The History of Yoni Steaming: Why Women Have Always Healed Together

Most women don’t come to yoni steaming because they understand its history.
They come because their bodies are asking for something they don’t yet have language for.

When I first began my doula practice, I assumed yoni steaming would be a quiet, private self-care experience. Clients would arrive, complete their intake, change, steam for 30 minutes, and leave feeling relaxed.

What actually happened surprised me.

Women stopped me before I could leave the room. They asked questions. They wanted to talk. They wanted to understand where this practice came from, why it existed, and why it felt so familiar even if they had never done it before.

A Practice Rooted in Community, Not Silence

Very quickly, yoni steaming sessions became something else entirely.

They turned into conversations about reproductive health, postpartum recovery, fertility, relationships, emotional release, and sometimes trauma. Much like sitting in a hair salon or barbershop, the space became one where women felt safe enough to speak freely.

This mirrors how yoni steaming has historically been practiced across cultures.

In many Indigenous, African, Asian, and Middle Eastern traditions, women gathered together to steam — often seated over warm herbal infusions or heated stones — while talking, resting, and healing in community. It was never meant to be isolating or clinical. It was relational.

Remembering What Was Never Meant to Be Lost

As an Indigenous woman from the East Coast, this practice is not foreign to my lineage. Yoni steaming has long been used in postpartum care and reproductive wellness in many communities, including those my own family comes from.

Over time, modernization and medicalization stripped away these communal healing practices, replacing them with privacy, silence, and separation. But the need never disappeared — it simply went unacknowledged.

When women left my space saying they felt lighter, it was never just physical. It was emotional. Energetic. Spiritual.

From Private Sessions to Communal Healing Spaces

Some clients lived too far away to come regularly, so they began steaming at home using personal saunas. Even then, many still returned — not just for the practice, but for the conversation and connection.

That’s when I realized: the work wasn’t only about steaming. It was about restoring spaces where women could heal together.

My vision has always been to create communal steaming environments — shared spaces where women can change privately, consult individually, and then steam together, just as women have done historically.

The Future of This Work

Yoni steaming was never meant to be hidden, taboo, or whispered about. It belongs alongside other accepted wellness practices like massage, acupuncture, and postpartum care.

As this work continues to evolve, so does the pathway to learning it properly.

If you feel called to this practice — whether for your own healing or to support other women — there are ways to take the next step.

You can book a consultation if you’re navigating reproductive health, postpartum recovery, or hormonal concerns.
You can also join the waitlist for the Hydro Doula certification program to learn the traditional practice of herbo-hydrotherapy and support women professionally.

This work has always been communal. There is space for you here.