It always makes me smile when I’m asked ‘what are my passions?’

As a passionate woman from a passionate culture we bring fire into everything we do, otherwise our soul extinguishes, and we forget to dance.

 

Little did I know I was sitting with the glow of embers for a new fire when I was invited to speak to the entire Year 9 form ( 100 girls) at a Girls High School about ‘Sexual Development and Women’s Health’ . I had prepared a very informative and fun talk about how to care for ourselves as young women, focusing on what a healthy menstrual cycle looks like, and how a healthy womb performs.

What shocked me to the bone wasn’t the fact that most of these girls were sexually active, not the fact that approximately a third of them were living with painful periods, but that the majority didn’t know what a ‘menstrual cycle’ actually was. These girls had no idea of the hormonal interplay happening in their bodies, as well as what their wombs were actually doing during a cycle.

This was in my eyes not a reflection of the school but a snapshot at a micro level of what is happening in our macro.

My jaw didn’t leave the ground for weeks.

 

Having already worked for years with women (and the occasional brave man) in the delicate arena of digestion and all things uterine and prostate, it has become clear to me that as a society we are becoming more disconnected from our bodies and the constant changes , both good or bad occurring within our beautiful beings. We tend to symptom treat for years, without addressing the underlying cause of our problems – be it emotional, physical or psychological. Finally, this bandaid approach is not enough and the issues return – erupting into larger problems as the root of it all has remained untreated.

It is this feeling into our bodies, that now needs to be awakened within our psyche once again to become a natural part our concept of self.

 

Few of us have ever been shown how to nourish ourselves and care for these intimate parts of our bodies, and although there is always a part of us that holds this knowing, it is much easier to connect if we are guided along the right path back to our own body wisdom.

This knowing comes from connecting with our body and the understanding through guidance and wisdom from our support community ; mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts etc.

 

After my jaw returned to my face I discovered that my friend Karen McElroy was   composting an idea for Girls Camps to help girls connect in with their own unique feminine flavour as well as body awareness …….. and voila! It was from these initial sparks that gaia girls burst to life

 

 

Since then we have written programmes for Mother and Daughter gatherings and camps for groups of different ages and stages of life. The response and interest has been overwhelming with Mother’s keen to give their daughters a solid, fun and sacred path to walk upon yet feeling hopeless as to where to start.

 

Sharing group time and walking with the girls in this way, fills our hearts to observe the awakening of something within them, and the self admiration that comes from presence of self

By creating connections and awareness with girls during their younger years, I am certain that I would have fewer grown women booking into my clinic with problems that are years in the making and lives filled with symptoms , as well as fewer women with body and self esteem issues.

This is both the prevention and the cure for the now and generations to come.

 

 

Andrea Lopez