Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Stand upright, with lightness in your head and your shoulders relaxed. Don't forget to breathe?from your belly, not your chest. Maintain long, slow, deep inhalations and exhalations. Your legs should be active, not locked or hyper-extended.

Now, wdth elbows straight, swing your arms forward and up, so that your hands clap together at around head level. Let your arms swdng back down past your hips, and straight up in the back. There's no need to clap in the back. This is a very relaxed action; allow your arms to be pendiilums and find their natural tempo. Do this for around one minute four or five times a day when you are sick, when you have been exposed, when you are traveling with a lot of people such as in a tour van or in an airplane that you did not build yourself. Let this be a starting point for researching and developing your own personal philosophy and practice of health care!

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Have you ever seen your own cervix? Has anyone else ever seen your cervix? For most people with a cervix the answer to the first question is "no" and the answer to the second is "yes." Regularly doing your own cervical exam is one way to begin to take control of your body and your health. You can learn what is normal for you throughout your cycle and not have to trust that what a doctor sees once a year is indicative of your ongoing health. In this way, you can challenge the physician's role as sole healthcare provider and healer, and acquire knowledge about yourself that has been the doctor's alone. Self-exams allow you to catch any irritations or problems before they become severe, and, if you do need to go to a physician, the familiarity self-exams give you with your body?inside and out?^makes you an informed patient, able to ask the right questions and demand full information about your condition and treatment.

How to Perform Your Own Cervical Exam

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Ingredients Speculum ? Any gynecologist should he able to give you a plastic speculum at no cost, or you can order them in hulk over the internet. Speculums come in three sizes; try out a medium, and if it feels too large, get a small. If you can't see all the way back to your cervix, get a large. The size of the speculum you need does not correspond to the size of the rest of your body.

Mirror

Desk lamp with flexible

neck, or flashlight Lubricant or water (optional)

Instructions

Health Care

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Since you do them on your own, at your own pace, and in a comfortable, safe space, self-exams can be an important tool for survivors of incest or sexual abuse, people who do not have access to healthcare, and people who feel uncomfortable going to the doctor because of their sexuality, body type, herstory, or gender identity. With a self-exam, you can decide to stop if you do not feel comfortable. You can become familiar with the process of a self-exam so that you will know what to expect and be more comfortable if a doctor does the exam. Self-exams also allow you to perform routine care on your own and not rely on doctors to treat simple problems like yeast infections or trichomonas. Cervical exams can be awkward to perform on yourself, though, so another good option, if you are comfortable with it, is for trusted friends to learn how to do them on each other.

Before you do your own cervical exam, you may want to look at a book so that you know what to expect. There are books available that include full-color pictures of various vaginas and cervices in different stages of the menstrual cycle, and books that offer pictures of common infections and STDs so that you can identify them and treat yourself when appropriate.

When you are ready to do your self-exam, find a comfortable, safe space where you will not be interrupted?most people prefer to do self-exams on their beds. Get into a com-