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Trust your bodyBy Hannah Ransom

Imagine a scenario in which?a patient is’seeking the help of a practitioner for pain in?her wrist. Practitioner number one does a physical examination, has an assistant take x-rays, examines the x-rays, and may talk to’the patient?for a moment about what’the patient?does?with her wrist. She ends the consultation by prescribing a pill daily, a brace to be worn by the patient, and?recommends cutting?down on wrist movement as much as possible. Practitioner 1 notes that 90% of’the wrist pain should be gone in X amount of days and that there could be a few side effects from the pills.

Practitioner number two has a long discussion with’the patient?about not only what’she does?with her wrist, but what is going on in the rest of?her life, if anything changed around the time that her wrist started hurting, etc.Practitioner 2?would likely give?her a couple of ideas, and perhaps even provide a couple of treatments that may not seem related at all.Practitioner 2?would encourage?her to examine a couple spots in?her life that seem to be related, though’she doesn’t understand the relation at all, and?practitioner 2?would tell?her to tune into her wrist and ask what it wants.

Who would you visit for medical advice? Most people in our culture would certainly choose practitioner number one. They have the education, so they should be able to figure out what is wrong and how to fix it with a drug that is patented and approved. Practitioner number two is likely labeled a quack, since they seem to focus on unrelated things, aren’t quickly decreasing your pain in whatever way possible, and are asking you to participate heavily in your own journey back to health.

Unfortunately, in our culture we are taught to trust medical professionals above all else. This is even true in terms of alternative practitioners. We believe that they have the education and skills that we need and we look for the ?hero? to help us out of whatever situation we are in. What do I mean by the hero? We want someone to figure out what is wrong with us and intervene with our bodies’ processes and stop whatever symptom we are currently experiencing. We want them to do this through proven scientific processes that we?may not understand so much, but that are developed for the sake of making our bodies in accordance with our will.

Overall, we have not considered that our bodies in totality are a reaction to their environment. We harbor certain beliefs that if we just do things in a different way we will reach salvation, but rather we may need to think things a different way, notice things a different way, ask our bodies what they want and see the signs they are trying to show us.

My biggest concern with our culture not trusting our bodies is in the realm of birth control. Many healthy women choose to voluntarily course artificial hormones throughout their bodies. Many women choose to implant devices into sensitive bodily areas (Side note: ever notice how any birth control method for men is almost completely innocuous?) all in the name of the ?higher good,? which of course is not having children.

I have two issues with this. First is that those are not the only effective methods of contraception. Second, I believe that it is blatant disregard for our bodies, particularly women’s bodies.

This is a particular issue that I come across as a teacher of the sympto-thermal method of fertility awareness. Women can easily identify their fertile times of a cycle, while ALSO noticing what is going on with their bodies and not distorting any processes that are meant to happen in any healthy individual. Being able to do this and still have an amazingly effective form of birth control is a huge boon; regardless, most women do not trust their own bodies enough to even think about practicing the method.

This is not because they are women, this is due to the fact that we have been inundated with information that anything trusting the body over a credentialed practitioner is not to be trusted. Our bodies are only mechanisms that hold us back and are there as a liability, breaking down more and more each day.

The first ‘treatments? we should seek are those that we can use all of the time. Rest, good food, love, changing thought patterns, etc. These lead to overall better relationships with our bodies and will not cause unwanted side effects. The sympto-thermal method fits in here because not only does it not destroy our fertile period, which is a healthy process our body naturally goes through, but we understand and tune into our bodies better. This leads to overall better health because we are able to both trust in our bodies and understand better what is happening with them and what they are trying to tell us.

Hannah Ransom teaches?a live,?online?Symptothermal Method of Fertility Awareness class the last Saturday of every month through the 180D Get Help program. Price has been reduced for the July class to just $79 (normally $100) and includes private follow-up consultation with Hannah?after class.