Saoirse’s Story: Endometriosis 1: Inflammation, Cycle Syncing & Yoga
We’re excited to introduce this three-part blog series with women’s health coach and endometriosis specialist Saoirse Nash @the.wholehealthcoach
Drawing from both her professional expertise and personal journey with chronic UTI and endometriosis, Saoirse brings a deeply compassionate, holistic perspective to supporting women’s hormonal and reproductive health.
In this first blog, Saoirse shares her own story, explores why inflammation plays such a central role in endometriosis and introduces supportive practices such as cycle syncing and yoga. Together, these foundations set the stage for understanding how lifestyle, movement and daily rhythms can positively influence symptoms and overall wellbeing.
The journey that led me to supporting women with Endometriosis
Like with many people, it was my own personal health struggles that were the primary motivator which led me to train in holistic health practices and start supporting other women to improve and maintain their health through food, movement and lifestyle practices.
I struggled with recurrent UTIs all through my teen years, and eventually ended up with a chronic UTI at the age of 24. This involved daily pain and discomfort which got worse and worse as the weeks went on. I didn’t receive any significant treatment in Ireland, where I live, and ended up having to fly to England to see a specialist doctor who treated chronic UTI. I’m forever grateful that I was able to see her - although I was pretty devastated to learn that the treatment was long term antibiotics, they did give me a quality of life back which I’d lost when the UTI symptoms were active.
I have since been given a clinical diagnosis of endometriosis, and live with daily symptoms due to this disease. There is nothing like experiencing ill health yourself to make you feel passionately about helping others!
One thing I wish more women knew about managing endometriosis naturally
Inflammation regulation is key!
We live in an inflammation-promoting world: the air is polluted, food is highly processed and full of additives, we use endocrine (hormone) disrupting chemicals on our skin, our clothes and in our air on a daily basis, and for most of us, we also live in a cycle of chronic daily stress.
All of these things dysregulate your nervous system, send your body into fight-or-flight and ultimately negate your body’s ability to be healthy. Your body responds in many ways to these perceived threats, but the most important when it comes to endometriosis, is that your body responds with inflammation. Your immune system raises the alert, and responds with inflammatory chemicals, ready to fight the perceived threat. Inflammation as an immune system response to threat is normal and healthy - in moderation.
The issue for most women with endo, is that the inflammatory response is not moderate. It is high level and on-going, and on-going inflammation is not a good thing. You also have the endometriosis itself producing inflammatory chemicals regardless of what’s happening in your external environment, so it’s a double whammy!
If you are a woman with endo, your primary goal should include using food and lifestyle techniques to lower systemic inflammation in the body.
Cycle syncing to feel more in tune with your body
Cycle syncing refers to creating daily habits and routines that shift with each phase of your cycle, acknowledging that a woman’s body changes throughout the month.
Changing your daily habits and routines to reflect this can be super supportive, especially for those women who struggle with their cycle, such as those with conditions like endometriosis or PCOS.
The world we live in is set up in a way that mirrors the male body: it moves in a steady 24 hour rhythm, which reflects the generally predictable hormonal cycle of cortisol and melatonin involved in the circadian rhythm (both men and women have a circadian rhythm, but women also have what’s called an infradian rhythm which, in this case, is the monthly cycle of hormones involved in the menstrual cycle, not just the daily sleep/wake one).
The four phases of the menstrual cycle and how to adjust your lifestyle
Women have different capacities at different times of the month, and this isn’t woo-woo, psychosomatic stuff, this is hormonal! For example, lots of women find that their energy starts rising in the week after menstruation and peaks around ovulation, and that their energy and capacity may feel smaller the week before their bleed, and for the first few days of their period.
This doesn’t mean you’re not capable of doing things, but that the type of activity you want to engage in changes throughout the month. You may schedule social time, meetings and work that require more physicality for your follicular/ovulatory phase, and then change gears in your luteal/menstrual phase.
This is a generalisation, but it does echo the experience of most women I’ve spoken to. Cycle syncing, therefore, would mean that you plan your month according to YOUR knowledge of your cycle, your energy and your capacity. This is supportive in many ways: firstly, you are respecting yourself and setting healthy boundaries around your time and energy!
Secondly, it helps to protect your nervous system and energetic capacity, which has mental AND physical health benefits. Let’s be real: with endometriosis, your capacity is more limited. Most women with this condition live with some level of daily symptoms (most commonly pain, fatigue, digestive issues and anxiety).
Cycle syncing can help you protect your precious physical and mental energy when you live with a disease like endometriosis. It’s important to acknowledge, however, that not everyone is in the position to completely change up their daily schedule. In this case, you choose small daily steps, rather than a complete overhaul of your diary. Working with a health coach or someone similar can be really supportive in figuring out where you can make the best changes for your individual situation.
How Yoga can support women with endometriosis
Yoga is supportive of women with endo in a couple of different ways, but perhaps the most significant is the fact that it is a mindful, nervous system regulating practice.
When you live with chronic pain, your nervous system is often also chronically dysregulated in response (and nervous system dysregulation over many years can increase your risk of chronic disease - it’s quite the vicious cycle!) and this chronic dysregulation leads to exacerbation of symptoms.
The body is healthiest when the nervous system spends the majority of its time in parasympathetic mode, which is known as the ’rest and digest’ state. It means you’re feeling calm, safe and grounded! Then, your body can spend its energy on immune system support, digestive support, and other bodily processes (as opposed to spending its energy on surveillance and action, when you are stuck in ’fight or flight’ or the sympathetic nervous system).
Yoga helps to calm and ground you, bringing you back into parasympathetic mode and giving your body chance to heal. The second reason that yoga is great for women with endo, is because it’s a gentle but valuable form of exercise, and you’re encouraged to listen to your body when you practice and to work with, not against, how your body is feeling today.
Women with endo struggle with fatigue and pain which affects their ability to exercise, so a slow, gentle yoga class or personal practice can be a supportive way to get some movement in that doesn’t add to the pain and fatigue.
Seed cycling naturally complements the themes explored in Part 1, supporting hormone balance, easing inflammation and nurturing the nervous system.
Flax and pumpkin seeds in the follicular phase help promote healthy oestrogen activity while providing fibre, zinc, and anti-inflammatory compounds that support gut health and inflammatory balance - both key considerations for endometriosis.
Sunflower and sesame seeds in the luteal phase support progesterone production and provide magnesium, vitamin E, and antioxidants that may help support the body’s natural inflammatory response. This gentle, food-first practice pairs beautifully with cycle syncing and mind–body tools like yoga.
Seed Cycle’s specially crafted blends offer a simple and convenient option, made with organic ingredients that are pre-ground and portioned into two easy packs for the two main phases of your menstrual cycle. Start your Seed Cycling journey here.
Endometriosis mini-series
Blog 2: endometriosis, nutrition, stress and seed cycling
Blog 3: endometriosis, nervous system support, myths busting and hope
