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Moon Phases & Feminine Power - Your Weekly Cycle Sync: How to Be Still with the Dark Moon · Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to today's episode of the Healing Her Story podcast.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: If this is your first time here, welcome.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so grateful to be able to tap into this week's feminine wisdom with you.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are returning, welcome back.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for being here and for continuing to walk this path.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's really one of my greatest joys and honors and privilege to be able to do this work, not only to do it within myself, to learn, to remember, to embody, but then to go out and to be able to offer that to others is truly such a joy.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it brings me great fulfillment to be able to do that.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's wonderful in this day and age to be able to have a platform like this where I can share and where I can support you doing this work.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I truly believe in the ripple effect that that creates in our collective.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Stepping up, rising up, coming into the full scope of their power to create, to change, to transform.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think not only women can benefit from that, I think we all could really benefit from that.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So whether you identify as a woman or not, this work is very much for you too.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's for everyone, really, I believe.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: This idea of cyclical living, it's about embodying a new way of being in the world.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And our world is changing right now, folks.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: It is changing significantly.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Every single day, every single week, there is something else coming out of the darkness and into the light.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: There is something that is challenging us as individuals, as countries, as one collective human race.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that becoming more in tune with our own inner rhythm and with these natural rhythms and cycles of the world.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, the healing and the shift that that can create, not just for ourselves, but for generations to come.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we don't live to see the full impact of our work.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe we can create a path for the ones yet to come, for our daughters, for our nieces, for our sisters.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: This work is about so much more, as I often say, than just working with a new moon, working with the full moon, sinking or cycles.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So let's begin.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: As always, we'll start with a minute of silence.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And in that minute of silence, you are invited to come into a place of more presence with yourself, whatever that may look like today, whether you are driving or doing something in the background or doing some chores, just taking a few breaths.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And in honor of our theme today, which I'll explore more here in a moment, I'm gonna invite you to see if you can sit still.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Coming to a place of stillness.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you close your eyes, maybe you find something to look at.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that stillness is not just physically, maybe it's also mentally as well.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Stopping the constant hamster wheel that is always planning and strategizing and plotting the next moves.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Can you invite all of that to just pause and suspend here?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's just for a minute, and I'm gonna join you in that today.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And our one minute will begin now.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I accepted the invitation, and wow, does that feel nice to truly have a moment of stillness where I wasn't thinking about anything, where I wasn't figuring anything out, I wasn't working on anything, I was just beating.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And where I'm at here in California, we're in fall officially.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's feeling very fall today.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: I listened to the rain, and that was so soothing and so peaceful.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And in last week's cycle check-in, I shared I got a new heating pad, the little things, right?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got my new heating pad, and it's a weighted heating pad, which I've never had before.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's so nice, it just adds this extra sense of grounding on the top of my thighs where I usually let the heating pad rest, and it's got this really fuzzy texture, and I'm just really enjoying it.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's very nice.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking forward to a very cozy fall winter season with this heating pad.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And today I'm recording ahead of time.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm recording this after the last cycle check-in.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I am still day 26.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And by the time I record the next cycle check-in, I'll be able to share how my bleed was.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm I'm doing pretty good, and I'm just getting ready to start my bleed, doing all of my preparation and patiently waiting for her right time and pace.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's me today.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive into this week's moon phase.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: This week we are tuning to the energy of the dark moon, that mysterious moment just before the new moon begins.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the dark moon and the new moon are spoken of as the same thing, and that makes sense.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: They blend together.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And technically, the new moon doesn't begin until you see that first tiny sliver of light in the sky.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Before that, there's nothing.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: No light reflected from the moon, only darkness, and this is usually about two, maybe three days before the new moon.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you step outside on the night of a dark moon, you might notice something magical.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: The stars seem brighter.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: You might even see more planets, and that's because the moon, our usual source of light at night, has gone dark, and it's no longer the brightest thing in the sky.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the essence of this phase: stillness, quiet, and vast open space.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's what I like to call the void, the sacred in-between.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's the pause after one cycle ends and before the next one begins.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: You can think of it as the bottom of your exhale of your breath.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So as you inhale and then exhale, that little pause at the bottom before you take your next breath in, that is right where we sit with the dark moon.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes this space can feel uncomfortable or empty.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I get it.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe it's really important, it's incredibly important.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is where integration of the previous cycle can happen again.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can think of this like day two of your bleed.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a day two like that, you already know what I mean when I say that.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's that moment when your body demands rest.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: You might have to show up for work or your family.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've definitely been there.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And once that's done, you are on the couch, you're in bed, you are not doing much of anything.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that is perfect.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: That is what the body and what this dark moon is asking for.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: By day three of the menstrual cycle, estrogen starts to rise again.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you can sometimes feel or notice this subtle spark of energy return.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Just like the first sliver of moonlight in the sky.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: But before that, there's nothing to do, just a big invitation to be.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I know it's hard.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: We live in a culture that worships movement, productivity, and progress.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're told to keep going, to stay visible, to always be creating, to push through.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And this dark moon moment, the quiet, the pause, I promise you, it is not a waste of time.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: It is nourishment.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's the fertile soil from which your next cycle grows.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And science actually backs this up.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Research shows that stillness and meditation activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which we've talked about before.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's your body's rest and digest mode.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is the part of our nervous system that helps us to recover from stress and also counteracts the flight or flight response.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: In trauma-informed therapy, mindfulness and stillness are essential tools because they help us observe our thoughts and emotions without judgment.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of repressing them or avoiding them, we gently witness them and integrate them.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I will tell you, when I came to really understand that me staying constantly busy was really just me avoiding something.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: It really helped me to unravel from that a little bit.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Other studies show that stillness supports something called de-automization, which is just a fancy word for breaking old habitual patterns in the brain.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: It actually fosters neuroplasticity and is your brain's ability to rewire and heal.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: When the mind gets quiet, new things emerge.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: We start to see patterns, insights rise to the surface, emotions we've tucked away come up to be seen, understood, and loved.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: So if stillness feels uncomfortable for you, that is okay.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: It did for me too.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, for a long time I was always doing something, cleaning, checking my phone, planning, thinking ahead.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Rarely was I just being.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: And now I practice creating tiny pockets of stillness throughout my day.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I usually start with one.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I will often try to sprinkle moments throughout the day, even if it's just a few mindful breaths between tasks that can bring me back to myself.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So this week I want to invite you to explore your own stillness.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Notice where you can soften, pause, or do nothing.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's just for a minute, maybe two, maybe three, maybe five, maybe ten.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Start small, start with one minute or maybe even 30 seconds and see what that's like.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if you need support with that, I've added a few free somatic meditations on Insight Timer to support you.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you can find those in the show notes.