Hello Yogi!
Welcome to my podcast.
I'm Aiko and on this show we explore ways to put spiritual theory into sustainable practice.
Hey everyone!
If you remember like some months ago I published a video where I explain the inner seasons of the menstrual cycle.
If you're listening to me on Inside Timer then you will find an episode that you can listen.
It's called Women's Inner Seasons.
And otherwise you can find the video on my website aikoyogareki.
Com.
So in this video I explain and explore also the inner seasons in our menstrual cycle.
Just to recap briefly,
We say that the first phase of the menstrual cycle is our inner winter and correspond with our moon time.
We are more reflective and there we have the elements of earth,
Water,
Air and ether because we connected this inner season also with the elements of Ayurveda.
So we say that Ayurveda is one of the world's oldest forms of holistic medicine and still widely used today.
In Ayurvedic medicine the idea is that the world is made out of five elements which are space,
Water,
Ether,
Fire and air.
And these elements are divided in three main groups called doshas.
We have vata,
Pitta and kappa.
Vata is air and ether,
Pitta is fire,
Water and kappa is earth and water.
So that's why I was speaking about the elements in the first season which is the winter season.
Then we have the second season which is the pre-ovulation time of our menstrual cycle that corresponds with our inner spring.
We are dynamic and the elements here are earth and water and correspond with the waxing crescent moon cycle.
Then we have the third season which is the volation,
Our inner summer where we are expressive.
It corresponds with the full moon and it contains the element of fire and water.
And then we have the pre-menstrual part which is our inner autumn where we are more creative and correspond with the waxing crescent time of the moon and contains the elements of air and ether.
In this phase of our menstrual cycle we are usually getting if we have PMS you usually start having the symptoms in this pre-menstrual phase.
That's why it's very important to get to know yourself,
To get to know when it's this time of the month for yourself and canalize the energy in another direction which is the creativity.
So if we learn what these phases have and the energy that they bring with them and we try to connect with it and we try also to connect with the moon and mother nature and our body then everything will slowly start flowing in the right direction.
I personally know many women and there are testimony and books written about it that when they start following their menstrual cycle and be aware of what is happening and embrace every energy and things that comes with it they overcome PMS.
So in the previous workshop I also suggested some yoga asanas that you can do for every season and I'm gonna make,
I'm making it right now actually,
A course like that will be 28 days day course where we will do some kind of meditation,
Pranayama and I will explain little more in details every season and we will do some yoga sessions for your inner seasons.
The asanas that I suggested last time are for the inner winter Surya Namaskar,
Bhujangasana,
Vashisthasana,
Viparita Karani and I'm gonna say them just very briefly.
If you want to know a little bit more you can just listen again to the other video or recording.
Then we have the inner spring,
Also Surya Namaskar,
Balasana,
Parivrtta Anjaneyasana and as said all the twists are very welcome in our inner spring.
Then there is the inner summer,
Mathiasana,
Marjyabhitila,
Ardakaputana Asana and Apana Asana and the inner autumn,
Uttanasana,
Janusirasana,
Trikonasana and Garuda Asana.
So the main point and reason why I'm doing this is because it's so powerful and it's so really really important to connect with our inner self through yoga and many other elements and things and I really truly believe that every woman on earth should be thought about these things since beginning,
Since we get our first menstruation because these are really powerful key.
There is a very very beautiful book which is called Wild Power if you want to read it and it's from Alexandra Pope and Jenny Hugo-Fursliptzer if I'm pronouncing that correctly.
They are really really master into menstrual cycle and this and that and they explain very very nicely all the inner seasons and how important is to connect with them.
So in order to connect with your inner season like the first absolute step you have to do is charting your menstrual cycle.
So how do you chart it?
I'm using an app that is called Clue where I'm writing whenever I get my menses and what is very nice in this app so if you prefer like have it on a paper just write it down in your journal or find the best way for you even in the calendar.
So I was saying in this app it's very nice because you can add and write down like your notes.
So some things that are important to take in consideration when you write down your notes are of course the day of the cycle so you will start with day one when you have your first menstruation,
Your bleed and from there on you go on with the numbers and then you will understand how many days is,
How many days long is your cycle.
Ideally it should be around 28 days or 29 but we are all different and it can be way longer or way shorter.
That's why it's important to write it down,
To learn,
To know who you are and you know one of the first things that happened to me at least when I started noting down my chart it was that I noticed that always around the same day of my cycle I was getting angry to my husband usually but in general just a little grumpy,
A little angry and then you know you see and you notice oh last month also it was this day and then you think oh then maybe I shouldn't be that angry you know maybe I can just focus on something else and this we will see more in details I will do other episodes focused in every inner season so the next episode will be about the inner winter and inner spring,
Summer and autumn.
The autumn as mentioned in the previous recording is the month where I put most of my attention.
Often spring and summer I don't put that much of attention because I know my power,
Summer is a very powerful day and spring also is very social and powerful so I kind of handle these two phases very easily but of course we are all different and this is also the main point of all this what I'm doing now that we are different and there is no really there is no like formula or something that works for everyone that's why it's important that we learn how to relate with our own self.
So what I'm doing here is I'm giving you tools in order for you to learn more about yourself and then move accordingly and believe me if you do the job you will see benefits like from immediately.
So I said when you do your chart write the number of the day when starting from number one when you have menstruation then write your emotions like try to use maybe keywords or phrases that summarize how you are feeling and write it down and then compare like months,
Month after month and you will really experience this kind of different emotions throughout the month and that's normal.
Also this is so important to understand that it's normal if sometimes you feel sad sometimes you feel more down sometimes you feel more happy you are not crazy and you are not alone it's normal.
You know often we kind of we are kind of labeled like oh she has her period she's hysterical or something like that that's absolutely not how it is you are not hysterical and that's just normal period.
Then start taking notes also on your physical symptoms like this is very great to keep track of because like our emotions our bodies change through the month and reflects the hormonal changes that are occurring.
This is also our physical symptoms are working in the same way.
So also for who ladies of who whoever of you is trying to have baby that's also influencing and this is important to know.
Another thing to take note to in your chart is our life events.
Like what I mean for life events is not like my birthday,
Christmas or Easter is just all the things and things that are happening around during that day like today I'm feeling excited and super happy and it's my day 20 and then write also down what actually happened that day because then also you will see connection on how actually things are happening also according with your mood and energy and things like that.
So write down also what is happening around that in these days.
And last but not least the moon phases.
It's really helpful to note when the full and new moon are in relation to your cycle.
History shows us that we are closely aligned to the moon through our cycle and ideally we would ovulate at full moon and bleed at the new moon.
This doesn't mean at all that you should try to sync your menstrual cycle with the moon but this is what is ideally happening energetically but like now I'm quoting from the book called Red which is very nice and I suggest you to read that also if you want and here it says that like for example I bleed always I mean not always but at least since I'm taking notes of when I'm bleeding I'm always bleeding during the full moon.
So she's writing you are being called to share your work.
If you're bleeding during the full moon you are being called to share your work,
Medicine and experience with the collective.
Bleeding at the full moon is a call to use the vitality and potent power of the full moon along with the release of menstruation to bring something into being,
To create birth and nourish outwardly for the world.
It will be no surprise that right now many women will be bleeding with the full moon because they are being called to act and create in response to political and environmental situations.
Their work here is to turn,
Raise their age into creative action.
And I totally feel it.
I absolutely think that's very very related with me and of course she's writing also the meaning of what we are called to when we are bleeding in different phases of the moon.
So if you are wondering just let me know and I will tell you.
Write down in the comments or just write me a private message.
I'm very happy to be in contact with you.
Yeah so this was pretty much what I wanted to share with you for this time.
So the importance to chart your menstrual cycle.
And then we will go through every phase during the next episodes.
I would like to share with you also the inner powers,
Some of the inner powers of every season.
And we start with the inner winter.
So during the inner winter you have detachment and this is very very good.
You have the power to detach from what is unfavorable for your life and let it go because there is nothing bad to detach from something which is unfavorable for your life.
Then you have inner connection,
Effortless presence,
Stillness,
Expansive awareness and altered states of consciousness,
Restoration,
Purification,
Bliss,
Acceptance,
Forgiveness of self and others,
Receiving love,
Self-love,
Intimacy and union,
Experiencing all life as sacred and visioning,
Inner guidance and instruction.
As said before you are very much inward during your inner winter and this is very beautiful and it really really helps you to literally go inward and see and follow your inner guidance and instructions.
Then we have the inner spring,
The pre-ovulation and here your inner powers are tenderness,
Innocence,
Containment,
Curiosity,
Playfulness,
Imagination,
Surging energy,
Desire,
Focus,
Motivation and enthusiasm,
Positivity.
The inner spring are literally you have to think like the seasons outside and you will see all these things are so much connected.
And then we have the summer which is our ovulation and your inner powers are outward,
Focused,
Loving others,
Visibility,
Optimism,
Taking charge,
Mastery,
High energy,
Charm,
Magnetism and attraction,
Generosity,
Diplomacy,
Being in the flow,
Allowing gratitude and pleasure.
Then we have the inner autumn which is the pre-mestral phase of our menstrual cycle and our inner powers are inside saying no,
The critique,
Editing,
Holding the tension,
Catholic provocation.
Also it's important to know these things because then like with awareness,
Like if you know that in this time of the month you have catholic provocation then you will try to balance that too because then you don't want to overwhelm the people around you.
Let's go on with truth speaking that some people don't like but I've many times been criticized because I'm too sincere they say it but I think it's very important to be sincere and if somebody don't like to listen what you have to say then maybe it's better like this to keep some distance.
So we go on with the channeling,
Drifting,
Abandoning our responsibility and discernment.
So I just wanted to give you this list of super power we have that I said before I went through Wild Power the book many things I'm saying I'm taking from there and why it's important to know these inner powers because when you start chart your menstrual cycle you will feel and you will see many of these things during the designated days of your inner seasons and then you may think oh why I'm feeling like that oh but yesterday I was not feeling that and I really want you to know that it's absolutely totally normal.
So it's a little bit like if you think about the seasons outside you know like if it's summer you go around with shorts or very light clothes you dress in a certain way you don't go around like you you're going around during the winter in the winter you don't go around with light clothes why because otherwise the nature will tell you that's not the way we are meant to be to work together we are cyclical beings and then what and then you get sick so your inner self will tell you that's not the way move on the other side and if you need to rest like in our inner winter we really need to rest take small steps go and withdraw from the world outside then we should do that because otherwise our body will make it sure we're gonna take rest by having some headaches or cramps or just being crumpy so if we know this already before then we move accordingly and we use this energy we use this withdrawing for as a inner power in order to just do the best we can in our life and this is just so powerful and important to to tell to every one of us because in ancient time those things were taught since beginning like I know aborigines for example right now still women they know when they go to bleed because they know themselves they know their body they can feel it they go to the to the woods then they stay there they bleed and then they keep going on with their life and we definitely don't have this control because we lost it over the years so it's very important to get to know ourself there's nothing more important than that because at the end in our life the only the only person who is there from beginning to the end is ourselves so it's so important to get to know ourself and to try to be the best the best we can and connect with nature and mother earth so that's it I think I will leave you for now and see you for the next episode where I will talk about our inner winter I hope this episode fulfills its purpose of inspiring you if you like it feel free to share it give a review or a rating subscribe and if you have any questions please get in touch at AikoYogaDaiki.
Com namaste
