The Uterus Quakes like the Earth

I think there is much to celebrate in menstrual and uterine contractions. Stay with me.

A story that might make you cry

I had a client message me recently after her IUD removal. It was a very upsetting experience for her for several reasons including that her gynecologist doubted whether her symptoms were real, because she has normalized completely dysfunctional periods (because soooo many women are suffering and that seems normal). She then lectured her about how she was going to prevent pregnancy like a high school health counselor, not bothering to inquire whether my client wants to have more children (she’s a married woman considering it). Finally, she asked at the last minute whether a student could attend the procedure, and then proceeded to allow the student to take over the IUD removal once my client was in the stirrups, without consent. 

The copper IUD creates inflammation in the uterus. That’s how it prevents pregnancy. You read that right. How on earth were her symptoms ‘all in her head’ when she was dealing with chronic inflammation for years? When she spoke to her gyno that she wanted to tend to her uterine health, she got an eye roll. This only speaks the the ignorance the western gynecological system is built upon, from pre-med all the way up. 

They gaslight us to maintain control of us.

The worst part, she was bullied and gaslit for her concerns and beliefs. This gyno didn’t know anything about holistic preventative pelvic care, only the hamster wheel of pathology and symptom treatment. She covered her ignorance with false authority. Gross.

My client told me she felt compelled to apease, felt herself become agreeable and overly polite, bordering on apologetic. I believe this response was indicative to just how traumatizing this experience was for her, as it sent her into a nervous system coping mechanism called FAWNING. 

This is a trauma response, not a personality flaw. She mentioned to me several times that this is something she needs to work on, losing her voice in situations like that. I said, yes it’s something to work with and… you were experiencing methods of control and manipulation and it’s not a character flaw that you fawned, it’s a survival technique that you learned early in life. 

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Showing Our Teeth

I feel compelled to offer a plug for an event I have been inspired to create by witnessing and experiencing countless situations just like this one. It’s called SHOW YOUR TEETH and it is coming up on October 19th in Traverse City Michigan. This event is about building nervous system resilience so that we can say NO when we need to, learning self-defense skills in a safe and nurturing environment (so it’s not triggering!), & learning somatic practices to down regulate after intensity and conflict. I hope you join us, and if you feel compelled I am still looking for sponsors - all proceeds benefit the Women’s Resource Center of TC.

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Side note about privilege

It seems important to mention that my client is a minority. White women don't experience the undercurrent of disdain that minority women face regarding reproduction and childbearing. Many people in positions of ‘gynecological authority’ believe (or have been indoctrinated by their elite educational institution) that brown people should not have more children, and they push that agenda. Sometimes subtly, sometimes not. It’s no surprise, since the very field of gynecology was established by experimenting on black enslaved women. I digress because that’s a tangent that isn’t what I want to focus this essay about, but still is important to name. 

When my client got home, she did some of my recommended post IUD removal self-care including yoni steaming, self abdominal massage, and a castor oil pack. After awhile her uterus started contracting pretty severely, and it was so extreme it alarmed her. It was shaking or tremoring, she told me. 

When she messaged me with this story I made some powerful realizations, something intuitively hit me about the way the uterus holds our trauma, and not just esoterically. 

Trauma & Tremoring

There is a biological trauma releasing response that mammals have, including humans, called tremoring. It has been observed by biologists studying a myriad of animals, including polar bears in the arctic. Often, when biologists need to study a polar bear, they have to chase them down with a helicopter, a pretty traumatizing experience! So the bears are running, and then they get hit by a tranquilizer dart, and then they fall asleep. The biologists do their thing. When the bear wakes up, she shakes. This is a nervous system response, to release the static and the tension in her body from the stress she experienced before she was tranquilized. Then she lies there for a little while and takes some deep breaths. Eventually she rises and walks away without having the charge stuck inside her body from the experience. 

The saying, shake it off, is great advice for us mammals, quite literally. In fact Dr. David Berceli wrote a book and developed a method around this concept. Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) is a method to help release the deep tension created in the body during a traumatic experience or through chronic stress.

I discovered this method years ago and have trained in it some, and I use it in my work all the time with clients on the table. I’ve seen all kinds of trauma release, and the epiphany I had was that, of course, the uterus herself can hold tension and absolutely, she could quake. 

Each cycle is a report card

Have you ever paid attention to your cycle? Like noticing how the events of the month affect your period symptoms? If not, highly recommend. I like to say it’s like a feminine report card for the month. Your menstrual cycle and period symptoms are a direct response to the way you managed your energy, fed yourself, worked yourself, and exercised yourself the previous month. 

If you really think about it, your period will likely be more painful, or dysfunctional on the months where you were very stressed, didn’t eat very well, worked too hard, were exposed to toxins, or exercised too much/little, or ignored your infradian rhythm.

When will I graduate?!

I had another client come in for some pelvic work, and although she’s been exploring her womb and yoni health a long time, there’s still a lot of pain and sensitivity for her. She became a bit sad that she hadn’t gotten further along, or ‘graduated’. Like there’s supposed to be an end in sight, and she still wasn’t there. 

The truth is, we live in a very toxic, traumatizing society and culture which constantly harasses our female sensibilities and sensitivities. Women experience a constant barrage and it requires patience, commitment, and solid self-care protocols (not to mention underscoring your deservedness in the mirror) every day. And this is just for maintenance, I’m not talking about luxury here. Having a living pelvis is our birthright, and it’s a constant practice to awaken and reclaim that vitality. It can be delightful and pleasurable work, but it’s realistic to consider it a life long practice.

The rightness of ‘cramps’

So what if our uteruses tremor each month in order to HEAL us. Not because they are dysfunctional. What if our uterus is quaking, to shake out the bejeebers and the toxic endocrine disrupting chemicals we consume, the micro-plastics, the pharmaceutical drugs, the forever chemicals, the gaslighting, the narcissism, the misinformation, the misogyny, the patriarchy…

What if it’s THAT fucking important to chill on our bleed so that we can process all of the backlogged bullshit and emotional tyranny we have endured? 

And what if the things labeled as dysfunctional are actually very wise responses? 

What if fibroids and cysts exist because we have not emptied out the backlog of emotional and biological toxicity we are storing, and we need a pocket for it?

What if the toxic sludge in our uterus is so inhospitable that the uterine lining runs away and tries to build a home elsewhere (aka endometriosis)?

What if these are grievances from the generations of women forced to bottle it up, stored in our ancestral memory?

What if the uterus quakes like the earth, and what if we are tied to the Mother through our wombs?

I feel it. I feel the wisdom of these bodies rising in a chorus of floods and hurricanes and earthquakes and fires. Our Earth cries. Of course our bodies are feeling her. 

We are WOMEN and that is our gift. Our sensitivity to the destruction of earth, water, forest, and field is FELT in our bodies, in our wombs. Women are the canaries in the coal mine. 

If your gynecologist smirks when you tell them your symptoms, if they hint that you’re too sensitive, maybe even too ‘imaginative’, if they intone you’re a hypochondriac…

If you’re feeling, ‘This isn’t healthy for me, this isn’t healthy for my womb, this isn’t healthy for my ancestors to endure this inappropriate treatment…’

You can say stop. In fact…

You can walk right the fuck out of there. 

You owe them no pleasantries or apologies. I’m not saying be rude, but know your power to have boundaries. That flair of anger is appropriate and your womb suffers when you push it down. 

You can Quake, sister. 

You can support your uterus to cry it out. It’s not wrong, it’s not dysfunctional. She’s begging you to feel her. You can embrace your experience with fresh eyes because this pain could be (at least in part) repair.

One last thing about IUDs

Your body knows there is something inside you that doesn’t belong. She’s constantly trying to expel it. It’s common for women’s menstrual pain, excessive bleeding, and chronic gut inflammation to subside once that thing is out. 

Getting to this decision is a big deal, because it requires research and an alternative plan of pregnancy prevention.

If you’re considering getting your IUD removed, I suggest learning about your fertility cycle right away, learning about your hormones, and healing your womb. I can help you, book a Menstrual Cycle Analysis and we will go over the whole shebang. 

There are important ways to care for your body before and after IUD removal to ensure you experience less pain, heal the tissues if they were abraded, clear up the inflammation and prevent infection. 

Hope you have a renewed sense of the power and magic of your body. Share with women who this might help!

Love love, 

Sarah WM