Charting your menstrual cycle is the process of learning what your body is telling you every single day of the year. The process of charting is taught to women who want:
- A natural method of birth control that does not disrupt the natural rhythms of the body.
- To conceive and therefore learn when is the optimum time to fall pregnant.
- Eradicate painful and irregular menstrual cycles as the charts provide a diagnostic tool and picture which indicates what is going on in their body.
As a Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner who has worked with many women with all very different cycles – it is the power of charting that continues to amaze me. When a women walks into my practice she has a specific goal for the method (birth control, falling pregnant or reproductive health). However, her journey that she will embark on is far greater than the intended aim she came to see me about. What do I mean by this?
I have seen women who come to me because they are battling to conceive and through the process of charting everyday they have realised that it’s not their body failing them but rather their situation they find themselves in. An example is where clients realise that it’s the relationship that is not conducive to bringing another life into this world and they have realised this simply by monitoring their female bodily changes every day. It is this process that goes far beyond a theoretical method but rather one that enables one to open up to what is really going on and what your body is trying to tell you which makes us STOP and listen to what our body, mind and soul is telling us.
I have seen clients who have battled for years going from doctor to doctor in search of answers, spending thousands of Rands on finding an answer to their menstrual and health related problems. Through charting women see that the changes are lifestyle changes that are required and very few doctors will suggest this. Lifestyle, diet and stress are huge factors affecting our modern lifestyle more than we would like to admit but it is this we find so hard to change.
Charting is a physical process of observing, and writing down what your body is physiologically doing on a daily basis. However, it can have huge effects on our emotional state as we see how we are abusing our body in our current lifestyle choices. It is also emotional when we have had pasts that we haven’t dealt with and continue to hide under the carpet. It is the physical process of charting that helps alleviate the hurt of the past so that one can move on and make amends so the body can heal.
Therefore, charting is far more than a method for me – it is life changing and affects the physical, mental and emotional side of women and therefore enabling a women to be entirely complete (mind, body and soul.)