Vaginal TLC

“The Vagina is an amazing organ. Truthfully, most females do not give their vagina a second thought unless…” These are the opening words to a blog post I wrote in April of 2013 when my blog was WiseWomenRedTent and all about feminine reproductive health.

The vagina is an amazing organ, as is every organ in our human bodies. I find it interesting, the varied reactions I get, when a conversation about the vagina is started. I have seen the reaction much like a “deer in the headlights”, or “let’s change the subject,” to “excuse me, I must go now”. Depending on the crowd, I may get a few women ready for conversation. Maybe it is the nurse in me, or maybe something else and I do have some thoughts, but talking about any body part or its biological function just comes naturally to me.

Vaginas need TLC. Every part of the body needs to be cared for and given what it needs to function at its biological best. The vagina needs and deserves this same level of care.

Let’s talk about the vagina from the perspective of a 40 year old and on up body. Our body ages. That is just the way it is. We can seriously slow aging with our lifestyle medicine choices but we can’t defy aging altogether. Body parts get drier as we age. Think of a Daisy in June. It is juicy, moist, dewy, and plump with life. As the Summer rolls on the Daisy changes, ages, dries out by Autumn. A Daisy in June looks a lot different from a Daisy in late September. The seasons of human life are a bit longer, gratefully, but the same things happen. We dry up.

Juicy June Daisies

An Aging Daisy

As other parts of our body age, we change the way we care for them. We add in new habits of care to revitalize organs and organ systems as they age. Skin, hair, teeth, joints, eyes, digestive tracts, etc. all have minor alterations in functioning that we learn to adapt to and live differently to best support their functioning throughout the years.

When I was younger, I washed my hair daily for fear of the greasy hair issue. I conditioned only the ends of my hair as my scalp was quite capable of producing plenty of lubrication for scalp and hair. As I have aged, I wash my hair less frequently and use a non-sudsing shampoo (contains no sudsing agents / ingredients to dry out my hair or my scalp). The shampoo is 100% plant / herb cleansers and very gentle, non-drying, on my hair. Despite this non-drying “stuff” I use, I also condition the entire length of my hair and rub the conditioner onto my scalp like skin lotion. No, I never did this “condition from scalp to hair ends” as a kid, teen, or younger adult.

Anti-Aging / Healthy Aging Skin Care

Skin care is another area we naturally care for differently as we age. Aging skin just gets drier like the Daisy. No one thinks a thing of slathering on more body lotion as the skin gets drier in the fall and winter seasons or in the fall and winter seasons of life… think about that one. As skin gets drier, we take care of it differently.

This same concept needs to be applied to vaginal care. The vagina is mucous membranes. In a very simplistic way, this means skin that produces its own moisture, lubrication. As the vagina ages, it produces less of these self moisturizing fluids. When the skin on our hands, face, feet, and overall body dry out, we moisturize. The vagina needs and deserves the same TLC. It is good preventative maintenance.

When a woman starts recognizing the signs of menopause, it is definitely time to start daily moisture replenishing of the vaginal mucosal tissues. This is why I formulated and started making my Voluptuous V™ ointment in late 2013, early 2014. I had female clients and friends complaining about the change in their vagina’s natural moisture level. As we age, if we cared daily for our vaginas with a little moisturizing and herbal TLC, we could keep its environment juicier and healthier than vaginas that get ignored. Yes, rub an emollient moisturizer onto the vulva and inside the vagina daily. Maybe use twice daily if one can remember. It is not any harder than remembering to put moisturizer on our faces. Keeping the vaginal tissues moisturized and nourished will help to prevent the dry, burning, cracking, bleeding issues that can come with aging*. Your face, hands, and feet would get dry, cracked, burn and bleed if you neglected them. No neglecting your vaginas. Vaginal TLC is a gift to yourself.

Many cultures have amazing feminine care traditions of TLC for retaining moisture in the vagina: herbal sitz baths, herbal steams, vaginal boluses, herbal suppositories, sea weed packs to name a few. Cultures who traditionally live in more communal ways and women gather in feminine circles sharing information about life, puberty, periods, pregnancy, birthing, breast feeding and breast care, normal menopause changes and care. Our Culture is moving back towards time honored, female centered care. This care includes the wisdom that our bodies are whole and healthy, that reproductive organs are not medical wrecks needing harsh medical intervention, and that most often gentle, natural care is best.

*These vaginal symptoms are labeled Vaginal Atrophy in western medicine. This negative diagnostic term implies something is medically wrong with our vaginas. No one diagnoses us with something medically wrong with our faces when they dry out and age. I prefer to use the words Vaginal Aging. This is 100% normal just as all aging of the body is normal. Knowing what may happen / will happen / is happening is crucial and key to working preventatively to nourish our bodies in all ages and stages of life. Knowing our bodies age much more slowly when we care for them naturally, feed them whole foods, and support them with preventative natural health care is key to aging with grace, inner radiance, & vitality. Who doesn’t want that?

Growing older, in years, is inevitable. Aging is controllable.

Common Sense Lifestyle Medicine:

When Autumn rolls around, I start thinking about taking care of my hands (face, feet, all skin in general) a bit better. I can tell when the humidity drops. My facial skin feels tighter, drier. My feet would dry and crack if I neglected them. My hands feel the impact of washing dishes without gloves. Time to don the gloves for winter dish washing!

When the Autumn of our own life cycle rolls around, life just gets drier. Pay attention. Prep for dry skin prevention whether it is seasonal Autumn or your own life’s cycle Autumn.

Another common Autumn and Winter (seasonal & life cycle) drying out issue is constipation. Again, think & plan ahead. Use preventative lifestyle medicine changes, with the seasons, to be ahead of bodily changes. This prevents suffering and trying to then recover & repair.

An ounce of prevention IS worth at least 1 pound of cure!

Serious Dry Skin Relief in a handy tin. XOX

Fat Is NOT The Enemy

I like big “butt”-er slabs and I cannot lie

I like butter. Real butter. Butter from cows living naturally: wandering about freely eating the grass nature meant them to eat. Oh yeah, fat and cholesterol laced eggs are pretty darn yummy too. Eggs from chickens that roam freely, eating the things chickens were meant to eat (not some fabricated food bought at farm stores akin to dry dog food - unnatural is my point). I cook the eggs in pig lard. Yup, from pigs that wander freely eating what nature intended them to.

Are you worried I am going to keel over from a heart attack? Stroke?

Don’t. I do not.

My grandparents lived on butter, lard, eggs, pork, vegetables, and fruits, etc. from the animals and produce they raised on their own farms and gathered in the woods (think berries!). I would say I come from pretty healthy stock, sturdy people who all lived to just shy of 90.

The “don’t eat fat” craze started 60+ years ago and is backed by bad science, government cooperation with corporate America, and much “public health education” sponsored by the corporate world. There are plenty of resources to look into this crazy history of moving people away from time honored and eaten animal foods full of saturated fats to eating factory made foods. Research, Read. Learn and grow in your whole food nutrition knowledge.

On June 12, 2014, TIME Magazine published articles in favor of butter and saturated fats. Check it out: TIME: Eat butter. Scientists labeled fat the enemy. Why They Were Wrong and Ending the War on Fat.

Local NYS Butter I am VERY grateful for.

What Fat Is Needed For In Your Body, I will give a few important examples:

1. Satiation so you do not over eat volume of food or calories and feel satisfied longer between meals. Yes, say goodbye to all day snacking because you just feel unsatisfied, un-satiated, and low level hungry constantly.

2. Hormone production. Your hormones rely on fat, saturated fat included, to be produced. You need hormones for every bodily function. Exactly, hormones are important. By the way, Vitamin D is actually a hormone. You need fat to manufacture “vitamin” D when you are loving up some sunshine on your skin.

3. The actual transportation of hormones about your body. If the hormones cannot get where they need to go in your body, they are useless.

4. Your cell membrane is made up of fats. Live on a low fat diet?… unhealthy cell membranes. The cell membrane needs to be healthy to transport nutrients, oxygen, hormones, and other body “chemicals” into the cell. Your cell membrane needs to be healthy to move the waste products of metabolism out of your cells and into elimination (breath, urine, feces, sweat, etc.). Metabolic waste products stuck inside the cells will make you feel lousy.

5. Fat soluble vitamins are in fat. We need these. Think Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and yup, Vitamin D gets categorized here but remember that Vit D is actually a hormone. See above. ^^

The key is to eat healthy, non processed fats, fats in their natural states. This means eating whole foods and avoiding processed / packaged / factory made foods unless every ingredient in that packaged food is whole / unrefined.

• local & organic sources. This does not have to be USDA certified organic. Many farmers opt not on certification because it is a paperwork hassle and expensive. Ask them everything you can think of in regards to healthy raising of food. Your health & life depends on it. The health & life of the Earth does as well.

• when eating animal fat sources make sure they are from naturally raised animals eating what nature intended them to eat.

• non GMO foods

What you need, fat wise, in your diet is an individual thing. Some people thrive on a higher fat content in their diets. Other people thrive on and prefer less fat in their diet. Listen to your needs. You are the best expert on yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Educate yourself around every aspect of human and environmental health. Trust me when I say they are one and the same. You are a micro of the macro. When we take care of the Earth, we are ultimately taking care of ourselves. Read & Learn. It is a way to work towards self healing.

There are so many wonderful internet sources for good information on fats, health, nutrition, etc. This happens to be a few that I would recommend:

• Mercola.com

• Price Pottinger Foundation

• Sally Fallon

• Healthy Home Economist

• Dr. Axe

• Dr. Hyman

• I also use my School of Applied Functional Medicine’s site but this is available only to clinical students enrolled or subscribed.

Know your fat. Quiz your each & every farmer about every farming practice they use. Your health depends on it. Eat your fat. You will be satiated - ly glad you did. XOXO

A week after I wrote this post, my Functional Medicine Professor dug up this 2012 “fat” article and posted it on our School Of Applied Functional Medicine FB page:

Heart surgeon speaks out on what really causes heart disease

My 18 Year Pilgrimage Back To The Weight Room

Wait, I think...

For 12 years, from age 23 to 35, I lifted weights daily. Gym rat I was: bench pressing, dead lifting, squatting... yes, all of it. Eventually I purchased home equipment consisting of a bench, barbell, weight plates, and dumbbells. 

At 35, I was bored and looking for change. I decided to start a Yoga asana practice. I had been doing Yoga Conscious Connection work (Mindfulness) for 9 years. It was time to add in the poses. Then, after a year of every other day weight lifting & every other day Yoga asana practice, I completely bagged the weight training. The bench and paraphernalia was hauled to the top of my street and left on State Rt. #56. Before I could return with trunk load 2, the bench and barbell were gone. The decision was final, no going back. 

Here I am at 53 and contemplating doing the gym rat thing again. How I wish I still had that equipment. Home fitness routines are my best bet. The hassle of running to a gym doesn't excite me. 

So why do I contemplate going back? Well, I am not getting younger and I can see the impacts of age creeping towards me: muscle strength and size diminishing, tone is sliding earth side... damn aging and gravity!

Heading back to the gym and doing some weight lifting / strength training will provide these benefits:

• Body composition that retain muscle mass and keeps fat stores in check

• Keep up muscle strength

• Prevention of estrogen dominance (see the body comp info above). When we age and go through the menopausal years, our bodies produce less & less progesterone because we no longer ovulate. Body fat tissue produces estrogen. Excess body fat contributes to estrogen dominance. Yeah, I don't want that.

• Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue. So I can eat more (100% body nourishing whole foods, of course!) without gaining weight as I age. Yeah, ok, I'll take that side benefit.

• My mentor, as I went through my Holistic Health Coaching Certification, was Michelle Smith of Forever Fit With Michelle. This gal is 10 years older than me and rocks the world of fitness, weight training, & body building competitions. Yup, she's a champion! Her anti-aging services include whole food education (sound familiar?) and weight training. If she can do what she does at 63, I can reach my lesser goals at 53. Nope, not looking to be a body building champ but I am wicked proud of my mentor Michelle!

• Bone strength is important to me. Weight training keeps bone mass building, maintains a healthier osteoclast vs. osteoblast functioning. Look that stuff up if you want to learn some fun bone biology / physiology.

I have been doing pull ups / pushups / reverse pushups (think back bend pushups / chin ups / Yoga squats & lunges. But I think I need more and I keep injuring my left shoulder, trapezius muscle, doing pull ups. 

I will continue to do yoga, 5 days a week. My 2 days in the gym, pumping iron, will be simple and concise workouts. As a former fitness trainer, I have my plans already created. My weight training moves will be Yoga poetry in motion in the weight room:

• slow movements with conscious intention

• breath work

• inner steadiness & peace

I made it back to the weight room, June 27th, 2019

Nick, Me, & Eli (My Son)… committed to growing our muscles!

UPDATE 6-27-2019 Things I’ve noticed about how Yoga has improved my weightlifting:

• I am conscious of my breathe moving through my body as I lift and no holding my breath when I am in exertion mode.

• I take a 5 slow deep abdominal breath “savasana” in between each set.

• I have better consciousness around the alignment of my joints to prevent injury.

• I’m working from a heart space physically, energetically, emotionally, & spiritually. My Sacred Circle Mentorship Students will understand this. ; )

Please make comments below on your favorite local gym & why:

• SUNY Potsdam,

• SUNY Canton,

• SLU,

• Clarkson, or

• one of the privately owned gyms in the Potsdam - Canton area.

I am not looking for fancy aerobic equipment, in fact I won't use any, as I prefer to be outside wandering the woods with my dog. I am a simplicity seeker: I am looking for the nuts and bolts for weight lifting to build strength. No frills.

More Anti-Aging tips for you: 

• 40+ FaceFix Skin Therapy for Mature & Sun Damaged faces & necks.

• Voluptuous V for vaginal care as we age to keep vaginal tissue plump and healthy. Perfect for sensuous glide at any age.

My Books:

• Hands On Health is your lifestyle primer. You have to take care of your body, from the inside out, for true anti-aging benefits.

• Weaving Healing Wisdom (co-written with Jenny Kenny Morrill) supports your healing of body, mind, & spirit - this IS powerful anti-aging magic!

40+ FaceFix™ The Back Story

     Buy it, Review it, Love it.  Thank You. 

Everyone & everything has a back story. That IS what makes life juicy, fun, and creates her-story. 

I began making my own face cream (heavier for winter use) and lotion (lighter for summer use) when I was in my late 30s. I had been studying plant medicine (herbs and eventually essential oils) for 20+ years. I was learning about herbs and essential oils that were skin repairing, skin rejuvenating, for people with maturing as well as sun damaged skin. 

I confess, for 10 people who avoided the sun to keep their skin undamaged... I ran headlong into the sun with gratitude and sponge like abilities to soak up every ray they winced away from. Bring it on Mother Nature. I can & will take all of the sun.  

When I hit my mid to late 30's, no I did not have sun worshipper's guilt or regret, but I did know I should do something to prevent my facial skin from falling onto my chest before I was 50. 

I confess, once again, lifestyle factors have a lot to do with this. If you don't take care of your body with the way you live, the food you eat, what you drink, how you think, the playfulness of your body - mind - spirit... slathering on the very best face creams will do diddly shit for you. Lifestyle IS a package deal.

After making and using for a few years, I gave some to my sister. She has been harassing me now for a decade or more to "sell this shit." Her words, not mine. My mother brought me up better than that. 

Over the last couple of years, I have made it and passed it around to friends and family as gifts. I guess it was the work up to the big "Ok, I am ready to sell this shit." Again, her words, not mine.    ; )

40+ Face Fix™ 

Anti-Aging*, Skin Rejuvenating,* for the Mature & Sun Kissed Face™

Was Born

Once I committed to myself that I was making 40+ to sell, I wrangled Eli's girlfriend into drawing a logo for it. Jake turned the artwork into digital art. Mary Strong, of ekahidesign.com, turned it into labels. Sandy Maine of ADK Fragrance Farm assisted with the creation of a market ready lotion base. Seems my Kitchen Witch ways of a pinch of this and a splash of that do not work well, even in small batch making, for a market product. The art & science of oil blending perfection is part of Sandy's wisdom. I am grateful for all of this fine support. It takes a community to raise an idea!

The rest, my friends, is making her-story, will be history, and is the rest of the story.

The 8 oz. lotion, $40, is an introductory item. When the first batch is sold, both the cream and the lotion will be 4 oz. for $35.

Read about the ingredients in 40+ FaceFix™ to see for yourself how  40+ FaceFix™ works to support skin health repair and renewal. Finer ingredients, for your face rejuvenating needs, cannot be found.

Day Face Lotion Logo Image

Night Face Cream Logo Image

Linnea Wegge Artwork

Cell - A - Brating Spring Foraging

                                               Clockwise from top:                                                   Dandelion greens, Wild Violet, White Pine, Wild Leek shoots.

It is April 23rd (Happy Earth Day yesterday!) and I am patiently awaiting Dandelion greens, Wild Violet leaves & flowers, and Wild Leeks. I am heading out soon, with my yogurt quart container bucket and trowel, to see if the mighty Spring Leeks have popped up big enough to dig.

It has been a long winter and a hard won Spring for us Waaaay Northern New Yorkers. Today is day 3 of sunshine and no snow floating down. The ground is finally bare, save for a few pockets of the "white stuff" here and there, on the northern sides of trees, hills, etc. 

*After a long winter of heavy foods, our bodies long for light and fresh. Our body cells crave the nourishment from the Wild Ones in our lawns. 

The 4 plants surrounding Mother Earth (image above):

Dandelion is a liver lover. She helps to promote bile flow from the liver into your gall bladder and on into the small intestine. This bile helps digest food, keeps you regular, helps balance gut microbial health, and so - so much more. Bile is a good thing. Dandelions are a good thing too. This Spring: enjoy the greens raw or saute' very-very lightly, eat the yellow flowers, and learn about the root for harvesting and use in fall and winter (Shhhh, forget I said that naughty word).  Dandelion is loaded with chlorophyll and beta-carotenes. 

Wild Violets are Springs gift of flavor, color, and Vitamin C. Our bodies love vitamin C after a long, dark, cold winter. This is why I love citrus fruit by the time February rolls around. No, citrus is not local, but sometimes a girl has got to do things to survive. Vitamin C is a scrub brush for the body, a bit of Spring cleaning for you cells to perk things up, get firey Spring into Summer metabolism revving, and boost the immune system after the cold, dark days.  Feel free to eat the greens and flowers in salads. See below for *sustainable harvest info. Always leave plenty for reseeding and regrowth year after year.

I just read a blog post on Wild Violets and how they are the bad ass weeds of your lawn. (From the post: One of the most difficult weeds to control in the lawn is wild violet.  This native plant may look cute and dainty, especially in the spring when it produces pretty purple flowers. But in reality it is an aggressive weed with an unusual flowering quirk that results in thick mats of leaves that can choke out your lawn.) Yes, I was and am laughing quite loudly. An aggressive weed?! Look out folk, the violets are coming to get you! Seriously people, violets (and dandelions) are pretty color in the sea of green. Who wants a perfectly groomed, institutional like lawn. Nothing like some wild flowers to break up the never ending grass AND violets only grow to a low height... no mowing needed where violets take over. Seems like a win win to me: color, food, no mowing required. 

White Pine: Placed here because I Love White Pines. They are a Tree of Wisdom. Pines are evergreen, like I need to tell you that. Their green-ness all winter long keeps the landscape colorful and is the hope of the Spring green to come. Their needles are high in Vitamin C.  Harvesting to make winter tea (be gentle when you make tea, keep it covered while steeping. See link above.) is a dose of Vitamin C. 

Wild Leeks: I will keep this info quick & simple. I love Leeks. There is much info on Leeks here on my blog, just do a search (Dandelion as well).  These Spring beauties are a gift to digestion, the intestines, the liver, cellular health, and life in general. Eat raw, saute' very gently, add to soups and stews (I add Leeks after the soup or stew is made and the heat is turned off). Just enjoy them, bad breath and all.

Please do so with extreme consciousness of only harvesting what you need for right now's meal. Do not ever over pick - over dig the Leek patch. Go to a different patch for your next meal. I really freak when I see people harvest huge pails of Leeks (or any wild plant) with no regard that they just destroyed the whole patch. Be kind. Take only what you need right now. 

My April 23rd Waiting For The Wild Ones Spring Tonic

• 1 organic lemon
• handful of fresh, organic cilantro
• local, raw honey
• well water (no chlorine or flouride)

1. Juice lemon and place juice in blender. I scrape out the lemon peel with a grapefruit spoon and add to blender.
2. Add 2 cups water to blender. Carefully rinse citrus juicer and add liquid to blender. Do not waste anything.
3. I eat a chunk of the lemon peel. Good nutrients here and anti-cancer antioxidants.
4. Add the handful of cilantro leaves and stems to blender.
5. Add 1-3 tbsp. local, raw honey.
6. Cover and blend to liquidy consistency. 
7. Let settle a minute or two and pour into a quart canning jar. Rinse blender carefully & slowly with gentle low stream of water, from top of blender down, to save every bit of goodness and pour the "cleaning water" into your quart jar. You should have a quart now. If not, fill the quart.  Enjoy.

I do not add ice cubes to the blender in Spring. We are trying to warm digestion as we move into the warmer weather. Iced drinks squelch digestion and contribute to poor digestion, reflux, etc. 

Relaxing by the Raquette, reading a book sipping my Cilantro Lemon Aid, and deeply grateful for the Sunshine of Spring!

*Please harvest very responsibly and never take more than 5-10% of the patch of wild foods. Other beings need to eat. The patch needs to be able to restore itself for sustainability for the next 7 Generations. Nature is not providing just for you. Be kind. Be gentle. Be conservative, caring, and Love the Earth's bounty.

My Yoga Mat IS My Magic Carpet

OR... Why I Love Yoga, Take 3!

5 years ago I wrote an article titled Why I Love Yoga and Other Thoughts on Whole Food, Whole Health Healing that has been published on several Yoga, Mindfulness, Health, & Healing websites (In a professional holistic Nursing journal as well). This writing was/is my attempt to lure you into a personal practice that will transform the manner in which you exist in this world and support you making the best health and healing choices with each and every choice you need to make.

Did I lure you? Are you immersing into yoga to change your inner landscape so your outer world blossoms?

Yoga plants seeds. Seeds that are possibilities for life long change. 

Yoga lifts you up (body, mind, and spirit) so you can soar and sway with the breezes of life, being calmly flexible.  Yoga also roots you down and grounds you into your life so you can be stable and steady no matter what comes your way.

Yoga has taught me, reminded me, that my human body is a sacred vessel for spirit. My body is the home of the divine essence that is me.

I am a soul in a human existence not a human walking around with a soul (Wayne Dyer, one of many, kindly reminded us of this).  Once we embrace our divine essence and purpose, in our human form, it becomes easier to make those healing lifestyle changes and stick to them.

Your lifestyle choices can and will build your soul a home that is a castle that can weather life with grace.  Your lifestyle choices can also cobble together a shack that feels unwell, daily, and falls apart easily.

When we come home to this, truly embody the fact that we are divine beings within a human body, it makes the task of choosing healthy lifestyle habits the path of least resistance. 

Our inner conversation goes from impulsively eating, without conscious thought, those two pieces of cake sitting there just because they ARE sitting there to being about making choices that are best for body-mind-spirit.

Building Castles not Shacks.

A regular Yoga practice creates new neural pathways of thinking in body, mind, heart, and spirit. These pathways create inner calm, peace, and presence in the hear & now. I have always called this Inner Conscious Connection. Mindfulness is the word we all here now.

Stepping off of my Yoga Mat Magic Carpet, navigating the world in a magical way, transforms the whole world into my Yoga Mat Magic Carpet. 

Sending Love from My Castle to Yours. Namaste. 

Join Shelby Connelly & I at Five Elements Living Retreat Center for a 3 hour Yoga - Acupuncture Mini-Retreat: April 8th (evening retreat) or April 11th (morning retreat), 2018

                                                       Beginner's Yoga : Letting Go Of Awkward                                                         Yoga-Acupuncture-Self Care Evening Or Morning Retreat

More articles to inspire you to jump on a Magic Carpet of your own:

• Why I love Yoga... Take 2

• More Yoga inspiring posts from Paula

Green is the Heart Chakra... Love Your Yoga!