The Secrets to Loving Your Period
I sat in front of twenty-four people, a mix of genders, at the beginning of leading a Yoga Nidra and the cat caught my tongue. I held back in a room full of strangers from fully being myself.
We met on an evening after a new moon, the start of a new year, and winter time. My 12-year-old self took the stage and was too embarrassed to tell the group that I started my period that day. You might be wondering why I would share that info with a large group of people.
I’m on a mission to normalize (even celebrate) having our periods because it’s one of our greatest gifts as women.
In this post, you’ll learn why and how to best work with the ebb and flow during the month.
The evening of the workshop, my body was in the same inward, reflective, and intuitive energy as winter, the new moon, and start of new year. All have similar qualities as Yoga Nidra.
During Yoga Nidra, some call yogic sleep, you can gain greater insight of the desires of your soul outside of your ego self. The theme of this Yoga Nidra practice was Sankapla - the Samskrit word for intention.
If you slow down, rest, and get quiet during the bleed phase of your cycle you have greater access to this guidance as well. From this place you can set an intention for the upcoming year or moon cycle that aligns with what you truley desire verse what you “think” you “should” set to accomplish.
The taboo topic of our period runs deep and it’s a healing balm when we normalize being on our period by owning it and taking care of ourselves during that time.
That evening I had a wobble which inspired me to write this post. The experience was another layer of healing for myself and the collective. The women at my retreat requested I create a workshop for moms and their teenage girls about the rite of passage of getting your first period and I’m in the brainstorming stage. Part of this course will include the moms learning how to mend their relationship with their cycle so that they can be a role model for their daughers.
I’ve been working with my cycle and sacred feminine practices for almost a decade and coaching women through word of mouth for years. More recently, I’ve come out of the spiritual closet publicly so that I can reach more women because this knowledge is deeply needed.
We were taught at a young age that our period is gross, a curse, to push through, and to pretend we don’t have one. This has kept us at odds with our bodies, frustrated with ourselves, and missing out on the strength, manifesting power, and life-giving gift of being a woman.
How would your life be different if you grew up knowing your cycle was a superpower?
Men’s hormonal cycle lasts 24 hours (like the sun). Women’s hormonal cycle lasts about 28-29 days ( like the moon). We live in a culture set up to support a male’s hormonal cycle. Today you get to learn how to support your cycle and the four phases in that cycle.
Understanding and getting curious about how to work with your monthly (moonly) cycle versus against is a way to bring more productivity, creativity, intuitive guidance, energy, happiness, and health into your life.
I went on birth control in high school for irregular periods not knowing that this was a sign from my body that something was off. It wasn’t until I tried to get pregnant that I was initiated into a four-year deep dive into learning about my cycle.
At first, all I wanted to know was how to get pregnant – outside of just when I ovulated. Conversations with family and friends, that besides trying to get pregnant, they wish they didn’t have a period.
After having my son and nursing him for a year, I was surprised at how happy I was to get my period back. I was ready to have the cyclical wisdom back in my body even though I felt the energetic shifts with the moon phases while not cycling.
I suffered from a severe prolapse after the birth of my second son and needed prolapse surgery. When the doctor suggested removing my uterus, I had a whole body, “NO,” response. I choose to keep my uterus - and my period.
For those of you reading that no longer have a uterus or a cycle you can follow the phases of the moon - more on that later in the post.
There is wisdom in our cycle, a natural ebb, and flow that lends time for doing and being that keeps us from burnout.
Inside my Return to Core Membership, we weave in cyclical living principles with yoga practices that support the female body. We gather for monthly moon circles on the full moon just like our ancestors did to ground these practices into our daily lives,
“Working with Jackie has helped me gain deeper self-awareness, stronger self-acceptance, and clarity around the life I want to lead and the small changes I can make to work toward living my best life. Her guidance was flexible, yet formative enough for me - the working/mom and wife whose daily schedule is constantly in flux - to be successful. Learning about the cyclical nature of my body was mind-blowing for me and has been transformative in how I live my life.”
There are four phases of your cycle, each with gifts that will help you manage your time, energy, and sanity. What’s also super cool is that these phases contain the same energetic quality as the four moon phases.
As women we hold the birth, life, death, and rebirth cycle in our bodies. When something comes to an end, it creates space for something new to grow.
First phase: Follicular. Your body is growing an egg and you’re biologically and hormonally wired to take action toward the intuitive hits you got during your bleed time or new moon phase. This is an action taking phase. You might find you have lots of ideas so make a list and align your action taking with your new moon intentions and goals. This phase has the energy of spring and waxing moon phase.
Second phase: Ovulation. Your body is dropping an egg of potential pregnancy and it’s a potent time to bring your projects to fruition or launching a program. It’s also a time for communication, celebrating, connection or releasing anything that’s getting in the way of you reaching your goals. You might feel lighter and sexier during this phase of your cycle and some women have a bit of fatigue and bloating the day they ovulate. This phase has the energy of summer and the full moon.
Third phase: Luteal. At the beginning of this phase, you will be drawn to organizing, cleaning, and finishing up projects. On the later end your energy will decrease so rest more and boost up your self-care. It’s a time to stay in and say “no” to extracurricular activities. It’s been coined as the PMS phase because people will irritate you more than usual. You’re wired not to deal with any BS the days leading up to your cycle so it’s a potent time to see what’s no longer working for you. Your brain might feel a bit foggy so it’s not a time to push. It’s a time to assess what’s working and not working and letting what’s not working die. The energy of this cycle is fall and parallels the waning moon.
Fourth phase: Your bleed time (aka your moon time). It’s time to do less, get quiet, meditate and journal on what you’d like to bring into your life over the next month. Your intuition is at its peak during this time. Your right (creativity) and left (analytical) sides of your brain are synced giving you a vortex of intuitive guidance if you allow yourself to get quiet and listen. This phase has the energy of winter and contains the same energetic qualities of the dark/new moon. Take the first couple days of this phase to feel into your intention for the cycle.
How to love up on your cycle and body
Track your cycle along with your energy, focus and any symptoms you experience during each phase. Three months is a good experiment so you can notice any patterns month to month.
Give yourself a break when your energy is down, trusting that it will rise up in just a few days. Leverage the days where you have the uptick in energy. One is not better than the other. The phases work together so that you stay well, creative, and vibrant.
Your cycle may or may not align with the moon phase and that’s totally okay. Focus on your body first then you can layer on the moon’s energies. If you don’t cycle, which can be for a number of reasons, follow the moon phases.
How can you flip the narrative to be more supporting and loving about your cycle or being a woman?
