Discovering your Wild Power
Last week, I spent three days on the sofa. I moved only to walk the dog, teach yoga and move around the house. I wasn’t sick. I was bleeding. And it was absolutely blissful.
For almost four years, I’ve been tracking my menstrual cycle to better understand my body, predict my period and know my fertile window (should we choose to have kids). But this year has seen me diving into Menstrual Cycle Awareness and the practice of Menstruality - also known as living in sync with your natural cycle and becoming an absolute badass.
Until this year, my cycle was hit with exhaustion and mood swings at ovulation, instead of the superwoman, sex-driven vibes everyone else seemed to have. I’d be tired and cranky with a headache. And as for sex? Hell no. On top of that, I was noticing how tired and resistant I felt practicing flow yoga around my bleed days. I was well aware that something needed to be looked at and, lo and behold: menstrual cycle awareness. This summer, I’ve been dedicated to discovering the intricacies of my own natural rhythm to work out what the hell has been happening and how to work with my cycle, instead of against it. And the most mind-blowing thing isn’t just that my ovulation has turned around so that I now do have that superwoman-I-can-cure-the-world-and-feel-hot-at-the-same-time vibe. Nor is it that I feel like I’m truly discovering who I am on a whole other level, or that my energy levels are now in balance, or that my productivity has gone through the roof, or that my creativity has returned by the bucket-load. It’s that my connection to other women has deepened in a way I never would’ve expected.
It’s crazy, considering that most women and people in bodies that bleed go through the same thing. It literally brings pain in my chest when I hear stories of how young girls have started their period in trauma, without knowing what was happening, without adequate supplies, having to hide it from their parents, feeling embarrassed about it at school or even worse, worrying that they were sick. And it’s even crazier when considering that as we move into adulthood, those traumas are carried forwards to the point where we feel embarrassed to talk to our partners, are scared of bloodying sheets, block our rhythms with hormones, experience excruciating cramps and other symptoms.
If you’ve ever felt like you can be four different people within a month, you’re not crazy.
If you’ve ever felt like shutting yourself away for a few days when you bleed, there’s a reason for that.
If you don’t know what day of your cycle you’re on, when your cycle starts and ends, or even what a cycle is, you’re not alone.
If you don’t know whether you can get pregnant on your period, neither do most women.
If you hate going to the gynaecologist because you feel out of your depth with the questions they ask, I hear you.
And while that should bring you some comfort, it should also galvanise you. Because it’s 2020, and the fact that, by and large, women know little to nothing about their bodies has to change.
I’m super, super excited to be training with the AMAZING Claire Baker to become a Menstrual Cycle Coach because this is so, so important. If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll know that empowerment and self-development are my thing. I can literally, hand on heart say that practicing this kind of awareness has opened up a whole new portal to the journey of living the way I want to that supports me as a woman.
And I cannot WAIT to share that magic with you.
If you’re curious about how coaching can help, you can schedule a free 30min call with me or check out my coaching space.