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Weekly Cycle Check-In: How to Ease Into Spring Without Burning Out · Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Singing the truth of my woodland.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Trusting the phases of the moving.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to this week's episode on the Healing Her Story podcast.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Riva Jean-Paul.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: I am a trauma-informed somatic practitioner as well as a coach for women.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I am your host on this show.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is a short and sweet episode.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to be titling these episodes that release every Monday cycle check-ins.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: I might change the name as I feel inspired as we're moving along.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: As you know, this is still a new offering for me, and I will be continually refining what it is that I'm sharing and how I'm sharing the things that I am sharing.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so all of that to say is that the cycle check-in may change, but for now we're going to go with cycle check-in.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: This episode is intentionally a shorter episode.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, it should be about uh no more than the 30 minutes.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm taking a look at the clock right now so I can kind of mark that in my brain.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: And the intention here with these cycle check-ins is to one, share some really simple and practical ways that you can begin to work with the natural rhythms of your body and of the earth.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: And two, to offer a space and an opportunity for you to check in with your inner rhythm and your inner cycle.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to be sharing the things that I like to do around these times.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also going to be sharing some things that you can explore if you feel inspired.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, before I recommend or share anything, I would love for you to know or at least consider this idea that you are the expert of you.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Only you know what's best for you.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: I can share what works for me.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: I can offer all sorts of things.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really going to be up to you to decide what feels most true and helpful and supportive for you.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's also a lot of stereotypes that come with the specifically the different phases of the menstrual cycle.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: And as I continue to share more about my own personal experience, I hope that you can see the vast ways that we can experience living in a cyclic in a living in a cyclical body.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: So just because whatever you found on the internet, maybe on Pinterest, and you're looking at one of those like super cute, like springtime, this is what you do, that may not work for you, right?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I've discovered about this very specific time that we're going to be talking about today.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: So let's get into it.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Today, as this podcast episode is releasing, it is Monday.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Let me double check the date here, just so I know from my brain, and so you know for your brain that we are talking about Monday, February 3rd.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: This is the day this episode has released.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: You may or may not be listening to this episode on that exact day.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: You might want to note that these episodes, these shorter episodes, these cycle check-ins, they are going to be very specific to time frames.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: However, the information that is shared can be used at any time that you feel like you might need it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: So this week we're going to be talking about the transition from winter to spring, and I'll share a little bit more about what that means in a moment.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: And you might be listening to this at the end of the week when we're transitioning from more of a spring energy into a summer energy.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so by the time you listen to the episode, the things that have been shared in the episode might not be something you could do, say that day.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: However, they are things that you can note, and then the next time the transition from winter to spring comes up, you'll be like, Oh, yes, I remember listening to the cycle check-in about this, where I learned I could do ABC or XYZ around this time.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so just know that uh you'll want to note when you're listening to the episode and what actual time frame it is referring to.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: So for today, as the episode is releasing on Monday, February 3rd, we are referring to the following, I would say three to five days after that.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: So the later half of the week, maybe going a little bit into the weekend, but by the time the weekend ends and Monday comes around, there's going to be another cycle check-in for you to learn what phase we are in and how you can work with that energy at that time.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: So the information shared here today, again, just good for that first half of the week.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we just had the new moon in Aquarius last week on Wednesday, January 29th.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we are still coming out of that more wintery time and slowly transitioning into the more spring time.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: So for today, I'd love to talk about this transition from winter to spring.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd also like to share how the seasons correlate with the moon and correlate with the menstrual cycle.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: So let's start there.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Winter is associated with the new moon and with the menstruation time or the bleeding time.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is the point in the cycle where the energy is at its absolute lowest.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: This is also a time where we can start new projects, start new ideas, we can plant seeds, set intentions for whatever it is that we're wanting to create in that cycle.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that was last Wednesday.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're listening to this episode, I'm going to take a wild guess that you probably set an intention or two with a new moon.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: You might not have, maybe this is all new for you.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And chances are, if you are listening to something titled a cycle check-in on this kind of podcast, you're you're aware that there was a new moon last week and you might have set some intentions.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you didn't, that's okay.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: You can definitely still start here.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Some might say the winter time is the start of the cycle.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: I can go either way.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Some people also say that the cycle begins in spring.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: And lately I've been really experimenting with spring being the beginning.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: That seems to make sense for me.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: That may or may not land for you in the same way.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: So through the lens that I've been experimenting, the winter time, the new moon time, the bleeding time, for me, that kind of marks the transition from an end of a cycle into the beginning of a new cycle.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: So where we are currently, as you're listening to this, perhaps, or at least the time that I'm going to be sharing about in this episode, is five days after that new moon.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: So if you could think about if you do bleed, and if you don't bleed, and um, or if you're no longer bleeding, hope maybe, maybe not hopefully, but but maybe you have some sort of point, some point of reference, and you can think about okay, when I start my bleed, for me, I know days one and two.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm usually very, very, very tired and I just need to rest.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: My bleeding is heaviest at that time, and right around day five, the bleeding is just about starting to finish, and I am slowly starting to get some energy back, and I'm starting to come out of what I like to call my red tent, and I'll share much more about that in an episode that's more focused on that winter time specifically.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is a time for me, it's so tricky, it's so, so, so tricky.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is a time where I can often find myself doing too much too soon.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd be super curious to know if you can relate to that at all.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because this energy is starting to come back, because we're starting to maybe feel more optimistic and more inspired and feeling like we're ready to move and be more social out in the world.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes for me, I know I can really overdo it.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of come out of the gate running, so to say.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that worked for me for a little bit until it stopped working and that no longer worked for me.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I started having some real challenges around this time where stereotypically I understood that I was supposed to be, I put that in air quotes, be feeling more up be and social and ready to be out in the world and doing things.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I would do that, and then I would find myself not feeling so great by the time ovulation came around.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so I began working with a menstrual cycle coach as part of my training for cycle coach school, thinking I wouldn't necessarily have much to maybe learn here.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I was so humbled because I had so much to learn.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I worked with that menstrual cycle coach, and we began to make some changes around this time.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: And as I began to make these changes, the biggest change being slowing down, slowing down, I noticed that this time started to become more enjoyable for me again.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: One day, deep in, I paused because I can't remember if it was a breath work session or a yin yoga session, or I was journaling, or I was doing something, I was in some sort of practice, and I came to this understanding that spring to me feels more of like a yin energy.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: I had always had this understanding that the spring was the more yang or the more active.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: So if you aren't familiar with the yin and the yang, hopefully you are.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: If not, you can Google it and you can see the yin and the yang.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: But one side represents the yin energy, which is the more feminine energy, it's the slower energy.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you think of like a yin yoga practice, it's really slow and spacious and gentle and poses are held for long periods of time, versus a yang energy, which is more active, it's more masculine, it's quick, it's get up and go, it's do-do-do do.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's the energy that a lot of us are living in most of the time, which is what is greatly contributing, I believe, to the levels of anxiety and depression and autoimmune disorders that we are seeing in today's modern world, along with other things that we'll talk about on another day.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was a big flip for me.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: That was a big reframe, reframe to think of the springtime being more of a yin energy.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And this has been working really well for me.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not to say that I'm not feeling inspired and energetic and ready to get out into the world and do things.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just doing it in more of a yin way.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is what I am inviting into your week this week, as you come out of this new moon, as you've maybe set your intentions and you're ready to start working towards bringing these intentions into their physical form, I encourage you to go gently, to go gently and to take your time and to trust in the timing of your unfolding.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Trust that you don't have to go so hard so quickly to get everything done and make things happen right out of this time.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: You can take your time, you can take the next three, four, five days to really feel into what it is that you're wanting to create with the cycle.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: You can think of this time as the springtime.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Excuse me.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: We've identified that we're already talking about the springtime, but what I'd like to share here about the springtime is what I what I meant to say.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: As you're as we are transitioning collectively out of this wintery energy into this more um, into the spring energy, this is a time where we can have the opportunity to really lean into a few things.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so now we'll get into some of the more practical stuff that you can do that you can incorporate into your rhythm this week.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, as we're coming into this spring energy.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: So if you think about the season of spring and what a lot of us do in spring, you might have spring cleaning come to mind.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that rings true here as well.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: This can be a wonderful time to get organized, to plan, to clean up your space, to work on some projects, to get things organized.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: And an analogy that I really like to play with here is getting the soil ready for your seeds.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: So if you think about all of the intentions, your goals, your visions, your desires, your dreams, everything that you're calling in and creating in your life, you can think of them all as little tiny seeds.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you're so excited, you have all your little seeds in your hands and you're ready to go out to your garden and you're ready to plant your seeds.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna invite you to pause and reflect about if your garden is ready for those seeds.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: When you go out to your garden, are there things dying off from the last cycle that need to be cleared out?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Are there some little weeds that have begun to pop out that are maybe interfering with some of the things that you're wanting to really tend to in your garden?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe those need to be cleared out.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe the soil needs to be tilled.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's a bunch of clutter around the outskirts of your garden.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe the soil is so hard and dry that you can't even like stick your shovel in the ground to scoop out the dirt to put your seeds in.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: I hope all of this is following.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: None of those analogies correlate to any specific task, if you will, or any specific thing.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Rather, it's a way for you to reflect on hmm, what do those represent for me?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: If anything at all.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you go out to your garden and you feel that the garden is ready.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: The garden is ready and waiting for those seeds.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you've created a space in which those seeds are really going to thrive.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: And if that's where you're at, great.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: If there's anything else that you can do, you're welcome to do it.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe now you can just plant the seeds and start to add some water and make sure they get lots of sunshine, and you can come in and you can check up on them and you can give them your love and your care and your attention.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: However, if you're feeling like your garden is not ready for those seeds, and again, you'll have to decide what this garden specifically represents for you.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: For me, it's the garden that is the body, that is the heart, that is the mind, that is the structure, that is the habits, that is the routines.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: To me, that is the soil.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's what is really going to create a loving, supportive environment for those seeds to grow.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, what is your loving, supportive environment?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the people around you?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Is it how you're starting your day?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Is it how you're ending your day?
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Is it what you're putting in your body?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: To me, it's all of those things.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: And again, you'll have to feel into what those things are for you.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is a really beautiful time to lean into all of that and to really get the soil ready for those seeds.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: And once the seeds have been planted, to really tend to those seeds in traditional Chinese medicine.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you think about a tree being made of wood and how expansive it can be, how it comes out of this seed and it becomes wood and it grows up towards the sky, it's pretty wild.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Trees blow my mind.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Trees are wild.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: The wood has such a unique quality in the way that it's able to do all of that.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you think about how your seeds can can grow and expand in that way, in this super magical way to become this wonderful grand tree, there's also the roots that stay rooted in the earth.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, this is kind of where I can find myself doing too much too soon and and trying to grow way up towards the sky before I've really had the chance to like get those roots down, or to even stay connected to those roots as I grow and as I expand.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: So if you find that that is a challenge for you, also some self-care, some here are some simple practical self care things you can incorporate around this time.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: I do a lot of grounding during this time.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I do that through somatic meditations.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: And if you don't already know yet, I have some incredible.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Very well-received somatic meditations up on Insight Timer.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you can find the link in the show notes for that Insight Timer channel where I have all sorts of somatic meditations and practices for you to explore, all at no cost.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I find that if I'm if I'm losing myself and I'm not staying connected to these roots, that is where I can really find myself spiraling during this time and feeling overwhelmed by all of the excitement and all of the new energy that is circulating around.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Another way that you can stay grounded beside the somatic meditations is to literally go outside and put your bare feet on the earth.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Literally grounding with the earth.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: And all of that excess anxiety and energy that can sometimes feel like too much, a really simple ritual that you could do, doesn't have to take long, is you can ask the earth to help you transmute that energy or to release that energy if that feels um more helpful for you.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that can be a really beautiful and simple way to ground.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing that you can do is dancing.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: I love dancing during this time.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: I found that when I was starting to really do some cycle syncing, and I would go online and I would see the little Pinterest, cute little Pinterest photo, it would say, you know, hit workouts during this time, cardio, run.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I would do a lot during this time.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, it worked for a time until it didn't.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And once it didn't work for my body anymore, I had to feel into like, okay, how do I chant want to channel this energy in a way that does feel more sustainable for my energy?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's brought me back to dance.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: I am a dancer at heart, first and foremost, before any other modality that I express.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: Dancing is where it all started for me.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that is one thing that I really love to incorporate during this time because it still gets my heart rate up.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: It still is that cardio workout.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still using all that excess energy, but I'm doing it in a way that's pleasurable, that is regenerative, as in like it gives me energy.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't just wear me out, which is what some of the other workouts were doing.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: And my favorite music to dance to during this time is old school Britney Spears.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's fun and it's playful and it's sassy and it's upbeat.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that is an archetypal energy that we can really lean into during the springtime as well.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: The archetype, um, the archetype representing this time being the maiden energy.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is something that you can play with as well.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna leave it there for today.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: I hope all of that landed in a way that feels helpful and supportive for you as you transition from this new moon in Aquarius into this waxing gibbous time.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: When we meet next week for our next cycle check-in, I'll be talking more about the waxing moon.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: And if all of these terms are still new for you, that's okay.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: Keep coming and keep taking what you can.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing I always like to share with my clients is that something is always better than nothing.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're feeling overwhelmed by all of this information, maybe you just take one thing that really stood out to you and play with that over the next couple of weeks.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Getting to this point in my rhythm, both with my inner rhythm and with the natural natural world's rhythm, has taken literal years, years to get to this point.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: So if this is new for you, I would encourage you to start small.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is the number one mistake I used to always see as a health coach is that people would always try to start off by doing too much too soon, which is so funny.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: We were just talking about that.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Just talking about that.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: Pick something really small that feels doable for you this week as you explore and play with this week's winter to spring and spring energy.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: On Wednesday, we'll be having our first guest episode releasing, and I'm really looking forward to sharing that episode with you and many more episodes to come.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for taking the time to be here and tune in today.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: I am wishing you a wonderful rest of your day or your week or your afternoon or your evening.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I look forward to connecting with you in next week's episode.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: In the meantime, take care of yourself and take care of each other.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Fighting for the voice of the wound claiming, cleaving the pain from your wound claiming, creating new life from your wound, rebuilding with the faces of the moon, claiming.