In these crazy times we live in, have you been feeling anxious or uncertain? Or perhaps overwhelmed and indecisive? Maybe you just want to crawl in bed under the covers and not come out for a while?
At the end of summer my anxiety had lifted and I had been feeling positive for a few weeks. But recently the overwhelma and anxious feelings came back, and I was wondering why.
When my lovely friend Rachel Peacok (who is also a wonderful energy healer) mentioned to me the other day she wrote a blog about Grounding, a little lightbulb went in my head.
Have you ever noticed that when you go out into nature and truly breathe in the fresh air and feel your feet deeply planted on the ground, that you feel steadier, more focused and calm?
Well this is all because of grounding!
This summer I walked barefoot on the grass many mornings, feeling the dew and soft ground on my feet, connecting me directly to the centre of the earth, and bringing me stability and strength for the rest of the day.
I had also been going for walks in nature almost everyday, and I realised I hadn’t really been doing much of it in recent weeks! Rachel mentions in her blog the following easy ways you can ground yourself any time you feel out of sorts:
“Walking or standing barefoot on the earth Placing a grounding crystal like hematite or black tourmaline between your feet Running your wrists under a cold running tap Eating. Particularly foods like chocolate and coffee Spending time in nature “
You can also meditate and visualise grounding and connecting yourself to the earth and the universe. Rachel’s blog details a beautiful visualisation exercise you can do every morning. Go and check it out!
Even something like taking a few deep breaths can help to ground you.
Homeopathy also has a wonderful remedy for grounding – Oak! Think of the deep roots, stability and longevity of this incredible tree; it is the epitome of grounding!
What are your favourite ways to ground yourself? I’d love to know! Feel free to send me a message or share in the comments!
According to the Merriman-Webster dictionary, immunity is
“a condition of being able to resist a particular disease especially through preventing development of a pathogenic microorganism or by counteracting the effects of its products.”
Germ Theory
Conventional modern medicine follows the germ theory of disease.
This theory was developed by Louis Pasteur. It basically says that microorganisms are all around us and will attack us and damage us if we don’t protect ourselves with pharmaceutical drugs or vaccines.
The current approach to the current pandemic, seems to follow this line of thought.
Social distancing!
Self-isolate!
Use hand sanitisers!
Wear masks!
Lockdown!
Vaccines are the only salvation!
Essentially you should try any means possible to avoid coming into contact with a microorganism, because if it gets you, you will get very sick and you may die!
If germ theory was true and validated, then everybody who would come into contact with any sort of virus or bacteria would be affected.
The reality, however, may not be the case.
Terrain Theory
A contemporary of Pasteur, Antoine Beauchamp, proposed a different theory at the time, based on his own research. From his observations, germs lived and proliferated in unhygienic and unfavourable conditions, and that exposure alone was not the only factor in becoming ill or contracting a disease.
From his point of view, it was the biological terrain was the cause of disease, not the germs themselves.
You can think of it this way: mosquitos will thrive and reproduce where there is stagnant water. It is not that they created the stagnant water.
The same goes with our body’s health. If we maintain it clean and healthy, it will be difficult for germs to create disease in it.
I think we have all experienced times when we are stressed and rundown and then we can easily catch a cold or flu.
Or times when we are happy, rested, and full of energy, and the latest bug going around bypasses us completely.
This is because the state of our immunity depends on the state of wellbeing of our bodies.
What do we need to have a strong immune system?
Most people know how important nutrition is to our health and well being. That’s why eating nutrient dense foods and getting adequate levels of vitamins and minerals is so important for immunity.
It also goes without saying that an inadequate diet, with high amounts of sugar, processed foods, and toxic chemicals (such as those found in pesticides or GMOs) will then cause damage to our immunity.
Our environment and emotional wellbeing are key to our overall health, including physical health.
We all need sunshine, fresh and clean air and water to maintain our health and immunity.
We need to move our bodies.
We also need love, connection, friendship, and a sense of purpose to be happy and healthy.
All these things help us build and strengthen our immune system, which in turn will help us to withstand any exposure to viruses or bacteria.
Apparently on his death bed, Pasteur actually admitted that Beauchamp was right, and that disease starts with the body, not the germ.
We are still unsure what role of bacteria and viruses play in our health and wellbeing. Are they there as the bad guys, making us ill? Or are they there as messengers telling us we need to clean ourselves up? Or are they there to actually do the cleaning up?
Until we know more, let’s not just rely only on outside measures to improve your immunity. Let’s take responsibility for ourselves, and feed our bodies with good food, clean water, get some fresh air and sunshine, rest and laughter, and lots of love and connection.
I’d love to know what immunity means to you. Let me know by commenting or send me a message!
The main treatment offered for women during perimenopause are artificial hormones. These come most often in the form of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) or the contraceptive pill.
HRT promises to balance your unruly hormones, and thereby fix all those horrible symptoms: the hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings . . .
But for now I’m not going to go any deeper into the evidence for or against artificial hormones.
I want to explore whether these artificial hormones are the only option, and is it necessarily a good one?*
I also want to look at what these artificial hormones are doing to our physical, emotional and spiritual being.
Transitions, Rhythms and Control
The menopause transition period (including pre-, peri- and post-menopause) is daunting.
Any major transition in life is scary and as humans we don’t like to be out of our comfort zone very much!
Think back to your first period (menarche), and all the changes we had to deal with, both physically and emotionally!
Modern medicine has done a great job in disconnecting us from our natural rhythms. It has even turned normal life transitions into diseases that must be treated with synthetic medicines.
In fact, our whole reproductive cycle has been hijacked by modern medicine. We let artificial hormones control our periods, our fertility, our childbirth, our pelvic health, and the end of our periods!
What this tells most women is that our bodies are not good enough, they need to be fixed.
Messing around with hormones is not a good thing!
Our hormonal system is all interconnected
If you’ve been reading my posts and blogs, you know how the thyroid, adrenal and sex hormones are linked together.
Any changes in them also affect insulin and hunger hormones, our sleep hormones, and many more!
But our hormones are also interconnected with our emotional and spiritual being.
Are artificial hormones disconnecting us from the emotional and spiritual transition we need to make in perimenopause?
Do we want to become wise and powerful women in our post-menopausal years?
If so, then we need to deal with and heal all the emotional and spiritual crap that we have accumulated in our lifetime.
Artificial hormones disconnect us from the physical expression of these emotional issues. If we can’t recognise the problems then we are not going to deal with them!
By letting synthetic hormones control us, they are also disconnecting us from ourselves.
Symptoms are messages
Perimenopausal symptoms are usually messages. Our bodies are telling us that we need to looking inward and start rediscovering our intuition and inner wisdom.
How can we do that when we are disconnected?
This not only happens at perimenopause — it happens all throughout our reproductive years.
PMS, irregular periods, ovarian cysts, postnatal depression – these are all physical signs that something needs to be healed.
If we suppress these symptoms with artificial hormones, it is likely our physical symptoms will be worse when perimenopause comes along.
And if you are taking HRT, once you come off it, these issues will still be there. So many women coming of HRT report that all those horrible symptoms do come back again!
What are the alternatives?
Do you want to truly step into our full power and potential post-menopause? Then you really need to consider whether taking HRT will be of benefit in the long run.
Unfortunately, modern medicine doesn’t give us many alternative options.
But if you look outside the box, into complementary and alternative treatments, there are so many things that you can try.
There are many wonderful herbs out there that have been used for thousands of years to great effect.
There are many foods and supplements you can take to help you balance your hormones.
And of course, homeopathy and flower essences are just amazing because they get to the root of the problems and help us heal our body, mind and spirit.
If you want to now more about how homeopathy can help you to manage and relieve perimenopausal symptoms, please get in touch! I’m here for you. Book a free 15 minute call with me to see how I can help!
* This may not apply to women who are on HRT due to premature or abrupt menopause (due to surgery or illness), and who may need to take these hormones as their bodies cannot produce enough on their own. And I’m not berating anyone who has chosen to take HRT or artificial hormones and done their research and decided that is the best course of action for them. If you are happy with your choice, then that’s absolutely fine, and your right to do so!! My main objective here is to highlight the fact that we are usually not given many other choices when HRT is not suitable or necessary, and the risks and negative aspects of it are downplayed or not even considered at all.
I’m a Human Design coach and homeopath living in the small, beautiful rural county of Herefordshire in the UK. My passion is to help mothers heal from burnout and overwhelm, so they can come back to themselves and become who they are are designed to be, and become the leading light to the next generation.
