The Power Of Cyclical Living
Aug 31, 2022
"Women's Moon Wisdom"
You've heard it on my podcast and seen it on the top of every webpage within my website and blog - but have you ever thought to yourself, "Okay, but, what does that mean?"
Which is a great question and I would love to dissect it a bit!
Think of women's moon wisdom as this innate knowledge and power that we carry within us through our cycle. It's the opportunity to lean into what has been called "Cyclical Living" or "Cycle Syncing".
Cyclical living is recognizing the cyclical patterns and insights that can guide you in making more mindful choices each day. So in other words, tuning into each phase of your cycle and shifting your lifestyle to be in alignment with your hormonal strengths during each.
For those of us with female biochemistry, we have two clocks. One you're probably very familiar with is the Circadian Rhythm, the 24-hour clock our body runs on. And we also have what's called Infradian Rhythm, which is our 28-day cycle clock. An infradian rhythm just means any type of pattern that's longer than 24 hours. So seasons can be an infradian rhythm, the tides are an infradian rhythm, the lunar cycle is an infradian rhythm, and our own inner lunar cycle (menstrual cycle) is also an infradian rhythm.
It actually affects six systems in the body. Our 28-day cycle affects our brain, metabolism, immune system, microbiome, stress response system, and reproductive system. Did you know that your cycle creates a 25% change in your brain chemistry over the course of the month? Fascinating, right? And your metabolism speeds up and slows down predictably within the month, making it really necessary to change how we eat and what we eat and also help change the intensity of our workouts each week just to help optimize our metabolism.
In addition, your cortisol levels (our stress hormone) are higher in one phase of your cycle, the luteal phase. So pushing yourself through an intense workout during this phase could actually bump up your cortisol levels even further, which then leads to more stress and more inflammation in your body. Which then disrupts your hormones and makes you feel even more anxious and unfocused.
In your ovulatory phase, the verbal centers in your brain are highly active. So it's a great time to have important conversations. So maybe asking for a raise, or scheduling important meetings that you're going to be communicating or even negotiating things in.
When you live in greater alignment with yourself, you are realigning to your true nature and inner guidance system. It will guide you in making choices that give you the greatest sense of power, of confidence, and ease. And honestly, it'll give you a heck of a lot of grace to navigate the ups and downs of life. And I feel that cyclical living is just the most powerful way to live in harmony with your body's natural rhythm so you can step into the life of your dreams just as the best version of you.
So when you are thinking in the late part of your cycle, "Why do I not have as much energy?" Or "Last week I just could get so much done. Now I'm just drained." You'll know that are reasons for that: the fluctuations of your hormones are directly altering how you navigate life. You'll have a greater understanding of how your cycle affects your focus and creativity, sleep patterns, the types of food that you crave, the types of food that you need, or exercise preferences. It can even affect your endurance and pain tolerance.
It's important to note that whenever we start to talk about lifestyle shifts, there can be this hesitation or pain points. Cyclical living isn't about shaming yourself and trying to fix yet another thing that you feel is "wrong with you".
Not at all.
This is about rediscovering and remembering this side of you. There's nothing wrong with you. You're a natural cyclical being. It is time for us to all learn about this aspect of ourselves with cyclical living.
Think of it as more of this framework. It's not about "You must do this during your follicular phase." or "You must do that during the ovulatory phase." It's really about getting in tune and realigning what you're already doing in your life. Simply identify one area of your life to shift just enough so that it is in alignment with your hormonal strengths and what your body needs in each phase.
Also - cyclical living isn't just for women who are still in their menstruating years. For any reason that maybe you're no longer menstruating, whether it's post-menopause or, if you're on hormonal birth control, you're postpartum, or perhaps you had a hysterectomy - aligning with a cyclical pattern will help you reconnect to that part of you that is divinely cyclical. And for a lot of women, it can help heal and help us navigate the stories that we've been told, or we've told ourselves over the years about being a woman.
Knowing the hormonal and cyclical advantages during each phase of your cycle is going to help you navigate life with just a bit more grace and ease. Even just the fact that you'll become more body literate and have the insight to navigate your daily routine by using your cycle is huge. How to listen to your body, how to work with it, not against it, to even just know what's happening in general, and at a more specific level is a huge thing. We're gifted with this body our whole life. Knowing the ins and outs of your cycle is going to feel empowering and cyclical living is will allow you to recognize your emotional patterns so that you can make more mindful choices each day.
Take Advantage of your Hormonal Strengths with this FREE Cyclical Living Journal Prompt.
You. Empowered by YOUR Female Biochemistry.
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