Latest / Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul / Weekly Cycle Check In: How to Let Go With the Waning Moon

Transcript

Weekly Cycle Check In: How to Let Go With the Waning Moon · Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Trusting the phases of the moon.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to the Healing Her Story Podcast.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Reva Jean-Paul.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a trauma-informed somatic practitioner, coach for women, and host for your show.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Today we are doing our weekly cycle check-in.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: And this week we are working with the waning moon.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: If you are not familiar with the term waning, I know I certainly wasn't when I first started approaching this cyclical wisdom work.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Waning simply means decreasing.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: And one way that you can remember this is thinking of the expression wax on, wax off.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right now we are waxing off, and we are seeing the light slowly decrease from the moon.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: As last week we just went through a really big uh at the time that this is being recorded, Leo full moon, and super curious to know how that full moon was for you and what it might have illuminated for you, if anything.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: If you do find that something was illuminated for you under the full moon, this waning moon is going to be a really beautiful time to work with whatever might have come up for you.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk a little bit more about that in just a moment.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: I do want to share the connections of the waning moon with the other rhythms and cycles of the natural world and of the female body.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: The waning moon, specifically the waning Gibbus moon, is the phase that we are in right now.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: In the menstrual cycle, specifically in the female body, this is the pre-menstrum time, the time that comes before the bleed.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Menstrum, referring to menstruation, pre meaning before menstruation.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: In the seasons, this is associated with the season of autumn.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: In the lens of traditional Chinese medicine, this is associated with the element of metal.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really interesting how the timing worked out for this episode and the last episode as well.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: I am currently in my pre-menstruum phase of my menstrual cycle, and I'm feeling very connected to this waning energy today, and curious to know if you can notice a shift in my voice and just my energy levels.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: I know I'm certainly feeling very present and grateful to be here with you today, and also feeling that waning energy.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm feeling myself starting to putter out as I reach the end of my cycle.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: And this is something that we can feel regardless of where we are in our menstrual cycle, where you are in this waning moon time.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you notice you have less energy around this time, you're feeling like you want to spend more time at home and that you aren't as motivated to do things.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: That is okay because that is the opportunity that this waning moon offers us.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: It offers us the chance to slow down.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you aren't feeling that, that's okay too.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: There really is no right or wrong way to experience any part of the different phases that we talk about here on this show.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: We all have such unique and individual experiences, and we all have our own unique cyclical experience that we are moving through.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so, as always, I encourage you to take what you need and leave the rest behind.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: In last week's episode, we talked about this shift around the full moon time.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of seeing the full moon as a time for letting go, looking at the full moon as more of a time for what I shared to be the three C's.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: And if you haven't listened to last week's episode, when you have some time, I invite you to go back and to listen, perhaps when you're in your ovulation time, or perhaps around the next full moon.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're not feeling like that's what you need to do, that's okay too.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: You can still very much work with this waning moon time.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mention that because this shift of approaching the full moon differently doesn't mean that there isn't an opportunity to let go in the cycle.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, this right here, the energy that we are in right now, this waning moon time, this this more autumn-y, autumn-y energy, this is where we can now let go and release as we come to the exhale of the cycle.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: One way that you can visualize this is thinking of the season of autumn.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: The leaves begin to change colors and they slowly begin to lose life.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And as they do, they slowly start to let go and fall from the trees.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: And we see all these beautiful fall leaves everywhere, depending on where you live in the world.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: If we think of the life cycle of a plant, last week was all about the blooming and the blossoming and the opening.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're starting to see the petals on the flowers slowly starting to wilt, and they're gonna slowly start to drop.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now is the time to let go.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: And nature is such a beautiful teacher for this cyclical wisdom.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: What I would invite you to do this week is to explore what it would be like to let go with the body instead of to let go with the mind.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't talked about this yet, and I will one day, very soon, but we place so much emphasis on the mind.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: This is something that I feel has been a byproduct of our patriarchal society.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And with that, we try to process everything with the mind, even if the body isn't necessarily on board.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: We could very well have the idea to let go of something in our mind.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: But if the body hasn't gotten to its right place where it is ready to let go of that, then there can be this disconnect with what we have told ourselves that we are letting go of, or sometimes maybe what our ego has told us that we need to let go of with the mind, versus letting go of something that comes from a deeper place, something that's connected to a greater intelligence that is deeply connected to these rhythms and to these cycles.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: You might wonder how to let go.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, this episode was kind of jokingly titled How to Let Go.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because the truth is the body knows how to let go all on its own.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: The body is connected to this same greater intelligence that allows the grass to grow and allows the seasons to change.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: It allows the moon to move through its phases.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: The body knows how to let go because it uses this greater intelligence to let go in its right time and its right pace.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: So this might be tricky, especially if the mind has come up with this thing or this habit, or maybe this situation, or maybe even just this part of ourselves inside that we're judging, and maybe feeling like it shouldn't really be there.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: The body knows how to let go in its own right time, in its own right way.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: I find for me this process of letting go is deeply connected to the psoma, the body.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I find that it becomes easier to know what it is I'm letting go of, or rather what's ready to be let go when I can slow down and tap into the body.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's the opportunity that this decreasing energy offers us.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: It gives us the chance to slow down.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: And in this slowing down, we can start to pull our energy back into ourselves, we can go inward, we can create more space in our day, and we can focus on nourishing and connecting with our bodies.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: And as we do this, the things that are ready to be released come up so organically and so naturally.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's helpful, I'd like to offer an example here.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: As I've named, I'm in this pre-menstrum time of my cycle, and there's another reason why we have this opportunity to let go, which I'll talk more about here in just a moment.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: But the other day I was doing a yoga practice.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, I don't even think it was a yoga practice, I practice, I think it was um a strength training workout.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing too strenuous.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: As I said, I'm kind of decreasing my energy, but I also like to really build strength around this time before I head into my inner winter.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: At the end of my workout, I took some time to slow my breath down and to stretch and to just conclude the active part of my workout.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I was on my shuffle list on Spotify, and this song came on, the hopoono.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: I hope I'm saying that correctly, hopo.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's a forgiveness practice, and it came on and it repeats the hopo ono mantras, which I believe are um, I forgive you, or no, I'm sorry, I forgive you, um, I love you, thank you.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I suddenly found myself overwhelmed with emotion.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: It would have been so easy to just shut that emotion down and to get on with my day because I have things to do, right?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: No, not the case.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: I saw the opportunity that was being provided to me as this song produced this emotion in me that came almost out of nowhere.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so I continued to stay with the emotion and I stayed connected to my body and I breathed and I let the frequency and the words of the music move through me.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And as I was going through this sort of meditative practice, I had all of these memories come through from when I was a teenager and from when I was a little girl, and I had these thoughts of these people who never said sorry to me and how wonderful it would have been to feel to hear, you know, I'm sorry, please forgive me.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so I allowed the parts of myself that needed to hear those words, receive those words through this music.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And on the flip side, I thought of all the people that had hurt me, and I thought about all of the people that probably very likely hurt them, which is why there was something inside of them that felt like it had to hurt me in these cycles of pain that just get perpetuated.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: When sometimes the most loving thing that we could do is just just say, sorry, please forgive me.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love you.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I cried, and the song ended, and I gave myself a few more moments before I went on with my day because I was just overwhelmed by the beauty and the healing that had happened in such a short time.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, excuse me, unexpectedly at the end of a workout to this song that just randomly came on my Spotify playlist.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't think if I would have with my mind decided to, okay, I'm gonna do this forgiveness practice.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna listen to this Hopa Ono song, and I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna breathe and I'm gonna think about all these things and force myself into this letting go.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: If I had come approached it that way with the mind, I don't know that I would have had the same experience.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I I trust that I would not have had the same experience.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: This experience was created by this greater intelligence, right?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: By this song randomly coming on and stringing a chord within me, and me taking the opportunity to slow down and allow it.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was really beautiful and profound.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I had several more moments like that over the weekend, and I'll share a couple of the other practices that helped me to move through these emotions uh in just a moment.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I wanted to give that example to hopefully help you understand how easy and natural letting go can be when we're not forcing it, when we're not creating it with our mind, rather, when we're just slowing down and allowing the body to move through in its right time and its right pace, trusting in this greater intelligence that goes far behind, far beyond what could be understood with the mind.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now, speaking to what I was saying earlier about the pre-menstrum time providing an additional opportunity for healing.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that's because estrogen is at its lowest or it's getting to its lowest, it's decreasing, just like the energy from the moon.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: And as we see this decrease in estrogen, there becomes an increased sensitivity in the nervous system.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Estrogen acts as essentially a buffer for our nervous system.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: So when our estrogen levels are higher, things feel to me just more manageable.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not bothered by things as much, I can handle a little bit more, I can try new things, I can meet new people, I can go into social situations because I have this buffer and my nervous system that allows me to handle it all.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: When this estrogen decreases and that buffer is no longer there, sometimes the things that were feeling fun and good and joyful and manageable two weeks ago or a week ago now are no longer feeling that way.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: And as we have this increased sensitivity of the nervous system, sometimes our wounds and our trauma imprints can come up more during this pre-menstrum time.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really interesting.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I'm going to connect this in a much later episode to think about PMS symptoms being related to these wounds and our trauma imprints.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Again, another episode for another day.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's very fascinating.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: There is some research on it, not enough research, which again, another episode for another day.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: We really don't have enough research on the female body and the nervous system and trauma and how it's all connected.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: There's some and there's more, but ultimately these tests are expensive, or these studies rather are expensive and they're very um, they require a lot more uh effort and and they should can be more challenging to collect accurate data because of the fluctuations of the hormones and the female nervous system.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, again, another episode for another day.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: But it's interesting how we see this mirrored in the female nervous system.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: And in the menstrual cycle, I just find it super fascinating.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so there also might be whether you are in this part of your menstrual cycle or not, or whether you're bleeding or you're not, this same increased sensitivity is also what we experience with the waning moon energy.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: If you listen to my solo episode last week, it talked about feeling safe and coming into our rest and digest state and how this is the place where healing happens.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so this is what I would encourage you to explore over the next week, really.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'll talk more about some other opportunities that the waning crescent moon offers in our next episode, next Monday.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: But for now, know that you can work with this waning energy essentially almost all the way till the end of the cycle, but definitely all through this week.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's the week of February 17th.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so this is a great time to regulate your nervous system and to lean into practices that allow you to get into that rest and digest state so that your healing can happen in its right time, in its right pace, in its own way.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: While I know it can feel maybe frustrating to hear that you can't like quite control what you're gonna let go of and when, and we can create space for it to happen.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the way I see it, the more opportunities that I create for it to happen, then the more that creative intelligence can work its magic, and the more opportunities that I can open up for myself to have those breakthrough or those big healing moments.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, being that we talk so much about somatics on this podcast, everything that I'm going to be offering today can be connected to a somatic practice in some way.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: So the number one way that I love to process my emotions and my pain and my grief and some of my oldest, deepest wounds is breath work.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I will definitely do a whole solo episode on breath work very soon.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: And when I say breath work, I'm not necessarily referring to nostril breathing, such as box breathing or alternate, alternate nostril breathing.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: I see those as more breath techniques, whereas breath work is more of a um psycho somatic spiritual practice.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that is this is all done in and out through the mouth.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: So The technique that I use is revelation breathwork.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And as the years have gone by and I've become trained in other somatic practices, I've begun to kind of weave them together and have my own flavor of the revelation breathwork technique, if you will, organically being expressed through me, not that there's anything wrong with it as it is.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's natural for us to kind of add in our own flair and our own way of doing things.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's how I've come to facilitate breathwork now.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: And this to me is such a great way to support our healing process because a breathwork practice is technically an altered state of consciousness.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: And when we are in altered states of consciousness, our psychological barriers, or sometimes just the stories and the the stories and the things that we create in our mind to keep us safe, to block off parts of ourselves that we don't necessarily want to be vulnerable or to feel pain or discomfort.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: All of those kind of just fall into the background.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: And as those barriers, those dispense defense mechanisms soften, we can get into some of the deeper parts of the brain and the nervous system and the body.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: So breath work is a really wonderful and safe and effective way to do that in a fairly short amount of time.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: I make room for a breathwork practice at least once every two weeks.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I definitely try to optimize this pre-menstrum time and this waning moon time with those breathwork sessions.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Another practice that you could weave in here to support your natural healing process is massage.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: And this could be going out and getting massage.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: This could also be self-massage.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And these days I tend to do a lot of self-massage for various reasons.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: And what I enjoy doing is using a massage tool called gua sha.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I will use that along my neck and along my jaw.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes I'll use it on my arms or around my chest, and sometimes I've even used it on my vulva, and I've only done it once, and the one time I did do it, I started my bleed a little early the next day.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it I don't know if it was just the gouacha or what.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I definitely will continue to explore that practice as so many women have gone through a lot of things in my life, and um, we can hold a lot here in these tender places, and so just some gentle massage just to release pressure can be really helpful.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, over the weekend, that was one of those healing moments was with myself and doing some self-massage and um massaging along my feet and my arms, and when I'd find a really tight, um uncomfortable place, I would hold some pressure there and just breathe.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I would again have these kind of memories coming through of like this time that this person hurt me, or this time that this thing happened that hurt me, and I was able to just set the intention to let that go and let it go with my breath, and just allowing that pressure to gently release.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: Another practice that you could weave in here is somatic therapy.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: If you already work with a somatic therapist or you're thinking about working with a somatic prac uh therapist, excuse me, this would be a really optimal time to work with your therapist.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you are doing traditional talk therapy, you could definitely still get some great work done in a talk therapy session around this time.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're really wanting to play with this idea of letting go naturally with the body and it's right time and it's right pace, then some sort of somatic component to complement that talk therapy would be great.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's a somatic practice that you could incorporate after, like dancing or stretching, or you'll have to feel into what that might be for you.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: The last thing that I'll say here, which isn't a somatic practice directly, and I believe they go together so nicely, and that is working with sacred plant medicines around this time.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: That is something that I that is a part of my regular routine.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: I microdose and commune with psilocybin, psilocybin once a week, and it's usually on a day where I have a lot of space and a lot of time to just be with myself and to commune with the intelligence of the mushroom spirits and see what they might be able to support me with.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: And they were definitely an ally of mine over the weekend, and I'll definitely talk more about this in episode episodes to come.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I'm really excited.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be having an amazing guest, not for quite some time, but soon, she will be on the show, and she's gonna be sharing a lot more about sacred plant medicines and yeah, how to work with them in intentional intentional ways, safe ways.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I will do that as well.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: But if you are already familiar with it, or you already have this as part of your uh practice or routine, then again, you could optimize that here by incorporating ceremonies or microdosing or um however you might work with these medicines around this time.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: So lots to play with, lots to explore with this waning moon time.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is a really magical time, just like in the actual season of autumn when it's Halloween and Dios de los muertos, the veil can be thin this time.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so this can be just a really magical time to look within and to open yourself up to the natural rhythms and the greater intelligence that moves through your body and that is moving through the natural world.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: I look forward to connecting with you in next episode, in our next solo episode.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: I had thought that maybe I was gonna have a guest episode every other week.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: However, it's feeling like I'm gonna be doing some more solo episodes until I get a nice flow of guests, and that is okay.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a lot of things to say and a lot of things to share, and I trust that our our guests for this show will come in in their right time, in their right pace, and their right way.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: To support your letting go this week, I encourage you to head on over to my Insight Timer channel if you're not already following me.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: I really love the Insight Timer app.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: This is something that I use as my practice, and there are so many other meditations and things for you to explore.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: However, if you're really finding value from the cyclical wisdom and the trauma informed and the somatic care that I'm offering, then check out the show notes for a meditation that can support you in your practice of letting go over the next week or so.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, take care of yourself and take care of each other.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Fighting for the voice of the wooding label, cleaving the pain from your wooding living, creating new life from your wooding, rebuilding with the faces of the wooding living.