tcoyf

There are few things in life that create the following reaction in me:

"HOW COME NOBODY EVER TOLD ME THIS?!?!?!"

In addition to the book imaged above, adult onset acne would be another example of said reaction.

I think it's safe to say that this book has changed my life and made me much more aware of my life as a woman and my own personal cycle.  

Just under a year ago I firmly decided to go off of my birth control, I no longer felt comfortable with hormone supplementing and I felt very out of touch with my own body.

Since then, I've been taking my temperature, tracking my cycle and charting it using my handy app Ovuview.  For several months I was in the "How come nobody ever told me this" mode.  I wonder what our world's women would be like if every young girl were educated about her cycle as presented in this book.  Regardless of your method of contraception, the information contained in here is so useful.  And the method can be used to support fertility and conception or as your main method of contraception.  

Incredible.

In addition, when I have consultations with practitioners (acupuncture and dental being the most recent), I have an armload of information about my hormonal situation just based on my temperature chart that I can easily pull up and show.  I know that my basal body temperature runs low (partly why I often struggle to stay warm) which can also be an early indicator of thyroid problems or imbalances (find someone who offers hair testing rather than blood testing for more accurate reads on your thyroid levels).  While I realize not everyone finds this information to be particularly exciting, I am thrilled to have every bit of information I can ready for a consultation, especially within a medical system that more often than not, does not take the individual case into account.  The more information I have, the more any practitioner can work with me.  

So shortly after beginning this new chapter off of birth control I was introduced to another method that has equally, if not more so, blown my mind.  

In addition to taking my temperature every morning, I also have been seed cycling (note the link here mentions the use of Evening Primrose Oil in the progesterone phase but I use Borage Oil, also an Omega 6) and my experience with this has been profound.   

I originally went on birth control years ago because my periods were so bad that I would get excruciating cramps, lose my vision, have cold sweats, vomit and be nothing short of incapacitated by the first day of my period.  It wasn't every month, but it was frequent enough that I could no longer bear it and my nurse practitioner at the time told me, "Your body wants to be pregnant and this is the experience you'll likely have until you have children."

Awesome.

Since taking myself off of birth control (no consultation with a nurse practitioner or doctor for this decision) and with the use of certain herbs (Cramp bark and in particular Motherwort) I have had the gentlest experience with my period that I can remember (knock on wood for me here, please).  My cycle is regular, hovering at just around 27 days, I ovulate right around day 14 and the cramps are so manageable I can hardly call them cramps compared to my prior experiences.

I do believe that I have the seed cycling to thank for this.  Google it.  I just shared it with a Naturopathic Doctor who had never heard of it but was going consider incorporating it into her women's health protocols.  

Again, what would our society's women look like if they all had the opportunity to try something as simple as eating certain ground, raw seeds during certain times of her cycle?

Your experience with this may be different, but I'm specifically blogging about it, because I know my little collective of readers are women and I hope you'll share this information with the women you know.  Go ahead, hyperlink it, share it, spread it, I think it's tremendously useful for women who have challenges with their cycle and can have a considerable effect, not only at a relatively low cost but using a natural food-based solution.

Stay tuned for my upcoming post about my newly discovered latex allergy.  

spread thin

I had a reading done a little over a year ago that said that my work life was going to get really busy and probably it would happen really fast.

At the time I thought that meant I was going to get the teaching job that I was applying for and when I didn't get it I sort of forgot about the reading.

 

A year later I'm living the predicted reading.  

Barely keeping my head above water.

And, since I don't find myself smoking pot anymore to deal with my stress, 

I'm relying on my practice to support me.

 

If my boyfriend didn't think he'd get snapped at for suggesting it, 

he would probably tell me to go sit by some water, and let it take my troubles away.

 

So that's my plan for this afternoon between jobs: sit by the river.  

I also treated myself to skipping the yoga class I usually go to in favor of more sleep.

I think that was probably the right decision.

He's really good about finding a rock or a tree to sit in.

done gone and done it again

He's pretty much an all around champ, that guy!

Way to go, Craig!

stark reality

the best way to deal with a confrontation with stark reality upon returning from a 2 week vacation in Denmark is to 

1. pay the bills that need to be paid.

2.  call the people that need to be called.

3. go to work when you have to go to work.

4. go through photos of your vacation repeatedly.

sweet relief

Went to the chiropractor for the first time in my life last week.

It changed my life.  

I have mobility that I haven't had in, dare I say, years?

I was a skeptic and now I'm a convert.  

There is a time and a place to have your bones cracked back into place.

Evidently, one hip was angled anteriorly, the other posteriorly.  

I'm really working hard on getting my shoulder blades snug into my back in Chaturanga Dandasana.  

Got some work to do...

That's my mom in blue marveling at some really big trees.  

I heart old growth forest.

Dodged a Bullet

Sometimes it's better to not see your ex.

Sometimes you just don't need to go there.

Sometimes you can wish them well and send them love as they fly by on the highway and that's just fine.

in other news,


this was my winter office.  

no really, for real.

bribing with sex is unethical, right?

yesterday I "caught up" with a friend by text message who I haven't been in touch with for over two years

it's funny to summarize your life in a text message:

"teaching yoga learning permaculture selling groceries dating a sweetheart"

a night of whiskey dancing and hottubbing does a soul good.

I'm learning to Swype

Do you Swype?

This technique proves that my phone is smarter than me.

Sharing is Love

I don't really ever get tired of this gem.
It's like the next generation of We Are The World.
Lack of understanding leading lives away from Unity.  
Got to keep the Faith alive 'til Love is found. 




Saw a play this evening. 


It reminded me of the possibility that perhaps we call grapple with the same issues inside ourselves.


It reminded me that sometimes love is expressed through the desire to share.


Michael Franti reminds me to count my blessings not my problems.

I've said it before,

how can you go wrong with a cello on stage?

reinventing the norm

hot springs getaway

driving break

what snowpack?

king of the hill

Hi Def

I'm not much into surfing the web these days.  

But over a dinner the other night a friend shared some of these epic videos.  

Check it out.  

And maybe this too....

Watching stuff like this always reminds me to be having more fun.  

Always more fun.

lil red boots

sometimes it's all really hard and confusing.

sometimes we lose our way.

sometimes we don't know what to do.

sometimes red galoshes might just make it a little bit better...

before and after

this is the 3rd home in 2 years that I've moved into that has a terribly stained toilet.

I'm sorry, is this too much information?

Fortunately, I have a friend who cleans homes and she kind enough to share her secrets.

I did this in minutes.  Amazing.

f***ing hippies

this is not the first hippie I've known to keep natural deodorant in his glove compartment

this particular glove compartment deodorant stick has passed from one hippie down to another.

I think it might be a prerequisite for hippie-dom to keep an emergency deodorant in the car.

the more hippie, the less this stick is used.

in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it's never been used.

what's in store for 2012

more of this for sure

elucidate

there have been a lot of seemingly untimely passings lately

I wish it all made sense

I take them as reminders of love

I light a candle to each of them

I thank them for touching so many of us in their brief time with us

...

making do in the absence of snow

I'll admit this is winter fun, but be not fooled, despite this beautifully frozen lake, there is still no snow to ride on.

I'm not complaining, I haven't had the time to ride anyway, but this is an unusually late season and we're all crossing our fingers that it comes soon.

In the meantime, there's ice fishing and ice skating.

clarification

life is like a postcard

simplification

the focus of my practice of late has been 

metta

maitri

loving kindness

I feel pretty certain that animals get that more than we do.

The brown cow is grooming the black one.  

It kind of got me a little verklempt 

went to watch the salmon run

saw little more than this

in no way disappointed

if you happened across this while on a walk in the woods it might make you, well, pause at the very least.

a work of art.

infinite uses

infinite wisdom

artful ingenuity  

drivers don't really like it when they see the driver in front of them shooting photos of the sky

the purple people will tell me what to do

pay attention to saturn return voice of calling

opened my computer today to see that line from an astrological reading I had almost a year ago to the day.

I'm devoting a lot of time and energy to yoga these days and it's the first decision that has felt like it's coming straight from the heart. 

I think it's going to continue to take me in the direction that I need to go.