The Menstruality Podcast - 179. How to Begin the Year, and Everything Else, with Cycle Awareness - Replay (Sjanie & Alexandra)

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

As we enter 2025, we explore what menstrual cycle awareness can teach us about how to begin things well. This is an episode we recorded a couple of years ago, when we were each navigating a bumpy beginning to the year, and we used this as a lens to explore how the deep intelligence within the cycle is guides us through life’s highs and lows.Whether you’re wanting to start the year with intention and a clear vision, you’re in the midst of a new beginning such as a new job, a new relationship or creative project or you’d like to learn how to work with your cycle as an ally for all the beginnings of your life, this episode has both deep insight and practical advice. We explore:The implicate, deep intelligence at work in the cycle, and how it lays an the archetypal blueprint for all beginnings. How each of the five chambers of menstruation prepares us to start new things.Practical ways to look after yourself if you - like us - find beginnings challenging!---Receive our free video training: Love Your Cycle, Discover the Power of Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Revolutionise Your Life - www.redschool.net/love---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 to the Menstruality Podcast and happy new year. Welcome to 2025. I hope this year brings beautiful things your way. And today I'm sharing a conversation I had with Alexander and Sharni at the beginning of the year, a couple of years ago, because it's as relevant as ever, because these cycle teachings are amazingly timeless. And in the conversation, Alexander and

Sharni walk through how they use their decades of cycle awareness practice and teachings to start the year ahead beautifully. As you'll hear, we had all had a really intense experience coming up to the winter break. I had been living on a building site with a toddler, which, oh my goodness, I don't recommend. And Alexandra and Sharni had been guiding a powerful menopause initiation in the wake of writing, publishing and launching their Wise Power Menopause book. But I know that 2024 felt pretty rough for many of us. So I sense there'll be lots in this that's relevant for anyone that had a rough experience last year and is ready for something different in 2025. Well, Happy New Year, you two. This is literally the first time that we're sitting down together. Yeah, we wanted to do this podcast to talk about beginnings, to talk about why they're so important and what the menstrual cycle can

teach us about them, about doing them well. And we're going to look at it through this collective beginning that we're all inside of, of the beginning of the year and the beginnings that we're each inside of in our lives but before we get to that let's start as we always do with a cycle check-in maybe Alexandra you could kick us off oh no I'm going shit where's the moon um already I am swearing this is not a good start to the year. But to be honest, I am organized right now by the starting of our working year and the nervousness I feel around the things that we have to do and create. So how am I today? Well, I'm in good cheer connecting with you, which is really lovely. And I'm feeling good hearted. And, you know, I was feeling nervous about the start of this working year. I did actually, in a sense, begin working a couple of days ago. So I'm still a

little bit of red school work just on my own as a way of segwaying myself in. So it's not too much of a shock this morning to sit with you, but I am not entirely stable, I'd probably say. Very shiny. You didn't start working two days ago. Hell no. I am feeling the shock of sitting at my desk and having the computer on and yeah it's more about that in a minute but day 11 is where I'm at and in many ways thank goodness because there's some resource in my system I I've got energy. I feel good in my body.

I feel a lovely kind of round connection with myself. I feel, you know, I feel really all over myself with myself. It's a lovely, lovely place in my cycle. And the thing that's dominating for me as well is this new beginning of our working year and the feeling that's most present in my body is one of nervousness. I feel really almost short of breath, shaky. Oh, like I want to bounce around in my seat and I feel like I need the toilet constantly. I want to wriggle. Yeah. I feel nervous. There's a lot of charge in my system. Yeah. Would it be fair to say that you can sense that something really big is at work in the world now when it comes to menstruality and that's what's

driving this shakiness in your system oh so yes sophie it's to do with the enormity of what's possible what we're on the brink of what I feel I'm being asked to step up to, what is required of humanity. It's all that. It's like the stakes feel high. And that's why I feel such nervousness and anticipation. And I feel small in the face of it. I'd really, I want to hear your cycle check-in Sophie but what I would love to come back to this because it's so pertinent to new things and I have to second what Shani has just

said yeah let's definitely come back to it it's funny that I forgot to do my cycle check-in because I'm on day 18 and I'm really in the full swing of summer. The card I picked this morning was outer focus. Well, on one level I was going to say I haven't been doing a lot of internal work, but I actually have been over this winter break. I've rested after this shitter of an autumn I had at the end of last year this four months of living in a building site with a toddler was absolutely frazzled me and I really got to rest over the winter break every time Artie had a nap I just slept and watched The Good Wife on TV which is such a good series

for anyone that wants something new to binge and read books and journaled and fuck, I needed it. God, I needed it. So I had a winter, I had a big bleed, like an eight day, 10 day bleed and I'm really restored.

So there has been a lot going on on the inner realms. But yeah, today I'm feeling very outward focused on a summertime high, resilient and gratefully so. But yeah, let's come back to this, the nervousness that you're feeling at the beginning of this year. Yeah. Well, I feel like I want to talk first about the lovely holiday we've had. Is that because you want to stall for the new beginning? Hardly and it's also part of my strategy because there is something very nourishing about kind of leaning into the seed of the new beginning and the seed is of course that empty space that rest that we've all had which which we've, you know, isn't it great?

We just closed the doors on Red School. We all dropped our tools, walked away. No one looked back. We all disappeared. We didn't even have contact with each other, really. And it was just so good to experience the ending of the year through spaciousness. What I always notice, which I really enjoy, is I come back to this place in me that is really playful and creative and imaginative. It's like all the layers of responsibility fall away, all the pressures,

all the things that occupy me fall away. And I discover this aspect of myself which is so fun and funny it's so nice I just want to I just want to relish that for a moment longer and just yeah how good that was and it felt like being in this womb of infinite holding and which is why when your message came yesterday Sophie Jane you dropped us a message and this was my first like burst into the year of work your message went something like hey you two so we're still on for 9am for our podcast about new beginnings. And your message landed in my bubble of bliss, like a sharp ray of light. This is how I feel in the morning, Sophie-Jane. It was this feeling like I'm wrapped in the warmth of my bed in the cocoon of darkness. And your message came through and it was like somebody had ripped open the curtains and the flaring light came pouring in. And it was just too blinding and too shocking and too real.

Just like, oh no, God, no, I can't, can't do that. It obviously set me off into the whole process of new beginnings. And I thought of myself as a babe in the womb. And I'm sure this is what I experienced because this feeling, this body memory is so strong for me of being in utero and feeling the endless, infinite love of holding, having endless supply of all I need and just the eternity of that, the rightness of that. And then this imperative to leave that place and go into the world and the harsh reality and the kind of hitting of the real world where people have forgot infinite love and people have forgotten infinite abundance

and oh yeah it reminded me of that and I often think about how our birth experience has a sort of imprint on our psyches that plays out through the experience of all our new beginnings there's something for me about the pressure I think I was born under, the force I was born under that has brought to surface this kind of resistance in me. Like I don't want to be pushed into the new beginning. Even when you showed up to this conversation, you were like, maybe we need to pee one more time. Let's chat about beautiful gifts we got and all that yeah but I have employed a lot of strategies I mean as Alexandra knows you know new beginnings are my ultimate bit noir they are my nemesis and because of that they've become my speciality

because you know anywhere where we struggle it attracts our attention and we get to really learn things about ourselves and that's been my experience I mean even coming out of menstruation has undone me so often that I've learned such mastery around this so I have been employing all my skills I'll have you know so even as I'm still nervous I'll always be vulnerable in new beginnings but I have much more ground yeah I have much more holding and there is a part of me that is online very much online I just love listening to you Shani it's great the way you articulate beginnings and it makes me laugh because of course i've lived so many beginnings with you yeah with you avoiding and faffing and i'm like a freaking

greyhound in this thing waiting to be released from the stalls at least that's with our creative project it's not as simple or as black and white as that but i do like new beginnings but it depends i that there are sort of conditions around it for instance right now of course yes i'm in this beginning of completing endings is so important and the truth is i have not had sufficient time to complete and of course it's just in the intensity of last year but also what it took to write the menopause book and i feel a bit sort of wrung out the trouble with this christmas break was that i knew what was looming in jenny and i found it quite hard to let go fully so the importance for me of having spaciousness around new beginnings which i don't feel i've had for instance when we run our in-person training when we were running

we don't run it anymore i used to have to have that week essentially off or and i had to have done all the preparation way before so I didn't think about it and then I knew the moment I stepped onto the ground of the new place you know having given myself tons of spaciousness I could feel the pleasure of of doing what we do and the excitement of teaching and connecting with people but and but to cross that line is just so massive. And it affects my sleep, you know. So I then get nervous because if I haven't slept, then I feel tired. So there's a lot of anxiety in my system.

And true to form, I had anxiety yesterday and it affected my sleep. And I had to be very disciplined this morning to get myself lined up. And I did, actually. I was proud of myself. So I've essentially been negotiating starting work today a few days before just to set myself up well. So although I'm feeling a bit ragged, I am also feeling a settledness because I prepared myself. And it does rather tie into what Shani was saying about the enormity of new beginnings, which I think we can cycle back to. There are a couple of things you said, which I think are really important to tease out I mean the one was about

the necessity of having a good ending in order to begin well and my listening partner who I was speaking with earlier this week she said it so succinctly she just said beginnings are contained in endings and I thought yeah ain't that true? And the other thing you said, which I have really come to understand, is that when we're talking about new beginnings, we're actually talking about this line that one must cross. And that there is actually, it's this void place that you're negotiating. I always used to think of new beginnings as that experience of having crossed that line and being in the flow of the new. And oh my God, that is just bloody blissful. I mean, who doesn't love being up and off and away with

something new and exciting and glorious? I mean, that is, well, I imagine lots of people love that, but it's this line, this void where you are no longer in the bubble of the holding of what you've been in. So if we look at our cycle intelligence, the bubble of menstruation, you're in this lovely cocoon of let go and surrender and you're really held in that and then before you actually return there is this wobble ground where something has to be stripped away you're made permeable, you're made vulnerable, you're made really tender, and you haven't yet landed in the new. There's an unknownness about what's to come, sort of between these worlds. And this is the place that is so precarious and so, this is the place that undoes me. And when I was younger, I used to override this because it was awkward. It was uncomfortable. I would just push through it, much like how I was pushed into birth,

being birthed. I would just push through it, override it and kind of fling myself into the new world and sort of fake it, override the awkwardness and the clumsiness. But what you said there, Alexandra, that's the real challenge with new beginnings is crossing that line. And I often think of us and our cold showers, because both you and I love having cold showers, right? And getting into a cold shower for me is always a practice in crossing that line, how there comes this moment where you just got to fucking do it. You know, you've done all the like preamble, the faffing, it's like, you know, you've done the body, then you've just got to step into the flow of cold water and it's that that's the moment I think that is so profoundly challenging to our psyches because it's such a risk it's such a leap

it's leaving the safety of what we've known and kind of going into the unsafety of what we don't know yet yeah what you're saying is is helping me understand the beginning that I've been thinking about as I've been dreaming into this conversation which is how I'm still at the beginning of motherhood and it's a long beginning oh yeah you know I'm I'm a two year old mum. And I have felt in a state of undone-ness for basically the last two years, because I'm inside this big beginning of motherhood. But then there are so many new beginnings all the time inside motherhood. You know, I went from the physical strenuousness of having had a C-section and recovering from that whilst learning how to breastfeed a baby. So breastfeeding and then sleep deprivation and

learning how to live in a totally sleep deprived body and then negotiating becoming a working mum and being at the beginning of that journey. And now he's a toddler. And so and being at the beginning of that journey and now he's a toddler and so I'm at the beginning again of learning how to manage my own inner toddler when he's feeling a big emotion and all I want to do is tell him to shut the fuck up you know it's beginning after beginning after beginning and And I don't like it. I don't like not being good at things. I don't like being a novice. Yeah. I like knowing what I'm doing. And I don't bloody know what I'm doing here inside this great long beginning. And thank God for cycle awareness, because and for my connection with you two, which keeps me really

plugged into this, because you remind me and I'm so grateful to just keep moving tenderly Soph which I forget about in my inner summer and inner autumn usually and then I the bleed resets me and then inner spring reminds me oh geez you know you're navigating something big here Soph just take it go be kind to yourself mate be kind to yourself yeah i'm just really reflecting as you're speaking it's very moving hearing you describe that process of motherhood and in beginnings we are vulnerable but how we begin is everything for what unfolds so i mean i'm thinking of you and how you're cherishing arty's beginnings into the world because you know that you know what happens in those early years for him for any child sets the tone for their whole adult life on all levels what happens in those first months year two years lays the template and that's why you know whenever we're beginning

something and i keep thinking of that of when we were doing the in-person stuff because it was always so real for me then how the importance of having time to negotiate all the elements of what was involved and for me it was navigating the connection with people, navigating being in a new physical place. And the crucialness for me of not rushing any of that, even down to when we begin the very first session, I would have to mess around. I often would say to them, I'm just messing around because I'm just trying to find the groove to connect with you all.

And I couldn't come in and go bang yeah let's nail this you know I'd be you know as you know like Shani who's faffing to find her way in I would have to negotiate my way it's the same when I was running a workshop or something or even online actually there's this kind of negotiation I have to do i do not want to just come in switched on because i'm needing to hold thread of myself because that's the source of everything and i'm feeling into the thing that i'm engaging with so in this instance it's the human beings i'm working with you know the energy field of what's there i'm negotiating my way in and i'm now thinking also of when we start a new creative project i want to come in feeling even as i'm nervous you see this is because I'm dealing with that nervousness feeling that connection with myself but I I'm having to feel my way into the spirit of the

project and yeah so even though I tease Shani about her faffing I'm going to tell a story here and it was a good learning we were starting writing wild power and i'm much more confident about my capacity to deliver on deadlines now but writing when we came to wild power i was very very nervous and this was such a new beast and i had gone down to visit sharni in worthing which was living in worthing and we had this week together and and i you know it was like we have this week we've got to know, it was like we had this week, we've got to milk it for all it's worth, you know, we've got to really nail this beast that we've got

with this book we have to write by a certain date. And Shani was, you know, well, faffing. Although we just, it was like, I don't know, what was it like? I can't think of the analogy, trying to drag her to sit down to start. And do you know what? I don't know where it happened. We just decided to go.

I said, let's go for a walk. Or we just went for this long, long walk. And we dropped, completely dropped the agenda of the book. And here we had to start writing this freaking book. And we walked and we walked and we walked all along the seashore, walking, walking, walking. And in that process, we walked our way into the book. It almost moves me thinking about it now.

So though I teach Shani about her faffing, I actually appreciate that it's actually part of us. It's part of our process of negotiating our way into something even as I want to hit the ground running I have respect for that and what we it was really powerful wasn't it Shani because we kind of walked our way into the spirit of the book and we almost started downloading the book and we got this real clarity about the intentions we wanted for the book. And then when we came back from the walk, instead of starting writing the book, we spent the rest of the day writing out all our intentions and vision and prayer. We kind of did all this process of it was like a ritual in the end.

Yeah. Freaking amazing. Yeah. in the end yeah freaking amazing yeah I'm so glad you shared that story because that really taught me something about beginnings that I've now I always apply which is the thing you said about remembering that you're in negotiate you're negotiating a new relationship when you start something like a creative project or anything. It really serves you to take time to receive that new relationship before asserting one's own agenda. And part of the FAF is just creating empty space,

dropping one's agenda, almost moving out of the way to feel what's coming towards us. And then the agency part, and this is where I did this this morning, and it really helped me, was I find myself then in the center of this new relationship. So I'm feeling what's coming towards me. And then I'm checking in and going, right, what am I wanting? What do I want to create? And what is this thing asking of me? And ritual is such a powerful way to negotiate new beginnings because number one, you're making the new beginning conscious you're making it explicit but also what you're doing is you're energetically really aligning both yourself and the vision the kind of inspiration of what you're creating and doing and the spirit of the

thing that you're creating so you're setting up this I want to say like a an energetic temple or an energetic infrastructure it's beautiful and you then create this thing from within and it's it kind of sets you on a um a good path that then sustains you I mean this is what I find as as you go through the creative project or whatever it is you're creating, be it motherhood, there is the sense of alignment with yourself and presence with the other

that you keep coming back to. There's this atmosphere of like ground and holding that I find to be essential. In fact, when we don't do this, things don't go so well. They don't go so well. Yeah. Okay, I'd love to share an invitation with you

if you haven't joined us already. There's a free annual visioning online retreat that's happening on January the 14th. It's called Your Menstrual Cycle, Your Oracle. And Alexandra and Sharni will be guiding you for two and a half hours of deep rest and rejuvenation. It's all about dreaming and playing and creating and visioning your way into 2025, guided by the intelligence of the menstrual cycle as your own wise oracle and guide this retreat will work for you whether you currently have a menstrual cycle or not so please come along if you're in menopause post-menopause and pregnant breastfeeding

have health challenges like if you don't have a cycle for any reason this retreat is for you and it really isn't your usual annual planning retreat it's actually an invitation to step out of thinking and strategy mode and ease into resting back into your own innate wisdom and listening deeply to it so you'll leave nourished revitalized and plugged into menstruality and your connection with your menstrual cycle as a loyal source of guidance for the year to come. It's on January the 14th and you can sign up for free at redschool.net forward slash oracle and it would be wonderful to see you there. Feels like what you're describing, Sian, is such a beautiful antidote to what you talked about at the beginning when you were younger, when you would fake it and push through the beginning and I think there can be a tendency

to just rush through because it's uncomfortable and we don't like that wobbly feeling of being like a newborn deer that can't walk on these unstable legs exactly but instead it's sort of energetically feel what you're doing is like pulling it apart teasing space to craft this this temple in which you can actually be with yourself and all of the vulnerability through through the process yeah exactly it has also everything to do with remaining connected with the vision or the inspiration what what what your why you know why you're doing something yeah and um because once you get into the the new thing once you begin and and we must talk about the crossing the line moment as well because that like facing the blank

page or facing the empty canvas is you've still got to face that even once you've done all this ritual there's still the cold light of day that you have to look at but um there is something about because inevitably new beginnings they're awkward as we said they're vulnerable we feel tender we make mistakes they're very experimental begin new beginnings are messy they are messy they just are messy but if you have this ground in yourself and you're really connected to your prayer your intention what you're doing why you're doing it and you're present with the thing you're creating it suddenly becomes much bigger than you and there's a much bigger holding for you it's just so relaxing to be around someone in that state like I'm thinking

back to when I did the MLP with you two in person and I distinctly remember how you began the first session and how you really began every session, there'd be a pause. And yeah, you would feel your way in. And I could feel you relating to us and to the group whilst holding your own ground. It's a powerful leadership move and it's relaxing to be around instead of someone, like you said, who charges in, right, we're at the beginning, let's go. And that's not real because that's not what beginnings feel like so the truth the yeah the transparency of that was what is so relaxing to be around I just want to say it's really nice hearing that feedback actually about how it felt soothing for you yeah it was rare. Yeah. Let's look at this inside the order and flow of the menstrual cycle. Let's talk about what the menstrual cycle actually teaches us about.

How it's setting us up for new beginnings and what it teaches us about new beginnings. See, and I'm struggling with the new beginning of this question right now. I don't know what words to find. It's totally OK for it to be messy that's my number one rule with new beginnings embrace the awkward yes I think I think I have to say I have to embrace the faff that can be the title of this episode embrace shani's fabric yes the the menstrual cycle is magnificent in tutoring us in beginnings and of course it's all about menstruation because the stages of menstruation what we call the five chambers of menstruation, are a kind of masterclass in what's required in both endings and beginnings. Because what was it that Claire said?

The beginnings are... Oh, the beginnings are contained within the endings. Yes, the beginnings are contained within the endings. Yes, the beginnings are contained within the endings. Exactly. That's it. And how you have to really, the crucialness of sort of consummating each stage of the process to set yourself up in a coherent way for the new thing. Because otherwise you just set off with incoherence. And that incoherence then plays out you know this is chaos theory isn't it you know the butterfly flapping its wings i am such an

expert you know on chaos theory just my specialty um the scientist that i am uh you know the butterfly flapping its wings creating the tsunami at the other side of the world and so on. Well, this is our butterfly moment, flapping our wings. You know, what are we setting off with? So let's just look at the stages that have to be consummated. So you've got to end something. So the first chamber of menstruation is stepping away stepping away from the world the void what we call the void um separation uh to just pull away to to sort of

really name that something is over i mean that's in a sense a ritual in itself yeah the letting go the letting go to say that is done and uh and then the next crucial stage which i alluded to right at the beginning which is rest and just nothingness you need and you don't there's no thinking to be done you know shani and you know our holiday you know we i mean we don't communicate we we just we don't want to think about work we absolutely don't want to be worrying over it or we just want to walk away from it completely and just drop and rest and the importance of having that because that time um both to complete but also you in the rest you're setting yourself up well for the next for for the beginning you don't want to be coming at your beginning completely exhausted it's not a good feel um so rest that's the second chamber of menstruation surrender as we say just letting go

and then the miracle of new life that starts to happen the sense of some kind of restoration that happens is sort of waking up of something a possibility of and it's actually in that rest i am i am just not present you know i'm gone and that that third chamber which i now confuse the menstrual chambers with the menopause chambers what's the third chamber of menstruation called renewal renewal that's right because it's we call it something else. Renewal. That kind of waking up of one's spirit, you know, when you've had a really good rest and you feel kind of new possibilities starting. And that sort of is an indication that there's chi back in your system

because you want to come at the new story, the new beginning with energy. Yeah, it's like this fertile ground that you then have. Oh, yes. It's a fertility is how I think of it. Yeah. The fertile ground in which the seed of the new can be planted, which is actually the next chamber, the chamber of visioning.

It's like the seed of the new can be planted because you are nourished and rested and available and soft and open and receptive and uh let me just pause on this for a moment because i want to say something about the seed of the new is so potent and so perfect and so complete the entirety of everything that is to be unfolded and birthed in the world is contained within that seed it is a perfect blueprint for the full unfolding of whatever is to come like an acorn seed holds within it the blueprint for the whole fully grown mature acorn tree. So this is really good to remember is that there is this potency that new beginnings hold and that's very kind of precious and yeah and and it's uh it's a it's a connection to deep source yeah so yeah sorry i interrupted

your flow alexandra so that's the fourth chamber of menstruation. It's perfection what you're saying, Shani. I just want to really hold this moment because new beginnings hold this extraordinary power, potency and if we rush if we're rushing if we you know we have to kind of switch on just like that um we can lose our connection to ourselves and therefore the line to that the depth of that potency it that's why this it's so important that's the vulnerability piece it's it's intense everything is there and at the same time it's incredibly vulnerable you know we've had to be vulnerable to go through that whole process of renewal and to feel the power of that seed we need that vulnerability and we've got to care for that vulnerability as we in a sense begin the work the beginning you know step into the new beginning with the seed that we have to work with as you were talking, Shani, I was feeling how one of the major quiet ills in our world is this feeling that we're not enough. into our innate enoughness that's always there which you know throughout the day throughout the

weeks throughout the months is very restorative and it creates a kind of resiliency that we need to move through the wildness of our times that's um beautiful sophie yeah and what we're alluding to here is the necessity of being able to pace everything it's this loss of spaciousness this need to be permanently on going and not to allow these transitions so our fifth chamber of menstruation is what do we call it we call it clarity and direction oh that's right yeah and and it requires pacing it's so interesting because you have you know and this is where uh i'll grudging admit Sharni's faffing is helpful because, of course, I am so charged by the charge of the inspiration. I have also been working it, by the way, for a long time beforehand. So I am actually ready to come out of the starting blocks.

This chamber is actually the void this is what we were describing earlier this is the negotiating of the crossing of the line moment so that this final chamber is the most uh precarious a bit like separation and this is the chamber that i notoriously have struggled with. So, yes, the importance of pacing to hold the line to yourself, so we don't lose that sense of worthiness, as you've just said, Sophie, and to the spirit of our project or whatever it is we're beginning, to hold the line to the poesy of it,

because actually that is the thing that's going to fuel us too it's going to inspire us direct us fuel us nourish us and give us and i want to say and give us confidence just pointing to what you said about that enoughness sophie there's a confidence that we feel when we're that connected and it's not a human confidence it's it's a natural confidence it's nature's intelligence exactly it's a safety in trusting the creative impulse of life that works through you you know that works through you yeah and I can trust when I'm inside the heart and spirit of what I care about. And in a sense, that's what I had to do these last couple of days because I've been completely outside of the work, you know. And listening to, I was doing all this preparation work and listening to our teachings, our recordings and things. And it was so good. And I was feeling my way in and having lots of creative thoughts.

And then I started to feel more soothed. And like, I could feel, I could feel again, this is the worthiness piece, my own authority, that I could feel my authority with this work. Oh, yeah, yeah, I know this stuff. I'm rooted in something very, very deep and very meaningful. And I could feel all that filling me up. And that has helped me to now meet what we have to start to do.

So it's put me inside something so this pacing keeps you connected to the spirit of what you're about and what's happening in this fifth chamber is we are creating a bridge between the vision the seed, the divine possibility that we've touched into, and the real world manifestation of that. That's what's happening in our psyches. We're starting to create this, we're starting to take a thread of that, and kind of tease it into the fabric of the real world. It's like bringing it from the divine perfection that it is and sort of starting to tease something of it into our everyday world. It's like that first process of landing something. That's what's happening in this chamber.

And in our cycles, often we experience it as a very mundane hit of knowing something that we must do you know we often talk about it as just getting this direction of like oh I must call this person or oh I must go and file these books away or oh I should reach out to so and so you know there's a like a practicality to it because it's that process of bridging the dream with the reality um it's so beautifully intelligent but we have to be going slowly to catch that direction and to to sort of find that clarity that thread this is often where people lose the plot and i often lose the plot here that we can talk about strategies in a bit and i'm thinking the crucialness then of doing that thing because it's the act of doing something committing it that that actually is the crossing

the line act it's like i've crossed the line by doing that action and the moment you start something you just find one thing to do to kick it off whatever it is then the ball starts rolling because one that one thing you do initiates something else it's amazing how it happens one one step uh is a step on the path and uh which reminds me i've created a another playlist sophie oh so good someone asked for that someone yeah yeah yeah and asked for it yeah i i had to uh i had to do part two after our songs for endings. I've got songs for new beginnings. And one of them really speaks to this step-by-step piece. See if you can spot the tune.

It was actually somebody on our menstruality leadership program who shared this song for new beginnings. I thought, oh, my word, that is brilliant because it is about one step at a time and that step then leading to the next. And that's so easy to forget new beginnings. We feel like we've got to get there all at once. But yeah, just doing one simple thing.

Yeah. So let's get practical then and look at how we can support ourselves to cross the line, whether it's the start of the day, you know, waking up like you said, Sharni, and the light coming into the bedroom, or whether it's where we're all in right now in the start of the year, or starting a creative project, or going on your first date with someone, or any new shaky beginning. Yeah, I'll name some of the things that we've shared so the first one being spaciousness it feels like this whole conversation really has been about how spaciousness

is our ally in new beginnings yes in all transitions to be fair yeah we said the same thing for endings. We did. We just like space. And what can we say to someone who is very squeezed because of life circumstance at the moment, or because of the way our world is set up and is struggling to find space? What tricks are there to put a wedge in the door there and open a bit of a doorway to some space? Well, the first thing with new beginnings is to make it conscious. So whether you can take space or not, if you're aware that you're in a new beginning, that creates an inner spaciousness. And it's a simple thing to say, but it's a profound practice and that's what we're learning in menstrual cycle awareness is we're making conscious that negotiation from menstruation from our inner winter into our inner spring.

So that's definitely going to make a big difference. And I found to be really important. Just name it for yourself. Say, Oh, I'm in a new beginning. Just saying it out loud like that. Let's a different holding happen in you yeah which is why the daily practice of menstrual cycle awareness is so helpful because then you can catch it's day four it's day five it's day six what's happening inside me and give more awareness that way exactly yeah Yeah. The other thing I would say, which we touched on is a ritual. Yeah. Because, and this can be elaborate or just very simple, like, you know, light a candle to mark the new beginning. But some sort of expression of the new start, again creates more awareness more holding and really allows you to

line up with yourself and with what you are negotiating so some sort of ritual i for for a long time every menstrual month when i came out of menstruation I did a little ritual of ringing bells all over me around me as I anointed and blessed myself with what I had received from menstruation so I really I really let in what whatever I had received and whatever I was acknowledging in myself and that little ritual stabilized me. I remember I used to save up my blood from the period I'd put it into a little jar in the fridge and then as the blood completed I would go and take that sorry as the flow completed I would go and take that blood to the sea or to the river or some waterway and pour it in with my intention for the coming month. Beautiful. That's really beautiful. So that's the other thing you've just said, intentions, because this crossing the line

moment is really the first invitation for some kind of agency where we can state what we're intending what are we wanting you know how does um how yeah where are we in all this so setting intentions at new beginnings sets the line for something and is alexandra and i are very we do it with everything now it's actually an essential part of anything that we do yeah yeah the other thing for me is knowing my vulnerabilities knowing my tendencies and making that right so i'd never ever would use the word procrastination with myself i never do when i'm faffing and messing you know like in a sort of not feeling very grounded and uncertain, you know, I was feeling anxious, actually, starting work this year. I didn't judge myself. I just knew that this was, I took care of myself. I knew what I needed. I needed no pressure I needed as much spaciousness as possible and pleasure so know

yourself know your tendencies and love them they're helping you you know it's your way of crossing the line that's how you do it very connected to that is um giving yourself as much buffer as you can with new beginnings so that might look like spaciousness or it might look like letting yourself be or feel um protected as long as you can so for example we were supposed to be doing this podcast at 9 a.m and i was like oh and i messaged and said anyway we can start later because i knew if i could give myself a bit more buffer a bit more time to come back into the world that i would feel safer I would feel just a little more ready so we need a lot of protection and holding and that's um everything you said Alexandra and it's also giving ourselves permission to um be really kind and really sweet with ourselves and and very gentle yeah yeah and we're going to take a lot of what we've been talking about

into action later on this month when we host this menstrual cycle oracle visioning retreat for the community so we're wanting to this is what I think we're doing anyway we haven't talked about it yet so what you do think we're wanting to create a really generative fertile nourishing space where we can be together with this intelligence of the cycle and work with it as it is alive in each of us to be intentional about starting this year together. rift away and come into this lovely creative wellspring of our cycle because there is such profound guidance that comes from our cycle and actually if we're looking for the way ahead if we're looking for direction and if we are wanting to feel into what's important and what matters connecting with our menstrual cycle, and we've got a really great process

we're going to guide you in to do this, will give us such rounded, rooted, rich, inspiring direction for the new year that won't be something you look at a few months later and go, what the hell was I thinking when I decided that was what I want for my year? It will be so deeply connected to who you are and what's emerging and what's unfolding for you with your calling and in your life um that's why I love doing this work because it's so embodied and

so true and we're going to get creative and have lots of fun with it I'm actually really looking forward to it and I love that it's the end of January. By then I'll be really warm and ready for it. When you said the end of January, it made me laugh because actually I need, I like the whole of January to start my year. I don't think of it as January the 1st. I think of it as January as my navigation into the year to find myself and also it's very connected with the light because by the beginning of February you can actually start to tell that the days are actually getting longer I mean technically they're getting longer now but you wouldn't believe it

no it feels it does feel a bit and that is in bulk the first of february isn't it so it's the return of the light festival that traditional for these lands yeah but much but much more importantly it's alexandra's birthday which the whole world comes together to celebrate and that's when things really kick off it's the pope's birthday pope's birthday first in bulk second yes i'll put a link to for people to sign up for the retreat in the show notes for this podcast and yeah that's i think that's it folks for beginnings let's be awkward together let's be awkward and undone and messy as we start this year yeah and let's be playful as well let's be awkward and undone and messy as we start this year yeah and let's be playful as well let's be playful because that is just such an antidote for new beginnings and

really opens the way let's play thanks so much for tuning in thank you for being part of the community that's gathered around this podcast. It was amazing that towards the end of last year, we reached 300,000 listens of this podcast about the menstrual cycle and menopause, which still blows my mind. And I just really appreciate all of you for listening and for sharing it as well. And if this episode inspired you, please forward it to a friend who might enjoy it. And as ever, it's always really helpful if you could leave us a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts, it helps Apple to show the podcast to more people. Okay, wishing you again a wonderful

start to this year. And I hope we see you at the Oracle retreat on January the 14th you can sign up at redschool.net forward slash Oracle it's a free visioning retreat called your menstrual cycle your Oracle with Alexandra and Shani. All right I'll be with you again next week and until then keep living life according to your own brilliant rhythm.