BodyLit101

body literacy & natural women's health

[wearepioneerspress]

Now printed by Pioneers Press! Body Conscious Birth Control

This thorough and informative zine gives a responsible walkthrough of FAM—Fertility Awareness Method. FAM teaches women to use fertility signs as a highly accurate form of birth control (more accurate than condoms when used correctly!). Body Conscious Birth Control is such a great resource about this empowering topic of reclaiming fertility, and is complete with helpful diagrams and drawings, not to mention your own blank fertility chart!

36 PAGES, B&W, ½ SIZE (4 OZ)

Find this here at Pioneers Press’ site!

[bodylit101]

Hormonal Harmony Event

Going on now!

Tune in this week as Sarah Howard interviews experts in women’s health about how we can heal our bodies and help ourselves by tuning in to what’s going on inside. 

Many of the guests are sharing a free gift with listeners too!

[bodylit101]

Ovulation and menstruation disturbances tell us the person is not healthy. Ovulation is the canary in the coal mine for women's health.

Dr. Jerilynn Prior

[npr]

“For people like me who have been studying menstruation for decades, we’ve never enjoyed this kind of attention before,” says Chris Bobel, associate professor of women’s and gender studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and president of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research. “I wrote a book on menstrual activism five years ago that got no attention. But now it is.”

Is it? Even though Cosmopolitan magazine says it’s “the year the period went public,” we were skeptical. But social media’s been awash with the p-word, and when we checked the number of times the word “menstruation” was mentioned in five national news outlets, it more than tripled from 2010 to 2015, from 47 to 167.

Why 2015 Was The Year Of The Period, And We Don’t Mean Punctuation

Photo: Meredith Rizzo/NPR

[healthyfoodmind]

Looking for a natural deodorant that really works?  Check out these natural deodorant alternatives.

[medicinal-plants-herbs]

[bodylit101]

Are you scared to try non-hormonal birth control, like the Fertility Awareness Method?

What’s kept you from using natural birth control?

Do non-hormonal birth control choices freak you out because they seem too risky when you could just keep taking the Pill*?

Perhaps the Symto-Thermal Method’s 99.6% perfect-use effectiveness rates make you skeptical. You don’t believe it will work for you and your body.

Trying natural birth control seems irresponsible and you don’t need the added pressure to get it 100% right.

Maybe you have flashbacks to various home remedies you tried in the past that had disastrous results. 

I feel you. The fear is totally valid when you are absolutely avoiding pregnancy. 

Now I wouldn’t trade the self-knowledge and empowerment FAMs have given me (in addition to effective birth control!) for the hormonal options that kept me in the dark about my body’s awesomeness.

*when I say, “the Pill,” I’m referring to all hormonal birth control types like the Mirena IUD, the ring, patch, shot...etc.

Know Thyself

Fertility Awareness Methods (FAMs) of non-hormonal birth control are highly effective because they allow the woman to know with a large degree of certainty whether she is capable of getting pregnant each day of her cycle.

When I first started using FAMs, I felt really alone with the choice. None of my friends were using the method and I think some thought I was nutso for attempting. 

But I was determined. I wanted FAMs to work for me so I totally committed to the practice. 

FAMs offer a lot more than birth control, they’re more like a lifestyle.

Natural birth control needs you to participate every day.

In the beginning, I was overly vigilant of my fertility signs and what my body was doing each day. I tried to embody what was going on and connect my observations to where I was in my cycle. 

Now I take a more relaxed approach to tracking my fertility - without worrying about compromising the method’s effectiveness. Eventually, knowing your cycle of fertility becomes second nature. It’s part of you.

Here are four tips to help you feel more at ease with your transition to Fertility Awareness Methods for effective non-hormonal birth control:

Trust your intuition. Listen to that small voice inside that’s telling you that your body and reproductive health is a safe path for you to explore. This is the voice that will guide and inform you on your journey with natural birth control. 

Gather your tools & get curious. Find barrier methods you know how to use correctly (like a condom, spermicide, sponge, VCF) and use them consistently while you are learning your cycle. Practice friendly curiosity with your body and patience with your learning process. FAMs aren’t a quick fix procedure like getting an IUD. It takes time to learn what’s normal for your body. 

Stay consistent. As with all new skills, when you’re learning Fertility Awareness, all of the new information can seem overwhelming. It definitely takes effort but it’s worth it when you can know by looking at your waking temperature if you’ve ovulated or you’re about to start your period. Your body is amazing, let it guide you.

Find support where you need it. I read and re-read Taking Charge of your Fertility by Toni Weschler and I consulted with a local FA teacher to make sure I was doing everything correctly These days there are lots of options for classes. And, if you’re finding that the things you were covering up by being on the Pill are coming back, your best best is to find one-on-one help dealing with all the stuff with a health coach who’s specially trained in women’s heath and fertility...psst, that’s me!

Besides being a fantastically effective and reliable method for birth control, the Fertility Awareness Method teaches you more about your body and yourself than anything you can get from your doctor. 

I support your journey to find the best method of contraception for you, and I want you to explore your femininity’s full expression without suppression. So if you have any questions about this post...or anything really, click here to talk to me. I love hearing from you!

[phoebe-bird]

[bedsider]

"Be gentle with yourself." 

[bodylit101]

TGIF!

[bodylit101]

Fertility is the ability to fully inhabit the moment, to be completely present. That is where life happens – and that is the creative force of the mother. When we can learn how to connect consciously with what is happening in each moment, however painful, allowing and trusting the unfolding of life on life’s terms – rather than controlling and forcing outcomes – we are simply more open, to life.

Dr. Saraswati Markus (DAOM, LAc, ERYT)

[bodylit101]

After 15 years of practicing and mastering FAM, Yewchuk remains passionate about the empowering role it can play in women’s lives. “I pretty much just never looked back.”

http://thegriff.ca/2014/03/the-fam-using-fertility-awareness-to-avoid-or-achieve-pregnancy/

[bodylit101]

“Whether you’re going to have children or not, you should know about your reproductive system, what turns it on and what turns it off.”

Professor Rob Norman from Adelaide University in Australia via Yahoo News.

Educating our kids and teaching them about body literacy and fertility awareness from an early age will lower infertility rates and foster a healthy mind-body connection and respect.

[bodylit101]

How careful do I have to be to use fertility awareness?

Very well written post on living a fertility aware life...

[bodylit101]

Being on The Pill doesn't influence sexual behavior or make sex better...so why are you on it?

Findings from a study of women at risk for unintended pregnancy, who were given access to free birth control, confirmed that being on the Pill or LARC's does not equate with the women having more sex with more partners. In fact, the number of new partners the women had during the time the study ran actually decreased (could have been due to many factors though).

Huffington Post writer, and apparent Pill supporter, Amanda Duberman weighed in with her opinion that women should be able to get birth control without facing stigmatization or slut-shaming. Fair enough.

I don't disagree. But I beg to differ with her comment in the opening paragraph.

"Sex is better and more fun when women are on the pill."

Personally, the hormones in the Pill made sex a very not-fun activity for me...among other issues it caused. 

I believe sex is better when both partners know the risks associated with their choices and are consistent with their birth control method. No matter what method they choose.

Those at high-risk for unintended pregnancy would probably do very well with a basic re-education of human reproduction from a Fertility Awareness standpoint.

When you know what to look for and can identify your fertile window, you can very easily decide if you want to use more protection thereby reducing your risk. 

I'm a keep it simple and as natural as possible kind of gal. I'm glad people don't view hormonal and mechanical forms of birth control as licenses to bone. That would be scary.

To me, the findings of this study confirm that since sexual activity is not increasing with access to these forms of birth control, then we could be treating our women and girls with the least invasive method to control the risk of pregnancy.

AKA Fertility Awareness

[bedsider]

Accidental pregnancy: That's a tough nut!

Can the U.S. bring the proportion of unplanned pregnancies down to 44% by the year 2020? Maybe the goal sounds modest, but unplanned pregnancy is a tough nut to crack. Recent research from the Guttmacher Institute found that the rate of unplanned pregnancy in the U.S. actually went up slightly between 2001 and 2008, from 48% to 51% of pregnancies overall. Want more deets? Read our Get on Top about it or go directly to Guttmacher’s news release.

[bodylit101]

If we spend more time educating our teens about the biological facts of reproduction rather than rushing our girls onto various types of birth control (the Pill or IUD, most likely) I guarantee unplanned, accidental pregnancies would go down. 

Understanding the cycle and knowing when the chance of conception is higher would greatly affect how we choose to protect ourselves at these times.

Body Literacy is a life skill we shouldn't ignore. Ignorance is not bliss.

[flowersfertility]

"Your menstrual cycle is not something that should be shrouded in mystery."

Toni Weschler,Taking Charge of Your Fertility (the “must-have” book for learning & using the Fertility Awareness Method)