The Perfect Feminist: health & wellness

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A photo of Leela Sol during her yoni egg practice. For her instagram account, click here.

W R I T T E N B Y : L E E L A S O L

The yoni egg is a small egg-shaped crystal made from precious stone.

It can vary from Jade to Quartz crystal.

Yoni-conscious exercises have been practiced throughout history, and originate from Taoism. “According to ancient Taoist tradition, a strong vagina and pelvic floor intensifies life-force energy. It was and still is believed that when a woman does her kegels or vaginal weightlifting with a yoni egg that energy is lifted and intensified within, which amplifies her chi energy outward where it is transformed into higher spiritual energy.”

You can find them anywhere from a local gem store in Toronto to online stores based out of India or South America.

The word Yoni is Sanskrit meaning place of birth or origin. In Hindu philosophy it means the female genitals, the Shakti expression.

The yoni egg is used in order to receive both physical and emotional/spiritual benefits.

In order to use the yoni egg, it needs to be inserted deep into the vagina. The body should be relaxed and prepared.

The physical benefits of using the yoni egg is that you activate muscles in the vagina not regularly used and they become activated when you need to birth your yoni egg. It is commonly expressed that with continual use, you are able to have a more pleasurable sexual experience with your partner as well preparing you for a real birthing experience.

Other physical benefits include:

Vaginal lubrication
Increases the power of orgasms
Tightens the vaginal walls
Lowers urination needs
Pelvic toner
& Helps with abdominal activation/development

Emotional/Spiritual benefits are also available in this practice because as women we hold onto many unexpressed emotions/trauma, anger, resentment etc. in our sacral chakra (reproductive organs) and when not healed, these issues can manifest as physical ailments in the body.

Everything is connected. This is a holistic practice and by healing one aspect we automatically heal another and find the body coming into a state of balance.

After the first time, if you find yourself a person who feels energy easily and is self aware of emotions that you haven’t dealt with yet, you will certainly feel a change in your being.

Lightness or glowing even. This can be a great start to healing things deep inside of your being.

In my own personal experience with the yoni egg, I felt fear at first about putting a foreign object into my yoniverse.

I had read a lot about the egg and watched some YouTube videos of earth goddesses warrior ladies speaking heaps of good stuff on this subject.

I also felt that intuitively it was time for me to address some aspects in my life and this was the next step.

Yoni eggs come in a variety of different sizes and crystal types, each with it's own unique benefits. These yoni eggs are made of rose quartz, a crystal commonly associated with love and healing. Some yoni eggs also come with a drilled hole so that a string may be attached for easy removal. Image source Love Your Life Boutique

What I have experienced is that putting an intention and meditating with your yoni egg before using it can be super powerful. Take a moment to hold your egg and create a connection.

Use smudging with holy incense, say a prayer, everything necessary until you feel that it is time.

**KEEP YOUR EGG CLEAN, LEAVE EGG IN BOILING WATER FOR A FEW MINUTES BEFORE EVERY USE**

So what I did was cover the yoni egg in a bit of coconut oil (which is anti bacterial can be used internally) and took deep breaths. If you do yoga or any other meditative practices you may use your deep diaphragmatic breathe to relax the body and the vaginal opening.

Once you feel yourself in a relaxed state, begin to insert the egg.

At first the fear/doubt you experience will affect your breathing which will contract the vaginal walls, making it difficult for insertion.

Keep breathing and relaxing and insert the egg from the larger end until the egg is fully inside. You can do different exercises such as leave the egg in the vaginal walls close to your opening and contract and release the muscles using the breath.

If you feel that you want to spend more time enjoying the energetic benefits of the yoni egg than you can also allow the egg to go deep into the vagina and allow it to stay in the space of the cervix just before the uterus opening.

You don’t have to worry about the yoni egg getting lost in your yoniverse because the cervix keeps the vagina opening tightly closed except for delivery of a baby!

Your egg will know the time that you need to have her inside of you.

The first time I totally freaked out and wanted to remove it after 1 hour of doing yoga practices and as I sat in squat position (which is an easy way to work the muscles and give birth to your egg) it wouldn’t come out.

I continued meditating and realized that the egg holds certain intelligence and when it is ready to come out it will.

I waited a day and the next day in squat position, using relaxing breathing the yoni egg came out.

A few times the egg has stayed inside up to 4 days and when it’s ready it releases.

So, because crystals can influence the subtle body which carries out prana, chi, or life force energy… yoni eggs which are made of purely precious stone or quartz help cleanse and energize the body.. Which will harmonize your body and bring it to a great place, a magical, feminine place.

Let’s celebrate our sexuality in an open, loving way and move forward in life and in our human process on this earth.

Leela

♦♦♦

**Leela Sol is a yoga instructor, teacher and lover of all things learning. She will be hosting a 200 hour yoga teacher training in Yunguilla, Ecuador with Om Healing Centre. Visit http://www.omhealingcuenca.com for more information as well as her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/leelahsol.yoga/ and Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/leelahsol.yoga/**

Recently I’ve begun charting my cycle, and it has to be one of the most empowering things I’ve done. It gives me insight on what my body is up to, so I know when I’m ovulating, once I’ve ovulated, and when I’m in my luteal phase. Charting is the foundation for natural birth control, but charting can be beneficial whether you are sexually active or not. It can provide insight with fertility issues, hormone imbalance, or as I mentioned earlier, to simply feel more connected to your body. If you do plan to chart for the purpose of natural birth control, there’s slightly more vigilance needed in terms of interpreting your chart, but many women swear by the method, and when done correctly it is believed to be 99.3% effective. I’ve done lots and lots of research on this topic, so I thought it would be great to compile a guide on how I use the method.

Firstly, I’d like to say that when I talked to my doctor about wanting to try FAM (fertility awareness method - the fertility world is filled with acronyms, so I will do my best to explain them as they’re mentioned) she told me right away that it wasn’t reliable, that temperatures can be effected by anything, and that you can ovulate at anytime of the month. There is truth to what she was saying, but this is why it is recommended that you chart for at least three cycles before relying on this method for birth control, so you can see if this is the right method for you. If you are TTA (trying to avoid pregnancy), then you will use a barrier method on fertile days (ie. condoms) and if you feel more comfortable, using FAM alongside withdrawal is quite common. In fact if you are very TTA, I would recommend still practicing withdrawal even on infertile days just to lean on the side of caution. I would also recommend Tory Weltcher’s book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, which is the go to guide for women when it comes to FAM.

OK SO LET’S BREAK IT DOWN

Basically a cycle is made up of fertile and infertile days and FAM is what allows you to determine what day is what. It is not the rhythm method, how long your cycle was last month will have no effect on the current cycle. Instead FAM deals with day to day observations so you know what your body is up to. FAM is based on three signs your body gives you: your basal body temperature (BBT), cervical mucus (CM) and cervical position (CP). The cervical position is not necessary if you use the first two, personally I don’t check my cervical position so I won’t be able to speak on that, but it is notable that it is another fertility sign.

TRACKING YOUR BASAL BODY TEMPERATURE:

you will need a basal body thermometer, not just a regular thermometer. I made this mistake in the beginning and just bought a regular thermometer, but a basil body thermometer provides a temperature reading to the 100th of a degree (i.e. 36.14) and the more accurate, the better (I bought one a Shoppers Drugmart in the family planning isle for around $20)
take your temperature first thing when you wake up, before even getting out of bed, at the same time each morning - this is important to ensure consistency and accuracy
you will need at least four hours sleep or else your temperature might not be accurate, but still take note of it anyways, signifying you had less than five hours sleep (taking note of any sleep disturbances is a good idea)
when you experience a temperate shift that is at least 2/10ths of a degree higher than your last highest temperature, and this shift lasts for at least three consecutive days, it is an indication that ovulation has occurred (this is due to the surge in the hormone progesterone, which causes a slight rise in your temperature)
things that can alter your temperature include illness (i.e. a fever, if you have a fever I would recommend treating those days as fertile and be very careful when confirming ovulation, wait until you see continued raised temperatures at least three days separate from the days you had a fever), drinking (alcohol can cause a raise in temperature) and lack of sleep (as mentioned earlier)

TRACKING YOUR CERVICAL MUCUS:

your cervical mucus will show it’s own pattern and is a very important fertility sign
checking can be as easy as observing your toilet paper when you use the washroom, sometimes throughout the day you can even feel a gushing or wet sensation
types of cervical mucus include

DRY: the absence of cervical mucus

STICKY/TACKY: crumbly opaque looking

CREAMY: a lotion like texture and look

EGG WHITE: looks just like it’s name, transparent and stretchy (most fertile CM)

WET: almost like a watery sensation (most fertile CM)

a cycle most likely has a couple of dry days following menstruation, then sticky, creamy, egg white, watery (egg white and watery are the fertile signs to suggest you are ovulating or are about to ovulate), and then about a week and a half of dry days leading up to your period
it is important to note that all cervical mucus is considered to be fertile plus three days after, so if your last day of cervical mucus is on cycle day 18 (CD 18), it is not until CD 21 that you are considered infertile, granted you experienced a temperature shift as well
however, some women, including myself, rarely experience dry days. Instead I will always see a little bit of sticky cervical mucus even on infertile days. I found the answer to this when I was researching another method called The Billings Method, which solely observes cervical mucus without taking temperatures to determine fertility status. Basically, following your period, a plug of mucus begins to form in the cervix which gradually beings to fall apart (i.e. from creamy, to egg white, etc.) due to the changes in hormones. Sometimes parts of the plug disintegrates, which result in sticky, tacky like mucus and these days which would be dry for some women, can still be considered infertile if you fall in this category. BUT this is why charting many cycles first is important so that you can understand your own body’s pattern.

SO HOW DO WE PUT THIS IN PRACTICE?

This method is based on the idea that sperm can live in the body for up to 5 days, and that an egg can live for 12-24 hours, therefore describing six days out of the month as fertile. Listed are the four rules to make this method effective:

FIRST 3 DAY RULE: if your period is 25 days or longer, the first three days of your cycle can be considered infertile

DRY DAY RULE: when you are dry you are considered infertile, but once CM is present you are considered fertile

TEMP SHIFT RULE: once you experience temperate rise and have three consecutive temperature readings in that range, you are considered infertile

PEAK DAY RULE: once you experience your peak day (peak day is the last day of egg white or watery CM), on the fourth evening you are considered infertile as long as the temperature shift is present

However, how exactly does one know when their fertility window begins exactly? In hind sight, I can determine once I have ovulated, but since I experience sticky CM throughout, it’s much more difficult for me to distinguish. So that being said, six days maybe the length of time a women can conceive, but it is not enough time for me to feel like I have accurately labeled my fertility window. To further explain, by CD 11, I start to see creamy CM and I can confirm ovulation by CD 23, therefore that is a window of 12 days that I could be fertile. This is a photo from the Kindara website (an amazing app that I use to track my cycle) compared to a previous cycle of mine.

Kindara example:

My personal chart:

(The purple line is called a cover line, a line which separates your preovulatory temps from postovulatory temps. The first temperature read that is above the cover line is considered the first day of your temperature shift.)

The Kindara example is an absolute ideal cycle, however mine doesn’t look like that. I know my window of protected sex would be much longer, but this is why I stress that it is very important to track your cycle before you start using this method as birth control, so that you are aware of your own body’s cycle. During that cycle, I would have abstained or used a barrier method from CD 8 - CD 23.

I’ve learned so much about my body since I’ve started charting. Even with my very first cycle, I felt such excitement as my temperature began to shift and I thought to myself, wow! my temperature totally did rise! Another great tool this provides is I can almost predict my period to the day. Because the luteal phase lasts between 10 and 16 days (for me it’s around 14), once I know I’ve ovulated I can count 14 days and predict when my period will come.

I hope that this guide is helpful to you and your journey, and as I said earlier, if not for birth control, this is an amazing tool to simply shed insight on your body’s activities. Our cycles are beautiful reflections of nature, and I encourage all women to take a peek at that reflection.

Happy charting!
♦♦♦

I can admit that this past year has been one of my most moody, predominantly sad, years to date. However I don’t think that I can say I am suffering from depression. My roommate sees me gloomy often, people at work notice a difference in me, but still I feel like I am not depressed. Instead I feel the defining factor of why I feel the way I have been feeling is situational and not something that can be mended with a prescription. I am sad because I do not feel like my life purpose is being carried out right now. Instead I am in transition so that I may carry out my life purpose.

A transition describes the period of time in which a process of change occurs. We can experience a variety of transitions, some not as noticeable as others, but we are constantly evolving and adapting to new things. For me, in this space and time, this particular transition is simply proving to be more noticeable which is totally okay, this just means that this transition is a critical one. Experiencing a critical transition can create symptoms associated with depression because it can bring about issues such as motivation, withdrawal, and loss of connection. Especially when living out your life purpose is at the core of the sadness, a quick fix is rarely realistic.

So what do I mean by life purpose. I am referring to all your gifts, talents, and skills coming together and being used to be the best you you can be. Someone may enjoy teaching which includes a vast skill set of communication, public speaking and assisting others, therefore becoming a teacher could prove to be a very satisfying and fulfilling job. Quite possibly a teacher might feel like they are living their life purpose through their work. On the other hand, there might be someone who does not look to their job as fulfilling their life purpose, but instead finds purpose through personal relationships, involvement in their community, etc. Regardless, the basic needs of feeling purposeful and fulfilled are being met. It gets difficult when you can’t seem to align these basic needs.

A friend of mine once told me that depression is realization without transformation and that text definitely got a screen shot. Interchangeably it could also be the lack of realization that could result in sadness. For me, the first statement rung very true. Once a realization is had, the next step is to experience the transition so that the transformation can be a reality. And that is where I feel like I am. I am in this transitional space so that I can hopefully experience the transformation of completely living in my truth and life purpose. It is uncomfortable because my path is not as structured as it would be for a teacher or other such careers, but I recognize that these issues are all part of my journey. Another friend told me that nothing in life is permanent and that life is always progressing even when you feel like you’re not. That also resonated with me because even when I look at the past year and think that I haven’t moved forward, I have been making steps to further my purpose, even if they seem small on the surface. Creating this blog is an example of that. I’m in this transitional time where I am planting seeds and I am slowly getting a handle on using my talents to be the best me I can be. I just know that I have to be patient and positive and understand that this is just a fragment of time that will one day pass.

One more thought. Sometimes I like to think of life as crop circles in a crop field. If you are inside the crop circle, walking through the twists, turns, back tracks and dead ends, it is not until you see the birds eye view where you can truly appreciate the design.

♦♦♦

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