Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (25 page)

FIGURE 4: LUNAR CHART FOR MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Given our cultural heritage and beliefs about illness in general and the menstrual cycle in particular, it is not difficult to understand how women have come to see their premenstrual phase not as a time for reflection and renewal but as a disease or a curse. In fact, the language that our culture uses regarding the uterus and ovaries has been experimen tally shown to affect women’s menstrual cycles. Under hypnosis, a woman who is given positive suggestions about her menstrual cycle will be much less apt to suffer from menstruation-related symptoms.
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On the other hand, one study found that women who were led to believe that they were premenstrual when they weren’t reported more adverse physical symptoms, such as water retention, cramps, and irritability, than another group who were led to believe they were not premenstrual.
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These studies are excellent examples of how our thoughts and beliefs have the power to affect our hormones, our biochemistry, and our subsequent experience.

Healing Through Our Cycles

Once we begin to appreciate our menstrual cycle as part of our inner guidance system, we begin to heal both hormonally and emotionally. There is no doubt that premenstrually, many women feel more inward-directed and more connected to their personal pain and the pain of the world. Eckhart Tolle in his famous book
The Power of NOW
(New World Library, 2004) says that a woman’s “pain body” arises premenstrually and that the best way to dissolve it is to be present with it—instead of projecting it onto others (which is what gives PMS its bad name). When a woman has done the work of dissolving her “pain body,” it allows her to be more in touch with her own creativity, though she may not act on the ideas that surface at this time until later, because during the premenstrual phase she needs time to be alone, time to rest, and time away from her daily duties. But taking this time is a new idea and practice for many women.

Premenstrual syndrome results when we don’t honor our need to ebb and flow like the tides. This society likes action, so we often don’t appreciate our need for rest and replenishment. We would do well to remember that all the functions of our bodies have both an active (yang) phase and a receptive (yin) phase. For example, the heart actively contracts during systole, sending the blood out into the vessels. (This is the top number we measure when taking blood pressure.) The space between heart contractions, known as diastole (the lower number of blood pressure), is equally important. Without adequate relaxation in this phase, the entire cardiovascular system suffers under too much strain. The same is true in our lives and during our menstrual cycles. The menstrual cycle is set up to teach us about the need for both the in-breath and the out-breath of life’s processes. When we are premenstrual and feeling fragile, we need to rest and take care of ourselves for a day or two. In the Native American moon lodge, bleeding women came together for renewal and visioning and emerged afterward inspired and also inspiring to others. I think that the majority of PMS cases would disappear if every modern woman retreated from her duties for three or four days each month and had her meals brought to her by someone else.

I personally found that simply and
unapologetically
stating my needs for a monthly slowdown to my former husband was all that was needed. When I showed respect for myself and the processes of my body, he showed respect as well, and my body responded with comfort and gratitude. Indeed, my experience of my own menstrual cycle began to change after I noticed that my most meaningful insights about myself, my life, and my writing came on the day or two just before my period. In my mid-thirties, I began to look forward to my periods, un derstanding them to be sacred time that our culture didn’t honor. When I was premenstrual, the things that made me feel teary were the things that were most important to me, things that I knew tuned me in to my power and my deepest truths. My increased sensitivity felt like a gift of insight. I didn’t become angry, though if I did, I knew to pay attention and not chalk it up to “my stupid hormones.” I liked to keep track of the phases of the moon in my daily calendar to see if I was ovulating at the full moon, the dark of the moon, or in between. When I ovulated at the full moon and menstruated at the dark of the moon, my inner reflective time was synchronized with the moon’s darkness. Getting my period at the time of the full moon resulted in a more intense period: I was more emotionally charged than usual, and my bleeding was often heavier than normal. I found that sometimes simply intending to bleed at the dark of the moon tended to move my cycles in this direction, though not always. (I didn’t try to control this.) My daughters have discovered the same thing. Noting your individual cycle in relationship to the moon’s cycle consciously connects you with the earth and helps you to feel connected with women past and present. Truly welcoming and appreciating your cycles in this way also makes the transition into menopause much easier. Having been truly present with inner wisdom during your cycling years, you will not mourn when you move into your wisdom years.

OUR CULTURAL INHERITANCE

The menstrual cycle and the female body were seen as sacred until five thousand years ago, when the peaceful matrilineal cultures of Old Europe were overturned.
¹⁶
The original meaning of the word
taboo
was “sacred,” and women having their periods were considered sacred; now in some societies they are considered unclean. Often their dreams and visions were used to guide the tribe. The Yurok people of Northern California, for example, believe that a menstruating woman should isolate herself from mundane duties during her period because she is at the height of her spiritual power at this time. So instead of wasting these precious days, she is supposed to devote herself to meditation, purification, and turning inward to address her life’s purpose and to gather spiritual energy.
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Native cultures the world over have honored young women with coming-of-age ceremonies. First menstruation has meant being initiated into the “offices of womanhood” by mothers, aunts, and other initiated women.
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The Kinaalda coming-of-age puberty rite of the traditional Navajo, for example, is considered one of the most important of the tribal rituals because the young girl is now of an age to bring new life to the tribe. In the month after a girl gets her first period, her entire extended family gathers together for a four-day ceremony. During this time, the girl wears a traditional buckskin dress and has her hair braided in a special style. Every morning she gets up at dawn and is expected to run into the rising sun, running faster and farther each day. When she returns, an older female relative instructs her in how to be a woman. She also enjoys traditional massage. The entire tribe participates in a special feast. And during this time she is expected to take on more and more responsibility. On the last night, the tribe stays up all night and, led by the shaman, prays for the girl and her family. The emphasis is on both physical strength and upstanding character.
¹⁹

Archaeological evidence from more than six thousand years ago points to the fact that the original calendars were bones with small marks on them that women used to keep track of their cycles.
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Yet throughout much of written Western history, and even in religious codes, the menstrual cycle has been associated with shame and degradation, with women’s dark, uncontrollable nature. Menstruating women were thought of as unclean. In
A.D.
sixty-five, in his encyclopedia,
Natural History,
Pliny the Elder wrote:

But nothing could easily be found that is more remarkable [note the ambivalent word choice] than the monthly flux of women. Contact with it turns new wine sour, crops touched by it become barren, seeds in gardens dry up, the fruit of trees fall off. The bright surface of mirrors in which it is merely reflected is dimmed, the edge of steel and the gleam of ivory are dulled. Hives of bees will die. Even bronze and iron are at once seized by rust and a hor rible smell fills the air. To taste it drives dogs mad and affects their bite with an incurable poison.
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The taboo associated with the menstrual cycle has continued to this day. Generations of women have been taught that we are more physically vulnerable during our periods—that we shouldn’t swim, have sex, bathe, or even wash our hair during this time. In the Victorian era, it was believed that bathing, shampooing hair, or swimming might “back up” menstrual flow, resulting in stroke, insanity, or rapid onset of tuberculosis.
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Though these notions have served to keep women afraid of their natural body processes for generations, there is a kernel of truth in these outdated notions that can be a source of wisdom and strength when put into proper perspective. I asked Sandra Chiu, a licensed acupuncturist and a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, to explain this from a TCM point of view (see box). This information rounds out all of the myths about menstruation. And it’s also very validating to women everywhere who would prefer a hot bath and a cup of tea to going out in the cold during their periods.

T
RADITIONAL
C
HINESE
M
EDICINE AND
M
ENSTRUATION

If you had to boil traditional Chinese medicine down to one simple intention, it would be to facilitate, promote, and improve flow through the body. In TCM, blockage, or absence of flow, is the nature of all diseases and pain. (This is a parallel version of the Western idea of inflammation, which creates blockages in the internal structures of the body.) So the essence of TCM is to promote circulatory movement of all bodily fluids (including blood) as well as to promote the flow of
qi
(or
chi
), a term that means “life force” or “vital energy.”

From a TCM point of view, cold is a contracting force, an energy that slows and impedes movement. Just think of what freezing temperatures do to water—they congeal it to the point that it becomes a solid mass of ice. On the other hand, heat promotes movement and opens flow. That’s why you’ll see most people in China drinking hot tea, even in the summer. The Chinese are often wary of inviting cold substances into the body because of this idea. Before Western culture made a significant appearance in China, the idea of ice water and iced beverages was pretty unfathomable to a typical Chinese person.

So how does this affect a menstruating woman? During a woman’s period, her body is focused on discharging “old blood,” the endometrial lining that has built up and then must be shed in the absence of pregnancy. To the Chinese, it is important that this flow and discharge of blood be smooth and unimpeded. This will result in a healthy period, absent of pain and discomfort, emotional irritability, and distress. Additionally, when the menstrual blood is discharged in this healthy and “flow-ful” manner, it paves the way for the important next step in a woman’s cycle—the creation of healthy new blood, the rebuilding of the endometrial lining. If menstrual bleeding is problematic, this has a negative effect on the body’s ability to restore new blood and on the following stages of a woman’s cycle.

Because cold is seen as obstructing the smooth and open flow of menstrual bleeding, avoiding cold during menstruation ensures and promotes a healthy discharge. (So does avoiding tampons, which obstruct flow; menstrual cups such as the DivaCup [
www.divacup.com
] and the Keeper [
www.keeper.com
] are good alternatives.) Therefore, avoiding cold foods, sitting or lying in cold places, swimming (because water is usually much cooler than the body’s temperature), and exposure to cold and damp weather are all considered good preventative measures for a woman’s health during her period. Today, this would include avoiding midriff tops, low-cut jeans that leave the belly exposed, bare feet on cold tile, and cold foods such as ice cream, frozen smoothies, ice water, and even raw foods (considered cold in nature) while menstruating. For the same reason, many women find that sipping hot water can be surprisingly helpful.

Over time, TCM teaches, such cold factors can cause the stagnation of blood, fluid flow in the uterus and other reproductive organs, and
qi
itself. This stagnation is seen as a primary cause for common women’s disorders, such as menstrual pain, heavy bleeding, clots, endometriosis, fibroids, cysts, irregular periods, headaches, and even PMS. The TCM treatment of these issues most often focuses on breaking stagnation and warming the channels of the “lower burner,” or lower abdomen, using acupuncture, moxabustion (heat therapy), and/or herbal therapy. Women who already experience any of these symptoms should absolutely stay away from cold around the time of their periods to prevent exacerbation of stagnant flow in their bellies and to improve their symptoms.

In addition, TCM holds that a woman’s body becomes more susceptible to “cold invasion” and energy deficiency during menstruation. There are a few physiological reasons for this. First, the flow of energy and blood through the channels of the body shifts during the menstrual period. When the menstrual blood is discharging, specific channels of
qi
and blood are at work facilitating the period. One such channel system, called the blood-connecting channels, is a network of micro, capillary-like channels that cover the body and help to spread blood under the skin. During the menstrual period, these channels are more open, causing the pores in the skin to be more open, which increases the likelihood that the body will be “invaded” by external elements such as cold and dampness.
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(This is also why it is highly frowned upon to cool oneself in cold and windy weather—or in front of an air conditioner—immediately after working up a sweat.) In effect, cold entering the body this way weakens the strength of circulatory flow and
qi
levels, which in turn weakens the immune system and leaves a woman more vulnerable to catching colds and flu, feeling aches and pains in the joints, and experiencing menstrual pain and associated disorders. As Giovanni Maciocia, C.Ac., author of
Obstetrics and Gynecology in Chinese Medicine
(Churchill Livingstone, 1998), puts it, “During menstruation, the space between skin and muscles
(cou li)
is wide open. When this is invaded by wind and cold, the liver-qi stagnates and the passages of the menses become obstructed.”
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