Latest / Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul / Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Why the Waning Moon Is Your Most Underrated Phase: Three Rituals to Honor the Slow Down

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Moon Phases & Feminine Power: Your Weekly Cycle Sync | Why the Waning Moon Is Your Most Underrated Phase: Three Rituals to Honor the Slow Down · 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: We are gathering today for our weekly cycle sync episode, and I'm feeling ready to just jump on in today.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Before we do, I'm going to invite us into a minute of silence or perhaps a minute of stillness.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, depending on what you're doing, you very well may be driving or doing some chores around the home.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are, that's perfectly okay.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm wondering what it would be like to press the pause button on your life, even for just a minute, and maybe noticing what arises within you as you receive that invitation to pause, to slow down.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And whatever does feel right for you in this moment, what I'm inviting you into really is into a moment of presence.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And in that moment of presence, maybe taking some time here to notice how you're doing.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe noticing what your energy is like, what your mood is like.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we are tuning to the larger rhythms and cycles, and you have your own internal cycle as well, your own unique rhythm.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'll invite you to connect with that rhythm or to at least sense into that rhythm.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna put one minute on my insight timer and put my mic on mute, and I'm gonna give you some time to do that now.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Taking a moment here to notice anything that may have stood out to you.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: For me, that minute went by way too quick.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I noticed myself going into some neck circles.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: I almost immediately had a yawn as soon as I turned the mic on mute.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed the warmth in my lap.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a heating pad with me today.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I also brought a lot of awareness to that support behind me as I'm sitting in my chair.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And right as I was really sinking into that, the timer went off.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's such a perfect introduction to the energy we're gonna be attuning to this week.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I am cycle day 26 today in my late luteal phase.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I've just woke up from a nap not too long ago, and obviously feeling very cozy in this season, and very much looking forward to the rest and the regeneration that I know will be coming here in the next few days.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if I'm lucky enough, and I think that I will be, the timing will work out really nicely this cycle, and I'll have some true time off to really drop in.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I've been reading Her Blood is Gold by Laura Owens, and it's really made me more excited for my bleeding time.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm looking forward to integrating some of the practices and kind of like the perspectives that she shares around the bleeding time.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll report back when I'm on the other side.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, let's go ahead and get into this week's lunar energy.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: This week we are attuning to the energy of the waning moon.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be honest, this is actually one of my favorite times in both the menstrual cycle and the moon cycle.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've said this before, and I'll likely say it again.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: The waning moon is one of the biggest missed opportunities we have both culturally and as women.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes complete sense why.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: We live in a patriarchal, deeply capitalistic society, and because of that, there is this overarching message to produce, perform, push, and force.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: That mode of being can be helpful to an extent.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: However, it becomes deeply problematic when it's the only mode we're allowed to operate in.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I believe women were not meant to live this way.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I don't think any human was meant to live this way.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: At our core, at the core of our physiology, we are cyclical beings.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: We run on a circadian rhythm that moves us through a 24-hour cycle each day.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: The seasons move cyclically no matter where you are in the world.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Our sense of time itself is organized in a cyclical way, the days of the week, the months, the zodiac signs.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: As our society became more modernized and industrialized, we lost our connection to the earth and her natural rhythms.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: The very rhythms our earliest ancestors truly lived by, mostly because they had no choice.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: They had to live cyclically because the modern conveniences that pull us out of that rhythm simply didn't exist.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm genuinely grateful for many of these modern conveniences.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sitting here recording this in my home with the air conditioning on while it's over 90 degrees outside.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: I also see the place of privilege that I sit in as well.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And by no means am I complaining.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I do believe there is a way to honor our natural rhythms while still enjoying the comforts of our modern lives.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the most powerful ways, one of the most simple ways we can do that is by honoring the waning moon.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the rituals and invitations I'm sharing today can be applied to both the waning moon time that we're in right now and to the luteal or the pre-menstruum phase of the menstrual cycle.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is the 7 to 14 days before your bleed begins, depending on the length of your cycle.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: I speak with so many women who already intuitively know that they have less energy during this time.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: We have a smaller capacity, we have lower bandwidth, and yet it has never really been explained to us.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And because of our culture, we've been taught to push through it, to treat it as an inconvenience because it because it slows us down, and that slowing down gets in the way of the constant race.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: During the premenstrual phase, progesterone begins to decline and estrogen begins to decline as well.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And there's actually research that shows that these hormonal shifts affect neurotransmitter levels, particularly serotonin, which impacts our mood, our energy, energy, and our tolerance for stress and stimulation.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Studies have also shown, which I've talked about many times on the show before, is that our heart rate bearability also changes during this time and it significantly decreases our nervous system's capacity for stress.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: That is the female physiology.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I truly believe that the frustration and the friction that so many women experience during this phase comes not from the phase itself, but rather from the resistance we have to it.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: From trying to operate at full capacity when the body is genuinely asking for something different.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'll also say, even when I'm not in the premenstrual phase of my cycle, I still sense the waning moon.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Even if I'm in my follicular phase where estrogen is rising, while the moon is waning, which happens quite often for me, I still find ways to honor the energy and I still find ways that the energy shows up in my life.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: In my own practice of menstrual cycle awareness, what helps me navigate this more nuanced sort of layer, I relate my inner rhythm and the choices I make to support myself to my menstrual cycle, and usually for my creative projects as well, because it's something that's very driven internally.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then I use the moon and the seasons to influence my outer work.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So collaborative projects that I do with other people, the way I care for and show up for my clients, the lessons and the teachings that I'm sharing with them, sometimes even the music that I create for a breath work session.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'll also incorporate it into my teaching as well when I'm working with kiddos.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that might be a whole nother episode for another day.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're curious about exploring that nuance, maybe something you want to play with there.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, let's get into the rituals that you can explore this week.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: The first ritual is one that came to me as I was making myself a matcha right after my nap.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that is using drying flowers or excuse me, using dyeing flowers.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: We buy flowers because they're beautiful.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're in their full bloom, their fullness, their glory, and we love them for it.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And once those flowers begin to wilt, most of us consider them done.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: We figure that they're not useful anymore, and I would say most people probably just toss them out without thinking about it.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: What I love to do instead is honor that wilting, honor the dying of the flower.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I have a really beautiful handmade wooden vase filled with dry flowers that I keep tucked away in a safe place.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I will bring it out specifically during the waning moon or the premenstrual part of my cycle and place it on display.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got a little section in the kitchen where I have all my herbs and my teas and my supplements and my cookbooks, and I've got a little candle over there and my cookbook stand, and then I also have flowers.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And right now I've actually got that wood vase there with the dried flowers because I'm in my premenstrual phase of my cycle right now.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'll also take flowers from the week before, the ones that are beginning to wilt.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if they're the kind of flowers that preserve well, I'll sometimes arrange those in a vase with no water and let them dry in their own way.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really subtle, small thing.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, it's really powerful because when I honor the wilting flower, when I say it still matters and that it still has beauty, it reflects that same thing back to me.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: That wilting in me, it also matters.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: It also still has beauty.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: It is a reminder that this quieter, slower, more inward time also deserves to be honored.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Not just the bloom.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: The second ritual is more specific to the pre-menstrual time, and that is yoni steaming.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yoni steaming is an ancient practice, and I want to be clear that I am by no means an expert, and it's something that I've been doing for about three years, three years now, and it has become a meaningful part of how I tend to myself during this phase.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: What it involves is steaming herbs.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'll boil some water, add an herbal blend, pour it into a glass bowl, and place that bowl inside a handmade wooden yoni steaming box I ordered from Etsy.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: The box has a lid with an opening, and so I'll once I put the bowl in, I'll close the lid, and then I'll actually sit on top of the box with the opening, and that opening aligns with my vulva, my yoni.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: So as I sit over it, the herbal steam rises up into the there are also some yoni steaming spas.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's actually one locally where I live in Sacramento.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: For me personally, I really enjoy doing this in the privacy of my home because yoni steams can get really deep really quick for me.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: From what I understand, yoni steaming helps to bring blood flow to the vulva and the surrounding tissues.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: And there are a range of benefits that can be experienced depending on the herbs used.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: For me personally, it has helped to soften some of the tension and the constriction I can experience during this area, which has significantly improved my sexual experiences.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: It also, in quite unexpected ways, and this is where it gets really deep for me, it supported me in clearing out and releasing sexual trauma.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And usually I'm not going in with that intention, but as I settle into a meditation, as I continue to enjoy the steam, sometimes emotions will arise.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I've had old memories come in around previous experiences, sexual experiences I've had in my life, and I've been able to meet them, look at them, and release them in a really gentle and loving way.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: So there is this component of clearing out that I've experienced with Yoni Steening.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: I typically do this in the three to five days before my bleed begins.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I'll use it to encourage the bleed to come if my cycle is running a little long.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: It does also serve as a beautiful moment of connection with myself and helps me to create space for the bleeding time and for the new cycle ahead.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you're curious about this, I'll leave a resource in the show notes for you to explore a little bit more.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: And just to note, from what I understand, yoni steaming is generally not recommended during ovulation or during your bleed, which is exactly why I'm sharing it here in the waning.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: The last ritual that I'll share today is nesting.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: On that same thread of letting go and tending to unfinished business, the waning moon is such a wonderful time to get cozy in your space.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Hence me with my heating pad and my blanket here today.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, what actually allows me to feel cozy is tending to the space itself first.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: This might look like decluttering, getting laundry done and put away, clearing out a drawer or a closet that has been sitting, waiting for me to make a decision, dusting, maybe yeah, just kind of getting things a bit more organized.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: During my premenstrual phase, I tend to notice these things a bit more.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that they do bother me a bit more.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: And rather than getting frustrated by that sensitivity, I've really learned how to use it.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And there's some really interesting research that actually supports this.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Cluttered environments elevate cortisol levels and keep the nervous system in a sort of low-grade state of activation.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: There was a study published in 2010 in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin that found that women who describe their homes as cluttered had higher levels of stress hormone, cortisol, throughout the day compared to women who describe their homes as restorative.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: So that desire to declutter and nest during this phase, it's not just in our heads.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: This really is the body so intelligently trying to create the conditions it needs to rest and restore.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: There can also be a sort of busy mental energy quality of this time to me.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I find that I can get a little antsy when there isn't a lot going on.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so I will channel that energy into tending my home, giving that energy somewhere useful to go.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it usually does help me to settle.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Once I've cleared the space, I can look around and actually feel more invited to relax.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And with us being in Virgo season, this is such an amplified energy to get organized, declutter, and create space.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Virgo truly loves this.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: The waning moon during this season of Virgo, I feel is a really potent time this year to clear out what's no longer needed, especially with the eclipses, so that you can make real room for the cycle ahead.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps one of these rituals resonated with you today, or maybe it sparked something within you.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: As always, I encourage you to take what feels most supportive for you this week and to let go of the rest, or maybe save it for later.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: To support you in slowing down this week, I'm leaving a donation based somatic meditation for you over on Insight Timer.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can find that linked in the show notes.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to connecting with you in the next episode.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.