Why a 68-Year-Old Grandmother Wrote a Book About Vaginas

Yoni Owner’s Manual, my newest book, was born/launched on February 14 th , 2025. My daughter Zhouie designed the book layout and nicknamed it, YOM.

YOM is an exploration of all things feminine and secret, practical knowledge, scientific facts, plus juicy cultural and spiritual dollops. The pages are a stroll through female biology, and empirical experiences of having vulva, vagina, cervix, ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, the very matrix that makes it possible to reproduce new mammals, that very potent creative intelligence that gives women such brilliance in all their endeavors. Dancers, architects, writers, song makers, gardeners, sewers, artists, designers, healthcare professionals, cooks, healers, workers, carpenters, painters — we women uplift the world as we cycle. When we enter menopause, we become the keepers of time.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but even the most advanced 3D printers cannot take the raw materials of human seed and egg, coaxed out via longing, lust and love, stash the zygote away for nine lunar synodic months, abracadabra… an entire newborn human emerges!

What women can do with their mother-matrix potential is staggering to me, meaning it blows my mind every single day and night. As a Midwife and Doula, trust me, I often see the fruits of what Yonis are capable of, and it’s always astonishing. The details of my astonishment are folded into the pages of YOM.

But what puts a busy grandmother midwife on the journey of writing an entire book on Yoni?

Perhaps my most well-loved book is, Placenta: The Forgotten Chakra. My own Filipina mother, Cresencia Munar Lim, currently 92 years young, strong and active, living together with our family of four generations in Bali. She has a copy of Placenta: The Forgotten Chakra tucked under her bed pillows. In my life, Cresencia has always been an enigma, profoundly not-American, she quietly proudly wears her Filipina-Micronesian roots with grace. Growing up I affectionately called her, “the Pope.” She still says the Rosary every day for the pregnant and birthing mothers I look after. This burnished survivor of WWII, born in 1932 in mountain-cloud City of Baguio, set a standard for me to achieve my wildest dreams. Perhaps she had not imagined how wild those dreams would become.

My first daughter, Déjà Cresencia, born when I was a teenager, arrived and made my mother a Lola (grandmother) at the age of 44. They quickly bonded and are still best friends. They share brilliant creative minds and a love for everything feminine and beautiful, including how stunning they both look in the mirror! One afternoon I overheard my mother speaking with her best friend, “Déjà, please don’t tell any of my friends that your mother wrote a book about placentas.” It should be noted that by that time Cresencia was in her late 80s, most of. her friends had already crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

“Oh my gosh…” my heart jumped into rebellious Scorpio-Sagittarius defense mode, “are you ashamed of me, mom?” I gasped out loud. Cresencia slowly turned her stunning face towards me and said, “It’s bastus (rude) to listen in on my private conversations. You’re still my daughter, and I can still tell you what to do. Sige lang, go back to your work or whatever, leave me and my granddaughter alone here. You were not invited.”

“Well, in that case, my next book is going to be all about vaginas.” I laughed as I left the besties to their coffee clutch. Later, Déjà jabbed me, “Mom, you dared yourself to write a book about vaginas! What are you going to call it, something yummy?”

Thus began my deep dive into the science, the stories, the mysteries, the choices, and challenges of everything Yoni. I hope if you own a Yoni, or you love someone who does, you will enjoy reading Yoni Owner’s Manual, as much as I loved writing it.

Printed and e-reader copies are available on Amazon. Get your copy! (I will eventually have digital download copies here on my site, but for now, get it on Amazon.)