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In my previous posts I was introducing the concepts of all adults operating in feminine and masculine energies. I also wrote about three feminine energies that women posses in themselves. Without further introduction I would like to point out a connection between female hormones and women’s careers and the conundrum of “having it all”.

When stressed, our adrenal glands borrow on our sex hormones either female or male depending upon who we are, therefore our ability to sustain stress is directly connected to our womanhood or manhood respectively. If you’d like to know more about this follow Dr Yolanda Loafer’s functional medicine Daily News Paperless. I had the pleasure to work with her a few years ago to figure out all these tricks of nature.

Testosterone, the main male hormone, is produced when a person is actively doing something in a social setting achieving definite results. The more men go out and do, like kill a mammoth, the stronger their adrenal glands are and overall strength, both physical and mental power.  Of course there are limits to growth, and men confront their peak performance and then downhill slope during their life span. Female hormones are produced in a calm and loving environment. When women go out and do their active social achieving roles in a manly manner they produce testosterone too, but it cannot be utilised by female adrenal glands; instead, it stresses them. When it comes to a typical burnout (adrenal fatigue), the female adrenal glands had already heavily borrowed on the body’s progesterone/oestrogen. Temporary infertility or inability to sustain pregnancy is often a result for many professionally active and high-achieving women as their female hormones are low and not supported. Every individual has different capacity and ability to sustain stress.

When a woman relaxes and manages her work and stress levels, fertility comes back. It takes time and stillness of mind though. Other hormone related illnesses, like endomethriosis and breast diseases, are all sign of women operating in the wrong energy. All traditionally female crafts like needle work, embroidery, quilting and sewing are great facilitators of female hormone production. It’s especially beneficial for young girls to do such crafts as doing them grows and strengthen their female hormones and balances the adrenal glands. So the conundrum for women who want to play all social roles without stepping heavily into masculine territory is real and have practical health and personal life implications.

Most of us adore those amazing women among us who kept their femininity and achieved a lot in many spheres of life and are taken seriously at work. They didn’t hit the ‘glass ceiling’ and have great relationship with a long term partner in their life. What is their secret? I found an interesting answer in Vedic psychology according to which every woman possesses three separate energies that present themselves as distinct social roles, are purpose oriented and to many come with age as a rite of passage. Yet all three are always available to us at any time if we know how to connect to them or they are simply triggered by situations. In my workshops I help women to establish this connection within themselves and to take a great advantage of using these energies purposefully in their relationships and careers.

The first feminine energy encompasses beauty and fragility, vanity and seduction. Its only purpose is to give joy and attract a romantic partner and bring a new generation into the world as it’s maternal and life giving at the same time. This energy is sacred and must be kept very private in order for a woman to keep her strength and attractiveness for a long time and sustain a stable life long relationship with a committed partner. When women operate on this young and beautiful energy at workplaces, their careers end when the energy runs out. Hollywood with it’s demand for young hot beauties is the starkest example of this. But we all know there are actresses like Maryl Streep and Helen Mirren and others. Their careers only blossomed after the age. Why?

It has to do with the second feminine energy, which is all about creativity and learning. A woman operating in this energy is a patroness of arts and education, progress and innovation. This energy is great to connect to when going out to work instead of adopting the masculine model of goals and efficiency and alienating people along the way.

And the third feminine energy is maternal protective energy. It has no fear or hesitation, it’s a strong leadership energy and it’s very caring and supportive as well and could be belligerent when the need arises. On a comical side of it, an American writer coined the word momism referring to women using this energy without a limit when communicating with their partners and making children out of their husbands. But practically speaking women in managerial positions are greatly empowered if they can relate to it and utilise it at work. Among  the fifty most powerful women in business listed by Fortune Magazine, only ten are below the age of fifty. The rest are approaching their sixties or already there but all of them clearly are operating in their third feminine energy and could be called matriarchs. None presented themselves in their flighty and vain seductress powers. They obviously didn’t ‘trade on their [bottoms]’ as in Madonna’s latest statement.

Women gracefully operating in these three energies achieve great highs in all spheres of life without provoking social criticism and disapproval of which many of us complain often as we compare our CVs to those of men. The criticism and disconnect arise when women stand on masculine energy platform and become harsh and void of emotion, and then both sexes have a hard time relating to them. This ability to relate and connect to others is essentially what makes us human, and that’s why Madonna is called a superhuman. Personally I identified with her a lot when I was a young and driven woman operating in masculine and rational side of things. I had to adjust a lot though when I started my family and devoted time to child rearing and close family ties. We are mostly brought up in such a way that we strive to achieve external goals and results and it’s a hard throw back for many women to suddenly sit still and watch a little seed grow in the pot and then start all over again with a zero confidence level on top of other things. It was very uplifting for me to receive a birthday card from an older woman relative who went back to work at 40 after twelve years career break because of staying at home with her three kids and navigating it successfully among younger ‘short skirted’ colleagues. It’s actually a huge theme for a new post about going back to work.

In my practice I help women to find clarity and vision for whatever they are set off to do and recognize and manage inner blocks that holds them back and move ahead.

 © Dana Johnson 2015