PHOTOS: ONEWORLDDiscover a deep connection to yourself and your
environment and learn how to tune in to your cycle
and create hormonal harmony, emotional stability
and inner wellbeing. Dr Amanda Waaldyk explains
how to reduce stress in your life, welcome relaxation
and nourish a healthy, happy body.
balance
A life in
88
may/june 2017yogajournal.com.auBALANCE IN OUR MODERN LIFE is
becoming increasingly difficult to
maintain. We are living a more
accelerated and fast-paced life in the
pursuit to ‘have it all’. From the
boardroom to the kitchen, in between
juggling being superhuman, mother,
wife, partner and lover, there is an
unwavering truth ... we are paying the
price for having it all. And sadly, it’s our
health and wellbeing that is suffering.
If we look back through history,
women had a close relationship with
nature and the moon. Women’s
menstrual cycles followed the moon
cycle. A new moon signified the start
of menses and a full moon indicated
women were ovulating. By following the
cycles of nature, women could optimise
their health and intuition. Today, the
modern woman has been thrown into
disharmony, forgetting how to live
within the cycles of nature, thereby
losing connection to herself and her
environment.THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
A great way to understanding how
our body maintains this equilibrium
is to look at our endocrine (hormonal)
system. Homeostasis describes an
internal environment that can maintain
balance and it is our hormones that
are responsible for this function. Our
hormones are chemical messengers that
control every function in our body and
are intricately linked to our brain andnervous system. It is this very network
which allows your organs to communicate
with one another while your body keeps
humming along. Height, growth,
maturation, adaptation to stress, sexual
response and reproduction are all
determined by our hormones.
Each hormone is like a lock and key
system. The endocrine gland releases a
specific hormone that then transmits a
direct chemical response to its target
receptor. For example, prolactin levels
rise during pregnancy and the pituitary
gland releases the hormone after
childbirth to trigger lactation, which
enables you to breastfeed. Our endocrine
system is so well orchestrated in its
timing in which hormones release and
suppress other hormones to maintain
the delicate balance of life. When our
hormones are balanced, we feel like
we are on top of the world, or like we
are living from our truest potential.
The biggest challenge we face today
is living with daily stress, environmental
toxins, poor eating habits, lack of
exercise and sleep. Our nervous system
is in a constant state of flight or fight.
Think of your hypothalamus as the
regulator between your external and
internal environment, trying to
maintain homeostasis. If you are
stressed, signals get crossed and
hormonal malfunction begins to occur.
There is a breakdown in communication
in our hormonal positive feedback
system. PHOTO: ANNARISE/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM