A Mindful Menstrual Cycle - Tips, Inspiration And Advice

Many things can impact the health of your Menstrual Cycle. In this podcast, Rebecca shares some really useful tips to help you to live with more self-compassion and mindful awareness of your cycle. She covers Stress Management, Food as Medicine, and the Practice of Yoga for a more mindful cycle. There are always little extra pieces of inspiration and wisdom in Rebecca's podcasts, and she always encourages you to self-reflect. It's time to lean into the changing phases of your cycle.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to your Mindful Monthly Cycle,

The podcast.

I'm Rebecca,

Your host and creator of your Mindful Monthly Cycle online wellness programs.

I'm here to guide and inspire you to embrace a more mindful menstrual cycle so you can benefit from improved health,

Wellness and vitality.

With this will come a deeper connection to the wisdom of your own unique body and a more enriched way of life.

I hope you enjoy this exciting journey of self-discovery.

In this modern era of greater self-awareness,

Inner healing and wellness hacks,

It's no surprise that more and more women are learning how to navigate their menstrual cycle with increased awareness,

Compassion,

Mindfulness and openness than ever before.

Mindful menstruation extends to mindful ovulation and of course a whole mindful cycle made up of the menstrual,

Follicular,

Ovulatory and luteal phases.

A woman's cycle is not linear.

In fact,

When in their natural and undisturbed state,

The four phases all overlap and interconnect to create what I like to think of as a beautiful symphony of hormonal harmonies.

A very poetic way of looking at it indeed but all part of the process of learning to love,

Yes love,

Everything about it.

Many things can support a mindful and healthy menstrual cycle but I'll briefly focus on three major things in this podcast.

Stress management,

Food as medicine and the practice of yoga.

I just want to firstly share a really inspiring and powerful quote from Laura Geirsten who is the Body Connection Coach.

A woman in touch with the wisdom of her body is a woman that will heal the world.

I just thought that was such a powerful quote.

It really does make you feel something inside.

A woman in touch with the wisdom of her body is a woman that will heal the world.

So it just makes you pause and reflect on just how in touch are you with your body which leads me on to ask,

As a menstruating woman how often do you really listen to your body?

Do you know what is happening in your body and when and what it needs to thrive through your cycle?

Do you suffer from PMS or chronic diseases related to hormonal health and your reproductive system?

Have you accepted this as your normal?

Do you notice patterns in your feelings,

Moods and energy levels throughout your cycle?

Have you asked for support from your doctor and felt unheard?

We know that knowledge gives us power and there's an inherent wisdom within a woman's body that has a power of its own.

When you choose to embrace a mindful cycle you begin to naturally unlock this wisdom.

So all four phases of your cycle can unleash their superpowers.

There's no resistance or suppression anymore and you become accepting of the natural changes that happen throughout your wonderful and quite amazing cycle.

You can make friends with and dance along with your feminine essence and truly be free in your wholeness mentally,

Physically,

Spiritually,

Energetically,

Emotionally and socially.

So let's look at ways in which you can lean into the changing phases and support them to improve your overall health and well-being.

In simple terms how does stress impact your hormonal health?

When you're in a state of stress your body prioritizes this survival system over everything else.

Cortisol,

The main stress hormone,

Serves a purpose in that it supports us in the on-the-go state when we need to be productive.

It wakes us up in the morning and increases blood sugar which then enables your brain to be fueled and alert.

It's an essential hormone that we rely heavily on when things need to get done.

So it's not all bad.

However some people live in a state of what is known as chronic stress.

Think of that on-the-go state but all day every day.

When this becomes the normal state a person will be so used to it that they don't realize they're in it.

I come across this a lot with my face-to-face clients where they'll openly say it is their normal and sometimes they've been in this state for their entire life and then in later life there comes a very difficult menopausal stage.

This is a separate topic for a future post but right now if you're in a state of chronic stress or you regularly feel stressed and find it difficult to relax let's look at ways to manage this and why it will help you and your symphony of hormones.

Overworking.

Are you someone that works after hours,

Takes work home with you or thinks about work when you're not in work?

Does work make you feel stressed and under pressure?

Do you dread work because of the way it makes you feel?

Do you thrive in work and enjoy it but struggle to let it go and be in the moment outside work?

Do you have regular breaks during your working hours?

Are you a yes person?

Why not set healthy boundaries in your working life to make things more balanced and manageable?

This goes for being self-employed too.

Although it can be challenging if you're new to setting boundaries,

Honestly they really are the key to managing work stress but you really need to be disciplined and consistent with them.

You are the only one who knows where your individual boundaries should be and if you don't have any the chances are you'll find yourself in moments of unnecessary stress.

Boundaries are also important outside working life.

Can you learn to say no when and if you need to?

This really is empowering and will reduce your stress levels.

It's never too late to set boundaries.

It's a huge part of self-awareness and development and I get really excited in my work when I'm working with an older lady,

Perhaps in their 60s or 70s and they're just learning to explore and set boundaries when they've gone their entire life without having them.

It is really exciting to just to see that positive change when they do set boundaries.

Worrying.

If you anticipate and ruminate about what might happen in the near or distant future,

Stop is a good simple mantra to say out loud or in your head when your mind wanders off into stories that make you feel stressed.

Notice your jaw throughout the day.

When it's tense this is usually a sign of overthinking and mental tension so focus on being more present and living in the here and now.

Feel into the layers of your body and notice how much more relaxed your muscles are when you are present.

Notice your breath flow with more ease.

Use the awareness of your breath as an anchor to keep you grounded,

Soft,

Relaxed and in the moment and there's always that uplifting Bobby McFerrin song,

Don't Worry Be Happy.

Sing along and counteract worry with joy,

It works every time and your singing voice is a self-healing tool that signals to your nervous system that you are safe.

Over exercising can lead to excess cortisol and adrenaline.

Stress management is very closely linked to exercise management.

We need the right balance,

It's about finding what is right for your individual body.

We're all different.

To be in hormonal harmony your body really wants to build and balance your reproductive hormones so be mindful about your exercise regime and listen to your body.

Perhaps choose light exercise such as yoga and leisurely walks in the lead up to menstruation and during your period.

Your body will thank you for it in more ways than one.

When your nervous system signals to the rest of your body that it's safe,

Only then will your reproductive system be able to function optimally.

The production of the reproductive hormones will then be prioritized and you will experience more ease throughout the cyclical changes that happen in your body.

This safe zone also triggers a rest and repair state that has many more benefits for the other systems of your body and your overall health and well-being.

Calming and soothing activities and practices like mindfulness,

Nature walks,

Meditation and general relaxing really are another medicine for hormonal health.

The issue we have is that we've never really been encouraged or conditioned to do these things and live at a slower pace.

So now we must encourage ourselves and this is real empowerment as we get to decide what our body needs and when and we put things in place to ensure these things are prioritized.

Then eventually they become a non-negotiable.

Like any lifestyle change,

It takes time for it to become ingrained and a deeper rooted part of your ever evolving self.

You are what you eat right?

This age-old saying really does ring true.

With the correct nutritional advice,

You can use food as medicine to help you maintain a healthier cycle.

For example,

In the luteal phase which comes after ovulation,

Your body is building progesterone and this peaks at around day 21 of a 28-day cycle.

You can support this by eating progesterone stimulating foods such as broccoli,

Cauliflower and other cruciferous vegetables,

Whole grains,

Beans,

Kale and spinach.

During this time,

Oestrogen levels should be dropping and cruciferous vegetables can support this due to them containing certain phytochemicals that reduce oestrogen activity.

When oestrogen is abnormally high,

It can actually cause heavy and painful periods,

Fatigue,

Weight gain,

Fibroids and low mood.

Your gut health is intrinsically connected to the health of your cycle.

I often find that women with chronic diseases of the reproductive system also have digestive issues.

When we heal the gut,

We can heal other areas of the body.

After all,

The food we digest is the fuel that becomes our cells,

Tissues and organs and the body is constantly renewing,

Repairing and healing and growing.

The right food is as important as sleep,

Exercise and rest.

You can find out more about nutrition for hormonal health in my free ebook.

Follow the link in the episode description,

Scroll to the bottom and you'll see the instructions to download this there.

Yoga as a lifestyle rather than a one-off practice can set you free and heal you in ways you never thought possible.

In fact,

A yoga lifestyle would incorporate all aspects of a mindful menstrual cycle as it is a holistic approach to living life.

With this comes greater self-awareness,

Balance,

Harmony,

Health and vitality.

You naturally want to eat well,

Rest well,

Move well and be well.

Instead of wellness being something to work on,

It almost becomes who you are.

I will discuss this more in a future podcast but feel free to reach out if you feel drawn to this or get in touch if you yourself have benefited from a yoga lifestyle.

Yoga doesn't have to be a very physical practice at all but then it can be when and if it feels right for you and you can vary your yoga practice depending on where you are in your cycle and certain postures and sequences bring specific benefits that can support you during each phase.

During the follicular phase for example,

There'll be higher levels of testosterone and cortisol due to oestrogen being on the rise.

This means you'll have more energy and feel greater strength and stamina.

It's during this time when strengthening exercises can feel really good and you can take advantage of this by working your body in ways that build on your physical and mental strength.

You can also move in ways that release the feel-good hormones which is the antidote to those excessive stress hormones.

See how everything ends up linking together when we have more of a holistic approach to health.

I hope this has inspired you to love your cycle and learn ways to embrace the changes that happen within your ever-changing incredible body.

Let me know if you ever get to experience that beautiful symphony of hormonal harmonies and please bear in mind we're looking at a holistic approach to healing the body and I haven't covered everything.

This is just scratching the surface so we've got multiple layers within the system and sometimes we can have disease in the body and imbalances that are not related to something physical or to your lifestyle.

They could be related to something on an energetic or an emotional level.

There could be stored trauma in the body.

So we're learning more and more about trauma and the impact that it has on the body and how our body is holding our entire life story.

So if we've held on to things from the past and it's stored in the body we need to find healthy ways of releasing that.

So again lots more to cover in future podcasts and I will be having some fabulous really inspiring guests on which I'm really excited about so do stick with it and if you'd like to join your Mindful Monthly Cycle wellness program then follow the link in the episode description.

There is a discount code,

Use the code MINDFUL10 for £10 off.

You can find out all about it on there.

I hope to see you in there soon on the forum or you can contact me by email and just to let you know on a personal level all of this that I sort of promote and talk about now it's because of my own journey.

So where I've got to in my own journey I want to share it with you in my work.

So everything that I talk about it's sort of I do practice what I preach and I get excited about it when I can share it with other people because when you feel something working on such a powerful level in your own body you've probably experienced this you just want to shout it from the rooftops and you want to heal the world with your knowledge and your wisdom.

So I'm still on this journey myself.

I'm learning lots of different aspects to mindful cycles and cycle awareness and womb wisdom and all those nice things related to a woman's body and yeah I love to hear from you and I love to share my stories.

So do tune in to future episodes and I look forward to connecting with you soon.

Thank you so much for listening and being part of this growing community.

If you enjoyed this episode and found it useful I'd be so grateful if you could leave a five star review and share the episode on your chosen social media platforms.

You can find all relevant links in the episode description and I look forward to connecting with you again soon either online or in person.

Reviews

Loved this - thanks so much Rebecca! Some great insights and advice that I think would benefit everyone to learn more about