Hello, thank you for the question. Right now, I don't know if I can recommend anything in writing. Much of what exists is either scattered across a number of medical texts, and/or kept in "oral lore" form.
1) cultivating awareness and attention is something that you can simply encourage by having conversations with them from time to time about different "signals" that come from their bodies - hunger, thirst, sleepiness, need to pee, along with various discomforts from time to time. These are not just experiences, but communications, which can be two-way if we choose. We do not have to heed every single such signal, but we should not cut off awareness of them entirely because that shuts down the possibility we might notice something that needs attended to.
2) the features of the cycle (to my mind) do not need to be fully understood before puberty, but certainly through the years of puberty it can be useful to understand that each cycle is a full set of seasons. The period itself is spring - spring cleaning, and new budding of a new egg. The post-period interval is summer - all about growing the egg to full bloom. Ovulation is autumn - the gathering/harvest of the egg, now sent on its way to the uterus. The post-ovulation interval is winter - the storage qualities of the uterus are what is important. At this point there can be a new period - a new spring, or, if a pregnancy occurred, the winter storage becomes extended, and the pregnancy itself becomes a slower four seasons. If one is "tuned" in to the energies of each of these four phases one can become healthier overall, and also one can modulate the experiences of the cycle to prevent them from being painful or difficult. (My own acupuncture treatments consist almost entirely of this kind of "tuning").
3) if one wants a better handle on matters of conception/contraception (ie - once one is old enough to be sexually active) one needs to know how to spot the signs of ovulation, as well as the period (usually hard to miss). These signs are, in particular, what is not taught, and what I find myself teaching over and over to very mature women. They are 1) learning the types and feel of fertile mucous which appears in the days prior to ovulation - this can generally be spotted with a quick inspection of the toilet paper whenever visiting the loo 2) the movement up and down of the position of the cervix within the vagina at different times of the cycle - this requires having a feel inside oneself from time to time, not everyone is into trying this, and it might be a better lesson to receive from a woman, in any case. 3) individual signs and symptoms that range from subtle to obvious - some women have ovulation pains, whereas others only experience more subtle changes apparent only when paying attention. 4) Basal body temperature charts (probably a good bit of info online about this). These are essential when trying to diagnose a functional fertility problem, but may be too much trouble for most women to keep otherwise. However, for someone who wants to be sure that they are detecting their ovulation properly, so as to use a non-medical approach to contraception, charting for 3-4 months will help you confirm this and feel secure in your timings and options. The important thing to know here is that one cannot become pregnant from about a day or two after ovulation has occurred. (But you need to know for certain that it HAS occurred, and a calendar won't tell you this). You can then use a combination of barrier methods (condoms, diaphragms) during the fertile times and nothing at all during the non fertile times. Whereas, if you want to become pregnant, the key is to make sure that you engage in unprotected sex often - daily or no more than 36 hours apart - between the end of the period and when you know ovulation has occurred. This way, you are unlikely to miss the "window" which is roughly the 1-2 days prior to ovulation during which unprotected sex is most likely to lead to a pregnancy.
This, hopefully is more an introduction to where to go looking for more information. There is a lot more. And I could probably go on and on... maybe I should write that book... ;)
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-11 10:55 am (UTC)1) cultivating awareness and attention is something that you can simply encourage by having conversations with them from time to time about different "signals" that come from their bodies - hunger, thirst, sleepiness, need to pee, along with various discomforts from time to time. These are not just experiences, but communications, which can be two-way if we choose. We do not have to heed every single such signal, but we should not cut off awareness of them entirely because that shuts down the possibility we might notice something that needs attended to.
2) the features of the cycle (to my mind) do not need to be fully understood before puberty, but certainly through the years of puberty it can be useful to understand that each cycle is a full set of seasons. The period itself is spring - spring cleaning, and new budding of a new egg. The post-period interval is summer - all about growing the egg to full bloom. Ovulation is autumn - the gathering/harvest of the egg, now sent on its way to the uterus. The post-ovulation interval is winter - the storage qualities of the uterus are what is important. At this point there can be a new period - a new spring, or, if a pregnancy occurred, the winter storage becomes extended, and the pregnancy itself becomes a slower four seasons. If one is "tuned" in to the energies of each of these four phases one can become healthier overall, and also one can modulate the experiences of the cycle to prevent them from being painful or difficult. (My own acupuncture treatments consist almost entirely of this kind of "tuning").
3) if one wants a better handle on matters of conception/contraception (ie - once one is old enough to be sexually active) one needs to know how to spot the signs of ovulation, as well as the period (usually hard to miss). These signs are, in particular, what is not taught, and what I find myself teaching over and over to very mature women. They are 1) learning the types and feel of fertile mucous which appears in the days prior to ovulation - this can generally be spotted with a quick inspection of the toilet paper whenever visiting the loo 2) the movement up and down of the position of the cervix within the vagina at different times of the cycle - this requires having a feel inside oneself from time to time, not everyone is into trying this, and it might be a better lesson to receive from a woman, in any case. 3) individual signs and symptoms that range from subtle to obvious - some women have ovulation pains, whereas others only experience more subtle changes apparent only when paying attention. 4) Basal body temperature charts (probably a good bit of info online about this). These are essential when trying to diagnose a functional fertility problem, but may be too much trouble for most women to keep otherwise. However, for someone who wants to be sure that they are detecting their ovulation properly, so as to use a non-medical approach to contraception, charting for 3-4 months will help you confirm this and feel secure in your timings and options. The important thing to know here is that one cannot become pregnant from about a day or two after ovulation has occurred. (But you need to know for certain that it HAS occurred, and a calendar won't tell you this). You can then use a combination of barrier methods (condoms, diaphragms) during the fertile times and nothing at all during the non fertile times. Whereas, if you want to become pregnant, the key is to make sure that you engage in unprotected sex often - daily or no more than 36 hours apart - between the end of the period and when you know ovulation has occurred. This way, you are unlikely to miss the "window" which is roughly the 1-2 days prior to ovulation during which unprotected sex is most likely to lead to a pregnancy.
This, hopefully is more an introduction to where to go looking for more information. There is a lot more. And I could probably go on and on... maybe I should write that book... ;)