Coming-of-Age Ceremonies as Preventative Medicine

I have a confession to make:
When I saw Dr. Christiane Northrup’s post on Facebook I was dumbfounded…
Following my guest appearance on her radio show, Dr. Northrup wrote about my work of mentoring girls into womanhood: “Preventive medicine at its finest!”
The reason this statement was such a mind-quake for me, is that for the two decades in which I’ve been working with women on welcoming themselves and their daughters into womanhood, I have been so immersed in seeing the profound emotional transformation this work provides, that I missed the obvious: its health benefits…
I’ve learned from Dr. Northrup that 55% of hysterectomies result in the removal of ovaries, which produces 5 times greater incidents of mental health diseases, such as Depression and Parkinson disease (to name but a couple) as a result of losing the hormonal balance of the ovaries.
Furthermore, syndromes such as PMS, and ailments such as cervix cancer, can be directly attributed to how a woman views her cycle, her womb, and her femininity.
Prevention begins with honoring:
When women honor their monthly flow and the cycle of life; when they acknowledge their physical connection to lunar and seasonal cycles; when they embrace their monthly blood as the blood of life – they increase immunity in their bodies!
Which body do you think is more likely to be resilient and immune to disease: a body whose mind sees menstruation as bother, nuisance, or “the curse”, or the one whose mind embraces menstruation as an opportunity to withdraw from the mundane and delve into inner wellsprings for monthly renewal and regeneration?
Let me state the obvious: seeing your menstruation as a curse pre-disposes you to ailments, while doing the necessary work toward embracing your cycle is “preventive medicine at it’s finest!”
Gladly, prevention extends to your daughter’s health as well!
Adolescent girls are desperate to individuate from their nuclear family and bond with their peers. “But,” says Dr. Northrup, “and I want everyone to please burn this into your heart: the influence of the mother always wins!!!” This is actually great news, since it means that YOUR influence on your daughter is greater than that of her peers!
With this knowledge comes responsibility: It is up to You to model empowering womanhood to your girl!
In the same way that modeling hatred of your period will pre-dispose your girl to disease, so your work on reversing “the curse” by reclaiming menstruation as the blessing that it is, will expose your daughter to a life-long belief system, and practice, that is not only empowering, but preventive in nature!
Coming-Of-Age ceremonies to welcome yourself into womanhood (regardless of your age) and to welcome your daughter (when she starts cycling) are the best antidote for a life fraught with PMS, sexual insecurities, mental health disorders, and physical disease.
You, as a woman or a mother, can orchestrate such shifts of consciousness for your own, and your daughter’s, benefit!