Ancient Rituals, modern microbes: how the old ways nurture your inner ecosystem by Dr. Dee | Feminine Systems Health Series

“We didn’t always have probiotics.
We had fermented gruels, birth rituals, oil baths, and intimate touch.”

The human body is not a sterile machine.
It’s a living forest, inhabited by trillions of microbes—bacteria, fungi, viruses, archaea—that co-evolved with us over millennia.

These microbes don’t just live in us. They shape us:

• Our immunity
• Our hormones
• Our moods
• Our fertility
• Even our risk for cancer, obesity, endometriosis, and PCOS

And yet, in the modern world, we’ve slowly waged war against this microbial intelligence—with antiseptics, antibiotics, sanitized births, processed foods, and chemical-laced routines.

But before the Petri dish and the probiotic capsule, we had something else:
Rituals.
Sacred, daily, embodied systems that fed the body, soothed the gut, and seeded the biome—without even naming it.

Let’s explore what these ancient practices were, and how they align perfectly with today’s microbiome science. Just a few examples:

1. Birth Was a Microbial Ritual

Vaginal birth. Skin-to-skin. Colostrum. Oil massage.

In ancestral cultures, birth was a transmission of flora from mother to child. The vaginal canal, the skin, the breast—all acted as microbial portals. Colostrum wasn’t just food—it was a seeding serum.

Babies weren’t bathed immediately.
They were oiled, sung to, breastfed, held close.
Every action enriched the newborn’s microbial library.

Today, C-sections, early bathing, hospital wipes, and formula often break this chain. But the body remembers. And we can repair.

2. Food Was Fermented, Not Fortified

Our ancestors didn’t need kombucha brands.
They had ambali (fermented ragi gruel), kanji (rice water), sun-dried curd, pickles, and toddy palm sap.

Every meal contained small amounts of wild, local, living bacteria—kept in balance by fiber-rich lentils, bitter greens, and seasonal produce.

Microbiome-wise rituals:

• Soaking and sprouting (neutralizes antinutrients and feeds probiotics)
• Cooking with sour buttermilk or fermented rice
• Eating with hands (microbiota from skin interacts with food)
• Seasonal fasting (resets gut flora)

3. Oil Was Not Just for Hair—It Was for Gut Harmony

Weekly abhyanga (warm oil massage) isn’t just skin care—it’s microbiome medicine.

• Sesame oil + herbal decoctions penetrate through the skin and nourish the lymphatic + enteric nervous system
• Castor oil packs applied to the belly stimulate the vagus nerve, reduce inflammation, and shift the gut from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest

Modern equivalent?
Forget laxatives. Apply warm castor oil to your abdomen, lie down with a hot pack, and exhale.

4. Sex Was Sacred—and Microbial

Sex is not just emotional or hormonal. It’s microbial.

Intimate touch transfers microbiota between partners. The vaginal microbiome, the seminal biome, the skin microbiome—these mix during intercourse. Safe, trusting sex (especially within monogamous or well-attuned partnerships) enhances microbiome diversity and oxytocin regulation.

But:

• Overuse of vaginal washes, lubricants, condoms with spermicide, or antibiotics post-sex can disrupt the vaginal microbiome
• Casual, high-stress, or emotionally unsafe sex may trigger immune dysregulation, which affects microbial balance

Ancient cultures had post-sex rituals—like washing with herbal infusions, rest, gut reset foods, and sacred silence—which allowed the body to reset.

Ancient Rituals and Their Modern Microbiome Benefit

Ancient Ritual	Modern Microbiome Benefit
Walking barefoot on soil	Microbial exposure + immune resilience
Living in joint families	Microbial sharing + emotional safety
Shared cooking and eating (e.g. “nila choru” tradition)	Microbial cross-colonization
Sleeping with babies (co-sleeping)	Microbiome seeding + enhancing oxytocin flow
Feeding pregnant moms 5 variety rice (South Indian baby shower)	Taste sensory stimulation, microbiome diversity, and cross-colonization

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We weren’t built for bleach and isolation.
We were built for barefoot mornings, fermented meals, belly massages, and sacred sex.

Many more rituals had a scientific reason and context-specific relevance—ritual intelligence. Just blindly following them without factoring the current scenario holistically—or just abandoning them as obsolete—may not be the best way forward.

We need to create newer sensible rituals around this traditional wisdom, rooted in modern science and having a connected and contemporary application.