Latest / Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul / Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Leo Season & the New Moon: Aligning Creativity With Your Menstrual Cycle

Transcript

Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Leo Season & the New Moon: Aligning Creativity With Your Menstrual Cycle · Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Healing Her Story Podcast.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: If this is your first time here, welcome.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I trust that you have found your way to today's episode in your perfect right time and way.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you are returning, welcome back.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: I truly do not take your time and your presence and your attention for granted.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: We live in a world where we have so many options, and it truly does mean a lot to me that you choose to tune in with me each week.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And when you are tuning in each week, I'll remind you, I always like to reaffirm this every few episodes, that the work we're doing here is about so much more than cycle sinking.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's about so much more than working with the natural rhythms and cycles of our bodies and of the world.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: What we are doing here is embodying a new way of being in a world where the old ways, the old systems, are slowly starting to crumble.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's become very clear, I hope, to many of us, that the ways in which we are living aren't working.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe this resonates for you personally.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm speaking to is not just personally, but also collectively.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: As a society, specifically in Western culture, the way we live our lives is incredibly unsustainable.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: It is incredibly out of balance and incredibly out of harmony with the ways in which our body works, the ways in which the world around us works.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Our patriarchal society has conditioned us to believe that life moves in a linear way, where things are non-stop.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: We have been conditioned to constantly do and perform and produce and consume.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think sometimes even when we do slow down, a lot of us were, you know, we're on our phones, we're scrolling, and this isn't to to guilt or give anyone a hard time.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: These are things that I really have to contend with within myself as well.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're not scrolling, maybe we're, you know, we're watching Netflix and we're consuming media in that way.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I enjoy a good Netflix binge myself.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: But overall, there is this constant input, and that constant input is a reflection of the patriarchal and capitalistic uh programs and values in which our society is currently steeped in.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready for a new way to live.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready for a new way to be.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are here tuning in, I believe that you are ready for a new way to be and a new way to live too.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: A way that truly honors the ups and the downs, the ebbs and the flows, the highs and the lows.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And these episodes are here to guide you how to do that each week in real time, working either with your menstrual cycle if you are still bleeding, or if you're not bleeding, you can always work with the lunar cycles as well.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, because the lunar cycle is something that we can all sort of ground into, that's going to be the leading driver for these episodes.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: We'll always be following the rhythm of the moon.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, where you can start to take this a little bit deeper is to notice where your menstrual cycle, if you are still bleeding, may align with these lunar rhythms.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So for some of you, you may be bleeding right now, right around the new moon.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And this isn't right or wrong.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: What I will say is that when we had less artificial light, more women generally did bleed around the new moon.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we live in a much different world now where we do have light being absorbed all the time at different times of the day, especially if you enjoy your late night uh or evening TV or screens.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so over time that changed the menstrual cycle.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so many of us, we don't necessarily bleed with the new moon.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: I myself haven't bled with a new moon in probably years.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there's another episode, I mentioned this in the last episode too, um, a guest episode done a while back from Jamie Delavu.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And she talks about the connection between the menstrual cycle and the moon.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll put that in the show notes for you this week so you can go and give that a listen if you're really curious about um that connection specifically.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, all of that to say is that that's where we're heading this cycle, or rather, in this episode, we're gonna be really exploring um this particular phase of the moon that we are in right now.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And before we begin to explore that in a deeper way, and I'm also gonna give you some practical, tangible, really simple things that you can play with to work with this energy.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but again, before we do, I'm gonna invite us into a minute of silence, or perhaps a minute of stillness.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And in this minute of silence and maybe stillness, you are invited to come into a place of more presence with yourself, whatever that may look like for you today.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: You might be doing some chores, you might be doing something in the background, you might be driving or you know, doing what you gotta do.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: So wherever you are is just fine.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna invite you to see what it would be like to either stop doing one thing, or to maybe do what you're doing a little bit slower, or to maybe bring more awareness into what you're doing, really noticing what's making contact with your hands, if you're driving, really noticing the chair that you're sitting in, or the seat that you're sitting in.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're able to, if you're in a position where you are able to just stop and be for a moment, maybe see what it would be like, especially given the phase that we are in right now with the moon.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: While you are taking this space, I'm gonna also invite you to feel into where you might be in your inner rhythm.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because, yes, there is a rhythm of the moon and of the seasons, and there's also a rhythm happening inside of you, your own creative and unique rhythm.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that very much matters too.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you might notice where your energy is, where your mood is, you might notice how you're feeling, and all of those can all of those observations can maybe help you to discern where you are in your rhythm.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe if you're tracking your menstrual cycle, you already know which day you're on.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: But if this is all new for you, just kind of going in with no real expectations, no right or wrong answers here, just an open, curious look inside and noticing where you might be.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna get one minute on the timer here, and I'm also gonna mute my mic so there's not any distracting background noises, and we will connect again in a minute.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Our one minute of silence will begin now.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Taking a moment here to note anything that may have stood out to you from that exploration.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I am cycle day eight today, just entering my inner spring and just ending my inner winter a few days ago.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: I shared in the last cycle sync episode, which I'll admit felt like a little bit like a mess.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you who maybe have been listening for a while.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was in a hotel room uh traveling, and so you may have noticed some background noise from the ventilation system, and there was also a few technical errors towards the end of the episode with certain parts that were supposed to be edited out.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I listened to that episode, I couldn't help but giggle a little bit, and it really felt aligned with the Mercury retrograde that we're in right now.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And also, I was in a transitioning sort of energy, uh moving from Sacramento to Denver, and also moving from the pre-menstrum into my bleeding time.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a really interesting bleed, it was also a really nourishing bleed, um, specifically for my spirit, um for my soul, and for my heart, and that feels quite aligned with some of the themes that I'm gonna be inviting in for this week's cycle sync episode.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been here for a while, I actually haven't spoken much about what we're gonna be speaking about today.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: So this is very much a new energy that I'm bringing into the cycle sync episode and a new energy that we're gonna be working with as we are slowly transitioning into Leo season.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: This week we are attuning to the energy of the new moon, and technically, as this episode is airing, we are still in the dark moon phase, which means we have a really beautiful opportunity to prepare ourselves for this new cycle that is going to be beginning tomorrow.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: As we move into this new moon in Cancer, we are also stepping into a new focus for our cycle sync episodes.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Over the last several weeks, as we've been moving through cancer season, together we've been exploring themes of care and how the lunar and the menstrual phases, the menstrual cycle phases, can inform the way we care for ourselves.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: And now, as we make our way into Leo season, we are shifting our focus to creativity.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Leo season doesn't officially begin until the 22nd, so you can think of these next two cycle sync episodes as a gentle invitation and a slow welcoming of this Leo energy.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't talk a lot about astrology because it's not a system I study super deeply, though it's definitely something I use to track my own experience.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: What I will say though is that there is a lot of activity happening in Leo, which comes forward to me.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, back up there a little bit.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: What I will say is there's a lot of activity happening in Leo right now, and you may be starting to feel it.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: When I feel into the themes of Leo, what comes forward for me is creativity, courage, being seen, which also is interesting.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: For the first time, I'm recording a video of this episode, so just kind of noticed that as well.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, leadership and play.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: These are the threads we'll be following through our cycle sync episodes and our Friday episodes as we move through this season.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: So for today, as we are moving through the new moon, which is also associated with the bleeding time, I'm gonna share how you can begin working with this energy with your creativity specifically.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna invite you to pick either one creative project, one creative desire, or one creative intention to follow along with over the next several weeks.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be doing the same and I'm gonna be sharing um yeah, kind of what's coming up for me as I'm moving through this process as well.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you may know that in addition to my work as a somatic practitioner and menstrual cycle coach, I also work part-time for a school district here in Sacramento in arts education.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: I work as a teaching artist and a program specialist, and I honestly don't talk a lot about it here because it's a different avenue of how I support people, specifically children, and it is very much a part of who I am.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you may hear a little bit more about this side of my life as we move through Leo season.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I've noticed over this past year, now that I'm working more in arts education than I ever have before, about 20 hours a week, is how easily my own personal creative practice slipped into the background.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I find that incredibly frustrating, especially as someone who loves to create.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I got into teaching art because I love making art.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: And when I'm not engaging with my own creative practice, I've noticed that it brings up some imposter syndrome.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I'm not alone in this.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've spoken to some of my colleagues who have had similar experiences well, not feeling that they're practicing as much as they'd like to while they're simultaneously teaching the craft.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And what I'm gonna be doing this cycle is I'm not gonna be picking a specific project.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I'm gonna be recommitting to my creative practice and just allowing that recommitment to unfold in its right time and way.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: So as I'm recommitting to my creative practice, I'll be weaving in some real-time reflections as I record these episodes and I'll be sharing what this actually looks like for me.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the timing of this episode feels quite divine as always, because I am just finishing my bleeding time as I'm recording this episode, so I have some real time observations to bring into today's episode.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: On my trip to Colorado, I mentioned in the last episode, I end up having, ended up having what I'd call a big bleed experience.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've never heard the term big bleed, it's essentially creating the most ideal conditions you can for your bleeding time.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And during that time, I started reading Her Blood is Gold, which is sort of a classic in the world of menstrual cycle awareness, and it had been on my list for a long time.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: What was really interesting about reading this book was something the author brought up around rest, which is usually what I prescribe during this time.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: She does see the value in rest and menstruation, and she noticed that in some philosophies and modalities that really emphasize rests, specifically traditional Chinese medicine, which is something that I practice as well, there's this undercurrent that can feel almost disempowering.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is as if the menstrual cycle makes women somehow more fragile or less capable.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: And she didn't really resonate with that.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: So she began exploring more indigenous perspectives on the bleeding time.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: One of the cultures she studied was a Native American tribe here in Northern California, actually.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: And what she found was that rather than rest being the primary focus, what was emphasized more was retreating and pulling away because of the potency of this time.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Many Native American traditions see the bleeding time as a period when women are at the height of their psychic power.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: They believe that women have access to psychic realms during this time that cannot otherwise be accessed during their day-to-day, and certainly not by men who don't menstruate.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is seen as a time to regenerate, to rebuild, to fortify, to strengthen ourselves.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: And this really resonated with me too.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: I had my own experience on this trip to Colorado, and I ended up at the Contemporary Art Museum, which I spoke to a little bit about in the last episode.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I ended up there completely organically.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I might want to check it out, but it wasn't a planned that a planned thing that day.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I was so moved by what I found when I got there.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: The exhibits featured three incredible female artists based out of Denver, one of whom may actually be coming on the podcast at some point.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So super excited about that.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And the themes in their work aligned so beautifully with where I was in my own personal process, and also with where we are astrologically as well.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: And there was such a deep resonance with one of the artists in particular.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: She explored a lot of themes around feminine values and cycles and nature.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that whole experience, as divinely orchestrated as it was, really felt like a clear reflection of the psychic potency of this time.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, I hadn't planned that day.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Back on previous cycles, and there was this time, this stretch of time, where it seemed like every time I was bleeding, I had clients' session sessions scheduled.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: I would try to plan around it.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: I try to plan around my bleed every month, but for a period of time, when I would plan around my bleed, it would come late.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it would always come when I had clients.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember getting really frustrated about this because I had this idea that, you know, I actually need to be resting during this time.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: So why am I having to continuously work?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I connected with my womb and I asked her one night, why are you always bleeding when I have clients?
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, because you're teaching women how to be in their power.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really affirming, and it allowed me to soften into what was being invited out of me during this time of my cycle rather than trying to fight against it.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so now with this new information that I have from Her Blood is Gold, that whole time period makes so much more sense.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: So with all of this as our foundation, I'm going to be offering you three ways that you can work with this new moon energy or this bleeding time specifically for your creative practice.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: The first invitation is to create space.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Look, maybe you can't give yourself a full day.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: I totally get that.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: I find it really challenging myself too with all of my obligations and responsibilities.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: What I love is an idea from Red School, which is another organization that offers menstrual psycho awareness training.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: And they talk about 1%.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: Can you give yourself just 1% of space?
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe for you that's five minutes.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's 30 minutes.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's an hour or a half day or a full day.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's really whatever feels possible and doable for you right now.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: When we create space, we can allow what wants to emerge to emerge without forcing, without thinking, without trying, just noticing what naturally arises in the space.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: During my last bleed, it was in this space that this desire to recommit to my creative practice came through.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it was in that same space that I ended up at the Contemporary Art Museum.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I would have gotten there had I not created that opening, that space.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Weaving was one of the most common practices, and there's something really wise in that for me.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love to draw during this time, not necessarily trying to make anything good.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's usually a lot of scribbling and just a lot of intuitively following where my hands go.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I find that the act of keeping your hands busy can help quiet the mind just enough for more to emerge.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe for you that's crochet or cooking or tending to your space, whatever it might be, seeing what it would be like to let your hands lead during this phase.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: The third invitation here is to pause.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is a time to stop the forward momentum, the constant doing, producing, driving forward, and to allow ourselves to catch our breaths.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been putting out a lot creatively or working steadily on a particular project, the new moon is a beautiful invitation to stop, which I know can be easier said than done.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not forever, it's just for now.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: And going back to that 1%, can you stop for a few minutes?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: A day, a couple days.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, as we pause, just as we did here in the beginning of our episode, and as we can create space, we can allow more information to come through.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that information can be used to fortify, to regenerate, to reinspire, to reinvigorate, so that as we move forward into the next cycles, we have this beautiful sort of essence that we have cultivated during this time.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what's going to carry us forward on the cycle, through the cycle.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I usually stop working on specific creative projects during this time and allow ideas and insights and sort of more informal creative explorations to emerge.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then as I move into my inner spring, I'll begin working more closely with a particular project or focus.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: So those are your invitations this week as we're moving through the new moon.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're starting to invite in this Leo energy, and you are maybe selecting one creative project, desire, or intention to play with over the next couple of weeks.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: On Friday, we'll be releasing a solo episode, and this is going to be a solo episode that's going to sort of bridge us from Cancer season into Leo season.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a really juicy guest episode, so I hope that you'll tune in with us then.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Then, when we meet for our next cycle sync episode next week, we'll be exploring the waxing moon and the inner spring and also the next phase of your creative project or intention.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in the meantime, if you're wanting a simple, tangible tool to help you follow along with this work, I've made something for you.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: The cycle support map is available in the show notes for$4.95.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a no-brainer, right?
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: What it is, is a PDF that maps out the entire cycle so you always know where you are and what sort of things you can play with for each particular phase.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: When you grab it, you'll also receive weekly emails for one cycle, and each of these emails will be offering a trauma-informed somatic meditation to support you in working with that phase's particular energy.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really gentle, grounded, simple next step for this work if it's resonating for you.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Again, you'll find the link for that in the show notes.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: I really look forward to supporting you as we move through Leo season.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited myself to just dive deeper into what it means to create and to be courageous and to put ourselves out there and to let ourselves be seen.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: I know that there are many layers to these topics, and we're going to be exploring them all.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not all, but as much as we can over the next cycle.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that you'll tune in with us then.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: In the meantime, take care of yourself, and if you're able to, take care of others.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.