Today begins a new weekly series called Pelvis Wellness Wednesday.  I have developed an Independent Study as part of my final semester in the MA in Integrative Health Studies program at CIIS.  My module is called Anatomy, Physiology, Energetics and Politics of the Female Pelvis.  I am really excited about the opportunity to dive deeply into female pelvis wellness.

I will be posting here each Wednesday a little snapshot of what I have gleaned from the super exciting collection of readings I have lined up for the semester.  I started with Woman by Natalie Angier.  This book is packed with 400 hundred pages of really fascinating details about the female body that probably most of us with female bodies don’t even know is going on inside!

“The vagina is both path and journey, tunnel and traveler” is one metaphor that keeps rolling around in my head (Angier, pg. 62).  Just think about each of those realities.  I was fascinated to learn that the female fetus already has 6-7 million eggs inside her at 20 weeks gestation (Angier, pg. 2).

In terms of understanding vaginal wellness, it is useful to know that the pH of the vagina at 3.8-4.5, on par with red wine, falls in between a lemon at pH 2 and coffee at pH 5 and that semen, at pH 8 can affect the acid/base balance for hours after intercourse (Angier, pgs. 59-60).  Douching kills the protective qualities of lactobacilli in the vagina and can open the door to infection (Angier, pg. 60).  Even though some women are more prone to pH imbalance in the vagina, we aren’t designed to be sanitized.

I hope that I will be able to share with you new knowledge and insights focused on Pelvis Wellness each Wednesday and quite possibly more often as well!