Health and Intuitive Wisdom with Lizzy Moran of Well Women
Lizzy is a women’s hormonal wellness coach
We’re drawn to heal our biggest wounds. For years, Lizzy struggled with her menstrual and hormonal health. Through her own process of healing and learning, she found power and acceptance in her body, and now offers her story, empowering information and support to other women. She believes that with good information and a safe space to explore their health and bodies, women are able to act and make choices from their own intuitive wisdom to find the answers they seek, and she is exceptionally talented at creating a safe, nonjudgmental space. She is deeply thoughtful and gentle, the kind of person you can talk to about anything, and I’m so excited to share her story and her work.
AH: Lizzy, I want to start by asking you about your story and how you found yourself working as a women’s hormonal health coach. Were there any key turning points, experiences, people, readings, or moments along the way that brought you to this work?
LM: There are two major themes that come to mind when I think of my story. The first is my upbringing and the second is my personal struggle with my menstrual cycle and reproductive health. When I was growing up, I was surrounded by women with strong wills and sense of self. They were also fiercely nurturing. I’ve always loved being around bold and embodied women. They are what I think of as witchy women, who question the status quo and have a deep understanding of the female body and the wisdom it possesses and how it is connected to nature and has a mystical power. I remember sitting around the kitchen table with my mom and her best friends and my sisters and being able to talk about things that were painful and vulnerable, and it made me want to continue to be around women and work with them.
I experienced a shift in my sense of self when I got my period. There’s a quote about how we’re drawn to heal our biggest wounds, and my struggle with my menstrual cycle was my wound that led me to where I am now. I got my period when I was ten years old. I was so young. Before my period, I was always playing outside, carefree, present and happy. I didn’t feel shame about my body and who I was. Then I started to feel shame, like a had a secret I needed to hide and when you’re ten you don’t know that menstruation is going to impact how you feel, your energy, connections, relationships and sexuality (later on). I didn’t find any power in my cycle, and my shame, guilt, and misunderstanding about my body lasted through my 20s. This paired with hormonal imbalances showed up in various forms like low libido and anxiety. I experienced chronic yeast infections. When I went to the doctor, I was given a pill to “fix” my cycle. I felt alone and disconnected from that part of my body. It affected my relationship to myself and my partner and I felt disempowered.
Eventually, I started exploring other solutions on my own and realized the answer wasn’t going to be a pill or given to me by a doctor. I always think of my mom at this point. She is the kind of person, who, if she doesn’t like the answer she’s given, will not accept it and find different solutions. I see that in myself, I don’t take just one answer or diagnosis as absolute. I kept getting yeast infections, then antibiotics, then yeast infections, then antibiotics, over and over through college and beyond, and I knew there was something missing. I started seeing an amazing nurse practitioner as my primary care provider. She asked more questions about my mental health than anyone else ever had. She asked about my relationship to food and sex. I felt safe asking her questions and she didn’t make me feel ashamed or scared of my body. She was the first person to recommend that I work with a health coach.
The health coach shared information with me, but mostly she asked me about my life and listened. She taught me that there’s so much knowledge out there, and healing can happen through food, mindfulness practices and other modalities, but it was up to me to make the choice to change. I felt empowered and this cascaded into action. It gave me the reigns back to my health and I started exploring things that made me feel good or bad. The first change I made was cutting out sugar, and my yeast infections disappeared. Then, I started meditating, and my anxiety became manageable. She said, you have the wisdom within you, I support and believe in you, here’s the information, it’s up to you how you use it.
I connected to that process and I’ve always acted as a trusted support system for my female friends. I knew this was my strength but I wasn’t sure how I would put it into practice. Fast forward to when I moved to Seattle. I went for a run and was listening to the podcast Cycles + Sex, and Nicole Jardim was talking about the power of the menstrual cycle in a way that was new to me. She talked about the different phases of the cycle and it was so different than the way I’d been taught growing up. In sex-ed I basically learned that the menstrual cycle was part of biology and don’t have sex because you’ll get pregnant. Nicole was talking about how the different menstrual phases affect everyday life including mood, sex drive, and relationships, and it just clicked. I ran home and emailed her immediately. What do you do? How did you get into this work? She explained that she was a health coach who helps women find healing and health and I thought, this is it, this is what I want to do and I immediately dove in. It was the combination of all of my passions, I just didn’t know that this line of work existed.
AH: How did learning about your menstrual cycle, the phases and its impact on your spiritual, mental and physical state affect your experience with your cycle?
LM: The first thing this new information gave me was an understanding and overall acceptance of my current state and the moment I was presently in. In college as an athlete, and beyond in my work, social life and relationships, I didn’t have the option to think, I don’t feel good today, I feel tired. I couldn’t make decisions based on how I felt, I just had to perform and produce, which is a societal expectation that we’re not evolved to do. I gained permission to live my life according to my menstrual cycle instead of despite it and I stopped feeling the cycle of shame and doubt. Life doesn’t stop and start based on my menstrual cycle, but I was able to plan and make choices and decisions about my time and commitments that supported me during the different phases.
AH: What is your vision for your work? How do you connect to women and share your passion for health and wellness?
LM: I love collaborating with other women and working with clients and it really lights my fire to bring women together in a group and share experiences without judgment. Some women love their menstrual cycle, others hate it, both should be able to share their story. My friend came to one of my workshops, she’s 38, and after she said, I just have to thank you. For the first time in my life, I’m giving myself permission to accept myself where I’m at. I think we’re not given permission to accept ourselves as women because we lack adequate education and information and our culture perpetuates shame and fear about our bodies.
My long term vision for my work is to share information with women about their bodies and inherent wisdom at a younger age. College is an important time of transition in women’s lives where they are able to make their own decisions and establish their own habits and values. It is an essential time to learn about the body and understand how our choices impact our reproductive and overall health.
I also hope to work in my own small, private practice, one on one with clients. It is beautiful to watch my clients establish a connection to their own innate wisdom and I think creating a real, tangible space for this is important.
AH: How do you approach intrinsic motivation and openness to information?
LM: I believe in creating space for sharing experiences without pressure to change. I tell my clients that they are in a safe and trusting space and they can share whatever they feel comfortable sharing. Whatever they choose to do, I support them and I don’t judge them. I provide unbiased information, the pros and cons of different options and create an environment for women to explore this information. I find that we mostly know what we need, we just need a space to explore it and take the power back into our own hands.
AH: What do you think the biggest challenge is for women when it comes to optimizing and supporting menstrual and overall health?
LM: I think the root of our suffering is shame. Take how we eat. I used to punish my body through exercise or deprivation when I felt like I ate too much, or the wrong thing. Also, we live in a should-culture. I remember in the thick of my symptoms feeling overwhelmed by all the different shoulds. I should eat better, I should go for a run, I should meditate, I should do Pilates and yoga and barre and volunteer and read more books. What works for me is approaching health and wellness in my own way that aligns with my body and values and understanding that we sometimes seek solutions from the outside, when we know what they are intuitively, we just need space to listen.
AH: What three things that take care of your mind, body and spirit do you take the greatest pleasure in every day?
LM: First, meditation. It connects me to my intuitive power and allows me think about what I need to do today, versus falling into my habits and acting impulsively. Whether I want to or not, I make myself sit in silence for 10 minutes in the morning and connect to my breath. Sometimes I listen to guided meditations, especially when I need extra support. There’s no perfect way to meditate, sometimes it’s just me sitting and breathing for three deep breaths, it’s an ongoing process and practice that I keep learning from.
Second, intuitive eating, which allows me to feel a sense of nourishment instead of deprivation. There is power in sitting down and appreciating a meal for the experience it gives your body and mind.
Third, my female relationships. Even with my family and friends who live far away, I’m able to jump in to deep, honest conversations right away, which cultivates a feeling that we’re close despite our physical distance. I’ve received overwhelming support along my path and now as a health coach. So many women have reached out and offered such authentic support. I struggled for so long and now I’m doing something a little unconventional, but the support and connection I feel with women fills up my heart in ways I never imagined and it makes me feel powerful and needed.
Lizzy’s Recommendations
Inspiring women
Nicole Jardim: she was pivotal in my process and offers endless inspiration and support.
Erica Chidi Cohen: everything she’s doing at LOOM in LA is remarkable. She is an incredible embodiment of femininity and the power it contains. Her book, Nurture, is a wonderful resource for pregnant women.
Lara Briden: She dives into the research and makes it so accessible for women.
Food
Sardines. I love them in my tasty homemade bowls and at The Whale Wins in Seattle.
It’s cliched and embarrassing, but I love kale. It’s just really good and helps balance out my estrogen.
Mezcal. We’re having a moment together. Last week I had it with pomelo, lime, mint and a little honey, it was unbelievable.
Wellness
Infrared saunas. They feel so good.
Walking. As a recovering intense athlete, walking is like a ground breaking discovery.
Pelvic floor PT. It’s so amazing, more women should explore it!