Latest / Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul / Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync - Waning Gibbous Moon, Late Summer, and the Post-Ovulation

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Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync - Waning Gibbous Moon, Late Summer, and the Post-Ovulation · Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Healing Her Story Podcast.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Reva Jean-Paul.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a trauma-informed somatic practitioner, coach for women, and host for your show.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Today we are coming together for a weekly cycle sync episode.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you are new to cycle syncing or perhaps you've been doing cycle syncing for quite some time, these episodes are intended to be a place where you can begin to align and tune into and begin to learn how to work both with your natural rhythm and also with the bigger rhythms and cycles that we are all moving through collectively.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Those cycles being the moon, which changes phases about once a week or so.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's about eight different phases that the moon goes through every month.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't always align with the ending and the beginning of the month, but it is a 28-day cycle, which also mirrors the menstrual cycle.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: And this might be your inner rhythm that you potentially are moving through if you're still menstruating.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: And also maybe if you aren't on hormonal birth control, because that can change how we experience the cycle, which we can talk about more on a later day.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Here in the northern hemisphere, we are currently in the season of spring, which means that if you are in the northern hemisphere, that you will be in the season of autumn.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are these other larger cycles that are happening with the planets.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: I know we've talked a little bit about the actually a lot about the Venus retrograde that we are just finishing up with this full moon that has just passed.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: So Venus is now direct, and we've entered into what we call a shadow period, which we'll talk a little bit more about as the show goes on.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's also these cycles that are happening with the stars, and this is connected to the zodiac signs, which is affected to the season that we are in astrologically, which right now I believe is Aries, if I remember correctly.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know we haven't talked much about those, but just to give you an idea of these cycles that you can begin to tune into and that you can begin to learn how to work with.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Here on this show, we really focus on the moon.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I also like to bring in the menstrual cycle and also the seasons as well.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope that by tuning into these episodes that you can begin to live into the unique rhythm and expression that is your life, that is your unique rhythm, that is natural and specific to you.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: We all experience these cycles a little bit differently, and what I'll be sharing here today is a little peek into my cyclical experience.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: And as always, very curious to know what your cyclical experience might be like.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to share, you are always welcome to leave a comment if you're listening on Spotify, and you're also welcome to reach out to me via email, which you can find in the show notes.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get started with a minute of silence today.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: And during this minute of silence, you are invited to check in and to tune into your inner rhythm.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: And to help you do that, the invitation is to connect with the rhythm of your breath, just being mindful of how the breath is moving in and out today.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you want to slow the breath down and extend it.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you want to let the breath be exactly what it is right now.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever you choose to do, beginning to do that now.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: I find that when I allow these spacious moments throughout the day, that it really supports me in aligning with my inner rhythm a bit more.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: The pace of the body and the nervous system is very slow.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we begin to slow down, we can sometimes hear a bit more, we can sometimes feel and notice a bit more.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: This week for our cycle check-in, we are working, or rather, speaking to the week of April 14th and working with the energy of the waning Gibbs Gibbs, excuse me, moon.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is associated with the season of summer, and I would say this is a very late summer.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Moving our way into autumn, maybe temperatures have already started to cool and lease have begun to change colors, but perhaps they haven't quite covered the floor yet.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: When we're speaking of the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, we are working with the element of fire, which is more of a summer, uh, more of a the peak of summer, ovulatory energy into an earth energy.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I would say there's a bit more of an earthy energy here.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: And when we're speaking about the menstrual cycle, we are working with the post-ovulation into the pre-menstruum.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: This time of the cycle can give us a lot of good information, and so I hope that you were able to gather even just a little bit of information from our minute of silence today.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Depending on how you're feeling, can influence how you might want to use the energy this week.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now, as we've talked about before in some of our previous episodes, the energy of the full moon, what just happened, which just happened on Saturday, is the peak of the cycle.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: And depending on what was illuminated for you, depending on what has culminated and maybe come to a completion point for you, this time I find for me can either go one of two ways.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm either feeling really connected and fulfilled and just super excited about things that have maybe come together or come into fruition, whether it's an opportunity or a big moment in my healing process.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes I'm feeling very full during this time of the cycle.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Other times I can sometimes feel a bit more drained.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe a little bit more run down.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes feels like I have less energy and less of a desire to get a bunch of things done.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: And this to me really lets me know how I took care of myself, or maybe how I didn't take care of myself in the weeks leading up to this time.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: For my last ovulation, I found myself feeling a little flat and tired and not quite experiencing the full what I like to call juiciness and joy that I can sometimes experience in this time of the cycle in my ovulatory phase, which is okay.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Each cycle is different, no two cycles are the same.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't necessarily mean that anything is wrong, and doesn't necessarily mean it's bad.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: It does offer me great insight into how life was lifing in the weeks leading up to this time.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: And because I found myself a bit more tired and run down during my inner summer of this cycle, I use that to really inform how I wanted to spend this next bit of the cycle.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: And depending on how you're feeling right now, whether you're maybe feeling really full or maybe you're feeling a little bit less full, this can determine how you might want to give back this week.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because that is an opportunity that we have during this time of the cycle.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: After we reach this fullness of the cycle, perhaps you even felt abundant during this cycle.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: If that's the case, then perhaps we might might want to give back to loved ones, to local communities or perhaps organizations.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you're on the other side and perhaps feeling like you have a little bit less energy, such as myself, then perhaps you might want to give back to yourself, which is something that I don't know that we do enough of.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: As women, we are caretakers, generally speaking, for either children or for our partners or for the people in our lives, sometimes our family, sometimes our communities.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that can sometimes come at a cost.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: If we are constantly giving back to others, which can feel fulfilling and supportive in other ways.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: However, if we're doing it at the detriment of our own health and well-being, is it really giving back?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: Or is it just us doing what we think we quote unquote need to be doing?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: We can sometimes fall into martyrism, which is a shadow of this time of the cycle.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: This can also be a shadow of the life cycle season of the mother.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that is an archetype that connects with the summer time and with the ovulatory time and with the full moon time.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so are you giving back at the expense of yourself?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Or are you giving back from a place that is full?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are giving back to others, are you doing it in a way in which that is not just supportive for them, but also supportive for you?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: As I've shared, this was a very full cycle for me.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And with this full moon that has just passed, I would have just entered into my bleeding time, my menstruation time.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so, in conjunction with that, it's a perfect and wonderful time for me to give back to myself.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really interesting.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: I have found in my own cyclical experiences, as I have begun to live into my rhythm, I've also been able to watch life mirror that back to me.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: On several occasions, I have found my menstrual cycle lining up in a really perfect way with the moon cycle.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not to say that my cycle mirrors the menstrual cycle.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Excuse me, my menstrual cycle mirrors the moon cycle because it doesn't always.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: And we have a guest episode coming up really soon that's going to talk a lot more about that.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very excited to share that with you.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: But it is interesting to see how my bleeding time aligned perfectly with this time of giving back.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'll be giving back to myself a lot over this week.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: I've blocked out some time on my schedule, which I did during my pre-menstrum phase.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: And a superpower of the pre-menstrum phase is the ability to set boundaries.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been able to use that to support me in the next phase, which is just really beautiful how it all can feed into each other in that way as you start to become more aware and attuned to these rhythms.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be doing an online immersion, which I'm really looking forward to, with some of my favorite speakers and artists, and activists, and creatives.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'll also be attending a sound bath with a dear friend.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I have found a way to give back to my community in a way that does feel supportive and not at the expense of my well-being.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to be donating some art supplies that I haven't been using, clearly don't need, to a local art closet.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: So that is one way that I'm giving back to my community in a way that doesn't really take from me.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm offering things that I'm not using, and all I have to do is gather them and drop them off.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that feels really doable for me.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: As we begin to close out this cycle, I wanted to share just a few housekeeping things.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: In our next episode, we will be working with the energy that is going to be coming in right before a new moon.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm excited to talk a little bit more as we get a little bit closer.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we're also going to be wrapping up the Venus retrograde, which I just mentioned we finished up with the full moon that just passed over the weekend.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: And now Venus is direct.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: There is a bit of a shadow period that happens one to two weeks after.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: And during that shadow period, we will still continue to explore these Venetian themes.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: As I've mentioned, I've got some really exciting guests that I'm very much looking forward to sharing with you.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And we're going to be having one of those guest episodes air towards the end of the month.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: So stay tuned for that.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Next week is an integration week and also the week where I'm giving back to myself, where I'll be bleeding.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so I usually take the week off of creating content for the podcast.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so with that, next week there will not be a solo episode.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: What I would invite you to do is to go back and listen to our last bonus episode with Michaela De La Michael from Mush Womb.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: Michaela is an incredible activist and mother and human who I just found to be so inspiring and still do.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: So if you haven't listened to that episode, I encourage you to go back and give that a listen.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: The week before, we also released the episode Menstrual Cycle Awareness as an Act of Revolution or something like that.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Might be a little bit of a different title.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I would encourage you to go back and listen to that because that goes into all of the different four phases of the menstrual cycle and of the moon and of the seasons.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a bit more of an in-depth, overarching um episode, I guess you could say, that uh really goes in into those four phases in a little bit more depth.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I also talk about why why the hell it matters and how it really can be a beautiful act of reclamation and remembering.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: So those episodes are there for you to explore and enjoy in your perfect great timing and way.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: You might notice my energy is a little bit lower today.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: I've also been stumbling over words a bit today, which is something that is very common for me as I'm just days away from my bleed.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: So with that, I will be retreating into my red tent and I leave all of this uh information for you to explore in your own perfect timing and way.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: In the meantime, take care of yourself and take care of each other.