How women can unlock their sexual creativity, heal their bodies, and strengthen their relationships during menstruation.

I said to my mother,

“I am in my bleeding time.”

“Oh, what a disgrace,”

She said.

My mother is not the first woman who has felt that her menstruation was an inconvenience and punishment from God. I have heard this common belief within female clients and females who participate at our monthly Sacred Women’s Circles.

The Bible mentions that women will bleed as God’s punishment for their original sin during giving birth and for several days once a month.  During these times, women will be considered impure and not be welcome in any temple of adoration. Chapter 15 in Leviticus says, “Whenever a woman has her menstrual period, she will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. Anyone who touches her during that time will be unclean until evening. Anything on which the woman lies or sits during the time of her period will be unclean. If any of you touch her bed, you must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and you will remain unclean until evening. If you touch any object she has sat on, you must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and you will remain unclean until evening.” (Leviticus 15:19-22).  Women were also considered impure for a period of time after giving birth, and this time lasted longer if she gave birth to a girl rather than a boy.

Is this feeling of punishment unique to the religion of Judaism (Old Testament) and Christianity (New Testament)?

There is a great collective sentiment of shame and guilt around menstruation across cultures and religions. In rural India, one in five  girls drop out of school due to menstruation, a topic that is still considered taboo, because many girls believe their bodies are purging evil spirits. India has been called a hypocritical culture that adores and celebrates the menstruating Goddess Kamakhya Devi, yet women are not allowed to enter Kamakhya Devi’s temple when they are menstruating.

Women from all over the world have felt shame about their menstruation, and for the past few years there has been an empowering mainstream movement to stop shaming women’s natural experience of menstruation.  I love to see that even celebrities are taking a stand on this matter. Religious and social conditioning have played a huge role in how women feel regarding their body, menstruation, and sexuality.

Growing up as a girl in Ecuador, Catholic during school days and Christian Evangelist during the weekends, this is the message we girls received: menstruation is a sign of God’s punishment, and we were born “sinful.”

Did the Bible actually say that?

Did our divine creator actually mean that?

At this point it doesn’t matter anymore, to prove right or wrong things written thousands of years ago in ages of confusion and corruption of power. No one owns the truth, and we need to act efficiently in creating solutions for all women who are still suffering from such emotional and sexual conditioning, who desire to liberate themselves from it to create the life they desire.

When it comes to religions and sacred scriptures, fanaticism (the ego) runs many religious debates.  My intention is not a religious debate, but if you feel triggered reading this, I invite you to feel responsible and empowered to decide if you want to engage with us with an open heart or just click away and move on with your life.

Fear and shame have been the feelings women have experienced around their menstruation and sexuality for thousand of years. Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, a WHO scientist who’s worked in adolescent health for the past 20 years says,  “Menstrual problems don’t kill anyone, but for me, they are still an extremely important issue because they affect how girls view themselves, and they affect confidence, and confidence is the key to everything.”

Would fear, shame, and guilt interfere with a person’s self-esteem, self-love, and self-empowerment?

Today’s science is showing that emotional trauma (a deeply distressing or disturbing emotional experience) can be passed on from generation to generation. The male mice study shows how fear can be inherited.  The holocaust survival study lead by Rachel Yehuda, a researcher in the growing field of epigenetics and the intergenerational effects of trauma from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York, shows how parents’ traumatic experience may hamper their children’s ability to bounce back from trauma.  A study of girls born to Dutch women who were pregnant during the famine at the end of World War II shows how even environmental conditions and experiences have led to long-term inherited effects.

Could cultural and religious shaming which creates fear and guilt around women’s menstruation and sexuality have created emotional and/or sexual trauma that can be inherited from mother to child for the past thousands of years?

Working with women from multiple cultures and religions, it is interesting to observe that what they are healing and transcending is not only their own personal trauma but also their mother’s and grandmother’s pain and suffering.

How is this affecting women’s wellbeing, sexuality, and their intimate relationships?

The more we research and study emotional and sexual traumas inherited through our DNA, the more we come to understand how women have been affected and impacted in ways we don’t even realize.

If we as women believe and accept that “our body” is a sin, “our blood” is a punishment from our creator, “our birthing process” is a curse, and “our bleeding times” are a disgrace (since we were too impure to even enter religious temples during patriarchal times), how do we expect to create the life we desire and embody our true innocent essence which is free from shame, fear, guilt, judgment, and mental/social/religious conditioning?

If we allow these beliefs to run our lives, let’s ask ourselves some questions:

• How are these beliefs affecting our sexual organs and bodies? Read Dr. Masaru Emoto’s research on how your words, thoughts, and feelings affect water molecules, knowing our bodies are 70%+ water.  [video_player type=”youtube” width=”560″ height=”315″ align=”center” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”20″]aHR0cHM6Ly95b3V0dS5iZS9ZVXV6SUpXSzFZWQ==[/video_player]
• How would our lives be if we uncreate, destroy, and transcend these conditions and stories created by humans from a place of separation from self and source?
• How would we treat ourselves, our body, our blood, bleeding times, mind and heart when we embody a clear canvas of creation?

Today, I am offering the following to heal our bodies, sexuality and our relationships with ourselves and our intimate partners:

Beautiful Women:

• It’s time we deeply honor, adore, and connect with our body, womb, vagina, clitoris, and blood.
• It’s time we honor the first day of our menstruation flow and allow ourselves to rest, slow down, and nurture our body with rituals of adoration.
• On these days we become more important than the house, the garden, the meals, the dogs, the husband, and the kids ~ yes, let’s be selfish during these times and put the oxygen mask on ourselves first in this airplane called “life.”
• It’s a time we ask for what we want and the help we need to honor ourselves ~ allowing the universe to provide the abundance and love we desire.
• It’s a time we can pause anything we are doing, from work to self-development ~ allowing ourselves to just be and experience our existence. Just doing that is the most healing practice we can do.
• It’s the time we feel our heart, womb, and soul speak through us, quieting the mind from distractions.

During my studies and practice on emotional and sexual healing, I have seen the connection of sexual dysfunctions and illness to the lack of connection with our sensuality and sexuality ~ during our menstrual days, let’s remember that 36+ days out of the year are the most important days for our sexual health and creativity. By honoring our menstrual times, we will connect deeply with our own self and it will enhance our intimate relationships because we will be allowing ourselves to embody our feminine essence and power.

How can men help and support women to heal their emotional and sexual traumas around their body, menstruation and sexuality and experience the benefits of doing so?  When a woman heals her sexual fears and shame, everyone at home benefits from her authentic glow!

Beautiful men:

• Your time to hold sacred space for women is here.  It’s a delight for me to see more men in today’s world becoming even more honoring of women’s sexuality.
• A man who treats a woman divinely during her sacred menstrual times, is a man who has awakened to honor his own sexuality and connect with it.
• A man who connects with a woman deeply during these times, is a man who has learned how to connect with his own power, making him a powerful leader.
• A man who takes responsibility for his reactions and interactions with women during their sacred bleeding times, is a man who has mastered emotional communication which makes him a magnificent and successful creator.
• A man who respects and understands women during their sacred times is an amazing father, husband, lover, friend, son, boss, businessman and leader.
• This man we all look up to, honor, respect, and appreciate ~ this man is consciously wealthy (beyond money) in life and blessed in many ways because he is honoring creation and his reward is true abundance.
• Beautiful men, when we women feel your love, honor, and support during these sacred menstrual times – we do remember you, crave you, desire you, and feel safe around you. In my experience, women’s top want from a man is to feel safe.

I am glad to live in times where women’s sexuality is becoming an important topic of conversation and a healing experience for all generations. We still have work ahead of us to transcend sexual shame on a global scale, but I feel confident that the more we talk about it and the more we educate ourselves on topics related to sexuality, the more we heal all aspects of ourselves.

If you would like to explore what conditioning, limiting beliefs, emotional and sexual traumas are holing you back from living the life you desire and explore how we can help you, Click Here to book your complimentary Awakening Call.