The wisdom of the menstrual cycle
Menstruation – new / dark moon phase
Roughly Days 1-5
In ancient times, a woman’s cycle was honoured and celebrated and menstruation was ritualised. Women of all ages came together in sacred circles and moon lodges – this inspired the Red Tent movement. Getting your moon (period) was seen as a beautiful gift.
Unfortunately, patriarchy had other ideas, threatened by the power and magic that these women held within, which was magnified when they came together. Thus, what was once seen as beautiful and pure became stigmatised and considered shameful instead. Many women still buy into this notion and see menstruation as an embarrassment, a hassle, a shame, a burden and sometimes even a curse!
A women’s cycle has become little more than a reproductive cycle, but the fact you’re reading this might mean you know this needs to change. It is time for women to reclaim the sacredness of their cycle and recognise, own and work with the wisdom that it contains.
Menstruation presents a time to retreat into your inner cave, like the Red Tent, taking yourself away from the world and tapping into your blood wisdom. This is DAY ONE of the menstrual cycle when you are at your most intuitive, so you might gain clarity on matters that have been bothering you during the rest of the cycle. Things might slot into place with the letting go that accompanies the outward flow of the menstrual blood, essentially shedding what is old to make way for the new to come in, with the new beginning of the menstrual cycle.
Take time out to rest and settle into the wisdom that this time brings. Youwill likely want to retreat from the world too – this is not a time to put yourselves on the stage if you can avoid it. You will also likely feel antisocial, delicate, in need of alone time to just be. Try to keep your diary relatively empty if you can. This is a wonderful time for guided relaxations and gentle yoga such as yoni yoga.
The insights gained can be uncomfortable. Sometimes there may be a rush of rage with the first blood as everything that has been bothering you comes to a head. The intensity of your emotions will ease as your blood flows. Flow with it.
Often your unmet needs become more apparent, especially if you are a giver, always holding space for others. Eventually you will get to a point where you cannot give or hold anymore, and this may result in an eruption as you express your need for your own needs to be met. If you don’t express your needs then you may find yourself frustrated and irritated.
As you become clearer about what you need, you may also become clearer about what you don’t need, and this is a fabulous time to let go as the blood flows, of anything no longer serving you in your life, whether that be relationships, jobs, thinking patterns or the way you relate to yourself.
Furthermore, many women experience pain around the time of menstruation. This is hardly surprising when you consider that the lining of the endometrium is literally shedding away – it’s a big deal! But the pain is also a messenger, literally drawing your attention into the body and away from the outer world. You are encouraged to rest and retreat, perhaps taking a short break from your other responsibilities if that is possible.
Sadly, we have been conditioned to overlook this pain, seeing it more as the curse of being a woman than a nudge of wisdom. So rather than rest, you may be more inclined to take paracetamol and carry on life as normal, battling your way through the day, drinking wine to comfort you, or binging on carbohydrates, rather than taking yourself to a quiet space, nurturing yourself with blankets and pillows, lighting candles, playing gentle music and listening to what with your uterus (womb) is trying to say to you.
Notice the flow of the menstrual blood as this can indicate whether you are in your flow or not. If you are out of flow with your truth, then the chances are, your blood may not flow well too; it may stop and start and be inconsistent. Notice also the intensity of the flow. If you have been very stressed and under pressure then this can show up in the flow, to the extent that the blood can flow too intensely, be very heavy.
If you are under the weather, worn down and tired, then perhaps the blood flow is scanty and low in energy itself.
Essentially, menstruation is a time for resting, journeying inwards and tuning into your intuition. It’s also a time to let go of anything that has not served you, resetting and starting anew.
Please note that this phase can be likened to the inner winter, a little like the winter solstice, when you wish to hibernate and retreat from the world and go into our inner dark space.
Follicular phase – waxing phase
Roughly Days 6-12
The follicular stage comes next, post bleed, when your energy levels return and you feel like you are ready to come out of your cave and re-enter the light of the world again. Oestrogen levels are rising and you have potentially gained more clarity. Now, with your increased energy levels and sense of wellbeing, there isn’t so much to complain about.
However, you still need to be gentle with yourself, as you gain strength each day, your own cycle now waxing to the fullness and juiciness of ovulation, a bit like your own full moon.
Some will literally experience their cycle aligned with the moon, but not everyone, it depends on your individual nature and constitution, and also your stage of life (more on this below about the white and red cycles).
The clarity gained during menstruation can be very helpful. You may have a clearer idea of the direction to take. Perhaps you have been procrastinating, or not believing in yourself and menstruation highlighted this. You are growing in strength so it’s a time to not only consider, but also prepare yourself for your next move.
Please note that this is like the inner spring stage of the cycle, when you are emerging from hibernation and coming out into the world again. After the inner winter phase, you are likely to feel your energy levels rising, you may feel more social and active. Like spring, inner spring brings a sense of hope and optimism.
Ovulation – full moon phase
Roughly 12-16 days
During this time of fertility, you may feel magnetic. People often say that women are at their most attractive during this phase. A well-known research study from 2007 actually showed that topless dancers earn more when ovulating than when not ovulating. Interestingly, the effects of the contraceptive pill, which eradicates peak ovulatory sexual response for women, also affected how much topless women earned. Those on the pill, consistently earned less than those not on the pill.
Other research has shown that men consistently find women more enticing when they are ovulating; their smell becomes more obvious to men and their face becomes more attractive too. Women are said to take better care of their appearance than at any other time in their cycle. Studies have also showed how a partner’s behaviour changes too, known as ‘retention behaviour’. It basically means that a partner gets a little more angsty and possessive of his/her woman!
Another study showed that a woman’s voice gets a little higher at ovulation in response to hormonal shifts and she will sway her hips a little more while walking. While a woman’s smell also changes, as referenced above, a woman’s sense of smell changes too. It would seem that ovulation triggers a heightened awareness of the world around them. No one understands the reason for this, but it could be that women can make a better judgement about a mate at this time of the cycle. This highlights the fact that women might find themselves more discerning and in touch with their truth at this time in their cycle.
It is the time to try to create and shape your life according to your vision now that you have a stronger sense of clarity and increased energy levels to support it. You naturally feel more communicative and are better placed to ask for what you want, to put yourself on the line and begin to turn your dreams into reality.
On a physical level, vaginal discharge may be heavier and more slippery (think stringy egg whites) than at any other part of the cycle and you might also experience pain, often one sided, an indication that an ovary is releasing an egg. You might experience feelings of heightened sexuality too.
This is in the inner summer time of the cycle, when you naturally feel more like getting out there and enjoying the extra light and feeling of brightness. This is also a time when you are likely to be drawn to being more visible, open and collaborative with others.
Luteal phase – waning moon phase
Roughly 17-28 days
Post ovulation, during the luteal phase, you may feel a waning in your energy and general interest in life as you are drawn back deeply into yourself again. As progesterone levels rise, you might start feeling increasingly sensitive and vulnerable. You might also feel confused and lacking in clarity, angry and full of rage.
You may become increasingly picky, so while this is a good time to edit writing or music, for example, this might be the time when you give your partner, family or people around you a hard time for doing everything wrong – at least wrong according to your higher standards.
You might be especially hard on yourself too. Nothing feels quite right; your clothes might feel a little tighter, your job might not flow so easily and things which don’t usually bother you, bothers you.
This is a good time to tick things off the ‘to do’ list or finish up a project. Journalling and freely expressing yourself through writing or some other creative outlet is ideal at this time. Because you may feel more irritable, it is not the best time for important conversations. If you’re feeling frustrated about something, take note of it, but consider waiting until after the luteal phase to speak your mind as you may feel differently then.
Physically, there are likely to be changes in your vaginal discharge. Sometimes you may get a watery discharge that might have you thinking that your period has started, but then this will ease. You may get nothing, or perhaps if anything, a slight burning sensation and dryness the day or so before menstruation.
You might also experience cramps, anxiety, interrupted sleep, insomnia, nervous tension, mood swings, forgetfulness, irritability, anger, headaches, water retention, swollen breasts, bloating, lethargy and/or drowsiness. Your temperature may rise, and sometimes you may feel sexual, as if it’s the body’s way of easing the tension created by the increasing progesterone levels and the ‘on edge’, ‘holding on tightly’ feeling this can give. This may last up until the end of the cycle.
The premenstrual period, especially in the day or two just before menstruation, can be likened to the dark moon of the moon cycle; the day or two before the new moon and the new cycle begins, when the night is at its darkest. This is a time when the veil between that which is seen/unseen and conscious/unconscious is thinner, where dreams may be more vivid as the messages try to filter through to you. This is a language beyond the rational mind and you might overlook them as nothing more than a ‘good/bad dream’.
However, if you pay attention, you will find that you have access to parts of your unconscious that you cannot access so easily, parts that are perhaps not even available to you at other times of the month. You are more in tune with that which is most meaningful in your life during this time and more prone to tears over this too.
Anything that arises for you during the pre-menstrual period, as painful or uncomfortable as it may be, you must pay attention, because whatever it is, whatever is being revealed, requires your resolution.
Then you move into menstruation, a time when women can potentially enter a more expanded consciousness, an altered state of being, that is both insightful and potentially healing. The key to this is both respect for, and awareness of, the changes that take place during your cycle. It is in this way that you come to recognise that your changing moods each have a role to play in helping you to live a more fulfilled and creative life.
For various yoni yoga, meditation and relaxation practices to support your menstrual cycle, please see the free video and audio content on the website.
The in-person yoni yoga class takes place every Tuesday evening in St Martin’s Community Centre, 6-7pm, all women of all ages and levels of experience are welcome. - this is an invaluable practice for anyone navigating menstruation and/or fertility issues. All welcome.