In Conversation with Debbie Lewis, Sarah Davison & Leora Leboff: Modern Women and the Menopause II
Modern Women and the Menopause Part II with Debbie Lewis, Sarah Davison and Leora Leboff
In a world where our food and medical industry are governed by men primarily for profit and greed and our lifestyles are hit by constant connectivity, the pressures of working, raising kids and caring for elderly parents, the level of responsibility on a modern woman as she enters the perimenopause can for some (like myself) feel somewhat overwhelming.
My own experience of entering perimenopause not only brought biological changes to the system but emotionally it’s been bringing to light unresolved wounds, traumas and repressed emotions. As a result, I have been compelled to take the “pause” and reflect on the wisdom being offered through my body at this time.
A few years ago, yoga teacher Katy Appleton (https://www.tazeendhunna.com/tazeentv-blog/yoga-and-transformation) had recommended Nutritionist and Functional Medicine Expert Debbie Lewis (https://www.debbielewis.co.uk) to me. After a rather embarrassing poo test and comprehensive bloods, Debbie’s prescription of a “palm sized amount of animal protein” shocked me. At the time, I was following the latest vegan trend only to be disappointed that this wasn’t going to suit my physical and emotional system. Fast forward a few years where I had failed to implement Debbie’s advice and began experiencing more perimenopausal symptoms (see https://www.tazeendhunna.com/tazeentv-blog/drghazala-aziz-scott).
It wasn’t until a dear friend Julie Matthaeus shared about the positive changes on her hormones through switching to the ketogenic diet that I pulled out Debbie’s prescription and realised it was similar to the keto diet. Summer 2020, I made the switch and for the first time in 10 years found my gut transformed and a change too in the intensity with which I was experiencing the perimenopausal symptoms.
Julie also connected me to Sarah Davison the Natural Menopause Expert (https://thrivehomeopathy.com)who works one-to-one with women using a combination of homeopathy and coaching to facilitate wellbeing and hormonal balance. She offers “The Natural Menopause Transformation Programme,” which blends homeopathic treatment with nutrition, live group support and tuition in all aspects of menopause and self-care.
With the worsening of my perimenopause symptoms, I also noticed a lot of the unresolved trauma linked to the premature delivery and loss of a child, a 7 year fertility journey and an extremely traumatic second pregnancy and childbirth which all seemed to be speaking through my body louder than ever. Working with healer and holistic life coach, Harinder Ghatora https://www.tazeendhunna.com/tazeentv-blog/harinderghatora, I received Divine Healing. Some of my deeper “mother” wounds which were manifesting as pain all down the left side of my body began shifting. (In Eastern traditions, the left side of the body is linked to the Feminine, Mother). Through the Divine Healing sessions, we began to open up to ancestral trauma and begin to heal some of the deep layers of trauma within my body. Yet it was the womb massage with Leora Leboff (who I met through another friend who also had a fertility journey to climb before finally delivery a beautiful healthy baby girl this year) which really reconnected me to my womb, the sacral chakra and the Divine Feminine within.
Menstrual and menopause educator and mentor Leora Leboff (http://auramama.co.uk) is a mestrual mentor with Red School (https://redschool.net) and offers womb and fertility massage to women. Through her menstrual and menopause medicine circles she re-educates women about their bodies. Her work certainly connected the dots within me.
Through this conversation with Debbie, Sarah and Leora, I felt again the Divine Feminine at work. Heart-felt gratitude to Saimma Dyer and Fatimah Ashrif (Founders of RAY https://rayofgod.com) my sufi sisters and the guidance of our teachers Camille Helminski (https://www.tazeendhunna.com/tazeentv-blog/realigning-to-source-transforming-our-lives-and-our-world) and mystic Elizabeth Anne Hin (https://www.thewhiterose.org) who have brought this heart into a deeper relationship with the Divine Feminine and brought more meanings to the words of Rumi,
“Let the Mary of your Body birth the Jesus of your Spirit” Rumi
Through them I have connected with women such as Naseem Khakoo whose group “Awakening as Woman” offers women a safe space to explore and go deeper into healing and more fully integrating the Divine Feminine. (An interview with Naseem is coming soon on Tazeen.TV)
My intention for anyone reading and listening to “Modern Women and the Menopause Part II” is to become better informed, more honouring of the sacred feminine and to realise the patriarchal society which we have been living in, is not serving our needs as women.
I believe as women, we need to re-educate ourselves about our own bodies, reclaim our wombs and learn about correct levels of self-care. Hopefully it’ll be modern women who will eventually lead and educate men and children on how we can through diet, lifestyle and listening to the body, bring our bodies into hormonal balance effectively, easily and as naturally as possible. Through listening deeply we can heal and embrace the menopause as a time of extraordinary transformation and spiritual growth.
Timeline:
00.0- 3.20 Introduction to Sarah Davison, Leora Leboff and Debbie Lewis
3.20- 4.14 Debbie Lewis- why menopause symptoms are problematic
4.14-5.22 Sarah Davison- The impact of stress
5.22-7.23 Leora Leboff- Re-write the language of how we approach the perimenopause/menopause
7.57-9.29 Food, Symptoms & Age
9.29- 17.50- Ancient wisdom of the menopause
· The Clinical Day of Menopause
· Medical model- one size fits all
· How strong is your No? Reclaiming your boundaries
· Average time perimenopause to menopause
· Medical issues and emotional issues come to bite you in the bum!
· Coming back into cyclical rhythms and understanding the menstrual seasons
17.50-22.40 Reclaiming our Bodies
· The Divine Feminine- reclaiming the seasons and the moon cycle
· Patriarchy in the food and medical system run for profit and greed- is it what the feminine needs?
· Masie Hill – Period Power recognise the cycle and harness the power.
· Are we mad when we PMS?
22.40- 28.14 Culture on women
· Culture reveres Youth and Beauty.
· Mother & Healer
· Balance and wholesomeness
28.14- 33.13 Debbie Lewis on Nutrition from menstruation to the Menopause
· “The canary in the coal mine.”
· Blood sugar regulation
· Thyroid conditions
· Gut Health
· Vitamin levels (anaemia, Vitamin D levels)
33.13- 36.03 Sarah Davison on Digging Deeper
Homeopath look for the following causes:
· Epigenetics in ancestral line – look for trauma and diseases
· Constitution –physical, emotional and hormonal dispositions
· Life triggers
36.03- 42.25 Leora Leboff- Womb massage and Trauma release
42.25-51.06 The Modern Woman and Her Lifestyle: Debbie’s food wisdom
· Impact on Insulin
· Why high protein high fat is best
· Animal protein versus veganism
· Antibiotics and stress
· How to deal with foggy brain?
· The cholesterol myth
· The Ketogenic Switch
51:06- 53.19 Sarah Davison - A blended approach is required to the menopause. The natural menopause transformation programme:
· The Dutch Test
· Nutritional Plan
· Homeopathic Work
· Menu of self-care options including yoga positions for menopause.
See: https://thrivehomeopathy.com/homeopathy-for-menopause/
53.19- 57.55 Pushing Through versus Rest
Leora shares her experience and wisdom from the Red School and a menstrual medicine process.
57.55-1.04.10 Coming back into the unknown
Healing womb trauma and the cultural disconnection from the womb.
Re-education required around the menstrual cycle
1.04.10-1.07.20 The Curse
Cultural attitudes and abuse towards women’s wombs
Breaking the taboos
1.07.20- 1.12.11 Reducating and Leading
1.12.11- 1.26.41 Self-Love & the Life Seasons Circle
1.12.11 Life Seasons Circle
Co-created by Leora Leboff and Kate Codrington for Woman Kind www://woman-kind.co.uk