Ode To Sepia

Ode To Sepia

I don’t know about you and your practice, but I’d like to pay homage to Sepia as being a respite and a reviver to many a woman in her hormonal and sexual wellbeing. Heck, I’ve experienced it first hand throughout my own hormonal journey. The first time I took it I was a young mother. I was exhausted and depleted and did NOT want my husband anywhere near me. Sepia set me straight. It set me so straight, that the Synthroid that I had been on for 10 years due to Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis was no longer needed. My body took over, and I became myself again. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve certainly used Sepia successfully for a few men and a child or 2, but I’d venture to say a practice without Sepia is no practice at all.

I have a special interest in women’s sexual health and well being. Perhaps it’s because of my own trauma background. And certainly Sepia is not the only remedy to facilitate a more wholesome functioning of a woman’s hormonal system. But I am not sure what we would do without it.

Here’s a case: 

Melissa, age 45, married, no children. 

I am feeling overworked, overwhelmed, and draggy. There are a lot of demands on me in my job, and I feel responsible for those in my care. I don’t want to let them down. But I am exhausted. I don’t want to do anything when I come home. I want to sit and read, or do nothing. But there are projects at home and my husband has way more sexual energy and is pretty demanding. And I just don’t want to connect in that way. I kind of can’t stand him. But then I feel guilty too. I feel guilty that I can’t get my body to respond, and I feel guilty that I don’t want to respond. 

< emotionally before menses

Flushes of heat before menses

Feels she is in perimenopause.

Can’t get back to sleep when wakes up from a hot flash.

Plan: Sepia 200C 2 doses

I could tell you that is all I suggested, but it’s not. One of the things that I have noticed in my practice as a homeopath for 20 years is that most women in western culture are not all that connected to their bodies. They have cut themselves off from their senses. They don’t have a sense of what pleases them or gives them pleasure. I could, and do theorize that it’s because women have inserted themselves into a masculine culture in order to survive. They’ve lost what it means to be feminine, to be in a receiving mode. And so I also coach women to come back into their senses. To feel themselves back in their body.

These are simple exercises that you can do too if you choose. (A few of the exercises are below.) The reason to have someone to talk to is that these exercises can also bring up past emotions and experiences. And sometimes we need additional help to work through past traumas or the things we have decided because of those past experiences. 

And so we talked too. And I had her notice what brought her pleasure and do more of that. Simple things like having a hot bubble bath, or feeling what her sheets felt like against her skin as she climbed into bed.

We talked about old trauma and did some trauma integration and subconscious clearing work. All this along with the remedy Sepia.

Follow up:

It was a summer of love. I connected back to my body and my relationship with my husband in a way that I hadn’t before. I still don’t have the same libido as him, but the remedy helped my libido so much, and we found ourselves coming together in a new way. I was able to express myself in a way that was real for me. I enjoyed myself. And we are more connected than we were before.  

Sleep also improved and I got a reprieve from the hot flashes.

Thank you.

Here are three exercises:

1. Five Senses: Notice the things that please you and/or your senses throughout the day. This can be a bird you hear calling, the smell of something in the air, something brushing your skin. Write them down as you can. 

2. Subjective Object: Pick up an object of any type and hold it in your hands. Notice the texture, the weight, the feelings it brings up. What do you notice in your body as you feel your hands and fingers on the object? Write about it if you like. Pick up another object and do the same thing with it.

3. De-armor: This exercise requires you to be a little more intimate with yourself, and requires some preparation to do it well. I am giving you the cliff notes version here.

Find a quiet place where you can be by yourself. This is a vaginal de-armoring exercise that requires only your fingers, a sense of curiosity, and some openness. Set yourself up to be comfortable with pillows and blankets as needed. Begin on the outside of your vulva pressing gently working from the outside and then closer in towards the clitoris and vaginal opening. Notice thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Ask yourself if you want to go further. If so you can go further into the vaginal opening. Slowly and gently pressing into spots. You may feel pain, numbness, boredom, or any other number of sensations or emotions. Just notice them. When it feels right to complete the exercise do so and then spend some time recording your thoughts in a notebook. Be open to learning something about yourself.  

Stagnation is a keyword for Sepia. It makes sense as a remedy to jumpstart desire and passion. Along with a focus in the same direction, this remedy has the potential to ignite some serious sparks.

About the Author:

Michele Brookhaus business portrait. Bellingham, WA. © 2017 Mark Turner

Michele Brookhaus, RSHom(NA), CCH has been in practice for over 20 years and has a special interest in women’s hormonal and sexual health. She is the creator of Yoni Bliss, a homeopathic lubricating gel for women and can be reached at Michele@yonibliss.com