Our womb as our world, our home.

How much of our outer world reflects our inner world?

After living with Endometriosis for all of my adult life, I’ve learnt to manage the symptoms with diet, alternative healing and a balanced lifestyle. Despite these fundamentals in place there’s often times where the pain creeps up anyway and last week was no exception.

I was feeling stressed. I’d stepped back into crazy London life after almost a month away in nature. Unpredictable changes and behaviours were now unfolding all around me. The city felt on edge, agitated, worn out. I was screamed at for not moving down in an all ready packed out carriage. I could sense the fumes and toxins all around me. I could see the plants were a little half wilted, and the bees and insects were fully drowsy. However, this all seemed small in comparison to ever growing news of attacks and destruction around the world.

How does this relate to Endometriosis and other womb conditions?

Stress is a clear front-runner aggravating womb conditions like Endometriosis.

When we’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed and anxious the adrenal glands at the top of our kidneys create cortisol. If we’re packing stress on top of stress our adrenal glands need to borrow hormones from elsewhere. They borrow from our ovarian hormones called progesterone, meaning we have lower levels in our system.

Our monthly cycle is regulated by a particular set of hormones, mainly progesterone and estrogen. When the balance is upset by stress, it can really interfere with not only our cycle creating emotional disturbances but also a whole array of unpleasant womb related symptoms.

Progesterone levels can fall too low, causing us to become estrogen dominant and leading to severe PMS, menstrual headaches, mood swings, menstrual cramps, bloating, breast swelling and tenderness. It can also encourage the growth of Endometriosis.

On top of emotional stressors we’re also exposed to environmental stressors every single day, especially living in cities like London. Research has found a strong link between environmental toxins and Endometriosis causing a disruption in the natural functioning of our endocrine and reproductive systems.

However, beyond the physical landscape of our bodies and symptoms, there’s a much deeper antagonist here.

When we look at the behaviour of Endometriosis holistically, our cells are living outside of their home. My question for a long time has been “What type of environment has been created in my womb for cells to want to live outside?”

After my womb wellness training with earth mother and inspiring teacher Uma Dinsmore Tuli, I’m now asking myself other questions “How is our outer world reflecting our inner world?” and “Are our worlds somewhere we want to inhabit?”

Our wombs are our world – a reflection of beauty and pain

Our wombs are our world. Our bodies are our earth. Both have this big full and magnificent potential to birth beautiful creations and life. This potent energy centre that lives within us (even for women who no longer have a physical womb) sees the development of not only babies, but also creative ideas for change and a new way.

In this connection, our wombs also reflect the pain of the world. What is happening to the world, can in fact also be reflected in what has been happening to women over centuries – exploited, dominated, hushed and silenced. We’ve often been taught to be sweet and not heard, to ignore our feminine instincts and to hide our natural cycles as women. Is there any surprise in the growth of women’s health conditions? Perhaps that pain is there to get our attention into a much deeper message?

To be happy with oneself is to be happy in our womb, in our world. Happy cells don’t need to be exiled.

Happy cells, happy womb, happy self

Short of moving back to nature permanently (the dream!) how can we keep our wombs happy in a stress-triggered environment?

We can look to practices that nourish, re-generate and re-store our vitality and health as women. Personally, those practices for me include:

Yoni Yoga – a slow, gentle and uniquely designed sequence that honours where I am in my menstrual cycle, and sends love and energy down into my womb. A practice I now teach and share with other women across London
Meditation – proven to help reduce inflammation and change our relationship with painful pelvic conditions. This practice also supports me in connecting deeply to my feminine energy centre and hearing the messages she’s sending from within
Yoga Nidra – a yogic form of sleep that is deeply nurturing and truly restoring on a cellular level
Grounding – I love exploring parks in London. I take my shoes off and feel my feet, the wings of my womb, planting into the earth. Our feet are an important opening for Prana Shakti (feminine energy) to travel up from Mother Earth and into our beings. Connecting to the rhythm of nature in this way allows us to connect to the honest rhythm of our lives

The turning of tides

The rise of women’s health conditions showcases something quite empowering. Perhaps they’ve always been there, or maybe we feel the turning of tides and are joining the growing number of women speaking out? This rise has come at a pivotal moment. A moment that represents an opportunity to heal not only ourselves but all those that have gone before us and all those that are yet to grace our world.

Sharing amongst women ensures this catalyst for change and healing continues. It’s through sharing openly, honestly, often vulnerably, it’s through offering a voice for those that aren’t able to be heard, it’s working in harmony to change the consciousness that will heal our wombs, our world.

In doing so we’re paving a new way that is regenerative, nourishing and empowering. Today and everyday. Always in our worlds.

Perhaps you may disagree with these words, or you may feel them strongly. We all experience things differently and that’s what makes us unique. My words are my truth at this moment right here and now, and just like myself and each day they are ever changing, ever growing, ever evolving.

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