Through her lens, is a collection of life experiences from the perspective of a Traditional Chinese medicine masters practitioner, trained yogi and truster of nature

What people often don’t understand when they arrive at the clinic is that without proper preparation nothing will be available tomorrow. For me, I knew having a baby was going to need a bit of work. So when I was 24years old, I started to prepare for the impending arrival of a baby. This was 6 years before I conceived my first baby. I am not suggesting everyone needs this time, but it should give you an idea of the methods to my seeming madness.

To start with I knew it was going to be essential to connect with my body, my mind and my emotions. How? I knew I must understand my menstrual cycles. My cycle had been anything but textbook, and after practicing in Sweden for just over one year I understood that at least 80% of my patients were anything but textbook. I was prepared at this point to start with some basics to get the ball rolling. In turn I would have an overall healthy start when it was time for the act of conception.

Where to start? I did a few things. Firstly, I began raw Chinese herbs (to help the physical insides); I booked a trip to Costa Rica for a yoga teacher training (to guide the mental/emotional insides); and my partner and I swapped to organic food and removed any of the products in our house that didn’t make sense or were pure toxic (to help our surroundings). These first steps helped to clear out a lot of the physical and emotional stuff that had been somewhat blocked. We all have ‘stuff’ that we need to work through, sometimes its just mopping up the debris left after our previous life venture. For others it calls for the full monty - Diving deep inside and seeing ourselves for who we are as we are. Also utilising the power of those with the knowledge ie, finding a good psychologist or counsellor, investing in a good physical body worker (ie. chiropractor, TCM practitioner, osteopath, kinesiologist), getting the correct dietary advice for you (ie. naturopath, nutritionist, dietitian) and diving in the mud, getting really dirty and lovingly doing the work.

After I had completed my yoga training I came home a new person. I now had realised just how much mud there really was. I was ready to begin my new life.

Actual picture of me if i were a cake (at this point)

I gently waded through the mud, ate organic food and felt invigorated by the new lungs that had become mine through my yoga practice. I prepared to delve deep into my body. I also bought a thermometer. Just a standard electric one, that beeps for what feels like 10minutes before it tells you your temperature to 1 decimal point. I would use this to learn more about myself by checking my basal body temperature (BBT) and tracking it in an app. Before I would move, drink, wee, talk, etc. I checked my vaginal temperature every** morning for 5 years.** exaggerated ‘every’.

Read on.

NOTE: something I often remind patients is, your vaginal temperature is much more accurate than any other temperature of your external body. This is because unless you’ve had sex that morning, the inside of your vagina gently fluctuates with your hormones and gives you the clearest and most consistent indicator.

I committed to this morning routine right up until I identified I was pregnant. I did miss a few days here and there, but I never missed a cycle and I was reminded daily (often by my partner who also became very in tune with my cycles) to take my temperature. My routine was seen by others as a stretch of insanity but I trusted the information it gave me and as have many others just like you. For me this is because I know that in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) “everything” is interlinked, by everything I mean body, mind, soul and the environment in which you live. You see, TCM understands the body as a vessel of energy. All intertwined to the energy around you. This means how you eat, sleep, poo, move, breathe, think, and feel have constant effects on your health and the functionality of your body. For example how you feel about the work you do 40hrs/week, whilst being in an air conditioned, white-light-lit office, whilst eating and drinking ‘not much’ or ‘too much’ but always have space for ‘a little choccy’, while barely exercising OR conversely going to the gym 6 x/week, whilst sleeping minimal hours, has dramatic affects on your whole health and functionality.

After 2 months of tracking whilst on the journey of reconnecting fully with my cycles, the temperature alone gave me the unflattering truth that my cycles and therefore health needed work. Even with herbs, spiritual awakening and organic food. WHAT!! I hear your thoughts, I know I was just as confused. However, what doing this did, was make me acutely aware that the choices I had made previously were impacting me still, and “recovery” or better health were not yet here.

I could now see that my emotional and physical wellbeing was functioning in conjunction with my cycle. In the third month of tracking I also started to track changes to my cervical discharge (what was on the underwear) and as time went by I added things to track. For example which, herbs and supplements I was using at certain times of the month, what my bowel motions were like, when I felt anxious or stressed, my training and meditation regime. During my period I measured out my period blood using the Organi cup, I tracked what colour it was, if there was any discomfort or clots and I noted anything that was different or new.

In doing this preparation I realised the ebbs and flows of my body were slightly to hugely different from month to month. Something I personally battled with. However, what had become exceedingly clear was as I spent the time (5 years) adding and subtracting little things in my life, big changes occurred. Sometimes it was the smallest things such as actively moving more and other times it was noticing the changes over time. For example I introduced a daily 10 minute meditation practice initially in the mornings then increasing it to both mornings and evenings. The more often I meditated the more clear my perspectives became, the more nourished I felt and better choices regarding food, exercise and sleep were made. The flow on effect was greater then the small change I had initially implemented.

My daily practice eventually included the following

Basal Body Temperature check;
Meditation 10 minutes;
Chinese herbs and some supplements;
Breakfast - anything from plain oats to homemade granola with fresh fruit nuts and seeds;
Movement - sometimes 15minutes of stretching, other times an F45 class followed by a yoga class;
Organic mostly plant based meals (prepared at home by my chef/partner);
Work - Doing what I love. For me being a practitioner/teacher is a real passion. It has evolved over time from more teaching with less clinic to more clinic and less teaching.
Check in and record - Bowel motion? cervical mucous? how did I feel? etc.
Daily chats - debriefing the ins and outs of my day with my partner or friends;
Meditation 10minutes;
Sleep - 9/9:30pm - awake 7am;

This was my preparation. When my daily practice fell out of sink so too did my overall health, which was seen very clearly on my tracking app. Day by day I gently played the tug of war towards better choices and found a more optimal health.

Note, I was committed, but commitment does not always mean the results you expect. I too was stung by the nuances of life’s rollercoaster.