Latest / Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul / Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync – How can I tell if I’m ovulating — and what does it mean for my energy?

Transcript

Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync – How can I tell if I’m ovulating — and what does it mean for my energy? · 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: As always, so delighted to be here with you today to explore this week's feminine wisdom.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And for this episode, just like in our last episode, we're going to be really diving deeper into this feminine wisdom and into this feminine power that lives within you.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: If this is your first time here, welcome.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I am so happy that you have found your way to this community, to this place, to this show where you can maybe begin to softly land.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And in that landing, as you listen, especially as the weeks go by, the intention here is that you begin to remember, remember the feminine wisdom and power that already lives inside of you.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that our world has very intentionally disconnected us from this wisdom, from this power.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And as we find ourselves in challenging times, in trying times, in disruptive times, I truly believe that women coming into the full spectrum of their power comes from us understanding how to access that power and understanding how our bodies work and what they actually need.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because so many of us are not getting what our bodies need.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll talk a little bit more about that today.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you are returning to the show, welcome back.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: So grateful that you have chosen to spend this time with me.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: I do not take your attention and your time for granted.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: We all live such busy and full lives, and there are so many things pulling on our time, on our energy, and on our focus.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And yet you still choose to come here to spend this time with me, to learn, to remember.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I really thank you deeply from my heart for your presence here today.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: As we always do in our weekly cycle sync episodes, we'll start with a minute of silence.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: And in this minute of silence, you are invited to come into a place of more presence with yourself.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever that looks like for you today, whether you're driving or doing some chores in the background, beginning to come into that place of more presence with yourself now.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And as you do, I invite you to connect with your breath, to connect with your body, to notice what you notice.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: How are you feeling?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: How is your mood?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: How is your mind?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: How is your energy level?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Our one minute of silence will begin now.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I took the time to check in with where I am in my cycle.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm cycle day 11, and I'm just about to be in my inner summer phase, which is the phase that we'll be exploring more today.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll share more about that cyclical experience of the inner summer here in a moment.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: This week we are attuning to the energy of the full moon, which is associated with this point of the menstrual cycle, this ovulation phase.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can also think of this as the inner summer, the ovulation phase specifically.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the full moon does have this sort of summer energy.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: I also sometimes like to bring in the life cycle of the plant, and you can think of this time as the blooming or the blossoming stage.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And again, if you missed last week's Cycle Sync, I shared that we're going to be doing something different for Scorpio season because Scorpio rules the reproductive organs.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: This month, I'm inviting us to go deeper into the menstrual cycle itself.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Usually we explore the moon phases.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: This month we're exploring the menstrual cycle phases more in depth.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is so important, especially right fucking now, because, like we talked about in our last guest episode, if women are ever going to have full access to their power, we need to understand how our bodies work and how to truly care for them.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Before doing what I do now, I worked in the fitness industry, first as a group fitness instructor, then as a personal trainer.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And for a while I did both.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest, not once in my training did anyone mention the difference between the male and the female physiology, which is just wild because now that I know they are so incredibly different.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why would we not be teaching people this?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I was basically trained to treat my body like a small white man's.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that kind of worked until it didn't.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Everything I share here now, I had to go out and learn on my own.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I share it here because this knowledge is power.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's how we reclaim our energy, our health, and our connection to self.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So this week we're talking about the inner summer phase, also known as the ovulatory phase.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: And this phase is about so much more than just getting pregnant.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're not interested in having children or not currently trying to have children, please keep listening because that's not what this episode is about at all.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Although, if you are interested in that, our last guest episode with Kirsten from Conceivable gives you a lot, and I mean a lot, of things to explore and to consider and to reflect on, and actionable steps that you can take to support your fertility if you are on the journey of wanting to conceive.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: So just like last week, I'll walk you through the four bodies: the physical body, the emotional body, the mental body, and the spiritual body.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we are trained in.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: When I say we, I mean my fellow menstrual psycho coaches in psycho coach school.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so that might be something that you might want to track as well, tracking your physical body, your emotional body, your mental body, and your spiritual body as you are tracking and noticing how you feel across each of the different phases.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: So let's begin with the physical body.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, ovulatation.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that is.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ovulation, there we go, is the peak of the cycle.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Everything that is happening in the cycle is building up to this point.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: So while the menstrual cycle, um, excuse me, while the menstruation phase, the bleeding phase, is very important, essentially everything's built around this time of the cycle.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also the midpoint of the cycle.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, depending on your cycle, it can be around uh day 14 in a 28-day cycle.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: But please don't quote me on that because this is so unique and personal to you that it doesn't always happen on day 14.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I think mine happens a little bit later.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: There are really only a few ways to really tell if you actually ovulated.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm not gonna get into that today.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: If you're wanting to know that, I would recommend going and listening to Kirsten's episode.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she's the founder of Conceivable, and she is a fertility expert, and she goes way more into depth on how to know if you actually ovulated.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are trying to get pregnant, it's it's gonna be more important to know the specific day.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: And as Kristen shares, it's it's not necessarily the most important.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially, what's happening during this phase is that a mature egg is being released from the ovary.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And at this point in the cycle, estrogen peaks, and a little surge of luteinizing hormone, also known as LH, triggers the release of the egg.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So for many of us, this is a time when energy, mood, and libido are at their highest, and that's because of the estrogen.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: The body temperature rises slightly, and that is how you can track your ovulation is if your temperature increases, your skin may begin to glow, and your confidence naturally increases.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And again, that is the estrogen.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Estrogen acts as a buffer to our nervous system, and so it buffs our nervous system, and so we we have more capacity during this time as well, more tolerance during this time.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say that not everyone feels amazing during this time.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: You'll often hear that this is when women feel their best, and that's not always true, especially if you've been under stress or if you're not sleeping well, or if you're dealing with hormonal imbalances.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lately, I've noticed I don't always feel my best here.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't mean I'm broken.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: It means that my body is communicating with me and I'm learning to listen.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I have third certain things that I'm tracking right now and certain things that I'm trying, and once I'm on the other side of it, I will share more.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And for now, this is really a phase where I've had to be really mindful with how much I do, with how I'm taking care of myself during this time.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, because of the rise in estrogen, it can feel a bit much.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so I may actually feel really foggy during this time.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I get cramps during this time, ovulation cramps from the egg being released.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I get headaches during this time.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, as I said, I'm still working through these things.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And once I'm on the other side, I will share more.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really starting to get into the nuances of menstrual cycle, um, menstrual cycle work.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I will say one thing that I do consistently notice is that I'm physically stronger during this time.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I channel that into movement.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I lift heavier weights, I go on hikes, and I do more expressive, what I call a full-out dance practice because I am a dancer at heart and I do a lot of dancing at home.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so this might be where I do a full class or where I go for um big leaps or floor work or thing moves that are really ambitious that may not always be accessible during some of my different phases of the cycle.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is the time where I try to go for it.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I still do keep some yin or restorative movement in the mix because if I overdo it, I can crash.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: So balance is really key here for me.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to nutrition, I try to eat more fruit, which supports fertility, and also plenty of healthy fats like avocado, olive oil, and specifically fish to nourish hormone production.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: My go-to lunch in my inner summer is a tuna fish salad on wheat bread with avocado and a watermelon salad on the side.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: I ate that as often as I could during the summer.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now that we're getting into fall, I probably won't be having a watermelon salad.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: But it was so fresh and so cooling because, like I said, our temperature increases during this time, so cooling things can be really nice.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I find that the healthy fats really help to keep my energy stable.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that's physically.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Some things that I like to do.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about spiritually.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now, spiritually, she is juicy, y'all.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: During ovulation, as we've said, estrogen is increased, and this also increases blood flow to the brain's pleasure centers.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: It enhances our creativity and our intuition.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I find that I can tap into a sense of love and inspiration that I don't feel as strongly in the other phases.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I love to do, somatic practices, and one of my favorite meditations to do during this time is Dr.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Jojo Spenza's meditations.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never heard of Dr.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Jojo Spenza, I highly recommend going and checking him out.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Change your energy, change your life.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I'll say for now.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I also really enjoy breath work journeys during this time.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Anything that really helps me to expand and embody that creative life force is just wonderful for me here.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: This also might be a time where I explore a pleasure practice, so self-pleasuring myself, or perhaps maybe carving out some time with my partner.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that to me feels spiritual and also very much a part of my overall health and well-being.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll also do a ritual here.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really um setting the intention to make this something I do every single month, but I'll offer my eggs symbolically to whatever creative project or intention I'm nurturing for the cycle.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it's such a beautiful way to really honor and align with my body's natural energy and creative process.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about emotionally.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Emotionally, oh my goodness, my heart is so open and full during this time.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: I feel more playful, I feel more expressive, I feel more magnetic.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: I really start to get that inner summer glow.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like I looked in the mirror today and I was like, ooh, she's got that inner summer glow starting to come on.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And this is also when I naturally want to connect with more people.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm more collaborative, and I also like to share my work more publicly.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I might, if you follow me on social media, this is usually when I do more posting on social media because I generally am emotionally in a place where that feels good for me to share in that way.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: My mood is also pretty steady during this time.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm more confident during this time.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And again, as I've mentioned earlier, because of that increase in estrogen, there is this resilience to stress.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: And this is also because our HRV, that's your heart rate variability, increases during this time, which biologically expands our capacity to handle more.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: So if you ever notice one month where you're like, oh my gosh, I feel like superwoman, this is where you could have been.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is a really wonderful time to have important conversations, to ask for what you need, like a raise or day off or something like that, and to just generally take bold action.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Mentally, during this time, I'm pretty clear and focused.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Estrogen boosts serotonin and dopamine, the neurotransmitters that regulate mood, motivation, and memory.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: So your brain is literally wired to think more sharply, to speak more clearly, and to feel more confident in your ideas during this phase.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is a wonderful time for presentations, content creation, brainstorming or social events, really anything that benefits from being seen and expressive.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that is a little bit of the ovulation phase and how I really like to support myself during this phase.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: I find that I really benefit while I do like to work during this time and maybe create content, knock some things off my to-do list.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I also really enjoy some downtime during this time.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: And because I know that, and because I'm really tending to this phase, I'm recording this podcast episode a little bit earlier ahead of time than I maybe would, because I know that by the time it comes time to record it, if I put it off, I'm gonna be in my inner summer.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: So because I know I'm gonna be in my inner summer, I really want to create that space that I know I really need and benefit from during this time, especially since my body's been really trying to get me to pay attention here.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me to pay attention, I really do need more space.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that's another little insight as to how I support myself over the different cycles.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that this has been insightful for you.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: I hope this has been helpful in some way.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I encourage you to take what you need, leave the rest behind, experiment.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Only you know what's best for you.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I have discovered works best for me over years and months of trial and error.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then guess what?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as I get it all down, my body changes, and now I have to recalibrate like I am right now in my inner summer phase.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So for the rest of this week, I invite you to play with some of these energies, to explore some of these practices, especially if you are in your inner summer phase, if you know that.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is the midpoint of the cycle.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if you think of when your bleed started and you get to around day 12-ish, 13-ish, 14, 15, 16-ish, that is the inner summer phase.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not in your inner summer, that's okay too.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: You can still very much work with this energy by working with the full moon that's gonna be happening in just a few days.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: The full moon's gonna be happening on November 5th this week.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that you enjoy your week ahead.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: And please know that you are not just fertile in the physical sense, that you're fertile in your creativity, your ideas, your joy, and your pleasure.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is a really wonderful time to explore pleasure and to invite pleasure in your life.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Your body is working in harmony with the cycles of nature, inviting you to shine, express, and connect in whatever way that feels true for you.