Episode 101: Menstruation & Cycles part 2 with Ashley Sorensen
Episode Description:
I'm so happy to have Ashley Sorensen, from episode 96 back for part two of our chat about menstruation & cycles. If you can't remember all the details of that episode, Ashley does a little review for us, before starting to chat about how to start living in sync with your cycle.
Connect with Ashley on socials: @cyclical_yoga
Listen to Ashley's episode about cycle tracking here.
Work with me ( sign up for newsletter, buy a gift card, see my offers, grab freebies)
Email questions, guest applications, feedback & your fave food to: info@movewithbillie.com
Please take a moment to like, follow and leave a review! ( and share in your stories & tag me! @movewithbillie on social media)
Episode Transcript
INTRO
00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:07.000
Hi, welcome to the Rebel Movement Podcast! My name is Billie, my pronouns are she/her or they/them, and today we have the awaited Part 2 Episode with Ashley Sorensen. If you weren't here for Episode 96, Ashley was a guest and she came on, we talked about the menstruation cycle– menstruation and cycles, and kind of what each part of the cycle looks like. This episode we were doing a recap and then we're talking about, kind of how to live a little bit more in sync with your cycle. So it's the stuff that we didn't get to talk about in the last episode, it is a long one, so you might grab a coffee or tea, get comfy, or whatever you need to do, and I hope you love it. If you have any questions, you can use the little link below in Spotify if you swipe down, or you can just send me an email: info@movewithbillie.com. Thanks so much. Enjoy!
EPISODE
00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.000
Hi, welcome back, I'm so excited for Part 2! Thank you so much for being here.
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.000
Hi Billie, thanks for having me.
00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:15.000
Sorry I got a little ahead of myself. We're just chatting a little bit before we hit record and I'm– got so excited about it, I totally forgot how to start this. Can you– and I forgot to hit the little time button– Can you tell people who you are, and what you do, and your pronouns?
00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:28.000
Yes, yes, hello everyone! My name is Ashley Sorensen. My pronouns are she/her. I'm a yoga teacher and a cyclical living mentor. This is my second episode back because we just had so much to talk about in the first episode. So what I do, quote unquote in terms of the things I'm passionate about, and that I care about, and that I help people with, is really I combine yogic practices and menstrual cycle education to help menstruators, help cyclical beings, understand their bodies better, to live in alignment with their cyclical nature instead of at odds with it, and use the the types of practices that have been beneficial in my own life to create more balance and harmony in both their cycles, and their lives overall. So yeah, I teach yoga, I teach meditation, which of course is yoga, but worth mentioning separately just for clarity’s sake.
00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:24.000
For sure.
00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:39.000
And I educate a lot about cycle health, and how to create healthier, happier cycles, and just really simply like even just understanding our cycles because there's such a lack of education about our bodies, probably in many different ways, but especially when it comes to cycle health. And yeah, so that's what I do and that's what I'm passionate about, that's what I love. And I think that's what we're going to talk about today.
00:01:49.000 --> 00:02:01.000
Perfect. And you asked this– you said this last time, it's okay if you don't wanna share it or if you don't know, but I just figured I would ask– last time you shared the day of your cycle that you were on. That was cute. Do you know the day of the cycle that you're on?
00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:06.000
Yes! Yeah! Yes. Of course I do, I am only obsessed. But yeah, I'm happy to share. So I'm currently on cycle day 3. Which I'm pretty sure when we last recorded I was on cycle day 3 or 4, so it's interesting that I'm almost in the exact same place in my cycle.
00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:21.000
Oh, cool. Yeah, that's funny.
00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:26.000
So if you don't know what that means– I know!– Also I was like, I noticed that as I was driving over here, I was like, wait a minute, it must have been about a month– So, yeah, if you don't know what that means, cycle day 3 is I'm still on my period. So I'm currently bleeding, and– but I'm starting, you can probably hear from my voice, like I'm starting to feel that upswing of energy, kind of coming back to life, definitely feeling more social, more playful than I did two days ago on cycle day 1 where I had some pretty gross cramps, to be completely honest, and I was like, curled up on the couch asking my husband to bring snacks to me. But yeah, so I'm on cycle day 3. Cycle day 1 is the first day of your period just for clarity’s sake, which I know we're gonna get into a little fresh recap of the cycle basics in a minute– But yeah, I'm on cycle day 3. Bleeding but feeling good. How are you feeling?
00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:26.000
Good. I'm okay. I don't know if I shared this last time, but my period is like, 35-40 days long. I'm cycle day 13. I don't remember what that means if I'm being totally honest.
00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:31.000
That's okay!
00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:38.000
And I think I shared before– like I alluded to the fact that I have like very bad cramps. I'm like being tested for some things and my period’s a little all over the place, I was working– I've been working with someone for a little while, a naturopath, I have talked to my doctor as well, but they don't take me seriously very well, I’ll just say.
00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.000
Yeah, that sounds unfortunately familiar. Yep.
00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:12.000
Yeah, I was working with the naturopath and just last– you know, we've tried like quite a few different things to help support, and this last time they were like, I think something else is going on here, like, have you like gotten tested for some things, and I was like, oh yeah, actually I'm on the waitlist too, but–
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.000
Of course, yeah.
00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:16.000
Yeah, so I'm– last week felt great, this week, feel exhausted and can’t sleep. I don't know if that's part of the cycle thing too, but anyway.
00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:25.000
Oh, it's something I actually am planning to talk about today. So look at that.
00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:26.000
Oh, okay, that’s fun. Okay, cool. So just in case if you're listening, if you don't remember the episode it was– I just wrote it down before we recorded– it's Episode 96, we'll do a little recap if you were like, oh I listened but I don't remember, we're gonna do a little like recap/review whatever in a second, but if you didn't catch the first episode, definitely go back and listen to Episode 96. I learned a ton, and it was a great episode. So you don't need– if you– like you don't necessarily need to listen to that one before this one, but I would recommend it because you'll get a lot more in-depth education about the cycle.
00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:04.000
Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:15.000
So is there anything you wanna say before we get into like the recap part of it?
00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:16.000
No, I say we just jump right in if you're ready.
00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:24.000
Cool. Yeah, I'm ready.
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:25.000
Okay, cool. And obviously, feel free to like interrupt me with questions or like, wait, what does that mean or whatever it is, because I know I can start rambling and getting, you know, carried away by the current of my own talking.
00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:31.000
It's fair same. I can do the same.
00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:54.000
But yeah, I will try to keep– I will try to keep our recap fairly brief, again with the with the disclaimer of like this is the– you know the basics the foundations, you understand everything else that we're going to talk about after, but if you want to go more in-depth and learn more again as you said, go back to Episode 96, chock-full, an hour-ish I think, or maybe even longer, of conversation about the cycle a little more in-depth. So with that being said, I say we just go through, I’ll just very briefly go through what is happening in the reproductive system through all parts of the cycle. Because you may be very familiar with certain aspects and maybe not as much with other aspects. So I think that will just be helpful to kind of cover what's happening very briefly throughout all parts. So I do– Before I– I just said, before I jump in, but one tiny thing before I jump in, which you very smartly recommended me to do, would be a little disclaimer to say I'm using the rough guidelines of a 29-day cycle. Because it's the quote-unquote most common for people within their menstruating– the kind of middle years of menstruating years, but know that there's a lot of variation that's healthy and normal within person to person, even within the same person cycle to cycle. So just know that this is not like written in stone that this is exactly how your cycle should look, this is just kind of like one example and there could be a lot of variation in different aspects, which I can mention, you know, briefly as we go along.
00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:09.000
Cool. Yeah.
00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:15.000
So with that being said, now I will jump in. So cycle Day 1 is the first day. It's considered the first day of your cycle and that is the first day of your period. And this is the first day where you're really like bleeding in earnest, where you actually need to use a product like a pad, a tampon, menstrual cup, period underwear, whatever products it is that you prefer, you might spot for a day or two before your cycle. I personally do almost every cycle. So that's normal, that's expected, but it's considered the first day of your cycle when you're like, oh, now it's now it's really my period. So cycle Day 1 is the first day of your period. This is known as the menstrual phase. There are four phases throughout the entire roughly 29-day cycle, and this first phase is probably the one you're most familiar with, it's the most obvious because you're bleeding so pretty, you know– pretty well known, the period, you might be experiencing cramps, fatigue, of course, literal blood loss, and this phase is when your two– kind of what I call the star hormones of your cycle, estrogen and progesterone, are the lowest compared to other times in the cycle. So during this phase, estrogen, progesterone are low, and what's happening physically inside is the muscles of the uterus are contracting and releasing, contracting, releasing, to loosen and push out that uterine lining that built up over the past cycle. Yeah, that's pretty obvious. Pretty self-explanatory. If you've ever had a period, you don't need me to explain it to you. You know what it feels like, what it looks like, what the experience is like. So that's it. That's the first phase. After your period is ending, now we're moving into the follicular phase. And it's called this because the follicles inside the ovaries are continuing and finishing up their development journey. So your brain releases a follicle-stimulating hormone which prompts the follicles to continue to grow and develop, and as they grow and develop they produce estrogen.
So during this phase after your period is ended, you're moving energetically up as estrogen is rising, probably feeling a little higher energy, maybe a little more social, more, communicative? I don't know if that's exactly the word, but literally estrogen helps us process– helps improve our language-processing and communication skills. So during this phase, you might be feeling a little more social, a little more upbeat, a little more like, willing to go out on an adventure, try new things, that type of vibe. What's happening inside the body, which you might not be aware of or might not know, is that estrogen is causing the uterine lining to build back up. So basically during your period it was, you know, wiped clean, clean slate, and now during this phase the lining is starting to grow and thicken again to prepare for a possible pregnancy.
So, follicular phase continues, and as estrogen is rising, rising, rising, that signals to the body like, okay, now the follicle is fully developed, that egg is ready, and it's time to ovulate. The brain releases luteinizing hormone, which causes the actual moment of ovulation. So the third phase we refer to as the ovulatory phase. Really ovulation is just that one single moment, where an egg bursts forth. But I would refer to the couple days before, couple days after, of that specific event as the ovulatory phase, because all of these hormonal changes, kind of like this whole cocktail of hormones, how it affects your energy, how you feel, mood, libido, all those things has an effect, you know, not just in that one singular second, for the couple days before and after. So as we move into the ovulatory phase, probably feeling energy high, you also have a spike of testosterone during this phase. So estrogen is at its peak, you have the luteinizing hormone coming into play to help that actual process of ovulation, you also have testosterone peaking, so you might be experiencing a higher libido, higher energy, maybe feeling confident, maybe feeling sexier. All of those things are potentially happening, kind of brewing with this combination of hormones around ovulation.
What's happening inside, what ovulation literally is, is when the egg bursts forth from the follicle, bursts forth from the ovary, excuse me, and gets swept up and begins to move through the fallopian tube.
After ovulation the egg lives for 12, maximum 24 hours. So as soon as that egg leaves the follicle, what's left over, the kind of shell of the follicle reforms into a small structure called the corpus luteum. And the corpus luteum is what begins producing our second star hormone, which is progesterone. So as soon as you ovulate, it's almost like a little timer goes off, and the corpus luteum begins producing progesterone, and now I’m moving to the fourth and final phase of the cycle, which is the luteal phase.This is typically the longest phase of the cycle, but it's also the most fixed, for lack of a better word, because we're humans nothing is exactly clockwork, however, this part of the cycle is typically the most predictable lengthwise. It's pretty much the same time because the corpus luteum is basically like a little timer producing progesterone for a set amount of time unless you conceive and become pregnant. Then that's a whole other story. But if you don't– let me back up.
So as progesterone begins to rise during this phase, it peaks about midway through the luteal phase, and then if pregnancy didn't happen, of course your body is smart, it realizes, oh the egg must have died, it must have dissolved, you know, nothing implanted in the uterine lining. This period of that– I shouldn't say period because I could be misleading– This phase of this cycle, this phase of the cycle is commonly referred to as infertility circles, especially as the two-week wait, because it's that moment from ovulation up until either you're able to confirm that the egg was fertilized and did implant in the uterine lining and you became pregnant, or it didn't, and in that case you have a period again. So during this phase your body is basically waiting to see if the egg, as it's going down the fallopian tube, was met by sperm successfully, you know, they connected, and the egg then moved into the uterus, and implanted successfully– burrowed into the lining and started to grow into a baby. But if it didn't, then the body of course is smart and realizes that, progesterone begins to drop down, estrogen begins to drop down, and as they drop, that's the signal for your period to start again and for the cycle to start all over again.
So what's happening– What else is happening in the body during the luteal phase is the progesterone is causing the lining to thicken even further. And I used this analogy last time and I think it's very helpful: estrogen, if they were builders, estrogen is like putting up the walls, putting up the structure, and progesterone is coming in and putting in the insulation, filling the walls, you know, putting the sheetrock, and mudding, and drywall, and all that stuff. So it's like they work together in completing that task of creating thick, healthy, uterine lining for an egg to implant and grow. And of course, if that doesn't happen, then you experience your next period. Yeah, I think that sort of covers it.
00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:48.000
I think so.
00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.000
For the basics, and then it starts all over again, and again, and again, and again.
00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:56.000
Yeah, can you remind me how long typically the luteal phase is?
00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:10.000
Yes, so– I'll go phase by phase just to kind of cover all our basics. So your period is typically cycle Day 1 to let's say cycle Day 6, about 5 days. The follicular phase– Again, this is I wanna say, very typical experience, if yours doesn't match up with this exactly nothing is going wrong necessarily, but this is just like a very rough guideline to understand– So then the follicular phase we would say cycle Day 7 to let's say cycle Day 13. The ovulatory phase, those few days surrounding ovulation, let's say cycle Day 14 to cycle Day 17. And then the luteal phase would be 17 to 29. So ideally, ideally you want to see the luteal phase– It's referred to as the two-week wait because 14 days would be kind of like, considered the like gold standard from the point of ovulation until your next bleed, but it– maybe yours is a couple days less than that, or a couple days more. Typically, you would consider, if it were 17 days or longer, either a couple of things happened, either you didn't– you didn't really know correctly which day ovulation happened, or you're pregnant. There's two possible things there, which I know we talked about a lot in the last episodes. If you ever think, oh my god, my period is always late and you have that anxiety of wondering if you're pregnant, if you did have unprotected sex where sperm were in contact with your body, then you might be thinking like, oh my god, am I pregnant? What happened? And I know I spent many years in anxiety, because I was a not careful college student and you know, having promiscuous sex probably, if I'm being completely honest.
00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:59.000
Nothing wrong with that.
00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:04.000
But, it's very helpful to understand how to identify ovulation. I know we talked about that last episode a lot. So if you're like, wait, how do I know how long my luteal phase is? How long– do I know all of these things? Definitely revisit that episode for sure.
00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:15.000
Yes, for sure. Because I think we also briefly talk about how to tell if you’re ovulating, and then you– we give resources for even more in-depth, in the show notes and in speaking.
00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.000
Yeah, exactly.
00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:21.000
Thanks for the recap. I think it's– I still learn stuff from this even though I was obviously there for the first interview. Or the first guest– but so today we're wanting to talk about– You are wanting to talk about, I'm not an expert in this, but we're talking about like living within your cycle or aligning your life with your cycle, that kind of thing, which I'm really excited about. We kind of alluded to it a little bit last time. So I’ll just let you– you lead the way, where do you think is the best place to start with this?
00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:54.000
Yeah, thank you. I think let's start with kind of briefly explaining– again, this is something we talked about a lot more in-depth in the first episode, so definitely go back and revisit that but– kind of briefly touching on cycle tracking, and the importance of tracking, and how you can use that to your benefit, whether or not you ever want to get pregnant, like outside the realms of fertility, because I know you also have talked to a fertility expert on the podcast too, so like go to them for the fertility questions. I'm not, you know against fertility at all, I think it's amazing, but understanding our cycles goes so far beyond the whole concept of fertility. Even people who have zero interest in ever becoming pregnant, ever having a child, ever bearing children, ever doing anything related to that realm, you still can benefit so much from learning about your cycle. It goes so far beyond the concept of fertility or the conversation of fertility. So I want to say that very clear, because I think so often, this information whether purposely or not, is almost like gate-kept from people, of like, oh well you're not trying to get pregnant so you don't need to worry about it. So often I hear that from people, as like a doctor saying, well, why are you even worried about this, are you trying to get pregnant? As if that's the only use of our cycle. And it actually enrages me to think about people living in pain, living– feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, confused by their own bodies, just because they don't want to have a baby. Like, is that all we're good for? I beg to differ. This is actually my body, the systems happening in my experience, and I deserve to understand them, and use them in any way I see fit, whether that means I have a child or not. It's literally a different conversation. So I want to make that very clear, excuse me, very clear because I feel like so much cycle education, rightfully so, but so often surrounds the conversation of fertility, of conception, or like the opposite end of the spectrum, of birth control, of avoiding pregnancy. And those are useful conversations to have, 100%. And we– people who need that information deserve access to that information, and also like there's so much more to do with cycles that literally has nothing to do with fertility, and it just kind of happens to be related to that conversation. So I probably won't really talk about fertility at all. Because it's just– we have so many other interesting things to talk about.
00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:57.000
That's true. Yeah, we do have– there is an episode on fertility. I think there'll be more in-depth potentially in the future, and also we– another episode with Sandra who is in episode 60– or not 60, 97, she will also be doing an episode– we will be doing an episode about birth control too, so if you're wanting to know more in-depth about any of this stuff, sit tight, we’ll have more stuff coming out, but you can always send us a message and we can– I can send it to whoever I think is, or maybe more than one person, if you have any questions and we'll get back to you.
00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:09.000
Yeah, absolutely.
00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:16.000
But yeah, I think that's totally– I think it's important to have the conversation beyond just fertility because there's a lot more to it than just that.
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:37.000
Yeah, it's like– I think it's just like this Western concept of like, thinking of ourselves as all of these little pieces like, this is your heart health, this is your respiratory system, this is your, you know, like digestive system, over here is your reproductive system, like no honey everything's all connected, so like what's happening over here, like hormones like estrogen, progesterone, all of these hormones, like they don't just go directly to the uterus and then do their work down there, they're affecting all of the systems, everything's working together. And so I think it does menstruators such a disservice to say like, oh you don't need to worry about that until you're trying to have a baby, like so if I never want to have a baby, I never deserve to learn and understand my body? That's crazy to me. It just doesn't make sense. I think, I mean, I experience this in my– not to get too off track, but I think it's worth mentioning– like I experienced that in my own journey with understanding my own cycle, the first time I had heard the mention of cervical mucus was from a cousin who was actively trying to get pregnant, and so had had that advice from doctors to understand how to look at cervical mucus, what it means, how it helps you understand where you're at in your cycle, when you see more cervical mucus, especially the lotiony, and then even to the egg white texture, that means you're approaching ovulation, that means estrogen is super high– Like I had never heard of any I was like, cervical mucus, egg white? It's like, what are you talking about? I never heard of that because I was not actively trying to conceive. And it was so, I was– and I remember her telling me this stuff, she's like, well, if you want to understand your cycle more, like you have to look at your cervical mucus, and it'll look like egg whites on your underwear, on your vulva, and I was like, what the hell is she talking about? Like, I don't even know, like, I think if I had seen that, I would have been like, oh, maybe I have, like a yeast infection, maybe I have like, you know, a bacterial infection in my vagina. Like I didn't know that was like a normal thing. How is this not explained to us and told to us? And it had– you know that's just like a kind of a side, a side journey, side quest conversation, but like this information is so useful and valid, to– completely disconnected from fertility–
00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:45.000
Absolutely.
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:53.000
If you never want to have children, if you're never interested, if you're never even going to have sex with someone with a penis and sperm, like it's still very valid, and important, and useful, for you to understand your own body, and understand how this system affects how you're feeling, and just can help you like live in more harmony with your inner rhythms.
00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:12.000
Yeah. So, was all that being said, slight tangent–
00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:13.000
An important, an important tangent, I think.
00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:18.000
Hopefully an important, and useful to at least one person tangent, so I say– should we just jump into talking a little bit about like what cyclical living is, and then, you know, how to do it, I guess?
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:27.000
Yeah. Yeah, that sounds great to me.
00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:32.000
So, yeah, okay, awesome. Okay, so really what cyclical living is, and I call myself a cyclical living mentor because I hope to both lead by example, and to help guide you to create these practices and habits in your life. But to put it very simply, all cyclical living is, is living in alignment with your cycle, living in alignment with your inner rhythm as a menstruator, as a cyclical being, and I think I talked about this a little bit in the last episode, but I think it's worth mentioning again, this concept of our inner rhythms that are happening inside of our bodies as menstruators– So all humans, regardless of biological sex, regardless of gender, we have a circadian rhythm, this is our 24-hour clock. This is what helps us wake up in the morning, what helps us feel sleepy at night, by releasing those different hormones like melatonin and cortisol on that 24-hour clock. And it also guides so many functions like digestion, like, you know, so many other things in the body. Again, no system is independent. We're all big– one connected blob.
So the cool thing about being a menstruator is we have a secondary rhythm, we have a secondary clock, which is referred to as an infradian rhythm, AKA longer than 24 hours, longer than a day, thank you, Latin. And this is referring to our menstrual cycle, that roughly 29-day cycle. So while you of course have a 24-hour clock that governs when you wake up, governs when you sleep, we also have a larger overarching 29-day clock, and just like you would expect to feel differently at 8:00am versus 2:00pm, versus 8:00pm, you can expect to feel differently on Day 2 of your cycle, versus Day 12, versus Day 22, versus Day 32, and I think that’s– Like already, like if I were to leave people with one message, it would be that, is that as someone with a menstrual cycle, you are not meant to feel the same every day. And this is not a failing on your part. It's actually exactly how you are meant to be feeling. One day, yes, you could maybe feel like that social butterfly, and want to do a million activities, and go for a run, and wear the cute outfit, and go out with your friends, and like do all the things, and then a week later you want to order take-out, not speak to anyone, like you don't even want to speak to the delivery driver, you want the drop off on your doorstep vibe, like you want to cuddle up with a book, hot tea, and like just disconnect from the world. And there's nothing wrong with that need of showing up as different versions of yourself throughout different times of your cycle, and just throughout different times of your life. Like this is, you know, the same story but bigger. And it's really important, I think, to talk about as menstruators, this kind of like– What's the word I'm looking for?– Disconnection we might feel from how society is set up. Because it's just, frankly it's just not set up with our cyclical nature in mind. Probably that's because we you live in a patriarchy– and you know that's a whole other conversation, and a very worthy, important one to have I think– But the way that society is set up is set up, it’s for us to basically show up the same way every single day. Wake up. Exercise. Go to work. Do the things. Come home. Like, have that sort of repetitive type of schedule, and that's really not what works best for us as menstruators. And so it's really important, like when I talk about cyclical living, it's about looking at– Instead of looking out to society to ask, what should I be doing with my day? What should I be doing with my time? Instead of looking outwards, you're really turning inwards to say, how do I feel? What do I need to do to support myself today? What advantages or strengths do I have today that I can harness and take advantage of, and looking at it in a slightly bigger picture, instead of planning your schedule day by day, week by week, you're– it's almost like you're looking at it and planning it as a month long, like me planning to be on a podcast episode when I'm feeling more energetic and social. If you would ask me to be on it three days ago, I would have said that actually doesn't work for me, I need to go a few days later because I know that my energy is going to be low, my language-processing skills are not going to be as polished, or not going to be as clear, I will maybe be like a little more brain fog, not feeling as social, a little cranky, like it just wouldn't be the vibe. And so planning out things in a way that looks to your wisdom first, “looking to your wisdom first,” I think would be like the tagline of cyclical living. Tuning into your wisdom first– sorry, go ahead.
00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:46.000
I have– I really like that aspect of– Cause I think it relates, I mean, I won't go too far down on this tangent, but I think it really relates to a lot of other stuff we talk about within the podcast and also within the work that I do in, with Move with Billie of, we've– a lot of us have been told to not, like to stop listening to your body, like oh, ignore hunger cues, like that's just one example of many, many, many. And I really like the part of this of like, screw what everyone else says your day is supposed to look like, like how do you feel right now, it goes– like same into like, screw what the people– like what your teacher says that your class is supposed to look like, how do you actually feel? What do you actually need? Of like coming back to your body and trusting that like, you know your body best, you– like not some other person, unless they like work extremely close with you for a very long time, you are the expert on your body, and I just really love that that aspect of what you're just saying, of like coming back to your own inner wisdom and like learning to check in first. Or like, trust your body first.
00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:58.000
Absolutely. Absolutely, which is why, just as you have also, like with your anti-diet teaching that you do, it's the same reason that you've connected yoga with that, the same reason that– why i've connected yoga with this, because that's what yoga does.
00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:01.000
True.
00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:08.000
That's what yoga allows you to do is to have that– first, just the space to connect with yourself without so much outer noise. Which you know is a rarity in our lives nowadays anyway– But also just to have those skills to be able to tune in, and be able to connect with that inner wisdom, and like understand, oh I'm not tired like that's a hunger cue, or that's a thirst cue, or actually I need to go to bed an hour earlier tonight because I'm really struggling and I'm really tired, like understanding those cues is, I think it's just as you said, like it's not really something that we're taught, we're taught to disconnect from that intuition, that intuitive connection. We're not taught how to connect with it and– which is why I just very instinctively turn to yoga in my own personal journey, and like going through this process of like trying to figure out what was wrong with my cycle, and try to figure out what type of birth control I could use, because I had such a disconnection with the type of birth control I was using, like I didn't feel like myself at all. And it was like, I just accidentally stumbled into yoga as a tool for that. Like I was doing yoga, you know, for other reasons, because it was fun, because I liked it, because I connected in community, because it was you know, challenging me in unique ways, and then it was like oh, but also it can really help me feel what's going on in all of this, in my head, and my body, in parts of me that I don't even notice. And so yeah, I think that's– it's so beautiful what you said. And this was, I think that just goes, that already proves our point of saying how this is so much more valuable than just fertility, or just the concept of fertility–
00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:54.000
Absolutely.
00:32:54.000 --> 00:33:03.000
The conversation because, this is everything. Like being able to understand and connect with yourself, like that's everything in life, and it gives you so many more opportunities to show up for yourself, like whether it be your physical well-being and physical health, like eating when you're actually hungry and not worrying about what the stupid diet plan said, or like understanding how to alter your exercise, and sleep, and all of these things in ways that actually serve you in the way that you need, but also in bigger ways of like, being honest with yourself in relationships, being honest with yourself and big decisions like career choices, and you know, the friends you’re hanging around with, the activities you’re choosing to do, like the different choices that you’re making, in order to make all those from a, like an empowered place, like you have to be very connected with who you are as a person, with what your priorities are, with what your goals are, with what your needs are, and not judging those needs and not wishing them different, but just actually answering them.
00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:15.000
Yeah. That's absolutely true. And as I mean, it goes into a– it could be even a bigger conversation too of like, the– part of this work for me, of like learning to listen to my body was also, I had to do a lot of trauma healing and for me, my yoga mat was the first place that I felt like I could– felt safe in my body, and could do that check-in while it felt safe, because it was like, okay I’m not gonna like, i don't have to know how my whole life is feeling, I could just feel like, how does child's pose feel right now, like where do I feel this in my body?
00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:46.000
Yes. Yes.
00:34:46.000 --> 00:35:02.000
And, and for some folks who have trauma, it also is like, it's a slow, can feel like a slow process, but it's a really important process of like teeny tiny steps make a– you end up going a really long way. And there are still parts of this work that like I just feel like it's worth mentioning just in case anyone else out there is like, this is a factor that can come in, and it can be easy to feel discouraged because sometimes making those decisions of like putting your– like first you recognize your needs and then sometimes you have to put your needs out there or put them first–
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.000
That's hard.
00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:30.000
And as someone who has literally just had a therapy appointment talking about this like two horus ago, it is fucking hard. It's hard to do, and that's okay.
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:35.000
Yes. Yes, it is.
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:48.000
Like it's okay if you're like, oh like I'm not very– you know I have, I struggle with like putting my needs out there, that's okay, I get it, it's not an easy thing, for some people totally is but not for everybody, and that's okay.
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:08.000
Yeah, absolutely. I think what you said is so powerful because it's like, you can't just jump into the deep end and go from a place of not doing any of these practices into like, okay, how do I overhaul my entire life and like, why, you know, like that's like whoa, slow down, like that's very overwhelming, but it's so beautiful what you said to ask like, I don't have to know how everything is feeling, but how is child’s pose feeling right now? Like how is my toe feeling right now?
00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:27.000
Yes, exactly.
00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:34.000
Like even smaller. And that's why yoga is so powerful because you're like very slowly opening the door, very slowly building that skill to feel safe to check in, and feel safe to connect.
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:40.000
Yeah. Yeah. And because I know there's gonna be at least one of you listening to this, who’s gonna hear this, what we’re gonna talk about next, to be, okay, 'm gonna overhaul my whole life, I'm gonna do all these things–
00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:47.000
Oh my god.
00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:49.000
Totally get that energy. I do that too. However–
00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:52.000
Yeah. Guilty.
00:36:52.000 --> 00:37:00.000
I want you to take a second right now, and hear me say that if you start this today and then tomorrow you forget, that doesn't mean you failed. Maybe it means you start with one little tiny step. Like it's totally fine, have that energy, whatever I've been there too, you hyper focus on something and you're like, okay, this is my thing and then a week later you're like, I totally forgot about this.
00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:11.000
Oh my god. Yeah.
00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:16.000
Okay, cut yourself a break, do one little step, and it doesn't mean you failed. Yeah.
00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:24.000
Absolutely. Thank you so much for saying that because I am a hundred percent like a dive-in bitch.
00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:28.000
Me too.
00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:40.000
Like I will be like, this is my whole new personality, and like I'm gonna do everything, and then obviously it inevitably leads to me feeling completely overwhelmed, in over my head, stressed, anxious, and then I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna abandon this completely because it's too much.
00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:44.000
Yeah, yeah, I just had this happen. This is– sorry, I’m just gonna say this one little story and then we, then we can go in–
00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:46.000
I love it.
00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:56.000
I do this with a lot of things. Which could be a whole other conversation about neurodivergency, but I recently was really into planting like gardening, which I'm still into, it's still an interest, but I was like hyper focused on it. I started a bunch of seeds for the garden, like different vegetables. I, you know, took the time, started the little seedlings, transplanted some of them, started a bunch of new ones, was like really up on like, okay, this is the time where you’re supposed to do this, and like that part of the, that type of cycle– Oops, sorry, I just smacked my microphone– And then literally a week later, not– like I totally forgot the plants even existed. Almost all of the seedlings are dead.
00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:36.000
Oh no!
00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:48.000
Cause I forgot to water– I had like gone away for a couple of days and my partner forgot to water them because we like forgot to have that conversation, and I was like, part of me was just like you know what, fuck the garden, not doing it, I'm like you know–
00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:54.000
“This is too much.”
00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:55.000
And then I was like well first of all it's only May, so like I do have time, we can do more seedlings, and also you can go out and buy plants that are already established, like–
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.000
Yeah, thank god!
00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:12.000
Yeah, so like this is something that I've definitely do too, and I totally get like if you need to like pretend you're quitting for today, like you know what? Fuck the garden. But then, tomorrow or whenever you feel a little bit more grounded, recognize it's not the end of the world if you accidentally killed like 13, 15, however many seedlings, you can plant more. You can try again. And also, you can try a different approach, like maybe you get an already established plant.
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:23.000
Yeah, exactly. That is a completely relatable story, so you're definitely not alone.
00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:24.000
Sweet. Okay. Yeah.
00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:31.000
I do the same thing with like every project, pretty much. And I think very useful, perfect analogy for like so many things in life, but for this especially, because I see that people tend to say, especially when I get into talking about cycle tracking, and then the same side of cycle syncing, and aligning your life with your cycle, it's like, I'm gonna change everything at once and I'm like, I applaud your excitement. However, let's take baby steps.
00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:03.000
Yep.
00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:09.000
Because those baby steps are going to be much more implementable, if that's a word–
00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:10.000
I think so.
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.000
And actually be able to keep up with them long term, and that's what's gonna make the difference because these are– I think it also can be really frustrating, especially when it comes to cycle changes and lifestyle habits, and all of these things because I love, you know, instant gratification. I know we all live in a world of instant gratification, but frankly these things do take time, and the changes do take time to really feel those effects. Just like a perfect example is that your egg really takes you know, the follicle from the very beginning stages until that follicle grows and develops, and actually becomes a mature egg which ovulates, is a little over three months. It's not just one cycle. It's not just one part. So realistically, if you start adjusting some habits, really you should give yourself at least three cycles, four cycles, five cycles to really notice those effects begin to take place and begin to feel the effects. Might happen a little bit sooner, and for certain things of course might take take a little bit longer, but I think that's important to mention as you said it because it could be very fun to like, “I'm gonna do everything,” and then you don't feel any benefits, and you're overwhelmed, and you're like well this sucks, fuck this, I'm not gonna do it anymore and then you abandon it too soon like you abandon it before it had a chance to work. So very important to mention, thank you for sharing.
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:21.000
Yeah. Perfect. That's like I planned it.
00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:31.000
Oh, it's like, it's like you do this for a living. It's like you're a professional.
00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:40.000
Yeah, it’s like– you couldn't see if you're obviously listening to the podcast, but, actually just did this like hair flip thing that was perfect. Really made the moment even better.
00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:42.000
Imaginary hair flip.
00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:43.000
Just feel like you needed to know that part.
00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:44.000
Yeah, crucial information.
00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:47.000
Yeah. Yeah, I think so.
00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:51.000
Okay. Yeah, alright, so with that being said, should we jump into cycle syncing and aligning?
00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:55.000
Yeah, I am excited. I'm very excited for this conversation.
00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:04.000
Okay, cool. Same. Okay, so we talked a little bit about the basics already of the cycle: menstrual phase, follicular phase, ovulatory phase, luteal phase. You can also think of your cycle as sort of two halves, if all four and the kind of scientific-y words are a little too much and a little too confusing, you could think of it as the estrogen-dominant half, which is roughly from your period up until ovulation, and the progesterone-dominant half, which is after ovulation until your next period. And I often talk about the estrogen and progesterone– I think I talked about this in the last episode as well– as sort of, like they're not necessarily opposites but they're sort of two halves of a whole, they're complimentary energetically to each other. I often refer to them as the yin and yang energy, estrogen being the yang, progesterone being the yin, and so in looking at kind of finding that balance in your overall cycle, and like let's be honest, your life, you want to have a little bit of that balance between the two halves of your cycle and balancing these two hormones. A lot of frustrating period-related symptoms like really painful periods, really bad PMS, really heavy bleeding, even irregular cycles, are often a result of estrogen being too high in relation to progesterone, and that could be caused by multiple different things. Maybe you're over-producing estrogen, maybe you're under-producing progesterone, maybe you're doing both of those things and the, you know the gap is even wider, but really the way to create healthy happy periods is finding that balance, and the way that you find that balance, both like finding the balance of estrogen and progesterone, literally hormone levels so that they're complementary to each other, but also just finding the balance like energetically, is through aligning some habits and some lifestyle factors with your cycle. So the way that you can align with your cycle, at first you have to know what's going on with your cycle, of course, and we talked a lot more in-depth as you said in the last episode about cycle tracking, and how to begin tracking, what sort of things you should be tracking should be looking for, and I even mentioned on the other one in my podcast, I did an entire like hour and a half episode about cycle tracking going through different processes, different systems, even more in-depth than we talked about. So listen to Episode 96 here, and then even going to listen to that other episode to get even more in-depth, to understand how to track, what, to do all those things, but to put it very simply, when I say cycle tracking, this is just looking at different aspects of your cycle to understand where you're at in your cycle.
So the first kind of most obvious, is just tracking the day. So as you said, you know, like I know I'm on cycle Day 3, you know you're on cycle Day 13, that already, when you know your rough pattern of your typical cycle, like you said, you know, you're always around 35 days-ish, I know I'm usually around like 25 days-ish, so my cycles are a lot shorter than yours. But we can see, like if I know my cycles usually around 25-26 days and I'm on Day 3– well I'm on Day 3 is very obvious because I know that I'm bleeding, I know I'm on my period– but let's say I know I'm on Day– you know they can't really miss that one– But if I, if I were hypothetically were on Day 13, I would know like I'm about midway through my cycle and I typically ovulate around this time, I'm getting into the ovulatory phase, whereas you for cycle Day 13, you might not be close to, you might have another week before ovulation. It might be even longer than that. So that's really helpful to understand.
00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:39.000
I think so. Interesting.
00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:45.000
Yeah, that's very helpful to understand. And I talked about this in the last episode too, is ovulation doesn't happen on a specific day. We're not computers, we're not robots, we're humans after all, and the timing of ovulation can shift cycle to cycle. So cycle tracking can be as simple as counting the days and, I don't wanna say using guesswork, but using that sort of framework to estimate where you are in your cycle, not for birth control purposes or fertility purposes, but just for your own sanity of understanding like, hmm, the week before my period is coming I might be a little more moody, I might be a little more sensitive, I might feel a little more anxious or bloated, that is not necessarily– Shouldn't be necessarily a surprise to me, and so to understand and make more space for those experiences in your life.
00:46:31.000 --> 00:46:45.000
That's true. Like how many times have you seen– like I'm just thinking the amount of times I've seen people be like, they watch, they're like crying all the time, they're like really cranky, they want, like they have all these like things, like I don't know what's wrong with me and then you get your period. As, speaking as someone who has done this, you get up and you're like, oh. I feel like this is helpful information now that I know all this like, okay, maybe you'll know ahead of time so you won't go blaming yourself or like thinking your something's wrong with you, and maybe you’ll know.
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:52.000
No, a hundred percent. Yes.
Or like wanting to like blow up your life when you're PMSing, like I mean that is also something like really worth I mean, we can get into that–
00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:30.000
Me too
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:39.000
I always jump ahead I just like get so excited I want to talk about everything but it's so true, just like understanding it comes back to that kind of like you know, model that I stand by, as menstruators, you're not meant to feel the same every day, so it's really helpful to understand why you're feeling the way you're feeling, and it's not in a way to discount it like, “oh you're hormonal,” like I fucking hate that statement first of all–
00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:40.000
Yeah, same. Ugh.
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:51.000
Because every human has hormones of all different types, like rising and falling all the time, and the concept of like, there's so much negative like connotation especially with the menstrual cycle and those hormones saying like, oh that menstruator–
00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:54.000
No, yeah.
00:47:55.000 --> 00:48:00.000
Well usually it's gendered language also so that already irritates me, but like, “oh that woman is just hormonal, like you can't trust her she's the–” you know, this whole concept is like disgusting for so many reasons.
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:03.000
Ugh. Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:06.000
But also it's ridiculous, because the menstrual cycle range of hormones is actually very predictable, it's very straightforward when you understand what's happening in your cycle, versus the male hormonal cycle, or people who have a testosterone-dominant hormonal cycle, their hormones– I mean typically testosterone is high in the morning, and then lowers throughout the day gradually, but also their testosterone can spike like completely randomly, like if there are people they are attracted to in the room, testosterone just spikes randomly if there are guns around, testosterone spikes randomly so like this is, to me, like that's more unpredictable than our very predictable cycle of rising and falling hormones in a very like systematic circle. Just saying, that's a little caveat but, just saying my estrogen doesn’t randomly spike, just because I saw a sexy person like, okay chill.
00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:05.000
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:17.000
Just had to go there. But yes, so just understanding like when you might be feeling certain ways, just allows you to take care of yourself better. It allows you to understand like, you know, a friend asked you, hey, do you want to go grab a coffee next week? And I know I'm going to be on Day 1 of my cycle, like I'm not going to be up for it. And so, learning to understand your needs, but as you said, like taking those baby steps of maybe voicing them out loud and saying to that friend, actually, I think like my period is gonna be starting and I don't think I'm up for it, like would you rather meet you know, this week while I'm you know, before that, or like maybe the week after, and just like normalizing these conversations that as a menstruator, you're not meant to feel the same way every day, and what cyclical living is, is helping you understand, not only like, the kind of like generic predictions, or the things that I described, but also how your cycle feels in your experience. I think that's something too that's really important with cycle tracking, because it allows you to not only hear like, what I say, and how I experience cycles, or how I share about cycles, about kind of like what you might expect to feel, but knowing like, oh, for me, Ashley, I actually kind of get anxious around ovulation because estrogen is super high and that makes me a little scatterbrained, and I can't really focus on one topic, and testosterone is high so I'm kind of like jumping, bouncing off the walls, like it's understanding yourself and how it feels in your experience too. And that's the difference between like reading a book that says, “during your period, you should do X, and during ovulation, you should do Y,” versus like, oh, for me, Ashley, I feel this way when I'm in my luteal phase, or I feel this way in my follicular phase, in learning to adjust the things in your life that are adjustable and that can better serve you in that way.
00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:11.000
Cool. I really like that individual approach. I'm very excited. Yeah.
00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:24.000
Very cool. Yeah, okay. So, that's kind of like the overview of like, what the concept of cyclical living is, and what cycle syncing means, and I think I want to talk about, because– Well, let me just say one thing first and then I'll jump into what I want to share. So there's literally no limit to how you can use this information. There's no limit on what area of your life you could apply this to. You can track your cycle, understand how you're feeling, gather those insights, and apply it to how you run your business, for example, planning all of your podcast recording when you're feeling most communicative, most social, most outgoing. You could use it to organize and play on your social life, planning activities only when you're gonna be feeling upbeat. You can use it to plan how you run your household, when you do cleaning projects, when you do organization projects, when you write, you know, when you manage your bills, when you do bookkeeping, when you do like, there's literally no limit to how you can use this information. And as you so wisely mentioned before of like, it's so tempting to be like, I'm gonna plan everything around my cycle. And this is 100% a– I wouldn't say necessarily mistake, but kind of mistake that I made in the beginning of being like, I need everything to perfectly align with my cycle, or I feel like my life is gonna fall apart because this is my new personality, this is my new thing, this is my new obsession, and like I want everything to work with it. And unfortunately, you know, as we talked about before, like we live in a patriarchy and not everything is adjustable, not everything can be altered and changed to fit into this system to perfectly line up with my cycle. Like maybe I'm gonna have to go to a friend's wedding on my period because that's when her wedding is, like you know it is what it is, which literally happened and I was like are you fucking kidding me? But you know, it's like those things that like you can't always know and predict, and change everything in your life to go with your cycle, and so I want to focus on what I call the cycle health foundations. Although not as maybe sexy, or flashy, or exciting as learning how to change your entire business or your entire life to align with your cycle, all those things are fun and cool, but they're like the cherries on top.
The cycle health foundations are the– what I would recommend as the first things to focus on, because one there's like the most important things for overall health, and because they're the things that are going to have the biggest impact in helping you build better cycle health sooner rather than later, and feel those effects sooner. So the four cycle health foundations are sleep, stress, nutrition/digestion, and movement or exercise. And these are the four sort of areas to focus on, especially when– I mean, for anyone, even if your cycle is you know, kind of textbook quote-unquote perfect and you already feel great, like you can focus on these areas even– to even, you know expand that and enhance that even more. But especially if you are struggling with painful cycles, or irregular cycles, or any type of cycle irregularity or abnormality, these areas are the first place to start and look at and analyze and understanding like, hmm, maybe I can make some small adjustments that will help support my cycle health better, and understanding like, where to go from there, because if these things are all, you know already in alignment, and you're already doing these things kind of ideally– to not use the word perfectly because that's not a thing as like human either–
00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:06.000
Yeah, true.
00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:08.000
But like, you know, if you're mostly doing these things already, then it's like, okay, now, you know, where else can I move after that? Like maybe looking at going to a doctor, going to a naturopath, as you mentioned, doing supplementation, other things that are like additional or a step further. I think so often we jump in and we're like, oh there's this trendy supplement, there's this cool thing, there’s this, there's this like special, one special salad that's gonna fix all my problems, and like let's be real it's not. It's not going to fix all your problems. Like it might help one little thing to eat a raw carrot salad, yeah, that can help you balance estrogen, but doing that one thing is not going to change your overall cycle. So looking at these, what I call the cycle health foundations, and it's not as fun maybe of an approach, it's a little like, womp womp, okay, I know I need to sleep well every night, but also like it's really important and yes, we need to sleep well every night. So I would love to just go through kind of like the basics of each of them, and then– I'll make sure my phone's not dying. Oh my goodness–
Okay. And then make sure– And then talk about like, how it might change, face to face a little bit.
00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:17.000
Sure. Yeah.
00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:40.000
So sleep, first and foremost. Again, sounds very obvious and you're like, I know I should get good sleep, but yeah it's very important for your cycle, and again going back to that conversation of the circadian rhythm versus the infradian rhythm, understanding that these two rhythms, these two inner clocks, these two inner cycles, are working in conjunction with each other. So getting, excuse me, the good sleep that helps regulate the circadian rhythm is going to help influence and regulate that bigger infradian rhythm as well. So ideally, looking at 7 to 9 hours of sleep, going to bed around the same time, waking up around the same time, sleeping in a cool dark room, not using electronics within an hour of bed. These are all like little tips that can help improve your sleep, and just taking a moment to like sort of evaluate where your sleep habits currently are, this is personally something that I very much struggle with, and it's something that I am still working on. Like I'm definitely a night owl type person. I would love to stay up until, you know, all hours of the morning, and it's something that like I have definitely been working on over the last couple years, again because it's not very fun and I'm like, but I want to stay up and watch all the Lord of the Rings back to back, like I don't want to go to bed.
00:57:39.000 --> 00:57:41.000
Yeah. Yeah.
00:57:41.000 --> 00:58:00.000
But like, that's not probably the best choice all the time. And it's also, we're saying like it's not important to do everything perfectly either, and not like judging or punishing yourself where like, okay one night you stay up late because you got with your friends, like one deviation from that, these kind of rules, is not going to destroy your cycle and ruin your life. And so allowing yourself to be human within these guidelines, rather than rules, and like allowing yourself to be human and have human experiences. I think that's also something that, especially when we get into talking about nutrition and exercise, that people can get very, like laser-focused on and forget that they're allowed to be a human and have a human experience. But with sleep, again, it sounds very basic, it sounds very simple, but it's very important.
So, in looking at how sleep needs change across your cycle, you might notice you need more sleep around your period, around the menstrual phase. Estrogen, progesterone are their lowest. Your body is expending a lot of energy to push out the uterine lining. I mean, you're literally losing blood, you're losing the nutrients in that sense.
So like you're gonna need more rest. You're gonna need a little more sleep. I recommend getting more sleep during this phase. Like literally allowing yourself to go to bed earlier. Or even just take a nap if that's available in your schedule, like allowing yourself to get more sleep and not judging yourself thinking like, oh, I'm so tired. Why do I need so much more sleep during this phase or I am just too tired to go exercise, I need to take a nap instead, like that is totally valid need during this phase of your cycle. So holding space and allowing yourself to actually answer and take care of those needs. As you progress through the follicular phase and into the ovulatory phase, you might find you naturally don't need quite as much sleep. Maybe you're feeling a little more energetic. And maybe you even have a little trouble sleeping as estrogen is rising, which I think you mentioned earlier and I was like, oh, interesting. Yeah.
00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:51.000
Yeah, it is interesting. I had a couple of times– I just recently have been– because I've been doing a lot of this thinking about my cycle and stuff with the issues I'm having– I was just recently like, I wonder if the times that I can't sleep are just like, are– cause there's times where I can't sleep, and I don't feel as tired as I would have expected. So so interesting.
01:00:03.000 --> 01:00:07.000
Yes, and then sometimes you're just like flat out.
01:00:07.000 --> 01:00:13.000
Yeah, so you don't need as– Yeah, so you just don't, you don't necessarily need as much sleep around follicular and ovulation phase. Huh.
01:00:14.000 --> 01:00:23.000
Yeah, and you might even notice like you feel a little– like a little more, I don't know if insomnia is really the right word per se because that's, you know, like an actual– not condition, but that's like an actual thing. But like maybe a little more restlessness in your sleep around ovulation. That's something I definitely experience and actually something very interesting in talking about the lunar cycle, which we were talking about before we started recording, I just realized, so people will be like, what? We weren't talking about the lunar cycle. But Billie and I were talking about the lunar cycle and actually this has been observed around the full moon as well, which the full moon is correlated with ovulation. So super cool and interesting to see that correlation, that connection. But yeah, maybe feeling a little more restless, or maybe just a little more naturally energized and maybe like you need 30 minutes less of sleep, an hour less of sleep than you might have needed during your period.
Then we move into the second half of the cycle roughly. The progesterone-dominant phase of the cycle, AKA, the luteal phase. And you might notice– the luteal phase, because it's also so long can, kind of be looked at in within that half, into two smaller halves, the half closer to ovulation and then the half closer to your next period. And in the half closer to ovulation, you might still be kind of riding the high of ovulation. Estrogen is still pretty high, progesterone is on the upswing, and so you might not be noticing as much of a change, but as you get closer and closer to your bleed, progesterone and estrogen are both dropping back down. And so you might notice feeling more, more tired, more of a need to sleep, more need for rest. Also, interestingly, progesterone has a calming effect on the mind and body. And so in looking at just like energetically how you're feeling, instead of like that, up, up, up, up, up, type of vibe that estrogen might bring, it's more of like a sit back and chill type of vibe. And so just understanding that energetically of like looking at, you know, how you're planning your sleep, planning your life, like maybe planning activities that feel more restful, or making more space for activities that feel more restful in your luteal phase, understanding like, yeah, I might not have the energy and, or like the focus and relaxed-ness, to like sit down and knit during my follicular phase because I'm going to be too bouncing off the walls, but like that type of activity would serve me so well in the luteal phase because I'm gonna be like automatically more chill, more relaxed, more like grounded in the luteal phase versus the follicular phase for example. And yeah, so that this is the four phases. In relation to kind of like how sleep, how your sleep needs can change and how you can adjust and make those small little adjustments. But also there's like the basics of sleep of trying to get a good night's sleep every night, regardless of the phase, but you know, regardless of the phase of your cycle where you're at in your cycle, and just understanding that that's probably like the foundational thing any human can do for better health is getting good sleep, you know, roughly 8 to 9 hours, menstruators need even a little more sleep than non menstruators, so understand that like there's nothing wrong if you need a little more sleep at certain times of your cycle. And just practicing those habits that help you get better sleep on a regular basis as well.
So, I guess we can move into the second health foundation, which is stress. I think the biggest like difficulty I noticed with stress and working with people, is just this tendency we have to sort of brush it off or ignore it, or brush it under the rug, or not wanting to address address like stress factors in our lives, and stress I think can mean so many different things and you can look at stress in different ways. You can look at it from a very like kind of analytical scientific way of like, it is stressful for my body to not get enough sleep, to be travelling and to be in, you know, unusual environments, to have an illness that's stressful on the body, like all of those things are literal stress that– or stressful-type factors that influence how you're feeling, but also looking at it in a more like in the emotional or mental side of stress, and understanding how those also– how those impact and influence your overall health, but the health of your cycle when you're not addressing those concerns of stress and sort of letting it like fester. I think that's when like when– you know, for example, a job that you're in, like this is my personal experience of working as a flight attendant for 9 years and like that growing stress over the years, like my body was by the end, by the time I finally quit, was screaming at me that this environment was no longer aligning with me, that it was no longer conducive, like I was getting physically ill every time I had to go to the airport because I was just so beyond– and like was it literally physically, like scientifically stressful to put on a uniform and go in a car to the airport, like that shouldn't be a stressful activity, but it was so– because of the mental stress surrounding that environment, surrounding that circumstance, it was creating physical symptoms and physical issues with within myself, like immediately, but also in my cycle, and so understanding like how to recognize stress in your life like if you always are stressed on your morning commute, maybe that means you want to plan a little more time on your drive. That's a very simple example, you know, that's easy to address. But if it's something bigger, you know, taking those baby steps as you said, of like first understanding how you're feeling, maybe voicing it out loud to yourself, then maybe voicing it out loud to someone else, and then looking, you know, taking those baby steps of like slowly finding solutions to just be honest with yourself about the stress, look at possible ways to approach that stress, to manage those stressful circumstances to help you feel better. And I think something else that's often not touched on in regards to– I put it in the stress category, but I think it is in many categories– is the importance of pleasure and especially orgasm because it's so, it's such a powerful practice for your body just to feel better, like having an orgasm, experiencing physical pleasure is something that releases amazing hormones for your mood and how you're feeling, and helps combat, helps negate those stressful side effects which have the opposite effect on your body.
And so I think that's something to talk about in relation to different phases of your cycle, and like understanding like orgasm and pleasure in general can feel really different across your cycle. In your menstrual phase, maybe not feeling as connected to pleasure, to sensuality, versus in your ovulatory phase maybe feeling super sensitive or super connected to your– all of your senses, and pleasure specifically. So understanding that like it's completely normal to have libido changes across your cycle, understanding that your desire for pleasure, your desire for connection, even if it's just you with yourself, or you with a partner, is completely normal to experience those changes across your cycle, and learning how to kind of track and understand how you feel across different phases of your cycle, and to be able to communicate that with a partner if you're involved with a partner, is like super powerful and super empowering to just be honest, again, coming back to that conversation of like, being honest with yourself about your needs what you need at different times. I just noticed my phone is about to die, so let me get my charger.
01:08:48.000 --> 01:08:49.000
Okay, let me pause the recording. Okay, we're back.
01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:58.000
Okay, awesome. Thank you. So I think the most important thing in addressing stress in regards to your cycle is just– I mean, there's kind of two parts, is one, using your cycle to understand how your needs are changing, because I think that will automatically reduce stress in a lot of ways, and understanding like, oh yeah, I'm not gonna feel the same way every day. And not– and not having that, that sort of– What's the word I'm looking for?– That misalignment, and that judgement within yourself, of wishing things were a different way or like judging yourself, or I should be higher energy today, or why can't I do this, or why can't I focus on whatever it is? I think that kind of automatically helps reduce stress in the sense that it just helps to be more aware of how you're feeling and how to take care of yourself. And I think in another interesting way, looking at how you change across your cycle. We kind of mentioned before about PMS and the late luteal phase right before your period, in understanding not discounting, but understanding like, oh I might feel a little more sensitive during this part of my cycle, I might feel higher anxiety than normal, or I might feel a little more emotional, and not to say that you shouldn't take those feelings seriously, you 100% should, you're feeling that way because your body is giving you an insight to– it's almost, I would I call it, I think the luteal phase is often the most misunderstood part of our cycle because it has that negative connotation of PMS, and a being moody quote-unquote, and being emotional, and you know all these like negative connotations that people have with cycles. But I think it's actually a really powerful time of the cycle because it's like, the rose-coloured glasses of estrogen have been removed. When estrogen is high, everything’s a little bit, everything might feel a little bit easier, things might not bother you as much. An off-colour comment might not hurt your feelings as much as it would when estrogen is low, and so I think it's a time where we are allowed and able to connect with like the more sensitive part of ourselves, and really I think that's a huge talent and– or not talent necessarily, but a huge skill to be able to hold space for those parts of yourself, and understand like, it's okay that I'm sensitive. It's okay that I'm emotional. It's okay that I have big feelings, or strong reactions to certain things, or feel very strongly like you're allowed to take up space, you're allowed to voice your opinion. And I think that's why the luteal phase is so powerful, because it's kind of like, you're gonna voice your opinion whether people are ready for it or not–
01:11:50.000 --> 01:11:52.000
I like that.
01:11:52.000 --> 01:12:07.000
Yeah, and also understanding that like, okay, like I've said this– I saw a really funny reel this morning actually that was like– it was a couple, and the male partner was saying, he was like, oh, when I tell my wife the same joke in different phases of their cycle and her reaction was so different, based on what phase she was in, and so like the same exact joke about oh, they thought I was a firefighter or something, and like one phase she's like laughing, and like oh that's so cute, and in the ovulatory phase she's saying something like, oh yeah you are sexy, and like jump him, and I mean it's obviously kind of like silly but it's– I think it was actually interesting to see because then in the luteal phase or the menstrual phase, it was a completely different reaction. It was like, well, why would they say that? And what are you trying to mean? And it was just like, understanding that you can be different versions of yourself. And there's nothing wrong with that. You're not meant to be the same every day. I don't know how many times I’ve said that, but I'll keep saying it ‘till the cows come home. And like there's nothing wrong with feeling differently in different parts of your cycle and also understanding with yourself of like, oh, maybe I feel a little more sensitive. Maybe I should wait with that reaction, or that conversation, until I see a little more variation of my perspective on it, and getting a bigger understanding of how I really feel about it. But I think on the other hand, the luteal phase can be super powerful for like, you getting straight up and honest with how you're feeling.
And another way, in the luteal phase, like if you notice every single cycle, the same conversation keeps coming up, the same argument keeps happening with your partner, the same frustration with your job, like I think that's a very powerful message from your intuition that something is misaligned here, something needs attention, something needs to be looked at a little more deeply. And so in terms of managing stress, you know, having those hard conversations, not ignoring or writing off stressful situations or circumstances in your life, I think that can be, a really powerful tool is using that wisdom, using the sensitivity of the late luteal phase to address those things in your life and understand like, hmm, every single month, my partner, you know makes these type of jokes, or makes these type of comments, that maybe I think it's like slightly amusing earlier in my cycle, but it really hurts my feelings later in the cycle. Like you are completely valid in having those feelings and having those reactions and it's worth it to have those conversations and share. Not, you know, kind of a weird way to look at stress, but like those little micro impacts throughout our day of things that cause a spike in emotion, a spike in stress can impact your overall health and of course your cycle health too. So, in the wisdom of the luteal phase to have those harder conversations to take advantage of the maybe more sensitive way that you're feeling and using that with them.
*** 1:16:26
01:15:14.000 --> 01:15:23.000
Yeah, oh, that's nice. I like that. I like that way of looking at things because there's definitely been times where– I've like had a roommate who was, I don't know, maybe had an annoying behaviour, and then most of the month it was fine, but then every time like before my period I would get really like annoyed with it, and in the moment, like, and when it was happening, I was like, Oh, you know, like, write that off, like, oh, I'm just whatever. Cause like, that's what we see all over the place. It wasn't until I like moved out, or like we had, we like, weren’t living together anymore, that I could see like, Oh no, wait, this actually was a stressful thing for me. And I shouldn't have had to put up with this.
01:15:57.000 --> 01:15:58.000
Absolutely.
01:15:58.000 --> 01:16:04.000
I wasn't being like dramatic or anything. It was just like I had no patience then to deal with it. I like that perspective.
01:16:05.000 --> 01:16:16.000
Oh my god. Yeah, taking it even a step further, like getting slightly deep here. And like how I energetically look at the cycle, which I think is helpful for cyclical living and aligning and understanding like the– Not backtracking on what I said earlier, but the– Because, not backtracking in terms of like your cycle’s not just about fertility and not just about reproduction, but also your cycle is about reproduction and understanding that as the kind of like quote-unquote reason for how you feel different ways at different times of your cycle. So looking at it like this: in the first half of your cycle, from your period all the way up until ovulation, your body, whether you want to or not, your body is preparing for pregnancy. So your energy is opening up to others, because you cannot get pregnant without at least one other party involved. So your– energetically, your like energy is completely open, and you're welcoming things in. Energetically, estrogen is helping you do those things by making you maybe feel more social, higher language-processing, literally looking more attractive when estrogen is high around ovulation, like in scientific studies showing that people, your face is more symmetrical around ovulation. You actually look more attractive, you smell more attractive. So all of these things, all these factors, are bringing people in.
Versus the second half after ovulation has passed. That egg either got– was gonna get fertilized, or is gonna die and there's nothing you could do after ovulation to make pregnancy happen. So your body is focused on protection. It's closing off now energetically. And just understanding that very simple dichotomy of first half, I might be feeling open, second half, I might be feeling a little more closed. And understanding like, why that is, well, it's because reproductively, I'm open in the first half because I need– my body wants to have a baby or whatever– like, “wants” is kind of like not really the correct word, but you know what I'm trying to say, like it wants to– the system, the cycle, the goal, is to create a fertilized egg. And the second half, the goal is to protect either that potentially fertilized egg and wait to see if it implants correctly, and so in that second half yeah, might feel a little more energetically closed and might feel a little more sensitive for that reason. Your energy is doing everything it can to block anything that's going to interfere with that egg potentially implanting, any like bad influence. And so maybe that explains why things are little more annoying in the second half of your cycle versus the first half, because in the first half your hormones are sort of making things a little smoother, a little nicer, because you're energetically open and welcoming things in, versus the second half you're a little more energetically closed and like protecting yourself. So, you know, interesting to look at.
01:19:24.000 --> 01:19:29.000
That's cool. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's very interesting. Sorry, I was just thinking– I'm just processing everything you said.
01:19:30.000 --> 01:19:42.000
Yeah. No, yeah. Alright, okay, so let's move into the third cycle health foundation, which is nutrition/digestion. Very complicated topic to talk about, and I think you probably have a lot of really interesting wisdom to share around, I know around diet culture, around that entire realm of like, kind of going back to what you said before, looking to external rules instead of to your internal cues, and internal awareness about eating habits and dieting quote-unquote, and nourishing yourself properly. In that same way, I think one of the biggest kind of mistakes– for lack of a better word– that I see is people just are simply just not eating enough food, and they're not eating enough meals, and it's because they're following some you know, random guideline that someone has made up, that maybe works for them, or works for a certain group of people, but hasn't taken cyclical needs and cyclical nature into account, or lifestyle, or personal needs, and personal differences, like every human is different. If we all ate exactly the same foods, we would all still look completely different from each other. So it's silly to me to even think about like one diet plan quote-unquote, or an eating plan, that like every human should follow, that doesn't even make sense, logically.
01:21:02.000 --> 01:21:04.000
Yeah, no it doesn't.
01:21:04.000 --> 01:21:13.000
And even more so with cycles, because not only are we different individuals person-to-person, we're also different versions of ourself at different parts of the cycle, and so our needs are going to change. So looking at it very, like very broadly, I think generally speaking people aren't eating enough, people aren't necessarily eating three meals a day with fat, and protein, and carbs in every meal, probably not getting enough fibre, and looking at like, it could be very complicated to look at eating habits. It can be very triggering to track food and to actually examine what you're eating. So that's a very difficult process to go about I think for a lot of people, and– but on the other hand, I think one very, very valid and worth doing because being able to nourish your body without the guilt and restriction, I think is very healing and very powerful experience.
01:22:07.000 --> 01:22:12.000
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think it can– yeah, I would say, I mean just based on what you've said so far. I mean, I know you have more to share, but I think some people can get– Kind of like we said earlier, I can get really– go into something, and you can go really into it. Like I know for myself, tracking things is a step toward, like was the previous trigger step towards eating disorders. So just one approach I've heard and I've practiced is instead of necessarily tracking if– depending on what's going on with you, if you're like, not sure if you're eating, like one of the things that I have a hard time with is eating enough healthy fats, because of an old diet culture and eating disorder thing. And it actually has like shown up on my bloodwork a little bit. So I have to think, I have to like occasionally if I remember to, be like, hey wait a minute have I had any today? Should I like add some in rather than– so thinking of like adding in rather than taking out.
01:23:09.000 --> 01:23:10.000
Yeah, I love it.
01:23:10.000 --> 01:23:21.000
I think can be sometimes helpful and that you don't– like some people can track these things and not be triggered back into eating disorder territory, some people cannot, such as myself, and both are valid and fine, just know that like if this is a road you're going down, you might want a little extra support, like recovery support, whether it's like a friend who's also recovered and you just want to like, hey, if you notice this, can you like, you know, bring it to my awareness, or like a one-on-one coach who does this kind of work like I do, or whatever like, if it already feels triggering to think about, you might just think about adding an extra support whether you like listen to more anti-diet podcasts, and books, and follow the people who do talk about it, or whatever like set up extra support so that if it's a road you're wanting to go down, just take teeny teeny teeny tiny steps, what can you add in, and then have the support so it doesn't become a bigger, like down eating disorder territory because it can be– it is really hard and emotional and vulnerable and it's more complicated now, and you're right like people don't eat, honestly, a lot of us don't eat enough or you know, have these things like I do where I was like, oh, you can't have like anything that has fat in it, now I have you know, an imbalance in that way.
01:24:29.000 --> 01:24:39.000
Yeah. Yeah, totally. I feel like growing up, a millennial growing up in the early 2000s, like, I mean, it was a whole shitshow in regards to body image.
01:24:39.000 --> 01:24:40.000
Oh yeah.
01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:47.000
Just like actively, loudly promoting eating disorders and disordered behaviours like, wow, like how did we even survive?
01:24:47.000 --> 01:24:50.000
Yeah. Yeah, good question.
01:24:50.000 --> 01:24:59.000
Like for real though. But yeah, like specifically, like no fat was the– I feel like was the huge focus and was the huge thing, so I think that's a very common thing that people deal with is like not even necessarily being able to identify like what are quote-unquote healthy sources of fat, and like having that visceral reaction to like, ugh fat, I shouldn't have been eating that, that's bad quote-unquote what I can't do.
01:25:16.000 --> 01:25:18.000
Yeah, yeah.
01:25:18.000 --> 01:25:29.000
So yeah, I think that's very common. And yeah, and I think what you said– I love how you said, your focus on adding things in instead of the entire overhaul, the entire revamp. Even if it's not, even if you're like, oh, I can track food without it feeling triggering or without it feeling difficult, still sometimes it could just be like challenging to do that. Like it's a whole job to do those things. I mean people literally are nutritionists and dieticians, like that's a whole profession. So even if that, you know, whether it is triggering or not, focusing on like keeping it simple. Keeping it simple, making sure you're eating enough, I think is like the number one thing, staying hydrated also I think it's the number one thing, although I feel like there's more openness to that. People talk about being hydrated more. We both have been sipping our water throughout so like kudos to us. But yeah, I think that's the number one thing with eating, is not eating enough, probably that I see, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, but equally is very important, something that people don't necessarily talk about as much because again, not very sexy, but it's pooping every day. It's very important to poop every day. And the primary reason in terms of your hormones, is the only way that your body is getting rid of excess estrogen is by pooping every day. It's processed in the liver and then excreted as waste.
01:26:47.000 --> 01:26:48.000
Oh, I didn't know that.
01:26:48.000 --> 01:26:49.000
And so it– yeah, and menstruators actually have a higher rate of constipation than anyone else, which then only causes hormone imbalance to be worse because of that. So it's really important to have 1-2 bowel movements a day. That's going to help to keep your hormones more balanced, more of that energetic balance between estrogen and progesterone, and will also just probably have you feeling better, and less gassy, less bloated, less full. So that's, you know, the bonus to that as well. In terms of changing your diet– or aligning your diet with your cycle, again, I think can be a very complicated subject, and it's something that people tend to kind of go hog-wild and get like very specific, like oh during my menstrual phase I'm only gonna eat XYZ, and then during my follicular phase I'm gonna eat these three things, and like yes, you can do those things if it feels fun and supportive, and not stressful, and not challenging like budget-wise, or what food you have available in your area, like, yeah, that's really cool to eat specific foods that help promote balancing your hormones in different ways. Like I think I mentioned earlier, like eating raw carrots can help manage estrogen as well because it helps support the liver, or eating, you know, different type of seeds, and seed cycling, and eating different seeds at different points in your cycle. But that can be a lot, and I think it also can be triggering for people who maybe struggled with disordered habits in the past, to go into like orthorexia territory of very regimented and very strict, I can only eat this at this time, and only eat that at that time. I think, generally speaking for most people, I think a healthier approach is to look at, as you said, what you can add in. Where you can like gently adjust and not be so regimented and strict, but focusing on those foundations of like, am I eating enough? Am I having protein, and fat, and carbs, with every meal? Am I getting fibre? Am I pooping at least once per day?
Those are like, the kind of the basics and then once you feel solid with that, once you feel comfortable, then you can play around with some of the other stuff. Play around with eating a certain type of food at different points in your cycle. Which is something I talk about a lot, working with people one-on-one, or in a group setting too, getting into like the fun, getting into the weeds of those things, but I think it's like, it could be very, very tempting to be like, oh, this influencer shared the supplement and this is gonna change my entire thing, or this influencer shared like this recipe which is good for the follicular phase, that doesn't mean you can't eat that at another time in your cycle. It maybe just has an extra benefit to help your body process estrogen. But like if you're craving that meal in your menstrual phase, like you don't need to deny yourself those foods in a different phase of your cycle. So I think it's– to me, less is more in terms of the sort of like nitpicking of how you arrange your eating, and it's more important just focusing on eating enough, and eating regularly.
01:30:03.000 --> 01:30:04.000
Yeah, that makes sense.
01:30:04.000 --> 01:30:09.000
I mean, that's the biggest thing. Yeah. Alright, so that's– I think that kind of covers it for what I want to say for nutrition and digestion. So moving to our fourth and final cycle health foundation– Oh wait, I take that back. I wanna share one more thing, which is important to understand about your nutritional needs across your cycle. In the roughly second half of your cycle or when progesterone is dominant, you actually have a higher caloric need because progesterone has a thermogenic effect in the body. You're literally burning more calories. You have a higher need for calories in that phase of your cycle. You might feel hungrier in your cycle. I think that was a huge game changer for me as well to understand. Like, when I'm feeling hungrier, when my quote-unquote normal portion, I finish it and I'm still hungry, like that's not– That can be triggering for eating disorder past, and understanding like it's okay if I eat a little more today, at another time in my cycle I might eat a little bit less, and so looking at the same way in productivity or managing your energy, looking at the bigger picture of your whole cycle, and not worrying, if you're worried about the amounts that you're eating, like if I eat a little more today, another day two weeks from now maybe I'll eat a little bit less, and it's all gonna balance out and understanding you have different needs across your cycle. I think that's worth mentioning as well.
01:31:24.000 --> 01:31:48.000
Yeah, I think it's important too to like recognize that sometimes of your– like there's so many factors in terms of when you're hungry, what if it's like really hot sometimes you don't get, you know you're not really as hungry, or sometimes if you’ve like done more– like a different type of movement the day before, then you or that day ,then you might want to eat a lot more but none of it, nothing, like it doesn't mean you've done anything wrong.
01:31:48.000 --> 01:31:49.000
Exactly.
01:31:49.000 --> 01:31:50.000
It doesn't mean anything bad. Like give yourself permission to eat more if you're hungry, and don't– or even if you're not hungry, like it's also fine to have like a comfort snack, whatever, like emotional eating is not as big of a deal as people on Instagram make it to be. I mean, this is going into a whole other territory, but I just feel like– That like it's important.
01:32:10.000 --> 01:32:12.000
But it's really important.
01:32:12.000 --> 01:32:21.000
It's a hundred percent fine. You also don't have to figure out why, like if you don't feel like figuring out why you want like a second plate, it's fine. You don't have to figure it out. Doesn't really matter. You’re just hungry and that's the important thing. Give yourself permission to eat.
01:32:26.000 --> 01:32:28.000
Yeah, yeah, say that like one more time for the people in the back.
01:32:28.000 --> 01:32:32.000
Yeah, give yourself permission to eat. You don't need a reason to be hungry. You don't need to earn food. You just can eat food, all the time.
01:32:32.000 --> 01:32:33.000
Thank you. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Love it. Thank you for sharing that. I couldn't agree more. Yeah. Alright, so, so we move into our final cycle health foundation of movement/exercise. I think in the sort of opposite way of nutrition, the kind of most common issue that I see with exercise is people over-exercising typically, and not understanding that your exercise, excuse me, needs and capacity changes across your cycle. And so understanding like when I'm bleeding, I should not be going for the same type of exercise, or going on the long run, or hitting like a hardcore HIIT type workout, or power vinyasa type yoga flow, when I'm bleeding, versus at different points in my cycle. And so it's really important to understand like, you're a different version of yourself throughout your cycle, and it's important to honour that, to take care of it, your needs are different, your capacity is different, and so why are you trying to fight against that nature, and instead honouring that nature and taking it easier when your needs are for more rest, and then enjoying the high, and firing it up, and really going for it when your needs are for more action and more activity.
So very briefly, just kind of touching on how those needs change across the cycle. When estrogen and progesterone are low in your menstrual phase, really resting is the exercise that you need to be doing. Like literally taking a nap, literally resting, reading, or even like at most maybe going for a gentle walk in nature, or like a very calming yoga practice, something very gentle that's like comforting to you, whatever that version looks like for you ,and I have to say too like these different versions of intensity will be different person to person, because someone who's like a professional Olympic athlete, their version of a rest day is gonna be different than my version of a rest day, as someone who's not athletic basically in any sense of the word. So understanding like your own variations within that context.
As the follicular phase rises, you might be feeling that upswing of energy, estrogen is rising. So maybe you want to go for a run. Maybe you want to do a little more cardio activity. Maybe that feels fun to you, doing a dance class or a yoga class, something a little more playful, or even like something a little outside of your comfort zone might feel a little more natural during that phase.
Once you get into the ovulatory phase around ovulation, likely feeling energetically high during this phase, so doing the thing that is maybe hardest for you, like going to like the boot camp type class, or a kickboxing class, a dance class, power vinyasa, like something that's really gets the sweat, the endorphins, like you're feeling great, you have your cute outfit on, like you're just in the vibes, and it feels fun to exercise in that way during that phase, not like, oh god, now I gotta drag my ass and do this horrible HIIT workout that I am dreading, like no like this is the class where you come bounding in, and you're like let's go guys, and you're just feeling it, like you're at that energetic place of connecting with that level of intensity.
And then after ovulation passes, you're moving into the luteal phase, progesterone is dominant, maybe noticing you tend to kind of, I don't know if burnout is the right word– And you know, I had a trainer, like the correct terminology for this– but like you might notice you sort of hit your max a little faster. You hit your limit a little sooner than you would in the first half around follicular and ovulation, and not judging yourself, not saying like, oh last week I could have you know, squatted 200 pounds and this week I can only squat 100 or 150, like what's wrong with me? Just understanding like your hormones are affecting you. That's all, your body is working as a human's body should. There's nothing wrong. That's exactly what you can expect to feel. So understanding that and adjusting your workouts to align with that.
I personally find during the luteal phase, I tend to like a nice, long, like quiet run with a podcast, or with like relaxing music, versus in the follicular phase, it's like a chaotic, like super fast run and I'm listening to like Christine Aguilera, and just like Spice Girls, and like feeling the like excited vibes, versus the luteal, some more like, listening to like an educational podcast as I like take my long meandering stroll through the park, and just understanding those differences and not judging yourself. It always comes down to that at the end of the day, not judging yourself for needing different things at different times of your cycle. And I think a few interesting things to note– I forgot what I was going to say– Oh, coming back to that concept of in the luteal phase when progesterone is high, your body temperature is literally higher, you have a thermogenic– it has a thermogenic effect in the body, so literally raising the body temperature, might be feeling that burnout a little faster, a little earlier in your run, or a little sooner in your workout, and so making extra, you know, taking extra care to hydrate yourself even more, and just adjusting your workout as necessary. Also one thing to note is when estrogen is really high, the end of the follicular phase moving into the ovulatory phase, you have a tendency, you could have a higher instance or higher rate of injury to ligaments or joints, because estrogen has a more elastic effect on our ligaments and joints so taking extra caution when you're doing the fun, crazy, energetic type workout of like making sure you have proper alignment, making sure you know you're wearing like proper footwear for hiking or running, and just taking little extra care to take care of yourself, but don't get too carried away by the the fun of ovulation.
01:38:32.000 --> 01:38:36.000
Yeah, that's definitely fair.
01:38:36.000 --> 01:38:48.000
Yeah. Yeah, I think that kind of covers it for exercise. Unless you have any questions or want to add anything with your expertise, too.
01:38:48.000 --> 01:39:02.000
I think that– I don't know, I feel like there is stuff I could add but I don't know if it's necessary, I guess I'll just say, like with any of this depending on where– I've done some episodes and I've talked a lot about where you're at in terms of your healing from– healing your relationship with movement from being either an eating disorder, disordered eating whatever, being in diet culture, it can take a long time to heal and if you're at the beginning stages of that healing process, I would just say lean into the things that feel good, like that you like doing, and if you're like a person who doesn't like moving– I can't remember which episode I talked about this, who I talked about this with– But they're talking about like your grumpy little walk. I think it was the episode maybe before our previous one, there’s like– I can't remember who it was. Anyway–
01:39:46.000 --> 01:39:47.000
Like instead of the hot girl walk, go for like, the grumpy gremlin walk?
01:39:47.000 --> 01:39:58.000
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. But like if you're– when I first started healing my relationship with movement, any kind of– any of this stuff probably would have been a little bit too much to think about which is, if you're feeling that way, it's totally fine. Don't have to rush your healing process, like just do the things that feel good, and like worry about this later on. This, like this– if you're doing the little steps, this is probably a little step for later on.
01:40:16.000 --> 01:40:17.000
Advanced.
01:40:17.000 --> 01:40:24.000
And if you're like, I'm at the process now, or at the point now where I'm– the healing process doesn't end unfortunately, sorry to break it to you, it's a long process, but I'm at the stage now where I'm able to, like I've talked before about how there's certain movements I don't like doing before I go, like I– before I go to for a run, hate it. While I'm on the run, so most of the time, hate it. How I feel after, that's why I go, because I feel so much less stressed out. So you might just note some of those things. Like if we've done this, I do this work with one-on-one clients a lot. And I do sometimes in the group, in the Rebel Movement Club, but if you have sort of a list– like in the homework, I've probably given you– of like what movements help you feel certain ways, if you know that like, say for example, like the Stretch and Unwind yoga class helps you feel really rested and helps you sleep better, maybe that's something that you think about having for your second half of your cycle. If you notice like, okay, I like love going for like, I don't know, an interval run and, that's super fun, and I usually feel like really energized and connected after, maybe that's something you do like the first half, after you stop bleeding, but you might just like bring in some of that information.
01:41:35.000 --> 01:41:45.000
You don't have to start a whole new thing. You also don't have to go towards it if you're not at the phase yet, it's fine don't rush it. The biggest thing you can do, my biggest advice if you're not sure where to start, is just notice how it feels. If you like have a habit of going for runs, you hate how you feel during, before, and after, maybe you just give yourself permission to not go on runs. And maybe you like do a YouTube dance class instead, and then notice how that feels. Just like you're gathering information in as neutral of a way as possible.
01:42:10.000 --> 01:42:11.000
Yes.
01:42:11.000 --> 01:42:19.000
If your movement is stressing you out, ad it doesn't even have any benefits afterwards like fuck it don't have to do it.
01:42:19.000 --> 01:42:20.000
They don't do it. Like you can go your whole life without going for a run.
01:42:20.000 --> 01:42:26.000
Exactly.
01:42:26.000 --> 01:42:27.000
You do not have to do– thank you so much for sharing, I'm like literally so lit up by everything that you just said. And I think that's probably the most important thing, which I definitely should have said first, but that just came to me with your brilliance, so thank you, is like exercise in a way that you actually enjoy. Like, don't do things that you hate, because while it might look good technically like on paper to be doing cardio or moving your body in that specific way, if you hate it the entire time, like the stress it's bringing you emotionally and mentally is going to like negatively impact the benefits that it would have had. So like that's the first rule as you said, like do things that you actually like, do things that you actually enjoy, and looking at it as you said, like I really love how you explained like analyzing in a very neutral way, like okay I don't like the before or the during of running, but I like the after, so like where can I place this in my routine or my cycle in a way that feels least cumbersome, like least frustrating, and that I can still get the benefits from it. So I love that.
01:43:29.000 --> 01:43:34.000
For sure.
01:43:35.000 --> 01:43:46.000
And I think you could actually use your cycle to help you figure out a lot of those things too in looking at like, kind of like if you are going to test out a new thing, maybe you want to test out a dance class and see what those effects are, neutrally sort of analyzing if it's a type of exercise you'd like to engage in. Doing that, planning that for a time in your cycle where you're already feeling a little bit more like adventurous, or like around the follicular phase around the ovulatory phase, because it's gonna feel a little easier to get over that hump of like anxiety of like going to a new place, and what do I expect, and what's the parking like, and are people gonna be nice, and are they friendly here? Are they open? Are they inclusive? Like all those stressors that can come up with a lot of different types of exercise, yoga included. Like it could be overwhelming to start to try to do new things, in so many ways. And so just like planning that for times in your cycle, that might be, it might feel a little easier. It might feel a little more natural to try those new things.
01:44:27.000 --> 01:44:31.000
Yeah, totally. Yeah, I think that's a very good idea. Thank you so much. This was so fun. I don't– is there anything else that you wanna share before we wrap up or? I know, like not– I'll get you to plug in a second, but I just mean like based on what we've talked about.
01:44:40.000 --> 01:44:47.000
Yes, yeah. I mean, I think there were so many little interesting nuggets that were unplanned that just came out during this episode. I think kind of coming back to where we started and just understanding that like, you deserve to implement and understand this information for the sole benefit of yourself. Like there needs to be no other reason, other than you just want to feel better in your cycle and your body. It doesn't matter if you never want to have a baby. It doesn't matter if there's not like a medical reason, or problem, or issue, to address. Like you deserve to learn this and understand these things, just for yourself, just because you want to. Like that's enough of a reason. And so I think my advice, like don't wait– for the people who are like, oh, I kinda wanna learn about this, but like I don't really have a reason, or like I don't really want to get pregnant, or like I don't really know if it's really necessary, or any of these things, like I would say if you're interested in it, and you're curious and want to feel more connected to your body, feel more connected to your cycle, like you don't need a reason other than you want to, like that's enough of a reason, and so you deserve it to give that gift to yourself if it's something you desire. And there needs to be no other explanation to other people. I cannot count how many times in my life when I bring up cycle tracking or understanding my cycle, how many people think, oh, you must be trying to get pregnant.
01:46:17.000 --> 01:46:18.000
Right.
01:46:18.000 --> 01:46:31.000
From doctors, to friends, to family members, and like I understand where they're coming from, because that's the current culture and the current associations with this type of work, and with this type of lifestyle, and every time it's like, no, I'm just doing it for me. I'm like, that's enough. You deserve to give that to yourself.
01:46:32.000 --> 01:46:45.000
It’s enough. Yeah, I think that's important. I think that's a really good note to bring back from the beginning is that, it doesn't have to be for– like you don't need a reason, you can just do it because you want to.
01:46:45.000 --> 01:46:50.000
Yeah, exactly. I think that's a very powerful reason on its own.
01:46:50.000 --> 01:46:58.000
Yeah, I think so too. I think it's awesome. I think that's a really empowering thing. I've learned so much from the last– our last two conversations. Thank you so much for sharing your time, and your energy, and your wisdom with us. Can you let people know where to find you?
01:47:07.000 --> 01:47:09.000
Yes, thank you so much for having me. I've had so much fun talking to you.
01:47:09.000 --> 01:47:13.000
Oh, good. I'm glad. Yeah, it was so fun.
01:47:13.000 --> 01:47:21.000
Alright, so you can find me– I'm most active on Instagram. Although I really haven't been over the last month because I've been moving, but I am getting into it guys, I'm coming back to life, I’m getting settled. So you can find me on Instagram. My handle is @cyclical_yoga. You could also find me at that same– almost, same name online, www.cyclical-yoga.com. From my website, from my Instagram, you can reach out to me over DM, of course. You can reach out to me over WhatsApp. I have all sorts of offers to check out ranging from free, all the way to, you know, a high-ticket private offer. So there's a lot of range, of variation, within working with me and how I like to help people. I've mentioned I have a podcast, so that's of course a free offer. I share all sorts of stuff on Instagram too, of course, for free. And there's some exciting paid offers coming up very soon too.
01:48:16.000 --> 01:48:17.000
Awesome.
01:48:17.000 --> 01:48:24.000
So all sorts of ways to work with me and you can probably tell from how much I love talking about the stuff that I'm kind of obsessed. So like I love when people DM me and they're like, I have this really weird specific period question I'm like, please tell me like I would love to hear about it.
01:48:30.000 --> 01:48:32.000
Oh, awesome.
01:48:32.000 --> 01:48:42.000
So send me a DM, tell me you heard me on Billie’s podcast, and yeah, I'd love to chat with your period about you. About your period with you. “I’d love to chat with your period about you,” that would be amazing.
01:48:43.000 --> 01:48:51.000
Awesome. Perfect. That would be amazing. If, just in case you're listening to this episode while you're driving or anything like that, I will post her, the Instagram and website in the show notes below, and then you'll be able to find everything from there. So don't worry about like, oh no, like I can't write this down, it's written down for you. There is I think on Spotify, if you're listening on Spotify, if you like scroll down, there's an option to put in a question right through this episode. I have no idea if that's on other platforms so you can always send me an email: info@movewithbillie.com. If you have a question that you're wanting to be– for example if you're wanting to be anonymous, if you're feeling a little nervous, or if you like that other folks might want to know the answers or whatever, you can always send them in that way and then I'll make sure of course that Ashley gets those and– just forgot the– oh, if you have feedback, if you like this episode, if you have feedback for us of any kind, send them again, info@movewithbillie.com and I'll make sure that everyone gets them. And then I just want– again, thank you so much for being here. This was so fun. I learned a lot. I know everyone else will learn a lot and I'm just so thrilled with these episodes, so thank you.
01:50:03.000 --> 01:50:05.000
Yay, thank you so much for having me.
01:50:05.000 --> 01:50:09.000
Thank you, see you later!
01:50:09.000 --> 01:50:10.000
Bye!
OUTRO
00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:15.000
Thank you so much for listening. If you want to connect more with me, if you want to send any questions, send them to info@movewithbillie.com. If you sign up for my newsletter, that's the best way to stay in contact with me, but you can also follow me on Instagram, @movewithbillie. I'm on TikTok as well as Facebook. If you have a second, I would love it if you could rate, review, and subscribe this episode– this podcast, and maybe rate, like review this episode if that's a possibility on the platform you're on. And if you would like to support this podcast, you can buy me a coffee, the link is in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here. I hope you learned as much as I did from the episodes with Ashley and I will talk to you soon. Bye!
