Latest / Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul / Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Premenstrual Phase & the Waning Moon: The Science of Refinement & Creative Completion

Transcript

Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Premenstrual Phase & the Waning Moon: The Science of Refinement & Creative Completion · Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to today's episode of the Healing Her Story podcast.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: If this is your first time, welcome.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Such a joy and a privilege to be able to share this space with you.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are returning, welcome back.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Also, a joy and a privilege to share this space with you, too.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And today I'm kind of just gonna jump right in.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'll share a little bit more about why here on the other side of our check-in.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you happen to be someone who's just joining every week on these cycle sync episodes, we begin with a minute of silence and perhaps a minute of stillness.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: In this minute of stillness, perhaps, and silence, you are invited to come into a place of more presence with yourself, whatever that may look like for you today.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I know when I'm listening to podcasts, I'm often on the road or doing some things around the home.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So if that's you, seeing what it would be like to maybe bring more awareness to whatever you are doing.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are at a point where you are able to stop, maybe exploring that here for this brief yet potent minute.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: I also invite you to check in with yourself and to notice how you're feeling today, notice how your body is feeling, notice how your mood, your energy is feeling.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And as you gather that information, you also may be able to sense where you are in your unique rhythm.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because, yes, in these episodes, we are working with the cycles of the natural world, specifically the moon, and we also explore the menstrual cycle.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And whether you're bleeding or not, you have your own unique rhythm.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And as helpful as it is to attune to the natural rhythms and cycles around us, I feel that there's an even bigger opportunity for alignment and for coherence when you tune into your unique rhythm.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna give you a minute to do that.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put my microphone on mute, and I've got my eye on the clock here, and our one minute will begin now.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe taking a moment here to take note of anything that may have stood out to you.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I noticed how enjoyable that minute of silence was.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: I also noticed the warmth of the heating pad sitting here on my thighs, the cool air from the air conditioning.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's about a hundred degrees here where I am today, and I'm also on day three of my cycle.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been in my red tent for the past couple of days.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I did have my final day of summer camp on uh Friday, which was just a couple days uh ago from where I'm recording.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really grateful to be on the other side of that.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: The space is really warmly welcomed, and I've really been giving myself permission to take this time to really rest and restore.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I've got some spacious days ahead as well, and I've kept all of my household chores and duties relatively light, and I've asked my husband to step up and help with a few things, so he's doing that now, so I can be here.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, overall, I'm I'm really looking forward to this cycle.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: There will there will be a shift in my rhythm.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'll go to um do some traveling here, and I'll also have a few weeks to come back to myself before I start back up with my part-time work with the school district.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of things shifting, bit of reorienting that's happening here, and also been as I'm taking this time really cultivating the sort of focus and the intentions that I want to bring into this next cycle.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll share more as the cycle continues to unfold, but that's a little bit about where I am today.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: This week we are attuning to the energy of the waning moon.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: We are just on the other side of the Aquarius full moon, and I'm curious, how was that for you?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: What might have been illuminated?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: What might have come to a point of completion?
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: And what might have you celebrated?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been here for the past few weeks, you'll know that we've been exploring how we can use the lunar cycle and the menstrual cycle to inform how we show up for our creative practice.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Last week was all about sharing, being seen, and completing.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And this week we've come around to the other side.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And this is really about wrapping things up, refining, and bringing things to a closing point.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to offer you a metaphor that I think captures the energy of this time really beautifully.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: In traditional Chinese medicine, the element associated with this phase of the moon and the menstrual cycle and the seasons, which is autumn, is the element of metal.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you think about metal, raw metal, fresh from the earth, it's in its unrefined state.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: It has all the potential in the world, but it isn't yet what it's meant to be.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: It has to go through a process of refinement, heat, pressure, sometimes careful work before it becomes something strong, useful, and beautiful.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is exactly what this phase of the cycle is asking us, asking of us and of our creative work.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: The full moon was the heat, and the waning moon time is where we refine.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've been working with a particular creative intention or project, this might be a time to go in and refine it.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that might look like editing, improving, making things a little bit better with what you now know.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: And what you now know might be based on what was illuminated or what might have come up for you during the full moon.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give you an example.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: For me, if I were writing, let's say an essay, I would do most of the actual writing during the full moon phase.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Then in the waning moon phase, I would go back in and do the editing.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: You can think of this time of the cycle in that way, much like an editing phase.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if you weren't working on a specific project, that's okay.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: There is still plenty to work with here.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things I love to do during this time is finish things up and close loops.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually started to go back over the last um week or so and completed projects that have been just sitting.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Things that I have started but hadn't yet finished.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest, as an artist, this used to be something I really struggled with.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: I love starting things, I have absolutely no shortage of ideas.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: What I find most challenging is actually completing them.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And now I feel like I've become someone who genuinely has no problem completing things.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I've come to find a real satisfaction in it.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that menstrual cycle awareness is actually what helped me to become someone who completes projects because I know there is this built-in time during both the menstrual cycle and the moon cycle where I can really harness the energy for exactly this.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And there's also some physiological influences in the female body that also makes this time so well suited for refinement and completion.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: During the premenstrual phase, which again mirrors the waning moon and the season of autumn, progesterone levels begin to drop.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And this is during the later part of the premenstrual phase.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And with that shift, something interesting happens in the brain.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Research shows that as progesterone declines, the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of our brain responsible for focus, analysis, critical thinking, and decision making, actually becomes more dominant.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: The dreamy, expansive, free associative quality of the earlier phases begins to give way to something sharper, more discerning and precise.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Studies on cognitive function across the menstrual cycle have found that verbal and analytical skills tend to be stronger during this phase, which is exactly why editing, refining, and completing something well requires.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Other parts of the cycle that are more playful, expressive, expansive.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is the time of the cycle where things for me feel like they get a little bit more serious.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's the body preparing us and it's giving us exactly the tools that we need to work with this idea of refinement.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Just this last week, I was wrapping up my final week of the summer parent program.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yay! I've been managing for about five weeks now with a little bit of a break in between.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And as I was sort of wrapping that last week up, and I was in this later part later part of my luteal phase, I really focused on completing yes the program itself, but also all of the little projects I started within it.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I often get to take classes alongside my students, and this week I finished up one of my Zen Tangled designs, almost completed another, and last weekend I could finished a painting that had been sitting in the corner of my living room for literally months.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the funny thing was about that painting specifically is that it didn't even need that much more work.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: It only needed a little bit more.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: And yet it sat there for so long.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: When I did finish it, I felt that satisfaction that I was talking about earlier.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think completing things is actually one of the most powerful ways that we can begin to develop more trust in ourselves, especially as artists and creatives.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: If we are constantly starting things and not finishing them, it can quietly erode our confidence, which is really our trust in our own ability to execute.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are someone who feels like you might be lacking confidence, which really means you're lacking trust within yourself, then finishing what you start can be such a grounding way to rebuild that trust in yourself and in your creative process.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to that metaphor of metal, unfinished work is like metal that was never made to go through its refinement process.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: It has all this potential, but it hasn't yet become what it was always meant to be.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Completing something is an act of devotion to your creative work.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if you invited someone over for dinner and served them a half-cooked meal.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: No one would enjoy that.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: And in a way, leaving things unfinished is almost doing a disservice to the art itself.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's also this idea of the creative chaos, which can surface during specifically the premenstrual phase.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I know my mind gets really busy here.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thoughts and ideas start whirling around, and in some ways, there's like new things that are wanting to be born.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where I'm gonna share a really practical tool that I use during this time and throughout the cycle.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I write those ideas down.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I have a journal that's my idea journal, and I capture all of my ideas there.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: And this is like a little container for all of my ideas.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know that during my premenstrual phase and during the new moon, I don't really want to be starting things.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be finishing and completing things and making space for these new ideas to be born.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: And the idea comes and I want to honor that idea.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I write it down.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then I use this power of discernment, which is one of the superpowers of this phase, to assess whether this idea is actually worth pursuing in the next cycle.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then I will use the next phase to really sense into what little seeds of light are starting to come through in that darkness, the darkness being the bleeding time and the new moon phase.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's also another layer here.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: This phase is also a time where things begin to die off.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: The refinement process isn't only about what we finish.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's also about what we're ready to release.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: What elements of your creative work are no longer feeling alive?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: What needs to be composted back into the earth so that something new can grow from it from the site for the cycle ahead.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: That level of discernment, knowing what is worth keeping and what needs to be let go, is one of the most important creative work we can do, is some of the most important creative work we can do.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: The waning moon does not get talked about enough.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a reflection of our patriarchal culture, which tends to celebrate the new, what's loud, what's visible.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: But there is something so essential and so powerful about this more quiet, eternal time.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: The refinement of metal doesn't happen in the spotlight.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: It happens in the heat, in the pressure, in the patient and deliberate work of making something more fully of what it was always meant to be.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: So as you can see here, there's a lot of potential here.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: And before we start to transition, I'll share a little bit about what's come up for me as we're closing out this mini-series on creativity.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And as I said, I would be following along with you as we went through this process.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was really interesting to set this intention at the beginning of the cycle to reconnect with my creative practices, and I feel like I've really been able to do that this cycle.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm back in a rhythm of writing and creating and dancing.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: I still haven't quite fully got back to my painting, but I've been in my sketchbook a little bit more, and I've just been feeling the creative energy coursing through me a lot more.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just a reminder to me of how powerful our intentions truly can be, where attention goes, energy flows, and I feel like I've got the creative juices flowing again.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Also, on the full moon, I had an opportunity at the summer camp program I was managing to teach a class, and I taught a class on vocal expression, and that was my first time doing that.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: As you may know, if you've been here for a while, I've been doing some singing and some songwriting over the last couple of years.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Fun fact: if you didn't know, the intro song was written and sung by myself, and I've got an EP that I've been working on, and I'm about two songs in.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: My goal is to have maybe six to eight songs.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a third one, cooking, in the background, and I'm excited to begin putting more time and more energy into this project again because for a while, in the heat of my teaching artist residency and the summer camp program, I didn't feel like I had the space or the energy really to pour into this idea.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: I also, during the full moon, had a creative idea come back that I hadn't thought about for a while.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it was nice to be reminded of that idea.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: I also received an invitation to join an art show in October.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I may do that.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't fully decided yet.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna use my bleeding time to sit with it a little bit more.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: But if I do sign up for the art show, And then I have this idea, this series that I can begin working on to share at that art show.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been a really fruitful cycle, and I'm excited to continue playing as we are still in Leo season, but this will be wrapping up our mini-series on creating with the cycles.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, I'm getting ready be I'm getting ready to be doing some traveling.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: So with that, I've decided I'm gonna leave the next couple of weeks on the podcast a little bit more open.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: There may be a guest or solo episode coming, perhaps maybe this week or next, but there may not.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I just wanted to let you know that before those days come.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'll mostly be recovering from summer camp, enjoying the rest of my bleed, and enjoying my time in New Mexico, where I'm going to be visiting the school that will be uh where all my master's program will be, and they're doing uh hosting a conference that weekend.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna be attending the conference.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I've got some really wonderful adventures plans that I will share more about when I get back.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll just be moving at a bit of a slower, more spacious space uh pace for the next few weeks, and I trust that when I come back, I'll come back with fresh conversations and perspectives and ideas and more insights and stories and experiences to share with you.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: What I can tell you for sure is that I will be back on August 10th with a Dark Moon episode.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like it's been a while since we've done one and the timing is quite aligned with that Monday.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll be sharing more about the magic of the dark moon then.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then around mid-August, we'll begin our new, we'll begin, we'll be beginning, excuse me, our new focus uh with Virgo season and the waxing moon.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: So there won't be a new moon episode, but there will be a dark moon episode that'll give you a little prep for that new moon, and then I'll meet you on the other side in that waxing moon.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: I've already got some really wonderful guest episodes in the works for that, so I'm really looking forward to sharing more with you then.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: In the meantime, for those of you who are local to Sacramento, our women's circle is meeting up again on Friday, August 14th.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: And we still have three spots available in our founding group.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: The timing, seriously, couldn't be more potent because that gathering will land right on the new moon in Leo and a total solar eclipse, which makes it a powerful moment for new beginnings, intention setting.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's less about planting seeds and more about opening up to the new beginnings and staying, yeah, staying flexible and open to the sometimes unexpected new beginnings that eclipse season can bring.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: And with it being eclipse season, which can be a bit more of an intense time, depending on where you are in your journey.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: This also could be a potent time to receive the additional support of a container just like this.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll absolutely be working consciously with that energy at our gathering.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're feeling the call, try not to wait too long because the 14th will be here before you know it.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: You can find the link for that in the show notes.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: You can find more info, and you can also sign up to book your somatic assessment and care planning session, which is going to be the first step into any offer or care package that you may decide to sign up for with me.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: I have just a few slots available for those next week as this episode is airing.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're feeling ready, now might be the perfect time.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: You all take care of yourselves, take care of each other if you can.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be taking really good care of myself over the next week or so, and I look forward to connecting with you in the next episode.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.