Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

Christiane Northrup, M.D.,
a board-certified ob-gyn, is a visionary pioneer; beloved authority in women’s health and wellness; and the author of the New York Times bestsellers Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, and The Wisdom of Menopause. Her third book, Mother-Daughter Wisdom, was voted Amazon’s #1 book of the year in both Parenting and Mind-Body Health in 2005. Following a 25-year career in both academic medicine and private practice, Dr. Northrup now devotes her time to helping women truly flourish on all levels through tapping into their inner wisdom.

Website:
www.DrNorthrup.com

A
LSO BY
C
HRI STIANE
N
ORTHRUP, M.D.

The Wisdom of Menopause
Creating Physical and Emotional Health and
Healing During the Change

Mother-Daughter Wisdom
Understanding the Crucial Link Between
Mothers, Daughters, and Health

The Secret Pleasures of Menopause

The Secret Pleasures of Menopause Playbook:
A Guide to Creating Vibrant Health through Pleasure

The Wisdom of Menopause Journal

Women’s Bodies,
Women’s Wisdom

Women’s Bodies,
Women’s Wisdom

Creating Physical and Emotional
Health and Healing

NEWLY REVISED AND UPDATED: 2010

Christiane Northrup, M.D.

EBook Edition published by Christiane Northrup, Inc.
www.DrNorthrup.com
Print Edition Published by Bantam Books:
www.bantamdell.com

Copyright © 2010, 2006, 1998, and 1994 by Christiane Northrup, M.D.

All rights reserved.

EBook Edition published by Christiane Northrup, Inc. 2008
Fully revised EBook Edition published 2010 All rights reserved.

Print edition is available through Bantam Books
www.bantamdell.com

Illustrations by Scott Leighton.

Copyright © 2010 by Christiane Northrup, Inc.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to quote the following:

Excerpt from
Circle of Stones: Woman’s Journey to Herself,
by Judith Duerk.
Copyright © 1989 by LuraMedia. Reprinted by permission of LuraMedia, Inc., San Diego, CA;
excerpt from
Guided Meditations, Explorations and Healing,
by Stephen Levine
Copyright © 1991 by Stephen Levine. Used by permission of Doubleday, a division
of Random House, Inc.; excerpt from
When Society Becomes an Addict,
by
Anne Wilson Schaef. Copyright © 1987, HarperSanFrancisco; Geneen Roth’s Eating
Guidelines from
Women, Food, and God
by Geneen Roth, published by Scribner,
copyright © 2010. All rights reserved. Reprinted by kind permission of Geneen Roth
and Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Northrup, Christiane.
Women’s bodies, women’s wisdom : creating physical and emotional health and healing /
Christiane Northrup. — Rev. and updated.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-553-80793-6 (hardcover) / 978-0-553-38673-8 (trade paperback)
1. Gynecology—Popular works. 2. Holistic medicine—Popular works. 3. Generative organs,
Female—Diseases—Popular works. 4. Women—Health and hygiene. I. Title.
RG121.N59 2010
618.1—dc22 2010011802

Printed in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Author photo by Charles Bush Photography

EBook Published by Christiane Northrup, Inc.
is a registered trademark of Christiane Northrup, Inc

For more information about Dr. Northrup and her work,
please visit:
www.DrNorthrup.com
.

This book is for all who believe that it is possible to flourish, regardless of
our present or past circumstances.

It is for all who acknowledge the daily presence in our lives of mystery,
uncertainty, and hope.

It is for those who yearn to be well and know that there is something
more to healing than simply external substances or techniques.

This book is for every physician, nurse, health care practitioner, healer,
or patient who keeps an open heart and an open mind and acknowledges the
fact that scientific truth is constantly changing.

It is for those who know that we heal and flourish to the degree that we
consciously invite the Sacred into our lives.

This book is dedicated with appreciation to the scientists and healers of
the past, present, and future who have had and will have the courage to
speak their truth and go forward in faith, hope, and joy, despite the deadening
effects of conventional thinking.

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Introduction to the Fourth Edition:
The Medicine of Empowerment

Part One
From External Control to Inner Guidance

1 The Patriarchal Myth: The Origin of the Mind/Body/Emotion Split

Our Cultural Inheritance

Patriarchy Results in Addiction

Fundamental Beliefs of the Dominator System

Reclaiming the Authority of Our Own Feelings

2 Feminine Intelligence and a New Mode of Healing

Energy Fields and Energy Systems

Understanding the Bodymind

Feminine Intelligence: How Thoughts Become Embodied

Beliefs Are Physical

Healing Versus Curing

3 Inner Guidance

Listening to Your Body and Its Needs

Emotional Cleansing: Healing from the Past

Dreams: A Doorway to the Unconscious

Intuition and Intuitive Guidance

How Inner Guidance Works

4 The Female Energy System

The Matter-Energy Continuum

Earth’s Energy

The Chakras

The Lower Female Centers: Chakras One to Three

Other Chakra Issues

Part Two
The Anatomy of Women’s Wisdom

5 The Menstrual Cycle

Our Cyclical Nature

Our Cultural Inheritance

Menstrual Cramps (Dysmenorrhea)

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)

Irregular Periods

Excessive Buildup of the Uterine Lining (Endometrial Hyperplasia, Cystic and Adenomatous Hyperplasia)

Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding (DUB)

Heavy Periods (Menorrhagia)

Healing Our Menstrual History: Preparing Our Daughters

6 The Uterus

Our Cultural Inheritance

Energy Anatomy

Chronic Pelvic Pain

Endometriosis