Love Your Blood: How to Have a Next Level Period With Menstrual Cups

How enthusiastic are you about putting a small rubber cup in your vagina to collect your menstrual blood?

If your answer is not “Extremely Enthusiastic!!” then I invite you to reconsider, because menstrual cups are amazing and, I believe, the way of the future.

I started using a menstrual cup about a year ago. I was in Ojai, California, when I got my period for the first time in almost five years. I hadn’t so much as blinked at a tampon since before college, but something about leaving NYC and having lots of sex in the Joshua Tree desert apparently jumpstarted my lady parts, so there I was living out of a car, leaking blood and totally unprepared.

After my initial “OH GOD IT’S MURDER DOWN THERE” reaction, I ceded to my boyfriend’s suggestion that I get a Diva Cup. It sounded weird and awful, but he had a lot of weird ideas that turned out well so I went with it.

A lot of women are squeamish about menstrual cups when they first hear about them. I definitely was.

Yes, the cups are awkward to get in and out.

Yes, using one requires you to be a bit more intimate with your menstrual blood.

And I recommend them to anyone. I jump at the chance to talk about them to anyone who will listen, because I really believe they can improve women’s lives and make the world a better place.

1.    Budget. The Diva Cup costs like $40 at Whole Foods or $30 on Amazon. And then you’re done. No more buying boxes of tampons or pads. You can stop complaining about the stupid “luxury item” tax on women’s health products. (It is real stupid though.)

If you go through a box of tampons every two cycles, you’re probably going to spend like $80 on them every year.

2.    Environment. Tampons and pads are packaged in tons of plastic. All that stuff is just going to the landfill.

3.    Vagina health. Did you know that most tampons and pads are laced with dangerous chemicals? Chlorine bleach, pesticides, polyethylene, polypropylene, propylene glycol, etc. These are chemicals with serious, proven risks to your health.

You don’t want that in your yoni!! It is your sacred ever-expanding temple of bliss! It is a portal to the highest source of reality, embedded in your body! It absorbs stuff directly into your bloodstream! Don’t put chemicals there!!!

4.    No leaking. If it fits right! I’ve used the classic Diva Cup and a Mexican version that I got in Guadalajara, which leaked all the time and was much less comfortable to get in. (Sorry Mexico, I still love you.) But the Diva basically never leaks, even if I leave it in all day.

5.    Feeding your plants. Menstrual blood is an incredibly potent substance, filled with nutrients and vital energy. (It was going to grow a baby, right?) Instead of throwing it out, collect it in your cup, pour it on a plant and watch it grow. J

6.    Love your blood. Who said we have to be grossed out by menstrual blood? Why is the stuff of life, the materialization of creative power, something we should be ashamed of?

It’s no secret that our society has a problem with female power. The system of Western Christian/post-Christian capitalism runs on fear and suppression of feminine energy and sexuality. It looks so open and progressive, but scratch the surface and it’s the same old Puritan prudishness.

Women are either virgins or whores. There’s not much space for the Goddess when corporations are hijacking sexuality to sell stuff.

Anyway, this whole capitalist machine is telling women that we have to be ashamed of our bodies. We’re only acceptable if we fit into a neat little box with a pretty pink bow around it. Our feminine power has to be shut down, ignored, kept in the dark.

I’m calling bullshit. Love your body. Love your blood. Love Shakti in your body. Love Shakti in the rhythms of the world, the pulsing of the moon and the seasons, the swinging hips of elephants, the bliss of skin bathing in sunlight.

Look closely at your blood. Meditate on it. Watch the changing colors and textures, different every day as your cycle waxes and wanes.

Bless the liquid in your little cup, and never be afraid.

Cup tips

When I got my first menstrual cup in Ojai, I spent probably half an hour in the bathroom, trying to get the thing in.

I don’t know what I was expecting but it was much larger and firmer than I had in mind. Usually that’s a nice surprise when you’re about to put something in your vagina, but I’m not going to lie, putting the cup in for the first time is tough.

You have to kind of fold it and (very important!!) relax your muscles to let it slide in and pop open. The instruction diagrams actually make it seem more complicated than it is.

Once it’s in, you can kind of squeeze it or squat and hug your knees to get it to sit right.

It feels weird going in and out but once it’s settled you really don’t feel anything!

There’s definitely a learning curve though. Getting it out also takes some practice. It’s some combination of pushing, pulling it back and forth to break the suction and relaxing enough so you can pull it straight out. Be prepared for some blood spillage the first few times.

There are a lot of menstrual cups on the market now. TheSweethome.com has a nice review of different ones for different vagina shapes.

After your cycle, sterilize the cup in boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Don’t use soap!

So that’s the menstruation cup. You can get one at most health food stores, Whole Foods or online. And now, a poem from Yeshe Tsogyal:

The Supreme Being is the Dakini Queen of the Lake of Awareness!
I have vanished into fields of lotus-light, the plenum of dynamic space,
To be born in the inner sanctum of an immaculate lotus;
Do not despair, have faith!

When you have withdrawn attachment to this rocky defile,
This barbaric Tibet, full of war and strife,
Abandon unnecessary activity and rely on solitude.
Practice energy control, purify your psychic nerves and seed-essence,
And cultivate mahamudra and Dsokchen.

The Supreme Being is the Dakini Queen of the Lake of Awareness!
Attaining humility, through Guru Pema Jungne's compassion I followed him,
And now I have finally gone into his presence;
Do not despair, but pray!

When you see your karmic body as vulnerable as a bubble,
Realising the truth of impermanence, and that in death you are helpless,
Disabuse yourself of fantasies of eternity,
Make your life a practice of sadhana,
And cultivate the experience that takes you to the place where Ati ends.

Into Great Blandness: My Experience of Ohsawa Macrobiotic Diet #7

So I just ate brown rice, more brown rice, and almost nothing else for 10 days.

Welcome to Ohsawa’s diet #7, the classic macrobiotic cleanse.

The basic principle of macrobiotics is that foods are either yin (receptive) or yang (emissive). Most of our diet is very yin, which can make a person kind of soft and mushy, overly sensitive, and weaken the immune system.

Grains are perfectly balanced yin/yang, so if you only eat grains for a while your system can pull itself into balance. Also, since you’re almost fasting, the digestive fire is free to detox and purify your body and energy.

What you can eat:

·      Brown rice

·      Millet

·      Buckwheat

·      Whole wheat

·      Barley

·      Bulgur

·      High-quality tamari soy sauce (in small amounts)

·      Roasted sesame seeds

·      Some teas but not the nice ones

·      Sea salt

I’m not exactly an ascetic person. I love eating and usually eat too much, and I’m hooked on blazing-hot Indian and Thai spices. So 10 days of the blandest food possible seemed like something I actually needed, as well as appealing to my kind of hardcore spiritual athlete ego side.

I first heard about the diet last year and finally got around to trying it. I ended up doing it while my life partner/favorite human Ran was away for two weeks, which added an extra challenge of loneliness.

It was tough. Cool by the end but definitely tough. I took some notes every day, which I wanted to share for the benefit of anyone else who wants to try this diet.

Day 1

Rice, rice, rain. Missing Ran.

Day 2

Rice in the afternoon. Hungry but already have to force myself to finish the bowl. Cabin fever, desperate loneliness, lack of prana.

Things start to turn around when I go into town and drink tea at the Black Sheep. The taste is incredibly strong. I drive to Whole Foods later and feel a sudden burst of inner energy. I’m tired and weak, have to rest in the car and mentally draw in energy, but after kung fu class I feel very strong and clear, almost like the morning after ayahuasca.

Millet for dinner – very exciting to have something different.

That feeling when you realize that if you love someone, inevitably either they will die first and you will have to grieve for them or you will die and they will grieve for you.

Day 3

Woke up feeling like everything was going to be ok. Warm energy in meditation, huge heat in nauli kriya. Called Ran, so happy to hear his voice and then miss him even more thinking about Shabbat.

Burned the millet. Ate it anyways, not really hungry or interested in tastes.

Going towards Shabbat and even though I’ve been feeling pretty down on Judaism lately, I’m thinking wistfully of that silly bread and grape juice. It’s clear how much my food attachment isn’t about food at all. I miss the cooking, the time and space shared with people I love, the jolt of pleasure, the expectation and satisfaction. When I start missing Ran, immediately my thoughts jump towards craving food. I feel like if I was eating normally I could dull the pain of missing him, or if he was here I wouldn’t miss food either.

Day 4

Indigestion and vivid, unsettling dreams in the night. Vamana dauti upon waking up, helped a little but still very low energy, felt weak and almost delirious until eating some millet around noon. Went for a walk in the woods and felt much better, absorbing energy from the sun and trees, then did yoga. In general I’m tired but my senses are very sharp and energy channels open, going deep in meditation and hearing the nada very clearly. I have almost like a fever at times, the cleansing is strong, I’m trying to embrace it – physical and emotional purification symptoms – and do lots of tonglen. This diet is starting to have the feeling of going into a retreat.

Day 5

Woke up at 10:30 (!!!) – sex dreams again – and sleepy already by 9:30pm. Otherwise feeling pretty good. I walked a little in the woods, bare feet in the leaves was like an orgasm.

Thinking wistfully about normal food but not bad. Millet around noon, made whole wheat “pancakes” and rice for dinner.

Day 6

Stronger today and feeling very pure, the soul of the world flowing through me. Listening to lots of Hebrew music and it’s stirring some latent Jewish embers. Ali ruhi ali naphshi ali ali…

Beautiful clouds and snow on the ground.

Deep gratitude for the holy teachings in my life, for being shown that there are ways out.

Day 7

Water has so much flavor!!

“I wouldn’t have sought after you if I hadn’t found you already.”

Day 8

Pleasantly surprised I’ve made it this far.

Lots of energy now. Night yoga until late, woke up around 8. Writing love poems from the soul to the Self and from the Self to the soul.

Enjoying the taste of water and rice, salt, tea.

Some disturbing emotions because Ran is unhappy and his flight is delayed until Tuesday, and we just lost our main writing gig. If I wasn’t on this diet I know I would be stress eating.

Energy crash in the afternoon. My body is yearning for rest, and before I fell asleep on the couch I felt a sort of release, like some deep tension was working its way to the surface. Slept for two hours, in a depression for the rest of the evening.

Day 9

Woke up ravenously hungry.

Heightened sense of hearing and I can smell everything, by which I mean every food item within 100 yards.

I didn’t get to eat dinner until 11pm but I don’t feel so enslaved to hunger and taste as usual.

Day 10

Here I am at the end, and very grateful for this journey. I feel great today, very balanced and sublimated, and also suddenly not lonely anymore.

Went to Whole Foods to stock up on stuff to eat tomorrow, including some treats for Shabbat dinner tonight: black rice and wild rice. Wild rice isn’t technically rice but it is a true grain so I guess it’s ok for the last night.

Hard to believe it’s been only ten days!

Breaking the fast

Ohhhhhhh I can taste the universe in this piece of kale.

Everything is delicious!! So many flavors!

Wowwwwww

End notes

I’m very glad that I went through with this cleanse. I felt so clean and strong by the end and I was having deep meditations, like I was less firmly bound to the material realm. Even now, five days later, my senses are still heightened, especially taste and smell. (My sense of smell was always pretty weak.)

Psychologically, it showed me my attachment to food/sense pleasures and what it’s like to be without it. Instead of grabbing a snack when I felt unfulfilled, I had to go inside and find the source of pleasure.

The enjoyment that we get from food is just a reflection of the bliss within. If I go after the external reflection, it’s easy to miss the direct light.

I had some weird food cravings though. First for coconut oil, then ghee, then red meat. (Plus a constant longing for fresh fruits and vegetables, especially carrots and kale.) I haven’t touched meat in years and never missed it, so it was a strange thing. I even dreamed about eating meat before the last day of the diet.

By the last two days, I was looking forward to my plain rice.

I’d definitely recommend Ohsawa #7 to anyone, especially yogis who want a strong detox and a face-to-face confrontation with the senses. You can (eventually) feel really good and be proud of eating more boring food than anyone else.