For thousands of years women have been using a variety of self-care secrets to manage or treat pain and other issues associated with menstruation, naturally regulate their cycle and promote pregnancy, and later heal from childbirth.
Here we reveal in succession, six self-care Traditional Chinese Medicine and East-Asian folk practices that may assist women in modern times.
We recognise their value in natural health, because of their time-tested and health-promoting reputation, traversing centuries through lineages of healers. We recognise also that some methods have not yet gained evidence, however, we welcome you to reach further into them if they resonate with you, and most importantly experience them for yourself at home.
Women’s Secret #4 VAGINAL STEAM (aka. yoni steam/V-steam).
What is a Vaginal Steam?
Vaginal steams are an ancient method of self-care for women; an aspect of many healing lineages and indicated in the South East Asian healing practices. If this is the first you’ve heard of V-steaming they might sound a bit intimidating, but the consensus from women is they are a gentle, calming, and therapeutic way to connect within to women’s womb space. Potentially in this masculinised culture we engage with every day, connecting with ourselves in this way may feel strange at first but after relaxing into it, it may enhance your women’s intuition and (as focused on in this post) potentially promote women’s health and wellness on many levels.
Yoni steaming is to sit or squat (lower body unrobed) over a warm, lightly steaming pot of herbal liquid, then wrapping the low body with a large blanket to contain the steam over the area of the vulva. Its function is to warm and infuse the exposed area and have the herbs interact with the body through this highly vascularized region.
It has its roots in ancient east Asian women’s healing practices, and traditionally used for issues such as infertility, menstrual pain and clots, postpartum recovery and to soothe menopausal shifts. V-steam is also practiced as a health routine for nourishing and strengthening the women’s pelvic organs.
While there is little evidence for vaginal steams in any condition the folk medicine tradition is compelling. Acupuncture points in the low body (groin, inner thighs, low abdomen, and sacrum) are on meridians that connect to the reproductive organs and are used in acupuncture treatments to support women’s health conditions.
In the Chinese medicine traditions herbal steaming was used as a delivery method for herbal medicine thought to manage conditions or promote health, steaming was for its therapeutic effect.
The herbs selected for use are different depending on the women’s needs and traditional method used however our top 5 include; Mugwort, dried tangerine peel, turmeric, honeysuckle flower, and ginger or better yet, galangal. It may be best if you want to give v-steaming a go to read more about it first in these great articles.
For more women health secrets check out
- Secret #1 MOXIBUSTION
- Secret #2 MEDITATION
- Secret #3 SELF ABDOMINAL MASSAGE
- Secret #4 VAGINAL STEAM
- Secret #5 HERBAL FOOT SOAKS
- Secret #6 WOMENS EXERCISE
To get further help with a course of acupuncture treatment for your women’s health, natural fertility, or assisted fertility care, book online today.
Find us on Facebook and Instagram for many more tips, bio-hacks, and natural health discussions to learn how lifestyle, diet, acupuncture, and Chinese medicine can assist in your fertility journey or women’s health needs.
