The Menstruality Podcast - 94. Your Menstrual Cycle = Your Blueprint for Everything You Create (Alexandra & Sjanie)

Episode Date: June 29, 2023

Today I’m back with Alexandra & Sjanie and we’re kicking off a series which will unfold all the way through the summer - our Creativity series. Because these two powerhouse creative mavens have finally landed their teachings on creativity - born from the menstrual cycle and relevant to us all, whether you currently have a menstrual cycle or not. They’ll be sharing these teachings around what they call ‘The Creative Cycle’ for the first time ever this September in our new creativity course, and you can join us for our free webinar on July 12th to learn all about both The Creative Cycle and the course.In today’s conversation we explore how we’re all innately creative, how The Creative Cycle can unleash our creative flow, and how Alexandra and Sjanie have worked with these teachings to make everything they’ve created at Red School…We explore:The liberating power of The Creative Cycle, and how it can free us all up from self doubt, shame, procrastination and “too-many-ideas” overwhelm into a thriving, fulfilling creative life. What the menstrual cycles have taught Alexandra and Sjanie about the cyclical nature of creativity, and how Red School has been a ‘laboratory’ to practice these teachings.  Why - and how - we would LOVE to hear from YOU.---Join our free webinar: How Menstruality Can Teach You to Live a Wildly Creative Life on July 12th - www.redschool.net/creativity---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. Hi, welcome back to the podcast. Thank you so much for being here today. It's such a joy to be in this conversation with you and this summer we really do want to make this more of a conversation, more of a back and forth and I'll tell you more about that later. We've got some exciting plans. Today I'm back with Alexander and Sian. It feels like

ages since we've done this and we're kicking off a series which will unfold all the way through the summer. Our creativity series because finally these two powerhouse creative mavens have landed their teachings about creativity born from the menstrual cycle and relevant to all of us whether we currently have a menstrual cycle or not. They're going to be sharing these teachings around what they call the creative cycle for the first time ever this September in our new creativity course and you can join us for a free webinar on July the 12th to learn all about the creative cycle and the course. I'll tell you more about that later in the episode. In today's conversation we're exploring how we are all innately creative, how the creative cycle can free us up from

creative blocks like self-doubt, shame, procrastination, any other blocks we might face and how Alexandra and Sharni have worked with these teachings to make everything they've created at Red School. So let's get started with your menstrual cycle, your blueprint for everything you create. Oh, you two, I feel like we haven't done this for ages. I feel like we haven't sat down like this for ages and it's so bloody oops swearing already so good to be with you both ah I can't wait to chat and yeah let's start with our cycles Sharni you were just saying that you're dealing with outer nature summer and the day 12 of the moon in your autumn

is that going for you yeah exactly I was I was noticing my experience I'm day 20 today I was noticing my experience today I was like this is an interesting and somewhat unusual kind of inner autumn experience I'm having and then I thought wait a minute where's the moon I'm fully aware that we're in the summer here in the UK and I'm I'm feeling uh I'm really feeling that layer of um out of season and what it's doing to my body and my senses and I've had bare feet just I've had so much bare feet and so much bare foot on the earth so I've got that lovely layer going on and then day 12 of the moon and what's happening for me Sophie which is unusual is I don't have the same kind of access that I normally do in my inner autumn it's taking a lot more discipline and presence and meticulousness to be able to to feel the kind of subtleties and sensitivities of my system. And yet when I do kind of go there and tune in,

I can feel this exquisite refinement. And yeah, I'm having these little kind of mini revelations or I'm seeing things that I wasn't able to see but normally that comes thick and fast I'm normally in the river of that whereas today it's much more like ah I've got to peel back the curtain you know consciously to be able to see uh it's interesting it's taking a lot more yeah care um than usual and it feels quite easy actually just to get swept up in um the world around me yeah and lose myself so interesting and me i was thinking really with the phases of the moon how it's really only in the sort of bowl you know the kind of coming into the dark moon and near end of the moon dark moon new moon um so that first part where i feel very kind of intimate and held in something. I feel held.

Whereas now, coming into the summer, there's nothing. I'm not particularly interested in what day of the moon I'm on. And there's, just because of where I'm at in my life, there's a kind of feeling of not being buffered in the same way that you have that kind of chi you have when you're younger you don't have that so i'm very um sensitive and um but not in a bad way but it does demand uh this time demands pacing because i don't have the moon. The moon just, dark moon just pulls me in.

I get this intimacy. So I don't have that. So I have to be very disciplined around pacing at this time. I'm not ahead of myself. I saw you had to move your yoga mat aside before this conversation began. So you've been doing your practice. Very steady. You know, I thought, thought no steadier she goes this morning I'm too electric so um yeah there's something kind of uncluttered and easy in me I'm really aware and it feels important to name that you we have just completed this year's

menstruality leadership program with this incredible group of people who are now graduating and taking their seat on the menstruality revolution train and like what a journey that's been for for you and for everybody yeah congratulations yeah thank you we have had a weekend of celebrating you celebrating us us taking upon ourselves to celebrate as well. It has felt so joyful to share this work, actually in a way that we never have before. It was the most satisfying. I can really see how people are stepping out of this year's program with real-life skill to navigate their own leadership

and their own menstruality process. It's very exciting. It's very, very exciting. So yeah, we're feeling super chuffed. Yeah. I'm on day six here and it's, my cycle has been very clever and my bleed came three or four days before I was expecting it to. It actually came just after a very knotty logistics meeting that we had where I actually cried. And I don't know. I was like, Soph, woman up, what's going on here? Why are you crying? And then, you know, sure enough enough an hour after the meeting I just I just lay on my bed woke up an hour and a half later and there was my blood so I was in separation in this particularly gritty meeting and anyway so my cycle came early and it's now aligned me

with the modules that we're going through in your cyclical business so well done womb I'm now entering yeah we're starting the inner spring module and I'm entering my inner spring and it's just wonderful to be inside the the cyclical business content to remember to move tenderly to take care of myself because this is still my hot spot in the cycle and yeah so I feel I feel loved I got the power card cherish and I I'm cherishing myself and I feel cherished it's good thank goodness for cycle awareness so here we are we're at the beginning of something incredibly exciting at Red School, which is finally, finally, after all these years of hearing this talk of this creative cycle, the creative cycle, it's you're landing this next layer, like this huge piece of the body of work of this menstruality cosmology

and uh you know you two have been rocking up to meetings with me about it pretty high like pretty ecstatic very very very ecstatic yeah and i've joined you now and i'm i'm feeling it and i'm so excited to share it with everybody. It feels like a great way to begin this conversation is to talk about, you know, what is this creative cycle of which you speak? And where has it come from a deep embodiment in an understanding of the menstrual cycle like a deep commitment to the menstrual cycle process um has uh awoken it it in me. And how it's unfolded, well, it's been this incredibly emergent process, as all our work is. So as we have created things at Red School, and I go right back to my first experience long before i long before you were even conceived

when i was um well no i think you might have been conceived at this point you might actually have been born at this point quite possibly yeah no i don't know you were you were you were um when i had that first inkling that i knew i had to write a book you know i had to write a book i had to write a book uh and just no you know and i was i'd written articles before then but the agony of it the sheer agony and terror so that's where it began you see just stumbling in the dark to having created many different things i've created other books and then because i met shani and we've created red school we've created programs we've written two books together i mean we're it's like we're on steroids when it comes to creativity, Shani and I.

And so our understanding of the creative process has just consistently revealed itself. And what's happened is, for me, I'll let Shani speak for herself, but the creative process has become like this kind of living reality that i live within and um i think of it as a cycle that is beneath the cycle of the menstrual cycle so i think of the my menstrual cycle years were like my training real years or you know this the creative cycle was holding the menstrual cycle, and the menstrual cycle is kind of initiating me into it and teaching me to trust it. And of course, now I'm post-menopause, I can feel the connection. I feel how I'm held within the creative cycle in a very profound way. And, of course, in any particular project, the creative cycle, I trust it. I absolutely trust it.

I mean, manifesting something is challenging. We'll stop. It's challenging. But when you understand the creative cycle and you dare to trust its elements, it just, it's okay. It's okay. Yeah. You know, kind of know what you're doing.

So it operates on this sort of very particular level of just any project that we're working with. There's this living presence of this creative cycle that we work through. But for me, it's also a very big living presence that holds me. And this is very important post-menopause when I don't have a menstrual cycle holding me. I feel held in something greater. Wonderful.

What I'm present to is how alive you are when you speak about it. Something is pouring through you. It's wonderful to witness. I mean, I would just love to say that the creative work is the sweet spot for me in all the menstruality work. You know, whenever we've talked about creativity, you know, this is my favourite topic. I love talking about this. I reckon love the creative process.

I mean, I love all aspects of menstruality, but I don't know, creativity saved my life, which is why I think it's, you know, speaks to me. Sharni, I'd love to hear from you and I'd especially love to hear why it's so important to you and to you and Alexandra and to Red School and for the world that we learn about this creative cycle or the creative process as Alexandra has been calling it why do you see it as so key for all of us I think I'll start answering that question by sharing why it's so important for me. I mean, I realized as you asked that, like my heart beat starts accelerating because it matters to me so very, very much. And for me, Alexandra said creativity saved my life. And for me, I would say creativity is my church.

It is the place that I feel like I'm in the deepest communion with life, where I feel the most alive, the most satisfied, the most useful and yeah, the most joyful. It feels like such an eruption of expression that it's the nectar of my life and it's the thing that fuels me through all the toil and trouble and shit it's such menstrual cycle has, well, it walked me into this church, I would say. And it's really taught me to trust creativity, to trust the presence and intelligence and wisdom of creativity so much like Alexandra you know I feel it as this presence that I'm courting that whenever I'm creating something in my life I'm in a dance with creativity herself and she is taking me by the hand and leading me through all the places that I need to go that the project needs to go in order for me and the project to arrive in the world fully formed um so why this matters is i feel like well we're all so deeply creative our calling is our creative expression and everything we do in our day and in our life is a creative process. And when that channel of our human experience is suppressed or ignored or we fight against it, I want to say it's malignant.

It sickens us. It causes such huge amounts of sadness and stress and the gray, the gray that comes. So for us to feel truly well and truly in the seat of our lives. We need to be in a conscious, connected relationship with creativity. And I, you know, in our book, Wild Power, we talk about how menstruation brings us to this place of belonging, which is, of course, such an intimate and important part of the human experience and the other piece

to that belonging is um the creative manifestation and realization of the gift that we are that's the other very very key piece of the human experience. Unless our gifts are shared and given and received and we bring what we've got to bring, something isn't quite fulfilled in our experience. So in a way, this is the other piece. This is the other piece this is the other piece um yeah gosh there's so much to say about why it matters i mean alexandra and i we you know we often think um we often think that if people were in relationship with creativity it could quite possibly save all the world's problems. You know, we have bold, crazy thoughts like that.

But I think there's some truth to that. I, yeah, I feel so strongly about that. I mean, I've always had this sort of intuition that perhaps just because I think of myself, but I think of it almost as an antidote to violence because I know that if I had not found my creativity, and Shani talked about it turning up as kind of malignancy in us, well, I definitely feel, when I say it was medicine, it was part of my healings or my health, because I think I, you know, I turned so much inwards the power, I turned, I didn't know what to do with it. But also, I, the malignancy, I would have been aggressive, I would have been,

there would have been a jealousy in me and a kind of cynicism, you know, I would have been, there would have been a jealousy in me and a kind of, you know, I would have, it would have come out in reaction to others in some way in the world. I don't think I. Yeah, that's it. When we aren't in conscious relationship with creativity, it is destructive to us and to others. Yeah. And Shani, you said at one point, you know, we're all creative. We're all consistently expressing our creativity and it looks different for all of us. And I think it's really important

to name that that there's a kind of collective wound in many of our cultures that says unless you are like have paintings in a gallery or have written you know a whole stack of books that you aren't a quote-unquote creative person and it was really fun actually in the recent survey that we did with our community which received a fantastic response and we're so grateful I think almost 500 people responded to it now and we named several of the ways that creativity could be expressed in life beyond this like being an artist or you know some of the ways that people can think it can look like and it was fun to see that 80% of people see that they're creating their own soul path and 55% of people are creating an organization of some kind or a business or a body of work. And between 40 and 45% of people are creating so many other things like a home or an intimate relationship or any form of creative project.

You know, this looks like this can look so many different ways. And there were some really great unique responses to to the question, you know, what are you creating in your life? So someone said, I'm creating a sustainable income doing what I love someone said I'm creating the capacity to conquer my fears and then one of my favorites was my best post-menopause life so these are all profoundly creative acts and it feels like what you're pointing to is this cycle underneath the cycle you know the creative cycle underneath the menstrual cycle can hold us can guide us can teach us with whatever it is that we're cooking up in our lives however this however however our calling is expressing itself and and the menstrual cycle uh really gives us a very embodied real experience of you know uh connection to that cycle because of course

you know each phase of the menstrual cycle uh supports a particular phase of the creative process you know you can capitalize on it um uh the menstrual cycle process is building trust in yourself and it's actually it it it's more important it's two things one it's it's really bringing you into your own nature more and more who you are and what you're about and what you're here to serve so it's awakening what your creative thing is you know what your calling is it's revealing to you what is most important to you um and uh and that that's how it happened for me you know because i was not an artist you know in that formal sense in any way i was imminent eminent eminently unpractical you know i didn't make stuff you know i wish I did.

I just was intuitive and a whole shitload of ideas in my head. But it was the awakening I used to experience at menstruation that one would tell me there's something there. I would be so electrified. Unfortunately, it didn't go, this is what you are to do straight off or anything like that but then uh keeping that fidelity with the menstrual cycle it just led me into what i am about in the world what i am about and that was that's creativity, my thing, what I'm doing, what I'm making in the world or realizing in the world. Yeah.

So it's really important what you say about, you know, it's not about just writing books or painting paintings. It's, you know, it's our lives are a creative act I'd love to hear a bit about what working with this creative cycle has looked like for you two when it comes to Red School because you're kind of it's like a lab it's like a lab, it's like a laboratory for this process. You have used this creative cycle to grow everything that you've done to, from the very beginnings, you know, for anyone who's done our hormone harmony course, like that was right back in the day. And I'm sure you created many more things together before that actually, but

that was one of the beginning pieces. So there's, you know, there are all these courses that you've created. There's this whole body of work that you have landed. There's a team that you've grown. There's live programs. There's the menstruality leadership program. And now this new creative course that we'll share more about later and I mean it's a big question but without going into loads of detail with it how would you say this has helped you like

what kind of challenges has knowing this creative cycle in all we do, and we talk about the creative cycle now has come out of us really tracking our experience of going from an idea to the completed thing and noticing the sort of the steps along the way the demands if you like that creativity makes of us in the different steps and stages of the creative cycle. And much like any relationship, you know, if you hang out with creativity long enough, you really, really get to know her. So that has been our experience. And I feel we're in a very intimate relationship with creativity now. So to give you some examples of the kinds of challenges that understanding the creative cycle has helped us with. Well, let's start with one of my most tricky parts of the creative cycle which is the beginning so you know for some people the beginning is no big deal we've all this is what's interesting

we all struggle with different parts of the creative cycle but um having a very big vision or idea and then facing the blank canvas, for example. I think we've all experienced this where we feel so inspired by something we know we must do and want to do. And it's often very bold and we even wonder if we could do it. And so we've had that experience and then we kind of faced with the blank canvas and understanding the creative cycle has taught us that that new beginning requires a very sweet negotiation it requires time and slowness and presence and intentionality. What creativity is really asking of us in that new beginning is to enter mindfully, I want to say. She's asking us to really line up with what it is we're wanting to do

um so that's helped us to cross that line of getting going and we've spoken about this before I think in our podcast about new beginnings and and then of, that initial thing of just getting something on the metaphorical canvas, you know. And we know. We know that you've just got to throw shit at it and not worry about how it lands, how it looks, whether it's good or not good, things like that. We have real rules, don't we? And we have to say them out loud every time, partly so our inner critics hear it.

So there's no dumb idea. Nothing is censored, just any old random thoughts. This is us starting to write a book, you know, and we've got the blank page. And, well, I personally have to remind myself of that very, very clearly. Yeah. Yeah.

Just whatever comes up. And even if it is, even if you do think it's a really dumb, remarkable idea, you still say it because actually you know who knows actually it may not be it and it's yeah and and and it's to play and we're just playing and we're just playing and then occasionally we'll start going no no no that no no that's been weird no no no we're just playing right now no no no no rational reasonable commentary allowed. Because we're both highly discerning, you see, and critical. It's quite funny.

But we're also highly tender and vulnerable. We're human. So, yeah, we have quite clear rules around that beginning place and that intentionality yeah really sort of we it's so deliberate it's like one step at a time okay so now we are writing a book we are writing a book oh okay so what do we want this book to do? You know, we just play with ideas and we just ask each other questions, you know, in a very kind of playful way. I'm just going to pause our conversation

because we would love to hear from you. We're going to be continuing this podcast series throughout the summer and we really want to tailor it to your current creative challenges. So please write to me at sophie at redschool.net to share what you're currently cooking up in your life, whether that's a project in your home, a book you're writing, your family, a community, a business you're building, arts or crafts that you're making, an aspect of your personal growth journey or any other creative adventure and share the challenges that are currently holding you back, where you feel blocked, where you need support, where you need guidance and alexander and sharni will do their

best to respond to as many questions as possible over this summer and if you'd like to learn more about the creative cycle and how it can support you in your current and future creative endeavors do join us for our free webinar on july theth, how menstruality can teach you to lead a wildly creative life. You can register for free at redschool.net forward slash creativity. That's redschool.net forward slash creativity. It is so fun to get to work with you too because I get to watch this every step of the way like I got to witness you as you were writing the recent book wise power and I often have this question I have done for like the last 15 years as someone wanting like with a big vision and wanting to create beautiful things in the world I see people who are who are manifesting

who are creating in a big way and I ask myself how are they bloody doing it then because it's really hard and so I pay a lot of attention to you too and I get this um front row seat which is fun and you know you've just spoken about that very beginning piece but what I watch you do is the way you names or like the strengths and the vulnerabilities of each bit and then take care of yourself and move through them so I've seen you do it several times now and it just feels good to name it feels important to name some of the potential challenges that come up because I can imagine that some of the people listening might feel like they're alone in these things and there can be a lot of shame

then around creativity yeah did you just think so I'm gonna name them and I'm gonna name some of the stats from the survey just to let everyone know we're all in this we are all in this together yeah actually can I preface it by saying, you know, with the creative cycle, with every single phase and step of the creative cycle, there are pitfalls. There are pitfalls everywhere. It's like we often say it's like there will be monsters, you know, and we all come undone in different places and in different ways. And we all, you know, it's all very shared, the experience.

Everyone recognizes these pitfalls. So, yes, do go ahead and name some of them. Yeah. So firstly, in the survey, self-doubt was the biggest one. So this sense of I'm not this enough I'm not that enough I need to be more of this in order to be able to do what I want to do so that was 61% of people ticked that box that they're experiencing that in their creative process distraction and procrastination was 48% um struggling to bring ideas to fruition was 46 percent and

between 40 and 43 percent was fear of failure which is such a big one that can take people out right at the beginning that beginning point that you were naming Sharni imposter syndrome that sense of feeling like a fraud or who do I think I am exhaustion and too many ideas feeling overwhelmed by so many creative ideas so it's a kind of relief in my system to just say all of those out loud and to see how how much how common they are how we're all experiencing them and then some other people other responses that people shared were confusion about what to prioritize money worries so much to do and so little time and not knowing where to start there's a lot the creative process asks a great deal of us doesn't it it asks a huge amount of us and um and here's the wonderful thing when you understand the creative cycle when you know about the creative cycle,

you can start to locate yourself, you know, with where you are in your creative project. And then there are certain kind of things you need to do in each phase. And when you want to, it's like you get a set of instructions almost. You're like, don't do that, do this. And it's sort of the creative cycle gives you a container. It's like a sort of protector too, as well. From the sort of, well, basically the all-looming monster of the inner critic, basically, inner and outer critics.

But if you learn, if you know about the creative cycle and really start to honour each step, and there is an order to it. It's like an ecology, really. There's a very distinct order. And if you're falling into a deep hole, it's like locate yourself again. Because there are holes in each phase you could potentially fall into. And there are sort of what we call kindnesses that you can bring to help you navigate those holes. But if you're honoring each stage of the creative process it sets you up for the next stage and then the next stage so in a sense you're building your capacity

uh to become more public with it so it starts off you know the creative process starts off in a very contained you know protective bubble and as you move through each stage just like you're expanding the parameters of yourself and what you can manage and take on and then lo and behold you get to that stage where you do ultimately have to face the critic and you've got, you've been prepared for it. You've been prepared for that moment, so to speak. So, you know, everything that you've listed there, you know, I mean, well, maybe not all of it.

I've never seen myself as a procrastinator, fortunately, but that's only because I've always had an implicit understanding of timing and it's taken me a hell of a lot of time to do things but i you know yes i i particularly shame i mean hideous hideous and when i first started out it was like wading through black tar a black tar of self-loathing. But something was moving me on. And the thing is, once you understand the creative cycle, it really helps you. You know, I don't think if I had known about the creative cycle then, I would have had a very different kind of understanding

of that first piece of writing very very because I had no understanding I had no idea of anything you know how to craft a book or anything not even basic stuff what's so brilliant about the creative cycle, Sophie, is that it's incredibly practical. So it's almost like there's a tick box. You know, Alexandra speaks about this hideous shame. Well, there's like a checklist, like what needs to be tended to and how to tend to it. It is that instructional, that specific, and that, I want to say, simple. Because, I mean, it is on one hand.

When you've got the math and you've got the instructions, it just takes creativity into a whole different kind of experience. Yeah. Oh, what a relief. Because I think the amount of people that want a checklist and a to-do list to just get out of get out of our own way because we can feel that we have something to contribute boy does the world need it you know if you want to find some problems to bring a remedy to there are plenty of freaking problems so yeah I feel so excited hearing you speak because I see the shame in myself in my friends

in my community in the world and like to know that this is an antidote or a way to clear the path of that shame so that we can bring forth what we're here to bring oh yes yes to that okay the ecstasy is coming again we are back um okay so this is the beginning of you know this conversation that we're going to be having over this whole summer and I want to invite everybody listening to join us for our webinar that's coming up on july the 12th where we will dive into this creative cycle so you two will walk through the five phases is it like four and a half phases or is it five phases how does well we'll tell you more at the webinar and we're going to look at these different phases through the lens of the creation of your latest book wise power and you know you've pointed at this a couple of times alexandra

but how distinctly different it was to the process of writing Wild Genie back in the day when I was alive, actually. I was probably about seven or like four. Amazing to feel how your dedication to this over so many decades. Yes. So we'll put a link for people to register for that webinar on the podcast page at redschool.net forward slash podcast. And yeah, we're going to look at the challenges that we face as creative beings, how this wisdom that's born from the menstrual cycle or is the cycle underneath the cycle. I loved how this wisdom that's born from the menstrual cycle, or is the cycle

underneath the cycle, I loved how you said that, can help us in really practical, tangible ways to move through them. And we'll also be sharing much more about this brand new course that you've been creating and putting together, which will be starting in September and we would love to have you with us everyone listening uh yeah is there anything you'd like to say about the webinar I've got an invitation for everybody after that well I just noticed I feel just so much excitement around this topic and it would just be incredible to engage with people. I just want to galvanize us all. I just want everybody to know this information because it's so liberating.

It's so liberating. Yeah, I know that the people listening to this podcast and the people in our community have all got something very special cooking within them. And I can't wait to share this with you all because I really want to see all of you succeed. I really want to see all of you thriving and fulfilling something of your creativity so I just come and join us because it would be an absolute pleasure to take this journey with you and to share our love of creativity with you and to see how your life ignites when you begin working with the creative cycle um yeah I can't wait I'm also really really excited about it I've got this memory that's just coming up from my menstruality

leadership program where Shani you guided a movement practice so there were probably 28 or 29 30 of us in this big room and you played incredible music and walked us through the phases of the creative cycle and I remember as I was moving through just having revelation after revelation after revelation around things that happened in my life creatively and blocks that I'd had and just felt the immense possibility and also the naturalness of this, that this is something that, you know, in a world that wants to give us cookie cutter templates for this that and the other usually based in men's experience you know in this patriarchal culture that we live in this felt like a blossoming from inside me that was being called out by this structure and holding

and container that you were giving us and it was so beautiful that memory has stayed with me and and is it am I right in thinking that you're going to guide a kind of musical process dance process on the course like that come on that is that is one of the plans we're cooking is to take people on a movement experience to feel what it's like to really be held within the creative cycle. Yes. Yeah. And I'm so glad to hear that memory of yours. and what you said there is so beautiful and so true Sophie that this creative cycle is not a model that is imposed on us this is the deep organic way our being creates And we're just illuminating it and making explicit the means by which one trusts it and allows it to hold and guide us.

Yeah, the means by which we really let creativity hold us. And yeah, and it all makes so much sense at the deepest level. I'm just remembering one of the responses in the creativity survey was something like, I'm going to get this a little bit wrong, but it was something like I'm going to get this a little bit wrong but it was something like I just need some holding and some support to be my weird strange quirky creative self that's it come to the right place yeah the creative cycle is the answer to all your prayers especially if you've ever been called weird which I have a lot in my life so we want to carry on this conversation over the summer right you know Alexandra you were saying you want to be you want to hear from people so what we're thinking is over the summer we'll have several podcasts about the creative cycle and we would love you listening to write to us

to write to me and share what your current greatest creative challenges are you know are they some of the things that we listed earlier? Is imposter syndrome really getting in your way? Do you have so many ideas that you don't know how to land them? Do you keep reaching a certain place and then noticing that you just get distracted and go make up a tea and then you're watching Netflix and then like what is it that you're cooking up in your life and what is holding you back or blocking you with it and please write into me at sophie at redschool.net because we would like to answer as many you know respond to as many of these questions and challenges as possible in our podcasts over the summer yeah it'd be really good to hear what creative projects you're working on and where you

are where you're stuck with it and and what's yeah where you've hit a block um that might be really good and to then dive deeply into the remedy and medicine for that okay since you have a couple more minutes can you help me with my greatest creative challenge at the moment um in a couple of minutes absolutely no problem your greatest creative challenge in this lifetime no problems yes okay listen okay so listen to this my child arty has been begging me to make him a water fountain water fountain water fountain in my garden and i have this trough this beautiful stone trough that was just in our house when we moved in and i want to turn it into a fountain and i do not know how to do it. And normally I'm just like, I'm just going to get in there, but I'm procrastinating. I'm kind of Googling things,

but don't really know what to do. And I need your help. What's my next step with building my water fountain? I love it. All right, great. So you're stuck in the how, the how of this project. Artie is the visionary. He has the vision and you've been given that task and now you're wondering how. All right, so we need to backpedal a little bit in the creative process and come back to Artie's vision, okay? Because we need to get into the why of this vision, okay?

So the vision holds the inspiration, the energy, and in a way, all the answers to the unfolding of it. It's like the acorn that holds the blueprint for the entire oak tree, all right? So we need to come back and kind of dwell in that vision. So what creativity is asking of you, Sophie, is to hang out with Artie in his childlike, visionary, imaginative place and really dream into why this water fountain is his heart's longing. And for you to find your own why,

like why does this matter to you? Why are you even contemplating doing something about this request? Because no doubt he makes many requests. What is it called forward in you why is this intriguing why are you wanting this so for you to hang out together in feeling um the value of this water fountain and why it matters to you both and maybe why it matters to your family why it matters to your garden you could ask the birds why it matters to your family, why it matters to your garden. You could ask the birds why it matters.

You could ask the earth why it matters. And from there, well, I kind of want to say dot, dot, dot. Just do that because that's the stage of the creative cycle that you're in. But if I were to give you a little kind of review of the next chapter, how? Having done what Shani has said, just don't think about it. Let it sit for a while. But it's like just kind of let it hang out in the back of your brain, not kind of in the front of your brain. Sleep on it.

Just thoughts, random thoughts are going to come in. Or you'll just find yourself randomly drawn to something or mentioning it to somebody in the supermarket queue you know and they go jeez i'm a genius water fountain you're talking to a genius water fountain creator i know i mean i mean ridiculous things like that do happen by the way but um maybe not so precisely. But something, you know, things happen. It's like a breadcrumb trail that you start following. Yeah.

And you can hear in what Alexandra is saying that this requires patience and pacing. So you're not going to go from his request to the finished water fountain in X amount of time. Needs time. Time. Yeah. his request to the finished water fountain in x amount of time needs needs time time yeah well to be continued maybe by the end of the summer we might have our water fountain yeah yeah well and now and now you have a whole community of people who are dreaming into the vision of that fountain bloody all right it's a very good idea okay you get emails about it now so oh please i'm a water i'm a water fountain creator emails you'll get i love this because what you're sharing puts me in touch with pleasure so now it feels fun I want to sit next to the trough with Artie and look at the birds around and think oh wouldn't it be great

if they had some water to drink and I love this thank you okay I love this thank you thank you so much for the beginning of this amazing conversation that I'm looking forward to so much. And everyone, please do come and join us on July the 12th for the webinar. We'll tell you more about it soon. Thank you so much for joining us today and for listening right until the end until now and I'm so genuinely excited to hear what you're creating in your life at the moment or what you're longing to create and to journey alongside you this summer as we all work through our creative blocks together including the water fountain that I will build this summer somehow. So please email me at sophie at redschool.net.

I'd love to hear from you and I'll pass on your questions and musings and wonderings to Alexander and Sharni and we'll be exploring them all the way through the summer in our podcast episodes. And again, if you'd love to learn about how the menstrual cycle lays a blueprint for all your creative projects and how you can work with the creative cycle to move through any creative blocks that you face please join us for the webinar on July the 12th you can register for free at redschool.net forward slash creativity. Okay that's it for this week, I look forward to being with you again next week and until then keep living life according to your brilliant rhythm.