Under stress, men and women have different brain activation patterns. Stress causes men and women to respond differently to risky decision making, with men charging ahead for small rewards and women taking their time, according to a new study in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, published by Oxford University Press on June 4^th, 2011.

After being subjected to stress, men appeared to be more motivated to act quickly while women slow down.

According to the study, when men are under stress, playing a risk-taking game stimulated areas in the brain that are activated when one gets a reward or satisfies an addiction. The same experiment found diminished brain activity for women in the same areas when they were stressed. It appears women do not feel the drive to get a reward as much under stress. So under stress men are risk-takers, while women are risk-adverse.

This compelling information has many ramifications when it comes to making life decisions with a partner or spouse on matters of importance to the wellbeing of the partnership.

While there might be advantages to both stress responses, especially in areas with the need to weigh short-term gain, such as the stock market, and long-term benefits, such as health decisions or retirement planning, there are many implications for daily life and relationships.

For example, it would not be wise for a man to invest the couple’s life savings on the stock market if he is under duress. Similarly a woman with a life-threatening illness might have to speed up her decision-making process if the disease is progressing rapidly with time.

In the study participants were given a task of filling up a computer-simulated balloon with as much air as possible without popping the balloon.

Subjects earned from $4 to $45 based on their performance, with the men earning much more cash under stress.

Although men performed this task better, the more important conclusion may be that important decisions made under stress should include input from both genders. It might be better to have more gender diversity on important decision because men and women offer differing perspectives. Being more cautious and taking the time to make a decision will often lead to the right choice.

Men and women faced with tough decisions might improve their communication by waiting until a stressful situation has passed because in the absence of stress their behaviour and brain activation is more compatible.

According to lead author on the study Nichole Lighthall, "Men and women appear to think more similarly when they are not stressed. Each party in a couple needs to be aware of the way they are biased in their decisions especially when under stress."

Last year Lighthall authored a study in the journal PLoS One that showed that men under stress may be more likely to take risks, correlating to such real-life behavior as gambling, smoking, unsafe sex and illegal drug use.

Gender differences in brain structure and response to environmental stimuli mean that men and women respond to the world from a very different world-view. Other areas of gender differentiation come into play in the bedroom, social behaviour, attitudes to work and health and in the area of parenting.

In our Essence of Woman Relationships Workshop we explore how to navigate the rocky waters of gender difference so that you can enjoy complementary harmony in your relationship in the way that Nature intended.

If you are interested in learning more about how gender differences shape your relationship and how by understanding them you can bring compatibility into your sexual life, your workplace, your parenting and your extended family life in concert with your partner, click here to go to our Spirit of Woman website where you can view the details of our July 30th and 31st workshop and to book online. Simply scroll down to the Essence of Relationships workshop and you can click through to book.

If you find that you view your spouse or partner as if you are looking in the mirror, expecting the same responses and behaviours from him as you have,  and yet somehow  he 'lets you down every time', then this workshop will delight, comfort, empower and lift you and your your relationship up to where it belongs – to harmony, joy, balance and inner peace.

You can then return here to read more blogs about how gender differences can either make our lives hell or take us to heaven……..

Nature evolved the multitude of species that make up the rich tapestry of life over a period of  3.8 billion years. The 'laboratory of life' has been are remarkably successful research and development program where only those designs that augment and support life have survived. Species that weren't equipped for the long haul died out after a period of trial and error, while those that perfected their evolutionary pathways, either through design, form, behaviour or the ability to co-operate with other species, live on today as a testimony to their success.

It has been only since the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries that humankind initiated major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation and technology that revolutionised the way we live. It is now, in the aftermath of the behemoth that transformed the face of the planet forever, a mere 200- 300 years later, that we are being challenged by the cumulative effects of rapid, unbalanced and short-sighted, parasitic growth.  

Waterways have been intoxicated or bled dry by human irrigators, forests denuded leaving animal species stripped of their habitats and a carbon crisis that contributes to abruptly changing weather patterns, while the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a toxic load of human by-product the size of Texas, presents numerous hazards to marine life, fishing and tourism and is said now to be almost impossible to clean up. The list goes on…….

Effectively, the swift and cataclysmic changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution had the effect of not only negatively impacting the natural environment, bringing humanity almost to the brink of destruction, but of simultaneously separating and alienating human beings from the natural world, so that we were blinded to the exquisite beauty and functionality of natural design. With biomimicry, a relatively new science, we see the return to an appreciation of design principles that are rooted in the Divine Feminine. 

So what is biomimicry? According to Wikipedia, "Biomimicry is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems". Biomimicry, as an innovating process, generally comes from one of two directions. Sometimes, the innovator sees a process in nature and connects it to an existing technology or problem. Other times, the innovator studies an existing design problem and turns to nature for help.

For example, new housing design in Africa is mimicking the construction of termite nests whose cool building strategies include aligning the nests north-south and and constructing air vents that constantly move air throughout the mound, cooling or heating it to the same temperature as the mound itself, to achieve a constant inside temperature. Architects and engineers are building several large office complexes that mimic the termite approach to temperature control.

Another of Nature's marvellous designs concerns a beetle that inhabits the searing deserts where there is no ground water. His back is constructed using a ripple effect, consisting of water-attracting molecules along the peaks and water-repelling molecules along the troughs. The beetle stands with his back to the wind on top of a sand dune and collects water from the air which collects on the peaks, and rolls down into the trough when sodden. Repelled, the water then runs along the troughs which slope down into the beetle's mouth. A company in Sydney is investigating this age-old technique for innovative inner city roofing where a 40% humidity can jackpot into a massive water-load over a single day, enough for all the household's daily needs. 

On the planet today, there are as many brilliant designs as there are remarkable species, all of which have perfected their own unique way of working co-operatively with Nature to survive. Some species survive through mutual reciprocity with other species, others by design features in their form, others through biological strategies, such as repellent surfaces that make their lives not only comfortable but enables them to survive. Ecological systems rely on mutual interaction and co-operation between species and family groups and net-working between the plant and animal kingdoms that enhances their own survival while lending support to another. The planet itself is an interacting vital collective of self-supporting eco-systems that equally enhance and support each of the individual parts for the greater good.

Nature is the Divine Feminine in action, expressed through the principles of co-operation, mutual support, conservation, net-working and working towards the good of the whole.

As humanity, in true humility, embraces the intelligence of design that has evolved over billions of years on this planet, we simultaneously step out of the ego-base of the prevailing masculine paradigm to recognise that we are a part of Nature, not some arrogant overlay that dominates and prevails. As humans being, we must acknowledge that we do not know everything – that is the realm of the Divine Goddess in conjunction with Spirit – we are merely mirrors of the Divine – both Feminine and Masculine.

Females are biologically inscribed to express Divine Feminine values in their life because they are the ones who bear, nurture and socialise their children, the adults of the future. Because life is designed to evolve, Nature well-equipped them for this role with the very principles of being that uphold and support Nature's evolutionary drive. Essentially it is females who carry the baton of evolution through to the next generation.

Males are biologically inscribed to protect the female and family. Theirs is to uphold life, honouring and protecting it's processes so that it can recycle itself for better and better outcomes with each succeeding generation.  

What has gone askew is that the Divine Feminine and the Masculine Spirit have been cycling out of balance, so dis-ease has set in. The Masculine has somehow prevailed as being the one that holds the power, over females and over Nature, while the Feminine has collaborated by dishonouring their own power base and accepting being 'second-class citizens. Although different, the two genders must stand together and collectively create a new life for humanity and the planet.

As humans being, we must redress the imbalance by bringing the Divine Feminine into the light while subduing the arrogance of the Masculine Spirit. When harmony is achieved, the Feminine and the Masculine are in balance, and we will experience the Golden Age of Peace that is just waiting around the corner.

Biomimicry is a crucial step along the way. At last the ancient wisdom of the Goddess is being recognised and harnessed for the good of the whole …….. not just for humanity but for the healing of the planet as well. Each unique design developed by one species or another both supports the integrated whole and does no harm. Both of these principles are foundational underpinnings of the art of healing…….

The Masculine Spirit, represented by Science (either female or male scientists), by drawing on the intelligence of the Divine Feminine, as intelligent design, can create heaven on Earth.

In the words of Janine Benyus, author of the 1997 book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.: "The more our world functions like the natural world the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone"  

Please comment on this blog post….I am interested to hear your opinion……………… and enjoy the spiral…………

When women artificially control their hormones and their fertility they are affecting more than just bodily processes. For example, taking the contraceptive pill can result in physical side-effects such as weight gain, as well as personality changes including depression. When a woman is on the pill it is so much more difficult for her to stay in touch with the truth of her own inner being.

The healthier and more attuned to her feminine core, the more readily a woman will naturally conceive a healthy child. Being in touch with her body also assists her to practice safe and natural contraception so that she consciously makes a choice about when to start a family.

The need for Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) is an indication of a compromised reproductive system. Babies conceived in this way are being cheated of the right to be born fully healthy and functioning optimally, because by forcing reproduction when the body is not ready, we create babies that are less healthy than they can be if conceived naturally. Women in touch with their feminine intelligence can actively promote reproductive health and happy, healthy off-spring through maintaining a healthy body and mind.

When a woman is true to her essential being and embraces her natural femininity she steps into her power and to that of the ancient female lineage that is as deep as time itself. From this position she effectively shapes the world around her, and that of the generations to come. 

if you would like to understand how to embrace your natural femininity, you may be interested in attending some of our Spirit of Woman workshops. Here you will learn how flower essences made from the purity of nature can help you step into your power as a woman. To view our 2011 workshop schedule, click here.

We hear so much about the incoming Divine Feminine energies but what does this mean for contemporary women from all walks of life, and in the various stages of womanhood?

The “Divine Feminine”, “Return of the Feminine”, the Sacred Feminine ” are all metaphors for the return to higher consciousness. We seek balance between the male and female aspects of the Self and when we find that balance we come into our power. The return of the feminine, is not about women ruling society; that would create imbalance. It is about the return to nature, to masculine/feminine aspects in harmony, yin and yang re-united so both hemispheres of the brain are working in balance leading to higher levels of consciousness.

When we take an overview of the changes taking place on a cultural level right across the globe we can begin to see that there is a subtle energy shift, in wake of the GFC, that calls for a slow-down of the galloping pace of life and a move towards co-operative rather than competitive relationships at home, in the business world and in the community.

This is an expression of the Divine Feminine whose values include co-operation, net-working, process-orientated, conservation, and support. The values we have been operating under are competitive, hierarchical, linear, expansion, and dog-eat-dog. The incoming Divine Feminine is ushering in a change in the way that society functions as well as a shift in the way that women perceive themselves and men relate to them.

Women are being called on to acknowledge these powerful energies within themselves and align with the vital primary forces of life that drive both their physical functioning and their psychology.

When a woman is empowered through this alignment she becomes exactly what nature intended her to be: sexy, articulate, intuitive, playful, feeling and healing. As the bearer of children, she carries the baton of life force energy through to the next generation. And because she is compelled to seek compassionate quality connection with those in her intimate circle, she is the connector, creating and re-creating the web of life that sustains us all. Her primary drive is to conserve, nurture maintain and support. With the planet teetering at the brink of exhaustion, it is the feminine principle that is now needed to redress the imbalance and heal.

When, as a woman, you tune into your female biological underpinning, you will learn how to listen to the whisperings of your own truth. You will then be open to the immense source of power that comes from acknowledging and living in alignment with your feminine core.

When, as a man, you understand the essential nature of the woman in your life, you will more easily dovetail into the soft undulations of the feminine psyche whilst retaining, upholding and engaging your own potent masculine spirit.

More than one in six couples in Australia experience delays in conceiving. While the common perception is still that women are largely at fault when there are fertility problems, medical researchers are stating unequivocally now that the male carries at least 50% of the responsibility.

In fact, since 2004, a flurry of research into male fertility has had alarm bells ringing. Researchers in the US, Europe and Australia have estimated at least a 50% drop-off in male potency since our grandparents time and have even identified Sick Sperm Syndrome, a phenomenon that has raised many questions about whether the decline in male fertility is really is getting worse and what, in our modern lifestyles could be causing it.

As early as 2005, Professor of Developmental Biology at Queensland University, Peter Koopman said when discussing declining male infertility, “A little like global warming, what we will see with fertility is that things will reach breaking point…We’re starting to see a precipitous decline in fertility and if that continues over the next 10, 20, 50 years, it will be impossible for men to reproduce naturally. And I think that is a grave situation for the human race and for our quality of life.”

Research has identified a number of reasons why this decline is happening. Firstly, with our new understandings of trans-generational genetic mutation, it is now acknowledged that a son can not only inherit his father’s bad habits, but also the damage done to his father’s reproductive capacity as a result of that bad habit. For example, if a father develops lung cancer, DNA damage in his spermatozoa also occurs. As a consequence of that DNA damage, there is a four-to-five fold increased chance his children will develop childhood cancers of various kinds.  So his children are genetically weaker that he was.

Moreover, the newer technologies being used in IVF clinics around the country to offset the dramatic reduction in the amount of sperm available due to the recent rapid decline, is to isolate a single sperm to fertilise the oocyte(woman’s egg). This effectively bypasses Nature’s brilliant plan of having the strongest sperm win the conception race, thus ensuring a stronger offspring. Technicians are doing the selecting based on their limited perceptions of the strongest sperm. Natural selection is being compromised and babies are being born genetically weaker than their fathers.

Secondly, not only is there a decline in the quantity of sperm, but also research is demonstrating that the rise in male infertility is directly linked to the increase in testicular cancer particularly amongst young men in their twenties. And one of the main reasons is environmental toxins which damage the sperm when it is in the vulnerable ’production line’ phase, increasing vulnerability to cancer but also impacting on the potency of the sperm itself.

It is during this production process within the testes of the male that genetic material is being packed into the microscopic head of the sperm. This cargo is designed for delivery at the crucial moment when it binds to the oocyte, after its victory swim up the vaginal canal of the woman.

A range of specific and non-specific environmental toxins have been cited as responsible for little or no sperm production, slow sperm or non-functional sperm, during the production line phase which means effectively that the chances of being a victor sperm are minimal at the least and impossible in most cases. 

Studies on male fertility over the past twenty years by the Queensland Fertility Group was based on the job that the study participants do, indicating the level of environmental toxicity that the workers were exposed to, according to the clinic’s scientific director Keith Harrison.

 The studies showed that white collar workers, people who work in offices and don’t get their hands too dirty, around a quarter of them have significant semen defects.  For blue collar workers such as transport workers 50% of them had semen defects. In occupations where the men actually get their hands dirty, such as builders, electricians, painters, plumbers, again there’s a 50% incidence of abnormal semen. However, of the men who really get their hands dirty; motor mechanics, fitters, turners, welders, machinery operators – there was an almost doubling in the incidence of semen defects. Similarly, farmers and graziers and people in mining industries demonstrated double the incidence of semen defects as office-based workers.

 And the problem may even be even closer to home – or getting home after a day's work! Italian scientists say traffic pollution can affect male fertility by damaging sperm. After studying 85 attendants at tollgates on Italian motorways, researchers at the University of Naples in southern Italy discovered that the men had poorer quality sperm than other young and middle-aged Italian workers in the same area.

"The sperm count did not differ significantly between our study group and the controls but, in general, the sperm of the study group was more feeble and less active, so it has a lower fertility potential," said Dr Michele de Rosa, a researcher at the university.

Levels of testosterone and other hormones in the men, who were exposed to pollutants for about six hours a day, were normal, but sperm motility, or ability to swim, was lower, which could affect its ability to fertilise a female egg.

"Our study demonstrates that continuous exposure to traffic pollutants impairs sperm quality in young and middle-aged men," Dr De Rosa said.

The researchers said the toll workers had been exposed to higher levels of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide and lead than the other men in the area. They identified nitrogen oxides and lead as the most likely causes of sperm damage.

Furthermore, the effect of chemical intoxication can impact more than production of sperm in the adult male. It can impair embryonic development. For example, although the issue of oestrogens in the environment is contentious, many chemicals can produce oestrogen effects in animals and especially on developing foetuses. Exposure to some pesticides and plastics at high enough levels can disrupt male hormones, particularly in the developing foetus. If this damage has happened to the male embryo during gestation, it will take at least 20 to 30 years for that damage to be identified, which is when the now adult male attempts to reproduce himself. Many of the hazardous chemicals cited have not been around for long enough to determine the degree of damage to the DNA. Laboratory testing on animals however, do not paint a promising picture for male fertility.

As well as environmental toxins there is also a concern about the toxic effect that pharmaceutical drugs are having on male fertility. The concern is that while pharmaceuticals may be tested rigorously for their sematic toxicity (do they make your hair fall out or cause kidney or liver poisoning?) there is little effort given to studying their reproductive toxicology. Anti-depressants have been cited as compromising the health of the sperm.

 Researchers at the Cornell Medical Centre in New York put 35 men on the anti-depressant drug Paroxetine for five weeks. After a month, changes in the DNA of the men's sperm were discovered. Dr Peter Schlegel was the lead researcher for the project.

"If you look at normal sperm counts and motility, the standard measures of fertility, you saw no changes, but if you looked at sperm DNA, the genetic material in more detail you actually found dramatic changes in almost half of the men, normal men, who are on this drug," he said.

Paroxetine is sold in Australia as Aropax. Millions of prescriptions for various anti-depressant drugs are written in Australia every year.

In the face of all this doom and gloom, is there any glimmer in the darkness? Well, it seems that if men are prepared to take the pill, there may well be.

 For research has found that a combination of anti-oxidants and vitamins can significantly increase a man's fertility.

A tablet (ah-ha – a pill for men?) containing vitamins C and E, folate, zinc, lycopene and garlic oil has been found to help protect a man's sperm from damage caused by smoking, toxins and infections.

The study conducted in Australia found that the success of pregnancy doubled in the infertile couples who took the pill.

So in real terms what does all this mean? Well, according to current figures, even the most fertile of couples having unprotected sex at the right time of the month have just a 1 in 4 chance of conceiving that month. So getting pregnant isn’t as easy as our mothers warned us. And given that the proportion of abnormally low semen volume, sperm concentration and motility, increases significantly with the age of the male, along with women’s tendency to put off wanting to have children until they are older, it seems that we are fast heading to a future where having children will be the exception rather than the norm.

However, the problem of male fertility is not easily resolved. The male biological inscription determines that men are often the last to admit that there is anything wrong with them. That is why it has taken so long to even recognize that half of the current fertility crisis rests with men, and is not just the domain of the female. Women have carried the larger part of responsibility for contraception for fifty years now at great expense to their procreative power (the pill decreases fertility) their emotional stability (studies show the pill causes depression) and their birthright to pleasure (the pill has been proven to permanently decrease libido).  Men have had no need for chemical interference in their hormonal functioning because it was always assumed that women would bear the load.

The problem of rising infertility rates in the human species must be addressed if we are to bequeath future generations the endowment they are entitled to: that of the right to evolve. In the opinion of those observing the downward spiral of our reproductive power, we may well be heading to a future where reproduction is so compromised that humanity is on the path to devolution: that is each generation is becoming less healthy than the one before.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine the axiom for health and wellbeing is moderation in all things, including moderation. Lifestyle it seems is a major contributing factor to rising rates of infertility. This is something we can all do something about. Eating well, regular exercise, resting and recuperating in balance with work and social activities, a regular detoxification program and taking supplementation if there is a deficiency are all easy ways to bring our bodies and minds into the balance required to create healthy sperm and eggs.

Balance also means bringing the opposites into a state of equilibrium. So, as men and women, gender polar opposites, come together to take responsibility for a challenge, there is where wholeness lies. Let us work together to create a healthy future for our children

 What do you think? I would love to have your opinion.

One of the workshops that Spirit of Woman conducts is called the Energy of Parenting, which covers the absolute power of positive parenting on the health and well-being of offspring. I was delighted to hear on the Health Report this week (15th March, 2010) a discussion on the power of positive parenting, including positive fathering on, not just adequate mental functioning, but high performance mental functioning.

Based on a study conducted by Felicia Huppert and others, Director of the Wellbeing Institute and Professor of Psychology, and published as 'Parental practices predict psychological well-being in mid-life:…' the discussion centred around how to attain 'positive mental health' or what can be called 'flourishing in life', rather than just 'existing with the absence of a disorder', which is the focus of most studies previously conducted.

What sets this study aside as distinct from others is not only the emphasis on optimum mental functioning, but also the fact that it is a long-term study that follows children through to late adulthood. Commenced in 1946 in England the study followed women since their birth in that year and recorded information, including memories of how their parents behaved towards them up to the age of 16.

Based on an accepted measure of the way that offspring perceive their parents, rather than any objective measure of the parents themselves, the study identified three dimensions of parenting. One dimension is warmth and care, another one is the extent to which the parent is engaged in what the child is doing, or kind of just laissez faire and doesn't seem to care very much, and the third dimension is control. So it looks at the extent to which a parent is very controlling, or over-protective, or intrusive and explores the extent of engagement, such as when they take a real interest in what their child is doing and provide guidance, but not in an authoritarian or controlling way.

The study sought six main areas in which to question the way that psychological wellbeing comes about: autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, positive relations with others and self acceptance.

The study found, i n the main, that the more warm and caring a parent is the better the child on all dimensions. However one unusual finding was to do with autonomy, in that when a mother was very warm and caring a daughter was less autonomous. Or putting it another way – a daughter was very autonomous, assertive and defiant if her mother was less caring in the sense of how warmly she responded to her child, when she had difficulties.

Overall, the study clearly showed that warm and caring parents need to be positive and give appropriate praise, engaged and interested in what the child is doing and to be 'authoritative' rather than authoritarian. That is, rather than being over-controlling and over-protective, they need to give the child a sense of trust, some respect and freedom while at the same time being quite clear about boundaries, about what the behaviours were acceptable and what were not.

Another unexpected finding was one that validates a notion that I have written about in my book "The Essence of Woman". It concerns the importance of positive fathering to his daughter's ability to develop confidence and autonomy as an adult. All previous literature focusses on the mother's behaviour in terms of a daughter's mental health. But this study showed beyond a doubt that the father's behaviour is actually more important than the mother's across all dimensions. So while it was important that the mother was warm and caring, and that affected many dimensions, the father, if he was warm and caring brought benefits across all dimensions. The particular difference was in terms of engagement and control – in other words confidence and autonomy. So the father who was trusting, respectful, appreciative and showed good guidance rounded off his daughter's development by giving her the set of skills necessary to navigate 'the world'. She can engage with people while at the same time maintain her own sense of  self with confidence. The Spirit of Woman blend, Daddy's Girl was designed with the importance of  the father-daughter relationship in mind. If you would like to read the full transcript on the Health Report click here.

Please leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you think.

I read an article in the Weekend Australian Magazine dated May 16th – 17th 2009, which has profound ramifications for those women (and their partners) struggling with their fertility.

A recent University of Queensland study showed that children born to older fathers have, on average, lower scores of tests of intelligence than those born to younger dads.

Data analysed from more than 33,000 American children showed that the older the man when the child is conceived, the lower a child’s score is likely to be on tests of concentration, memory, reasoning, and reading skills.

A Swedish study reveals further, that the risk of schizophrenia begins to rise for those babies whose fathers were older than 29 and is higher if they are older than 55. The same age factor applies with the risk of bipolar.

Perhaps not surprising if we consider that ageing affects every cell in the body and has no gender bias. Somehow the perceptions around fertility as solely a female issue need rethinking. Men are part of the equation, and not just the pleasure part!

Sperm are not ageless, nor are they bullet-proof. Production of healthy sperm is dependant on the well-being of the man – a poor diet, stress and a toxic overload in the body, due to excess alcohol and smoking, dramatically affects the quality of a man’s sperm. So too, it is now confirmed, does ageing. If the little blighters have no tails, poor motility, are immature or are low in number, a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant are dramatically reduced. Similarly, if she falls pregnant the baby she bears will be less than optimally healthy, regardless of how ‘in the pink’ she is .

Due to the cringe factor, many women take sole responsibility for fertility. Furthermore, it is women who ‘hold the time lines and calendars in our heads, who have to surrender space in our bodies and clear time in our lives’. Women are the ones who have to juggle their careers, or settle for a partner who may be less than ideal because their biological clock is ticking over. Mainstream medicine has long discouraged ‘older’ females from having babies. In this sense and more, women have been long held responsible for the ultimate health of their child.

Tables may turn when women are armed with this information about sperm ageing. No longer does the image of the older man with a younger woman on his arm seem so attractive, if older men are liable to be seen as past their fertility ‘use-by date’ by women.

The stereotype has always been that while older women just get old, men become more ‘distinguished’ with age. Women might find that, when they tune into their feminine intelligence, biologically inscripted to select the genetically best father for their offspring, they might now take age into account as well. Men may be forced to stick with women of their own age, because the biological drive of younger females to conceive under optimum conditions, puts them out into the grazing paddock.

We are in this together, males and females. Let’s stack the deck so that when all the cards are on the table, both genders are realistically appraised, without a bias that puts one on top of the pile, in favour of the other. Goodness knows, in the interests of evolution of the race, each succeeding generation must improve on the one before it.

For that to happen both men and women need to evaluate their health and well-being and make choices that ensure optimum chance for survival and thrival of their offspring, prior to conception.

Introducing ……….. Blue Mink

This is one of the exciting NEW flower essences that is part of my Spirit of Woman Australian Flower Essences range. The range will be launched at the Endeavour College

on 21st June, 2009. For details and to register for an invitation click here

Blue Mink
Ageratum Houstonianum

Description:
Native to tropical Mexico, this member of the Asteraceae or Compositae family (which contains daises, sunflowers and asters) is a popular and easily grown annual that has escaped cultivated gardens and now flourishes as a classified weed.
It is fully established in Australia and is commonly known here as Blue Mink or Blue Top.
It has low sheen, heart-shaped leaves that are slightly furry, with showy blue, lavender and mauve-pink fluffy, soft flower-heads.
Medicinally, it is classed as an anodyne – an agent that soothes, comforts or relaxes. The juice of the plant is used externally to treat cuts and wounds.
An ornamental plant, the flowers are very attractive to butterflies that can be seen dancing around their soft, blue fluffy flower-heads in the sunshine.
Doctrine of signatures:
The soft, puffy appearance of this attractive little flower calls out to be touched. It gives the impression that it could be used to stroke the skin soothingly.
It has heart-shaped leaves that are soft, furry and pleasing to touch.
Its soft blue, lavender and pink colours are classically feminine and evoke a sense of tenderness.
Medicinally, it is classed as an anodyne, which is used to relax and soothe, so it carries the quality of softening the hard lines of tension and stress that grip and tauten the body.
Its use in treating cuts and wounds on the skin suggests a strong healing quality for emotional wounds that have penetrated deeply through the protective barrier of the aura which, when intact and healthy, protects the skin and keeps us feeling safe and relaxed.
It loves to grow in the filtered sun, evoking the image of lying in a relaxed state, soaking up gentle warmth and feeling no anxiety, stress, tension, pressure or sense of threat.
It likes to be protected from harsh cold windy conditions, signifying the sense of wanting to be kept safe from the outside world.
Originally a cultivar that has escaped and now roams free across the landscape, it suggests the feeling of freedom that women experience when they are liberated enough to relax and enjoy their sensuality and sexuality.
This soft and attractive little flower evokes a feeling of wanting to touch it. It resonates with women because of its tactile softness and feminine colours. It is particularly appropriate for women in the area of sexual expression and intimacy where stress is an ongoing factor in their busy lives.
Stress affects women differently to men, particularly in the areas of sex and intimacy.
The stress hormones of cortisol and adrenaline boost the inflow of testosterone into a male’s bloodstream causing him to want to have sex. In fact, sexual connection relieves a man’s stress by draining the build-up of tension from his body leaving him feeling relaxed and soothed and brimming with oxytocin, the hormone that fosters connection and love of intimacy. A sexually satisfied man will sleep easy after a love-making session with his partner, feeling secure and comfortable.
But the hormonal drivers work differently in a woman’s body. They cause a distinct physical and emotional adverse response to sexual advances from her partner. Cortisol and adrenaline dampen down the oxytocin inflow into a woman’s body so that she does not respond to touch in the way that she normally would when relaxed. They also diminish the production of the neuro-chemical dopamine, which triggers her desire for pleasure.
So stress acts to restrict and harden a woman to the sexual advances of her partner.
In fact, often her stress is increased when he reaches for her because she feels so stretched already, and the last thing on her mind is sex when all she wants to do is sleep! Blue Mink relaxes and soothes, paving the way to being open to physical contact.
One of the old-fashioned advices that came to me from my grandmother was, if you want a happy marriage and you can’t ‘make it’, then fake it!
The women’s liberation movement looked sternly down its nose at this old adage as it seemed to be suggesting that a woman is acting against her best interests by giving in to her husband’s request for sex when she doesn’t really want it.
The biological reality is that, for women, all the normal triggers for sexual desire do shut down when she is stressed, making sex seem like a chore rather than a pleasure.
But the secret is that there is truth in what our grandmothers were saying.
Research demonstrates that even though we may not be open to sex at the outset, by going ahead and engaging sexually, the hormones of sexual pleasure, relaxation and satisfaction start to flow once sex begins.
Below conscious level, the ‘pleasure and connection’ hormones, stimulated by the act of sex, switch on the body’s relaxation response, causing the body-mind to unwind naturally.
The outcome is deep healing sleep and relief from the tension burden that could otherwise persist for days and even weeks, if not cleared.
Stress and tension generate an unhealthy tightening of the body musculature and debilitation of the nervous system, causing both physical and emotional pain and reduced function.
Physical symptoms can include headaches, PMT, tiredness, palpitations, acne and digestive dysfunction. Blue Mink assists with these stress-induced conditions, assisting the Body-Mind to relax and release.
Emotional repercussions can range from overwhelm, anxiety, irritability and irrational anger and striking out, to feelings of isolation, separation and a desire to escape from the world. Use Blue Mink first then follow up with another essence, appropriate to the specific emotional state.
In the long-term, chronic stress is the precursor to many debilitating disease states.
Healing Challenges:
For stress.
For dislike of intimate touch.
For feeling stressed by sexual advances from a partner.
For dislike of partner and feelings of mistrust.
For being closed off and hard-edged to children, family or friends.
For deep emotional pain from a past relationship.
For skin diseases, such as psoriasis, eczema, rosacea, neuro-dermatitis, superficial wounds and scratches.
Healing Outcomes:
Relieves stress and tension.
Opens a stressed woman to the comfort and protective energy of her partner.
Softens the hard lines of tension through gentle touch of the skin, in a non-sexual way.
Restores a sense of connection and intimacy, particularly when stressed.
Heals long-held emotional heart wounds from the past.
Has a soothing healing effect on the skin
Soothes a ruffled or torn aura.
For psoriasis, neuro-dermatitis, eczema, especially when worse with emotional stress.

To find out more about this exciting new range of flower essences specifically for women, click here

 Optimum female health depends on staying warm, so Winter is the season to rug up, making sure that your body,

especially feet and legs, is always toasty. This keeps the all-important blood supply to the pelvis circulating

freely, ensuring that periods are painless and trouble-free.

More seriously, chronic cold affects a woman’s fertility, making pelvic circulation so sluggish that there is not enough

free-flowing blood in circulation to nourish a developing baby in the uterus. This can result in problems as the

baby grows in the womb when crucial developmental stages are taking place, leading to health problems after birth. 

Moreover, sluggish pelvic blood circulation restricts free-flow of blood to the genitals, so necessary during intercourse

for a pleasurable and complete climax.

So many good reasons why it is  so important to keep the pelvis, legs and feet warm!

Tips:

• Wear slippers on hard, cold floors.
• Wear closed shoes to work on cool days, even if it means taking them off and replacing them with strappy shoes once when you get to work.
• Wear tights or leggings that protect your legs.
• Wear a long, warm singlet or camisole that covers your butt.
• Take a hot water bottle to bed and lay in at the small of your back. It will warm your whole body. 

Chronic cold in the pelvis is one of the underlying cause of a range of gynaecological problems. It comes from failing to maintain easy, warm circulation in the pelvis and is usually the result of years of neglect in keeping warm.

Apart from the above more serious health outcomes, ultimately it will result in the appearance of unsightly spider-veins at the ankles and the legs, particularly the lower legs. These are irreversible.

Keeping warm all over is very much to be recommended for super-health.

A general tip is to always wear enough clothes to keep hands and feet warm – cold consumes valuable body energy that otherwise maintains the health of the functional organ systems, particularly the digestive system.

At the bottom line, one of the major differences between a dead body and a live one is that the live one is warm!

The colder we are, the more our body systems begin to hypo-function (become under-active and inefficient).

A typical example is a hypo-functioning thyroid – the gland that governs the transformation of food into useable energy. An under-active thyroid causes tiredness, bloating, lower basal body temperature and can lead to a mild form of depression.

Although our Winters are not very cold here in Brisbane, that does not mean that we mustn’t strive to maintain our body warmth. Your body is your the barometer to health – if you feel cold, then rug up.

Click here to read about how you can protect you and your loved ones from Swine Flu. 

Unfortunately the rise of feminism in the latter third of last century failed to take into account that women are intrinsically women, and men are intrinsically men.

Instead, the cry for women to share the same societal advantages as men (in a male dominated paradigm!) was
mistakenly based in a resentful gripe that women were given a raw deal in having to do the drudge work (having children included!) while men swanned around scot-free making pots of money and enjoying prestige and power.

Most men didn’t know what a dish-cloth looked like according to Greer and her followers.

The crucial element that was missed in this misperception was that society’s values for the last five hundred years or so, up until this time, had been singularly shaped by male values. This meant that the functions, jobs, behaviours and unique territory that women are biologically equipped for, were severely under-valued and are still so to a large extent.

That is why women so readily give their power away in areas that they and their feminine network are best equipped to manage, such as the female stronghold of conception and reproduction.

Denial of our Feminine Intelligence

Examples of the denial by women of their feminine intelligence include the long-term use of the pill as their only contraceptive method even though it interferes with the healthy functioning of their reproductive system, submitting to assisted reproduction without trying natural and harm-free strategies that improve their over-all health and, allowing their babies to be cut out of their bodies because they believe (or are told)that they won’t be able to give birth naturally.

So now I hear many of you are saying…”But we have no choice, we have tried to conceive and nothing has happened”, or, “But how am I going to prevent a pregnancy when I am sexually active but not yet ready for children?” These questions have plagued women since time began. They are still the most important questions that women need to ask, and to answer, because sexuality and reproduction are such crucially important areas in a woman’s life, and have such an enormous impact both personally and in wider arenas.

After all, one baby, perhaps conceived and born after only one love-making episode, will tie a woman’s life up for the next twenty years. This is a long commitment and requires major adjustment in all areas of her life. Not only that, but it also impacts on the future generation, as the quality of her reproductive experience, her pregnancy and birthing, and the crucial years of child-raising imprint on the child born to her, either in a positive or a negative manner. And the echoes of that programming will continue on down the line in woman-to-child succession for the next seven generations.

Women Carry the Onus of Responsibility

Nature has designed it that women and women alone carry the enormous responsibility for this task: that is, the primary health and well-being of future generations of the human race.

That is not to say that males do not participate meaningfully and responsibly in the conception and rearing of a child. But his role is different and he has been designed specifically to fulfill certain aspects that only he, as a male, can.

An example of how clearly the major proportion of responsibility that women carry in this role is recognized by a South American Indian tribe still living today in the traditional way that they have for thousands of years.

Within the ambit of their law, both women and men can sit on the governing council that puts forward proposals to be considered for future legislation. However, only women can participate in the final vote to decide whether a proposal will become law. This is because it is recognized by the tribe, men and women alike, that only women have the capacity to evaluate the effect of a piece of legislation on the next seven generations of children!!

What a far-seeing policy!

To carry the responsibility of being fully a woman we need to learn to love our bodies and their uniquely female functioning. This means getting to know when we cycle, when we ovulate, what changes occur to our emotions and our psyche during a menstrual cycle and how best we can flow with the process rather than trying to deny or ignore it.

We need to recognise that when we have a child we go through dramatic personality changes that are irreversible and that will often test us sorely. Having a child can literally make or break a woman. The better she is informed of these changes the more she will rise through the experience to become a stronger and better functioning human being.

We need to understand that intrinsically as human beings we seek connection and loving rather than isolation and competitiveness.

These are just some of the colours that characterise the world of women – and the dye is cast while we are still in the womb.

For more information on recognising your unique power as a woman, and understanding men and women, please consider my book, The Essence of Woman.