Lack of consistent condom use places many young adults at high risk for STIs. The incidence of common bacterial and viral STIs are highest among this population.
A recent study published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, Vol 19(3) 2010 points to a factor contributing to these high STI rates: the discontinuation of condom use.
The qualitative study of young women found that discontinuation of condom use appears to be perceived as a sign of commitment in the relationship, and movement to a more formal relationship status. However, assessment of STI risk should still be considered first.
For professionals working with youth, this is a clear reminder that this conversation is worth having with young people and it is an opportunity to encourage partners to go for STI testing before tossing out the condoms.
Read the study>>
Friday, February 4, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
‘Sexual Health Resource Centre’ now open
This fall, we were pleased to announce the continuation of the Sexual Health Resource Centre, which we inherited from long-time community partner Sexual Health Access Alberta following its closure this summer.
As Canada’s sexual health information marketplace, the Resource Centre is a comprehensive source of up-to-date and accurate sexual health information including:
- books
- pamphlets
- educational kits
- DVDs
- and other teaching aids
Resources are available on a broad range of sexual health topics including: Disability & Plain Language Sexual Health
- Pre-Teen and Teen Sexuality
- Adult and General Sexual Health
- Healthy Pregnancy
- Talking about Sexuality – for Parents
- Birth Control
- Safer Sex, HIV & Sexuality Transmitted Infections
- Unplanned Pregnancy Options
- Sexual Identity
- Sexual Assault & Abuse
- Menstruation, Menopause & Fertility Awareness
- Men’s Health
- Human Rights & Social Action
- Resources for Professionals
- Suggested Resources for Teachers
We are also charging forward with expanding the resource catalogue and building additional materials that are specific to Canada.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Bare Bones Energetics: Part 1 -- Energetics of the Human Body
A lot of times people will ask me "What's the best herb for a stomach ache?" or "What's the best herb for a respiratory infection?"
My response invariably begins with "It depends." Followed by a lot of questions about symptoms and signs that may at first seem entirely irrelevant.
That's because as an herbalist I work to support the body's healing processes rather than to eliminate a specific symptom. And in order to support the body's healing, I look toward energetic patterns, and find herbs that will shift those energies in ways that will bring the body back toward health.
Because most of us living in the U.S. in the twenty-first century don't have a language for describing those patterns, a lot of herbalists tend to borrow heavily from Chinese and Indian traditions to explain the energetics of people and plants. But newcomers to our craft can be quickly confused and overwhelmed by a proliferation of unfamiliar terms.
Its well worth taking the time to sink your teeth into Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and other energetic systems -- both because they provide terms to discuss herbs and conditions with other practitioners, and because they provide rich models for understanding the interaction between plant medicines and the human body.
But its best to begin working with a simple, largely intuitive approach to energetics. Here's my attempt to lay one out.
(Before I go on though, let me say that I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Matthew Wood, Margi Flint, Paul Bergner, and Jim McDonald for helping me understand the core concepts I use here.)
ENERGETICS OF THE HUMAN BODY
At any given moment, all of the tissues of our body are to some degree warm or cold, moist or dry. They may also be tense. Or atrophied. Or both.
Each person has places on these spectra where they tend to fall. Together they define a person's constitution. The constitution is analogous to the climate. Miami will almost always be warmer and wetter than Denver.
From day to day, from moment to moment, any part of their body or their entire system may become warmer or cooler, wetter or drier, tenser or more lax than usual. These qualities define the condition. And different conditions can prevail in different parts of the body at different times. The condition is analogous to weather. Just because Denver is generally cool and dry doesn't mean you can't have rain and high temperatures there in August.
Physical signs can help you interpret what's going on in the body. Reading the face and tongue for those signs is an art that takes time to learn well. (And I highly recommend Margi Flint's The Practicing Herbalist as a guide to that art.) But there are some basic indications that can help you get a quick sense of what's going on in someone's body.
HEAT signs include red on the skin and on the tongue, rashes, rapid pulse, extreme thirst, swelling (the body brings in fluid to try to cool the heat,) dark, scanty urine, and restlessness and irritability . Because heat rises, symptoms will move upward -- liver heat producing headache and nausea, heat in the stomach producing heartburn. If there is an infection, mucus will be yellow or green.
COLD signs include pale skin, constipation, dull aches and pains, pale mucus, lethargy, and a slow deep pulse. Symptoms move downward (as a lingering bronchial infection cools down it moves into the lungs and becomes pneumonia.)
Heat moves from the center to the periphery.
Cold moves from the periphery to the center.
Generally speaking, heat is associated with the vital force, and so hot conditions are usually conditions of excess and cold conditions are generally conditions of deficiency.
I'll talk about the exceptions as I address dampness and dryness.
DAMP conditions are marked by puffiness.
Matthew Wood divides damp conditions into two categories: flowing and stagnant.
Flowing dampness is marked by lots of free flowing fluids -- sweat, urine, thin mucus, sweat -- it is a condition of excess.
Stagnant dampness is marked by swollen, weak tissues infiltrated with water and with metabolic waste. All that excess fluid makes the body cold but it is nevertheless a condition of excess for the affected tissues (though it is often linked with deficient or congested kidney or liver function.)
DRY conditions are marked by dry, rough skin, scanty, dark urine, and creaky joints.
The depletion of fluids heats the body and can lead to what Chinese medicine refers to as "false heat." The body is deficient but appears to show heat signs (ie. redness across the cheeks or a red tongue.) Leslie Tierra describes this condition as marked by:
CONSTRICTION is marked by tension and shaking.
THERAPEUTICS
In addressing any of these conditions our goal is to help the body return to its healthy state.
The great nineteenth century Physiomedicalist physician Dr. T.J. Lyle wrote
My response invariably begins with "It depends." Followed by a lot of questions about symptoms and signs that may at first seem entirely irrelevant.
That's because as an herbalist I work to support the body's healing processes rather than to eliminate a specific symptom. And in order to support the body's healing, I look toward energetic patterns, and find herbs that will shift those energies in ways that will bring the body back toward health.
Because most of us living in the U.S. in the twenty-first century don't have a language for describing those patterns, a lot of herbalists tend to borrow heavily from Chinese and Indian traditions to explain the energetics of people and plants. But newcomers to our craft can be quickly confused and overwhelmed by a proliferation of unfamiliar terms.
Its well worth taking the time to sink your teeth into Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and other energetic systems -- both because they provide terms to discuss herbs and conditions with other practitioners, and because they provide rich models for understanding the interaction between plant medicines and the human body.
But its best to begin working with a simple, largely intuitive approach to energetics. Here's my attempt to lay one out.
(Before I go on though, let me say that I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Matthew Wood, Margi Flint, Paul Bergner, and Jim McDonald for helping me understand the core concepts I use here.)
ENERGETICS OF THE HUMAN BODY
At any given moment, all of the tissues of our body are to some degree warm or cold, moist or dry. They may also be tense. Or atrophied. Or both.
Each person has places on these spectra where they tend to fall. Together they define a person's constitution. The constitution is analogous to the climate. Miami will almost always be warmer and wetter than Denver.
From day to day, from moment to moment, any part of their body or their entire system may become warmer or cooler, wetter or drier, tenser or more lax than usual. These qualities define the condition. And different conditions can prevail in different parts of the body at different times. The condition is analogous to weather. Just because Denver is generally cool and dry doesn't mean you can't have rain and high temperatures there in August.
Physical signs can help you interpret what's going on in the body. Reading the face and tongue for those signs is an art that takes time to learn well. (And I highly recommend Margi Flint's The Practicing Herbalist as a guide to that art.) But there are some basic indications that can help you get a quick sense of what's going on in someone's body.
HEAT signs include red on the skin and on the tongue, rashes, rapid pulse, extreme thirst, swelling (the body brings in fluid to try to cool the heat,) dark, scanty urine, and restlessness and irritability . Because heat rises, symptoms will move upward -- liver heat producing headache and nausea, heat in the stomach producing heartburn. If there is an infection, mucus will be yellow or green.
COLD signs include pale skin, constipation, dull aches and pains, pale mucus, lethargy, and a slow deep pulse. Symptoms move downward (as a lingering bronchial infection cools down it moves into the lungs and becomes pneumonia.)
Heat moves from the center to the periphery.
Cold moves from the periphery to the center.
Generally speaking, heat is associated with the vital force, and so hot conditions are usually conditions of excess and cold conditions are generally conditions of deficiency.
I'll talk about the exceptions as I address dampness and dryness.
DAMP conditions are marked by puffiness.
Matthew Wood divides damp conditions into two categories: flowing and stagnant.
Flowing dampness is marked by lots of free flowing fluids -- sweat, urine, thin mucus, sweat -- it is a condition of excess.
Stagnant dampness is marked by swollen, weak tissues infiltrated with water and with metabolic waste. All that excess fluid makes the body cold but it is nevertheless a condition of excess for the affected tissues (though it is often linked with deficient or congested kidney or liver function.)
DRY conditions are marked by dry, rough skin, scanty, dark urine, and creaky joints.
The depletion of fluids heats the body and can lead to what Chinese medicine refers to as "false heat." The body is deficient but appears to show heat signs (ie. redness across the cheeks or a red tongue.) Leslie Tierra describes this condition as marked by:
night sweats, a burning sensation in the palms, soles, and chest [ . . .] dry eyes, blurred vision, dizziness, nervous energy, taking fast but tiring quickly [ . . .]
CONSTRICTION is marked by tension and shaking.
THERAPEUTICS
In addressing any of these conditions our goal is to help the body return to its healthy state.
The great nineteenth century Physiomedicalist physician Dr. T.J. Lyle wrote
"in the art of curing disease we can but influence to contract and relax with varied degrees of rapidity and energy in imitation of nature's way of using these structures in health."
In doing so, its necessary to find the imbalance -- the obstacle to cure -- that is preventing the body from healing itself, and remove it.
Usually that occurs through choosing plants that will create an equal and opposite reaction to the imbalance. Lyle wrote:
"In the work of restoration the attempt must be to restore to some extent the opposite condition of that abnormally existing. If the parts are congested apply heat and relieve the circulation. If the body is emaciated give proper food and sustain digestion. If there be too much relaxation, stimulate to the relief of such abnormal relaxation. If there be too much rigidity, relax to the relief of that rigidity."
But in doing so its important to differentiate between disease and the body's response to disease. And assess whether the body's response to the problem is under appropriate control.
Fever, for example, is something we have been trained to think of as pathological. But in reality, a fever that develops in response to an infection is part of the body's attempt to eliminate the infection. And the hypothalamus will not allow a fever to rise to a point where it becomes dangerous. So in the case of fever, the best course of action is to support what the body is doing. Keep the body hydrated. If the body is seeming limp and tired give warming, stimulating herbs to move the heat from the core to the periphery. (I'll talk about which herbs those are in the next section.) If the body is seeming tense and hot give herbs that will relax the body and open the pores to let heat escape.
On the other hand, inflammation of the respiratory tract is also part of an initially healthy immunological response to infection. But the body doesn't have the same kind of fail-safe mechanisms for reining in the production of inflammatory cytokines that it does for body temperature. So at the point when inflammation begins to interfere with breathing it becomes important to cool it down.
This is where healing becomes an art, and where we learn from watching people's bodies and paying attention to the knowledge and wisdom of experienced keen observers. I highly recommend reading the works of some of the great nineteenth century physicians like William Cook, T J Lyle, and Finley Ellingwood to get a sense of the energetics of the human body.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Sex Ed and the digital age
CSHC launches ‘Be a SexPert’ Podcast Series
In our video podcasts, six young Sexperts take to the streets to ask the public about their sex lives and give no-nonsense advice. Aimed at a youth audience, the podcasts offer open and honest conversations about sex that they may not hear at home or in school. Through the 12 episodes, viewers can watch our SexPerts get an STI test, talk to their parents about sexuality, and reveal what they've learned in becoming a Sexpert.
The Calgary Sexual Health Centre officially launched our ‘Be a SexPert’ podcast series this fall, complementing the already comprehensive sex ed resources available through our website.
In our video podcasts, six young Sexperts take to the streets to ask the public about their sex lives and give no-nonsense advice. Aimed at a youth audience, the podcasts offer open and honest conversations about sex that they may not hear at home or in school. Through the 12 episodes, viewers can watch our SexPerts get an STI test, talk to their parents about sexuality, and reveal what they've learned in becoming a Sexpert.Since posting two of our ‘Be a SexPert’ podcasts on our website in October, the episodes have been generating over 300 hits per day.
We're thrilled by this response to our podcasts. And it indicates a clear need for us to continue to reach out to online communities with sexual health information.
With today’s smart phone technologies, viewers are able to access our podcasts from where ever and whenever they need. We're excited to be able to support people with their sexual health questions and concerns, with complete privacy and personal convenience.
Two episodes have already been released, with the remaining 10 episodes ready to be released in the weeks ahead. The next episode will be released on Tuesday, January 18th - and a new episode will be released every 2 weeks after that! We'll be announcing each new episode on our Facebook and Twitter - so please stay tuned!
Check our website at www.calgarysexualhealth.ca for the new episodes! They can also be found on our Facebook page, and downloaded on iTunes.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Thanks for joining the Sexual Health dialogue!
Let's talk about sex!
Healthy sexuality is about more than pregnancy and disease - its about awareness, relationships and open dialogue. Through this blog, we aim to bring you the latest news and interesting conversation starters about sexual and reproductive health.
We are a community-based organization that provides non-judgementatl sexual and reproductive health services to Calgarians of all ages. We provide accurate, comprehensive support through counselling, education and outreach services.
How we help
Free & Confidential Support Services
Our services are available in person, by email or by phone. We offer free and confidential counselling in the following areas:
We offer education programs to inform, motivate and help people from all walks of life make healthy choices about their sexuality. We offer workshops to community groups and organizations on a wide variety of sexual health topics. Workshops can be customized to meet your needs.
Healthy sexuality is about more than pregnancy and disease - its about awareness, relationships and open dialogue. Through this blog, we aim to bring you the latest news and interesting conversation starters about sexual and reproductive health.
We are a community-based organization that provides non-judgementatl sexual and reproductive health services to Calgarians of all ages. We provide accurate, comprehensive support through counselling, education and outreach services.
How we help
Free & Confidential Support Services
Our services are available in person, by email or by phone. We offer free and confidential counselling in the following areas:
- pregnancy testing
- pro-choice pregnancy options
- post-abortion counselling
- birth control options
- sexually transmitted infections counselling
- sexual orientation and gender identity resources
- comprehensive professional referrals
We offer education programs to inform, motivate and help people from all walks of life make healthy choices about their sexuality. We offer workshops to community groups and organizations on a wide variety of sexual health topics. Workshops can be customized to meet your needs.
- Community Education Programs
- Youth Education Programs
- Professional Education Programs
Friday, December 31, 2010
Touching the Heart of the World Online Intensive
TOUCHING THE HEART OF THE WORLD:
An Online Intensive with Sean Donahue
January 18 - February 22
$100-200
Stephen Harrod Buhner writes that "Members of most ancient and indigenous cultures make an interesting assertion; when asked where in their body they live, they gesture to the region of the chest. Members of our culture, on the other hand, point to the head, generally an inch above the eyes and about two inches into the skull."
What does it mean to live from the heart?
In this six week intensive we will draw on the insights of biology, magic, herbalism, cultural history, and poetry to answer this question. And we will journey inside ourselves to explore new ways of listening to the world around us.
We will explore:
* The role the heart plays in how we experience emotion, respond to stress, and gather information from the world around us.
* How the place where we live in our bodies effects our experience of the world and shapes our culture.
* Techniques for listening to and working to heal wounded parts of ourselves.
* Learning to work with the heart as an organ of perception.
* The connections between personal, cultural, and planetary healing.
This promises to be a powerfully transformational, and at times emotionally intense journey. My goal as a teacher is to provide a safe and supportive space for that work. But I am not in a position to serve as therapist or counselor for students. Please bear this in mind as you consider undertaking this work.
Payment for this class is on a sliding scale from $100-200 The price reflects the work that I put into preparing and teaching this course. The higher end of the sliding scale is intended for people who can regularly afford things like eating out, going to concerts, and attending workshops and retreats. For those who are deeply committed to this work but are not able to afford even the low end of the sliding scale I am willing to discuss payment plans and partial or full barter arrangements. If enough people pay at the higher end of the sliding scale, I may be able to offer a few partial scholarships to students who would not otherwise be able to take this course.
If you are interested in enrolling, please e-mail me at seandonahuepoet@gmail.com.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
The Myth of the Herbal Detox
Its the most common question herbalists get, especially in the days between Christmas and New Year's: "What herbs will help my body detox?"
And my answer is always the same:
Drink water. Eat good, healthy, local, food -- organic or wild if possible, mainly meat, fish, and vegetables. Move in ways that feel good to your body. And most of the time your body will take care of itself -- we are designed to clean out whatever doesn't belong inside us and a little holiday indulgence doesn't make you "toxic."
But, you might ask, what's the harm in giving your body a push? Well it turns out you can do a lot of damage.
Forcing your colon to clear itself with stimulating laxatives -- be they herbal or pharmaceutical -- in the best of circumstances will put a lot of stress on your gut lining, and in many cases can create a dangerous dependency. When laxatives are used regularly, the body's ability to set into motion its own process of elimination atrophies, and a person can begin to need higher and higher doses of laxatives to make any bowel movement at all.
Taking in a lot of fiber in a short period of time can damage the lining of the gut. Oh and those "herbal cleanses" that tell you they are clearing out "mucoid plaque"? They are made of Psyllium husks and clay. The strange substance they cause you to excrete is the combination of the two.
If your digestion is a bit sluggish (marked by slow transit time for food, a thick white coating down the middle of the tongue, bloating and constipation) warming herbs like Ginger, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Fennel and Cardamom can help give it a gentle nudge. Best before meals. Add more bitter foods to your diet as well, and consider taking some old fashioned digestive bitters before you eat.
If you are experiencing abdominal bloating, there is a significant chance that the problem is in the lymph that surrounds the gut. Much of the lymph in your body exists there. When the gut lining becomes damaged by inflammation from food allergens, stress, repeated antibiotic use, laxatives, and so on, it can become permeable and food particles can leak from the gut into the lymph. This triggers an immune response. And in many cases this can lead to autoimmune disorders when your body develops a heightened immune response to proteins that resemble those of our own tissues -- ie. Gluten which is structured like our connective tissues and Soy which is structured like our thyroid tissues.
This kind of condition usually requires the help of an herbalist. A combination of demulcent herbs like Marshmallow and Slippery Elm with wound healing herbs like Calendula and Plantain can help heal the gut lining. Gentle lymphatics like Cleavers and Red Clover can get the lymph moving again. Immune modulating mushrooms and herbs can bring the immune system back into balance. Probiotics can restore the gut flora. And dietary and lifestyle changes are necessary to prevent future damage.
If you are experiencing chronic constipation, the problem may be with your liver failing to produce enough bile to stimulate digestion.
The answer here is to support the liver, and possibly gently stimulate it, not to do a "liver flush."
The popular liver and gallbladder flushes involving Lemon juice and Olive oil that cause people to excrete round green objects they think are gallstones are actually just creating balls of soap made in the intestine from the oil and juice with bile. They are causing more stress to the system.
Milk Thistle seeds help to protect and support the liver. They don't in and of themselves "cleanse" the liver but they can increase liver clearance of toxins by improving liver function.
Bitter herbs like Dandelion, Burdock, Turmeric, and Oregon Grape Root do increase liver clearance by stimulating bile production. But they need to be used with some degree of caution. If the liver tissues are already compromised, further stimulation can cause further damage. And if you are going to stimulate the liver the herbs need to be gauged to the person's constitution and condition. If you can't gauge whether your liver function is being compromised by heat and inflammation or cold and stagnation, seek out an herbalist who can.
Some herbs like St. John's Wort directly increase the liver's clearance of toxins. But its important to understand what you are trying to eliminate and make sure it has a clear channel to leave your body. And its also important to pay attention to interactions with pharmaceuticals -- the body treats synthetic chemicals as toxins, and if you are dependent on a particular synthetic compound to maintain your health, increasing your liver's clearance of it can do serious harm.
And its important always to look at what is stressing your liver -- food allergens, excess alcohol, excess fructose, environmental toxins, and viral infection are all possibilities, and any of these need to be addressed thoroughly and carefully.
So my answer in the end is be good to your body. Nourish it and exercise it well. If that's not sufficient, investigate the specific problem. There is no one size fits all "herbal detox." Any product or protocol that makes such a claim is likely to do more harm than good.
And my answer is always the same:
Drink water. Eat good, healthy, local, food -- organic or wild if possible, mainly meat, fish, and vegetables. Move in ways that feel good to your body. And most of the time your body will take care of itself -- we are designed to clean out whatever doesn't belong inside us and a little holiday indulgence doesn't make you "toxic."
But, you might ask, what's the harm in giving your body a push? Well it turns out you can do a lot of damage.
Forcing your colon to clear itself with stimulating laxatives -- be they herbal or pharmaceutical -- in the best of circumstances will put a lot of stress on your gut lining, and in many cases can create a dangerous dependency. When laxatives are used regularly, the body's ability to set into motion its own process of elimination atrophies, and a person can begin to need higher and higher doses of laxatives to make any bowel movement at all.
Taking in a lot of fiber in a short period of time can damage the lining of the gut. Oh and those "herbal cleanses" that tell you they are clearing out "mucoid plaque"? They are made of Psyllium husks and clay. The strange substance they cause you to excrete is the combination of the two.
If your digestion is a bit sluggish (marked by slow transit time for food, a thick white coating down the middle of the tongue, bloating and constipation) warming herbs like Ginger, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Fennel and Cardamom can help give it a gentle nudge. Best before meals. Add more bitter foods to your diet as well, and consider taking some old fashioned digestive bitters before you eat.
If you are experiencing abdominal bloating, there is a significant chance that the problem is in the lymph that surrounds the gut. Much of the lymph in your body exists there. When the gut lining becomes damaged by inflammation from food allergens, stress, repeated antibiotic use, laxatives, and so on, it can become permeable and food particles can leak from the gut into the lymph. This triggers an immune response. And in many cases this can lead to autoimmune disorders when your body develops a heightened immune response to proteins that resemble those of our own tissues -- ie. Gluten which is structured like our connective tissues and Soy which is structured like our thyroid tissues.
This kind of condition usually requires the help of an herbalist. A combination of demulcent herbs like Marshmallow and Slippery Elm with wound healing herbs like Calendula and Plantain can help heal the gut lining. Gentle lymphatics like Cleavers and Red Clover can get the lymph moving again. Immune modulating mushrooms and herbs can bring the immune system back into balance. Probiotics can restore the gut flora. And dietary and lifestyle changes are necessary to prevent future damage.
If you are experiencing chronic constipation, the problem may be with your liver failing to produce enough bile to stimulate digestion.
The answer here is to support the liver, and possibly gently stimulate it, not to do a "liver flush."
The popular liver and gallbladder flushes involving Lemon juice and Olive oil that cause people to excrete round green objects they think are gallstones are actually just creating balls of soap made in the intestine from the oil and juice with bile. They are causing more stress to the system.
Milk Thistle seeds help to protect and support the liver. They don't in and of themselves "cleanse" the liver but they can increase liver clearance of toxins by improving liver function.
Bitter herbs like Dandelion, Burdock, Turmeric, and Oregon Grape Root do increase liver clearance by stimulating bile production. But they need to be used with some degree of caution. If the liver tissues are already compromised, further stimulation can cause further damage. And if you are going to stimulate the liver the herbs need to be gauged to the person's constitution and condition. If you can't gauge whether your liver function is being compromised by heat and inflammation or cold and stagnation, seek out an herbalist who can.
Some herbs like St. John's Wort directly increase the liver's clearance of toxins. But its important to understand what you are trying to eliminate and make sure it has a clear channel to leave your body. And its also important to pay attention to interactions with pharmaceuticals -- the body treats synthetic chemicals as toxins, and if you are dependent on a particular synthetic compound to maintain your health, increasing your liver's clearance of it can do serious harm.
And its important always to look at what is stressing your liver -- food allergens, excess alcohol, excess fructose, environmental toxins, and viral infection are all possibilities, and any of these need to be addressed thoroughly and carefully.
So my answer in the end is be good to your body. Nourish it and exercise it well. If that's not sufficient, investigate the specific problem. There is no one size fits all "herbal detox." Any product or protocol that makes such a claim is likely to do more harm than good.
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