Nurturing the Female Goddess through Ayurveda
The Vedic tradition of India, of which Ayurveda is a part, views women as goddess (and men as god); that is, respecting humans highest divinity and seeing them as the divine souls that they are. Ayurvedic therapies address female reproductive health issues and restore the inner feeling of divine grace naturally inherent inside all women.
Mind over Matter
Reproductive issues relate to hormones, and hormones are produced in the brain. How a woman thinks, stressfully or peacefully, influences the quality and quantity of hormone production. Ayurveda addresses the mind-body relationship through physical, mental, and spiritual therapies.
The earlier section of this article, 10 Free Tips to Lose Stress and Find Peace, covers the most profound lifestyle and spiritual methods to balance and create healthy hormonal production. Beyond this, women may benefit from Ayurvedic herbal brain tonics such as Brahmi (Gotu Kola) and Shank Pushpi to calm the mind by awakening (ie, not dulling) and improving clarity, memory, and learning ability. These herbs help reduce stressful thoughts (including anxiety, anger, and lethargy) and increase harmonious ones.
For female reproductive conditions that are causing great discomfort, Ayurvedic herbs offer a variety of issue-specific healing or balancing solutions. The most common female reproductive health issues, PMS and menopause, are examined here in detail to exemplify Ayurvedic herbal therapy use and it’s unique, tailor-made benefits.
Ayurveda reveals that both PMS and menopause can be caused by one or more constitutional imbalances (eg, Vayu-caused, Pitta-Kapha-caused) and most interesting, a woman’s specific symptoms inform the causing dosha(s). The charts below show examples of PMS and menopause symptoms for each dosha, and examples of equally specific herbal therapies.
PMS
| Dosha |
Symptoms |
Herbs |
| Vayu |
Anxiety, depression, insomnia, constipation |
Turmeric and saffron promotes menses; jatamanshi reduces spasms; Shatavari, ashwagandah for general symptoms; brahmi for emotions |
| Pitta |
Anger, irritability, diarrhea, sweating, acne |
Turmeric, saffron, shatavari, manjishtha, bhringraj, brahmi |
| Kapha |
Fatigue, heaviness, sentimentality, swelling |
Turmeric, saffron, aloe vera gel, pippali, ginger, cinnamon |
Menopause has become a big news item since the early 21st century when allopathic drugs for menopause were found to cause cancer. Meanwhile, knowledge of Ayurvedic herbs for menopause symptoms, without side effects, were known for more than 5,000 years in India, and are still helping this condition today.
Menopause
| Dosha |
Symptoms |
Herbs |
| Vayu |
Nervousness, depression, anxiety |
Shatavari, myrrh, saffron, kapikachu, ashwagandha; boiled in milk |
| Pitta |
Anger, irritability, hot-flashes |
Shatavari, aloe gel, saffron milk |
| Kapha |
Overweight/water retention, lethargy |
Pippali, ginger, guggul |
For women who are dual-dosha, they may have symptoms of both doshas (eg, a Vayu/Pitta woman may experience menopause symptoms of anxiety and hot flashes).
As with all of Ayurvedic therapies, eating healthy foods as snacks and meals is crucial to achieving health and balance. Particularly, coffee, tea, tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, white sugar and flour, and fried oily foods will aggravate these symptoms. Following one’s Ayurveda lifestyle, life purpose, and spiritual life are required as well for truly holistic healing and resolving the root causes of the issue.
Other beneficial therapies include shiro dhara (warm oil flowing on the forehead), 2-4 therapist synchronized massage (oil or bolus), aromatherapy according to one’s dosha, soothing music, and soothing colors and plants in the environment.
Conclusion
There is an expression, the body is a temple; Ayurveda cleans and restores that temple to its original dignity. Through nurturing one's soul, mind, body, and lifestyle the all-to-common uncomfortable symptoms can be significantly reduced or eliminated. Women can again feel the goddess within radiating to the world.