Power Of Your Menstrual Cycle & Creative Cycle: Part II

Learn how your menstrual cycle is your intimate connection with the Creative Cycle and how you can harness the 5 elements & 4 seasons to feel creative, vibrant & fully alive in this 2-part masterclass. In Part 2, learn the strengths, qualities & best practices for the Summer & Autumn of your period (Fire, Earth, Metal Elements) & how to harness the power of your inner critic.

Transcript

So now from this season, The next season that happens after spring is summer and we are approaching summer today in Turin where I'm based in Italy I'm from Singapore but now I'm based in Turin We've had a very summery day even though it is still springtime So summer is this time of full bloom, Full heat as well You experience this in the form of midday, Of the full moon of this sense of flourishing and being fully out in the world, Of being seen So you are fully showing the world who you are And in the menstrual cycle, This is typically associated with the time of ovulation So ovulation is usually actually only around one day but typically around two to three days before and after ovulation that window of perhaps around five days is when most people who are menstruating are the most fertile So if you are hoping to conceive, This is a good time You want to track your menstrual cycle from the first day of when your first bleed is that is day one until the last day before your next cycle So that will be your cycle And you want to do this for a few rounds so that you know this full length of this cycle, How long it is And this will also shift depending on whether you are stressed whether you are eating well, Whether there are external factors like trauma whether you are moving countries, You have just changed your job All these things from outside affect us internally So let's come back to the season of summer and ovulation and productivity and fertility So the fire element is associated with showing up fully in the world This is a great time and many menstruating individuals they say they report feeling very outgoing This is a good time to connect with others and to connect with the world In the yin yang spectrum and the via positiva and via negativa this is when you are the most outward-facing and the least connected within to yourself which could have pros and cons So the pros are this is a great time to socialize This is a great time to learn from others, To connect with others, To receive from the world On the other hand, This is when you are perhaps least connected with yourself with the source of who you are, Your identity, Your inner motivations, Your source of being and your greater why for why you want to wake up in this every single morning and what you want to share with the world from the way you are from your relationships, From your work, So on and so forth So one very important thing here is to connect with yourself and to show up in the world authentically When you do so, Then you will really flourish from inside out and you will really connect with a true confidence and power that is yours What happens is for many women at this time because of this rise in energy a lot of the people I work with while menstruating they report saying that at this time they might then take on too many things or start to compare with others in the world because we are so social and you start to look outwards in the world and you start to think, Oh I could be like that or I could also do that and you might get distracted, Anxious or you lose your connection with who you are that internal focus that remember during the menstrual cycle in the winter time during your bleed, That is a great time to source that and keep that with you as you depart and move furthest away from that So keep that with you and when you reconnect with this authenticity for example, Maybe you're launching a new program or maybe you're starting a new position at work or perhaps you are embarking on an experiment in a relationship that you have with yourself or with the world or with someone you love You want to connect with this thing that is external but at the same time, Remember and keep at the centre of your heart this heartfelt intention, This root and the source this watery source of wisdom close to you so that you don't compromise who you are and you don't compromise your true sense of your being while you show up fully in the world and the fire element is associated with the heart energy channel in the small intestines It is associated with the arms as well for example, The inner arms is where the heart and the pericardium energy channels run and the arms, When out of balance, This shows up in the form of anxiety It shows up in the form of imposter syndrome, Not knowing who you are You want to be out social in the world but you don't really know who you are because there's too much social comparison and you forget from the previous cycles or perhaps you didn't really connect deeply within yourself to understand who you are so that then you can show up in the world Remember, We spiral into ourselves to then spiral out into the world It is a dichotomy, We need both of these things and we can't show up in the world fully without first having this deep connection that is inside So that's the fire element and I wanted to, Since I've been talking for quite long I want to invite you to also do something that will help you connect within rather than just listening Some of you who are regulars may already know this Let's connect with a point that is a great way to soothe anxiety and to create safety This is for the pericardium, Which is a somatic structure that wraps around your heart Think of it as a cloak or a blanket, A sheath for your heart You can create a loose fist with one palm Between the third and fourth finger, You can find this point, Pericardium and this point, Lao gong, The working palace, Is connected directly to the heart We'll use your thumb to gently massage this point It's an important healing point in qigong as well as in reiki, In Thai massage We press down on this point as you breathe in and then as you breathe out, Imagine you send your breath to the heart and you sigh it out Haaaaaa Gently release Let's try this once again, Press to breathe in and breathe out, Gently release Haaaaaa You can gently circle and massage this point Slowly we'll try the same on the other side as well Between the third and fourth finger, When you create a loose fist right in the centre of the palm, For many people it might feel a little tender You can press as you breathe in and then breathing out, Sighing it out, Send the breath to your heart Haaaaaa Let's try this again, Press to breathe in Breathing out, Send the breath to your heart Haaaaaa Gently circle and massage And then if you wish, We're going to stack the palms one on top of the other in the front of the heart, Connecting with your heart centre With your middle energy centre, Your middle tan tien, Your elixir field Feel that you are receiving energy from your heart and you're also sending this energy back into your heart Your heart embracing you, You embracing your heart Feel free to stay for as long as it feels good for you here And when you feel ready to release, Slowly letting your eyes, If they are closed let them blink open So this is a very short somatic practice that you can do to ground your energy whenever you're feeling stressed, Anxious, Fearful as well I find this very helpful Many of my clients report this being something that's very helpful and effective in triggering situations So you can do that to connect with your heart, With the pericardium and the fire element So as we transition from the Alexandra has just asked, Is it the third and fourth finger from the pinky inwards? So between the third and fourth finger roughly When you make a loose fist, Right in the centre of the palm Most people report feeling a little tender, This spot And you might try And don't worry because the point is actually really small When you use your thumb, For sure you will actually manage to access this point This is a great point to begin to create a sense of safety and a holding and to reconnect with that space of love and self-love as well as self-confidence and self-affirmation Give me a moment to prevent our dog from chewing our sofa From the fire element, The next element that comes Actually I forgot to mention All these elements are looping in what is called the creative cycle And the creative cycle for those of you who have just joined in If you've missed the beginning It is rooted in traditional Chinese medicine In what is called the birth cycle or the Sheng cycle Where one element gives birth to the other Just like winter gives rise to spring Spring gives rise to summer, So on and so forth And if we think of this water, When you water a seed A sapling starts to grow, It becomes a tree And then when we chop wood, We can use wood to then become fuel for fire To burn and to grow and expand Which is what we're doing in the world And I forgot to mention the fire element is associated with So in the wood element springtime I invited you to connect with your vision To play, To experiment, To see the possibilities of what might be Without the stress and the pressure of necessarily having to succeed To win for it to be perfect Because it is a cycle, It is never perfect It is not going to be perfect And that's okay because we keep growing And we keep looping and it is never ending It just keeps going So let's come to the fire element The fire element is the moment when you have this clear vision When you have perhaps even a plan in place For how you might begin to take action Then you reach the fire element And that is when you start to take action If water element is being, Fire element is doing It is allowing, It is completely without hesitation Showing up in the world fully in your relationships In your work, In your lives Those of you who do Insight Timer Lives for example Being unabashed about the message you have to share Being unabashed about the program you have to offer Because it is not about you, It is about this message It is about what you want to convey and share with the world What happens during the fire element is When you experience anxiety And when we slip into this imposter syndrome It is very often because we return to our small selves And we are afraid, Oh no, What if I fail Or we start to fall into this trap of social comparison Oh that person is doing something much greater than me And then we start to compare all these things That are not about the heart of the message Not about the actual thing you want to share with the world Because it is not about you Remember I shared that the ideas come from something A source greater than yourself And I truly believe this, That we are all vessels To convey a message, To share something with the world With the people we love, To bring greater good in this world If we see every single action, Behaviour and relationship That we have with others as a reflection of this Then you will be less likely to feel small Because you are in service of something greater And that's okay Let's see, Ailis mentioned in the chat Yes, Fear of failure for sure I wanted to also shout out So just now we talked each of these five elements In the creative cycle is associated with emotions When in balance and when out of balance Emotions are an experience of energy reflecting in certain ways So the water element when out of balance is fear It's inaction, You are frozen And you are not able to move forward It's you are feeling stuck in a relationship Or you are afraid that your programme won't succeed Or you will never make it as an entrepreneur Or you will never be able to find the person you love Or you will never be able to have a normal cycle That is connected with the water element When in balance, However, It is unshakable trust It is deep intuition and insight And a surrender knowing that it is not just you There is a greater holding, The earth is holding you Just like today, I am able to come out here And be fully, Completely authentic And sharing my message Because I truly believe that there is a greater holding than me Today's life is not about me It is about this creative cycle that I feel and I see And I understand and I know that I have to share this message And I know that Insight Timer has got my back It's holding me and holding all of us And I know that for example, The circumstances around me Are supporting me So it comes from this place of trust And of course, The trust comes from safety So if you happen to be tuning in And you are in that place where you feel unsafe Then before even doing anything What I want to invite you to do is to create safety for yourself You might do that by massaging the acupressure point You might do that by resourcing and making sure that You have relationships You have resources that support you to feel capable Feel held, Feel that you have a right to be A right to exist Only from there can you depart outwards into the world So we have this security If we move towards the wood element Just now I mentioned a little bit about this The follicular phase This is associated with when out of balance Anger, Impatience, Frustration Stress from having to be perfect and to succeed To win, To launch and to be the full version of what could be When in balance, It is associated with play, Creativity Innocence, A sense of possibility We widen into more possibilities It doesn't have to be any single one yet All of them could potentially happen And for those of you who are tuning in If you are a physics fan That's like the Schrodinger's cat So in the box, Before we open the lid The cat is both dead and alive at the same time So we didn't do the action yet Everything is possible Then we reach the fire element That's when we start to open the box We start to decide Of all the possibilities This is the one I'm going to take action on And I do it fully But today I'm like I'm just going to do the inside timer live And I show up here And I connect with you, With myself, With inside timer So that's the action taking When in balance, The fire element Shows up in the form of self-confidence, Self-love Connecting with your true power and authenticity When in out of balance That shows up in the form of anxiety, Insecurity Playing small The sense of not knowing how to show up fully And how to connect with that power And a sense of insecurity Perhaps from social comparison So all of these elements are connected With specific ways that we show up So even if you've never heard of them If you observe your own behaviours Or the emotions that you experience You might be able to identify some imbalances That are related to these specific phases In the creative cycle As well as your menstrual cycle So let's move on to the next element And the next element So after fire, I mentioned Water gives rise to wood, Which grows Wood is chopped and then we use it to start a fire After fire burns What remains on the surface of the ground Is some ash and the soil So this is the earth element And of all elements Because there are four seasons that we experience in a year Four times of the day Four main phases of the moon cycle But there are five elements And this earth element is the fifth element Even though it is the fifth element I would say it is actually one of the most important elements overall Because it holds everything together The earth element is that sense of grounding That rootedness That unshakable sense of stability And that connection between each of the cycles So my teachers from the RIT school Their work has the menstrual cycle as four seasons And they have what is called the crossover days Which is when you transition from one season Maybe your period Into the next season And there's one or maybe even two days Where you cross over From inward facing to outward facing From outward facing to action taking That full doing And then from that action taking You transition back into a reflective state Which we have not reached yet So that closure and then back into the menstrual cycle So the earth element is present at all of these transitions Because it brings you back to center So that whatever happens around you You stay rooted to your being In traditional Chinese medicine The earth element is also often If you read texts about traditional Chinese medicine Many different texts will also say This is associated with late summer The energy of harvest, Contentment, Gratitude, Ripening This is within the time of the day I like to see it as the time of the golden hour If you are tuning in and maybe you're a photographer You might have heard of it When the whole of the world is basked In this beautiful golden light That is not direct It's not too harsh It's not quite like the energy of summer Which is heat and just pure action taking And full bloom It is this soft, Ripe energy And it is when everything is ripe for picking It's not very long So we don't have much time to For example, To celebrate something A celebration is usually just a few moments Or maybe even a day We don't celebrate our birthdays for very long We don't harvest fruits for very long Even though now we've mechanically Actually made that possible Through hastening the cycles Which is actually not normal So this is the energy of this time And I like to see it as the time That is in the luteal phase So after ovulation That is when typically in the menstrual cycle Most menstruating individuals are the most fertile And this is a great time I forgot to mention To be active, To be social If you feel that energy You want to connect with the world If you do physical training This is a good time to build muscle To eat more proteins That will help you build that healthy muscle You can do very active And more intense and vigorous things During around ovulation And slightly after ovulation as well So in the early part of the luteal phase Which is when your estrogen levels Start to slowly dip And your progesterone levels They continue to rise And then later they plateau This is what I like to call The earth element season as well In addition to the transitions This is because this is a time When many still report Feeling this great energy Of being outwards in the world And at the same time There's a sense of contentment There's a sense of grounding and rootedness And this is a good time Actually at any time The earth element is always welcome Is to begin to acknowledge What you've done in the world And to celebrate So if you have gone through the phase Of you have an idea You connect with this idea Then you see the full possibilities Of what this idea could be As something real in the world You create a plan for this idea And you pick a possible plan Then you execute the plan And then from this plan You have something tangible Maybe alive on inside timer Maybe a product that is real That you hold with your hands Wow, This is real That is after the doing After the fire element This is the earth element Wow, Look at this wonderful thing I have This first prototype This first experience Our first circle together Talking about the menstrual cycle And the creative cycle And it is so important Without jumping into the next phase yet To just take a moment To acknowledge the fruits that are ripe And to harvest them with this sense of Gladness and gratitude Harvesting them without yet judging And sorting which fruits to keep And which fruits to then Discard and release And let go and remove from the next cycle And very often we skip this completely And that throws us off balance Because we are just so focused on Jumping into the next cycle Already assessing Was I successful? Which parts should I remove? Or which things were great about this thing? What did I not succeed in? What did I fail at? Just take a moment to celebrate and acknowledge And it is so important to do that As well as in your relationships The earth element archetype Is associated with the mother And also in the women's life cycle Probably we won't have the time to talk about it today The entire cycle can also be mapped onto your cycle As a person So the earth element is the mother The archetype of a mother You are basically, At this point Realise you've mothered something You've given life to something else This came out of you And you are the vessel for that to happen How amazing is that? So you connect with the qualities of this Nurturing, Nourishing sense of self And you receive all that is to receive Because this is a moment where transformation has happened From an idea, This became a reality For those of you who are tuning in who are mothers You had an idea, You thought Maybe I would bring life into this world And then you became a mother Life came through you If you've never been a mother Same for your projects Same for your relationships Maybe you thought, This is a wonderful person How great it would be if we could embark on a friendship A romantic relationship together And then you saw the possibilities of what could be And then you took actions to start to allow that to happen And then transformation unfolded So the power of the earth element is transformation And we connect with this transformation by celebrating And by assimilating all the different elements By returning to centre Remembering where we came from And not forgetting that When out of balance, The earth element shows up In the form of rumination Of overthinking, Of over worrying And sometimes in the form of people pleasing as well Because the earth element is the mother If you are tuning in and if you tend to be a giver This message is for you Don't give too much of yourself Remember the most important person in your life is yourself Not anyone else I just had a conversation with my husband a few months back On this topic I said, Who is the most important person in your life? And of course his answer was not himself So if you are tuning in and your answer was not yourself I encourage you to change that So that your answer is yourself Put yourself at the centre The mother, Yes you give life to other things, To other beings But you have to be the mother To be the mother needs an incredible amount of holding An incredible amount of being well resourced Being well nourished Being sufficiently inspired Being sufficiently creative Being sufficiently energetic All of these things So that's so important And now we come from the mother So the earth element In the earth, We can find precious minerals And these minerals are associated with the metal element And in the luteal phase, Which is as I mentioned from before That's when the progesterone levels are still high Estrogen levels are really low Many menstruating individuals report during this time feeling irritable This is when you might also experience bloating You might have swollen breasts You might experience cramping There are many different symptoms that you might experience And what you experience might be unique to you It might not be any of those that I mentioned from before There are many different ones This is a time very often seen as a problem We often say, Oh the PMS, What an awful period I hate my period, I hate my PMS If only I could be energetic and feel great And have great skin all the time During ovulation and during my follicular phase PMS is a great time of self-reflection After we harvest the fruit This is the time when we sit down and look at the fruit And we say, Oh this is a great ripe fruit And I want to keep this And this is not great, I'm going to discard this So sorting and then discarding Sorting and discarding The metal element is associated with the time when we sit down objectively If you're tuning in, If you're an entrepreneur If you write, If you're creative This is when after being creative Exploring all the possibilities Taking action on them When you actually sit down and objectively assess the merits And the aspects that are not so great So that then you can improve in the next cycle And also you can find closure in this cycle Before moving into the next one In the life cycle, This is associated with perimenopause Or andropause So the time when you also hormonally A lot of people experience this transition And it's potentially a challenging time Simply because also number one The Chinese medicine society paints it as a challenging time In traditional Chinese medicine, This is not a challenging time This is as legitimate and as natural as the season of autumn Who tuning in loves the season of autumn? Many people love travelling to countries where there is autumn You see all the leaves in golden yellow and red, Different shades But this is when the leaves start to shed And they let go and the trees shed them from the branches Tammy has just shared in the chat Yes, Autumn is my favourite season Me too as well actually And took some time for me to reconcile with this energy I mentioned from before, Each of these seasons is associated with energy And emotions when in balance and out of balance So the PMS phase, What a lot of individuals experience at this time Is during ovulation, You might have agreed to a lot of things That were actually too much Maybe you took too much on your plate Especially if you're a giver Especially during ovulation, If you're a mother During the mothering phase, The earth element season Or early in the luteal phase Someone asks you to do something at work or at home And you're already overwhelmed But yet you said yes Because you think, Oh who else will do it? It has to be me Or I don't want to disappoint this person Or there's no way out I will have to do this anyway I cannot trust this person to do this There are so many possible reasons why But if that happened to you from before Likely during the luteal phase, This is when you will start to feel Why did I agree to do that? That is so out of alignment Or I'm already overwhelmed Why am I having to do this? No one is supporting me And then this is when you start to be self-critical Towards your own self So that's the inner critic The fire element is associated with the inner champion Which is like, Yes, I can do it I can show up in the world I feel powerful I am limitless Nothing is stopping me And then the inner critic This is the natural place of the inner critic In autumn season and in luteal phase This is when you start to feel You start to hear voices within yourself And some of us give names to these voices Where you feel like, Oh, I'm not worthy Or I will never succeed I'm always overwhelmed And I'm never able to communicate my boundaries properly Or I will never be able to be the kind of mother I'd like to be I will never be able to be the successful entrepreneur I want to see myself as in the world And when you notice these voices coming out during this time And any challenging physiological sensations, Emotions That are surrounding this internal negative self-talk Usually what happens is the inner critic surfaces As a protection mechanism Because of something that happened to you in the past So even though the inner critic Many of us, You might have a relationship with the inner critic Where you were taught to ignore the inner critic To silence the inner critic My encouragement to you is to be curious And to try to understand why the inner critic is behaving this way Why am I being self-critical? Where does this come from? Who did I inherit this voice from? Maybe it was from my upbringing Maybe my parents were really harsh on me Or maybe in the school that I spent 6 years in I had developed this mentality that if I did not do things perfectly I would not be worthy of existing in the world So notice where you've inherited all of this from And know that this also comes from a place of love and protection The inner critic within you wants to support you Wants to keep you safe And that is why it's doing that So at the 5th element, We reach out into the world And after the earth element That's when we then begin to spiral back into ourselves And this metal element is the first step towards the spiral inwards Which is why again, It is a transition like autumn Which can be a bit shaky And nowadays we see because of global warming Springtime is hardly ever really spring now And same with autumn Some days in autumn, Maybe even weeks Feel really unstable It doesn't really show or it happens too quickly And then before you know it, We're in winter time So this time is a great time to connect within To see clearly and to really hold yourself with kindness With love and if possible To be really honest with yourself And to see this honesty as a mirror And a reflection of a truth that is underneath the surface So usually what happens is for many of us The inner critic says something that is so harsh And it cuts through the heart But beneath what is on the surface There is usually some truth So how can we go beyond the hurtful words of the inner critic Or of your experiences at this time To unravel and see the truth of what happened in this cycle Or what happened in your relationship What happened at work What happened with something you agreed to take on What happened with your projects And use this as a potential way to connect With a sense of clarity and courage So that this informs you as you move into the next cycle And you want to also find closure at this time The metal element is an invitation to from out move in So you can begin to start to prepare to close this cycle And start the next cycle The emotion associated with the metal element When out of balance is regret, Is grief, A sadness And this comes from a place of What if I could have done things properly The launch was not as successful as I hoped And then you start to blame yourself You start to say that I'm not perfect I'm not worthy Or for example, You were not able to bring the kids to the play Even though you promised them And you were just so overwhelmed Knowing that you are not perfect Just as the cycle is perfect Nothing in the world is perfect We are in this constant cycle of improving, Of growth Of expansion, Of contraction It continually flows and goes So the truth of the metal element Is being able to let go of the things that are outside of your control And being able to have the courage to see clearly To embrace the essence of who you are With all your imperfections and all your strengths It is also the courage and the clarity to be able to see your experiences Even though they might be traumatic or they might be challenging But also offering opportunities for you to grow To expand, To move into new possibilities This is the idea of yin yang Nothing is absolute Via positiva, Via negativa Neither of these seasons Even though you might have a preferred season Is better than the other Even though society tells us elsewise So at this point right now We've roughly mapped the entire menstrual cycle On to the creative cycle And from the metal element We then loop back into the water element And then it continues into the next cycle I wanted to check in with all of you here To hear how you're feeling about this perspective And this angle with regards to the menstrual cycle With regards to the creative cycle Alexandra, I'm glad this is resonating with you I'm so glad to hear that I'll give a few more moments in case anyone would like to share And what I would really love to share with you I mean of course there's a lot of information that was shared in our cycle today But at the same time Instead of information Because information can be found so easily now With the internet, With our access to books To people, To wisdom online Instead what I want to invite you to connect with today Is insight, True insight through your felt experience And we don't receive this through our brains We receive this through our hearts Through our intuition, Through this sense of deeper knowing That I truly believe that all of us have this sense And that we can receive So I want to invite you to take a few moments To pause whatever is happening in your mind In your environment Pause and take a moment to let all of what we've shared in our circle today Including your questions, Including your personal experiences Including your memories, Your experiences with your menstrual cycle With all the beliefs you've held That maybe you have inherited from someone else From society, From work, From your relationships Take a moment to allow all of this to come into you And then with the next breath in Allow one thing, Perhaps just one thing to come to surface Maybe it is an insight Maybe it is a longing Maybe it is something you want to do Maybe it is someone you want to connect with Just one thing that you would like to bring with you As our circle comes to an end And know that this is a continued dialogue And I want to continue to share this work And I will be actively sharing the work of the creative cycle Again, The menstrual cycle is just one of the many ways to experience the creative cycle But I wanted to today on World Menstrual Hygiene Day To draw awareness to this topic And root this in the creative cycle To remind you and to remind myself and all of us That we are as legitimate as the moon, As a bird As springtime, As the unfolding of nature So you are a cyclical being How might you begin to see yourself and to treat your body in this way? And how can you flow with the seasons? If you live in a place with four seasons Maybe you eat seasonally Perhaps you might start to experience your menstrual cycle in the same way Noticing your fluctuating moods Your fluctuating energy levels Your shifting sense of self And your shifting sense of relationships with others and with the world So let's take maybe the next 5 to 7 moments in silence I will stop speaking and I invite you If it feels good for you You can let one hand rest on the heart The other hand rest on the lower belly area I'm going to send the breath from the heart down into the womb space And from the womb space, Imagine you send the breath back to the heart As if they are communicating to each other If your heart could speak to the womb What would your heart say? And as you breathe out, Send the breath from your heart down into the space of your womb And from your womb space, This watery space And let the message of your womb be sent back into the heart Let's do this for 4 more rounds Following your own rhythm Your own breath And you are welcome to linger here Allowing these 2 sacred spaces to connect And to communicate with each other When you feel you are ready to conclude this experience You can let both of your palms gently rest on the womb space On the lower belly area Acknowledging the space Maybe saying hi And then if your eyes are closed, Gently letting your eyes blink open If anything came to you during these couple of breaths And you want to share in our circle today There is in psychology what is called the advice giving effect When we give advice to someone else They found through scientific research that the person that benefits the most Is not the other person, It's ourselves Because advice is specific Let's take the next couple of moments If you were to give advice to someone you love Who is having a menstrual cycle What would you share with them today? Maybe 1 or 2 insights or personal anecdotes or experiences You want to share with them That you want them to bring with them into their lives Or into perhaps just a mixed cycle What would you want to share with them? Let's take a few moments to do that Tammy, Thank you so much for your donation Angela, Thank you so much for your donation and your presence here Alexandra says, I had some understanding of it But you created a huge, Colorful understanding of this monthly cycle That is so great Margie says, Yes, Thank you for this It puts life in so much perspective Margie says, I would like to, I would share to honour and listen to their bodies Thank you for sharing that, That is so precious to me And I'm so glad to hear that Let's give a few more moments in case If anyone would like to share Something you would like to share with someone you love To witness or to let them cherish And to cement in their practice and their lives Angela has just shared in the chat We are connected to something greater Beautiful Thank you so much for sharing, Angela Keep the space open for anyone who would like to share In the meanwhile, We will scroll back to the top To those of us who have shared our curiosities and our intentions At the beginning of the circle To make sure that I have addressed most of your questions So I think Alexandra mentioned Curious what actions or thoughts could be of benefit to me during my menstruation phase I think we definitely chatted about that Angela said how I can connect with an irregular menstrual cycle So the first way would be to track your cycle From day one, Day one is the first day of your bleed Until the end of the bleed Before the first day of the next cycle And do that for at least around three to five cycles To understand roughly what your cycle looks like And also if you are on birth control That might be quite different If you have just gotten off birth control For the first time, There are some women I work with Who have had birth control for a very long time Since adolescence until they want to start to conceive So once you do that Because your body has been ignoring these cycles for so long From these pharmaceuticals What happens is that transition phase might take some time So being kind to yourself as you start to transition And as these cycles start to begin to shift Then you track them and over time you start to notice Oh there are some patterns Maybe day 19 is often the day when I feel irritable or low on energy Maybe day one is usually a day where I let myself be So looking for trends and the more data you have The more you track and the more you observe and notice yourself The better you will become at predicting the next cycle At noticing, Oh okay, Before I even experience the cramps Before I even experience my lows or the anxiety I know it might happen I know this is when I will be most likely to feel this way So I set myself up well I make sure I have the resources in place So I take good care of myself before that happens So that is one of the most helpful ways I find Even if you don't have an irregular cycle For those of you who have a regular cycle The sense of awareness of where you are in that cycle, In that season Just like if we know autumn is coming We dress differently and we eat seasonally as well We don't try to act like we are in summer and go out in shorts And a tank top when it's extremely windy and cold So same idea and principle here Let's see, We have a few Tammy's question or curiosity from before Was connecting feelings and emotions I experienced throughout the month I think we talked a little bit about that In each of the five elements Each of the seasons of the cycle are associated with different emotions In balance and when out of balance You can start to notice your tendencies as they shift throughout the seasons Again, This is an archetype So your experience is the most important I would say that is the sovereign, The most important And then you can see, Does this kind of relate to me? Does this pattern and this structure or framework that I offered to you Does this correspond to your experience? Maybe yes or maybe not And then you start to use this to create your own framework That then you can observe over your next cycles Your next weeks, Months and years To notice and understand yourself better Because your experience will be unique Bri's curiosity from before How I can better manage energy throughout my cycle I think we definitely tapped into that We talked about how rest is really crucial And a basic human right during the period We talked about how for many menstruating individuals During ovulation, That is when many of us report being the most energetic Again, This might not necessarily be the case I've personally experienced times during ovulation Where I was absolutely wasted And this might be relating to other circumstances Or if during your previous period, Your last cycle You did not rest properly Or if you over exerted yourself during a certain time during the cycle Then that might not reflect a so-called typical cycle If you do have a typical cycle Everything feeds into everything else And Stephanie mentioned from the start That was recently off birth control and trying to regulate Improving my diet, Trying to minimize stress That is a very big transition Moving from birth control to off birth control If you are considering doing that And that is an option for you I really encourage you to do that Birth control can be helpful if you have an irregular cycle And you want it to be more regular But if you're hoping to conceive definitely a moving off birth control And being more aware of your cycle And working with your internal rhythms That is so important Paying attention to your body and allowing it And working with rather than controlling or working against it I think would be the most helpful We have a few more shares that came in Kim has shared that her sharing with someone That she would love from today would be To love yourself the most And put yourself first And take time for rest and self-care Yes, Be kind to yourself Tammy's advice to someone else would be To compassionately ask yourself What does my beautiful body need at this time of my cycle To find practices that best support your rest and well-being Listen to the messages your body is sharing with you That is so beautiful Thank you for sharing that Thank you everyone for being here And choosing to spend your time, Energy and presence with me I really believe that there are no coincidences And everything happens for a reason There are so many things you could be doing today at this time Yet you chose to be here And for all the circumstances and things that happen For this to be possible I acknowledge, I appreciate and I thank them Thank you to you, Thank you to Insight Timer Thank you to my partner, My dog Who has cooperated with us To make this circle possible My website is www. Wenlintan. Com And also on my website You will be able to find a page called The Creative Cycle Where I share more about what the creative cycle is How it might show up in your life How certain challenges that you are facing in your life Whether that is people pleasing behaviours Maybe you experience anxiety a lot Maybe you have a tendency to experience imposter syndrome Maybe you find yourself often feeling very, Very stressed And for example, You often experience distress As a result of feeling that you are not worthy And that everything has to be perfect Know that all of these are relating to specific elements In the creative cycle And that we can use the creative cycle To balance each of these five elements And also begin to find that sense of equilibrium That sense of homeostasis On my Insight Timer page You will be able to also find currently A meditation to connect with your wound To receive healing Especially if you have been experiencing painful periods This will be helpful for you There will be a new version of that being released I think fairly soon Maybe in the next week or the coming week That version will be a little bit better And that will be with music as well If you are subscribed to Insight Timer Premium You will be able to listen to that Otherwise, The free version which is currently now on my page You can access that for free On Insight Timer, There is a circle as well that I have Called Flow with Wenling You are welcome to join our circle In the circle, Usually I share updates on upcoming sessions I post about specific events as well And I also answer any questions that you might have Specifically relating to meditation or mindfulness Or any kind of experience that you are having That you would like support on So you are welcome to join that I wanted to thank all of you for being here I see you, I appreciate you I want to invite you to join me as we do the same gesture To close our circle today I will invite you to do the same check out We checked in at the beginning We had an experience, A journey Your own journey And now we do the check out We are going to bring our palms together In the front of the heart This is the Anjali Mudra Which means a prayer of gratitude and gladness And we take a breath in Forming a downward facing diamond In the front of the heart And then as you breathe out Send the breath from your heart all the way down To the space of your womb The source of your being The watery source of your being And inhale to bring it back to heart Let's do this two more times Two more times, Deep breath in Long breath out Send the breath down to the lower belly And inhale back to the heart One last time, Deep breath in From the heart Send the breath down to the root and the source of your being And inhale back to heart And from here, Gently and slowly Let your head bow down towards your heart Witnessing, Acknowledging this space And slowly and gently Letting your eyes, If they are closed Blink open If you would like to share Feel free to share three words That might be coming to surface right now As we do our check out As you close this cycle, This journey And prepare to embark on your other journey Maybe the rest of your weekend Or your entry into the new week Or your entry into a new relationship with your menstrual cycle Or your entry into a new relationship with creativity With life itself Simona, I'm so glad this was soothing for you I'll see you in the circle on Sunday Alexandra's words are grateful, Excited, Full That's so great to hear I'm going to take a moment as well To allow my words to surface And the words I've received are Curious, Unfolding, Possibility Let's see, Tammy's words are connected Supported and grateful Angela's words are grateful and open Kim's words are beautiful and loving I'm so glad to hear that You're very welcome, Kim Tammy says this is phenomenal You are welcome Thanks for joining in, Tammy You're welcome And yeah, Thank you so much everyone Huge shout out to Insight Timer Thank you for making this possible Thank you for holding space for us For connecting all of us The team is incredible And thank you to all of you Who have decided to be here with us To share your words, Your experiences Your presence with us today I hope you bring whatever gems, Insights Whatever new perspectives with you Into your next cycle And next cycles As you continue to spiral into yourself To spiral back out into the world I'm looking forward to staying connected with you Maybe next week In our Moving Meditation Creative Cycle Challenge Or perhaps in any other way On Instagram, Facebook, YouTube Through email, Through my website We'll stay in touch And I wish you a wonderful Cyclical, Loving and blessed rest of your weekend And see you soon