Usha Anandi: The Cycles and Phases of the Feminine Body

Usha Anandi was fifteen years old and was on the pill when she started down the path of recognizing how disconnected womb health and our understanding of our womb is from the rest of our body in our current medical structure. None of the medical practitioners she encountered provided concrete answers for her and that’s when she decided to take her journey into her own hands towards healing.

Usha explains how just as Mother Earth experiences seasons, so do women. The first phase is the follicular phase or what Usha calls the “inner spring” because that’s when its freshness comes over our body and it begins once the blood of your menstrual cycle stops; the next is the ovulatory phase or the “inner summer” where we experience our ovulation or the peak of fertility; the luteal phase or “inner autumn” is when estrogen falls and progesterone rises which increases the linings of our uterus; lastly is menstruation or “inner winter” where progesterone falls and triggers the release of the endometrium and the shedding or the release of blood.

Patriarchy, racism, and classicism have impacted modern-day gynecology and midwifery and a lot or procedures were developed through experimenting with black and enslaved women. The women who continued the tradition of midwifery were black but 90% of midwives in the US are now white women. Now, it has become highly medicalized, industrialized, and attended by obstetrical practitioners.

Usha Anandi’s work is focused on revolutionizing the way modern healthcare serves the sacred and the ancient within each woman. She founded Womben Wellness and is a holistic nutritionist, childbirth educator, full-spectrum doula, and herbalist.

What we discuss:

02:10 – Usha’s Journey

11:02 – Cycles and phases

19:33 – Inner spring

23:43 – Inner summer

28:46 – Inner autumn

33:19 – Inner winter

37:43 – Origins of Gynecology and Midwifery

50:14 – Empowering reconnection and trust in the body

59:03 – Abortion and sexual education 

Learn more from Usha:

Website: https://www.wombenwellness.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wombenwellness/