Hormone Health, Yoga and Design

Welcome to a health and wellness destination for women experiencing perimenopause, menopause, endometriosis, adenomyosis and hormone imbalance. Have you seen Siobhan’s new book? It might answer a lot of your questions about what is happening with your hormones.

“This book was so helpful. I kept bleeding excessively and my doctor gave me one option; to take out my uterus. Siobhan presents research, insight and tools I had not been told.” Susan

Welcome to Leaf & Friends

New book

Final+eBook+cover.jpg
 

WHEN YOU’RE AT YOUR WEAKEST AND EVERYONE IS PRESSURING YOU TO TAKE THE DOCTOR’S ADVICE BUT IT FEELS VERY WRONG.

Experiencing a health crisis can be lonely. I did not want to burden my family while we were in Covid lockdowns. I needed more information which my surgeon did not offer. Every time I pushed back she told me it was my only option. I was told I potentially had cancer. I was told I had kidney stones, I was told I had fibroids, I was told it was bruised ribs. Every hospital emergency visit ended with a different diagnosis, if any at all. With everything going in the world I never connected the dots.

This book will help you connect the dots and provide valuable insight.

 

Learn More. Join Our Email List

 

R E V I E W S

“I HAD NO IDEA! THANK YOU”
M.K. Philidelphia, USA

I WENT THROUGH THE SAME THING!”
J.T. London, UK

YOUR PROTOCOL HELPED WITH MY PAIN ATTACKS. THANK YOU”
S.S. Melbourne, Australia

“WHY ARE WOMEN IGNORED AND TOLD ITS ALL IN THEIR HEADS? THANKS FOR YOUR INSIGHT”
C.S. NewYork, USA

GREAT HORMONE BALANCING TOOLS!
F.A. Montreal, Canada

”LIFESTYLE TOOLS SHE SHOULD BE LEARNING AT A YOUNG AGE TO AVOID FUTURE PROBLEMS”
T.G. Paris, France

 
 

Products + Services

Below are my recommendations for products and services I’ve tried and believe in. These are affiliate programs with the companies directly (with a discount code for you) or with Amazon. Use the code for a discount.

 

Lifestyle changes, products and services I love and encourage my friends to use, try and buy.

 

Pelvic Floor Support

The Vagina Coach provides insight and classes every woman should know about. She’s designed multiple courses which help women with uterine issues, urinary issues, prolapses, pelvic pain along with valuable pelvic structure insight. Little did I know that women should have annual pelvic floor physio. Use Leaf100 for the discount.

10% off her courses

 

Healthy Skin and Radiant Face

Lanshin is the creation of Sandra Lanshin Chiu. She is a TCM practitioner in New York. Her online courses are fantastic to learn about your skin health and improve your its appearance. Since taking her classes I practice gua sha daily and get endless comments on the glow of my complexion. Use Leaf100 for the discount.

 

Molecular Hydrogen

Molecular hydrogen reduces inflammation in the body. Breathing and drinking molecular water have restorative effects for many ailments. My Dad has been drinking the water for two weeks and we are noticing a shift in his dementia.

Leaf100 for a 10% discount.

 

Blog

Health & Design

 

HOrmones anyone?

How we can Balance them without too much fuss.

We have a lot of them. They go up and they go down. It would be great to simply press “reset” and wait for the body to reboot, and start anew - fresh and without any glitches.

It might be hard to believe but there is one “button” aka habit, I’ve been practicing for a few years which might be viewed as a reset button. I initially started this habit due to sleep issues and no longer wanting to stay in bed. I’d get up predawn, bored from staring at the ceiling or not being able to fall back to sleep. I’d sit up, pull on a few layers of clothing and walk into the kitchen. First step was to turn on the radio and listen to foreign public radio, ABC or BBC depending on the hour. While waiting for my water to heat I’d make prepare the matcha powder, put on boots and parka, hat and mittens. I’d pour the matcha into a portable ceramic cup and make my way outside. There was something magical about watching the morning light appear. I had no idea why I loved it so much. It became a race every morning to get outside just as daybreak took hold. By mid March I’d hear the geese returning and know spring was not far off. It gave me hope with all the challenges I was facing.

Fast-forward a few years and I learned about circadian rhythms and how the photons from the sun will naturally balance my hormones without supplementing. If we can make them endogenously, its best not to supplement, even vitamin D. I’d been taking bio-idential hormones to quell the acute pain attacks and blood loss but now I’ve been off them for a few years and still no pain.

While I dive deeper into circadian rhythms and quantum biology I’m learning how simple it can be. Get up and see sunrise, go out at UVA rise, see the sun at noon and watch the sun set. Yes there are lots of little in-between habits to help we could do but ultimatey its starts with this. Can this work? Can something so simple really make that much difference to my health?

Yes.

It Started with Back Pain, and I Overcame it. Perimenopause, Hormone Hell, Fibroids, Cancer or Endometriosis

Available on Amazon Canada, US, UK and Australia.


 
Leaf the Bunny showing his yoga muscles

Leaf the Bunny

Meet Leaf the Hungry Yoga Bunny.

He is my alter ego and the little voice in my head. While teacher training in Iyengar yoga I created quick sketches of him to demonstrate the yoga postures and sequences, their health benefits along with a diary of my daily challenges. Those health challenges, which I did not realise at the time, were the first symptoms of perimenopause. I was not sick, my body was talking to me and I tried to ignore it or medicate the symptoms away. For months I ran from one specialist to another never thinking they were connected to one root cause. While endeavouring to lower my estrogen level I removed all phthalates (found in cosmetics), and xenoestrogens (in food, water, air, clothing). I even changed my cookware to get rid of teflon which off-gasses. Our everyday simple lives can be triggering to our hormones.

Leaf in a yoga pose
Leaf looking at the ingredients in shampoo
 

Edit, Edit, Edit

I have just submitted the last edit of my book. Its hard to grasp how many edits are required before the final publishing. I find editing harder that writing; typos, images placed in the right spots to align with the story which needs to flow without grammatical glitches. During the long phase of writing and editing the book, I’ve watched endometriosis and adenomyosis enter more into mainstream media, much like perimenopause. This is not the result of more women suffering, one in 10 women are said to suffer diagnosed. Since it takes roughly 10 years to diagnose the real number of women suffering will be much higher. Sadly there is still no easy solution and while many physicians treat the symptoms, the underlying cause goes on to wreak havoc since the body’s communication system is being silenced with temporary bandaids which will ultimately stop working. While allopathic treatments work for a short period, lifestyle changes are the best route to be pain-free long term and potentially heal the body. Lifestyle health additions such as breath work, meditation and yoga keep the pain attacks at bay and heal. The end goal is to balance the hormone system and keep the body in homeostasis. Leptin, a master hormone is release when we wake and see the full spectrum of light at sunrise. This might be one reason we have so much more chronic disease now because we rarely see that full spectrum compounded due to the full blue spectrum we get from modern lighting and tech devices. Avoiding supplements like Vitamin D (really its a hormone and not a vitamin), increasing our exposure to natural light to get vitamin D through the skin, and placing our feet on the ground to increase the magnetism in our bodies. There a so many little shifts we can do but the last two are the basics. Winter is coming? No problem. Rise with the sun, go outside at dawn and our bodies will create more melatonin to heal and repair during the darker months. I used to the dread dark days of winter but now with circadian biology I do not experience the season depression and find my body craves more sleep. At the peak of summer I got up at 5 am for sunrise. Now its nearing 7:10. Its lovely to sleep in until later in the morning.

My dive into circadian and quantum biology continues. Follow along for insights and ways to eat with the seasons to benefit the body. I feel stronger and more vibrant since starting this journey.

 

Books I recommend

There are affiliate links in this post. Read my disclosure policy to learn more.

Lara Briden

Period Repair Manual

The manual boys, girls, men and woman should read. Why we don’t learn the basic in school is concerning. Everyone is affected by a woman’s cycle so understanding it better will help everyone. Read this book, give it to family and friends. It contains valuable that helped me before I discovered that I had endometriosis AND after: what to do and when…

Lara Briden

Hormone Repair Manual

All of Lara Briden’s books are a must read, and re-read. I’ve used the book to prepare for medical meetings with the surgeon and requested specific drugs the surgeon did not even know were currently available.

James Nestor

Breath

To manage anxiety, improve sleep and for overall wellness; read this book, AND apply the tools. I kept my endometriosis at bay after the initial series of pain attacks once I did daily breath-work.

 

About

 

Leaf and Friends is a wellness site created by Siobhan Donoghue. All content is copyrighted. To share please contact us directly at the email listed below.