Postpartum University® Podcast

The Power of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Postpartum Recovery | Kristin Hauser EP 196

• Maranda Bower, Postpartum Nutrition Specialist

Share episode

Postpartum recovery is a sacred opportunity for deep healing and transformation, not just “bouncing back.”

Kristin Hauser, an acupuncturist and herbalist, dives into the transformative power of Chinese medicine in postpartum care, breaking down the 'three golden opportunities' women have during their reproductive years—menarche, postpartum, and menopause. 

We talk about how simple yet profound practices like resting more, eating nourishing ancestral foods like bone broth, and limiting screen time during these phases can reset a woman’s health on a cellular level. It’s all about empowering providers to guide moms through these critical times with holistic tools that nurture the nervous system, balance hormones, replenish nutrients, and honor the body’s natural rhythms for deep healing and long-term well-being.


Check out this episode on the blog: https://postpartumu.com/the-power-of-traditional-chinese-medicine-in-postpartum-recovery-kristin-hauser-ep-196



KEY TIME STAMPS:

00:02: Introduction to Kristin Hauser and her work in Chinese medicine.
01:30: The three golden opportunities: menarche, postpartum, and menopause.
07:07: Key practices for postpartum recovery—rest, nourishment, and slowing down.
10:31: Technology’s impact on postpartum health and how to minimize its effects.
18:09: Debunking the myth of motherhood as inherently depleting.
22:40: Building resilience and embracing the joys of motherhood.
25:02: Leveraging the body’s innate intelligence for postpartum recovery.
31:08: Where to find more of Kristin’s work and connect with her resources.


Connect with Kristin:

Kristin Hauser is a mother, acupuncturist, herbalist and somatic sex educator supporting women to create lasting hormonal resilience, fertility through postpartum. Her work is inspired by the ancient wisdom of Chinese Medicine, the modern understanding of hormonal physiology and a deep reverence for the innate intelligence of the body. As the founder of Womb Medicine, she offers online consultations, courses and workshops, as well as TCM inspired herbal medicinals. Kristin is also the co-facilitator of The Blood Mysteries School, a journey through the menstrual cycle as a path of nourishment, agency and healing for every woman.
Website | Instagram

NEXT STEPS:

🔔Sign up for the Postpartum Nutrition Certification Waitlist

👍Rate, REVIEW & share the podcast

📱Connect on Instagram!

🍲Get Your Postpartum Nutrition Plan- Retiring Dec. 31, 2024!

📚Get a Copy of the BOOK: Reclaiming Postpartum Wellness

🎒FREE Provider's Postpartum Nutrition Toolkit

🧠Perinatal Mental Health Certificate Training & Additional Courses for Providers & Postpartum Professionals

Speaker 1:

The postpartum care system is failing, leaving countless mothers struggling with depression, anxiety and autoimmune conditions. I'm Miranda Bauer and I've helped thousands of providers use holistic care practices to heal their clients at the root. Subscribe now and join us in addressing what modern medicine overlooks, so that you can give your clients real, lasting solutions for lifelong well-being. Hey everyone, welcome to the Postpartum University Podcast. Miranda Bauer. Here and today I have Kristen Hauser. She is a mother, acupuncturist, herbalist and somatic sex expert, supporting women to create lasting hormonal resilience and fertility through postpartum. This is the period of time that she supports, which is why she's here on this show. Her work is deeply inspired by Chinese medicine and the modern understanding of hormone physiology and a really deep reverence for the innate intelligence of the body. She is the founder of Womb Medicine. She offers online consultations, courses and workshops, as well as TCM-inspired herbal medicinals. So, kristen, thank you so so much for being here on the show. I'm so grateful that you reached out and I'm so excited for this conversation.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 1:

So in your work, you talk about the three what you call golden opportunities in Chinese medicine. Could you expand on how providers might help moms embrace these stages, like just tell us what they are and then like what, what do we need to do with these?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I think it's helpful to kind of understand a bit of the Chinese medicine framework first, and that is that female physiology has certain requirements for thriving, and part of that is that we need to pay attention to where we are in our reproductive life cycle. And so men arc when we make that first transition as young girls, as maidens which of course ranges in age but when we have our first cycle, that is really our first golden opportunity and it's understanding that when we are entering our cycling years and we are bleeding each month in the case that we're not pregnant, of course then we have these particular requirements for rest, for nourishment and for really taking care of ourselves. Honestly, I think in westernized cultures we're often indoctrinated or taught from a young age to sort of push through, and that's in everything from Tampax commercials to, like, you can just use a tampon and get back to your swim meet or get back to whatever activity you're doing, and then that's in larger culture as well for women in the workplace and that sort of thing. So the first golden opportunity is really men are, in helping young girls to understand what a big deal menstruation is, not that it's bad or not, that it has to be painful or anything like that, but it just does have certain requirements if we want to be well throughout our reproductive lives.

Speaker 2:

And then another big golden opportunity is any postpartum experience that we have. So a lot of different cultures have traditions around the first sitting moon, or the first moon after you have a baby, or the first 40 days, as it's called in the tradition of Ayurveda, days as it's called in the tradition of Ayurveda, and it's the understanding that birth is a big change, obviously for mother and baby, and it's a big event in a woman's life and we give a lot of our life force, energy to that process of gestating baby, birthing a baby. And then there needs to be a recovery process and that looks different cross-culturally, but there are similar threads within that golden opportunity and the opportunity there is to heal and restore your system in a very deep and profound way. So, just to give you an example, what this could look like is someone that has struggled with painful menstruation, irregular menstruation, even infertility challenges. They could use this golden opportunity of a postpartum period. Of course, they could have multiple postpartum periods, because postpartum is anytime, also after a loss or, um, yeah, any birth that you have. But they could use this opportunity to really restore in a deep way.

Speaker 2:

So that requires, again, rest and nourishment, usually with particular foods really being supported in the body, um.

Speaker 2:

So, whether that looks like body work or, um, vaginal steaming types of warming practices are really common in Chinese medicine, like moxibustion.

Speaker 2:

So that is an herbal smoke therapy that brings more chi and energy or warmth into the system and this can really shift women in a big way if this period of time is honored and recognized, really shift women in a big way if this period of time is honored and recognized.

Speaker 2:

And then the third golden opportunity, which I have not passed through myself, is at the end of our reproductive years, so that transition into menopause, so we could say perimenopause and into menopause. And then I just like to reiterate that we really have the chance, with each cycle, each menstruation, each time we are in our bleeding time, to it's like a mini golden opportunity to reset for the month, to really like drop into deeper layers of nourishment, maybe take a break from technology. Or I know I work with a lot of moms and I'm a mom, so it's not always possible to just drop all your responsibilities. That's not what this is about, but it is about how we orient to our environments, even internally, what we expect of ourselves while we're bleeding, how we might shift things to have more support during that time.

Speaker 1:

You described this so, so beautifully and thank you for for doing that, and I'm I can't help but wonder, like, what are the things that we can do during these golden opportunities that would help us get the best rhythms within our bodies to help us, um, kind of reset a lot of the things, because I know in many cultures around the world, this is a period of time. These three golden opportunities are periods to release, like deep rooted trauma or cellular memories, or like just really kind of cleanse the palate almost and start fresh. Like and you mentioned a few things, but I would love to know a little bit deeper, like what is it that we can do during these times that could really help reset things?

Speaker 2:

I think the biggest thing is just slowing down, and that's not necessarily an easy thing to do, depending on your particular constitution or how you might be influenced by culture at large. So slowing down and orienting to rest, so that really looks like actually increasing the amount of time in bed, so that could look like going to bed even just 30 minutes earlier or an hour earlier during your bleeding time. Those first, I like to say at least the first three days of your cycle, and then, of course, for a postpartum period that's going to be very extended, that may look like staying. One of the recommendations I often give women is like stay in bed for 12 hours a day, like at night in particular, and you might even be in bed more during the day, especially in those first weeks. But having 12 hours of bed, you're not going to be asleep the whole time, so that's okay, but just really orienting to allowing the body to rest and restore in that way. So that's probably the first thing, and then a close second has to be nourishment how often are you eating? So first, just making sure you're eating enough. That kind of has to be the baseline, regardless of what your diet status is or what you like to eat or prefer to eat.

Speaker 2:

And then the second thing is around diet and nutrition is that most cultures have certain ancestral foods. Those foods are often animal based or animal products their bone broth or meat stock or soups or stews. Products, their bone, their bone broth or meat stock, or soups or stews. They may be organ meats those kinds of things that really help build our blood back. So that's perfect.

Speaker 2:

Whether you're in your cycling years, menstruating, or you're in the postpartum time, those foods tend to be really nourishing and healing and also bring more warmth to the body and healing and also bring more warmth to the body. So those would be like my top two. And then I would say the other pieces that come in are like the body work. So that could look a lot of different ways and it's a good time to just whether it's the golden opportunity of menstruation or postpartum, just to assess like what do I actually need right now? And that could look different at different phases of our life. I know in the postpartum time, gentle, body work is really preferred and that could look like belly binding or having someone do oil massage for you Maybe when in your menstruating years. That looks different and that looks like going on a walk or stretching more, doing some type of restorative yoga practice. So that's going to be a little bit variable, but tending to the body like really in a physical way.

Speaker 2:

And then another really common one that I think is important is decreasing use of technology and increasing access to nature or being in green spaces, seeing natural landscapes, having flowers in your room, especially in the postpartum time if you're resting a lot and staying inside. Those are the things, the top things, that come to mind. Of course, you can get really nuanced and think about supplements and herbs. You can add in all these other things, but if the baseline is not there, if, like that, root nourishment is not in place, those other things won't really have a lasting impact.

Speaker 1:

I'm curious because I've heard you say about technology and even before we started recording, you mentioned a technology that doesn't emit EMFs, and I'm very curious about this and I know that there's some new research and studies and I'm wondering if you can shed some light on how, how the that technology, which seems to be really coupled with just nature and being out in nature. Can you share a little bit more about how that affects our menstrual cycles or how that affects our postpartum experiences, or these golden opportunities?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, of course. Well, you know and I just have to say, ironically, I run an online business, so of course, I am on technology. I'm pregnant right now. I'm almost 38 weeks and I'm on technology right now, and that's okay. That's part of our life and we can also take some precaution against how often we're exposed to it, how we're exposed to it.

Speaker 2:

Certain practices we can have in place around mitigating that impact. One way it really impacts us is through the eyes. So the eyes in Chinese medicine are related to the liver. The liver is kind of like the commander of our metabolism and our energy body. It helps to regulate our blood sugar. Obviously, it helps to detoxify our system. It removes estrogen from our system. Once its cycle is complete, it does a lot for us and, from a Chinese medicine point of view, it also stores blood, and our blood should be returning to the liver at night to be restored and then being used during the day.

Speaker 2:

When we go through menstruation or postpartum time, of course, a little bit of our liver blood or our liver blood supply goes down. This is normal. It's not a problem necessarily. It's just that there should be a natural restoration process. A problem, necessarily, it's just that there should be a natural restoration process. When we're using our eyes to look very intently at a screen, right, we kind of develop consciously or unconsciously we develop sort of a tunnel vision, where our eyes have a lot of focus and intensity towards a screen. This can be really draining for liver blood.

Speaker 2:

So I like to remind women, during menstruation and especially in the postpartum time, it's just a great time to be aware of how much you're on screens. It's not that you have to minimize them completely Although if you have that lifestyle that's great, but it's just okay. Maybe I'm not going to be on screens after sunset so I'm not having that blue light exposure and my liver has like a chance to really kind of go into that more restorative space. And that could be the same during menstruation. So during menstruation you could have like a little more boundaries around technology use and I find that that can be really impactful. And we're living in a really interesting time as well, and this was true even with my first.

Speaker 2:

My first child is seven years old and we were entering this time where a lot of women were sharing about their postpartum experiences more and more online and while this is really, in one aspect, very beautiful and it's allowed us to really see what it's like in those first days postpartum first weeks, first months in a really raw and honest way.

Speaker 2:

On the other hand, what I think can get a little bit there can be a shadow side of that, and that is that maybe these mothers don't necessarily feel cocooned or like they're speaking into a void sort of situation, rather than actually having in-person connections where they can share their process or share what they're actually going through.

Speaker 2:

And so that's something I'm in practice with myself in the postpartum time, especially now as I have my fourth postpartum experience and I just have more comfort around motherhood in general. So it's a very normal part of my life now and there are certain things I want to share, of course. At the same time, it's good to notice how we engage with technology, how we engage with sharing, and what parts of our lives and our experience are truly ready to be shared, and what parts of our golden opportunities or what parts of those postpartum and birth experiences are for us to keep for ourselves, or at least for now, or for us to be in process with. So that's a little bit of a tangent from the technology piece, but I feel like it's very important to mention here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that, and as you were speaking toward the end, the word that came to mind was like sacred, and how we don't have a lot of sacredness within our lives in this more modern technological world where we feel we need to share. And so my I also have four kids. My oldest is going to be 15 here shortly and when he was born, like no one was talking about postpartum, like it was not a thing. He did not talk about it, and it's been so beautiful seeing the shift between you know, never speaking about it being super taboo to sharing everything.

Speaker 1:

And although I'm like a huge component of making sure that we understand the realities, we also have like a really skewed reality of what it is because our world, and particularly our society, when it comes to women's healthcare and postpartum or any of these golden opportunities, we have been so sold on some really big lies and we've been left alone to deal with a lot of this ourselves.

Speaker 1:

And so a lot of the things that we're seeing, a lot of the experiences we're coming out of like this, this deeply negative space, and so often what I'm seeing as a result and maybe you can chat on this too is like we're everything is looked upon as being negative, like I hear women say oh, I have postpartum. Well, if you have a baby, you've experienced postpartum. But now we're at the point in our lives where we're relating postpartum depression to postpartum itself. Even the definitions of postpartum when you go Google them, they're so negative, right, everything is so negative. We're viewing it from a really negative light and I know you mentioned like the biggest lie that we've been sold to about mothering. I would love to hear what your interpretation is of that and if it's on point of like what I'm conveying here and like what I'm picking up, I could be totally wrong.

Speaker 2:

No, yes, this is a great point. It's like we are kind of in that cultural point and spot of finding an equilibrium. It's like there did need to be some collective grievances happening, there did need to be some collective sharing around how challenging that postpartum time can be and there also needs to be a celebration of what motherhood can be. And I think I think what you're referring to is like how I talk about. I think the biggest lie we've been sold in as mothers is just how depleting it is, how our life is over once motherhood begins. And I find that, at least for a lot of women within my community and in my own experience as well, is if you're supported, if there is a level of coherence and integration in your experience of motherhood, then it can be the most enlivening and beautiful, awakening, like soul maturation process that that is available to us as women. And of course there's going to be pushback about that and there's going to be pushback about that and there's going to be well, but this was so hard and I'm not saying that's untrue.

Speaker 2:

I've also had some very challenging experiences with motherhood, but I don't let those challenges define what my experience of motherhood is in sort of current reality and I think that truly from a neuro endocrine point of view so how our nervous system is wired and how it interacts with our hormonal system is that we are imprinted or given the gift or the possibility, we could say, of experiencing ecstasy or bliss, both in the birthing experience and the postpartum experience and through our motherhood years, because we haven't necessarily had examples of that. Some of us need to seek those out, some of us need to put those pieces back together. Some of us need to spend time in a grieving process around something that was lost or something that we feel like didn't go the way we wanted, around something that was lost or something that we feel like didn't go the way we wanted. But I still think it's possible for any mother who would like to see that or experience that to find her way out of any cultural or ancestral narratives that are keeping her from experiencing motherhood in that way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely, and that's I'm so glad that you're you're sharing this, because that's something that I've been chatting about for quite some time is that we can have a beautiful experience, and sometimes it you know, I call it the duality of motherhood Like we have these really difficult points that help us grow and become the mother that we would, that we want to be, or that we've envisioned, and maybe even help break generational traumas and patterns that no longer serve, you know, this next generation and, at the same time, into a new body and a new, a new role. But even beyond that, just recognizing that this period of time can feel really really good physically, mentally and emotionally and spiritually as well. And that's the part that we're not talking about. But I'm so glad that not we, as in you and I, but like as a society, right, but I think this coming together in this morning of what we've been experiencing in the dark for so long is now coming to light.

Speaker 1:

We were sharing our stories and doing all the hard thing, but from that we have women who are demanding more. We have women saying you know what? This is not okay and it's. It's not okay that my hormones are just out of balance because I'm a woman or because I'm a mom, I deserve better, and they're searching for those answers. And then we have people like yourself who are like providing this information and saying, no, there, there is something better here on the other side.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, for sure, and I do think there there are definitely more more women out there now who who are sharing about the positive sides of of their motherhood experiences or what is working for them, and it just takes time, Like you said.

Speaker 2:

You know, if your oldest is 15 years old and during that time no one was talking about postpartum, Then we went through this huge time of people talking about how hard and challenging it is, and now we're trying to find our way with, like, how do we honor and recognize the challenges that motherhood bring, but also the resilience that that can create within us and also the just the really fun good parts of it?

Speaker 2:

And I think that that brings me really back to the nervous system healing aspect of my own process and then sort of what I teach as well, and that is that to get under some of those layers, we have to build capacity to actually experience what's good, and that sounds so simple in some ways and also kind of abstract, but it's really like from a sensation based place. Do we even recognize, as we move through our day as moms, like the moments where our child comes up and gives us a hug or says I love you, or whatever the thing is. It depends on the stage of motherhood that you're in, of course, but building capacity to give those particular moments real time in our system, that is a particular process I've found.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, that makes absolute sense. It's almost like we have to. It reminds me of needing a hug, for what is it like? 90 seconds in order to like, really feel it within your nervous system and have the, the emotional, the hormones that are associated with the process of being hugged, in order to be felt right, like. Is that what you're referring to, are you? Yeah, it is like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's, it's definitely like that in order to be felt right. Like is that what you're referring to? Are you referring to something darker? Yeah, it's definitely like that.

Speaker 1:

Okay, okay For sure, making sure I'm on the right track here. Yeah, one of the things that you talk about in your work is, like you emphasize, like the body's innate intelligence, and I'd love for you to speak on that. What does that look like for a new mother, especially in the postpartum recovery? And there's so many providers who are listening into this podcast. How can they use that innate intelligence in the healthcare setting, which often focuses on interventions rather than, you know, optimizing wellbeing?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think working with the innate intelligence of the body is really about attunement ultimately, and the postpartum time is a time where there is a lot of attunement required for healing. So a lot of attunement between the mother and the baby. That's sort of naturally happening, right, because even when the baby emerges, baby doesn't know that it's like the separate being for something like nine months, right, it still is very much part of the mother's fields, energetically but also physically. So it is mirroring the physical body of the mother, the nervous system of the mother, the heart rate, the breathing rate, all these things that we kind of know now but sometimes we can forget. So I think just really attuning to the mother, so the mother can then attune to the baby, is so important in the postpartum time. And when you approach working with a postpartum mother or you are a postpartum mother or you're just someone who's visiting a postpartum mother again, I just come back to this concept of really slowing down and and trying to pay attention to some of the more subtle cues that might be going on. How is she doing? Are some of her basic needs met? Does she need a little more of this or a little more of that? So it's really just allowing that unfolding process to happen rather than asking her to do something that might be outside of her capacity or might just go in opposition to what she actually needs. So this is where I see things going wrong and that's like maybe, providers suggesting that they're coming in for a weekly office visit in the immediate postpartum time I get that. I've been a provider with a clinic setting Like I know how that is and I know that in the immediate postpartum time it's not an appropriate thing to do, essentially Right. So of course, not every provider can provide in-home care. I get that as well. Like I'm, I'm very much a realist and working with reality is super important.

Speaker 2:

Um, so if you're not a provider who specializes in postpartum and you're not offering postpartum care, then it may be more appropriate to say something like come back in Once you've gone through your initial postpartum time. Here are some providers that can come to you, right. Here are some people that could actually come into your home and have a nice slow, relaxed body work session where the baby can be there and that that provider understands that the mother baby diet comes first. It comes before the therapeutic experience, if that makes sense. No, it does.

Speaker 2:

I mean it just has to be like that, because anytime you separate such a young dyad mother, baby mother's body, subconsciously or consciously, is going to be experiencing a stress response, and so is babies.

Speaker 2:

So that sort of is counterproductive to the innate healing response and going to be counterproductive to any type of therapeutic outcome or therapy that might be utilized. So I don't know. I've set myself up for success in that way each postpartum, by just knowing that, unless it was some extreme situation that I couldn't predict, I wouldn't be leaving the home and so any care that I would need would need to come to me if possible. So and then the question is is like yeah, then you just have to be more discerning about what you receive in that postpartum time, and hopefully I think there's so many great postpartum care providers out there that do come into the home and do know what that's like and do know that sometimes things don't exactly work as you planned, or you know baby has to nurse and you have to wait, or whatever the case is. So yeah, I think that's a little bit about the innate healing response and the postpartum time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I remember having to pack up my babies and going off to meet my midwife and it was two weeks postpartum. But just doing that in itself, like coming back from that appointment with baby, was just absolutely exhausting, you know.

Speaker 1:

And it takes such a toll even when baby is able to be with us in those moments, and it's not even like it's a massive appointment, right, or like you know, a half day thing, like it was really just like a 30 minute checkup. And it's down the road and I remember with each of my babies like this is rough, like this is hard, this is hard. So having that, um, having providers come to you, I think is absolutely amazing, and it's not just what I'm hearing you say, is it's not just like a medical provider, like we're talking about lymph massage, we're talking about maybe an herbalist, we're talking about massage therapy, maybe a doula, postpartum doula, like those kinds of people who are in the field as providers, coming to you as well. Lactation consultants, right, right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so just like, yeah, those are the kind of providers that I'm mostly referring to. I'm not not necessarily referring to like pediatricians or something like that, although there are some, I'm sure, great ones that would come to you. Midwives will definitely come to you, certain ones, but yeah, like craniosacral therapist, lactation educators, who maybe have additional certifications or offerings um massage therapists, body workers yeah, all of those are great resources for postpartum care and support.

Speaker 1:

That's beautiful. Thank you so much for all of the wisdom that you have shared here. I feel like we're barely touching the surface, uh, with this conversation, and I'd love to know where can people find you to learn a lot more about what you offer and what you do and the way you approach healthcare and these beautiful golden opportunities?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so you can check out my website at wombmedicinecom pretty easy to remember and that has all of my info and offerings. There's a pretty easy start here button if you're like not sure where to start. And I'm also pretty active on Instagram just at Kristen Hauser my name so easy to find there as well. I send out a weekly email called the wombomb Tending Weekly and that goes out on Wednesdays. You're welcome to join me on that newsletter list and you'll get all my updates and freebies and anything that's new.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so, so much for being here. I really appreciate all your wisdom. Thank you for having me. Thanks so much for being a part of this crucial conversation. I know you're dedicated to advancing postpartum care and if you're ready to dig deeper, come join us on our newsletter, where I share exclusive insights, resources and the latest tools to help you make a lasting impact on postpartum health. And the latest tools to help you make a lasting impact on postpartum health Sign up at postpartumu the letter ucom which is in the show notes, and, if you found today's episode valuable, please leave a review to help us reach more providers like you. Together, we're building a future where mothers are fully supported and thriving.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Maranda Bower

Host