What your painful or irregular menstrual cycle might be trying to tell you

It’s been more than ten years since I started doing yoga. I still remember one of my first yin (SLOW) yoga classes. At the time, I was an avid dancer and always on the go. When someone recommended “yin yoga” to me, I was not prepared to spend 5-10 minutes holding poses.

I did not like slowing down or being still.

And I was even less prepared to realize that not only were my pelvic muscles incredibly tense but that these long poses would also bring up grief, tears, and anger that had been held deep within my pelvis.

Energetically, the womb and pelvis are a holding place for emotions and trauma.

It is very common for emotions to arise when we activate our pelvis through somatic experiences such as yoga, massage, or womb reiki. Energetically, the heart and womb are connected. Therefore when our emotions and experiences become too much for our heart to handle and our nervous system to process, these emotions and traumas can be held as energetic blocks in the womb because the womb is a hollow organ that provides vast storage space.

Before anything manifests in our physical body, it manifests in our energetic body.

Stress first appears in the energetic body. It then moves to the emotional body and the nervous system creating emotional dysregulation. You may notice emotions like grief, shame, or anger or constantly living in a fight or flight state. Stress then moves into the “mental body” and may show up as a mental manifestation such as repetitive patterns in your life or lack of pleasure. Finally, stress manifests in the physical body.

Energetic blocks in the womb and pelvis can show up as physical symptom such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts, PCOS, fibroids, irregular cycles, menstrual pain, pelvic pain or tension or infertility.

Even though we often think of our mental and emotional symptoms as separate, our emotions, energy field and nervous system contribute to our physical reproductive symptoms.

Physical symptoms in the pelvis are messengers.

Our pelvis and wombs are telling us that something is out of balance. When we experiences these symptoms, we must also explore the energetic and emotional body (in addition to physical causes).

For some women energetic blocks in the womb don’t show up as physical issues. Instead, they may present as repetitive patterns such as attracting the same type of person over and over or repeating patterns from our maternal lineage.

Whether it is through physical or emotional symptoms, when we get the message that something is out of balance, the first step is to begin to connect with our pelvis and womb. Without a deep connection with our womb space, we won’t be able to become aware of our blockages or release them.

A Simple Womb Exercise:

A simple exercise to begin is to place your hands on your womb and feel the connection between your womb and hands.Take a few deep breaths while visualizing sending this breath down to your womb space and pelvic bowl. Connect with womb and begin to let the womb and pelvis  and let it know that it is okay to relax. Once you develop this initial practice of awareness and connection, you can then move into deeper somatic and emotional release work.

Looking for help?

My practice offers worldwide 1:1 Virtual Womb Healing support and counselling therapy in British Columbia, Canada. Womb healing helps to release emotional and energetic blocks stored in the womb for fertility and menstrual health.