Women's Health
How to recharge your batteries when they run out!
In recent history women have gained a more equal role in our society, thanks to the efforts of generations of strong and determined people who have given, and are giving, their lives for more justice in what has been perceived as an unbalanced system with inequality for many women.
Today for many of us who have found equality in our lives the issue is now about how to balance these choices with our traditional roles as women. We find that to achieve our ambitions and dreams we are pushing too much, suffering the consequences and paying the price with the impact being on our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.
Our batteries just run out!
Most of our grandmothers were homemakers, and many never given the opportunity to have an adequate education or participate in the professional world but life was generally full and they worked hard to care for their families. Focusing and working 24/7 on caring for a home, managing the family finances, bringing up their children and grandchildren, wasn’t an easy task.
But what of women nowadays?
It seems that despite our new freedom to have a career or education most of us have continued to be homemakers, be there for our partners, raise the kids, look after our parents and try to always be fit, healthy and look our best. Then on top of that we choose to have our careers, many of us in fiercely competitive environments.
Finding the energy
It goes without saying that the energy it takes to keep up with the demands of our modern lifestyles is highly demanding, especially when most of us seem ‘programmed’ to seek perfection at any cost in all of the tasks that we consider our responsibility.
So it is not surprising that dealing with these demands and our willingness to “do whatever it takes” for others at the sacrifice of our own needs, so many of us end up developing psychosomatic diseases.
The consequences of running out of batteries
Many women arrive at our clinic fatigued, with migraines, insomnia, suffering with conditions or issues like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, abdominal bloating, constipation and lack of libido.
Some despite only being in their mid 30’s are complaining about what they believe to be the first signs of menopause, night sweats, dry eyes and internal mucous membranes.
Others are nervous, with shortness of breath, both indications of the fact that these women are not accessing the natural and nutritional restorative aspects of their health, or simply, they are not manifesting Yin essence.
Yin energy
In Traditional Chinese Medicine when we talk about Yin we mean organic body fluids such as good quality of blood and mucous membranes, the “jelly” like and liquid materials of the body.
When we lack Yin essence for a length of time we dry up internally, and the “tank” of our vital energy becomes empty.
When this happens, it means that we are running and relying far too much on the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for our most automatic responses, being on alert, and should be only triggered in stressful situations where we must react to immediate demands quickly.
Running like this, without giving sufficient time for the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for those unconscious processes that deals with our digestion, elimination, sleep and sexual arousal means we don’t actually give our body and mind a chance to restore and balance adequately.
Burn out
Continuing to function with an empty tank drives us into ‘burn out’, which shows up as weakness and lack of vitality, often leading into a loop of continuous effort and exhaustion.
This cycle becomes extremely difficult to stop without a professional specialist’s help.
When we get to this state, it is usual to experience fear and lack of self-confidence, and feel the need to control life situations as much as possible so that unconsciously, everything is under control, with the hope that this will reduce the levels of fear and insecurity.
However, this control freak modus operandi, forces us live life exclusively from the mind. We are unable to anchor ourselves in the body anymore, nor be grounded on the earth, both of which are essential for us to trust and be able to let go of worries. To be fully present in the here and now.
Building the juice and refilling the tank
To reverse this negative spiral, be able to settle in the present and abandon the controlling impulse, it is necessary to relearn how to build “juice” and refill your tank.
The process of regeneration requires that you are committed to dedicate your time, attention, care and love to yourself in a sustainable and intentional manner.
Creating vitality is based on nourishing Yin and the practice aims to regain the balance between the internal organs so that the driving nutritional force is produced in all body systems.
Tools to refuel
In our clinic, specialist Aline Tisato will use a variety of therapeutic “tools” to treat a woman’s body and kick-start into this process.
In more extreme and severe cases that need immediate attention she will use acupuncture, Shiatsu and Tui Na on specific points to “tone” the Yin. But to really help produce lasting, significant physiological changes in women’s bodies, she will teach Taoist self-cultivating practices.
This is one of the most effective tools to regenerate these nutritional energy flows. The practice consists of small daily conscious exercises (in this case tailored to your needs), where you learn how to release tension and stimulate some vital acupuncture points using internal small movements which keep the muscles malleable and flexible so the body fluids are regenerated and kept moving – producing internal moisture.
Deciding intentionally to invest in your health and apply this new integrative routine into your lifestyle, where sleeping and digestion are cared for, and regular “chill out” breathing sessions are also included will reestablish the internal spaces of body and mind and will in turn restore your body into a more efficient metabolism with good blood flow and clearer mind.
Intelligent natural healing of the body
This ancient knowledge from Traditional Chinese Medicine when applied to modern living awakens the natural healing intelligence of the body and renews a sense of personal power that is the natural extension of our state of equilibrium.
When the mind can reside at home in our body, we feel more focused, grounded, and more present and learn to savour life. We literally feel good, more secure, and this allows us to accept the natural development of things and events.
Getting our confidence back allows us to open from the inside out, just as a flower to the sun. When we flourish and blossom like nature, we can look at life from another perspective – and we feel ‘more juicy’!
Having a higher level of energy and being more optimistic and perhaps even finding our spiritual self, we can allow ourselves to fall in love with life again.
From this position of strength based on respect for ourselves, our bodies and our wellbeing, we can face with greater strength and energy the challenges of the lives we choose as busy modern women.
If you would like to book a session with Aline either online or at our centre please do so here.
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Written by Aline Tisato & Mandy Keillor
