Jelly Bellies + Letting Go!

Happy April Sisters!

I am sure we have all heard of the saying 'April showers bring May flowers' and today we dig a little deeper into that popular saying. 

As I mentioned last month, the Spring season is symbolic of a fertile time in our year. 

We are breaking free from the hibernation of winter and starting to plant seeds for our future. 

(If you want to read more about the symbolism and meaning of Spring you can find info here)

But, as always, Mother Nature has a way of reminding us about process, honouring rhythms, and embracing cycles. 

The showers of April are a potent, token teaching from her.

The moments when the clouds are full and luminous about to let go of her hourly, daily, monthly fluid through her own purification ritual, rain. 

Reminding us, that we too must prepare for our monthly Moon cycle.

Just as the rain water nourishes the seeds and supports their growth, the fluids in our bodies nourish our dreams, visions, systems, and creativity. 

This includes menstrual fluid. 

Each month, in preparation for menstruation, our bodies go through a cycle which is referred to as PMS. 

This week in our monthly cycle is symbolic of this month ~ April. 

The month can be dreary, wet, with fluctuating temperatures, a deeper connection to our physical body, and keep us craving more sunlight. 

During PMS we might feel the exact same way. 

Sad, lethargic, depressed, emotional, angry, distant, full, intense cravings, heavy, luminous, tender, hungry...

What we forget is that our body is hard at work internally in preparation for this inner purification ritual we flow through each month and instead of embracing it, we try to avoid it, mask it, tuck it in, starve it, loathe it, ignore it, hide from it, or eat our way through it.

So what does this have to do with Jelly Bellies you might be asking....

Imagine you are hard at work, like literally, at your work, and instead of your desk/office you are locked in a small closet. 

In this closet there is enough room for you and your computer or whatever else you use to get your work done. 

It is only high enough for you to crouch and wide enough for you to sit. 

And each and every day you are stuck in this small container working away....every single day. 

You don't get a day off at this job.

If this was really your 'office' do you think you would get your job done efficiently and effectively or be very happy?

This is what it is like for your womb IF you don't give Her some room to do her job. 

On average our uterus is 2-3 ounces. 

During this stage in our monthly cycle, PMS, She can fill out to 7-8 ounces. 

This is why we feel full and heavy.... She is!

Sadly, due to our ego, uninformed ways, and body obsessed culture, our poor womb is working in the same locked 'closet' we imagined for ourselves... our sucked in bellies. 

(Sorry if you got your hopes up thinking this was going to be about the candies ;) )

One of my teachers once said ''we want jelly belly's'' in yoga, not ripped, six-pack abs. 

It has stuck with me for the past seven years and is something I practice daily!

Sucking in our bellies, even over toning the superficial abdominal muscles like the well known six pack, is hard on our uterus (womb). 

Really ALL of our belly and reproductive organs. 

(But that is a whole big can of jelly bellies we are not going to go in to today)

My intention is this...

Sucking in is changing the pressure on your abdominal cavity and creating a lot of upward pressure and energy in an area of your body, that during this time in your cycle, needs to move fluid down and out soon. 

It effects your ability to take full, deep breaths, and therefore your ability to handle stress, cope with emotions, and rest (instead of indulge) in cravings. 

Sucking in can physiologically affect your entire menstrual cycle and how well you adapt to it and through it, as well as how it effects you on all other levels ~ mentally, emotionally, even Spiritually. 

A six pack won't get you any closer to the Divine!

But a full belly that can accept breath, creation, birth, conception, dissolution, and letting go might though. 

So we practice letting go, this month and during this week every month. 

We let go of our need to suck it in, to fit societies 'norms', the pressures of 'should', and our need to control, fit in, or resist change. 

Instead this tribe of women will practice radical acceptance of their jelly bellies!

We will love her, embrace her.

Let her be full with hope, seeds, fertile, heavy, BE-YOU-tiful. 

She has birthed babies, ideas, businesses, dreams. 

Inspired visions, intuition, instinct. 

Give her the space She needs to do her job and with great ease, efficiency, and sustainability.

I am not saying it will be easy, but I am saying it will be worth it.  

"This is how I stand: spine-strong,

rooting feet into earth, reaching crown into sky,

my belly pulsing with the beat

of this woman's blood.

My home is this body
and this breath, this mother's gift.
I call myself Belly Queen
because these are words for a woman
who owns herself." 

~Lisa Sarasohn

*P.S. If my teachings on this or any other topic has intrigued or inspired you be sure to check out my {NEWEST} and very exciting program The JOY Circle

Find out more about Megan, her trainings, programs, and public classes at www.megancampbell.ca