Season 2 Episode 5: The Cycles and Phases of the Feminine Body with Usha Anandi
Usha Anandi was fifteen years old and was on the pill
when she started down the path of recognizing how disconnected womb health
and our understanding of our womb is from the rest of our body in our current medical structure. None of the medical practitioners she encountered provided concrete answers for her and that’s when she decided to take her journey into her own hands towards healing.
Usha explains how just as Mother Earth experiences seasons, so do women. The first phase is the follicular phase or what Usha calls the “inner spring” because that’s when its freshness comes over our body and it begins once the blood of your menstrual cycle stops; the next is the ovulatory phase or the “inner summer” where we experience our ovulation or the peak of fertility; the luteal phase or “inner autumn” is when estrogen falls and progesterone rises which increases the linings of our uterus; lastly is menstruation or “inner winter” where progesterone falls and triggers the release of the endometrium and the shedding or the release of blood.
Patriarchy, racism, and classicism have impacted modern-day gynecology and midwifery and a lot or procedures were developed through experimenting with black and enslaved women. The women who continued the tradition of midwifery were black but 90% of midwives in the US are now white women. Now, it has become highly medicalized, industrialized, and attended by obstetrical practitioners.
Usha Anandi’s work is focused on revolutionizing the way modern healthcare serves the sacred and the ancient within each woman. She founded Womben Wellness and is a holistic nutritionist, childbirth educator, full-spectrum doula, and herbalist.
What we discuss…
02:10 – Usha’s Journey
11:02 – Cycles and phases
19:33 – Inner spring
23:43 – Inner summer
28:46 – Inner autumn
33:19 – Inner winter
37:43 – Origins of Gynecology and Midwifery
50:14 – Empowering reconnection and trust in the body
59:03 – Abortion and sexual education
Learn more from Usha:
Websites: wombenwellness.com
Instagram: @wombenwellness
Learn more about the Global Sisterhood
Website: www.globalsisterhood.org
Instagram: @theglobalsisterhood