“Menstrual cycle awareness, what?”
If you had told me you were practising menstrual cycle awareness a couple of years ago I would have been like “menstrual cycle what?!”. My awareness of my cycle was limited to the monthly surprise at her arrival; a frantic scrabble around for a tampon. I was completely out of sync after years on-and-off the pill. My education around menstruation was confusing at best. It consisted of an awkward teacher showing us a confusing, grainy video and my mum plonking some sanitary towels on my bed. This less than adequate education left me feeling disempowered, and to be honest, a little bit freaked out. On top of this we are exposed to weird adverts where we are encouraged to carry on rock climbing whilst the advertiser’s trusty product soaks up the monthly bright blue liquid we apparently produce! Seeing periods in pop culture was no better.
It’s no wonder that I (and I am sure many other women) am left feeling like our bleed is something to hide, ignore and be ashamed of. This pits us against our bodies as we ignore her cries for us to slow down and nurture her. Instead we push on, living our lives to the beat of this patriarchal society’s drum. The results of our wellbeing can be catastrophic with lots of women feeling drained, overwhelmed and totally burned out.
Reconnecting with our cycle
Not great hey, but luckily there is another way. A way where we are honouring and listening to our bodies rhythms and cycles. In doing this we can create a vehicle for massive transformation in our lives. In a stroke of luck, I was introduced to the amazing book “Wild Power”. Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo write that “as a woman you are coded for power, and the journey to realizing the fullness and beauty of that power – your Wild Power – lies in the rhythm and change of your menstrual cycle”. Here began my love affair with charting and journaling around my menstrual cycle. It felt natural to be connecting with my body and learning to communicate more deeply with it.
Charting
So let’s get into what menstrual cycle awareness means. Menstrual cycle awareness is basically getting curious about your cycle. They say that information is power and charting is the ultimate information gathering exercise. With all this knowledge you acquire, the more you have to live a life that syncs up with what your body needs to flourish. One of the main tools in menstrual cycle awareness is charting your cycle. As well as making a note of what’s alive for you emotionally and physically on each given day. There are some resources to help you get started with charting here.
Inner seasons
You would start charting on the day of your cycle – day 1 being the first day of your bleed – and notice what comes up for you as you travel through your cycle. In any given month we move through inner seasons. Winter will typically be from day 27 to day 5; spring, day 6 to day 11; summer, day 12 to day 19; and autumn, day 20 to day 26. These are all approximate as each woman’s cycle and inner seasons is as unique as she is.
Through regular charting you will start to notice commonalities in your experience at different times of the month. Life becomes a beautiful, cyclical process with different seasons, allowing you to sink into and explore different aspects of yourself. For me, I know that summer is the time when I feel the most energetic, confident and sexiest. I plan my life accordingly, scheduling in meetings and date nights to make the most of the flowing, in-line with the energy I exude in my inner summer. I tend to be more introspective and sloth-like during my inner autumn and winter. In these seasons I plan in lots of rest and alone time to really nurture my body.
Life before charting
I am pretty shocked when I look back at the days before I had relationship with my cycle. There were so many times when I would fill my diary full to bursting around the time of my bleed. Then I would wonder why the next month things wouldn’t turn out how I wanted and why I ended up feeling drained, disheartened, and to be honest, pretty p’d off! In a world where we spend a lot of time in our mind concerned with ticking off our to-do lists, the act of developing a practice of checking in with ourselves and our bodies on the daily can be so empowering and life changing. It allows women to get in touch with their individual rhythms and live in sync with them.
Menstrual cycle awareness magic!
But don’t just take my word for it though. Rhia, who has been practising menstrual cycle awareness for a year, tells us her experiences of charting her cycle:
“As a woman entirely comfortable in a society that so reveres the Via Positiva (the doing and busyness), I saw no merit in down-time, self-care or reflection. So, as you can imagine, it took some convincing that the natural inclination for rest and repair at my menstrual time could be a positive to embrace and not a nuisance to overcome. I began to chart my cycle and I really enjoyed having my days come to life with the evocative seasonal metaphor. So, if you have been living in the concrete jungle of constant growth and ignoring the cyclical nature of all things, I urge you to tap into the natural flow of your unique menstrual cycle and harness your wild power.”
If you’re not already, give menstrual cycle awareness a go and let us know how you get on in the comments.
Recommended resources include:
1. Red School
2. Grace Hazel Podcast Episode 18
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Written by Caroline Fearns
Illustrations by Francesca Mariama
