Choosing to nourish your body from the inside out should be a fiercely decisive choice, but never drastic or highly uncomfortable. In fact, it can actually be quite gentle in an extraordinarily powerful way…

Step 1: Listen to your cells.

It’s a curious thing, how we all are born into bodies that pulse with ancient wisdom yet we forget over time, how to listen to their subtle signals. We’ll follow countless programs and strict regimes in a grand attempt to navigate our way through self-care, yet physical and mental disease surrounding food still runs rampant because we are neglecting to listen.

Your body is constantly sending signals of physical or emotional distress to your mind, and vice versa. Rather than completely disregarding these whispers by using various numbing tactics, take the time to tune in and listen, as every cell is always speaking.

The body just knows.

Step 2: Think in terms of oneness, not separate parts.

“The part can never be well until the whole is well.” ~ Plato

See your body as the connected field of energy it is, rather than a fixed, material thing with separate parts. Everything that happens in one area of the body affects all other areas. Our emotions from all experiences become stored inside of our cell tissue, and if ignored early on, will only resurface later in one way or another, often more stubborn and concentrated.

Try and be mindful of your thoughts and notice if anything feels tight. The body wants to heal itself but often needs your light assistance.

Step 3: Remember that we are essentially nature.

We are not separate from the pulse and wisdom of the natural world as our bodies are always in direct connection with the energies of this planet. Every one of us mimics the earth with our daily and seasonal cycles, and we’re comprised of the very same elements.

Place your hands into soil to feel grounded. Wade in water to feel emotionally healed. Fill your lungs with fresh air to feel mentally clear. Raise your face to the heat of the sun and connect with that fire to feel your own immense power.

Step 4: Accept your body’s moods and fluctuations.

Our bodies are constantly changing. There are weeks when we’ll feel vibrant and alive. There are weeks when we’ll feel achy and stiff. We need to do the best we can with honoring ourselves each day by noticing what is happening without judgment, then continue to do all we can to re-balance and renew.

Step 5: Let the body love what it loves.

The body knows what it loves and what it loves most are gentle yet powerful things, same as the way we must care for it.

It loves things like the space between a look and a kiss. It loves things like the release of memory stirred from a scent. It loves rocking of any kind, slow rhythmic rocking it can sigh along with.

It loves the rise and fall of the sun’s comings and goings, constant and consistent in announcing days and nights. It loves other bodies, their skin, and hands and heartbeats.

It loves the curves of waves and sand underfoot. It loves the caress of cool sheets, intense pursuit, and silent solitude. It loves curiosity and goosebumps and song and virtue. It loves foods grown from the ground and fluid movement and rest. It loves to protect, to thrive, to harmonize, to taste and feel blessed.

…Our bodies are both wildly powerful and frighteningly vulnerable, reflective of our human souls.

Let’s honor, polish and carry them well, my friends, because fierce bodily nourishment is truly one of the greatest and most noble things ever worth fighting for.

~ Victoria Erickson posting on Rebelle Society
Read more http://www.rebellesociety.com/2013/08/02/fierce-body-nourishment-5-gentle-steps/

Photo by Betes de Mode

☾ Katharine Krueger ~ Occupy Menstruation
Girls’ Empowerment and Coming of Age http://JoYW.org/
Coming soon: Online Moms and Mentor Training
Visit http://JoYW.org/ to be notified

…. Thanks to Sarah Hannah Martin for asking the question, “Has anyone ever connected cervical cancer with having a cotton tampon full of chemicals sitting on your cervix for a few days a month? ” in response to the tampon rant post… Here is one article that I found in response. ~Elena

“This is a must read if you are a woman who uses tampons or pads! For the men, the use of tampons by your significant other can be limiting your ability to conceive a child so please read and then forward this… to friends and loved ones. They will appreciate it!

Let’s start with the basic truth, the fact that the mucosal lining of the vagina is one of the most sensitive and absorbent areas of the body. However, each month women expose themselves to a variety of hazards through the use of tampons. Tampons may contain many chemicals and pesticides from the process of Non-Organic farming. Five of the top nine most harmful pesticides are used on non-organic cotton farming in the U.S. These five pesticides include Cyanide, Dicofol, Naled, Propargite, and Trifluralin and are known to be CANCER-CAUSING Chemicals. Besides these cancer causing chemicals, almost all non-organic Tampons contain two additional things that are potentially harmful. These are rayon (for absorbency), and dioxin (a chemical used in bleaching the products).

Dioxin is a potentially harmful byproduct of the chlorine bleaching process used in making tampons. Dioxin, can disrupt hormones within the body, and can lead to very harmful problems for women. Dioxin is cancer causing as well as toxic to the immune and reproductive systems. It has been linked to endometriosis, cancer, and lower sperm counts for men. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that people exposed to high levels of dioxins may be at risk for a damaged immune system, increased risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and reduced fertility. The EPA reported that there is no set acceptable level of exposure to dioxin given that it is cumulative and slow to disintegrate. Do you think being exposed to dioxin 11,000 to 13,000 times is acceptable? Females use an average of 11,000 to 13,000 tampons during their lifetime. This amount of exposure to dioxin is extremely dangerous considering Dioxin is cancer causing, disrupting to your hormone balance, toxic to your immune, harmful to your reproductive system, and leads to diseases such as endometriosis and cancer.

The other harmful chemical in tampons is Rayon which is a highly absorbent substance that can remain on the vaginal walls. When fibers from the tampons are left behind in the vagina (as usually occurs), it creates a breeding ground for the dioxin. It also stays attached to the vaginal walls longer than it would with Organic cotton tampons as they don’t contain any dioxin or rayon. Organic All-cotton tampons do not produce the dangerous TSS (toxic shock syndrome) toxin, Staphylococcus aureus, but all other varieties of tampons containing rayon amplified production of the toxin TSS-T1. This includes tampax, Playtex, and OB. Think twice before buying the most well known brands of tampons!”

From: www.integrativewellnessgroup.blogspot.com

Image: Louise Daddona

Leaving this post on a more hopeful note, seaweeds are both an excellent food for our cycles and help remove toxins from our bodies ~Elena

☾ Elena Zubulake ~ Occupy Menstruation
Sweet Earth Wisdom