From Bud to Bloom: May is Celebrate Women Month

How fitting it is that we celebrate Mother’s Day in May.  Indeed, this month where we witness nature mature from bud to bloom is an apt season to celebrate womanhood.

Womanhood can be separated into 3 stages, primarily focused around the menstrual cycles. It is important we honor each stage of being a woman: maiden, mother and crone. Each stage has its own mental, physical and spiritual aspects of growth and development.  When we honor and respect each stage, we welcome, accept and understand what it means to be a woman.

In Chinese medicine, it’s understood a woman’s most vital essence is her blood.  Women shed their blood every month and as a result, are easily effected by iron deficient anemia.  Women are frequently affected by not only deficient blood but also stagnant blood.  A woman deficient in blood can be fatigued, pale, hair loss, dry skin, have insomnia, and infrequent menses and infertility. A woman with stagnant blood can have menstrual pain, endometriosis, heavy periods, ovarian cysts, miscarriage and menopausal symptoms. 

The organ responsible for purifying and nourishing the blood is the liver. The liver has many vital functions.  In regard to women, the liver stores iron and metabolizes hormones.  At each stage of a woman’s life, the liver must be given due attention and support in order to have healthy hormonal balance.

The maiden stage is the earliest stage of budding womanhood, where a young teenage woman feels full of possibility and takes risks.  She is passionate and curious.  She is focused on herself. Her body is rapidly changing and is flush with estrogen and progesterone.  She starts her period and develops the curves of a woman’s body. This is a time of free-spirited innocence. Excessive hormone production is often an issue contributing to acne, body odor, and PMS.   

The mother stage is the middle stage of womanhood, where the focus shifts from the self to others.  Energy starts to flow outward, into others, and women often struggle to find energy to give to themselves. At this stage, this is often when a woman’s career and/or family are the focus of her life and it can be challenging to make her own health a priority. Mothers realize the need to be healthy for their families. A woman is still self-conscious, but in tune with herself. As a woman navigates these challenges, she is gathering knowledge and wisdom. While her estrogen and progesterone continue to flow, this is also a time where her stress hormones take a front seat- namely cortisol. Cortisol starts to affect her blood sugar and thyroid function, increasing risk for diabetes, weight gain, and hypothyroidism. At this time, we need to support ovaries, liver, thyroid and adrenals.

The crone stage, or wise sage stage is the time for applying and importing the wisdom she has gathered thus far in life. A woman blooms the brightest and her colors are most beautiful at this stage. She is self-possessed, and less self-conscious. She is more comfortable in her own skin.  She focuses on inner self, on her soul, who she was meant to be and what purpose she has. As estrogen and progesterone production wanes, stress hormones and thyroid play an even more vital role.  Metabolism slows down, weight is stubborn to lose, fat deposits on the abdomen and hips.  Here, we need to support the liver, thyroid and adrenals. 

When we honor and celebrate each stage of womanhood, we move with grace, harmony and vitality.