Many aspects of women’s health can benefit from acupuncture, such as:
- Menstrual cycle imbalances
- Emotional wellbeing
- Sleep
- Fertility and IVF support
- Transitioning into menopause
As a natural medicine, Chinese medicine works beautifully with a woman’s cycles. This can be understood through the fundamental theory of yin-yang.
“Yin and yang, they are the Way of heaven and earth, the fundamental principles [governing] the myriad beings…” Suwen 5
Yin-yang is a theory of two opposite yet related and interdependent phenomena. Yin and yang depend on one another and continually change into each other. There is no day without night, no light without darkness. Within the continuous cycling of the days, there is a movement between opposite poles of midday (most yang) to midnight (most yin) where yin and yang change into each other. Rather than a theory of opposites, Chinese thought understands phenomena through interconnection and cyclical changes.
The theory of yin-yang helps to understand all cycles in nature: the seasons of the year, the monthly moon cycle, the daily cycle through day and night.
This equally applies to a woman’s cycles: from her life cycle from childhood through childbearing age to menopause; to her monthly menstruation. All can be viewed through the lens of yin-yang interactions.
Consider a woman’s monthly cycle.
The follicular phase, the first phase of the cycle following a bleed, is governed by yin which is nourishing, moistening, and supports growth. Oestrogen is the yin hormone. In this phase the lining of the womb grows and follicles develop. Supporting yin and blood in this phase is beneficial.
At ovulation there is a burst of energy where yin transforms to yang. Progesterone, the hormone of the luteal phase, is yang in nature. The woman’s temperature increases. Yang dynamics facilitate the movement of the egg, fertilisation, holding a fertilised egg in the warm lining of the womb, or movement toward an efficient bleed.
We can work with the relative yin-yang dynamics in a woman as she moves through her monthly cycle – in natural fertility, or to support an IVF cycle. This assists the body work out imbalances and achieve health.
Also consider the phase when a woman approaches menopause.
It is common here to experience dryness, hot flushes and night sweats. This is a case of a relative deficiency of yin, where the yin of the body has declined naturally with age. As yin is cool and nourishing, its relative deficiency (relative to yang) has led to predominant signs and symptoms of heat and dryness (yang).
A woman’s system is going through a transition where the dynamics of yin and yang are shifting towards a new normal. Imbalances from previous years now show up more clearly. Night is a time of yin (relative to the day being more yang); and so symptoms are more pronounced in the evening: night heat and sweats occur.
We would support this transition with acupuncture and Chinese herbs to support the yin-cooling-nourishment of the body as it achieves a newly established yin-yang harmony.
Through all phases and experiences of your life as a woman, acupuncture can gently and surely support your body and mind to find balance, joy and meaning.