I take many workshops on making women aware about menstrual cups. During my first ever workshop on Menstrual Cups, we opened the discussion with first making them aware about period taboo, trying to bust those taboos and then talk about cups, their benefits and how to use them.

While we were discussing about popular myths around menstruation one of the belief or myth that came up was ‘Tulsi (Indian Basil) plant dries or burns out if a woman touches her while she is menstruating’.

11751454_786655184780635_2076752215018000019_nPresenting – Tulsi (My baby) raised from my menstrual blood. I collected my menstrual discharge during periods in a ‘good for nothing else’ vessel (shown below), mixed it with water and added to tiny seed sprout of Tulsi. In 4-5 weeks it has raised to a gorgeous sapling. Menstrual discharge acted as excellent soil compost. 30 ml of discharge to 300 ml of water makes it close to non visible and non viable for excessive bacterial growth. Below is the picture of my Tulsi (basil) plant. I also wanted to do this experiment to prove that Tulsi plant of any other plant do not wilt away when a woman on her periods touches it. These myths are quite prevalent in modern societies with educated families as well, high time we do away with such baseless beliefs.

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So as on today, my botanic kids include Tulsi, Tomato and Papaya sapling. I know for few this may not be a very doable, but it’s my way of giving back to nature.

And of course! This wouldn’t have been possible without my ‘Menstrual cup‘ (the super woman device).

Best way to talk to your daughters about periods

“Both menstrual blood and blood discharged during child delivery has very enriched composting microbes and healing capabilities. The extraction is used in bandages after modification.” says Monica Yadav, a Bio Tech. Engineer

Women in other parts of the world have also used their menstrual discharge to make composts for their plant. Read:

Period Blood Aka Your New Garden Fertilizer

I Fertilized My Salad with Period Blood

Anupriya has previously written about how she discussed period myths with her mother and they busted it together. She is also a menstrual cup activist and educator, read her articles Towards Greener Periods and Not Menstruating But Still Leaking

Author: Anupriya Pande Marar

Anupriya  has been an IT professional for 8 years now. Her Mantra for life is ‘Awareness is the key to wellness’. She is always eager to learn more and spread the knowledge. 

easiet way to teach and learn about periods

 

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