About

My name is Farida. I am a freelance writer, and I write about embodiment and the mind-body-spirit connection in relation to hormonal health (PCOS/PMOS), the menstrual cycle, nervous system health, nutrition, and fitness.

I went through a sudden health breakdown in 2022. I gained over 30KG in less than a year and developed extreme chronic pain. My body was shifting in ways I could barely comprehend, and it happened so quickly that it was hard to really take it all in or process any of it. Not much had changed about my diet or lifestyle, yet my body was breaking down in multiple ways. My experience of deep pain in my body left me feeling isolated, detached, and adrift from the life I once knew. My weight gain left me in a body I could no longer recognise, making me feel stuck in a body that I no longer knew.

I also experienced hair loss, with handfuls of hair falling out, and for the first time in my life, my period was irregular. I also always struggled with PMDD, feeling like I only had one week of the month where I felt “okay”. This was a very dramatic and overwhelming time in my life, and I thought life as I knew it was never going to be the same again. I was eventually diagnosed with PCOS and fibromyalgia, and while this gave me context to what was happening inside of me, I was still very lost and confused, I still felt broken and changed.

This breakdown took me on an intense journey of returning to a state of health and balance while also discovering a new relationship with myself and my relationship to my body. I started going to the gym, learning about nutrition, hormonal health, and natural and herbal remedies. All of these things helped me immensely physically and mentally.

However, my journey truly began to shift when I started to integrate the psychospiritual aspect of my health breakdown. This meant a deeper connection to the body, a deeper connection to spirit and presence, and understanding how the nervous system is intertwined with the mind, body, and spirit. While nervous system regulation has become somewhat of a buzzword, it is the container in which we experience reality. A resilient nervous system is more open to the challenges and pleasures of life, while a restricted nervous system can keep us stuck in the same place because we are too scared to break open or move forward.

My health breakdown took me on a deep journey of understanding my body, my hormones, my nervous system, and most of all, what my body was trying to communicate to me. I’ve lost over 35KG since, now I have a deeply loving and supportive relationship with fitness and nutrition, and I feel in balance with my hormones and my menstrual cycle, and I’ve learnt so much about myself on every level as a result of this profound, deeply transformational journey.

This is the place my work and my writing is inspired from and by, I want to share guidance with deep care and empathy, illuminating the details that are often missed by others who may not know this journey in this intimate of a way. I often talk about balancing discipline with softness, what it means to be embodied and fully present while also tending to the structures that help us become stronger and more powerful women, how to lean into being while also choosing a better life for yourself - and why this all even matters in the first place.

Our mind, our body, and our soul/spirit are always communicating to us in one way or another. We must learn to listen, and how to listen. This is what a large chunk of the women’s health world, I believe, often overlooks; looking deeper may even be suspected as frivolous, immaterial, but it is an essential part of the process.