is that it often includes the bigger picture. A good coach knows that absolutely nothing is wrong with you and that you are capable of creating the life you want to live, symptom free and in full power and they support you in doing that – this is the significant difference between the two. In my opinion coaching is serving a broader spectrum and yet sometimes therapy is the only option as coaches hold a limit when it comes to working with trauma and deeper childhood wounds. Another option is to combine the two.
Another way of releasing emotion is through guided meditations and inner child work. You don’t always need support (even though I’d recommend it). You can simply see what emotion is present and allow yourself to fully feel it, let it wash over you and stay present to it. This can be messy and yet profoundly beautiful. Give yourself time to do this and let trust build in the process.
There are more options, of course, these are just some suggestions. Once you know you want to focus on emotional release your intuition will guide you to the right source of support (if you allow it).
- Personal development
Basically it all touches on this aspect yet I wanted to create a category for it. This includes knowing what you’re unique function is and finding your soul-purpose by getting to know yourself. What makes your heart sing? What are your fears? Your talents? Your values? Getting to know yourself lets you move with more flow and less stagnation. In addition imagining a future in a way you want it to be you’re freeing yourself from the negative of today, it gives you direction and purpose. This is only fruitful and authentic when you’re combining this with emotional work and self-reflection otherwise you will override your feelings and the signs of your body and do the opposite of what you want to achieve. Reflecting on the ways of being that serve you and your relationships and the ways that don’t.
A way to deepen your personal development and the relationship to your cycle is through tracking your menstrual cycle. You can take some notes at the end of each day on categories of mood, temperature, energy levels, feeling states, creativity, social engagement, libido, self-image etc.. After tracking for a while you will see some patterns forming to which you can respond accordingly in advance in the future. You’ll know when you want to make appointments of what kind and when your creativity is highest in the month. Choose your own categories and have fun with this. It will all start making sense in the doing of it.
- MEDITATION
This will always be in all my health suggestions because it’s the most powerful way to support your natural system. While sitting down and being quiet you’re telling your body and spirit “I trust you”. You let it come back to its natural ways without interfering with thought and behaviour. This is also the way to let your female system restore itself and allow your creativity to arise naturally. It’s the way to listen to your body and “hear” in what season you’re in. By being silent you receive the guidance on what to do next. It reduces stress in your body which is the cause for many of your symptoms. There are many ways to practice mediation. The one I suggest is mindfulness mediation. Simply set your timer to 15-20min sit and observe your breath. To notice changes you’ll need to do this more than once and yet it will reveal benefits much faster than you expect.
I know this sounds like a lot. It is. So take your time implementing this. If you would like support contact me and we can set up a free no-strings-attached sample session.
With love,
Jen