The day my life force woke up. The story behind Empress Wu Apothecary

There were days last year when the weight of gravity felt too heavy to bear. I was entirely, deeply burned out. Some mornings the simple act of dragging my feet out of bed felt like climbing a mountain and had me shedding buckets of tears. I felt empty, depleted, lost and marooned on my own sad island of midlife. I wondered if the best chapters of my womanhood had already been written. Then came the day that changed my story and incidentally my life.

I met a small man with a big presence who seemed to look right through the exhaustion and see my spirit before I could even introduce myself. He carried a presence that commanded nothing yet filled the room with a profound sense of gratitude and reverence.

He was a Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor trained in Hong Kong and he looked at my exhaustion not as a failure but as a sacred signal. He inspired me to see that my life was far from over and that my burnout didn't have to be an end point. It was my bodies fierce and desperate way of screaming that my vital force needed radical love and attention.

Through him, I was introduced to the poetic philosophy of TCM. It wasn't just medicine, it was a map back to myself. By three quarters through The year of the snake i started fighting for my life and I was consumed by my hearts fire to turn it all around. I re-enrolled at the college i had attended 15 years ago but I changed my entire academic trajectory.

The Spirit Of Empress Wu.

As I dived deeper into my research and began my formal studies of TCM. I crossed paths with the history of Empress Wu Zetian-the only female emperor in China's history. She was a woman of fierce resilience, unmatched intelligence and reinvention, ruling with strength well into her later years instantly knew her and I knew she was the ultimate ambassador for my life's story and purpose and this humble little dream of mine.

Like Empress Wu, every woman has an inner sovereign. But to rule our lives effectively we must learn how to govern and nourish our own bodies like empires.

This is my why and the reason I have founded : Empress Wu Apothecary

My vow to you:

I did not enter this path to just sell you skincare, that would be counter intuitive to the path that led me here. I entered it to guide women through the very thresholds that modern society ignores. My own journey through the wilderness of burnout has devoted me to helping you walk through the three primary gates of growth in a woman's life.

• THE MAIDEN GATE: navigating menarche and the rhythm of the first menses and thereafter.

• THE MOTHER GATE: Honouring the immense expenditure of childbirth and the boundaries required for the sacred postnatal recalibration and transition.

• THE CRONE GATE: Navigating the fierce, transformative fire of perimenopause and menopause and the journey to knowing oneself.

  
  

If you are currently standing at a gate feeling like I did-exhausted, stagnant, lost or invisible. I want you to know what Doctor Chi taught me; Your life is not over, your body is simply calling you home.

Through hand infused herbal alchemy, old practices weaved into modern day, yang sheng practice, Tui na massage, food therapy and ancestral wisdom. Empress Wu Apothecary is here to help all women reclaim their throne.

Thank you with all my heart for walking this path with me.