The Ancient Art of Yoni Steaming
Connecting our Root & Sacral Chakra through yoni steaming.
Written by Cassie Courtney
Yoni Steaming is an healing practice with roots in indigenous cultures spanning Mother Earth from Asia, Africa, Australia and South America for centuries. It’s a restorative practice for the vagina, vulva, and pelvic floor merging aromatic herbs and hot water to create steam. We then sit or straddle the medicinal brew and cover ourselves with a wrap to keep the heat from escaping.
A yoni or pelvic steam can be used in a ceremonial way and held through the prayer of bringing love, attention, and medicine to an area of our body that can bring life, experience pleasure, endure pain or abuse, and hold many manifestations of grief from misuse, miscarriage, surgery, illness or abortion.
It is a portal to the divine mystery, a flower, a source of pleasure, creation, love and devotion.
We steam to reconnect to our root/sacral chakras and sexual centers and bring medicine to these sacred regions of our bodies. This region of the body has often been politicized, policed, and shamed throughout time. It can be a radical act of love to steam, pray, reclaim, reconnect, shed, and energetically and physically heal the womb space and pelvic floor.
We might choose to steam to help bring movement, alleviate menstrual cramping, nourish the soft tissues, cleanse, revitalize our womb, reclaim our energy, restore health and balance within your moon cycle, ease times of transition, and release emotions such as stress, tension, and stagnation.
When working with hot water we need to be mindful of the proximity of our pelvic floor and reproductive system getting too close to the steeping herbs. This region is sensitive. The capillaries and nerve endings are close to the surface and there are a lot of nerve endings here. We need to take care while steaming - but these are also the reasons why a warm comforting steam is relaxing, soothing and restorative. If we are tense, stressed, anxious or worried it is very likely that our pelvic floor is tense too. We steam with herbs for their aromatic medicine to penetrate the skin and warmth to help release the muscles.
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Yoni steams are a holistic health practice that allows the warmth of herbal steam to gently permeate the exterior of the vagina. Herbs are brewed in a steam pot, and the container is placed under you or under your open seated chair/stool. Blankets and sheets are wrapped around your torso to create a kind of sweat lodge for your lower torso while you sit and receive the moist warmth of the healing steam. It enters your body directly through your yoni and penetrates the uterus, pelvis, and up through the chakra systems.
Please be safe & mindful when practicing Yoni Steaming. You can steam at any time of the month as long as you are not menstruating, however you do not want to steam during ovulation if you are trying to conceive, pregnant or if you think you may be pregnant, if you have an Intrauterine Device (IUD), or if you have an active internal infection.
— Choosing Your Herbs —
Choose your herbs based on your needs. If you are wanting to release grief work with plants in that realm. If you are wanting to soothe cramps, find herbs that support those actions. Below are brief descriptions of each plant and its action. Feel free to do deeper research for your blend. I like to harvest what’s in season and in bloom. Having fresh plants and a crystal can add much beauty with your dry blend. I’ve named a few of my favorite herbs below but there is a plethora of medicinal herbs you can work with.
Mugwort :: Protective, healing, calms cramping, soothes inflammation. A magical herb and a traditional plant used in this practice.
Wormwood :: encourages pelvic and uterine health by boosting blood circulation and increasing oxygen levels. Detox process naturally reduces menstrual pain and helps to protect from neuralgia and hemorrhoids. A traditional plant used in this practice.
Motherwort :: cleansing, pain-relieving, toning, nourishing, great for fatigue, cramps, and to aid relaxation
Rose :: loving, soothing, cooling, astringent. Beautiful for grief and the heart
Lavender :: is a sweet-smelling antiseptic, anti microbial and anti-bacterial herb with soothing and powerful cleansing properties for a healthy vaginal environment.
Rosemary :: is antiseptic, anti-bacterial, and anti-microbial. It helps with circulating out old fluids and blood. It purifies and stimulates the yoni and reclaim or remember lost parts of your self.
Lemon Balm :: is an antiviral herb that helps with soothing the soft tissue and smells delightful.
Dandelion :: helps improve endocrine and reproductive health. It helps rid excess estrogen, sugars, and toxins of the body
Calendula :: bright golden blossoms are antiseptic and anti-inflammatory and soothing to irritated tissues. It also helps ease and treat cramping and heaviness.
Peppermint :: helps energize, stimulate, restore, & cleanse the yoni.
Chamomile :: is known as the grandmother herb. It helps with relieving cramping, tension, and pain. It smells amazing.
Yarrow :: is a powerful infection fighter, great for wound repair, tender, bruised, stitched tissues.
— Setting Up Your Steam —
Create a private & tranquil environment for your steam. Your bedroom or meditation space can help promote peace into the ritual, calming the body and the nervous system. You may want to be looking at an altar or out a window to offer your mind an intentional focus while steaming. Place your steam bowl where you'll have room & be comfortable.
Start a pot of 3–4 quarts of water to boil with a lid. Once you have a rolling boil, turn the heat down, add one quart of the aromatic herbs of your choosing and fresh herbs (if applicable) to the water and simmer for 5–10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let steep for another 10 minutes with the lid on always. You want to keep the volatile oils of the herbs in the steam and not let them escape.
Meanwhile, gather a sheet, towels, or blanket to drape around you while you sit. They should be wrapped around you once you sit down to form a sort of sweat lodge for the lower half of your body. Use pillows behind you, and towels on top of the seat, if you’d like the extra support in creating a comfortable seat.
When you are ready to sit and steam, transfer the herb pot to under the open seat of the chair/stool or you can kneel over the pot if you don’t have a stool (you are welcome to use pillows under you legs for comfort.) Sit down, get comfortable, get your draping around you, and then open the lid of steam. Adjust to the heat and use the draping to allow in fresh air if needed while you get settled; otherwise, close the steam tent up so that no cold air comes in. Then, settle into your yoni steam.
Relax, meditate, connect with your womb, your vagina, your pelvis, and receive what your body has to communicate. This is a time to listen, release, and let go.
It's best to steam for about 20–30 minutes but of course listen to your body sometimes a 10 minute stream does the trick. You can steam throughout your cycle, but I like to focus on the week before bleeding and the rhythms of the moon.
Inhale the healing benefits from the herbs, nourishing thoughts, loving energy. Imagine inhaling up through the vagina, letting the qualities of the herbs/thoughts/energy nurture your whole sacred pelvis.
Exhale releasing what isn’t needed any longer. Out through your pelvis, maybe through the feet and into the Earth where it can be transmuted into compost, to lessons learned and letting Mother Earth reuse it into nourishment again.
Bringing your hands to your womb space/lower abdomen giving thanks for the time you have taken for you and your beautiful body. Give thanks to your body and all that it does for you.
