I am a Woman and I Love Being a Woman!
For centuries, maybe even millennia, women have been made to feel shame (WHAT!?!) for being a woman.
This is probably why women don’t talk about their periods…
Men don’t have them.
They can sometimes soil our clothes.
They are grouped in with “bathroom stuff” that no one wants to think about or discuss.
We do ourselves a great injustice when we adopt this attitude. There is so much more to a woman’s period than the bleed itself. The bleed is the culmination of a series of physiological processes which allow us to perform one of the greatest feats of the human body- pregnancy and childbirth!
The way I see it, this sacred process should be held in the highest regard.
When My Heart and Mind Started To Change
I came across a book on women’s cycles called In the Flow by Alissa Vitti shortly after giving birth to Gideon Grace. My friend and fellow teacher at Elemental Yoga, Virginia, turned me onto it. At the time, I was beaming with newfound pride every time I looked at my baby girl.
After experiencing the growth of a tiny human inside of me, then going through the arduous process of a natural birth and then feeding her from my own body, I was elated to be a woman.
So I was all ears when Virginia shared her own experiences in applying the teachings from In the Flow.
I was so intrigued by the information that I first read the book on my own. I then studied it for several weeks with my Ayurveda group this past August. It was fascinating but had to remain a study rather than a practice due to not yet having my period.
A woman's menstrual cycle tends not to come back until about 6 months after the baby is born. This is nature’s gift of birth control so a woman doesn’t have two babies right on top of each other.
The Return of My Cycle!
The more I learned about syncing with my cycle, the more eagerly I awaited the return of my period. My last bleed was July 2022. I went 458 days without a period and then one day it finally came back. Gideon was six months old on the money!
When my period came back, I immediately started applying the lifestyle suggestions from In the Flow.
Because the bleed portion of the cycle is when a woman’s hormones are the lowest, it’s important to rest, take baths, eat warm and hearty foods, and make sure the body is getting as much sleep as it is asking for.
That is precisely what I did.
The six months leading up to the return of my cycle were a whirlwind. Well not the first forty days. When Gideon was first born, I chilled for about a month. Really, I could hardly walk.
Pushing a baby out of a small hole is hard work!
But once 40 days had gone by, I flipped a switch. I went from two baths and day and laying in bed for most of the day to working sixty hour weeks. I dove headlong into studio improvements and teaching a lot more classes.
I felt called to work harder than I ever had before. I had many nights of only a few hours of sleep in which Gideon slept next to me while I worked tirelessly on my computer.
So when my period finally did come back, I stopped working overtime. Instead I worked the minimum amount necessary. I took more baths. I slept with Gideon every afternoon. I taught the online meditation class and then crawled back into bed with Michael and Gideon.
And guess what?
When my body stopped bleeding, my energy came back. Because I took the rest my body was asking for, it was ready for the next thing when it arrived.
The next phase of a woman’s cycle after menstruation,follicular, is one for creativity, planning and organization. I felt this urge kick in right away. I received tons of inspiration and new ideas all week which leads us up to the present moment. And I can’t wait to roll out my new ideas with you! (So stay tuned. More to come on that later)
Our Cycle is a Gift
The world has called a woman’s menstrual cycle a curse. But since my own pregnancy journey, I find it hard to comprehend that we ever felt this way.
Yes, our hormones fluctuate and sometimes we have oodles of energy. At other times, like the bleed, our hormones are at their lowest and all we need is a good cuddle.
Instead of trying to show up in the exact same way to our lives every day, we have to modulate our life-force and choose certain times of the month to focus on energetically aligned tasks. No one can do it perfectly. But we can make little tweaks that add up to a big difference over time.
Our cycles are a blessing! We can all attest to the fact that life gets boring when we do the same thing day in and day out. Our cycles give us the permission we have always sought not to have to do the same thing or feel the same way all the time.
Nature has four seasons- spring, summer, fall and winter. The four phases of the menstrual cycle- follicular, ovulatory, luteal and menstrual correlate accordingly. There is a time for everything. And if we don’t recognize the right timing, things start unraveling.
In Conclusion
To be a woman is to partake in the regenerative life cycle. The female body is a portal to life. That which was unmanifested becomes manifest through us! Spirit is breathed into matter inside the female body!
We grow life inside of us. Then we continue to feed that life with our bodies even after it is born. To be a woman is to be and partake in LIFE COMING INTO BEING.
God in all his/her infinite wisdom placed this responsibility on the shoulders of women.
To be a woman is to be a living breathing miracle.
Women, let’s never again doubt what an amazing role we were given in the creation process.
Do You Want to Know More About Your Cycle and How to Live in Conjunction with It?
I must say I didn’t actually develop a passion to study and understand the ins and outs of my female anatomy until after Gideon was born- a.k.a. very recently. So if you feel grossly undereducated about your cycle, I was in the same boat as you only six months ago.
The first draft of this blog had a 600 word description of the phases of the menstrual cycle and how to apply them. But upon reading and editing this article, I decided this information is 1) Easy to find and boring if you aren't interested in it. And 2) You can join the book club I am starting in January 2024 or 3) Just read the book on your own for way more details.
