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Weekly Cycle Check In: The Waning Moon: Embracing Rest & Breaking the Cycle of Overdoing · Healing Her Story with Riva Jean-Paul

• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Healing Her Story Podcast.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Riva Jean-Paul.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a trauma-informed somatic practitioner, coach for women, and host for your show.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: As we've been doing for the last few weeks, we're going to get started today with one minute of silence.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: In this minute of silence, you are encouraged to connect with yourself, to connect with your breath.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: And if you've been here for quite some time now, and maybe even if you're new, maybe you also might like to sense into where you are in your inner rhythm.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: As you've become more acquainted with the cycles that we are moving through with the moon, you might also start to get acquainted with the cycles that you're moving through within you.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a great time to check in and maybe notice if you're feeling yourself in more of a spring or a summer or a fall.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Or perhaps maybe you're in your inner winter.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Our one minute of silence will begin now.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Curious to know if there's a season that you're maybe sensing within yourself.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: I myself am in my inner winter.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I am feeling the estrogen and the energy slowly start to come back.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: I've spent the last two days in deep rest.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I'll get the idea to do a couple of things, whether it's working on my business or working on my art.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: And when I actually listen and live in alignment with my body and with the rhythm, my inner rhythm, I discover that I don't really have much energy to do any of those things that I uh wanted to do.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe the mind is feeling excited and like there's things to tend to and take care of.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the body is really feeling that need to rest and to pull my energy inward.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I've been doing for the last two days.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: The days before that, leading up to my bleeding time, I was so fortunate and delighted to go on a girls' trip.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it was my first girl's trip in quite some time.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I have to say, this was one of the most nourishing girl trips I have ever been on.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I really believe it was because it was the right kind of girls' trip for me.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: I went with two of my dear sisters who I have such a beautiful and authentic connection with.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And we went to a concert where I had the chance to see some of my favorite singer-songwriters perform their beautiful, lovely music that connects me so much to this feminine frequency.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: We spent some time in the forest and ate nourishing foods and talked and reflected on our journeys and we laughed.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: We laughed so much.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm coming back from that trip with my heart so full.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just really wonderful to be at a point in my relationships with women specifically, where I can have these kinds of experiences because there have been plenty of girls' trip in the past that um, you know, have felt very different.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that didn't leave me feeling nourished and full in the way that I'm feeling now.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that is something that I'm really honoring as we're still moving through this Venus retrograde, which is inviting us to review and reflect on our relationships, both with ourselves and with others.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: So curious to know if any of these Venetian themes have been surfacing for you, especially if you've been listening closely for quite some time now.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: We've been reflecting on these things about relationships, relationships with ourselves and relationships with others.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really funny to me how life can begin to align so easefully and magically when we begin to live into our own unique inner rhythm.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: My experience has been life really meeting me in that rhythm.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: For example, during my bleeding time this past week, it aligned perfectly with a break from my prerequisite classes that I'm taking as I'm working towards my master's degree in art therapy and counseling.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just really delightful to have those times line up.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: This time where I have less to do and less places to be.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it's given me that extra time to rest, which is interestingly enough, what we'll be talking about and exploring today with this week's weekly cycle check-in.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: By the time you are listening to this, we will be talking about the week of March 24th.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: At the time that I'm recording this, it's currently the spring equinox.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: So wishing you a belated spring equinox as you're tuning into this check-in.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is the time where we're in the waning crescent phase of the moon cycle.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: This is associated with the season of autumn.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Through the lens of traditional Chinese medicine, this is associated with the element of metal.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: And through the lens of the menstrual cycle of the female body, this is the pre-menstruum time.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: As I've been teaching today, teaching for my teaching artist residency classes, where I have the opportunity to work with children.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about the spring equinox today.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I shared with them that this is a really balancing point of the year.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: On this day, the day that this is being recorded on the spring equinox, there is an equal amount of light and an equal amount of dark.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: And this only happens two times during the year.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Once for the spring equinox and once for the fall equinox.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: As our earth begins to come into balance, we are also invited to come into balance.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel that the waning moon time can offer us this balance.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: For the first half of the cycle, we are intending, we are working towards things, we are moving through things, we are maybe doing some efforting, if you will.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're maybe taking things off of our to-do list, we're maybe showing up for the people in our lives, showing up for the things that we're bringing into this world.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: And that takes a lot of energy and a lot of effort and a lot of focus.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: I really believe that it does.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Especially being a woman living in a patriarchal society, we sometimes almost have to work harder.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: And some of us may feel that we literally carry the weight of the world on our shoulders.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: And with all of that, maybe heaviness, with all of that responsibility, with all of that efforting and doing and striving, we can use this waning moon time to do the opposite of that.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: We can use this time to lean into what I'll share are the three R's this week.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Especially if you are someone who struggles with burnout, with stress, and perhaps maybe anxiety.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: As the moon begins to lose its light, it has already begun to lose its light.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: And once it has started that process, we can sometimes also experience the light dimming within ourselves.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so maybe we find that we have less energy during this time.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's really interesting to check in with students and clients during the waning moon time and to take note of how often I hear people say they're tired.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: We can also, if we're in the pre-menstrum part of our cycle, we might experience some of the, let's say, darker emotions, such as grief or sadness or sorrow.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Those emotions can come up more during this pre-menstrum time.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it can come up more during the waning moon time as well.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I share a little bit about why in one of the previous waning moon episodes.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're curious about the why those things tend to show up a little bit more around this time, I encourage you to go back to the how to let go with the waning moon episode and maybe learn a little bit more about why that happens during this time or why that can happen during this time.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: As we're maybe losing our energy and as we're maybe dealing and bumping up against some of these darker emotions and parts of ourselves inside.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is a wonderful time.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: It can be a wonderful time to work with the three R's.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: As you might know, I love my alliterations.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got another one here for you today.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: The first R that we'll offer today for this week is to rest.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Rest can be much easier said than done.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I do want to acknowledge how challenging it can be to get deep restorative rest.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Especially if you are a parent or a caretaker.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I get it.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's a full-time job that you can exactly check out of.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: There are also things inside of ourselves that can make it really hard to rest, too.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Whether that's a history that has deeply impacted and shaped your nervous system.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's societal pressure or conditioning of living in a patriarchal world.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's conditioning or patterning from your childhood.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you grew up with critical caretakers.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: Or perhaps maybe you grew up in a family of immigrants where quite literally it doesn't feel safe to rest.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Nor does it value it.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And while, yes, there are more people talking about the importance of rest and the value of rest, I still believe that most of us are not getting enough of it.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I do want to acknowledge those things as I invite you to get some rest this week.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are feeling like you do want to get some rest, there are different ways that you can explore resting.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, resting to me isn't exactly lying on the couch all day watching Netflix.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: That could be some sort of physical rest, sure.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, it's about how we're consuming whatever it is that we might be consuming.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're finding yourself just kind of checked out and disassociating and just kind of using that streaming time to almost kind of leave your body in some way.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps you could explore another way of getting some physical rest if that's what you're needing.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: I myself love silence and limiting my consumption of TV and even of podcasts sometimes.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: I find that to be a different kind of rest where I'm limiting the amount of information that I'm taking in.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: We live in a very stimulating world.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes just getting some fresh air, getting some time outdoors without your phone, without music, without a podcast, that can be a form of rest as well.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: If you are again in need of that physical rest, one thing that I find to be really supportive is a practice called Yoga Nidra.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And this translates to yogic sleep.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I know I've mentioned this on the show before.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: I believe I've shared a yoga nidra practice in the show notes of that episode.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And in the coming weeks, maybe in the coming month, we'll have a guest on the show who is a yoga nidra expert.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm really excited for her to share more when that time comes.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: I myself just finished with a Yoga Nidra nap, and I found it to be so nourishing.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I was really able to get some of that physical rest that my body especially craves during this bleeding time and especially during this waning moon time.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Rest can sometimes be getting out of town.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's just taking a day trip somewhere.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Another way I like to rest is turning my phone off, or maybe just turning off notifications if turning the phone off seems hard for you.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: But taking a rest from responding to things that can be really supportive and nourishing for me as well.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: So those are some ways that you can explore rest, especially if rest does feel like something that is challenging for you.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: The second R that I'll offer is recover.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: As I've already mentioned, we likely have put out a lot of energy and a lot of effort over the last couple of weeks.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe you're in an you've been in a long season of efforting and and working towards things.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is a wonderful time for us to recover.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Is connected to recovering physically or maybe emotionally or spiritually?
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: What would it be like to allow yourself some time and some space to recover this week?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: What type of restorative practices can you introduce this week?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: To support my physical recovery, I really enjoy a yin yoga practice.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: And this is usually something I find on YouTube.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: I have a few teachers on YouTube who I greatly love and appreciate.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'll put some of their videos in the show notes.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: But yoga nidra can be, or excuse me, yoga, um, yin yoga can be a wonderful way to allow our bodies to physically recover.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yin yoga works with the connective tissues and the deeper layers of the fascia.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: And there's an expression that goes, the issues are in the tissues.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so emotions and stagnant energy and things that get stuck in our tissues can sometimes be loosened with a yin yoga practice.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: We can also allow ourselves to recover emotionally by maybe taking a break from trying to quote unquote fix or change things about ourselves.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we can allow ourselves this week to just be exactly where we are without needing to change.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: We can also explore other modalities such as massage, maybe Reiki, maybe qi gong.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: I find to be another really supportive energetic practice I can do at home.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: You will have to sense and feel into what your recovery is this week.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: And those are some ways you can get started if you're not feeling quite sure.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: The third R that I'll offer this week is restore.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: As you allow yourself to rest and recover, you can also allow your energy levels to restore.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: The moon does not shine all the time, the sun does not shine all the time.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: And you, my dear, we're not built to be shining all of the time either.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: In order to rebalance, in order to refill our cups, we have to allow ourselves time and space for our energy levels to restore themselves.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: What I find to be really beautiful about the female body is that it does this quite naturally.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Especially so if you are someone who is menstruating and who isn't on hormonal birth control and who works with the natural rhythm of your hormones and your body.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Our body has this really beautiful way to naturally restore our energy levels, and they only can restore themselves when we allow ourselves to do the rest, when we allow ourselves to do the recovery.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: And this is how we can begin to bring balance into the way we live our lives.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: Having these periods of doing and efforting and striving and showing up for and taking care of, supplemented with these equal periods of rest, of recovery, of restoration.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Just as nature is constantly moving through these cycles, we too are designed to move through these cycles.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Many of us are just fighting them, working against them.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, what would it be like this week to lean into it?
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: If you're feeling lower energy this week, what would it feel like to not do a couple of the things on your to-do list and give yourself that time to rest?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have little ones that you take care of, you can bring them into these practices as well, too.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now I know it can be easier said than done to get little ones to rest.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I trust in the infinite well of wisdom and creativity within you that can maybe come up with a solution that allows your kiddos to rest so that you too can also rest.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: As always, would love to hear anything that stood out from you that stood out to you today from our show.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: You are welcome, if you're listening on Spotify, to leave a comment in the show notes.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you found today's episode insightful or valuable in some way, I encourage you to maybe sense into a takeaway from this episode and to send this episode with your takeaway to a friend or to someone you care about.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: And as you do that, you are supporting me in rising this feminine frequency, you are creating space for the feminine to rise, and as she rises, we bring more balance into our patriarchal world.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: So if you are here for this mission, that is one very simple way you can support this mission.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: This week's solo episode will be coming out on Wednesday, and we're still going to be working with these Venetian themes, these retrograde themes of re-evaluating the relationships that we have with ourselves and the relationships that we have with others.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: So tune in then where we'll dive into another aspect of this focus for this cycle.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I very much look forward to connecting with you then.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: In the meantime, take care of yourself and take care of each other.