Menstrual Problems -Breakthrough Bleeding
Spotting or bleeding between periods comes with a diagnosis of Spleen Qi deficiency in Chinese Medicine.
For me this diagnosis is only the start of a process of going deeper into WHY the deficiency is there in the first place.
The spleen is the yin organ of the Earth element.
A representation of the nurturing mother within you.
Menstrual issues are most often a manifestation of relationships with mothers and significant females in your life. This can extend to female roles within the family and how feminine energy is viewed, judged and regarded.
The female role in our society has been devalued and oppressed for many many generations. Although that sounds like a feminist statement, it is more to do with the imbalance of these energies within the collective consciousness. In our culture power has been stripped from the feminine in favour of a more aggressive masculine energy, the slash and burn, every man for himself attitude. Many of us have grandparents that grew up in an environment of inequality. Emotional responses of anger and frustration were largely held in and unspoken. Those subtle energies are still present today, but our culture is becoming more conscious of the imbalance. Menstrual cycles are extremely sensitive to these subtle energies and if you looked on the influential females in your family and witnessed an imbalance there is no doubt a physical response. Each of us learns to mirror our parents, it is from them that even before we have language, we read the energy of the subconscious feelings. We notice the slight frown, feel the tightening, are aware of the tone of voice, feel the contraction of the energy. Thus we learn to feel the unspoken world inside our own bodies. Often menstrual problems are not just our own, we embody our mother’s, grandmothers, sister’s emotional states, who in turn embody their female lineage and so …we end up carrying these generational wounds.
As a prompt for deeper work, how is creativity, sexuality, sensitivity described, nurtured and valued in your upbringing?
In the menstrual cycle, bleeding, surrendering blood is a yin process. When the blood is breaking through in a cycle it’s a sign of the feminine within you shouting for help. The yang energy you’ve been using for so long to keep that feminine side under control, hidden from view, is now weakening.
Within there is an undernourished sexual, sensual creative female that is seeking attention and deep rest from doing and giving.
This message from your body is asking for more self love, help and support, care and compassion.
Consider your relationship with your own feminine side and the role models in your life.
What is preventing you from asking for the care/ help/ support and love you need? And where does that come from?
Remember that stillness is not weakness, and strength comes from knowing what you need and demanding its presence in your life.