Tending to Your Womb: A Holistic Approach to Womb Care
You may have stumbled upon this blog attracted by the title, tending to your womb. But what exactly is tending to your womb, how does this phrase apply to you and why should you care?
What “Tending” Means
When we look at the word tending, the Cambridge dictionary defines it as “to behave in a particular way or have a particular characteristic or to care for someone or something”. The root word of tend means to stretch out. When I think of the word tend, it lends a certain softness to it. I think of loving hands that are stretched out yearning and ready to care for someone or something.
Why We Often Neglect Our Womb
When one thinks of their womb, I think that there is rarely a moment, unfortunately, that a person thinks of tending to it. There can be a sense of annoyance when their period comes or when they are dealing with pelvic pain.
There is definitely a moment of wonder with their womb when one is pregnant and where it is caressed and massaged and touched by self and others. However, as soon as the pregnancy is over and the womb returns to its original size and the belly looks like an unattractive deflated balloon, there is again a sense of annoyance, wanting to get rid of and even disgust at times.
The Importance of Caring for the Womb
Well, I would hope that some of what I mentioned above would be good enough reason to want to tend and care for the womb in the same way that the rest of the body is cared for on a daily basis.
When I speak of the womb, I am literally speaking about more than just the uterus. In Old English, the word womb derives from”belly, stomach, heart, hollow, bowels” and from Proto-Germanic wambu was the word used for “belly, stomach, abdomen”. When I looked for synonyms for the word womb, this one caught my attention, “the innermost being”.
Female reproductive system, Image credit: Healthdirect
As a medical professional, when I think of the word womb, it is more than just the uterus, but also includes all of the structures that lie next to and around the uterus such as the ovaries, uterine tubes, cervix, bladder, the rectum, all of the lymph vessels and nodes, the arteries and veins, fascial system, musculoskeletal system as well as the nerves that all provide support, nourishment and optimal functioning for its overall health.
Look back at that list!
Those are a lot of structures that make up the womb and are housed in the pelvic bowl, we should be caring for this foundational piece of our body on the regular. I hope that all of this provides greater meaning for you that when I speak of the womb,
it is much more than just the uterus itself.
How Does This Impact You?
If you live in a body that has a uterus in addition to all of the other structures that I mentioned earlier, you should care deeply. The number of women who have limited knowledge of their own anatomy is staggering!
In a poll conducted around 2020, they found that 57% of women did not know much about their own anatomy. When we have knowledge, we have better understanding and when we have better understanding, we know how to address and care for those parts of ourselves.
From the moment we begin puberty to one year after our last period when we hit menopause, our womb matters. Some would say, that even after menopause it still matters since the presence of our organs still holds importance for the health of our brain and heart functioning as we enter our elder years.
When and How Can I Take Care of My Womb?
There is no right or wrong age to start tending to your womb, you can start now! My intention with creating Tending to Your Womb is to make it accessible to all who have a womb and ensure that you can find small, simple practices that ensure the health of your womb on a daily basis so you can build a practice that is sustainable and will last a lifetime. Now, that is self-care.
I will also speak heavily on topics around womb care that are not spoken enough about such as womb care in pregnancy loss, preconception, puberty and perimenopause. I stand on the foundation of:
Nourishing your womb from the ways you talk to it, feed it and care for it
Moving with and around your womb, from the biggest structure of your bony pelvis and spine to literally moving your gut and uterus
Touching your skin, fascia, muscles and bones around your womb, vulva, vagina, cervix and more
I hope that you will join me on this journey!