The Menstruality Podcast - 123. Wild Power #5: The Two Energy Dynamics of the Menstrual Cycle (Alexandra & Sjanie)

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

Welcome to number five of our bonus Wild Power series. These ‘round-the-kitchen-table’ chats with Alexandra and Sjanie were first released when we published Wild Power: Discover the Magic of the Menstrual Cycle and Awaken the Feminine Path to Power. They unpack the book’s teachings through powerful, practical and funny real-life stories and examples. Today we're diving deep into an exploration of the "cosmos" inside you. We reveal the basic pattern of this cosmos - the two energy dynamics (the way of the Feminine and the way of the Masculine) - that form the underpining of your cyclical life journey.In this episode you’ll:Learn about the energy dynamic of the menstrual cycleDiscover the two creating currents that underpin your initiatory journey through the menstrual cycleAnd how you can come into right relationship with both the Masculine and Feminine within you---Registration is now open for our 2024 Menstruality Leadership Programme. You can explore the curriculum here: https://www.menstrualityleadership.com---To get a free copy of Wild Power to gift to a friend, we are offering a buy one, get one free until 21st December: https://www.redschool.net/product/wild-power-book-bogof (We’re also offering the same deal with our new menopause book, Wise Power: https://www.redschool.net/product/wise-power-book-bogof )---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email [e-mail]---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardy

Welcome to the Menstruality Podcast, where we share inspiring conversations about the power of menstrual cycle awareness and conscious menopause. This podcast is brought to you by Red School, where we're training the menstruality leaders of the future. I'm your host, Sophie Jane Hardy, and I'll be joined often by Red School's founders, Alexandra and Sharni, as well as an inspiring group of pioneers, activists, changemakers and creatives to explore how you can unashamedly claim the power of the menstrual cycle to activate your unique form of leadership for yourself, your community and the world. Hey, welcome back. Thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you for being part of the community gathered around this conversation and this work. Today we have our fourth episode of our special Wild Power bonus series. Alexandra and Sharni recorded these conversations way back in 2017 when they first

published Wild Power and in it they unpack the book's teachings and they share eight nuggets of cyclical wisdom to help you harness the power of your menstrual cycle. If you'd like to get a copy of Wild Power we've got a special offer on at the moment where you can buy one get one free until the 21st of December in case you'd like to get one as a gift for a friend over the holidays. We're also running this offer on our menopause book, Wise Power, and you can go to the show notes for the podcast at redschool.net forward slash podcast to find your link to get your second free copy. A little note before we start, the sound quality isn't so good with these conversations so please bear with us with that and these were recorded before we started using

more inclusive language around the menstrual cycle so when Alexandra and Shani say women know that they're referring to women and everyone who menstruates. Okay let's get going with episode five. Welcome to the Wild Power series, where each week we share one of eight nuggets of feminine wisdom to support you to harness the power of your menstrual cycle. I'm Sharni and I'm Alexandra and we're the founders of Red School and the authors of the soon-to-be-published Hay House book, Wild Power. Discover the magic of your menstrual cycle and awaken the feminine path to power. Today's episode is called The Two Paths to Discover the Cosmos Inside Your Body and this episode, you'll learn about the energy dynamic of the menstrual cycle. You'll discover the two creating currents that underpin your initiatory journey through the menstrual cycle. And you'll learn how to come into right relationship with

both the masculine and feminine within you. One of the things we love to do with women before we start anything is a cycle check-in. So take a moment now just to think about the day of the cycle you're on. Come up with a couple of words to describe the main tone, energy and theme of your cycle day. And if you're listening to this live you can share where you're at in the Q&A box below or pop into our Red School Facebook page where you'll be able to see Sharni's chart art showing her cycle check-in and you can comment and add yours if you fancy hashtags you can tag us on Love My Cycle. Let's get started. Well, in the last podcast, we described to you the great initiation process that women go through,

through our menstruating years, from menarche to menopause, and how that's played out through each menstrual month. And in the podcast today we're going to explore the energy dynamic that underpins this great initiatory journey of ours, the energy dynamic of the menstrual month. What is happening each menstrual month? Now, I want you to think of the menstrual cycle as having two poles to it. I think of them as the north and south pole of our being. And menstruation is one pole. Let's call that the south pole. And ovulation is the north pole.

And they're like the anchors of the cycle, aren't they, Shana? They're like the stabilizing points of the cycle because something happens there. At menstruation, you bleed. At ovulation, you release an egg. And so there is, yes, it's the sort of like points of reference, you know, anchors is really the best word, isn't it? And then in between these two poles, we think of our spirit as travelling. So there's a stability at menopause and ovulation. And then as we move from menstruation, moving up to menopause, our spirit is in transition. We're moving from menstruation

up to this phenomena of ovulation, the egg releasing. And then equally from ovulation to menstruation, we're moving from the releasing of the egg to menstruating. So the pre-ovulatory and the pre-menstrual times are more dynamic. There's more fluidity. And we're going to explore the particular tone of both the poles of the cycle and then the particular quality of energy that happens in the first half of the cycle and the particular quality of energy that happens in the second half of the cycle and the particular quality of energy that happens in the second half of the cycle so why don't i describe what happens at menstruation shani and then i'll let you take off and describe that do you want to pick up and describe the first half

of the cycle and i'm being very because i want to describe the second half. The second half is all yours. That's my favorite. You've invented. Having crossed the menopause, you've invented. I can talk about the menopause. So the other key thing we want to say here is awareness is everything. Awareness is the activating force. Now, at menstruation, your awareness is all drawn inwards.

And what this does is that it activates your inner world, your inner life, and it activates the spiritual world, the world behind the world we see on an everyday basis. So we talk about the inner lights and the outer lights. And at menstruation, it's like the inner lights all start to blaze. They come alive. And I always think of, because we're in winter at the moment. I love it at night when I'm out walking the dog and it's already dark because it gets dark so early and all the house lights are lit up. So there's this lovely inner warmth in all the houses but it's dark outside. Well it's a bit like that for us at menstruation. Our consciousness is taken deeply inside and our inner world comes alive and our connection to the spiritual worlds comes alive and it's like the lights inside the houses and the outer lights of the mundane life of what we do and everything and

all that dims that goes quiet and then i'm going to say over to you shanin you pick up now what happens as you move as we move out of menstruation up to ovulation. So as we begin moving from this south pole anchor up towards the north pole anchor, there is a rise in the outer lights. The outer lights slowly begin to turn up and our inner light slowly begin to dim down. And as Alexandra said, this is really about a shift of awareness. So menstruation, our attention is very inward. So what starts to happen is we begin to look out a little bit more. There is a shift in our awareness to begin to start to take in some of the world around us as the lights begin to turn up, much like the dawn of a new day with the sunrise where the light starts to illuminate the detail of life and the colors and the textures. And,

you know, just like with with dawn the whole world starts to wake up and there is a stirring and an activity that begins to start movement that starts to happen just like we kind of stretch as we wake up in the morning there's this feeling kind of rising up from our slumber that is the energy that starts to stir in us as we are moving through this first half of the cycle, building up of energy and shifting of our focus upwards and we begin to become more engaged with what is happening around us. This can feel quite light and playful. There can be a sort of easiness to this energy. It's like the dawn of a new day. We're fresh.

We feel unencumbered. There is kind of hope and possibility and potential that lies ahead of us. Classically, it's quite a sort of uplifting feeling, quite youthful. It's like surfing a wave, isn't it? It's like surfing a wave. It's like surfing away it's like surfing away and ride it through yeah and it can have that quality of effortlessness and of being carried it's moving you towards something and it can be quite a nice pace to that enthusiasm and natural motivation as you move towards ovulation also just to add that it's that rising energy

is like an inner yes to our being this big affirmation of ourselves a big big affirmation of ourselves that's the best way to put it yep so we're reaching population now and we're at the peak of the outer lights time so this is where our consciousness is most present to what is happening out in the world and we are least connected at this time we're not disconnected although we could become disconnected if we're not mindful. But we're least present to inner world in this moment in the cycle. So our inner lights are really dimmed now. But as I say, the outer lights are blazing.

So it's like high noon, following Shani's example of the day. It's high noon. it's high summer, and you're kind of on top of the world, really. And your own needs are quiet, are quiescent. And of course, therefore, you can just be all things to all people at this time. It's a lovely energy. Okay, so the outer lights are blazing, the inner lights are dim. And now we're just moving into the second half of the cycle. And this is the fun moment, isn't it, Shadi? Where we start to reverse the process that we did in the first half of the cycle. So what's going to happen now is that the outer lights are gradually going to get dimmer and dimmer and it's a bit like of course what happens as we come into the autumn of the year and the days get shorter and shorter but the inner light start to come up more and more. So we leave ovulation and we begin our, I suppose I want to say descent here, into the dark.

And it feels like a descent into the dark because if we're very attached to the outer lights, it can really feel like we are losing something. But actually we're descending into the light the light of ourselves the light of the spiritual world so the second half of the cycle as you shift from these outer lights to the inner lights opens you up to a more expanded consciousness that's what the inner lights are about. That transition from the outer lights to the inner lights can be a tricky one, can't it, Shani? Because one thing, and you know this very well because of course you're a menstruating

woman, you feel it every month. I know when you're ovulating you are so superwoman, you're in, sorry, when you're ovulating, you are, you know, you are so superwoman. You are invincible. You are extraordinary what you take on. And I see you each month, you know, making that transition from just being super mom to suddenly having to negotiate moving from being out there to being more and more in yourself again. Would you love to say that? It's like a sudden reality check moment suddenly suddenly I'm like oh wait a minute I can't keep going like this just sort of there's this dawning realization that you know it's enough really is the feeling I get and when I didn't used to pay attention as closely, I would feel like I was hitting a wall or I would feel a bit undone by it.

But now that I'm really tracking it, I can kind of shift gears with it. I can feel it moving and I kind of don't wait until it's too late. I start to pull back and slow down and say no more often. But you're right, it can be a really important point in the cycle. I see you doing that actually really well. It's lovely how you do it. This is the most challenging time for most women because we don't recognize this process of the light changing and different things being emphasized in us. And particularly, perhaps the toughest moment in the whole cycle

is just before we menstruate. That is truly the darkest moment, the darkest hour of the whole cycle. And for that reason can be the most dangerous if we're not aware of it, not conscious of it. And that's where women can feel particularly bleak or depressed and struggle or feel very negative towards themselves. And that's the sort of shadow side or the challenge of this dark time in inverted commas because what is really powerful and what we teach in our work at Red School is that this dark is in fact the light. This is a wild thought.

Hang in with us. Light with a capital L. And we won't say too much about it here because we talk more later about it. But what happens is that dark is actually the outer lights. The outer lights have all gone out. There is a moment where the outer lights all go out and you just forget your place in the world. And you think, who am I?

Where am I? But if you can just steady yourself in that moment and you'll find the inner lights come to meet you in a great blaze of glory. Yeah, it is a bit like at that point in the cycle, like your will peters out and your pushing strength comes to an end. And because you no longer have the energy or the will to keep going it alone, something, if you're able to surrender to that, something deeper can take over. That's kind of the grace of it because you've run out of steam. And so you begin to rest in the arms of the greater river that is carrying you.

That's a beautiful phrase, Shani, just the way you said that. It's gorgeous. You surrender into that greater river that has been there all along. Suddenly you have no choice. You have to give in to it and it catches you. It's beautiful. So then, yes, we are returned to menstruation again. And now, of course, we are just deeply plugged into the inner worlds of ourself and into the spiritual consciousness.

I'm just going to pause this episode for a moment to share another inspiring story from one of the graduates of our menstruality leadership program this story is for you if like me you've got a very strong loud persistent inner critic Soraya Sheikh shares her story of how the menstruality leadership program helped her to transform her relationship with this really difficult inner voice that so many of us can be quite crippled by. The doors are open to register for the 2024 menstruality leadership program now. The program starts in March 2024. There's a webinar at menstrualityleadership.com, which you can watch to get a real taste of the program. Again, that's at menstrualityleadership.com. Okay, I'll hand you over to Soraya for a couple

of minutes before we get back to Alexander and Sharni. One of the things that changed for me during the menstruality leadership program was I was finally able to experience my inner critic as my greatest ally. Alexandra led an inner critic meditation in which we were given the time to listen to our inner critic and what I learned during that meditation is that when I'm not being authentic and when I'm not speaking my truth my inner critic will come out in full force and for me that would happen by my inner critic berating me and giving me a lot of negative self-talk but now because I am living my truth because I am being more authentic and I am doing what I know I was meant to do in the world my inner critic has stopped shouting at me and has stopped being mean to me she now converses with me and she gives me feedback and it's a constructive criticism that she gives me. So we have formed a truly deep and nourishing bond. All I can say is that out of all the training

programs I've done in the last 20 years, of all the self-help programs, of all the energy work, I would say that the menstruality leadership program is by far one of the most life-changing and transformative programs I've ever done. Because our menstrual cycle is unique to us, even though the teachings that Shani and Alexandra pass on might be the same how I interpret it is very different to how another person interprets it so that the reason I absolutely recommend the menstruality leadership program is it is tailored specifically for you and you will get so much out of it you will grow so much as a as a person as a soul as a being and in the words of alexandra and shani menstrual cycle awareness will restore a And I wholeheartedly concur with that statement.

This is what's happening for you through your menstruating years, month after month. You're going through this journey of moving from the inner lights being amplified to the outer lights being amplified and this is the most amazing psychological workout exactly as we mentioned in our previous episode this is the initiatory process at work in our menstruating years so kind of just to recap, we've been talking about a kind of a few different layers to this, this dynamic that underpins our menstrual cycle. You could think of it or understand it in terms of, on the one hand, this expansion that happens from menstruation to ovulation, this expansion, this growth. And then on the other side, from ovulation to menstruation, a contraction or a disintegration or a breaking down that happens.

So the expansion and the contraction. It's also a shift of energy from active on the one side, from menstruation to ovulation, active, your energy growing, you feeling more energized, more full of vitality. And then on the other side, there is kind of a petering out of your energy and a kind of more receptive state that you move into. And then the other level, of course, is what we were talking about, which is to do with awareness. So you're shifting from being deeply internal and very connected to yourself and your own needs at menstruation to ovulation, to really being engaged with the world around you and connected to those

around you and your inner needs and your inner life is a little bit quieter. So those are the kind of dynamics that are underpinning that. This is something that you've said before, Shani, which I really like. You talk about menstruation, and you may be able to say it better than me, actually, as being where you're most embodied in your spiritual world and ovulation you're most embodied in your material life i don't know is that have i caught it right and you said it so well yeah that's that sounds pretty spot on to me yeah it's that in in a, those two poles are the places where our divinity and everyday reality come together. And at menstruation, we feel really rooted in this kind of in the spiritual forces and the subtle forces. But at ovulation, our capacity to really connect with life and feel a part of life in a more worldly way it's it's much more activated

in our kind of everyday life to be of service actively of service to life um in that place so they're they're they're kind of like opposite sides of the same coin in some way aren't they they are they are indeed and it's about our capacity to integrate those two through our menstruation so that at menopause there is, in a way, an extraordinary coming together of those two. They sort of marry up. Shall we say just a little bit, Shani, about what we talk about as the two veers? There are these two creating currents to the cycle that fit onto this map that we've just described of the light, the changing light. And we talk about something called the via positiva

and the via negativa. And the first half of the cycle is very much the via positiva time. And that is another way of talking about the way of the masculine and it's about an energy or power we have that's to do with being able to shape our world to it's the power of agency isn't it to go out and do things and make stuff and set goals and be very proactive and pragmatic and impose our agenda on the world and it has an egoic quality in a really healthy good sense it's a very wonderful power and a very necessary power and it really this the via positive oh and which you ride this power this creating current this way of creating you ride in the first half of your cycle and it really helps you to go out into the world and go this is is me. This is who I am.

This is what I do. It helps you to go out and really manifest stuff. It's absolutely a super energy. And then you move into the second half of the cycle and you enter into the second creating current, which we call the via negativa. And this is the way of the feminine. And this is the way that is so not understood well in our society today. We do really valorize that via positiva. We don't know how to celebrate the extraordinary creative power of the via negativa,

which is about your capacity to come into relationship with. It's about the power of encounter, where you come into relationship with things and's about the power of encounter where you come into relationship with things and co-create. You are learning to co-create. So it's not about you imposing your agenda, it's about you learning to unfold what wants to come through. So it's about working in collaboration with, to birth something new. The via negativa allows you to really birth new ideas, new things that have never been known before, and to work with others to unfold something.

Its way of working is much more subtle, and we use the terms courting and fishing don't we Shani instead of imposing an agenda and saying this is what I'm doing you have to kind of go you have to listen and respond draw something out and it's a fabulous power to have or skill to have because it helps you to work with the unknown. The via negativa unfolds the unknown. The via positiva cannot do that, but it will produce stuff. And actually it isn't about one being better than the other. They're both utterly crucial and vital and work together.

One doesn't exist without the other. They both need each other for each to have the full brilliance. And that just gives you a little taste of these two extraordinary forces, the via positiva and the via negativa, the way of the masculine and the way of the feminine. And you as a woman are graced with the opportunity to experience these two vias each menstrual month. You are being educated in them. You're learning how to ride them. You're learning how to manage their unique powers. It's amazing.

And, of course, we go into a lot more detail on it, don't we, Shani, in the book, in our book, Wild Power. But you are. You're getting this kind of personal tutelage in these two archetypal creative forces that are the two creating currents of life. You know, some of us will feel much more at home in one of these vias. Naturally, we'll find it more comfortable. It's the thing we're kind of naturally good at, the place we shine. It's our sort of default position, if you like. So Alexandra is a classic via negativa woman. That is her natural home. That's where she, you know, her natural strengths lie. But for you, it might be something different. So

that's the first thing, you know, we suggest you just take a moment to reflect on is which, as you've been listening to this, these descriptions of these two creating currents, which one do you kind of lean towards? Which one feels more familiar or more comfortable or more effortless or more you? We'd love to know one way of thinking about it is am i more comfortable with in the first half of the cycle or the second half of the cycle you know some women just love that first half of the cycle and they just get a bit undone by the second half of the cycle and then people like myself didn't quite know what to do with the first half of the cycle but we hit the second half of the cycle we could totally know ourselves we know what to do with the first half of the cycle, but we hit the second half of the cycle and we could totally know ourselves and we know what our business is and we feel like we're home.

So we talk about having a natural home in the cycle, don't we? Yeah, brilliant. That brings me to my next point, which was about menstrual cycle awareness, which you've now heard us go on about in previous episodes. But it's through menstrual cycle awareness that you can really come to discover what your relationship is to these two vias. So you may already know the answer to those questions or you may need to go off and do a little bit of exploration in your practice of menstrual cycle awareness. Something, a question to ask yourself is which current of energy do I feel I am currently in?

Am I in the via negativa flow or am I in the via positiva flow right now? So just clock that in your charting and in your kind of journaling and then notice what your relationship is to those places. And that's a way for you to get to know what your natural home is and get some insight on where your strength is and also where you struggle, where your challenge is so you know certainly over the next week between now and the next episode pay attention to where you are in your cycle now you may even want to do this today is just check in and say oh which current of energy am i in today and over the coming week notice which one you're in and what that's like for you it's a good little

experiment to do over the coming days and also what's really fun is to notice the crossover moment where you suddenly feel oh i'm leaving one i'm entering the other that's kind of really fun to feel you can literally feel how you're being it's having to negotiate the shift from one to the other and you'll often have a very particular day where it might happen. It's kind of fun to know that, actually. That's a really good idea, because in a way, those are the most pronounced moments, is when you shift from one to the other. There's a sort of jolt.

Well, that's how I experience it, a bit of a jolt in my system. So it does call for your attention. It's a really good way to start to notice system. So it does call for your attention. It's a really good way to start to notice it. That's a great suggestion. Beautiful. So what we've described here today in this podcast is a description of these two creating currents that form the inner cosmos within you. So as you come into relationship with these two creating currents, you really start to step into the inner cosmos of being a woman. And there is so much richness that then starts to unfold from being able to live inside that cosmos more and more. And in subsequent podcasts, we're going

to go into more and more detail on this inner cosmos but today we've given you the first kind of framing that holds this cosmos so get to work right away with familiarizing yourself with it these are the two arms if you like holding the process holding your thank you for listening all the way to the end of this fourth special bonus episode we're actually going to have a short winter break on the podcast over the next couple of weeks and we'll pick up the wild power series again in january with the final three. As a reminder if you'd like to buy a copy of Wild Power and get one free for a friend too you can do that until the 21st of December. The offer is also on on our menopause book Wise Power so please go to the show notes for this podcast at redschool.net forward slash podcast to find the link to get your free second copy. Okay, I'll be with you again on

Thursday for the final episode of this year. And until then, keep living life according to your own brilliant rhythm.