Description

First, we will define the sympathetic (fight / flight / freeze) and para-sympathetic systems (rest & digest) and their relationship with the endocrine system. Then, we will describe their role in women’s cycles of menstruation, pregnancy and birth.

I will describe the delicate juggling act performed by women; The balance between estrogen, progesterone, endorphins, oxytocin (aka “the love hormone) and prolactin-adrenaline-cortisol (the stress hormones) through both bio-medical and oriental medicine concepts.

I would like to suggest that the Shao Yang (Gallbladder + Triple Warmer) in collaboration with the Kidneys and Liver are the foundation for the balancing agents of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and the Hormonal functions.

We will see how the same sets of hormones that regulate childbirth are responsible for the bonding that occurs after birth. In fact, these are almost the hormones that regulate a woman’s cycle of fertility. We will reflect on a woman’s rhythm; the “Groove,” or the lack of it, in women’s menstruation cycles, the three trimesters of pregnancy, the birth itself, and the precious time of mother-baby meeting and bonding after birth, and throughout their lives. While looking at both the mother and the baby we realize the importance of the in utero life to a baby’s health and wellbeing.

We will talk about both the positive and harmful impact of stress on a woman’s body and soul by observing the cycles of reacting and recovering. When unbalanced, these cycles are themselves stressors, but when balanced, they form the most beautiful connection between the woman and her world, the mother and her baby.

Learning Objectives

• Understanding the ANS and its perspective in Oriental Medicine.
• Understanding the connection between the ANS and the hormonal system in a woman’s reproductive life.
• Looking at the in-utero life from an oriental and modern psychological perspective.
• Learning some simple yet highly effective Japanese-style shallowneedling and moxibustion techniques to help rebalance the ANS, thus re-providing women a way to sail safely and calmly through the currents of her cycles of menstruation, pregnancy, birth and post-partum.
• My clinical emphasis will be on stress management, morning sickness and hyperemesis gravis, Malpresentation or Malposition of the fetus and pretension and treatment of post labor traumatic stress disorder,