The Menstruality Podcast - 194: How Menstrual Cycle Awareness Helps you to Manage your Energy (Alexandra & Sjanie)

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

We’re experiencing an epidemic of chronic fatigue and burnout, especially for women, and people with marginalised identities. It’s part of our modern day polycrisis, and in many ways the exhaustion we’re experiencing in our individual bodies mirrors the environmental challenges that are ravaging our earth, our larger body. We’re driving both to the very edges of their capacity. Beautifully, the practice of menstrual cycle awareness can help us to live in alignment with our natural rhythms, to embrace rest and prevent overwhelm and burnout. We can connect with the four phases of the menstrual cycle as our own personal energy management system. And when we listen for and cooperate with the natural ebb and flow of our inner seasons, we rebel against the subtle but pervasive messaging that we should be more, bigger, faster. We feel better, we’re more creative, more powerful and we model the much-needed art of sustainable living. We explore:What Sjanie learned about sustainable, cyclical living from a fierce lioness she encountered in a dream.The creative power that opens up within us when we dare (and are able) to step out of hustle mode, stop producing and surrender into non-doing at menstruation. Alexandra’s personal story of discovering the power of stopping, through years of intense menstrual pain, which she was eventually able to heal through the power of rest and listening to her body. ---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, thank you so much for tuning in today. And thank you for being part of the community gathered around this podcast. And especially I want to thank those of you in the Red School community hub on our circle platform who have been sharing your stories about the cycle and energy management. It's such a hot

topic for so many of us because the truth is we're really experiencing an epidemic of fatigue and burnout, especially for women and especially for people with marginalised identities. It's really become part of our modern day poly crisis. in many ways the exhaustion that so many of us are experiencing in our individual bodies mirrors the environmental challenges that are ravaging our earth our larger body we're really driving both to the very edges of their capacity but beautifully the practice of menstrual cycle awareness can help us to live in alignment with our natural rhythms and energy flow to embrace rest to prevent overwhelm and burnout and that's what we're talking about today how we can connect with the four phases of the menstrual cycle as our own

personal energy management system because when we listen for and cooperate with this natural ebb and flow of our inner seasons we rebel against the subtle but pervasive messaging that we should be more bigger better faster we feel better inside we're more creative we're more powerful and we model the much-needed art of sustainable living. And my actual favourite bit of the conversation today was what Sharni learned about sustainable cyclical living from a fierce lioness that she encountered in her dream. So let's get started with how menstrual cycle awareness helps you to manage your energy and avoid burnout. Hello, good morning. We're going to talk about energy today, which is such an important

conversation and I'm really glad that we're doing it. But before we get into it, let's share a cycle check-in, but through the lens of how your energy is, how you're feeling energy-wise. You're nodding, Alexandra. Do you feel like kicking us off? Okay, yes. There's a sort of well of goodness in me. I just feel there's a sort of happiness. And that's a sign that there's energy in my system, because when there isn't energy, it just feels bleak. So I can feel it's a young energy. It's not super robust. So I am on day five of the moon. And this is where i have to be careful because i get a little high as i've spoken about before around new moon dark new moon and then i go sort of high a bit too high

they go see that's me not managing my energy well and i'm not going to speak too soon but i think i might be managing my energy quite well actually because I haven't crashed would you say that's your main energy challenge in your post-menopause era probably is probably the the vulnerable place actually because that's where I get most um high yeah i mean i i am a very driven willful person you are and you know it's you know you get a lot of kudos for that but i tell you the shadow side of that is not good because what it does is it overrides i've had a long journey of discovering how I deplete myself. We've spoken about this before on the podcast, isn't it? It's like having that strong will and a highly sensitive system.

Oh, no, they don't go together. Yeah. Luckily, cycle awareness. Luckily, cycle awareness to the rescue. So I feel like I'm a sort of model cycle aware. Okay. Well, could you tell us us because i'm always learning so what how what have you done today that is helping you to manage this kind of tricky moment

for you it's more what i did a couple of days ago where i know i i could it was i could feel this like wild pony taking off. And I thought, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're not going there because there's no energy in the bank yet. It's not built up yet. And I practiced restraint. I just really pulled in because I could feel myself, you know, I talk about talking in tongues, like I get carried away with ideas.

And I overstimulate myself with ideas and excitement. And I just reined it all in. I did a qigong to nourish my adrenals, you know, all that kind of thing. And was very deliberate and very choiceful. And actually, I suppose I've continued being that. Just all the practical stuff around energy you know the food i eat or the supplements i take and things i need like that so i know my nature now thanks to cycle awareness and i've got a few years under the belt of living got a few more than you so I've got a bit more practice at it you

see that's why I'm the poster girl for cycle awareness yeah look I am seriously impressed and the thing I'm most impressed by is how the energy that you felt taking off in you was a creative, inspired energy. I bet you were having very fun, exciting, gorgeous, revelatory ideas because I know you. So what I'm so impressed by is in the face of that, you were aware of that, but you were also aware of your kind of physical energy and your capacity to be able to ground that and hold that and you resisted the temptation of that pleasure I mean who doesn't want to just lose themselves in creative ideas it's so fun that is so grown up Alexandra that you I'm very very grown up you put your body first put your nervous system first and you have said this before like your nervous system is god and that rules so I find that really impressive

because you know on the other side of the energy barometer when we're losing energy I think it's in some ways a lot easier to work with because we don't have that tension of like go go go with creativity but our body's saying no no no and it doesn't yeah there isn't quite the same extreme tension so anyway I'm impressed you you deserve to be the poster girl I'm gonna put you up on my wall definitely definitely so for you and Shani is your body saying go go go or no no no today no no no and actually I'm going to contradict myself and say how hard it is yeah so I'm day 19 with you, my cycle sister. It's nice. I feel like arm in arm going down this rocky road together.

Yeah, my body is saying no, no, no. Like in the last 24 to 48 hours. So my energy has been dropping, but in the last 24 hours, it's really dropped significantly enough that I felt deeply affected by it. And, yeah, the way I've experienced it is it's interesting to catch myself, but I just feel a kind of laziness where it's so hard to get out of bed and oh even to make myself food it's like everything just feels so effortful so there's that going on but also because I have less energy

and the responsibilities I ever have in my life haven't shifted or changed the deadlines haven't changed all the things I've got to show up for are the same that creates an enormous amount of let's call it creative tension because I am needing to still show up for what I need to show up for, but I've got much less capacity, much less motivation, enthusiasm. My interest is waning. And, yeah, it's a challenging thing to feel lack of interest, especially in the things I'm normally interested in. And what I notice for myself is if I am not really respectful of what I'm needing, I go into a kind of reactivity,

which for me actually looks like destruction or rebellion it has a lot of fight in it i'll fight in any which direction really you'll find energy right yeah yeah yeah it's interesting yeah it's an artificial energy ultimately yeah it's a depleting it's energy that depletes you it'll fire you up in the moment but it'll actually deplete you yeah and and and really i think the the key thing is and this is what i so appreciate about having cycle awareness is i'm aware of that and i keep noticing that fight and inviting myself to just you know soften yes and keep softening and yeah exploring the possibilities of like how to show up but with less energy and how to really just let myself care less you know maybe it's okay to like not be that interested right now yeah yeah yeah yeah and we can talk about this later in the conversation probably but this is I imagine a theme in your late 40s now

of like yeah very very much so um yeah and I'd love to talk about that because you know we're talking about cycles here and thinking about not just the menstrual cycle but actually through the cycle of our menstruating years it's really interesting to look at how our energy shifts and change i am i actually if i may share my dream from last night lovely Lovely. I have a dream. Because we spoke in, when we're talking about beginner's guide to menstrual cycle awareness, we spoke about how interesting it can be to track dreams. And actually my dream to me is talking about energy and very much what I've been speaking about here. So I dreamt that I was living in a house where we had a few domestic animals

and one of them was a lioness. Of course. A massive beast of a lioness. And this lioness was sleepy and tired, which, you know, lionesses love to sleep sleep and somehow my energy was connected to this lioness's energy and her tiredness was pulling me under and that's very much the feeling I have today I feel like my skin is like falling off my body sort of going well if you won't lie down I will I mean you know what I'm talking about in the inner summer my skin's like you know like taut and like encasing my body in the inner autumn it's like my skin's just melting ice cream anyway so this lion was like pulling me into this drowsiness this lioness and I and I fell into the slumber with this lioness,

but there was so much going on in the house. People were coming in and trying to clean and vacuum and banging things. And the noise was really disturbing. And at some point, somebody banged something and it gave me a jolt. And I got really reactive and woke up and I disturbed the lioness. And in her kind of frantic reactivity she turned on me and started biting my arm and I remember thinking oh god I knew I shouldn't have had a wild animal living with me this is the thing you don't like they've got an instinct to kill she's gonna kill me and um and I remember just saying to her, good dog, good dog. And that made her snarl even more.

And she never sunk her teeth into my flesh, but the grit was so, so intense. And I remember realizing this is life or death. If I don't let myself slumber now with her, regardless of what's going on, I'm going to die. And that, you know, that was the dream. And that there's something in the seriousness of that, that I'm really taking on board, especially at the life stage I'm at. It's not like, it's not a game anymore, you know. Yeah, it's serious. Yeah. So.

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing that. Cause I feel like that's such an emblem or a symbol for, for us all to court and be with at this time on earth, all of us, like if we don't yield, we will, we are, we are dying. We are killing ourselves quite literally. Like I'm on, I'm on day 19 too. So i'm going to be serious today and i don't care i'm going to get to it you know this is this is real for all of us and one of the things you know one of the reasons why we're having this conversation is because there's this epidemic of chronic fatigue of burnout of exhaustion because of the way we're living in the systems that we live in and cycle

awareness is such amazing medicine for this um epidemic but you know before I go off on a rant what day am I on yeah can you tell I'm in in autumn I'm in the pre oh it's good to have you here with me Sophie yes yes yes yeah and I'm I'm tracking two sort of downward turns because I can feel and I really could cry about this but I can feel that I've got another cold and I've had four things since January and they've been relentless and like you said Sharni nothing that I've needed to show up for has stopped and we also dismantled our staircase in the middle of it so because we thought we were getting better but then boom we got we got ill again because having little people that bring snot home and yeah so I'm oh I'm feeling tired and yeah I can feel there just isn't as much push in my system but you know I still got

myself out of bed early to go to the gym because I recognize that in the inner autumn if I can go and get physical and and it stirs up some energy in me that is like I'm really with what you said Alexandra earlier about how like the fight energy of the pre-menstrual can be depleting but if I get into the physical the physicality of that then then it's like I get an engine revving and that engine powers me so that's yeah it's a real key for me to to get as physical as I can even though I so wanted to stay in bed so much oh yeah and so our topic today is how menstrual cycle awareness helps you to manage your energy and as I mentioned there were like just such pressing reasons for us to have this conversation I think all of us have been very deeply impacted personally by different energy challenges and we'll share those stories and um yeah something you said earlier Alessandra was

energy we're stuffed without it. Can you unpack that? No, it's life force. Yeah. No, it's just good old-fashioned life force. It's, you know, the force that through the green shoot drives the flower. What is that? Isn't that a Ted Hughes poem?

What was it i think anyways i did a degree in english literature but i'm still blanking yeah well it's some english poet apologies and i've misquoted it but it is you know it's life force that it you know brings everything to life and um so it's foundational for everything. And as I said at the beginning, I'm feeling well. And I know that that's a sign that there is some energy in my being that I'm not straining. So, yes, it's fundamental to just our physical capacity to do stuff but actually it's not just about our doing it's not just about our physical energy it's about our emotional well-being

and our mental health because i think when we're depleted that's when anxiety can take off and or depression for that matter. So this is the first medicine is caring for our energy. Well, actually, the first medicine is caring for cycles because cycles are an energy management system. And in a sense, the cycles of life, all cycles, and for us with menstrual cycles, the menstrual cycle is, it's our energy management system. It's managing us if we come into relationship with it.

So cycles are this wonderful system of sustainability. And, of course, cycles are built up of times of activity and times of rest. In a cycle, the energy is shifting all the time. So there is this wonderful expansion of energy coming to a pinnacle, a high pinnacle of something bursting with energy. And then this drawing in a contraction of energy and a period of fallowness where it apparently seems like there's no energy. And in our culture, we have this idea that you should be permanently on all the time. And all our sort of, I'm saying thinking, but, you know, there's all this kind of consciousness out there about how to keep yourself at sort of peak performance and what's that?

Optimize. Optimizing, exactly, optimizing your energy. And what all those things are doing is just hitting you. It's like taking coffee. And, I mean, these all things are great. By the way, I'm not dismissing all those wonderful practices out there. I participate in them. I take, you know, all sorts of things too.

But it is, they're good but the if they're going against this fundamental cyclical pattern which demands actually it's an imperative it demands that you rest and we all have a perfect example of this in the circadian rhythm. You know, we've used this example over and over again, and we'll go on using this example over and over again, because it's so graphic. And whether you have a menstrual cycle or not, you'll get it, which is, you know, if you don't sleep at night, you feel shitty in the day.

You know, if you have jet lag, you feel out of sorts with yourself. And interestingly, you know, catching up on sleep in the daytime is not, I mean, whilst it's necessary. And, of course, if you're a shift worker, you sleep when you sleep. But actually, it's no substitute for the sleep that you get at night. And it's found that shift workers, their health is impacted by working shifts. There's been lots of research in that area. So this idea of honoring cycles is the first medicine, full stop.

Yeah. Yeah. Rhythm is life. Rhythm is the first medicine. So what you're saying there, Alexandra, about practices and approaches that are about optimizing energy, unless they have that foundation of rhythm at their core, it's a kind of plaster that will not really heal the deep wound and not connect you with the

resource that cyclical life is. And I remember it was a few years ago now we were invited to speak on a summit and the topic we were asked to speak about was how to use menstrual cycle awareness to master your energy and I remember before the interview Alexandra and I pondered this kind of phrase master your energy and like what does that mean to master your energy? And we realized that for most people, mastering your energy probably means exactly that. Like, how can you have the most energy more of the time? How can your energy always feel good and in an expansion. And that's very, very different to how we understand mastering energy. You know, for us, it's about mastery of our responsiveness to the rhythm and change that is built into our bodies. It's learning to ebb and flow as our body is

inviting us to do. That is where our energy becomes potent. And that's where we have this kind of ground of well-being out of which everything springs. Our creativity, our relationships with other people, our leadership, everything relies on us having sustainable energy. Yeah. It's a collaboration process. It's a relationship process. I don't dig the word mastery in either context I get what you're saying I just feel like it's it's about

like the true skill and wisdom comes from the deep relationship with this rhythm just relating to rhythm and that's what creates sustainability yeah and that's what creates sustainability. Yeah. And that's what's needed personally and collectively. Like, we don't know. I mean, there are many wise people working on this, and I celebrate them, but we don't know collectively how to sustain, how to create a sustainable way of being on Earth. And, again, cycle awareness is showing us every day through our own personal piece of our Earth, our body.

It's showing us how to live sustainably. That's beautifully put, Sophie, yes. Yeah, it's a relational process. It's so wild, this, you know, as you were both speaking. What was coming to me is this idea of unless you're in top gear, now top gear is regarded as, you know, having good energy, and that we don't appreciate these other states within the cyclical process. So obviously, you know, at the end of the cycle, the energy is lowest. And we think what goes with no energy is I'm not productive.

I can't contribute. So it's this idea you've got to be always on and contributing. And what we don't appreciate is, well, one, that you've actually got to stop to be able to restore your energy, but that in stopping, you open up another kind of well of power within yourself, a different kind of power. talked about creative power um so we so if i just sort of summarize something here we think of uh that sort of top gear energy is the best the place to be because that's where you're most productive and efficient and so on and we think these other places aren't productive don't contribute contribute and on the contrary they they the different stages of our cyclical energy and all contribute something in terms of our capacity to contribute to the world it's so interesting I hope I've made sense there it's quite complicated what I'm trying to say it makes total sense to me and I

I wonder if you could share a bit about your story of learning this through healing your own menstrual pain which we have spoken about I feel like it's just such a key story to share because this was where you learned to stop I'd say I did it is. And I discovered that this stopping was my core medicine for healing. I mean, there were other things, you know, diet and so on that I was doing. So it was just extreme menstrual pain I had. But I also had chronic fatigue, you see, going on and allergies. I mean, I had the whole book thrown at me. My life.

And I, and we all know that I, you know, if you've listened to our podcast, I chose to stop taking painkillers, you know, and to go into that pain. And the only way I could do that was by dropping everything and resting. And what happened in the rest was I released, released tension. And I dropped, I had to drop into my being in a very deep way. And in that act of doing that, I like to say medicine, in a sense, was unleashed. So just the releasing of tension, release started to ease things within my body. And by the way, I had to start doing this before I came into the bleed.

I couldn't just arrive at the bleed and then just down tools. It was like just slowing down a bit before because what happens before was really important. So what I was doing here was I was actually pacing what my energy wanted to do. And that's so in that way, I wasn't creating stress because stress is behind. You know, we could say stress is behind any kind of ill health ultimately. And by cooperating with the energy system of the menstrual cycle, I was this relational piece. You spoke about, Sophie. I was I wasn't generating stress. I was I was I was also releasing stress because that's the other thing that happens because the stress that accumulated in me through just life's challenges and so on.

It was almost like in coming into menstruation, menstruation was helping me to drop stress. And this all added up over time. I mean, it took me a number of years to heal. And I have to say diet was the companion piece to this, very fierce around that that companion piece um that my experience of the pain eased and you see what's important here putting in place the means by which I could also begin to heal my fatigue overall. And that had everything to do with also getting to know my own nature

and this whole ecstatic energy that I have and learning to pace the energy of the menstrual cycle was me both starting to rebuild something and but it to rebuild something physically I had to also build a relationship with the nature I had, which was learning to care for my ecstatic nature, what we spoke about at the beginning, Sophie. Yeah. So it became not just my means of cycle awareness, it became not just my means of cycle awareness, it became not just my means of living sustainably, it became my path to healing.

I've got a couple of invitations for you. Firstly, if you'd like a copy of our free Red School cycle tracking chart, you can download it at redschool.net forward slash chart. And if you'd like to deepen your own menstrual cycle awareness practice and be immersed in a cycle aware community, you can join the upcoming live community round of our cycle power course starting later this month. To find out more about it, join our free webinar, which is happening next week on April the 23rd. And you can register for free at redschool.net forward slash cycle power. And here's a story from Anne-Marie who recently completed the

cycle power course so she says the cycle power course is truly amazing I'm different stronger yet gentler I feel myself changing every day strengthening step by step and better able to face and embrace life's daily challenges I'm on day 11 in my inner spring, and so I'm aware of pacing myself, really meeting the slowest part of myself and making sure I take care of that part of me. I'm realizing how much in the past I would override repeatedly and feel exhausted. I totally relate, Anne-Marie. And she she finishes by saying I highly recommend the cycle power course for deepening into menstrual cycle awareness to impact your life body soul and spirit so if you're curious about joining the live community round come along to the free webinar on April the 23rd

you can register at redschool.net forward slash cycle power. So I feel like we've painted the picture of the problem really well and we've started to, and we've explained the medicine, rhythm, cyclical living, menstrual cycle awareness. And key to the repair that can happen through menstrual cycle awareness is understanding this energy dynamic that's unfolding throughout the archetypal cycle. So could you walk us into that, the expansion just really with the fact that most of us have been brought up in a culture that is void of cyclical understanding. And there's a kind of lostness, I think we all feel. We don't have the template of cyclical life culturally established in us. So I just want to say we're all in a way shadowboxing that we're in a kind of lost

unknown place collectively, even just understanding what it means to honor our energy as it changes through the cycles of our body of our seasons of our year and so on and so I think there's an information piece that's needed and this is where understanding the archetypal cycle really helps us to get our head around what's being asked of us. You know, what is the nature of cyclical life? And then with that information, we can start us to, I think, find a little bit more understanding for ourselves and our own experience. It really helps us to appreciate it when it's happening to us. So there's something about the archetypal information that depersonalizes the experience and helps us to kind of really land inside. Okay, this is um cyclical energy looks

like and then we can come into our own personal experience of that and then all our own kind of personal beliefs around how we should be and all the ways culture has affected us we've got a little bit of um leverage there with this template it sort of helps us get over that line I think so it's really really important I just say Sharni it just feels so important to name there's this inner these inner critical voices that are so loud that can dominate everything just keep going just push through you win come on get on with it let's not so precious. Just what's the big deal? Just keep blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, so just to name those voices, they're so strong.

They are so believable. Yeah. That is so good that you brought that in because the inner critic really plays a part in terms of us overriding cyclical life because the inner critic is strongly influenced by cultural norms. You know, it's a channel for all of that stuff, we will be told again and again. And in a way, the nature of the critic is more, more, more, the critic is not in a body, and the critic is not cyclical. The critic is really all about the more more more so i'm so glad you mentioned that because actually having these archetypal maps kind of puts a sock in the critic's mouth temporarily it gives you a sock to put in the critic's mouth exactly imagine putting a sock in the critic's mouth i'm gonna take that

and ride with it in this pre-munchstrom put a sock in it critic yeah yeah i'm so glad you mentioned that actually yeah that's the enemy that's that's the uh protagonist in our story okay so yes so to to this archetypal maps um as many of you will know and those of you who are new to red school may not be aware but there are three maps archetypal maps that we have created that talk about the cycle experience at these different levels or layers through these different lenses and a lot of people are familiar with the map of the inner seasons which is one of the archetypal maps there's also the map of the five chambers of menstruation and then there's the map of the two

vias and what's so great about these maps there are worlds within these maps i really want, just, that's so exciting. That was so exciting. But for now, let me rein it in. The map of the two V's is the one that I think is really important to get to know and understand when it comes to energy management, because the map of the two V's describes this basic fundamental pattern that is in all living things, which is the pattern of expansion and contraction. Yeah. So I think, Alexandra, I love the way you describe this energy dynamic. It's one of my most enjoyable things. It always feels like a bedtime story when you talk about it. Like I sit back and then you go into the inner winter

and I love the way you describe it. I always feel like I'm there with you. So for those listening, if you do need a nap right now, let Alexandra sit. This is the moment. This is your bedtime story about the energy dynamic of the cycle. All right. So our bedtime story starts at the nadir

of our cycle and this is where everything is still and quiet on, of course, the moment of rest. It's the time to just be still at menstruation. And then what happens is there's this seed of awakening that happens. And, you know, it's like the new cycle sparks in that dark, you know, it's like the winter solstice moment, you know, when the earth turns, then you've got that in your body. You have this spark that goes off. Yeah, the new cycle is beginning. And yes, you are now stepping into this expansion arc that we call the via positiva okay wait wait wait you've missed one of my favorite parts of the story just because i love the imagery

you can't skip pages because i'm so invested in this story one of my favorite images which you share about this Nadir moment is you describe it as it being like the winter solstice where everything's dark outside, maybe. Yes, yes, yes. At Christmas time. Yes. It's all dark outside, but all the houses are lit up with these beautiful lights and candles. So there's this kind of inner light that's glowing, but outside it's all pitch, pitch dark. I love that image.

I love that image. Yeah. Yeah. The inner lights are all sparkling, but the outer lights are all dimmed now, completely dark. And you've got these sparkly inner lights and then gradually as you come out of the out of menstruation into this first arc of energy which is the expansion arc um it's um the inner lights are now starting to slightly dim because the outer lights are starting to come up.

So it's like we talked about the midnight hour. Well, now we're just coming into the dawning of something. You know, the lights are coming up and the inner lights, that quiet place is diminishing now. And the energy is starting to grow. And with that energy growing, it's like our awareness is now drawn from deep inside the burrow where we've been hibernating. Your energy is being drawn outwards. So you've got this energy rising in your body now,

this chi returning. And with that chi comes, and I'm experiencing it now with spring, it's like, oh my God, you know, it's just rising sense of possibility and interest and ideas and this lovely awakening energy because, of course, you've slept well.

So you've tanked up, you see. So this can organically rise and expand and it grows and grows and you're being carried out into the world and the outer lights are now getting stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and the inner lights are all dimmed now and um you come up to the the peak of the cycle which is you know we talk about it as high noon but it's that peak of ovulation now and your energy's at an absolute peak now and there is this glorious flourishing moment at this peak moment it's kind of glory it's just

glory of life displayed out you know and then the wheel turns and the shift so we've crossed the summer solstice folks now our inner summer solstice we've crossed at ovulation and so now of, of course, the light, and for that we read energy, is now starting to contract inwards. And with that contraction, we're, of course, being pulled inwards and we're being sort of slowed down. Well, that's what the cycle's trying to do to us. Our minds may have other minds.

Our critics may have other thoughts about it. But there's this contraction going on. And the outer lights now are starting to lose their shine. You know, they're not quite so shiny. And the inner lights are starting to stir again, which is, of course, why you get that kind of sudden emotional wake-up in the second half of the cycle. And you go, wait a minute, what about me?

You know, I've been giving to everybody else. Me. You know, that's your inner lights coming up now, folks, because, you know, the energy is coming down. And, of course, it's contracting more and more as you get closer and closer to the midnight hour again to menstruation to the nadir of the cycle so you're coming into dusk and just think about the dusk of the day and how you feel actually It's really lovely to notice that. Or to notice how you feel as autumn comes closer into winter, with nature drawing in, you know, contracting in.

And that's what's happening within our being. We are contracting in and in and in, right back to the nadir, the midnight hour, to menstruation, where all this goes quiet on the outside and the inside, the lights are just twinkling in a very soft, twinkling, lovely light. Night, night, night. It's just so relaxing to hear it isn't it to hear the sanity of it the how everything that's happening in nature is also happening in us it's it's what we are is who we are so poetic

so how do we do this then how do we in our, how do we cooperate with this expansion and contraction? Yeah, how do we work with our cycles here? So this is why we have a practice. This is why we have menstrual cycle awareness. Because we can, so as I said, the information is important, but the practice is really where we come into connection with our experience and what menstrual cycle awareness does is it builds our awareness of how our energy is shifting and changing so we start to notice what alexandra's described happening in ourselves and how that plays out in our emotional life, in our, you know, mental life,

in our behavior and so on. And menstrual cycle awareness also built into the practice is about responding, cooperating with that energy as it's happening. And sometimes that means saying yes to it and and allowing the rise to happen and sometimes it means changing um something in our day to accommodate for the fact that our energy is maybe not what we thought it was going to be or um is different you know there's something we notice we're needing so this is the practice of menstrual cycle awareness. And actually, at its very core, it is about tracking and working with our energy. Because that's what reduces stress. That's what creates ease and generates vitality.

And that is fundamental to everything as we've said yeah so menstrual cycle awareness and actually our beginners guide podcast episode that we did gives some really clear pointers for how to refine and hone your practice so that you're doing this in a very deliberate way each day and so I really recommend you listen to that that was like two episodes ago but I'll drop the link in the show notes at redscore.net forward slash podcast brilliant yeah great and then I mean, there's another level to this, which is really, really important, is learning how to care for your changing needs as you go through the menstrual month. And this is, gosh, this isn't art. I mean, this is a life's journey. But again, having the information to understand what the archetypal imperatives are for self-care in each stage and phase of the menstrual cycle gives you a profound permission

slip and it gives you a tool for being able to reclaim this cyclical wisdom in your everyday experience. So on our cycle power course, we go into a lot of depth on the phases of the cycle and the specific self care that is needed through each phase and how to apply and practice that self care in order to really awaken to this energy that is wanting to yeah move you grow you revitalize you so that's a really good place to come and learn that actually we don't write about that or teach about that anywhere else so it is the one and only place you can come to really bed down in this healing well-being layer of this work and um often when you know many people have done this have come away going yeah i've got better boundaries now because i'm equipped with this knowledge you know and what you were saying about the critic, it totally puts a sock in the critic.

Yeah, do cycle pad, put a sock in your critic. Can I give a practical example of how my practice is serving me right now with my energy? Yes, please. So I'm on day 19 and I thought I'd have a bit more energy today and I've got a lot to do today writing and a podcast to edit and but I'm tracking as we're having this conversation I'm yawning a lot this cold is kicking in something's got to give and I know that about myself from being with myself through years and years and years of cycle awareness I know now that if I have a bite to eat and then go to sleep for an hour, I'm going to wake up. We'll see. This is my test, but I think

I'm going to wake up after that hour and I'm going to be able to write more fluidly and quickly. So something that could have taken me three hours might take me an hour. And I'm also going to go to my diary and look at when my period's likely to happen and plan in some menstrual rest because I haven't done that yet and something in my psyche knowing that I've I'm obeying this expansion and contraction rhythm it relaxes me just to know that I'm looking ahead you know to know that I've carved out time. So they're two practical things that I'm going to do to take care of my energy based on cycle awareness. And I've got to just thank Frodo here because Frodo, my beautiful Labrador, is like the king of rest.

And he is just snoozing next to me as he does all the live long day every day and he's it's almost like I looked at him when he was doing one you know how dogs get up and they walk around three times and then just lie down go straight back to sleep he just did that and I was like thank you mate thank you for reminding me I need to go and sleep and then I'll then I'll it'll it'll remind me so thank you to my natural cycle awareness and thank you Frodo yeah that's why i keep a lioness in my house sophie yes i really just have to such a perfect story because it's so counterintuitive yeah to go oh my god look at everything i've got to do i'm going to take a nap and actually it can be one of the most productive things you could do

just for all the reasons you've said. And it's something that Sharni and I do. And we've had, you know, I've got Sharni's words echoing in my head, actually, you know, from recently when she had just a shitty night's sleep because of lovely children, you know. And she was just so rough. And she just said, I'm going to take myself off to bed for a couple of hours. And then she came back and she kicked back into gear in the afternoon. You knew your brain wouldn't work and then what happens is you then

it's a diabolical combination when shiny and i go against ourselves because then we're sort of in a sort of mood and we kind of sort of want to be you know no one's tending to us, you know, and there's a sort of slight victimness going on. And then we disturb each other and we end up getting really reactive with each other. It's really classic what happens. Like two kids that are overtired. Yeah, it's honestly like that. And we end up squabbling over, you know, I did say that, actually.

No, you didn't, actually. You said there was squabble. It's almost always about what someone did or didn't do. And then the steam starts to come out of our ears, you know. I mean, honestly, it's just hilarious. You know, we've got the smart. Well, yeah, we have got the smart. It is funny.

And actually it was on Monday morning when I basically spent the whole morning in bed. And I did have a moment of really chuckling to myself because we, I mean, the workload we have and the deadlines we've got are insane. I mean, I really was like, I was really putting my fingers up to everything. And I was like lying in bed all morning. It's not like I went for like a half an hour power nap. I was like, I'm just going to go back to bed until I want to get up again. And I was like, yeah, this is how we rolled at Red School.

All morning in bed, like only five million deadlines. Then you see what was interesting was, was god we had it that was a tight week yeah thanks to your nap no no what happened was um well number one um because i was continued working and it's interesting i felt kind of liberated because Shani was out of the way. Because we're sort of a bit negotiating each other, you know. And I just thought, okay, I'm in charge. Okay, I'm just going to do what I want here. This is what I feel needs to happen. So I felt a certain freedom to just kind of go for things.

But also, and then, of course, I wasn't getting all reactive to her. So I was really in my own bubble which was very restful for me it's so fascinating this so i was in a good space i had a productive time and um we when we do have some energy in the tank we actually can work very fast like as a focus it's like we could not piss around we go okay what are we doing here we've got to do and we just go boom boom boom with ideas we can't fart ass around sorry can i can i say that yes you're an australian ecstatic it really it's like a gun to the head and i'm going i haven't got a fucking idea you know what

we're going to do here and then you kind of drop into this space it's so it's yeah because we we really know how to work the creative process and something happens but it can't happen when the tank is empty. So it's actually better to fill the tank. And can we say a word? Oh, go on, Shani, go, go, go. I was just going to say, what we're talking about here is the potency of endings and, you know, energy wanes. But if we honor that, we can be very potent in endings,

you know, in the ending of our cycle, in the ending coming to a deadline there's some wicked alignment that happens if you rest that's really good to know creatively right really good to know so good and I'm also hearing our amazing like hard-working nurses and teachers and doctors and like other key workers and people who aren't self-employed like me and can't go oh do you know what I feel really slumpy and I'm going to go for a nap like can we talk a little bit about like the one percents here of if you feel the low what can we do what can cycle awareness teach us about how to manage our energy when we're living in this world doing jobs and doing work that means that we can't necessarily follow it in the way

that we need to it's actually such a very powerful thing you brought in here sophie and i'm actually going to bring in the 1% because it is a moment where you just close the door on everything and you just sit for a minute and gather yourself. It's not comparable to going to have a nap, although, frankly, I think there should be a room. Totally. Yeah.

Actually, in hospitals, they do have a, I mean, they have a quiet room, but they also have a religious space where you can just go and sit and have a little snore. A little snore. You can't lie down there. You need a nap room, actually. Oh, I mean, everywhere. We should have nap rooms everywhere. Yeah. And it's because actually, frankly, because when I've been up against it and I even just 10 minutes lying on my floor or five minutes. I'm truly, truly, I just lie down on my yoga mat for five minutes

and it actually does something for me. This is real, what I'm saying. This has something. Of course, it's not the same as a proper nap but actually it's a something and it's amazing how the psyche receives it actually

there's a generosity in our psyches because it's almost like the psyche is going oh she, they're connected to themselves, you know she's at home she's at home there he's at home there yeah it's really good to remember that the cycle is a resource so even the smallest um honoring of your mood and energy means that the resource of

the cycle kicks in it it holds you And it actually doesn't take a lot. Most of the time, micro moves are where it's at. These big gestures I'm talking about, for us, they also don't happen all the time. We have things we have to show up to. But this is, again, where the self-care practices that we teach on cycle power really come into it because they aren't necessarily about changing the world around you they're about relating to yourself and holding yourself and caring for yourself in a different way regardless of what's going on and we often don't realize how much we can do things differently until we have this awareness, you know, and then everything changes. Yeah, everything changes. And actually, we often need less dramatic solutions, because

we're listening and responding ongoingly. Yeah, I noticed this all the time in parenting, which is basically the most relentless job I've ever had. Tomorrow I'll be with Artie all day. It'll be day 20 and I can already foresee it. There'll be a moment where he's feeling big feelings about something and I'm feeling really tired and maybe we'll both have a cold, but I'll just go, Soph, you're on day 20. Just do a forward bend for a minute. Just do a forward bend and just, okay, I'm on day 20.

That's why this is feeling harder got less energy just going to slow down inside for a minute okay and then back on we go and it'll change things it'll be a course correction a small one and it'll change the course of the day now i'll report back in the next episode see yes how that went yeah how did that go Sophie actually just um another thought that I had is that um stopping distractions so often Shani and I will just work in our own work in our own bubbles when we're both feeling a bit sort of scratchy or you know whatever and we'll sort of do our version of closing the office door and just go into our own bubble and that is soothing and that helps and I think that's worth remembering, actually, to just and to turn off all distractions on your, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Distractions drain our energy. And actually, that's a huge thing nowadays with devices and stuff. I mean, it's very easy to forget that all the many distractions are really depleting you. And presence resources us i mean it's that simple presence resources us yeah well beautifully said well this has been gorgeous i feel better because i feel i'm i'm in i'm cooperating with my experience because literally before we had this conversation i was like i will not get ill again and I'm like okay I wasn't really cooperating with reality there I feel softened and yeah like I'm yielding to it and thank you you too it's been beautiful

thank you week thank you so much for being with us today and a reminder if you'd like to be part of our community cycle power journey to deepen your cycle awareness practice we're starting this live community round of cycle power later on this month and you can find out all about it by joining our free webinar on April the 23rd to register please go to redschool.net forward slash cycle power and if you love this podcast we would really appreciate it if you could give it a five star rating and review on apple podcasts it's the best way to support this podcast and help it reach more people and we're so grateful for every review we get. Thank you so much. All right then, I'll be with you again next week and until then, keep living life according to your own brilliant rhythm.