This month I wanted to focus on Women’s health and the importance of Women’s Wisdom.
However, I also want to acknowledge the importance of the Women’s vote (1918 in the UK) and how women are being recognised today and able to participate and use their very varied and competent skills more than ever before… but equally I feel there is a bit of a crisis in keeping a healthy balance!
I came across this phrase when in discussion about the plight of women’s health in today’s world and felt it really important to share:
‘We expect women to work like they don’t have children and raise children as if they don’t have work’
Does it resonate with any women reading this?
Of course it may not apply to all reading this, but I suspect it may apply to MANY – and Homeopathy can support ALL aspects of women’s health, which I will share more about below…
I wanted to encourage us to pause and take stock of all that so many women are currently juggling in a world where the elderly are living longer and needing more care and support, children are flying the nest later and the eligible retirement age has increased… and all this while the cost of living only increases!
So…
Are we recognising this potential ‘exhaustive state’ creeping up on us enough, ourselves?
Are we aware of a likely imbalance in care going out and care coming in (…ie SELF care)?
Are we aware of strategies that can help us find the balance again?
Are we able to say ‘No’ when we actually can and need to, in the heat of the moment when our naturally caring traits are leaned upon?
These are the key questions that perhaps we need to just take a moment and ask ourselves and feel more comfortable at recognising if our own needs are getting lost…
If we are a single parent, especially so!
Just a few generations ago there would have been a group of women of varying ages around us and to hand in a community close by, to help us maintain a balance; in many cultures, there still is an established ‘tribe’ of women.
There was much acknowledgment of Women’s Wisdom and once we were reaching menopause, it was a known time for us to slow down physically and use the ‘Gift of the Mother’, whether we had given birth to children or not; to be able to reflect and pass on our valuable knowledge to those around as and where it was needed.
Time was made and time was given.
And this will have benefitted the whole family and the whole community… and above all each woman.
In this world of working out of the home more as well as within, there is achievement and excitement and financial earnings, but time for a woman to meet her own needs enough is decreasing.
This may of course resonate to all people, not just women!
But as a woman myself, I see it and I also feel it and I think it is something to raise up and understand more.
Rest, ‘me time’, boundaries, managing availability with phone timers, sleep; these are all areas that we need to re-consider and ask ourselves honestly:
ARE WE GETTING ENOUGH TIME?
ARE WE SETTING ENOUGH TIME?
The regular feeling of ‘NOT ENOUGH’ I hear so often; also ‘low self confidence’ and the feelings of ‘lost purpose’ and being ‘unrecognised’ or ‘ill-achieving’ regularly come up in conversation both in my practice consultations and also with friends.
Other key areas I see this plight play out in is in Women’s menstrual health:
difficult periods, peri-menopause and menopause, increased thyroid malfunction, panic and other symptoms of anxiety, heart conditions, low libido, difficulty in weight management, brain fog, poor sleep and exhaustion. Infertility is a regular problem nowadays too.
Breast cancer in particular is a hugely increasing health plight so many women are facing.
One of the first things we learn about preventing cancer is to reduce any potential toxicity in our bodies… and this will often start with foods, medication and stress (mental toxicity).
We are now in a time of 4th generation artificial hormone contraceptive use and increased amount of chemical medication. The pharmaceutical companies continue to expand and the medical professions are further pushed to prescribe them and make use of the financial benefits in their practice – even when at times, knowledge is there to understand contra-indication.
There is better understanding now of the negative effects of oral contraception on mental and physical health, but not yet enough information made available on when perhaps to not go down that route and the natural alternatives available instead.
The approach to menopause is more towards a ‘We should not be feeling like this’ emphasis rather than the understanding that has historically been passed down previous generations that this mid-life time is very natural and we need to understand why and embrace it… as we prepare for the next phase in our lives.
It is a sorting out time, a ‘letting go’ time; time to get ready for the next stages and it should flow without the amount of discomfort and complication that we hear of today.
…Is so much of this because of the plight of today’s lifestyle we are caught up in; of doing too much at a time when we should be allowing more time for ourselves as women?
With the advances in the speed of world development, in particular with the use of technology, our bodies are exposed to a lot more ‘stuff’. In some cases, are we becoming toxic without realising? These are the areas that may well be the creator of less harmonious flow and worse experience of our menstrual cycle as we go through the changes.
Bio-identical hormone prescriptions and HRT are being handed out more now as standard treatment, often needing private funding outside of the NHS (in the UK), and which may only temporarily relieve some of the symptoms we are experiencing, without the thoroughness of effective monitoring.
At a recent talk I attended by a local menopause nurse, we were told that ‘in days gone by we would not have been alive to experience the menopause’… ‘that we should not have to deal with these symptoms’. Is this actually true?
I have raised this topic and opened up questions for you to peruse and consider… my main reason to be able to relieve you that working along the homeopathic journey enables good conversations and understandings in what our bodies are telling us.
Homeopathy helps us to notice and tune in to our symptoms.
Homeopathic remedies are natural and do not have side effects or cause toxicity… instead they harmonise, help our bodies re-balance and allow us to benefit from optimal health wherever possible.
Along with the remedies, there is a connection with our own inner thoughts and wishes that is so different to when we are working solely with the conventional medical services; homeopathic appointments give the time to unpick how we are feeling, what is going on for us and why we might be feeling this way, more-so because of the holistic approach.
Careful analysis of how the remedies may have resonated with the individual is key so the health picture is not left at an unsatisfactory standstill.
In the early stages of working with a homeopath, there may be a series of 2-3 appointments needed to get the movement forward enough for the patient to feel better and see enough change in the right direction when the health complaint has been there a long time… continuity is maintained working with the practitioner and the specific details are noted and continued to be worked with carefully at each appointment. Potencies and doses are strictly individual – there is no standardised ‘one pill fits all’ approach.
The founder of Homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann’s theory on the ‘Concept of Suppression’ is kept at the front of the case and where patients may have been unaware or clear of this aspect and how it affects their health state over time, remedies and conversation can relieve and ‘un-suppress’ in a very subtle and gentle way, which alone has great positive effects on the health of the patient.
Being able to use natural remedies that do not have side effects keeps our health at it’s optimum, and at the moment, this is the most valid aspect of Homeopathy that I love. In the world of chemical medication and lucrative pharmaceutical companies that are developing more and more, to the extent that so often one drug can lead to another… is this actually a cure, I ask myself?
I always encourage my patients to find out about what they are putting in their body and understand the positive and negative effects when they take medication, or start treatment, so they can have the choice to understand less damaging options where possible.
There are some wonderful remedies for girls and women of our time which I use a lot in my practice.
Here are just a handful of my favourites and many of you may know some of them and have benefitted from trying them because they resonate with the ‘whole’ picture of your collection of female symptoms and help raise up the depleted areas, in mind, body and spirit in a truly magical and supportive way!
- Sepia
- Agnus Castus
- Oak
- Pulsatilla
- Folliculinum
- Emerald
- Carcinosin
- Thyroidinum
- Ignatia
- Rose Quartz
- Medorrhinum Americana
- Lachesis
- Luna
- Aurum Mur Natrum
I also love using the Australian Bushflower Essences, particularly WomanEssence: https://www.ausflowers.co.uk/collections/remedy-drops/products/woman-essence-drops
Another aspect of supporting our health and self-worth is ‘knowing’ and connecting with our womb… the belly of our wisdom!
This may sound a little too ‘woo-woo’ for some, but the womb has been respected for centuries and abdominal massage is a wonderful way to connect, tune in and acknowledge our true selves. It is where our gut feel comes from too. So it is an important area to understand and take care of.
Take a peak at this website to find out more: https://www.abdominaltherapycollective.com/about-abdominal-therapy
You might also like to get to know the wonderful Dr Christiane Northrup who is a great teacher of a woman’s journey and helps us understand female health: https://www.drnorthrup.com/
As the children around us grow and develop through the various stages of womanhood, from puberty to post menopause, may we help them understand themselves and who they naturally are and will become without adding chemical hormones into the mix… with social media to the extent it has now reached, there is so much seen by them but perhaps not enough true understanding of the long-term side effects when a natural menstrual cycle is chemically interfered with.
In the UK we are swiftly coming to the end of our summer, so there is no better time to be focussing on the next season and how we will meet our needs as the temperatures change, the light hours lessen and we start to sense the feeling of hibernation. In the Southern hemisphere, for those coming out of winter and starting the energetic time of Spring, it will be a time to prepare for awakening our bodies and adjusting to this change of energy too.
Wherever you are when you read this, I wish you well and would like to remind you that I am available to contact with any questions that may arise.
Please do also feel free to forward this blog to any woman or family member who you may feel will enjoy it 
Warm Wishes,
Ali x
Ali Lomax
LCHE
R.Hom.Int
