Staring into the crystal ball, what do you see for WW?

1 I think it is important on all fronts to educate all, to get women to ask more questions and to get the establishments of 'health care to be more open and honest about the reality or surgery and to offer TRUE alternatives. For the Doctors and health peeps to inform women and to give them knowledge.

Woman to woman is one mode of getting the word out - But to get the word out FAST - The word needs to be on TV on radio and in your face - Until they listen...

This would be a hard thing to do - But if Christine could be on TV. The women of the world might sit up and listen. I am not sure right now what sort of TV shows - a show in UK like 'Loose Women' which is a lunchtime chatty show - would give five minutes of fast chat, but so many people watch it....

2 This - I think that if we can get women to demand open-ness and more answers - Then the Doctors might think 'Who is this Christine woman they are all talk ing about' and they might look into this name...

3 Trained people, if there were people trained across the globe - Christine could have a WW centre in all countries and the more mouths that talk - The more words may be heard.

4 There must be 'womens ' days in GP surgeries and stuff all over the world? Like you have the womens health clinics that do smears etc - On the wall there should be a Poster informing women about this - A phone number to call or a website to visit, leaflets - anything that might work...

5 Lobbying sites Pro surgery seems in some ways counter-productive, being that on a certain site (forget where) You couldnt even type the word Christine (that was a few years ago methinks now) If searching the word Prolapse on Google etc brought Christines site up at the top - That would bring women here - That is what brought me here...

6 As above

7 WW should link to sites that WW deems to be complimentary to the WW ideas... And hopefully they would reciprocate? Like - The sea pearls websites - WW is sending people there to buy the Sea Pearls, and maybe they could send some people here also?

8 Word... Of mouth, leaflets, T shirts, anything that works. The design on the ld T shirts is a beautiful design, and I try to make sure I wear one to everwhere in the country I go to. BUT - I believe if this had on the back - Information about WW - Then people would not hafta ask 'What does that design mean' They would automatically get the information... I try to wear my tops rain or shine (and it's cold here' and answer any questions that come my way and give out the info of the web site... But... if people did not ask... That is sad...

9 As above, I would get people to wear T shirts, give out leaflets, posters in womens clinics anything and everything that might work.

10 Funnily - I learned more AFTER I got my POP than I everknew about my own body beforehand. Heck - I didn't even 100% know where I peed from (LOL I am not too embarrased to admit that one) Until it came down to needing to know what bit should be where and which bit did what. That says alot for this country not telling women how and what their body does!

When a woman (girl) goes through puberty they need advice and information. When this woman gets pregnant she gets a book of information about the baby and up to the moment she gives birth - But after the birth there is nothing. Its like nothing happens and it's all over... I believe these books should give the woman information and explain what a POP is. And explain at puberty if not before - about Posture, explain everything to be a woman and a Whole one at that...

I may be wrong. But..... Hopefully one sentence of the above might be helpful lol

♥

1. All women need to be educated about the WW model of self management of POP and anyone who is involved in women's health of any kind.

2. It would be nice if help could come directly from the women's health care industry so that the next thing a woman hears after she gets the diagnoses of POP is the
first aid treatment for it. As we all know, women usually take their Drs advice before thinking to check it out for themselves. I've wanted to tell my Dr. about
the WW material but was afraid that she would not be able to endorse it thinking it a conflict of interest.

3. Trained WW practitioners who have undergone training by Christine could start chapters in the area where they live.

4. I think web-based courses would be the easiest way and has worked well for all kinds of education and training. A webinar, is a term I have seen used.

5. Yes, I think lobbying of other web forums and influencing other sites would produce results as well as members.

6. I found out about Wholewoman through google.

7. More sites, both ways, would definitely increase the passing on of enlightenment.

8. Women's fitness centers. Especially Yoga studios. I'm biased. My daughter is a Yoga instructor and knows nothing about POP. Now that I know what I know. I know
there are countless other women suffering or are about to. I've asked my daughter to look out for women who need help dealing with POP. Women who do Yoga are more
aware of their bodies and more willing to do excercises to heal themselves.

9. Christine has already given us everything we need to use but there needs to be another way to get the word out for those women who don't have time to search for
themselves. I would prefer a brochure approach that includes information about the book, DVD and website. It could be supplied to women's clinics alongside all the
brochures about other women's health issues. You know we all read those things when waiting our turn to see the Dr. Could WW supporters buy packets of brochures
to put in their own health clinics as way of donating to WW and giving to the health of other women?

10. I get my health information from books, magazines, googling, and Dr. offices. I still like to hold the knowledge in my hand so that it is easily accessible but am
learning that the computer never gets misplaced and is also easily accessible when one knows what they are doing.

Hello dear WWomen,

Thank you, Louise, for your unwavering efforts to extend the scope of Whole Woman, and to all the other brilliant women for their ideas.

Please don’t think I am sitting idly by! I have always planned to do a teacher-training package this winter. I am greatly blessed to have so many projects in front of me (never once do I wake up in the morning and think, Gee..I wonder what I will do today - lol) but it really can be overwhelming at times. That’s when a glass o’ red comes in handy;)

The hormone research project is vital - I need it for myself before my bum falls off. Almost every day we hear from post-hysterectomy women asking if there is a dvd just for them. The WWWorkout dvd is a must-do this summer. We have taken Diet for the Whole Woman off the market and are going to replace it with a dvd that my dd and I can’t wait to produce - it will be really fun and something like “Eve goes back to the Garden” lol. We have translators waiting for us to figure out how to get STWW into French, Hungarian, and Spanish markets.

Part of me, Jackie, doesn’t even want to deal with the medical side of things - except to figure out reimbursement from insurance companies, which I have not accomplished to date. Alternative modalities, like acupuncture, are being accepted by providers, but Whole Woman is UNIQUELY alternative and there is no precedent, so it’s basically impossible at this point. If I provide a good training package, then individual teachers could move into whatever markets they want. Because we have the technical capabilities, we are even talking about establishing web sites for teachers from which they could sell WW products. It would NOT be a multi-level marketing scheme, however, but a business model that someone could comfortably live on.

I am thrilled at the thought of submitting a paper to The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Now THAT’s a project I could do in short order - do you want me to commit to completing it very soon? I just have never had a lot of faith that it would be published, but you never know. I guess I also don’t have a lot of faith that I could write something free of “nanny-nanny-NANNY” lololol. I just love it that women ourselves have figured this out - finally.

One last thing. I have all the resources in the world to create whatever I can create. I have far less support for getting my ideas out into the world. There is not a cast of thousands here, but a couple of over-the-top busy women and a husband working extremely hard to get his own original work out into the world. If I can get over the hump financially, then I can begin hiring people to help. At that point, WW is going to change.

Lots of love,

Christine

Hi Christine,
You wrote:
"We have taken Diet for the Whole Woman off the market and are going to replace it with a dvd that my dd and I can’t wait to produce....."

I just recently received your book, "Diet for the Whole Woman", and will start to study and use it very soon.
Why did you just take it off the market?
It still must be revelent to use, isn't it?
We could also later use the DVD with the cookbook.
Or are you planning also to update the cookbook?
Thanks!

Mozart :-)

Hi Louise – useful thought-provoking stuff. I’ve been a bit pushed for time lately, started drafting a reply days ago and now suddenly there are loads of ideas, wonderful, and I haven't got much to add. My reply isn't as systematic as I would like, but anyway:

I'm so glad that Christine is thinking of presenting papers etc, that kind of work is vital to underpin everything else, that is, planting a few seeds, probably won't produce immediate change.

And I was hoping that Christine would start training prolapse educators, great. It would be so useful if more women all over the place had access to a trained educator.

I think that by far the easiest sector to educate must be women like all of us ie a very diverse group of different ages with the common bond of already having POPs and being very loath to have surgery. I think that having a high profile is really important so that the info can be found. I found this site immediately because I keyed in the word "alternative", knowing that that's what I wanted. It would be even better if women who aren't aware that there may be an alternative get it just googling "prolapse".

2nd easiest might be midwives and childbirth educators, because it’s not strictly their area of expertise so they’re less likely than some other health professionals to feel threatened – they just want to give their clients sound advice. I think that, at the very least, they ought to know that advising women to do strenuous kegeling straight after birth, before the fascia have had time to strengthen, is damaging.

Physios – all the physios that I’ve met in the UK have been very lovely and very keen on learning more. I recently saw one who said that she couldn’t help me because she teaches kegels and my pelvic floor is as strong as it can be, no point doing any. I gave her the WW website address and she seemed very interested.

Gynaecologists – I think maybe there’s more of a problem in the US than here, don’t know how you’d start persuading certain kind of practitioner to earn less! We need some research.

Publicity: yes to leaflets etc. I've already emailed Woman's Hour, a show on BBC radio 4, suggesting that they do a feature on POPs, haven't heard yet. Don't know whether other countries have this sort of show (BBC radio, especially radio 4, is brilliant).

Love the idea of WW video on here only. Recent posts have highlighted the problem with YouTube, where any unidentified person can be hypercritical, but that's just part of open access.

How about a regularly updated resources/tips page on here - you know how annoying it is when you search for something and can't find it. Members can record what works for them, where to obtain stuff etc, under different headings. Too much work maybe? Can volunteers collaborate to put something together?

Sorry if this is a bit of a splurge, bit rushed. Judith

...the diet book is fine. We were faced with the decision whether to pay for printing a new batch or not. I wrote the book several years ago and would like the subject to be addressed much more deeply - hence the visual dvd idea. :) Christine

Hi Christine,
Boy was I lucky to get one of the last copies of the diet book!
I will definitely also buy the DVD, when it's ready, and any updated diet book you write later.
I haven't had time yet to study and impliment the diet book - I'm in the midst of some home repairs - but I will soon.
The diet book is very large. :-)
I also want to do more bike riding again, as I have in the past. I've noticed that bike riding also helps my prolapse.
I use a stationery bike since I don't know of any bike trails around here that are free of auto traffic.
Cheers,
Mozart :-)

Dear all,

I have been thinking about how to get the info out there since I found WW website less than a month ago and I truly hope we can find (and apply) ideas that give results.

1. All of them! As for cigarette: it would be easier never to start holding our belly in rather than trying to stop later on when we have problems, so schools should be involved.

2. I think it is easier to influence someone you already know (unless you are a trained WW practitioner). I tried a lot of things to improve my prolapse and I am beginning the education process by telling everyone that I came to ask for help that I finally found the right answer: doula, osteo, acupuncturist, physiotherapist, sex-yoga instructor, gynecologist. I hope this way they can send other women into the right direction. The results speak for themselves, if they can see a difference, they will be more encline to believe.

6. I spent 2 years searching the internet (not everyday) with keywords to find alternatives for prolapse management. I was searching in both French and English but I was using 'prolapsus' instead of 'prolapse' and other words such as 'reversal' and 'healing'. I finally found a link for firstaidforprolapse.com on a dictionary site! The first time I clicked the site did not load (server was probably down or something) and I thought it was a scam and website was closed. I am so glad I came back to check the next day!

7. Yes. For example I searched Dr Northurp's website hoping to find something that could help me but did not find anything. When I saw her excellent comment on STWW book cover I wondered why it does not appear on her website.

9. Brochure.

10. PubMed, Googling, magazines.

Publishing in medical journals such as The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology would be really great. Sometimes you don't need to wait years to get results. You can do a retrospective study of women who were diagnosed with POP by doctors of a specific clinic or hospital and then went differents ways (pessary, surgery, do nothing, WW). Their prolpase should be documented. Then have them fill a questionnaire about the improvement or degradation of specific symptoms (incontinence, bulge). Comparing prolapse prevalence in countries where women naturally adopt WW posture (African women carrying baby on their back and heavy loads on their heads walking barefooted without any prolapse!) to prevalence in the 'developed' world would also be really interesting.

-Thanks Louise for your helpful posts-

Planning to be one of the translators! :)
Liv

Hi Liv,

What language? I am willing to translate to French.

I am Hungarian. :)
(I saw a quote from a Hungarian author, György Doczi in the STWW book. Cool!)
Liv