Coming Home To Self, Calgary, AB (2026)

04/12/2026

Welcome to Coming Home to Self: Gallery Box 🤍🖼🎨

Coming home to self isn’t about becoming someone new
it’s about returning to who you’ve always been,underneath the noise, the expectations, the disconnection.

☀️Each season, this box will hold pieces from the community.
Different stories, different expressions,
rooted in themes of mental health, healing, and lived experiences all part of the same quiet process of remembering ourselves.

Quarterly submissions will follow the rhythm of the seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter❄️
each with its own themes and invitations.

You’ll be able to scan the QR code on the box, which will bring you to the Coming Home to Self website, where you can submit your piece.

If you have ideas for future themes, I’d truly love to hear them 🤍

We should be finished tomorrow… STAY TUNE! 💫

03/19/2026

🩸 Wait… why didn’t anyone tell me this?
Most of us were taught how to manage our period…
not how to understand what it’s trying to tell us.🙃

YOUR menstrual cycle isn’t just about bleeding once a month.
It’s a communication system.
Every phase is sending signals about your energy, your emotions, your stress levels, and your overall health.

⁉️But instead of being taught to listen, many of us were taught to push through pain, normalize exhaustion, ignore changes in our bodies, and doubt ourselves when something feels off.
Your brain and body are constantly in conversation.

👉HORMONES are part of that communication system!!!

They are signals, they both are signals and carry signals throughout the body.
They act as messengers, responding to what your body is experiencing.
So when things feel off, irregular cycles, intense PMS, mood shifts... your body might not be broken.

It might be trying to get your attention.
And this matters even more as you move toward perimenopause, because the patterns your body has been navigating for years don’t just disappear, they carry forward.
What if instead of asking, “How do I get rid of this?”
we started asking, “What is my body trying to say?”

🩸
I wish we were taught body literacy, not just symptom management. 😮‍💨

03/13/2026

🏛 Department of Hormonal Affairs

Transition Notice:
Menstruation → Perimenopause

📚 Fact:
Menopause is medically defined as 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period.

The years leading up to that are called perimenopause, a hormonal transition where estrogen and progesterone begin to fluctuate.

Research shows this phase can last approximately 4–10 years.

Some commonly reported changes during perimenopause include:

• changes in menstrual cycle patterns
• hot flashes or night sweats
• sleep disturbances
• mood changes or irritability
• brain fog
• increased anxiety
• vaginal dryness
• eye dryness
• changes in energy levels

🩸 Important:
Not everyone experiences the same symptoms. Hormonal transitions vary widely from person to person

Did you know? 🇨🇦

For many years, doctors were cautious about prescribing Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) after the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study raised concerns about a potential increased risk of breast cancer.

Later research clarified that risks depend on type of hormone therapy, dosage, timing of use, and individual health history.

Current evidence shows that for many individuals experiencing moderate to severe menopausal symptoms, HRT can be a safe and effective treatment option, and when started near menopause the benefits may outweigh the risks for many patients.

However:

• HRT is not appropriate for everyone
• Some individuals choose non-hormonal treatments
• Treatment decisions should always be made with a healthcare provider based on individual health history.

03/10/2026

🩸When symptoms are minimized repeatedly, people can begin to doubt their own bodily signals.

Over time this can lead to disconnection from the body’s warning system.🙀

And that has real consequences.

Chronic pain doesn’t just affect one part of life.

👉It can impact:
• Energy levels, the body and nervous system work harder when pain is ongoing
• Cognitive function – chronic pain and inflammation can contribute to brain fog and difficulty concentrating
• Emotional wellbeing – living with unmanaged pain increases stress and mental load
• Relationships – masking pain or fatigue can create misunderstandings with partners, friends, or coworkers
• Daily functioning – many people push through symptoms because they’ve learned they won’t be taken seriously

Over time, people often adapt by:

• Minimizing their own pain
• Ignoring body signals
• Normalizing fatigue and discomfort

⁉️But menstrual pain that interferes with daily life is not something the body is meant to simply tolerate.

This is often the work that happens in therapy with individuals who have experienced medical trauma or chronic illness.

Part of the process is unraveling beliefs shaped by dismissal or misunderstanding.

Learning to reconnect with the body.
Rebuilding trust in internal signals.
Returning to the inner knowing that was there all along.

Because the body in pain is not necessarily working against you.❤️

Often, it is trying to get your attention.

Healing can begin by slowly rebuilding a relationship with the body and the wisdom it carries. 🩸

03/05/2026

🎭 Meet the 3 characters involved in women’s hormonal transitions:

🩸 Menstruation
🔥 Perimenopause
🌙 Menopause

🩸 Did you know?
On average, a woman will experience about 400–450 periods in her lifetime.

Yet most of us are taught very little about what happens after decades of cycling.

🔥 Perimenopause
“Peri” means around.
Perimenopause is the transitional phase leading up to menopause, when the body gradually shifts from having periods to eventually having none.

Many people in the medical system still describe perimenopause as something that begins in the late 40s or early 50s.

But it’s important to know that it can start as early as the 30s or 40s.

And not everyone experiences it the same way.

If we expect everyone’s body to follow the exact same timeline, we may miss the early signs.

Perimenopause can last 4–10 years, and during this time estrogen fluctuates rather than simply declining.

Some early signs people don’t always connect to hormones include:

😴 Sleep changes
💥 Increased irritability
🧠 Brain fog
💧 Dry eyes or dryness
😅 Mood shifts

AND MUCH MORE SYMPTOMS!

You may still have periods, but things start to feel different.

🌙 Menopause
Menopause is officially defined as 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period.

✨ The more we talk about these transitions, the less women feel confused or alone navigating them.

Your body isn’t betraying you.
It’s transitioning.

Perimenopause

03/03/2026

On behalf of endometriosis month! 🎗

I wish I was joking....
But many people say:

“You sign more than you actually understand.”
“You don’t know exactly what will be done until you wake up.”

Unless you ask very specific questions,
you may not be told everything you could experience afterward.

This isn’t about blaming doctors.
The system isn’t designed for long, trauma-informed consent conversations. Appointments are short. Surgery is protocol-driven.

But surgery is still trauma to the body.

It is: • Tissue disruption
• An inflammatory response
• A nervous system stressor
• Often a hormonal shift

The body doesn’t interpret surgery as “routine.”
It interprets it as stress.

Two things can be true: ✨ Surgery can be necessary.
✨ And it is still a physiological trauma.

If you’re having a laparoscopy, consider asking:

🩺 If you find endometriosis, what could change during surgery?
🩺 Will anything be removed without prior discussion?
🩺 What are the risks to my ovaries or fertility?
🩺 How could this impact my cycle long-term?
🩺 What happens if I wait?

Surgeons may not be able to answer every nervous system question — and that’s okay. But it’s important to research and seek support.

Informed consent should feel regulating, not rushed.

Let’s build a system that is more trauma-informed.

🩸 You deserve context before you sign.

02/26/2026

A missing period is not “nothing.” 🩸

If your cycle has stopped for 3 months or more (and you are not pregnant), this meets medical criteria for evaluation.

It’s called secondary amenorrhea.
Amenorrhea = absence of a period.
Secondary = it stopped after previously being regular.
That’s it.

It’s a medical term: NOT you being dramatic.
Your menstrual cycle is considered a vital sign ❤️‍🩹

It reflects: • Hormonal health ⚖️
• Metabolic health 🔄
• Nervous system regulation 🧠
• Overall wellbeing 🌿
When it disappears, your body is communicating something 📣

Possible causes can include:
• PCOS
• Thyroid dysfunction
• Stress-related hypothalamic suppression
• Under-fueling or over-exercise
• Elevated prolactin
• Perimenopause
• Chronic illness

Yes sometimes it is stress.
Yes sometimes lifestyle plays a role.
But that still deserves investigation 🔎
Not dismissal 🚫

Because here’s the deeper harm:
“Let’s wait and see” without testing can delay diagnosis ⏳

Repeated dismissal can create self-doubt 🤍
Self-doubt can turn into self-gaslighting 🫥
And we already know how harmful that can be.

You deserve:
✔ Bloodwork 🧪
✔ Hormone testing 📊
✔ Thyroid screening 🩺
✔ A real conversation 💬
✔ To be taken seriously ✊

Your period disappearing is information 🧭
Your voice shouldn’t disappear with it. 🩸

02/24/2026

⁉️Did you know...Under the Canadian Human Rights Act and provincial human rights codes, a condition can be considered a disability if it significantly impacts daily life or work functioning.⁉️

👉That includes endometriosis.
👉That includes PCOS.
👉And in severe cases ( PMDD too.)
Which means employers HAVE a legal duty to accommodate. ⚖️

And yet…
“It’s just a period.”

When someone asks for a day off because of severe menstrual pain and hears:

“Other women manage.”
“No one else is complaining.”
“We’re counting on you.”
That’s not leadership.
That’s comparison.

🩸 One person’s pain doesn’t cancel another’s.
🩸 Menstrual health is not one-size-fits-all.
🩸 Invisible conditions are still real conditions.
The longer someone pushes through a flare, the longer it can take to recover. For many, powering through pain doesn’t build resilience, it prolongs inflammation, exhaustion, and burnout. 🔥➡️🧯
Did you know… 👇

Countries like Japan and Spain have menstrual leave policies because they recognize that supporting workers during health fluctuations improves long-term productivity and retention. 🌍
Supporting bodies is not weakness.
It’s sustainable leadership.

Menstrual equity is workplace equity. 🏢🩸
We don’t need tougher employees.
We need informed systems.

02/19/2026

🌀Emotions can feel abstract, but it can be helpful to understand them like children inside of us.

When a child is loud, clingy, or acting out, it’s usually not because they want to be difficult it’s because they need attention, safety, or reassurance.🙏

Our emotions work in a similar way.
When we feel tension, worry, anxiety, or a sensation that keeps getting “louder” inside, that’s often our nervous system signaling that something needs care. These feelings don’t disappear simply because we ignore them. In fact, when we push them away, they tend to amplify — showing up more frequently, more intensely, or in different forms (tight chest, racing thoughts, irritability, fatigue).😮‍💨

From a nervous system perspective, emotions are adaptive signals. They are information. When they are unmet, they escalate in an attempt to be noticed.
Avoidance can temporarily reduce discomfort, but it does not resolve the underlying activation. What actually helps regulate emotion is gentle, intentional attention.☀️

The very thing we often fear, turning toward the feeling is what allows it to soften.
Getting acquainted with an emotion means:
Noticing where it lives in the body
Naming it without judgment
Allowing space for it
Offering curiosity instead of criticism
When emotions feel seen and acknowledged, the nervous system receives cues of safety. And safety is what allows intensity to decrease.

They don’t “go away” because we suppress them.
They settle when they are understood.

02/17/2026

👉Why can’t information about our own bodies be given with more time and care?

Many people go into surgery already carrying years of worry and uncertainty/ scared about what doctors might find, or scared they’ll find nothing at all after years of symptoms. It’s no wonder patients often go into surgery already stressed, and wake up still feeling that same stress in their bodies. 😔

From a somatic and nervous system perspective, the state of stress or fear someone enters surgery with can influence how they feel on waking. Anesthesia places the brain into a controlled unconscious state, but it doesn’t automatically resolve the stress response already active in the body. So if someone goes into surgery anxious or scared, they may wake up still feeling emotionally overwhelmed or in survival mode as the body comes back online. 🧠

This isn’t about blaming individual doctors. It’s about recognizing that the system often moves quickly, while patients need time to understand what just happened to their own bodies. 🏥

Because care shouldn’t end when surgery does and understanding your health deserves space, clarity, and support. 💛
🎭 Inspired by real experiences navigating menstrual health care.

02/17/2026

Why can’t information about our own bodies be given with more time and care?

02/11/2026

Let’s face it, we experience grief more often than we realize.🌀

👉Grief isn’t only about death. It can come with chronic illness, a new diagnosis, trauma, changes in identity, or losing the version of ourselves we once knew.

🌀Grief takes space. A lot of space. And when we try to ignore it, it doesn’t disappear, it spills into our relationships, our work, our families, and our sense of self.

👉And grief is exhausting. Carrying it takes energy.

So it matters that we make intentional time for it. When grief feels seen and acknowledged, it softens its grip. It may not fully go away, but our capacity grows around it.
And during the peaks, when grief feels especially heavy, it’s okay to adjust. To slow down. To ask for support. To give yourself permission to move gently.

Grief asks to be met, not rushed.🙏

Coming Home To Self

04/12/2026

03/19/2026

03/13/2026

03/10/2026

03/05/2026

03/03/2026

02/26/2026

02/24/2026

02/19/2026

02/17/2026

02/17/2026

02/11/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category