Latest / Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul / Embrace Your Rhythm: Using Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Transform Your Life

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Embrace Your Rhythm: Using Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Transform Your Life · Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, my love.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to this week's episode of the Healing Her Story Podcast.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: My name is Reva Jean-Paul.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a trauma-informed somatic practitioner, coach for women, and host for your show.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: Today we are having a conversation that is very close and near and dear to my heart.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really one of the underlying missions and intentions and reasons for this show.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: Before we dive into today's conversation, I want to take a moment to acknowledge you and to witness you in your choice to listen to today's episode.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Inside, I believe there is a part of you that very intentionally chose to listen to this exact episode at the exact time and place and way that you are listening to this episode.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I trust that you will get whatever you need from today's conversation.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: As always, you are invited to take what resonates with you and to leave anything else behind that doesn't.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: Today you'll hear a lot about my personal story with menstrual cycle awareness, as well as some of the benefits that you can potentially experience if you are wanting to incorporate this into your healing process.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: I have found it to be life-changing for me in so many ways.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I believe in our busy, fast-paced, patriarchal world.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: This is a big portion of the medicine that our world needs.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: And it truly is an honor to be a steward for this medicine.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: Today we are going to be diving deep into how you can use menstrual cycle awareness as a form of revolution.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: Although it is something that is deeply tied to our personal journeys, ultimately we all are cyclical beings, constantly moving through these cycles of expansion and contraction.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: And wow, what a beautiful world we can live in when we all begin to work with these rhythms instead of fighting against them.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: There was a time back in some of our earlier indigenous and ancient societies where these rhythms and cycles of both the body and the natural world were honored, were revered, and they really shaped the way that people live their lives.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: We have become so disconnected from these cycles.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: And because of the effects of being disconnected from these cycles, returning to these cycles can give us a way to balance out a lot of the disconnection and the overwhelm and the division that we are currently experiencing here in this day and age.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Today, I'd love to start with discussing what is menstrual cycle awareness and why the hell does it matter?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I've already touched a little bit on it, but let's dive in a little bit deeper.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: Menstrual cycle awareness is the understanding, specifically with the menstrual cycle, that there is an internal biological rhythm that is happening in the female body.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Rather than ignoring this biological or cyclical rhythm, menstrual cycle awareness invites us to work with this rhythm and to live in alignment with this rhythm.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's the understanding that nothing is the same all of the time, that things change, things ebb and flow.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: And there's nothing wrong with that ebb and flow.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's a very natural and necessary, I believe, part of life.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: Menstrual cycle awareness does refer to the menstrual cycle, yes.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: And to me, when I think about its definition, it really does encompass cyclical rhythms in general.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: And that includes the rhythms of the moon, which we've been discussing pretty in-depth on our weekly cycle check-in episodes that come out on Mondays.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: It also acknowledges the seasons, the annual cycle that we are all moving through collectively.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: There's also the rhythm of the day, which can be a really interesting way to reflect on menstrual cycle awareness if you don't feel connected to an inner rhythm or maybe a seasonal rhythm.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Think about the rhythm of your day.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Are you just constantly going at it hard all day, all night?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: You might.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: Curious to know if that's you, how that's going for you.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Or is there a rhythm to your day where you wake up and maybe you feel some type of way in the morning, and then the day moves on, and you start to shift in what you're doing and feel a little bit different, and then the later part of the day comes on and you start to feel a little bit different, and you maybe start to do things a little bit different.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: I know that's something that I experience in my day, and something that I experienced just today, getting ready.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: And again, when we can learn to work with these rhythms instead of working against them, we open up our world to experience a profound level of harmony and connection and beauty, really.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: The process I find to be so beautiful, so beautiful.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: It matters because of some of the reasons I've already named.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: We live in a very fast-paced, patriarchal, busy world that has severely disconnected us from these rhythms.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: It invites us to come back into our bodies, which so many of us are disconnected from.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: And our body is our vessel.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: It is what carries us through this life, it's what allows us to experience beauty and pain and joy and bliss and love and grief.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: All of it wouldn't be possible if we didn't have a body to live in, to really experience the full spectrum of being a human.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Not just daily, but monthly and even annually.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Once you really begin to work with these rhythms, we are seeing the effects of capitalism, of violence, of war, of hate, of division, and there are so many people in the world suffering.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: So many people in the world in pain, hurting.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: Bringing us back to a more feminine way that really honors intuition and the heart and compassion and care and softness and gentleness and slowness.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: As I describe those things, I immediately experience a shift in my body, and I can relax into my chair a little bit more, and I get these really delightful little goosebumps and tingles all up and down my arm.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I get this warm sensation in my heart, and I can sense tears beginning to well up behind my eyes because I believe that menstrual psycho awareness can be such a reprieve from the world that so many of us find to be overwhelming and overstimulating and just too fucking much.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: And menstrual psycho awareness can really help us to navigate all of that a lotness because the reality is the way that AI has advanced and technology has advanced, our bodies biologically have not advanced at that same speed and at that same level, and so it makes a lot of sense to me why the world feels overstimulating and like a lot, because it is, and our bodies literally literally biologically do not know how to handle it.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: They don't, they really don't.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: The world is not an easy place for a body to be, and so when we can start to be aware of the the cyclical nature of everything, both within ourselves and all around us, we can find a way to exist in this world that does feel a little bit, even just a little bit more manageable.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I believe that is what menstrual psycholar awareness can really offer.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: Last week I had a one-on-one session with a client of mine who I've been working with for a couple of years now, and it's been just incredible to watch her transformation.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: And she proposed this question during our session, and she was inquiring about the essence of femininity, and we talked about the very stereotypical definitions of femininity that we see portrayed in society that do include, yes, some of the things I have mentioned here compassion, softness, intuition, gentleness, yes.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: When we're talking about what the media portrays, it might be attractive, maybe looking a certain type of way, maybe talking in a certain type of way.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: And we acknowledge that while those things can be a part of femininity femininity, it's not all of it.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because as women, cyclical beings, we are so multifaceted.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I forget where this comes from, but the idea is that really we're four different women, depending on what time of the month it is.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, sure, there might be a part of our cycle where we are feeling more soft and gentle and compassionate and in that very stereotypical feminine energy.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: And there's also a whole nother side of feminine femininity.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about the dark feminine and how that is part of being feminine too.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Menstrual psycho awareness is uh allows us to really acknowledge all of the different parts of ourselves that do arise through the different rhythms and cycles of our body and of the natural world.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Because the truth is, we're not just one thing all of the time.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's not possible.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: That is what society asks us to do over and over again, and that is what I believe what can cause a lot of the um the anxiety and the depression and just that sense of like not feeling quite right.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: It was such a wonderful conversation to have with this client, and that is something that I believe is really important to acknowledge in this conversation, that it's not just about being one thing all of the time.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: Menstrual cycle awareness can really allow us to acknowledge all of these different parts of ourselves and accept them all as different parts of ourselves rather than trying to make ourselves fit into one of the very small boxes that society has made for us.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: I can think of a time back right around the pandemic, and I had just gone through a lot of change, which I don't think we have time to get into today.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: I've been writing an episode, or excuse me, an essay for grad school, and I've been reflecting a lot on my journey.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: And menstrual cycle awareness really came into my life in a few ways, but the strongest and most clear way was around this time during the pandemic when I had pretty much reached my rock bottom.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: I was before the pandemic just kind of wrapped in the depths of my addiction and in my overworking and in my being hyper, hyper, hyper, hyper masculine, going and doing and striving and pushing and pushing and forcing constantly.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: Constantly.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: And even when the pandemic hit, I tried so hard to keep that forward momentum going.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: When it was so clear that collectively we were in a huge winter season where things were dying off and shutting down, and people were having to literally hibernate in their home.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: And when I know when I'm in my inner winter, sometimes in that slowness and in that spaciousness, all of my shit can really come up.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: My grief, my fears, my worries, my traumas, my wounds, my pain.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: And that is exactly what happened in the pandemic, which I love that I just coined that as the collective winter.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I tried very hard to ignore some of the things inside that were telling me that something was just a little off and something was just not quite right.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it got so bad one day, I found myself literally on the floor in this very room that I'm recording this episode in.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: It looks, it looked much different then if you're watching the video.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I just curled in a ball and I just wept and I cried and I didn't know how to stop.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know when I would stop.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know why I was crying, and just know that it had to come out and that something wasn't right.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I was in so much emotional pain, and I had never experienced that in my life, really being overwhelmed and flooded by emotions in that way where I could hardly even control them.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: It was a really scary and defining moment for me that invited me to wake the fuck up.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: And for the first time in my life, I decided to reach out and get help.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I began working with a psychiatrist who I didn't work with for very long.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: I quickly discovered it wasn't the right kind of care for me when I was told I was quote unquote too sensitive when divulging some of my early childhood memories that deeply hurt me and shaped me.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: I just knew that this was not the person for me.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I stopped seeing the psychologist.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: But what was important about that piece of the journey was that was when I began to listen, to listen and not just listen, but to actually act on that little voice, those subtle whispers that were coming to me.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: They were not so subtle and not so quiet at that time, but they had always just kind of been there in the background.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: Something's off, something's off, something's off.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: And that's kind of how it works, right?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes it'll be a tap on the shoulder, right?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then it might be a slap on the face, right?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: And then it might be something literally knocking you over your head, trying to get you to listen, to pay attention.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: And so I started paying attention, and I was able to get off Adderall and get myself in a much better place mentally and emotionally.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I knew that I wasn't done and that I still needed quite a bit of help.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I wound up in a breath work class one day after just kind of searching for different things.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: I worked with different coaches and joined some business programs and listened to some podcasts, and I was just, I was just trying anything and everything that was that was calling me.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: And that led me to breath work, which I know I still have not done a full episode on yet.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: Trust me, it's coming in the perfect right timing and way.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: And there was something about breath work, because interestingly enough, breath breathing is a cycle, which I forgot to mention at the beginning.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: Breathing is a cycle.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_02: I've recently done a meditation on Insight Timer that broke down the breath into the four seasons, and it was so beautiful, it really delighted my cyclical being that really enjoys working with the breath and does really see the breath as an embodiment of this cycle of expansion and contraction that we are constantly moving through.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: She guided or broke down the breath work rather as the inhale being the spring, which is the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle where we're filling up and we're being filled with inspiration and new potential and maybe ideas and opportunities.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: As we reach the top of the breath, that is the fullness, that is the full moon, that is the ovulation time.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: As we breathe out and exhale, we release and we let go and we clear out.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: And that is the fall and the pre menstruum time.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: And as we reach the bottom of that exhale, we have that little pause before the next breath comes in.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: That little pause at the bottom that is the winter or the bleeding.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Time, the menstruating time of the menstrual cycle.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so looking back, I didn't know any of that, but it makes so much sense that I became a lot more curious about this cyclical nature once I started practicing breath work.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I continued to listen to those little whispers and that little voice within, the same little whisper and little voice that got me into the psychologist's office, the same little breath, uh little whisper and little voice that got me into those breath work classes, then began to invite me to remove my hormonal birth control.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: Prior to that, my only experience with working with my cycle or a cycle was meditating with the new moon and the full moon.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't tell you why I started doing that.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was because before that I'd began hula hooping, which by the way, also a cycle.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: What the fuck?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: These cycles have been trying, trying to get me in a rhythm with them for a very, very long time.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's really funny to look back on how everything played out.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: But after I'd started hula hooping, I, you know, began, um, or maybe you don't know, but I began opening up to greater levels of consciousness.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: And so I began feeling drawn to explore these new moon and full moon meditations.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: And that was the extent of my cyclical awareness up until that point.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: And then when I started doing breath work, I started getting these intuitive nudges and pulls to remove my hormonal birth control.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: One.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: And two was to start working with my bleeding time in a different way.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Prior to this, my bleeding time was very unenjoyable.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: My periods were heavy, my periods were painful.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: I remember being quite miserable.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember having to push myself a lot to work or to try to keep going on, like um, like I wasn't bleeding or like I wasn't feeling tired or off or low.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: And once I again listened and followed that little voice within, one of the first things I did was bought some period panties.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: And it seems really small.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: It seems like they're just period panties.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: But there was something about getting a pair of period panties.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: I stopped using pads and tampons specifically.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: I was never a fan of those, but I really was like, okay, I'm not using these anymore.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because to me, it really felt like plugging something up and like stopping the natural flow of things.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: And even with a pad, although it's not going up, that still kind of had that same energy to me.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas having a designated pair of underwear that I could bleed freely in that was designed to hold my blood, there was just something about it that really shook something up inside me.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: And it was the middle of the pandemic, and I wasn't working much because prior to that, I was in the art sector and in the um fitness sector, and all of those things got shut down.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I was at home a lot, and it became really easy to rest during my bleeding time.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: And as I continued to honor that time by just wearing my period panties, not working during those days, taking some more naps, maybe drinking some less caffeine, I eventually found myself in an acupuncturist office where I told her that I was ready to remove my hormonal birth control and I wanted to begin rebalancing my hormones.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I went to the acupuncturist before I removed my hormonal birth control.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how I knew to do that, but that was just my inner guidance system taking me to exactly where I needed to go.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I began working with this acupuncturist and began rebalancing my hormones.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: A few months later, I removed my hormonal birth control and then really began rebalancing my hormones.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: And slowly over time, I began to learn how to work with this beautiful rhythm of my body.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like I'm still learning how to work with the rhythm of my body, and I feel like depending on what is going on in my life and what stage of my life I'm in, my cyclical experience changes, and I'm in a much different experience now than I was when I first began being aware of my menstrual cycle.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: And along that journey, I have experienced such deep reverence for the power and the potential that the female body holds and has innately built into its biology.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: I really remembered how this whole entire world and every single person in this world was created through this creative nature, through this cyclical rhythm.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: As I remember that and acknowledge that, it really woke me up to the power that I hold in this vessel.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: The power to create, the power to change, the power to be who the fuck I am, the power to choose, the power to say no, the power to create, the power to be the fully expressed, dynamic uh expression of myself.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's been incredible.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's allowed me to learn so much about my body, and it has given me this sense of empowerment.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: I no longer see my body and this cyclical rhythm as an inconvenience or oh man, like I there's only great, there's only one week of the month where I feel good.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's not true for me.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: There are different opportunities and energies that each cycle offers.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_02: And as I've begun to work with them, I've become in I've become so appreciative of this cyclical process.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's really allowed me to heal some of my deepest wounds, specifically from childhood, where I was bullied for being overweight.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: And for many years I held so much shame for my body, and I was so focused on trying to make my body look a certain way, to fit into these stupid fucking boxes that society tells women that they have to fit into, to be skinny and to be pretty, and to be nice, and to be quiet.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: Menstrual cycle awareness, in conjunction with all of the other things that have supported me along this journey, has really allowed me to break free from a lot of that.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's really taught me how to trust the cyclical nature of my healing process as well, not just of my body and of my life, but of my healing process.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's allowed me to find such deep meaning and purpose in my life.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_02: Because this work to me, it's not just about my personal experience of being a cyclical being, it's about honoring the cyclical experience of all cyclical beings and honoring the cyclical nature of the world that we live in.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_02: I truly believe that I will not live to see the full impact of this work.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_02: And it's something that I dedicate myself to day after day after day after day because I believe in a world far, far, far off.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, maybe not so far off down the road where we can talk freely and openly about our periods, where maybe you're able to get a couple days off of work paid because you're on your period.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe these things will be taught to little girls as they're growing up.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody ever talked to me.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: I got a little squirrel outside.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody ever talked to me about my period.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: My mom did give me a book, and if you're listening, mom, I'm so grateful for everything that you did do.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: And there's so much that we aren't teaching young girls about their bodies, and then these young girls become adults and they don't know what the fuck is going on with their bodies because nobody ever fucking told them.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's such a disservice, and really shows how much we as a society do not care and prioritize women's well-being.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: Because if we did, we would let women know hey, you just had your first bleed.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: Congratulations, honey.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: This is such an exciting and magical part of being a woman.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: Here are some things to consider.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: Here is how to work with this rhythm.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: Here is how to take care of yourself in the different seasons and ups and downs and ebbs and flow.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: What a beautiful world! If women were taught that, and not just women, but even young boys and men and non-binary humans and all humans having this deep understanding and reverence of how life is literally fucking created.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_02: This is how life is created through cyclical awareness.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: Really special to be able to share the story with you of my own journey with menstrual psycho awareness and how it's impacted me and how passionate, which I hope you can sense I am about this topic.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I really do hope that for anyone listening to this, that if you aren't already tuned in with your cyclical nature, that you can begin to learn how it is never too late.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: And if you are not bleeding, if you are perimenopause, or you're menopause, guess what?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: You are still a cyclical being.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: And perimenopause and menopause are also part of a larger life cycle that women go through.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe one day I'll bring a guest on to talk a little bit more about the life cycles and the different archetypes with the maiden and the mother and the chrome and the enchantress.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: That is where I've been really exploring a little bit deeper.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: But what I would love to do now, after I've shared a little bit about what menstrual psycho awareness is, why it matters, my personal story with it, as always on the show.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'd love to begin leaving you with some more practical and tangible ways that you can begin to explore menstrual psycho awareness.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: If this is new to you or maybe it's not new to you, maybe you've heard about it, maybe you've explored with cycle thinking and you're ready to take it to that next step.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: Here is how you can do that.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: So you might be wondering how the heck to begin tracking your menstrual cycle.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_02: The easiest thing to do if you have a period is to begin tracking on the first day of your bleed.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: That is day one.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: And from there it goes on day two, day three, day four, day five, etc.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_02: If you do not bleed, the next best thing to do is to begin working with the moon, which make I made no mistake, I very intentionally created this podcast episode to come out about five days after our last new moon.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: And this new moon was a new moon in Aries, it was a new moon solar eclipse, it was the first new moon of the astrological new year, and it was the first new moon of the spring equinox.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_02: So wow, there is just so much new, fresh energy beginning to flow through.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe by now, by the time you're listening to this episode, if you're listening to it the week it comes out, the dust has begun to settle a bit.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: I know I'm still kind of feeling the fatigue and the up and the down that can come with the eclipse energy sometime.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: But maybe by the time you're listening to this, things have started to settle a little bit and you're starting to get more clear about what this next cycle, what this next chapter, what this next year holds for you, or maybe what you might want to invite in, or where you want might where you might want to focus your energy and your efforts, especially in regard to your healing process.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: We're also working with the year of the snake this year through the lens of um in the um the Chinese New Year.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: I follow that stuff a little bit, not too much, not an expert in it, but it is something I take into consideration.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: And this year really is about transformation, it's about shedding.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so as this message is landing for you, in whichever way it may or may not be, I'm inviting in maybe having menstrual psycho awareness be something that you really begin to focus on or invite in.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: So this is a perfect time to start if you're feeling curious and called to begin exploring menstrual psycho awareness.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: Because we just passed the new moon.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: What I would recommend if you're not bleeding is to consider waiting until the next new moon, because then you can start at one.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_02: Or if you you really don't want to wait that long, you can go back and look when the new moon was, and I will tell you when the new moon was.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: Let me look at my calendar here.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, in a later episode, I'm going to share some of the tools, the very practical tools that help me to track menstrual cycle.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, excuse me, not menstrual cycle, but cycles in general, the moon cycles and um the seasonal shifts as well.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_02: So our last new moon eclipse.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's taking me some time to find it here, and my candy dandy um planner here.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, there we are.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_02: It was Saturday, March 29th.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: That was our new moon partial eclipse.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_02: So if you like, you can go count back to that day and then count the days to see where you are now.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_02: But I find it easiest to start with that day one.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_02: And there are some options to begin tracking if you're ready to start doing it now.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_02: So that's how you get started.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's pretty easy.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then from there, once you've started, you're simply going to know how you feel on each day.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: What is your energy level like?
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: What is your emotional state like?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_02: What is your mental state like?
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_02: Where are you being called to focus your energy?
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_02: Or rather, how are you being called to express your energy?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: And down the road, I think we'll do a part two episode.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, you know what?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: I think let's just get into it right now.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: We've been talking about this a lot in the weekly cycle check-in episode.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: So that's going to be the best place to begin tracking and working with these cycles as well.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: Essentially, to break it down into the four different seasons, there and the four different phases.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: There's the beginning stage, which is the new moon, which is the menstruation time.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_02: This is a time for us to vision.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: We also might need to rest, definitely rest with the menstrual cycle.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, maybe not so much with the new moon.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_02: If you're just working with the new moon, you'll have to sense and to feel where you're being guided.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: Because the thing is, I'm going to break down each of these different um phases, and you are going to have your own cyclical experience.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so what I share may or may not resonate with you.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I have found that in my own cyclical awareness journey, I tried to follow a lot of the prescriptions that I found online for the follicular phase.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_02: And in the last six months, I found out that those aren't actually right for me and for my body and my nervous system.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I've had to really find my own unique rhythm.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: So, with all of that, just take all of this with a grain of salt, and really your lived experience is going to be the best point of reference for your personal cyclical experience.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_02: Generally, things start though with the new moon and the bleeding time.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I've even considered this almost as like the end of a cycle more than like the beginning of a cycle.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_02: If you think of like winter, we really kind of consider um like winter is the end of the year, right?
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's a little different than what is out there.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I find that for me it feels more true to see the winter and as the ending.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: And although the new moon is the beginning, there is kind of this like ending kind of component that comes with it because before we start anew, we generally have to clear some shit out and get rid of things that aren't working and aren't serving, whether that's people or places or jobs or um beliefs or um habitual patterns that we might have.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_02: So it can be a little bit of both during that phase.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I find that it does shift a bit depending on what sign the moon is in and what season of my life I'm in.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_02: As you can see, it's very nuanced, and it's not a one size fits all.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: And this general.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Marked as the beginning is the new moon and the menstruating time.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_02: Then we move into the next phase, and that is the waxing moon and the follicular phase or the preovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: And in regards to the menstrual cycle, this is where estrogen starts to build back up because during the menstruating time, estrogen, all of our hormones are at their absolute lowest.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're tired during your bleeding time, that's why.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_02: Literally, there's a huge biological event happening inside of you, and your hormone hormones are just they're low.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_02: So you're tired.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why we need more rest, generally speaking, during that time.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so as the estrogen starts to build back up, we start to get our energy back and we're ready to kind of like get back out into the world and start working towards any new ideas or opportunities that came through during the new moon.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: So you could kind of consider this the beginning of a cycle.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_02: And in my own cyclical awareness practice, I do consider this the beginning of the cycle.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: This is where I've been able to get clear about okay, this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm focusing on this month.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: Here we go.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_02: Although I do find this for me personally to be more of a yin-ish energy.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's technically a transitional energy.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: I just found for me I was doing way too much during this time.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I had to really slow down a little bit more during this springtime.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: And that makes sense because if you think about spring, we're kind of in this dance of spring as this episode is um being recorded and coming out.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: And yesterday it was beautiful and sunny and like 85.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: And now today it's like overcast and rainy and stormy.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like we're in this dance of spring where we like want to get up and go and get going, and then we need to pull it back and rest.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_02: So that is something to be aware of during this part of the menstrual cycle.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_02: And this can be a time where we begin to plan, where we begin to get ourselves organized, we begin to maybe reach out to people.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: Specifically, if you're working on like a component of your healing process, you might begin to research therapists or coaches or women's circles or retreats.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_02: This is the time to do all of that.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you want to start reading a book someone recommended to you.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you want to try a new diet, or you want to try a new form of movement, or find a new chiropractor, or try acupuncture.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_02: This is the good time to do all of that during this waxing moon and during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: Then we move on to the ovulation phase, which is the main event of the menstrual cycle.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people would say it's the menstruating, while that is a very important part of the cycle.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's really all just building up to the ovulation time, which is associated with the full moon when we're talking about the moon.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_02: And this is a time where things begin to culminate, where things begin to be illuminated, as I like to say.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_02: This is where we can really begin to experience the fullness of our lives and the fullness of our experience.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I can be really emotional during this time.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_02: I just had a very emotional breath work session earlier today.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_02: It was very lovely and very emotional.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_02: And during this time, we might want to connect more with loved ones.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_02: We can also be more open to meet new people and put ourselves in social situations where we maybe wouldn't otherwise feel comfortable.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_02: This can be a really great time to ask for a raise or to try to schedule a job interview, or if you own your own business to have an event or to launch something.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes, if we do too much, this time can feel like a lot.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_02: If you think of how full moons kind of like, you know, there's this understanding that full moons kind of wide wind people up and make everyone a little crazy.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, sometimes the ovulation time can feel like that if um if things are feeling like a bit much.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I've definitely had ovulations like that.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_02: And if you do have pain or PMS symptoms or psychological imbalances that come up around the ovulation time, this is really something to pay attention to.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I would encourage you to reach out to a menstrual psycho coach, which I'm finishing up my certification process, I'm almost done.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm also connected to Psycho Coach School, which has a directory of psycho coaches all over the world who are doing this work and who have been trained in the exact things that I'm teaching you today.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so if you are at that point where you really do want to work with someone, that would be a really great place to explore.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I will put that in the show notes.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_02: So that is the full moon, the ovulation time.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then we move on to the pre-menstrum time, which is the luteal phase, the time right before the bleed.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: And this is connected with the waning moon of the moon cycle.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: And this is connected with the season of autumn.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_02: So if you think about autumn, we generally start to slow down, we maybe start to practice some gratitude, we maybe harvest our crops from the season, we begin to spend more time indoors and want to be more cozy, and we're just kind of tired and need a little bit more rest.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's the pre-menstrum time in a nutshell.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_02: And again, your experience might be a little different.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_02: I find I actually do like socializing a bit during this time.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_02: So again, take it all with a grain of salt.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: But I hope that you can see just from this really brief overview how you can begin to really work with this rhythm where you're starting with the spring, just for the sake of explaining, you start with something new and you show up for it and you work towards it, and then things begin to culminate and reach a point of perhaps completion or clarity, and then we start to descent and we start to kind of clear out and let go and make space for the new and allow ourselves time and space to recover and rest so that we can begin again.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's all happening, whether we're paying attention to it or not, it's happening.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_02: And it can be such a beautiful awareness to bring into our lives when we aren't just letting it happen, but we're we're watching it happen and we're we're beginning to happen with it instead of against it.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_02: I hope that today's episode has been insightful for you.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_02: This has been such a lovely topic to dive deep into.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_02: As you could probably sense, I could go on for quite some time.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna leave it here today because I feel like that's um yeah, plenty to explore.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_02: And as we are still working with this uh Venus retrograde and these Venetian themes, because Venus is the ruler of the reproductive system, of creativity, and of women, and so that was why I wanted to bring in this focus today as we begin to wrap up Venus retrograde.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_02: By the end of next week, I believe Venus will be direct, and there will be a bit of a shadow period that we move through.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, by the 12th of April, Venus will be direct.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_02: And like I said, there will be a bit of a shadow period that we move through, and as we move through that shadow period, we will continue to explore these Venetian themes.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_02: On Monday, we'll do another weekly cycle check-in, and that will be a nice follow-up for today's discussion that will help anchor you into the next phase that we'll be in.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then next Wednesday, oh wow, I have an incredible guest episode for you.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_02: I am so excited.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: And when I think of um guests who I want to have on to talk about these themes of trauma, of healing, of cyclical and indigenous wisdom.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_02: This is one of the first women that I thought of.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I am just so excited to share this episode with you.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_02: Our conversation had me lit up, literally lit up from head to toe.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's gonna be a good one.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I've got some another incredible guests coming down the funnel as well.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_02: So keep tuning in.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_02: And if this is where you're wanting to focus your energy for this cycle or for this year, I promise there's gonna be a lot more support and resources and education here.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_02: If um again, if you found today's episode helpful or insightful, or perhaps there's a friend or a loved one in your life who you would like to invite into menstrual cycle awareness, I encourage you to share this episode with them and maybe let them know what you're taking away today, or maybe let them know I would love to begin talking about our menstrual cycles together.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_02: That would be so helpful for the show and so helpful for our mission here on the show.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_02: So greatly appreciate you doing that.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_02: And if you feel so-called, bonus points for leaving a review and a rating.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for being here today.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_02: I do not take your time and your energy and your love for granted, and really just honored to be able to share all this wisdom with you today.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_02: Wishing you a wonderful rest of your week and looking forward to connecting with you in our next episodes.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_02: In the meantime, take care of yourself and take care of each other.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_00: Clearing the pain from your wooding living, creating the life from your wood, the little thing with the faces of the wood.