The Menstruality Podcast - Relieve Stress & Create Balance through Cycle Awareness *Retreat Special* (Nicole Jardim)

Episode Date: January 18, 2022

Today’s conversation is about how to honour your cycle at work, manage stress and set yourself up to lead, in our non-cyclical world. Our guest is Nicole Jardim, a Certified Women’s Health Coach, writer, speaker, mentor, and the creator of Fix Your Period, a series of programs that empower women and menstruators to reclaim their hormonal health. Nicole shares personal stories and tips for how to stay true to the energy of your cycle day in the world of work and how our cycles can help us to manage the stress that can arise when the world doesn’t play ball. This special episode is session four of our free, online Wild Power Retreat, where we’re inviting you to make 2022 your year of menstrual cycle awareness.We explore:The science of the stress / menstrual cycle connection, how our cycles can be a resource when it comes to stress management, and how cycle tracking can help us mitigate the stresses of our day-to-day pandemic lives.How to harness the powers of your inner seasons to make tough decisions at work, for example, Nicole has learned to only hire people in her ovulatory phase when her discernment and intuition are strongest!How being aware of your strengths and challenges each day of your cycle month gives you a ‘crystal ball’ that allows you to work and lead from a place of empathy, authenticity and compassion for ourselves and others.---Registration is open for our 2022 Wild Power Immersion is now open. You can join here: https://www.wildpower.online. ---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email [e-mail]---Social media:Red School: @red.school - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolNicole Jardim: @nicolemjardim - https://www.instagram.com/nicolemjardim

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, change makers 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 there, welcome back to the Menstruality Podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. And as you may know, we're in the

middle of a special series at the moment, the Wild Power Retreat. And today we have an amazing session coming up, session four. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Hey everybody, welcome to session four of our Wild Power Retreat, where we're exploring how you can enhance your leadership, your creativity, your vitality and health through the magical practice of menstrual cycle awareness. And we have another amazing conversation today. We're going to be looking at how to honor your cycle at work and how to manage stress and set yourself up to lead. And we're speaking with the incredible Nicole Jardim.

Thank you so much for making the time to be with us today, Nicole. How are you doing? Hi, Sophie. Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored to be here and I'm pretty good. As I was saying to you before we started recording, we have about a foot of snow on the ground, so I'm just all cozy inside. It looks so gorgeous out there. I kind of want to fly over there and build a snowman with you. Yes, absolutely. I know we're going to take

the sled out in a bit. With your three puppies. My three dogs. Yes, exactly. That should be very interesting. So talking about work, you know, I think this conversation is really important because it's one thing to track your cycle in your life and with your relationships. But then when your cycle meets your work experience, it can often cough up new kinds of challenges and stress. So today we're going to look at how we can find ways to stay true to where we're at in our cycle when the world isn't necessarily, you know, we don't live in a cyclical world yet. We're working our way towards it. But before we get into the questions, I want to introduce you, Nicole. So Nicole is a certified women's health coach, writer, speaker, mentor, and creator

of Fix Your Period, which is a series of programs that empower women to reclaim their hormonal health using a method that combines evidence-based information with simplicity and sass. And Nicole's Instagram feed is an incredible resource. I recommend that everyone goes and checks that out. Let's start with a cycle check-in. So if you're listening along and you've got your wild power journal, then there's space for you to drop your cycle check-in in for the day. Nicole, could you share what day you're on and three words, if you can, that give us the essence of, of how your cycle day is? Oh, on cycle day 24 and me too no way I'm intrigued I'm intrigued to hear your words oh my gosh now you put me on the spot I'm like

oh shoot what are these three words let me come up with something good I would say there's a little bit of anxiousness or anxiety. There's also this strange sense of calm. I'm not sure why, because I feel like I'm leading into the bigger days, premenstrual days. And I'd say the other one is, yeah, I generally feel pretty happy, which is always a little strange for me especially at this time of my cycle because I yeah I tend towards the more introverted um quiet calm reflective type so yeah those are I'd say those are my three words it's a bit of a mishmash

that's so interesting especially the anxious calm which I can completely relate to today because I feel this the calm feels like I don't give a bleep, you know, that's where the calm feels like it's coming from. It's like that, that kind of tiredness or just like I'm over it kind of feeling of day 24. But, but the critic is active and she's like, Oh, what does your hair look like? What are you saying? How are you showing up in this interview? You know, she's quite busy. But I also feel creative. I've been noticing how creative I feel in this phase of my cycle. I love that we're on the same day. I know. That is so amazing. I know. I know. I think, yeah, it's like definitely the height, I think the heightened anxiousness for what's to come because I have a really crazy week next week.

I didn't plan according to my cycle super well this month because being in your 40s, perimenopause, your cycle shifts a little bit as everybody knows and I was like oh whoops that was kind of a mistake so yeah it's like it's a little bit of a combination of things for not just today but the next week is what it feels like that's going to bring a really interesting flavor to this conversation especially when we bring in perimenopause because then you don't necessarily know when your period's coming so in terms of managing that around work oh brilliant yes i know yeah let's get into it with our day 24 truth teller as well we can really like get into it um i would love to start by hearing a couple of the ways that you feel that tracking your cycle

and practicing menstrual cycle awareness has changed the game for you and has changed things for you in your life. Oh my goodness. I feel like it's changed everything, right? It's changed everything. And as we know, there are the four distinct phases of our menstrual cycles and they each bring these pretty significant alterations to our physical and emotional and mental states. And this cycle affects our moods, our focus, the way our brains work due to the fluctuations in estradiol, our most potent form of estrogen, and progesterone, which comes in the second half of our cycle. And of course, what this means is that, you know, for many of us, we can anticipate how we're going to feel. And for me, when I realized that I could plan for it, I could align my life with it, I could support my body, I could build my career, my business around it, it was completely game-changing and so years ago if I can go back a little bit for

context I just remember every month when I tried to you know work against my natural cycles which I did really often I when I was building my business in the beginning I found that I would just end up burnt out and frustrated and not getting the results I was wanting and the hustling got me ahead a little bit as it does but it was very forceful a very forceful way of going about getting to my goals. And it just set me back a lot of the time. It cost me weeks of actual inspired action. And so I really had to figure out how to do things differently, as is the case for so many of us. And so eventually I did shift

everything about how I worked and I learned to, to harness this innate feminine wisdom and honor my menstrual cycle. And, and what I found was there was this immediate, almost, um, you know, really kind of rapid shift in, in how things were going, uh, going in my business business and my life. And suddenly I felt like I was able to take action that was more inspired and it was easier for me to do that. And I was experiencing this deeper sense of ease and flow in my life and my business commitments and things really were falling into place, which it seems so almost cliche, so ridiculous, but it really is so true. And, you know, when I found when I finally learned to honor my cycle, I was able to use

it as this power source, right, for making these daily tough decisions that come along with being a business owner and just being in a place of leadership. So I felt like from there, I was able to build significant success. And so in my program with my students, I always have them pull up whatever calendar they use and add the phases of their cycle to the calendar, whatever that is for the following three months. For perimenopause, it might just be like one month

because you don't really know what's happening a lot of the time. Or if you have regular cycles, even longer. And then like similarly to the work of Red School, I encourage everyone to plan their work and their lives around these cycles as best that they can. And this is something I've done for years now. And for me personally, it helps Hayden, my partner, to be fully aware of what's going on with my cycle. So he can plan because the guy should be planning too. And my business team, my business manager, you know, she's fully aware of my cycle as well. And so she plans interviews according to what's going on with the cycle. So I would say that has been sort of my number one change in how I've done things. And it,

it just drastically changed my life for the better. It's amazing to hear, especially when you talked about how it's a power source for making the daily tough decisions. I think that's really exciting because that feels really practical. Could you, could you share more about that? Like how, can you think of an example of when your cycle has supported you with that kind of decision making? Oh, yes. Oh, my goodness. For sure.

I find that in my luteal phase, especially the late luteal phase premenstrually, that it's very difficult for me to make decisions. I feel very indecisive. And then it feels as though everything's coming at me at once and I just can't make up my mind. So I really, really try not to do that at that time of my cycle. And so when I'm in that follicular ovulatory phase, that is really where I find the magic is happening. I feel like magnetic almost. And so in that, there was an instance where, you know, I had to make a decision about hiring someone. And I, for me personally, I feel most intuitive in that follicular ovulatory phase where

estrogen and testosterone are firing really well and my brain is functioning optimally and you know and I'm able to um just really clearly see the forest through the trees and so for me I found weirdly enough when I'm hiring I make the best hiring decisions during that time of my cycle and those people have always worked out amazingly well. Whereas when I've made decisions in my luteal phase, not so much. So that's like one pretty clear example that has had a profound impact on my business. How fascinating. I've often wondered like, what's the secret thing? Because sometimes when you hire people, it really works. And sometimes it doesn't. And higher than you could very well be amazing um let's I'd like to talk about stress

because I think you know it's been a stressful year for pretty much a couple of years for pretty much everybody you know we're facing new kinds of stresses we're learning how to cope in a world that looks quite different to how it's looked ever before um and it's having an impact on people's cycles you know you can see across social media that people's cycles are changing for a variety of reasons how can or how do you see uh our cycles as a resource when it comes to stress how can our cycles help us to manage the stresses of our day-to-day lives and especially our day-to-day pandemic lives? Oh girl, it's really, I just want to just acknowledge that we have been through such an unprecedented time. And, you know, I've often said our menstrual cycle is our proverbial

canary in a coal mine. In other words, our menstrual cycles are always going to be a barometer or a reflection of our overall health. And in the case of what has transpired over the last two years, I'd say it's also a reflection of the collective stress that we're all experiencing right now. And I think it's just so important for everyone to know that our period problems or whatever's happening with our cycles as a result of the last two years, it's not like they're just telling us that, you know, we need more pads and tampons or we need more painkillers or whatever. These changes really are alerting us to a potential system-wide malfunction. And by recognizing these symptoms as something that are, you know, outside of your norm, you're then able to take

action that's right for you, that will offer relief potentially for whatever it is that you're experiencing. And I think the other point I wanted to make too about this is that, you know, I, like you just said, right, I've gotten, I don't know, hundreds of messages over the last 20 months or so since, you know, probably since a few months into the pandemic about these cycle irregularities. And it's not at all surprising to me when I think about the stress connection and its impact to the menstrual cycle, because most women, you know, they don't know what's normal for menstrual cycles as a whole, which we said we're working to change that. But I'd say generally speaking, we have an understanding of what our individual norm is.

So most people who come to me, they say, well, you know, I usually get my period every 30 days and now it's been 50 days or I bleed for four days and I've now had a 10 day period or my premenstrual symptoms are not so bad usually, but they're completely out of control for the last few months. And this, you know, is out of the norm for me. So clearly people have a general idea. However, it's very stressful for them because they don't understand the impact that stress has on our menstrual cycle. And I feel like this is something that is so perpetually overlooked. And I talked about it in detail in my book because I really wanted us to understand that, you know, if we live in a society like the

one we live in right now, you're almost guaranteed to have HPA axis dysfunction. And so your HPA axis is your hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. And it is, you know, very intricately connected to your hypothalamic pituitary ovarian axis. So these are all these invisible axises in your body that are essentially the highway for your hormones to talk to each other, right? And we are just typically not aware of the profound impact that adrenal function has on our sex hormones and our menstrual cycle. And so when you think about the fact that, you know, we both axises share the hypothalamus and the pituitary. So when you think about the hypothalamus, right? So it's like sort of the hormone headquarters.

And so we have cortisol as this stress hormone that's released. It's the most prominent stress hormone. It has this dampening effect on the secretion of a hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone, so GNRH. So that comes from the hypothalamus to tell your pituitary gland to produce FSH and LH. And so those two hormones then talk to the ovaries. So we already have a situation at the very top of the food chain where our hypothalamus is scanning our bodies, our external environment, and it's clearly seeing

that we have a stress response happening, right? And it's an ongoing chronic stress response. This cortisol is being released. Other stress hormones are being released. And they're already kind of saying to the hypothalamus, oh, this might not be such a great time to ovulate, or we might need to delay ovulation. And this is the conversation going on in our brains and our bodies, unbeknownst to us, all day, every day.

And as a result, what happens is if we have that lower GNRH or the GNRH pulses, because it's pulsed, change, then the pituitary changes its production of FSH and LH. And that will subsequently affect how our ovaries respond. And then ultimately, they may not get an egg or a follicle ready for to release an egg at ovulation, or it may it just may be delayed. And so people coming to me saying that they got a period 15 days late. That's likely why they did because over time, your body says, okay, this is definitely not a safe situation to get pregnant, have a baby. This, you know, this is evolutionary, right? This is our protection mechanism for millions of years of evolution.

And so we view it as, oh, our body is broken. This is a huge problem. But when you are intricately aware of your cycle through cycle tracking and really understanding what's going on with your individual cycle, you can know that this is what's going on. You can know when you've ovulated. So you will know when you're going to get your period. And if you don't ovulate, you might skip a period or another person might just bleed for 15 days. It just really kind of depends on your genetics. So I think that, again, coming back to this cycle awareness practice this year and you'd like support from alexandra sharni and a community of like-minded cycle aware people

we invite you to visit wildpower.online where you can find out more about our 2022 Wild Power Immersion. This is six weeks of inspiring teachings, live coaching sessions with Alexandra and Sharni, a supportive community to help you awaken to the inner architecture of your cycle, so that you can embrace the full force of your cyclical intelligence and create a new power story for yourself and the world you can find out more at wildpower.online that's wildpower.online I just have so many questions for you right now you know when we menstruate is there a release of oxytocin in that phase actually the oxytocin tends to be higher in the ovulatory phase okay so yes yes oxytocin tends to be higher which makes a lot of sense just because of its sort of mood boosting

um uh you know sort of love bonding hormone hormone or effect of that hormone. So actually in the menstrual phase, when you menstruate, it's actually lower, which makes a lot of sense too, right? Because it's lower as in like, you really want the hugs so you can raise your oxytocin, but you also don't want the hugs. Yeah. I just want to hug my puppy. The reason why I ask is because I was wondering if we're more aware of our cycles and therefore more able sometimes to be able to predict when we're going to bleed and more able to clear a calendar so that we can, or like call in help from other people so that we can have more time to rest, could that help to mitigate the stress that we're experiencing? Like, is there a sort of hormonal dance there? Or is it just simply a good idea to rest at that phase anyway, and that and just that rest in itself will mitigate the stress? That's such a great question. And I think that it very much comes back to what I was talking about with really knowing, right, what it is that, you know, is happening on a hormonal level.

And that that really does coincide, I think, with with the physical with our physical needs, or what is happening. And at the same time, it changes. That was one thing I learned, I felt like I learned from red school was how drastically different a day in your cycle can be from the month before to right now, pretty sure I didn't feel like this on day 24 last month. And, you know, and so that's really where, you know, cultivating that awareness of, you know, just your general experience of your cycle comes in so handy. And so, like I said, I think like these hormonal fluctuations, just knowing what these hormones do in your body can be tremendously helpful to how you experience your life in general and just knowing who you are. Because I've said this for years, it's not you, it's your hormones. And for real, that is so true. And then I think as we move into our late 30s, 40s, and the time that is known as perimenopause, which can be very tumultuous, as we know if we've been

there, this is the time that we're really being called to know what's going on. Our body is literally now screaming at us, saying to us, you didn't pay attention in your 20s and 30s because you were really hormonally resilient and things were good back then. But now I'm asking you to really to tune into what's happening here and what's being asked of you, how you need to take care of yourself in order to take care of your hormones, because things will get worse if you don't take a look at what's happening. And so I think that that's one of the most important aspects for all of us to grasp when it comes to what's happening with our bodies. I don't even know if I answered your question, but yeah, you did.

It's great. Let's look at work, work, work and cycles. How does this dance go? Beautifully, the world is moving more in the direction of period policies and of menopause policies and of understanding thatause policies and of understanding that we change and that's okay and you know we had the feminist wave which wanted to equalize everybody which is so important and now there's this new understanding coming in of actually we have superpowers in our cycle that we can harness if we're able to rest at menstruation for example

so I would I'd love to hear about your work situation. If you would share with us, you know, how does, how do you plan your work around your cycle? Like how does it work with your team or how does it work when you've got a deadline and your cycle has shifted? Yeah. I'd love to hear some, some tips that you've found. Yes. I feel like I'm winging it slightly I however I feel as though because I've really been so aware of my cycle for so many years now and really done my best to work with it and this is the thing I want everyone to know you just you we're all doing our best right and I said to you earlier we're all kind of winging it especially right now so I really

feel that everyone should be should be doing whatever they can do, whatever you can manage. And so I feel like everything I've said too kind of touches on this, but witnessing not only my experience of tracking my cycle, but others who've been in my programs, I'm endlessly fascinated by the findings of this experience. And I truly believe that it's impossible for a woman to be happy and content as a business owner or CEO or a visionary or whatever in her work if she's not trained to utilize this cycle wisdom that we've been talking about as a natural habit in her everyday life. And more than anything, it's taken so much of the anxiety and the uncertainty out of being a leader. Because I feel like, obviously, these things still come up, I should

say that, right? Like these feelings all come up. I just said I was anxious today. But it's much more manageable, because I'm so fully aware of my strengths and weaknesses, almost every day of my cycle every single month. So being in the position that I'm in, I feel as though I have a bit of a crystal ball. And so as we all know, right, we cannot help others when we're coming from that place of depletion or neglect. So during that bleeding phase of every month, I really try to practice quote unquote showing up for myself first. And as we know, when we do that, we'll have the power to run our lives and run them from a place of empathy and compassion and, you know, authenticity and really understanding for ourselves and for others. And ultimately,

I just think that that comes back to self-care. It's kind of like that time of the cycle. It's the mirror to reflect the focus onto yourself so that you can go through this personal growth and transformation. And for me personally, just become a better business owner and a leader in this space. So that's what I, the most, I think one of the most fundamental steps that any of us can take is to really look at that first phase of the cycle for those, you know, for that kind of self-care. And I just think that it really helps to restore our potential, right? As we move into the next phases of the cycle and prevents us from getting stuck like what I was saying earlier, you know, this stuck in this cycle of hustling and burnout that does not align at all with what's

happening in your body. Have you ever had it? I'm sure you have when you unexpectedly start to bleed. We actually had it, Shani and I, we did a podcast episode about it. We both had it on the same month. I bled on day 23, which has never happened in my life and I think she was on day 24 and we were we were both really taken aback by it because we had a lot of work planned in those final days we were going to sort of harness the creativity of in autumn and we both went okay what are we going to do now there's a curveball and I mean what did we do in the end we called in help from the other team members we We moved every single thing that we could that wasn't absolutely necessary to do. And then we brought our menstrual-ness to the things that we needed to do. But I'm intrigued to hear how you handle it when your bleed hits you out of the blue or, you know, just the way life happens,

you have to show up for something big on day one or two of your cycle. Oh my goodness. Yes. Oh, okay. I can still relate to this. I so feel you on this day 23, 24 thing. It actually has happened probably two times to me now. And funnily enough, it's kind of what's happening next week in that I ovulated a little bit earlier this cycle. And I, like I said, I didn't plan properly because I wasn't really, I don't know, Back then I wasn't thinking about it. I was like, oh, ovulation, amazing. Life is great.

And so I really wasn't looking two weeks ahead. Anyway, my point is, is that now we're kind of moving things a little bit for next week because I'm actually supposed to get my period on a day that I have a case study teaching call for my certification program. And I have three podcast episode recordings. So there's literally no way I can do that. So I really do feel like that's exactly what I've done too. So I move things around, I push things out to my follicular phase. I, you know, I also try to really build in those pockets of time where I can just like take a nap or I can rest in some way because obviously that will, you know, that will help output when I'm working in that phase of my cycle. Because what I found

for me, and this is what I hear from other business owners and people who are just working in jobs as well, is that you can't always do that, right? We can't always move things around. So how do we scaffold our life so that we, like you said, you asked for help. How do we do that? Like, how do we build in scaffolding so that we're able to handle the challenges that we're faced with in a phase of our cycle or a time of our cycle when we don't feel equipped to do that? Yeah. I just wrote a note to myself because one of the things that has changed everything for me is Red School, Alexandra and Sharni are completely committed to stress free working, which doesn't mean we don't work really hard.

We do. But there isn't stress. And I've never been in a work environment where there was such a commitment to no stress. It's amazing. It's incredible. I need to take more cues from the two of them. Well, I think what I've been sort of studying them again, how do they do this? That is incredible. I need to take more cues from the two of them. Well, I think what I've been sort of studying them and going, how do they do this? But one of the keys is that they have really long timelines. So say if we know we're launching a program in September, we're thinking about it now. Yes. And that's taught me so much because then if there are a couple of cycles where curveballs happen, there's much more space for everything to unfold, which totally relieves stress for us. It's so brilliant. And I have 100% learned that over the years as well with regard to timelines for program launches, particularly, because as we know, they never go to plan and there are always inevitable curveballs. So yes, that is so great. And I'm

so glad you brought it up because it really has been something that's changed dramatically in my business too. I used to be like, oh, I'm going to launch something in June or whatever. And it was May. And it just takes two months of planning alone just to get to the point where, you know, the next, that's like the first stage and there's four stages of planning. So thank you for bringing that one up because I do really think that we tend to underestimate the amount of time that something takes, whether that's a project at work or a home project or whatever. And like you said, it creates an unbelievable amount of stress in our lives that then impacts our cycle. So I'm more committed to stress-free working now that I've heard you say that. Let's do it all of us together. Let's

definitely do it. Final question before we get to our quickfire round. Leadership. I'd love to talk to you about leadership because you really are a leader in this field, Nicole. I look up to you so much. So many of us do. You're paving the way. You've got a big calling. You know, you're working with so many people transforming the way we're approaching periods across, you know, across the world. It's amazing. Oh, my gosh. Thanks, Sophie. I'm totally blushing. Oh, my goodness. So I can't. Yeah, thank you. I'm going to really listen to this interview the next time I'm feeling like I'm not making enough of an impact. You are, you're making a huge impact. And this is why I really wanted to ask you this question, because, you know, you are leading in a big way. How does your cycle and your intimate connection

with your cycle help you with this vision that you're holding and this calling that you're, that you're bringing through? You know, I kind of said it before a little bit on, you know, just, again, my own experience of of moving through that, that place of hustling and burnout and doing things differently, based on my experience of my cycle and this innate wisdom. And I, you know, I find that using each phase in as you know, in a in conjunction with my business has been just game changing. And I talked a little bit about that early follicular phase of bleeding phase and whatnot. And then, you know, I feel like, for me, personally, I am a total introvert. Like I do, do not, I mean, I not in a million years would I have thought I'd be doing interviews like this or being on video or having to speak in

public. Truly 20 years ago, that was like my worst nightmare. I really, yeah, no. And so I have found using these more extroverted times of my cycle where, and today, clearly, that's not the case. But you know, I feel fine today. So usually, though, in that, you know, the lead up to ovulation, ovulation, and then a little bit post ovulation, where my physical energy, my creativity, and my brain's penchant for actually saying things that make sense are, you know, highest. And it's really that time of my cycle that I feel like I've utilized to overcome these feelings of, you know, of being want to hide. So for me personally, yeah, I just, you know, that rising estrogen,

that rising testosterone, even a little bit of oxytocin like we talked about. It's really that time in my cycle where I found that I've been able to step into that leadership role because everything just feels so stimulating. It feels really new. And like I said, I've really had to practice this, using this time in my cycle to take full advantage of this introvertedness or like working through this introvertedness that I tend to feel. So practice, practice, practice. And over time, I feel like over time, my skills have really become more natural and my confidence has grown thanks to utilizing this inner cycle wisdom. So that's been a big thing for me.

So it sounds like you really honed in on where you feel most aligned, most, you have the most creative energy and you focus a lot of attention there. And as you focus more there, the whole thing has grown. That's what it sounds like to me. It really has. We each pick our phase where we feel more comfortable because I have friends who feel really at home in this autumn phase. And that is exactly where they, so perhaps they would focus more attention there and then their leadership can grow from that place. I completely agree. I think so. I mean, for me personally, just communication skills and,

and really, you know, there's a lot of, of science-y content that I, you know, I've learned and I teach. And so for me personally, I felt most comfortable when I know I can really articulate all of that very well. And, and that, you know, like I said, that's where I've, I've used, um, or that's the time of the cycle that I've used, um, to, I think really hone leadership skills, but anyone can use any time of their cycle. No doubt about that. I do think that that ovulatory window is kind of like the 80, 20 rule. It's like, I feel like there's, you know, not a lot of effort that is going to generate a huge amount of results. And so that's that time of the cycle for me, for sure.

Yeah. You mentioned inspired action earlier, and it sounds like that's the phase of your cycle when inspired action, you can do something that would have taken a week in another phase of your cycle, but you can do it in an hour in that phase. A hundred percent. I know I'm sitting there like, okay, let me check my phone again. Oh, maybe I should run downstairs and get a snack. You know, it's just all over the place at different parts of my cycle, but that, that one for sure is very tuned in.

Thanks, Nicole. This is also practical and so helpful. Let's get to our quickfire round. This, okay. Firstly, how do you track your cycle? Oh my gosh. Okay. This is kind of embarrassing. I use multiple things. I use a, I use a regular thermometer or a basal thermometer and I use Kindara, the app that I've actually used for like 11 years since they came out, I think in 2010 or 2011. I also use the Daisy Fertility Tracker. I use the Ava bracelet. It's embarrassing, but I really love the data. I'm fascinated by the data. And I also just got an aura ring. So I'm trying that out too. So I'm doing multiple things. It's ridiculous. You're obsessed. Yes, pretty much. I think you spoke about this earlier but I'd love to hear you

say more how do you take care of yourself on day one of your cycle uh you know I find that it depends on funnily enough it depends on the full moon like where the moon is or where how I'm synced up with the with the moon because I find on day one of my cycle with a full moon, I have way more energy. This is just observation, purely observational over the years versus on a new moon or closer to a new moon. So it kind of just depends,

but generally speaking, it's the rest day. I lift weights three or four times a week at the gym. So I typically will take that day off. My trainer doesn't understand it still, but that's okay. I'm working on him. So yeah, generally, it's just a rest day. And I'm kind of lounging for a bit of the day. Beautiful. Okay, this one is about your luteal phase, your inner autumn. So you're premenstrual, and life throws you a challenging curveball. What's the very first thing you do? This is not going to sound very evolved at all. I usually freak out. I mean,

that's just kind of what happens. Yeah. I feel like I'm working on it. But, you know, it's like a momentary freak out because, again, I feel like I've really learned skills or ways to deal with this stuff. And then take a deep breath, go for a walk around the yard. We have two acres. And then I come back and I sit down and figure out a way to come up with a solution. And like we were talking about,

I really do lean on Hayden and my business manager or my team for answers and solutions. Cause like I said, I don't typically have great decision making skills during that timeframe. That's such a great answer. So freak out as most of us do, then breathe and then call for help. Yes, exactly. Right. Yeah, exactly. Send out the SOS. Yeah. Okay. Last one. What in a season, what phase of your cycle are you most enjoying at the moment? You know, I would say that it's, it's really actually that mid follicular through ovulation. It has shifted over the years. I do find that just because of my age and where I'm at in my

menstrual life cycle, that estrogen has been a little bit lower. So when it starts to rise, I'm like, oh my gosh, I can take on the world. So yeah, it really is that time that I've been majorly enjoying. Beautiful summer, in the summer, especially when it's snowing outside. Yes. Oh, I know. Seriously. Right now it does feel though, like in the winter, when it's outside winter, especially in the parts of the world that we live in, you kind of do just want to do nothing. Next year, for sure, I'm taking the first week of January off.

I've decided that it's time. I'm flying to somewhere hot. Hopefully. If we can. Nicole, thank you. This has been wonderful. We could keep talking for hours, I know. I think that what you've shared,

the way it's grounded in the science of our hormones and the way it's so practical is in like you demonstrating what you're doing in your life to create the wonderful work that you're bringing. So, so helpful. So thank you for everything that you've shared today. Thank you. Oh, Sophie, thank you so much. I really am grateful that you had me on to discuss all of this. And I'm so appreciative of everything that you and Red School do. So thank you. time with session five which is about how to track your cycle in a trauma-informed way with menstruality mentor kitty mcguire um we're going to basically look at how to how to handle it when challenging emotions come up or trauma comes up in your cycle tracking experience so it's a safe process for you um and that's happening in a couple of days so we hope you'll join us thank you so much take care Nicole thank you thank you

thank you for joining us today for session four of our wild power retreat series if you're loving this podcast please subscribe and please leave us a review because it really helps other people to be able to find the podcast okay i hope to see you at our live closing event for the wild power retreat encounter your wild power on the 25th of january and until then keep living life according to your own brilliant rhythm