How to Choose Herbs for Yoni Steaming

Hi everybody and welcome back to the channel. In today's video I'm going to be talking about herbs you can use for yoni steaming. So this morning I am blending up a yoni steam for a customer and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show you what I'm doing, why I'm choosing the herbs that I'm choosing and why someone would want to participate in yoni steaming. So the word yoni is actually Sanskrit and it has a variety of meanings but basically it can be translated into vagina, womb or seed of life. And yoni steaming was practiced by multiple indigenous cultures across the globe from Asia and Africa and there's even evidence that the Mayans participated in yoni steaming. And it sounds exactly like the name indicates, just like you would use herbs to steam your face you are going to be using herbs to steam your vagina. So why would people want to do this? Like I said this is an ancient practice that has now become kind of trendy and the reason for this is it can help to improve the tone and tissues, it can help with symptomatic issues like hot flashes, menstrual cramping, it can help to improve blood flow to the entire reproductive organ area, it can regulate your cycle, it can help with things like fertility and so you can see why in a world where we deal with a lot of these symptoms that I'm talking about someone may want to choose to participate in yoni steaming. And one other thing I want to mention is that it also can be very helpful for healing trauma and this can be physical trauma from childbirth, perhaps it's trauma from other things that have happened in your past and even ancestral trauma that maybe has been passed down to you through your bloodline. So I'm going to have just a bit of a disclaimer here that encourages you to do your own research about this. There have been some physicians that speak out against yoni steaming so as with everything I always encourage you to do your own digging, do what feels right to you and listen to your body. The circumstances where someone may not want to participate in yoni steaming so this would be if you're pregnant. Some sources state that if you're menstruating you don't want to do it at that time, again to your body, do your own research and if you have any piercings in that area you would be wise to remove them first. So now I'm going to go into which herbs I'm going to be using for this steam and why. So this is a great time to mention that I do have an accompanying blog post to this, you don't have to take notes or anything I'll just put the link in the comments section or the description section below and you can check that out, it has all the information including all of the herbs that I'm going to be talking about today. In general you want to work with about 30 to 40 grams of herb material per yoni steam and I'll go over the instructions once I go over the herbs as well but that's kind of what I'm going for. When I make them for customers I always make sure that I have about 80 grams so that allows them to do at least two steams. So the first herb I want to talk to you about is calendula and I'll get my hubby to zoom in and take a look at how beautiful that is and if you haven't checked out my video on sourcing quality dried herbs you really should because this is what calendula should look like, this is what I grew myself and dried and you see it still has that vibrant color that you really want with calendula. So one of the reasons I like to use calendula is because it is an anti-inflammatory so it's going to reduce inflammation in the tissues. It's also a broad spectrum antimicrobial so that means it's going to help with anything viral, bacterial or fungal in nature. It's also something that we call a hemostatic and a hemostatic means that it helps to stop bleeding so if you have excessive menstrual flow or really heavy periods this would be a great herb to include in your steam. It's also a uterine tonic so when I talk about herbs that have uterine properties that means that they actually affect the muscle, the actual uterus and tonic means that it's going to help to tone those tissues. It's also a topical vulnerary so it'll help to heal tissues as well. So the next herb I'm going to include is yarrow, Achillea millefolium, take a look at that one closely too and you can do this with fresh herbs if you have access, it can be difficult to have them all in flower when you need them so I'll be using dried for this one. Now yarrow is also antimicrobial, it's antibacterial and antiviral, it's also an excellent anti-inflammatory just like calendula, another really really really great hemostatic so a herb that helps to stem bleeding or stop bleeding. What I like about yarrow too is that it is a uterine antispasmodic so it really helps with things like menstrual cramps and it's also something that's known as a stimulating amenagogue. So when I mentioned before that a herb can be uterine affecting the physical muscle and amenagogue is a herb that affects the hormones of the female reproductive system. So in this case say you have delayed periods or prolonged periods this would be an excellent herb to use to help bring on menses. So a personal favorite of mine that I love to include is mugwort and this is Artemisia vulgaris. One of the reasons I really like including mugwort is I find that it works very well on ancestral trauma and any trauma that may have been passed down through the bloodlines and that's why I really really like to include it. Of course it's also an antibacterial and antifungal as well, it's a uterine antispasmodic just like many of these other herbs are. It's a tonic and relaxing herb to the uterus which is a good thing too if you have really sort of heavy cramping and you know just that really or that referral backache that some folks get and it's also a circulatory stimulant so it's going to help to drive blood to the area or when I say to the area I don't mean that this is going to increase the flow of your period it's just going to improve the blood flow to the reproductive organs in general. And of course I'm making a giant mess like I always do. Next herb that I really love including is lavender and the variety of lavender I have is Lavangela and Gustifolia but French lavender works as well. Lavender is antibacterial, it's an analgesic so it's going to help with pain, it's also a really great antispasmodic, another vulnerary so it's going to help with healing tissues and of course it's a wonderful aromatic herb as well so it's going to make your steam smell fabulous and it's a relaxant so again helping to relax the tissues and just relax you in general while you're participating in your yoni steam. So no yoni herb, yoni steam would be complete without motherwort and as it's common name indicates this is a fantastic herb for the female reproductive system and we'll get a close up look at that one too. It's a uterine antispasmodic, it's a tonic amenagogue so it's going to have more of a toning effect to the hormones of the female reproductive system, it's also going to help to tone the uterus as well and when I say tone this just means strengthening and toning the actual physical muscle as well as help to relax it. I like to use equal portions of herbs when I'm making my yoni steams so I'm going for about 13 grams each, it all depends on personal preference and what you have access to. So the next herb that we're going to be talking about is rosemary, rosemary is another wonderful aromatic herb, antibacterial and antiviral, also a really fabulous antispasmodic, this is more of a stimulating amenagogue so again very useful for people who have delayed menses. I only like to add a little bit to it because rosemary does have some heat and pungency to it and of course you want to be careful with such sensitive tissues and it's a great relaxant as well and we're almost done, we have one more herb that I'm going to be adding to my yoni steam and then one more that I will talk about. So this last one for my customer is red raspberry leaf and if you've ever studied any herbs that have to do with the female reproductive system you're of course going to be familiar with red raspberry leaf and it is indeed the leaves and the flowers from the red raspberry plant. It is anti-inflammatory as well, it is a tonic amenagogue so it's going to help have a more supportive overall balancing effect to the hormones of the female reproductive system. It is also a uterine tonic but it is not stimulating in any way shape or form and last but not least it's a vulnerary meaning it's going to help to heal tissues as well. The last herb I want to talk to you about that you can include in your yoni steams if you choose is marshmallow root. Marshmallow root would be added due to its demulcency, this would be excellent if you suffer or deal with vaginal dryness. I'm just filling up my bag here for my customer and of course doing my due diligence as well again it is always wise to consult your natural health practitioner, doctor, consult yourself, make sure this is you know something you feel comfortable doing and working with and do your own independent research. So how do we actually participate in a yoni steam? Now folks who do this on a regular basis may actually have access to a yoni chair and yeah they actually do make those, they're pretty neat. If you don't all you really need is a large stainless steel bowl, I would recommend one larger than this and you just want to test it to see if it can fit inside your toilet without actually falling in so hopefully it kind of just lift the seat up, place the bowl inside the toilet and then put the seat back down as long as it doesn't kind of fall you're good to go, you can do it that way as well. So what you want to do is take about 30 to 40 grams of herbs and 6 cups of water and you're going to bring that water to a boil, add your herbs to it and let it steep for about 10 minutes or so. It's really really important that we are not participating in a yoni steam with steaming hot boiling herbs, this is a bad idea ladies, nothing good can come of it so definitely let it sit for about 10 or 15 minutes, test the temperature, you still want it warm enough that there's actual steam coming off but not so hot that you're going to burn yourself. You're then going to either keep the herbs in, strain them out, personal preference and you're going to pour them into your stainless steel bowl and carefully place it in the toilet. You're then of course going to strip from waist down, sit on the toilet and either wrap yourself with a blanket or a towel, that allows, that ensures that the steam doesn't escape. If you've ever done a steam for your face or if you've been congested it's the same idea where you put the towel over your head. It's also smart to keep your feet warm during this time so a nice pair of fuzzy slippers or warm socks will be great and then you're going to want to sit for about 20 minutes so this is a perfect time to maybe read a book, do a journal entry, draw something, get yourself all nice and set up in the bathroom and kind of enjoy the process and relax. Folks usually do Yoni steams once or twice a month, I wouldn't do them more often than that without speaking to a natural health practitioner just to ensure that this is something that will work right for you. And as I mentioned earlier you don't want to participate in Yoni steams when you are pregnant, if you have any piercings of any kind in that area or if you are menstruating. So one last thing I forgot to mention is we do not want to be using essential oils of any kind while participating in a Yoni steam, meaning you don't want to put them in the stainless steel bowl. If you would like to diffuse them in your bathroom at the same time that's perfectly fine but you definitely don't want to be adding it to the steam. So if you have any questions or comments please leave them below I'm always happy to answer and until next time this is Corrine from Spirea Herbs wishing you health and wellness.