Menopause Metamorphosis

Relaxation

Relaxation is not just taking a nap, or chilling out.

Relaxation leads to and builds on the "relaxation response" — a feeling of increased well-being .

Breathing slows, blood pressure drops, heart rate calms, muscle tension relaxes, and cortisol levels decrease.

The effects of a relaxation practice linger for months, even without further practice.

And they are cumulative. Those who practice the most, get the most.

Much research has been done on the health benefits of relaxation.

Relaxation/meditation/serenity medicines have been shown to:

* Reduce insomnia

* Strengthen the immune system

* Increase levels of feel-good chemicals, such as serotonin

📚
excerpt from Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines

Read the rest of this excerpt here:
www.wisewomanmentor.com/healing-wise-article-3

💻

Emotional distress

Hi Susun,

I recently bought a copy of your wonderful book for menopausal women...it's great - just a quick query as one of the symptoms of my menopause is I can't seem to make decisions very clearly.

I'd like to try taking a tincture to help relieve depression/exhaustion/lack of direction and self esteem/flushes - is there one particular herb you could recommend or should I be taking a combination? I would be very grateful for any advice at all. I'm 50 now and had a hysterectomy at 46 and have been experiencing menopausal symptoms now for 2 years. Thanks you so much for any help...

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Hello,

Motherwort tincture would probably be best all around to help deal with a variety of symptoms. Also including infusions, especially oatstraw and stinging nettle.

Here is a bit more about motherwort and other herbs useful in dealing with anxiety/fear:

http://www.susunweed.com/An_Article_Fear_AW1.htm

Also Susun's website on infusions if you are unfamiliar with how to make them:  http://nourishingherbalinfusions.com/

 

blessings,

Kim

Wise Woman Team

www.wisewomanweb.com

www.wisewomanbookshop.com

www.wisewomanuniversity.org

 

---

Join Susun Weed on blogtalkradio, Tuesday nights 7:30-9:30 pm EST. Call in with your questions or email ahead of time to [email protected]. 

Visit the link for more info:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/susunweed

 

If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her new Mentorship website. Get new content weekly such as the expanded herbal ezine, replays of teleseminars, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, many articles by Susun, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
www.wisewomanmentor.com

Achieve Instant Calm - The Wise Woman Way

Achieve Instant Calm - The Wise Woman Way

* Unfreeze yourself: Curl up in a fetal position (on your side with knees drawn up), breathe deeply, and hum. You may want to rock back and forth. Concentrate on what feelings want to emerge. Do not be surprised if grief is what you are really feeling.
* Focus your eyes: Look at anything, steadily, with concentration, and breathe deeply. Feel a warmth in your upper abdomen; breathe; focus.
* Conjure an image of safety: Imagine a huge image of safety, such as a cowrie shell, the palm of Buddha or Christ, a giant mother’s lap, or a cloud of pink light. Surround the object of your anxiety with this image. Fear locks up movement and speech; a clear visualization can unfreeze you.
* Take an herbal calmative: Tincture of red clover is a profound relaxer and soothing calmative. Its salicylic acid content (similar to aspirin) makes it an excellent pain reliever, too. Motherwort is also effective. Motherwort is not sedating, but calming, leaving you ready for action, not flying off the handle or bouncing off the walls. Try 10 to 20 drops as soon as you feel your nerves starting to fray or just before a stressful event. Repeat every five minutes if needed.
* Try yoga postures. Yoga postures, yoga breathing, and quiet, focused meditation soothe the sympathetic nervous system instantly. Regular practice alleviates anxiety, often permanently.
*
Excerpt from New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way

*

Make A Tincture/Fresh Herb

Make A Tincture/Fresh Herb
excerpt from: Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines

I use tinctures in varied doses, from several dropperfuls at a time, to only a few drops at a time.

I take tonic tinctures daily. Others as needed.
Alcohol pulls out more poisonous constituents than water.
Tinctures are superior when made from fresh plants.

These tinctures require fresh plants, no exceptions.
* St. Joan’s wort flower means trouble for viruses and frowns.
* Poke root stirs up the lymphatic and immune systems.
* Bloodroot in tiny amounts counter periodontal disease.
* Motherwort calms anxiety and eases the heart.
* Skullcap eases pain and brings deep sleep.

Fill any size jar to the top with cut-up pieces of fresh, just harvested herb, then add 100-proof vodka, right to the top of the jar.
Lid well, label. Ready to use in six weeks.
*
excerpt from: Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines

*

Emotional Uproar

Emotional Uproar
excerpt from New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way

Step 1. Collect information . . .
Premenstrual, pregnant, premenopausal, and menopausal women rage and weep. Like it or not, you'll probably find your emotions harder to control as you enter your menopausal years. Men given hormone therapy (against prostate cancer) weep and rage too!

Step 2. Engage the energy . . .
* Take time for yourself when you find yourself crying, yelling, raging, depressed, out of control. Create your own sacred space, even in a closet, where you can be alone, without responsibilities, where you can be safe to have every one of your feelings.
* Begin (or deepen your commitment to working with) a journal as a way to care for yourself and your emotions. The Change is an opportunity to value your emotional self and to nourish all of your feelings, from grief to bliss, rage to outrageous.
* Universal healing energy can help when your emotions are roaring. Channel it through your hands to your heart or womb; hold yourself.

Step 3. Nourish and tonify . . .
* My remedy of choice for women dealing with premenstrual emotional uproar is motherwort - the calm, fierce-hearted mother who helps you find your center in the wildest of emotional storms. A dose of 5-15 drops taken several times when you're upset will bring calmer feelings quickly. A dose of 10-30 drops taken twice a day for a month can help prevent mood swings.
* Let a cup of garden sage tea with honey restore your emotional center and soothe your irritated nerves. It is even said to cure insanity and relieve hysteria. In Chinese herbal practice, honey is used (in tea, not cooked) to soften the energy of the liver when it is hardened by rage, frustration, and anger.
* Pamper yourself. Get a massage. Cuddle with someone you love.
* Moods don't swing so much in women who nourish their nerves and even out their blood sugar levels with lots of calcium.
* Slow-acting liferoot flower tincture (5 drops) or slower-acting vitex berry tincture (25-40 drops), taken daily for a week or two premenstrually for several months will help you unravel your emotional snarls.
* Black cohosh root tincture eases menopausal flashes and is said to cure hysteria, too. Try 10-20 drops once or twice a day for a month.
* Keep a piece of licorice or ginseng root handy to chew on when you feel like chewing someone's head off.

Step 4. Stimulate/Sedate . . .
* Valerian root, as a bath or tincture (15-20 drops as needed) is a powerful sleep-inducing sedative that also eases uterine cramps. Avoid long-term use.

Step 5b. Use drugs . . .
* Feeling moody? Mood-altering drugs, legal (tranquilizers, anti-depressants, alcohol, coffee, cigarettes) or illegal (cocaine, opium), create dependence.

Step 6. Break and enter . . .
* Psychoactive plants (such as marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, and mescaline), when taken in a safe setting, offer radically different results than mood-altering drugs. Instead of dependence, they foster self-worth, helping the individual to break open new neural pathways and establish easier flows of emotions and energy through both the physical and subtle bodies.

excerpt from New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way
www.wisewomanbookshop.com/product-page/new-menopausal-years

*

Emotional Uproar

Emotional Uproar

excerpt from New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way

Step 1. Collect information . . .

Premenstrual, pregnant, premenopausal, and menopausal women rage and weep. Like it or not, you'll probably find your emotions harder to control as you enter your menopausal years. Men given hormone therapy (against prostate cancer) weep and rage too!

Step 2. Engage the energy . . .

* Take time for yourself when you find yourself crying, yelling, raging, depressed, out of control. Create your own sacred space, even in a closet, where you can be alone, without responsibilities, where you can be safe to have every one of your feelings.
* Begin (or deepen your commitment to working with) a journal as a way to care for yourself and your emotions. The Change is an opportunity to value your emotional self and to nourish all of your feelings, from grief to bliss, rage to outrageous.
* Universal healing energy can help when your emotions are roaring. Channel it through your hands to your heart or womb; hold yourself.

Step 3. Nourish and tonify . . .

* My remedy of choice for women dealing with premenstrual emotional uproar is motherwort - the calm, fierce-hearted mother who helps you find your center in the wildest of emotional storms. A dose of 5-15 drops taken several times when you're upset will bring calmer feelings quickly. A dose of 10-30 drops taken twice a day for a month can help prevent mood swings.
* Let a cup of garden sage tea with honey restore your emotional center and soothe your irritated nerves. It is even said to cure insanity and relieve hysteria. In Chinese herbal practice, honey is used (in tea, not cooked) to soften the energy of the liver when it is hardened by rage, frustration, and anger.
* Pamper yourself. Get a massage. Cuddle with someone you love.
* Moods don't swing so much in women who nourish their nerves and even out their blood sugar levels with lots of calcium.
* Slow-acting liferoot flower tincture (5 drops) or slower-acting vitex berry tincture (25-40 drops), taken daily for a week or two premenstrually for several months will help you unravel your emotional snarls.
* Black cohosh root tincture eases menopausal flashes and is said to cure hysteria, too. Try 10-20 drops once or twice a day for a month.
* Keep a piece of licorice or ginseng root handy to chew on when you feel like chewing someone's head off.

Step 4. Stimulate/Sedate . . .

* Valerian root, as a bath or tincture (15-20 drops as needed) is a powerful sleep-inducing sedative that also eases uterine cramps. Avoid long-term use.

Step 5b. Use drugs . . .

* Feeling moody? Mood-altering drugs, legal (tranquilizers, anti-depressants, alcohol, coffee, cigarettes) or illegal (cocaine, opium), create dependence.

Step 6. Break and enter . . .

* Psychoactive plants (such as marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, and mescaline), when taken in a safe setting, offer radically different results than mood-altering drugs. Instead of dependence, they foster self-worth, helping the individual to break open new neural pathways and establish easier flows of emotions and energy through both the physical and subtle bodies.

excerpt from New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way
www.wisewomanbookshop.com/product-page/new-menopausal-years

*

Achieve Instant Calm

Achieve Instant Calm

Here are a few easy ways to calm jangly nerves, achieve greater overall calm, and cope on-the-spot with stressful situations. For instant calm, try these following simple calming exercises, herbal allies, and movements, and learn how and why they work so well.

* Unfreeze yourself: Curl up in a fetal position (on your side with knees drawn up), breathe deeply, and hum. You may want to rock back and forth. Concentrate on what feelings want to emerge. Do not be surprised if grief is what you are really feeling.

* Focus your eyes: Look at anything, steadily, with concentration, and breathe deeply. Feel a warmth in your upper abdomen; breathe; focus.

* Conjure an image of safety: Imagine a huge image of safety, such as a cowrie shell, the palm of Buddha or Christ, a giant mother’s lap, or a cloud of pink light. Surround the object of your anxiety with this image. Fear locks up movement and speech; a clear visualization can unfreeze you.

*Take an herbal calmative: Tincture of red clover is a profound relaxer and soothing calmative. Its salicylic acid content (similar to aspirin) makes it an excellent pain reliever, too. Motherwort is also effective. Motherwort is not sedating, but calming, leaving you ready for action, not flying off the handle or bouncing off the walls. Try 10 to 20 drops as soon as you feel your nerves starting to fray or just before a stressful event. Repeat every five minutes if needed.

* Try yoga postures. Yoga postures, yoga breathing, and quiet, focused meditation soothe the sympathetic nervous system instantly. Regular practice alleviates anxiety, often permanently.

Excerpt from New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way.

 

Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)

Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca)

• Ease stressed nerves, relieve anxiety
Motherwort calms, supports, and strengthens you the way the smell of your mother did when you were very young. Used regularly, motherwort feeds your nerves and your good common sense, relaxing and unclenching any held tension. Motherwort is not sedating, but calming, leaving you ready for action, not flying off the handle or bouncing off the walls. Ask motherwort to be your ally in tough times, in shaky times, in grief-filled times.

Try 10-20 drops (tincture from fresh flowering plant) as soon you feel your nerves starting to fray or just before a stressful event. Repeat every five minutes if needed.

**********************

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Triple Goddess Elixir

Triple Goddess Elixir

The Goddess lives all around you. Bottle her up with this ancient remedy, reputed to be at least six thousand years old, from The Yellow Emperor, a healing text from China.

Triple Goddess Elixir (my name for it) is said to be curative for any problem that a woman encounters. It can dissolve cysts in the ovaries and breasts, regulate menses, ease menopausal symptoms, strengthen the nerves and the heart, and increase serenity as well.

I love the vinegar on salads. I reserve the tincture for tough cases.

Harvest equal parts maidenwort (Stellaria media), motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), and cronewort (Artemisia vulgaris). Use stalks and leaves of chickweed and motherwort. Use the white roots of the cronewort as well as the leaves.

Gather your plants and cut into manageable pieces. Fill a jar 1/3 full of the maiden, then 1/3 full of the mother, then the final 1/3 with the crone. Add vinegar or 100 proof vodka. Seal, label, and wait six weeks until use.

The dose is a tablespoonful of vinegar in water or on food; or a dropperful of tincture taken two or three times a day.

See more photos:
http://www.susunweed.com/Article_Triple_Goddess_Elixir.html

Menopause and anger

Hello,
I was hoping you could tell me what herbs and or recipe you recommend for menopause and anger issues. I'm just learning the art of herbal healing. I've seen many options online but am not sure what and how to use. I have over 42 medicinal herbs in my garden and can order from healing herbs if necessary.

I look forward to your advise. Thank you for your valued time and assistance in this matter.

Best Regards
Sherity

 

Hello,
Are you doing any of the herbal infusions that Susun recommends? Oatstraw and nettles and red clover would be especially good…
http://nourishingherbalinfusions.com/

A brief article of Susun’s: http://www.susunweed.com/An_Article_Instant-Calm.htm

Motherwort tinctures help to calm emotions – I use it for anger, stress, fear …
Do you have Susun’s book The New Menopausal Years? This is such a wealth of information… some excellent excerpts:
http://www.menopause-metamorphosis.com/An_Excerpt-106-emotional_uproar.htm
http://www.menopause-metamorphosis.com/An_Excerpt-109-kundalini_meditation.htm

Anger during the menopausal years serves a purpose, but needs direction – from The New Menopausal Years:
“With a great grin, Grandmother Growth winks and confides: ‘The self-initiated Crone is an outrageous hag. In order to be outrageous, you must contact and own your rage. Focused anger is the same energy as the uterine contractions of birth and menstruation: it pushes; it is hard. Give your anger a sturdy obstacle to push against; let it move outward. Anger focused outward with Crone wisdom has changed, and will continue to change, the courses of nations. Beware of hiding your anger, of focusing it inward; this brings resentment, spite, sulkiness, depression, death of the community and fantasies of self-destruction.’”

Some other interesting takes on anger:
http://herbshealing.com/herbal_ezine/June11/nourish-yourself.htm
http://herbshealing.com/abc_anger.htm

You are welcome to call in during Susun’s herbal health hotline – each Tuesday evening from 7:30pm-9pm Eastern:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/susunweed ; (646) 929-2463 … she would be happy to go over in more detail…

blessings,
Kim
Wise Woman Team

www.wisewomanweb.com
www.wisewomanbookshop.com
www.wisewomanuniversity.org
www.wisewomanmentor.com

---

Join Susun Weed on blogtalkradio, Tuesday nights 7:30-9:30 pm EST. Call in with your questions or email ahead of time to [email protected]. 

Visit the link for more info:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/susunweed

 

---

If you're ready to go deeper with your herbal studies, join Susun on her new Mentorship website. Get new content weekly such as the expanded herbal ezine, replays of teleseminars, videos, audio of Susuns past lectures, many articles by Susun, and even personal one on one mentorship from Susun.
www.wisewomanmentor.com