Mensuration & Cycles with Ashley Sorensen
Episode Description:
This week I'm joined by a really lovely guest named Ashley Sorensen of Cyclical Yoga and we chat about menstrual cycle. Ashley explains basics of what the menstrual cycle is, how it effects the body and how to start tracking your cycle.
Connect with Ashley on socials: @cyclical_yoga
Listen to Ashley's episode about cycle tracking here.
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Episode Transcript:
00:00:02.000
Hi, welcome back to Rebel Movement podcast. My name is Billie. My pronouns are they/them or she/her and I'm really excited this week we're doing an interview. I have a guest and I decided this time to record – I decided to start recording my interviews a little bit differently. As you can tell, it's just me here right now – maybe you can't tell, you can't see where I am. I'm recording the intro and outro separately, so that we can just get right into the interview when we start it? You know what I mean? It feels a little bit more natural. I don't know. Just testing it out, seeing how it goes.
00:00:38.000
I wanted to give a little – I don't even know, like it's not really a disclaimer but, this episode is all about menstrual health. And I think it's super important, honestly, should be talked about way more, and I just wanted to say at the beginning here for anyone who is queer, non-binary, trans, has different pronouns of any sort – as someone who's non-binary, I felt like it was really important – and even if I wasn't, I think I would feel this too – but I think it's really important to change our language around things like menstruating, and pregnancy, and things like that. I think a lot of times, unfortunately, there's still a lot of really gendered language which can be really exclusive, and I'm not a fan of it. I'm not gonna lie that I'm taking a pre- and post-natal training right now, and I would not recommend it. It's great – actual information is great – would not recommend it because I don't find it very gender inclusive.
00:01:41.000
So we both, we both, both me and Ashley, the wonderful guest this week, have the same feelings about being inclusive with our language, so you won’t hear any words like, “women’s cycles,” or whatever – the only time that there is some sort of mention of it is. When we're talking about the actual hormone cycles, because of the name – I don't, I'm not a person who is a pro in this, hence why we have a – why we have a guest, but, there's mention of “male hormone cycle” and “female hormone cycle” just because it's more like the scientific part of it, otherwise, that's really all you're gonna hear.
00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:43.000
You'll hear language like “bleeders” and “people with periods” and –yeah, I just feel like disclaimer is not really the right word, but I feel like I really wanna put the intention at the beginning here, just in case you're like, “I don't know what the language is gonna be like” – it's gonna be inclusive, As inclusive as I can be. And I know that like saying that, I mean, we're getting a little derailed here, but, we can only ever be as inclusive as possible, inclusive as kind of a buzzword sometimes and often it's used in a way that's like you say you're inclusive, but you're not inclusive. When I say it around here, I really do try to mean it and I'm always open for feedback.
00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:13.000
So if you listen to this episode and you have any feedback for me and how I could do better, what we could change, what I could add, let me know. I will also say there will be another episode at another time that focuses more on the hormonal cycles of trans folks, and trans folks’ experiences. with hormones and things like that. It's just a whole other episode, whole other guest, or potentially guests, and with all that said, we'll get to the episode. Thank you so much for listening. I'm really excited, I learned a lot in this episode and I’m so excited for you to learn more too.
00:00:01.000
Before we get started, I forgot to give a little disclaimer: I have been having so many different tech issues the last couple of weeks. I don't know what's been going on. For this episode, got onto the call and my head– like my mic wouldn't work, tried a million different setups that all seemed to work earlier, and none of them worked. I finally went with a pair of headphones that I don't usually record with, they're not the best audio quality so this episode is not– my part of the audio is not the best audio quality I've ever had. I did try to fix it up a little bit in post, but just as a little heads up – the interview was amazing, definitely worth listening to, my audio is not quite– it's just a little bit more muffled and not as good quality. Thanks!
00:00:02.000
Thank you so much for being here, I'm really excited for our conversation today. Can you introduce yourself a little bit and tell us your name and pronouns and all that?
00:00:10.000
Absolutely! Hi everyone, my name is Ashley Sorensen. My pronouns are she/her, and I'm tuning in from Atlanta, Georgia, which– I just very recently moved here. But just a little bit about me and what I do, I am a yoga teacher and cyclical living mentor, and that is a title you may or may not have heard before, but basically it means I help menstruators understand their menstrual cycles, both from a sense of understanding the menstrual cycle to help support the cycle and make it healthier and make it better, a better experience, but also understanding the cycle in a little deeper sense, in how to use that cycle and use that wisdom in your life. So living in alignment with your cycle and supporting it, so that it can support you. And primarily I work with people combining cycle education because – and I know we're going to talk about this – is just we have such a lack of access to education about our bodies as menstruators. Probably all humans have a lack of access about our bodies just period, but especially as menstruators., and you know, combining that education with yogic practices and yogic philosophies, because those practices help you understand yourself. on a better level, help you connect with yourself, and just take care of yourself. So that's what I'm all about.
00:01:38.000
Thank you. I love that's a really great explanation. I'm really excited to talk about all this stuff because – we were just talking a little bit before, but it feels like very good timing with some of the stuff coming up in future episodes, and I think it's just because this cause – I don’t know if cause is the right word – subject that's I think really important to talk more about.
00:02:03.000
Yeah.
00:02:04.000
I think there is – you're totally right there's a lack of education, a lack of understanding. I think in some cases lack of, I don't know if research is the right word, but–
00:02:15.000
Definitely, yeah. Unfortunately.
00:02:18.000
I haven't, I've never done a lot of like looking into this – I think because I feel like I get too angry about it, but I have heard recently that there was, a couple of different things like of course, you know, there’s not a lot of testing with menstruators, AFAB folks for like, drugs, and medications, and things like ADHD that they didn't even start to test–
00:02:48.000
Oh yeah, it's literally mind-blowing when you start to dig into it, but like just a very simple explanation, like a very simple example of just how little things like menstrual cycle health is studied, like up until – I think it was January this year or December 2023, they were not even using menstrual blood to test menstrual cycle products, like tampons and pads, which I'm like, what were you using?! Because, oh my god, that's the most simple thing that you could have been doing this entire time! That is such a perfect example of like, what the hell is going on.
00:03:20.000
Yeah, exactly. I thought– I heard that it was water, but I haven't like, fact-checked that, but it's– that's absolutely baffling. It's like, all the times that menstrual products have just not worked and now I feel like, oh, well, obviously, like what?
00:03:39.000
Yeah, because they're not even testing it with the, you know, the substance that it's meant to absorb.
00:03:43.000
Yeah, how are you gonna know?
00:03:44.000
It's like, if you've ever had a period in your life, you know that menstrual blood has nothing like water. It's thick. It's viscous. It has chunks of tissue. Like, it's nothing to do with water. So, you know, don't even get me started. I'm already, you know, getting riled up.
00:03:56.000
Yeah. Yeah. Me too.
00:04:05.000
Basically. But that's just– that's how the thing is gonna go. Also, I just realized, I forgot to say, I wanted to do a little cycle check-in in my intro. I like to start my podcasts off that way. Sometimes I forget my own podcast, but, I am currently on cycle day 4, so I am currently bleeding, but I'm moving into– and we're gonna go through the, kind of the basics of the cycle. So you might be thinking, “what does cycle day 4 mean?” Means I'm on my period still. But, beginning to kind of– beginning to reawaken, come back to life, coming into the next phase of the cycle, which we'll get all into, but wanted to throw that in, so you know where I'm coming from today.
00:04:41.000
That’s cool, thank you for sharing that. I– it’s actually really refreshing to just hear it talked about so normally, like it's just a normal thing. I know that sounds–
00:06:01.000
Oh, I love, I love talking about cycles. So I'm– I'm your cycle, you know, announcer. To help normalize– just to help normalize it. Yeah, like you said.
00:06:10.000
Yeah, I think, I mean, it's also very relevant to what you do, but I– yeah, so refreshing for just being normal and not something that's– People use, I don't know if you've heard people use like, alternative language to describe, even instead of using the word, “period.” It's really nice to hear just ordinary language.
00:06:34.000
Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. Oh yeah, instead of like, “shark week” or “Aunt Flo” or some of these other sort of code words–
00:06:40.000
Exactly. “Code word” is a good way of putting it.
00:06:41.000
Yeah, the kind of coded language really, you know– and we're kind of jumping in to the deep end here– but really it's like, it just comes from this place of shame surrounding our cycles, of trying to hide it, and it's like, but why should I be ashamed of my cycle? Like, why should I not say, “I'm bleeding?” Why should I not? Why should that be something that we are so afraid to talk about? And you know, on the other hand, you know, acknowledging that some people may not be in a safe space to disclose those things.
00:07:22.000
So for me, it's kind of taking advantage of the privilege that I have where I live, in the environments that I'm in, to like, just kind of break down that awkwardness for people who are able, and want to maybe share, but they feel like they don't want to be the weird one. I'm fine being the weird one. I don't mind.
00:07:39.000
Yeah, that's very fair, I really think. I don't know if you– if I should share mine. I actually don't remember. I think it's like, 10 days still expected period, but my cycle is all messed up.
00:07:55.000
Well, we're gonna get into it today. Maybe you'll gain some awareness and clarity about what's going on with your cycle too.
00:07:56.000
Yeah. Maybe. Yeah, that'd be cool. So why don't we– I'm– I feel like I'm getting so excited about everything, but I feel like– okay, pause on that, and can we go– can we go to the basics and you like, walk us through all the basics.
00:08:10.000
Absolutely, yeah. Totally. So what I would love to do is just run through the basic events that are happening inside your body, and it's kind of hard to conceptualize sometimes, and so I just want to walk through basically everything that's happening from day one of your cycle all the way up until day 29. But before I even jump into that, I also want to say I'm using 29 Day Cycle as our sort of example, because it is the quote-unquote “average” cycle length, but that doesn't mean that if your cycle is not 29 days that it's not healthy, or that something is wrong with it, there can be a lot of wiggle room and a lot of variation and all of that can still be considered healthy cycles. So just keep that in mind as I give examples of roughly happening, you know, day this today, you know, Day X to Day Y or whatever. Again, rough kind of guideline and variation within these is perfectly healthy and normal. But– I say we just jump in at the beginning. So, the beginning of your cycle is your period. And you might think well, you know, it's kind of like the beginning of a circle, it's kind of hard to pinpoint, but I think we most often consider– or we discuss the period being the beginning of your cycle because frankly it's just the most easy to be aware of because it's kind of hard to miss blood coming out of your body.
00:09:33.000
Totally fair. Yeah.
00:09:34.000
So day one of your cycle – you know, pretty, pretty clear – day one of your cycle is day one of your period, and that's the first day that you need an actual like menstrual product to– like a tampon pad, menstrual disc, reusable pads, whatever it is that– period underwear, whatever it is that you use to soak up the blood. So maybe you have a day of spotting that's kind of light, and then you're like oh now it's really starting– so that's day one of your cycle, and what's happening hormonally at this point in your cycle is estrogen and progesterone, which I kind of talk about as the 2 Star Hormones of your cycle, are at their lowest points during this phase. This is the menstrual phase, the actual bleeding days of your cycle. And when estrogen and progesterone are low, you're likely feeling lowest energy during this phase. And really what's happening in terms of like– physically what's happening, the events that are happening, the muscles of the uterus are contracting, releasing, contracting, releasing to push out that uterine lining because pregnancy did not occur.
00:10:36.000
So it's pushing out the uterine in lining past the cervix through the vagina, and of course, you see that as blood and tissue exiting into the toilet or wherever it is that you notice it first, usually in the cute underwear, like let’s be real
00:10:49.000
Of course, always.
00:10:50.000
Of course, every time. Like put on white pants, you're gonna get your period.
00:10:53.000
Yeah, it's just a rule.
00:10:55.000
It's just a rule. It's just the rule of being a bleeding person. So yeah, so that's your period. You probably are most familiar if you already are menstruating. You're probably most familiar with this phase because again, it's pretty hard to miss. And I would say the most famous slash infamous phase of the cycle. After bleeding ends, we're moving into the follicular phase. Now it's called this because of what's happening inside of the ovaries during this phase. So your period is ending, you're starting with that– kind of where I'm at right now. You might be feeling that kind of upswing of energy and that's really due to estrogen. So during this phase, estrogen is rising, and estrogen becomes the dominant hormone. FSH or the Follicle Stimulating Hormone signals to the follicles that are still inside your ovaries to continue their development journey. They actually take about like three full months to grow and develop, but this is like the last stage, the last push to the– to who is going to become and grow into an egg actually. So multiple follicles are developing inside your ovaries– as they develop their producing estrogen. So during this phase, estrogen is rising, and you might be feeling that upswing of energy, estrogen supports better communication, might support you feeling a little more social, a little more outgoing, a little more confident. So it's kind of expected that you might be feeling that during this phase. As you– oh let me say two, so two more things about estrogen, what is doing inside the body, it's starting to grow and thicken that lining. So it was just basically wiped clean during your period and now it's like, okay we're ramping up again, and starting that whole process over so the uterine lining begins growing and thickening to support a potential, possible pregnancy, and what is also happening is estrogen causes the cervix to produce cervical mucus, which really just helps create an ideal environment for sperm survival. So there's a lot of– there's a lot going on inside your body that you aren't necessarily aware of as easily as, you know, period. But that's what's happening. So your body is kind of growing and producing and ramping up, and all leading up to the height of your cycle, which is the third phase, and that's ovulation or the ovulatory phase. So ovulation is really just one moment, it's the moment the egg leaves the ovary, but you can refer to the ovulatory phase as being like the kind of couple days before, couple days after that moment, that group of days that's affected by this hormone cocktail. So leading up to ovulation, estrogen is rising and it peaks right before ovulation. Those high estrogen levels tell the body, the egg is ready, it's time to ovulate, and that's what prompts the release of LH or the Luteinizing Hormone, and that's what actually triggers the egg to burst out of the ovary and begin its journey down the fallopian tube. And then testosterone also peaks right before ovulation. So this whole combination, estrogen's high, you have LH coming into the picture, you have testosterone high, all this combines to kind of energetically match the event that's happening. It's like the climax. It's the high moment in terms of your reproductive system and you might be feeling that way energetically as well, maybe feeling your most confident, feeling sexy, probably higher libido because of that high testosterone, that kind of combination is helping you feel that like, woohoo, that oooh-vibes. The main character vibes as I always call it– the main character.
00:14:26.000
Yeah. That's good.
00:14:33.000
Yes, total main character vibes, the egg is ready. It's like, I'm out, you know, it's beginning its journey, if it's going to become a baby. So, after ovulation, we enter the fourth and final phase of the cycle, which is the luteal phase. And this is the phase of the cycle that is usually the longest, and it's actually kind of the most fixed in terms of length. So typically the luteal phase is going to be around 12 to 16 days. And this is the time that you might feel that energetic shift in your cycle for the first half, from your period all the way up until ovulation, estrogen is the dominant hormone. Estrogen is rising, rising, rising. You're feeling that like glowy, fun, maybe highness, but as soon as ovulation happens, you might feel that shift, and this is when progesterone becomes the dominant hormone. So our second, what I call our star hormones, and I like to describe estrogen and progesterone as kind of like the yin and yang energy. Estrogen is the yang, it's the high, whereas progesterone is the yin. And so you kind of feel that balance in these different halves of your cycle. And understanding that is really helpful later on when we're gonna talk about, you know how to align your life and how to take advantage of your cycles, understanding we're not meant to feel the same way every day, which I think is a really huge lesson to understand as a menstruator. So after ovulation. After that egg bursts forth out of the follicle, a little structure forms– that's left behind and is formed called the corpus luteum and that is what basically sets a little timer for the length of the luteal phase and begins producing progesterone. Progesterone rises midway through the luteal phase and then begins to drop as you get closer and closer to your period. What progesterone is doing in terms of internal activities that are going on: It helps further proliferate that uterine lining to make it even thicker and juicier. You could think of, like if estrogen and progesterone were builders, estrogen kind of puts up the walls and progesterone like insulates the walls. So it's thickening it. Thickening it all up, making it nice and juicy for a potential egg to implant. The other thing that progesterone does during this phase is dry up cervical mucus it thickens cervical mucus to make it an inhospitable environment for sperm. It closes the cervix because at this point, if the sperm haven't yet reached the egg, if they haven't already been in place to wait for that egg when it ovulate, they missed their chance. The egg only survives to 12 to 24 hours max. So there's no reason to let in any other sperm, any potential germs or bacteria or anything like that. Like no foreigners welcome in terms of this part of the cycle. No, no sperm allowed and it's really just this phase of waiting. You'll hear– probably you'll talk about in the fertility episode this part of the cycle is referred to as the “two-week wait” because once you ovulate it's roughly 2 weeks until either you can confirm that that fertilization did happen in the egg implanted and you're going to, you know, it'll continue to grow and develop, or it didn't and you'll get your period. So in the first half of the cycle or the first half of this phase, excuse me, at the luteal phase, you're kind of still riding the high of that high estrogen, high testosterone before ovulation and then you have the rising progesterone which has a has a more energetically soothing effect. People, I've heard it personified as kind of like the laid back. Like Chill Aunt. Like maybe she like smokes a J and she's kind of like relaxed, she needs more snacks. That's kind of how it's personified. And so you can think of in this phase, you actually have a higher need for– a higher caloric need. A little more need for a deeper type of rest. Prioritizing yourself I think of it as the phase of the self-protection phase because you're really waiting– your body in terms of, you know, not necessarily you emotionally, but your body is waiting to see if you got pregnant. And so it's really this phase of like you’re kind of pausing and waiting to see what's going to happen. It's a phase where you're just in your lane. You're focusing on yourself. And then as you get closer and closer to your period, your body is realizing, you know, if pregnancy did occur, of course, that's a whole other podcast, but if it did not occur, estrogen and progesterone both are dropping down, your body realizes pregnancy did not occur and that again triggers your next bleed - once the estrogen and progesterone drop low enough that's what triggers your uterine lining to shed again and we start all over. So I know that was a lot, but I could also– I could just go through it really quickly again a little more briefly. So during your period: Hormones are low, probably energy is low. As your period ends, you enter the follicular phase, a lot of growth, a lot of development happening, you feel that energy begin to rise. Probably you feel that energetic peak right around ovulation, and then you enter a phase of kind of steady energy, just kind of focusing on yourself and then of course pregnancy didn't occur, hormones drop low, period starts again.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:08.000
It is like– the way you describe it sounds like a wave, like a wave going up and then going back down and then up and then back down.
00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:17.000
It's a perfect way to describe it, and that's exactly what it looks like and I know this is a– I don't think you do do a video for the podcast or is it just audio?
00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:24.000
Yeah, usually just audio, but you can put, you can put the video on– who knows maybe I'll put it on YouTube.
00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:25.000
Yeah. Yeah, there you go. But it is exactly, I'll draw it, I'll draw just for your benefit just for funzies. So I'll draw this chart and this is just a simple like, you know, L-shaped chart really this is how estrogen. Well, let me do a little more specifically. See, my pen– it really peaks right around ovulation, this middle point. Peaks a little during that luteal phase, and then drops down. This is your period and this is your period. Luteal– the progesterone peaks too, right here in the second half of your cycle after ovulation.
00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:03.000
Oh, interesting. Yeah.
00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:12.000
So it really is wave-like because you have the low, rising up, dropping down a little, rising up, and then dropping down again. Not interesting for no one who's watching, but you know. Okay.
00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:20.000
I mean, I was gonna say for those people who aren't watching the first line is estrogen, correct?
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:21.000
Correct.
00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:31.000
And it's– it has like a slow peak and it goes high and then it goes down a bit, and then there's a second peak that's not quite as high, and then down and then the progesterone – did I say that right?
00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:32.000
Yep, perfect.
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Okay, is the peak, but it's– it looks like it kind of lines up to like the second half.
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:41.000
In the second half. Exactly. Yep.
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Perfect.
00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.000
Yeah, yeah. So everyone's caught up who was just doing audio version. Maybe it’s the one I put on YouTube, it feels like the appropriate episode for it. Yeah, thank you so much for that explanation. I really– that's really helpful. I learned a lot. There's some of this stuff that I think I've learned a little bit and that just for some reason, doesn't stick, but I really like the way you just explained all those analogies to use because my brain works on analogies and I really like– yeah it was a really good explanation thank you so much.
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:06.000
Me too. Good, I'm glad. My pleasure.
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:15.000
Is there anything that you find that people often misunderstand about menstrual cycle?
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:27.000
That's a really good question. And yes, absolutely. I think a few things. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about the structure or like the timeline of the cycle is about ovulation. Like when is ovulation happening and this is really important to understand for a few reasons. If you are trying to get pregnant, if you're focused on fertility, of course it's really important for a very obvious reason, like you need to know when the egg is available because the only way that you can get pregnant is having an egg and sperm in the same place at the same time. Both alive also– should clarify. You know, healthy egg and sperm in the same place at the same time. And the thing about ovulation is that it can change timing, cycle to cycle. It's not always on day 14. I think that's the biggest misconception is that ovulation happens on day 14. But really the timing of ovulation can change person– even in the same person, cycle to cycle. And I think that is really Probably one of the, excuse me, one of the most like mind-blowing things I realized when I learned about my cycle is that it wasn't necessarily happening when the book said it was happening, or when the app said it was happening. And so to get really clear about understanding that, really the answer is to start cycle tracking and tracking your cycle. And I can talk a little bit about that later on. But before I– before I forget, I wanna say it's also important to understand when ovulation is happening. Even if you never have any interest or intention of getting pregnant whatsoever, understanding when ovulation is taking place in your cycle can give you really key insights to your own cycle health. Because the timing of ovulation also lets you define and see clearly, the length of your luteal phase. And think, you know, referring back to how I kind of described estrogen and progesterone as, they're not necessarily opposites of each other, but they're more like kind of too halves of a whole. And in order to have healthy periods, and to have pain-free periods, and to have little-to-no instance of PMS, cramping, heavy bleeding, to create more regular cycles, you really want to find that balance of estrogen and progesterone. And so when– when you're having really bad PMS, when you're having really painful or really heavy periods, typically that is an indication to you that estrogen is too high in relation to progesterone. Now that could be a result of multiple different scenarios. Maybe you're just overproducing estrogen. Maybe you have a lot of environmental factors that are raising estrogen levels through either xenoestrogens in the cleaning products, fragrances, all of that stuff, or even phytoestrogens, eating a lot of estrogen-dominant foods, like soy products, for example. But it also could mean you're under-producing progesterone and the way that you– the only time of your cycle you're producing progesterone is in that luteal phase. And so it's really important– if you actually want to understand the health of your cycle and create healthier cycles, you really want to determine first and foremost if you're ovulating. And secondly, at what point of your cycle are you ovulating? Because that helps you see the length of the luteal phase, you're wanting to see it for minimum around 12 days ideally, you know, even 14 days is like amazing, you’re body's doing like it's best, it’s doing excellent. And, if it goes past 17 days, then likely you're pregnant. So that's also helpful to know when you've ever had that, if you've ever had that experience of feeling like your periods late, and feeling nervous that you're pregnant, if you had unprotected sex with a penis-owner and you're like, I don't know if I'm pregnant or what's going on, that also can be really helpful if you can identify when ovulation happened, you’ll know, oh I ovulated 3 days later than usual. I ovulated a little later than I expected. Rather than, oh my god, my period's late quote unquote. So I think that's the biggest misconception is not understanding that. Or when– how to identify when ovulation is happening. And kind of the other side of that coin, a different misconception, but really it's kind of the same misconception, but you might not realize it's the same misconception, is that ovulation is actually the event– It's actually the most important part of the cycle. It's the most important event and that is what is determining the length of your overall cycle. I might have mentioned a little earlier on the ludial phase is kind of the most fixed in terms of the length of that phase. Really what happens when you experience what feels like a late period is that your ovulation was delayed and that can happen for so many different factors. If you are stressed, if you're moving, if you were exposed to illness, if you, you know, anything like that, that kind of throws your body for a little unexpected– Unexpectedness, then your ovulation may be delayed and that is what actually pushes back the length of your– the timing of your period, I should say. See, I would say that those are probably the most– The 2 most common misconceptions that people have is just about ovulation, when it's happening– and also maybe even more– more simply putting it, ovulation only happens once per cycle. And you can only get pregnant at that time. And so that's– that really blew my mind because I grew up with this fear of, if you ever have unprotected sex, you will get pregnant and die. Because they– Mean Girls – Like you will get chlamydia and die, whatever he says. But yeah, I think I grew up with this insane anxiety, this insane fear of– Just being terrified that I could get pregnant at basically the drop of a hat, And now that I understand more how our cycles work and that ovulation only happens at one time, the egg only lives for 12 to 24 hours, sperm can survive for up to 5 days in the cervix when cervical mucus is present. Therefore, the fertile window is between those 5 days and the day of ovulation. Outside of that, you cannot get pregnant. And so that was really mind-blowing to me. I think that's probably the biggest misconception: that ovulation only happens once. And if I– you know, understanding that it could vary a little bit, cycle to cycle, and that the timing– really the overall timing of your cycle is determined by that ovulation event.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:23.000
Yeah, I– Let's say that's mindblowing and I definitely it’s – I agree. I don't think I– I definitely grew up in fear. Like the same fear. Another thing it sounds like, from what you've said and from some other research I've done, is that pain, like really painful periods – unless, barring things like PCOF to endometriosis – are not like just a normal part of having a period.
00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:58.000
Yeah, yeah, that's true. I feel like– that actually– I take it back, my previous statement. That's the biggest misconception.
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I feel like it – they can be tied for first.
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Yeah, they can be tied for first, yeah absolutely.
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Yeah, I'm a person who has a very, very painful period and I have ever since I was a teenager, maybe before – like maybe when it started I can't really remember – and any time I've tried to ask you know, the doctor for help, they just prescribe birth control, of course, and then it wasn't until like last year, I think, that they, I mean, they didn't take it serious enough to– they don't think– again, on the waitlist for a referral but, they will finally give me a like prescription painkiller but it– just so many times of going to the doctor and it– that literally the male doctor being like, oh those are– this is just cramps. This is just what cramps are.
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Like, first of all, if you haven't experienced it, I'm also just like skeptical to your opinion about it.
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Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that.
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But yeah, absolutely. I wanna make a very, you know, clear statement about this. Painful periods, although common – although common, are not normal in the sense that we're not meant to be in pain. And when you're experiencing super painful periods, that's your– it's– I refer to it as like your body is basically sending out a telegram to you, is trying to get your attention like, I need a little more support here. And I suffered too, through painful periods really badly like basically from the first moment I got my period at 12 and a half years old, 13 years old, however old I was, now I'm questioning. I think it was right before my thirteenth birthday. Basically painful immediately, you know, and it was like– my mom is like, yep, that's just how it's gonna be because that's how it always was for me and I think that is also, you know, kind of another conversation of– like you can only, you could only do the best with the information that you have. You can only, you can only work with what you know. And so, you know, same– same, sounds like a similar, you know, process that you went through where, you know, I went to doctor after doctor, and the answer is get on hormonal birth control. Which I did at age 15, despite not being sexually active, and not needing it to prevent pregnancy, it was told to me this will regulate, quote unquote, your period. This will regulate your cycle. What I didn't understand is that it actually pauses your cycle. It's not allowing ovulation to happen in the specific birth control – that's a whole other, you know, conversation we can get into too about so many different types of birth controls and how they work, how they, how they interact with your cycle and interfere with your cycle. But you know, the combination pill, which is– I kind of, kind of think of as like the OG birth control maybe, at least hormonal birth control. Yeah, basically turns off your cycle because it turns off the processes that– you don't ovulate. You don't go through that whole system, that whole timeline that I laid out a few minutes ago. And it's really important to understand that because what you don't necessarily learn, when you go on hormonal birth control, is then once you get off of it however many years later or whatever time period later, is those same problems that were underlying causing the painful period, causing the hormonal acne, causing the mood swings or PMS, the anxiety, the depression– Those aren't necessarily going to be solved from going on that. It's like something that is covering it up, it's putting a band-aid on through the time that you're using it, but the second you remove that band-aid, the wound is still underneath. And so– Just understanding that like a painful period is, although very common, it's not normal in the sense that you don't have to be experiencing it and– the thing I think that enraged me so much was first, like why are people suffering needlessly this is literally ridiculous. And when I started, you know, going through my own cycle healing journey and trying to find lifestyle habits that could help support healthier periods and learning how I might take care of myself in a way that would support my cycle more and get rid of painful periods – I was like, are you telling me this entire time, that it was actually this straightforward to find relief? And instead of focusing on lifestyle changes and educating people and encouraging people, it's like: just take this medicine and you know, stop bothering us basically, just stop complaining.
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Yes. Yeah. That's so frustrating, eh?
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It– I mean it just– It just goes to show like the root of the problem. And Chloe Skerlak – fellow Canadian to you – She's amazing, I actually studied with her and learned the Fertility Awareness method, which is a way of tracking your cycle, very specifically tracking your fertile symptoms to determine when your fertile window is, in order to achieve or avoid pregnancy naturally, so check her out on Instagram. She's amazing – I forgot where I was going with that. Just this reaction, thinking about how awesome Chloe is …What was I saying about– Oh, I remember what I was gonna say. Something that she always talks about and I think is mind blowing when you really sit down and think about it, is that the hormonal birth control pill is the only medicine that's been developed specifically for the use of perfectly healthy people to turn off a body function. For for a totally other purpose– for a total different you know, goal or, you know, priority in mind. And so you really have to think about like, your menstrual cycle– If you are a cyclical being, if you have a menstrual cycle, it's a– it's a really integrated part of you. It's not like one thing that's happening over here off to the side, and all of your other body systems are happening over here off to the side, and all of your other body systems are happening independently. Everything is all connected, and I think it's really important to understand that because then, when you realize like, oh, estrogen doesn't just affect my uterus, it also affects my mood. It affects my energy. It affects my libido. It affects my cervical mucus and the discharge I might be feeling or seeing in underwear. It affects my skin. My skin might be a little drier when estrogen is high. All of these things– like it was so mind-blowing to me, like I literally have goosebumps thinking about it. It was so mind-blowing to me to think, oh wow, this is not all things happening randomly. It's actually very predictable when you learn how to track your cycle and understand your cycle. And so obviously I got completely obsessed in my own life and then I was like I had to share this with other people.
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That's totally understandable. I'm thinking this could be a two-parter if you're okay with that. And I'm gonna– not the most conventional to say this while we're recording the podcast, but would you be into doing a second part?
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No, that's fine. Yeah, absolutely.
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Okay, so I'm thinking, just to lay it out for everybody listening, and for yourself I guess– Mostly for you, I guess, for everybody else as well since we're in the middle of the podcast. But I'm thinking we could do the second part– If you want to, we can talk about different types of birth control, maybe how to like, reduce pain, anything else that doesn't– we don't have the space to chat about, and then if you have time today, I'm not sure what your, if you're still okay to stick around for a little bit longer.
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Yes, for sure.
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Do you mind sharing how to– How to know if you are ovulating Is that something that you could like you could share?
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Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. So we could kind of go through And I actually have a whole podcast that's like an hour and a half long podcast about this, about tracking your cycle, that I could go through the very basics of it.
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Cool.
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I think going through like the very basics of how to begin tracking your cycle–I first want to take a little step back and talk about kind of this overall rhythm, because I think it becomes really clear for you to then be able to understand where you're at in your cycle.
So I want to talk about circadian versus infradian rhythms. Circadian rhythm every human has, this is our day and night clock, our 24-hour clock that's in our brain, it's the system that clock that happens automatically which alerts our brain and releases different hormones depending on time of the day. So it releases cortisol in the morning to help you wake up. It releases melatonin at night to help you fall asleep. And it's this 24-hour clock that repeats every 24 hours. People born female, people born male, everyone has this.
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Everyone has this, and it just happens automatically even– this is totally off subject but so interesting that– like even people in caves with complete darkness still have this 24-hour clock so it's like very– yeah it's super interesting– very integrated part of our brain.
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Oh cool. That's cool, I didn't know that.
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The cool thing about being a cyclical being, about having a menstrual cycle, is you have a second clock which is an infradian rhythm, which– infradian rhythm just means more than 24 hours. more than a day– you know, Latin– And this is referring to our roughly 29-day cycle of the reproductive cycle, of the menstrual cycle or the ovulatory cycle depending how you want to name it. So we have this 24 hour clock repeating every 24 hours, but we also have this larger clock happening, this 29 day, 30 day roughly cycle. And so this 24 hour experience that you feel on day 4 of your cycle, versus day 14, versus day 24, it's gonna feel different. And I think that's– You know, if you were to come away from this podcast with one takeaway, with one lesson, it would be that as someone with a menstrual cycle, you are not meant to feel the exact same every day. It's normal to feel higher energy some days and lower energy others. It's normal to feel more social sometimes or more like you just want to be by yourself. It's normal to have a higher libido some days or to have a lower libido sometimes.
And I think that's the– you know, if I could leave the world with one lesson for menstruators, that would be it. And it's that, you don't have to feel bad about yourself because you were quote unquote less productive some days of your cycle versus others. Just because you didn't feel like socializing sometimes versus other times in your cycle. And I think that's the biggest thing is learning how to understand these ups and downs, understand this cyclical way of living, because it's so different than how our society is set up. People born male with a male hormonal cycle frankly have a huge advantage which– you know, surprise, surprise, we live in a patriarchy, so like they set it up in a way that works for them and it makes sense. Their hormonal cycle matches that 24 hour cycle. Testosterone is highest in the morning, then it begins to drop down making them feel comfortable and more social for afternoon– literally happy hour works perfectly if you have a 24 hour testosterone cycle– and then it drops lowest at night for them to fall asleep. That's great. Like, that's cool. As mensts– as cyclical beings, we have a totally different system. And so it's really in learning how to live in a way that honours those differences. And this is where I think– you know, we kind of talked about like not spiritually bypassing. And I think this is where a lot of people might miss the mark because it all sounds great, but like not everyone has the luxury of aligning their whole life around their cycle.
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Okay, that's important.
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And a lot of people have jobs where they have to show up Monday through Friday 8 to 5, and that is what it is and it's really important to– for the way that I try to help people is like really focusing on the things that are in our control, focusing on the things that you do have the ability to work on instead of being like, well, you shouldn't be working on this on the first day of your cycle. Well, yeah, in a perfect world, every country would have menstrual leave and we'd be able to take off the first 2 days of our cycle and rest, and take a bubble bath, and meditate, and like yeah that would be my ideal world, but like no one asked me when they were setting up this whole system or I would have set it up like that.But you know, that's not the case for majority of people. Like, do I have that luxury currently as a yoga teacher? Yeah. But not everyone has that. And so, I think it's really important to focus on the areas of your life that you do, that you are able to adjust, that you are able to control, asking for support when it's available to you from family members, friends, a partner and just like– Just having that grace for yourself as a menstruator, because It's really easy to– I think it's it's really common to feel just so frustrated of like, wishing you know, your cycle was a certain way, or wishing you you felt differently, wishing you were able to fit in and show up and do the same thing every day, but like it's just not– it's kind of like wishing it wasn't raining when it's raining. You know, it's still gonna be raining. You're just gonna be in a bad mood about it.
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Yeah.
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You know, so you know, just accepting, you know, that that kind of– opening that door to acceptance, but also at the same time educate– you know, getting the education for the things that you can adjust, the things that you can change. So I would love to– Well, I guess from that perspective, we can kind of go into beginning how to track your cycle. And again, I did an entire super long episode of my podcast about this so you know can go very–
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I can link to it in the description too if that's helpful, if anyone wants to know more. I will put a little note to myself.
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Okay, cool. Yeah, yeah totally.
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I can link to that in the description. So if you want to know– if this isn’t enough, if you want to know more about cycle tracking, check out the link in the show notes.
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Perfect. But we can get into the very basics of it. So I would say like, if you're not tracking your cycle at all now and you're like, I don't really know what's going on, all I know is you know, sometimes I bleed, and that's basically all I can figure out. The very first thing, the very first step, is just start by tracking cycle day. Literally, ake a note as you start your next bleed, cycle day one. And from there, literally just beginning to count the length of your cycle. And that'll that'll already give you an insight to just see if your cycle fits into the kind of healthy parameters of being– Again, average is 29 day cycle, but again that depends on where you are in your life as a menstruator, if you're a new menstruator and you just began menstruation, it's normal to have more variability, as well as if you're ending your menstrual phase of life and you're starting through a perimenopause or menopause, again, having more variability, but kind of within that middle – Middle years of menstruating life, having a little more stability, more predictability in your cycles, is what would be considered healthy, not having as much variability one cycle to the next. So again, just beginning, just beginning there, beginning very simply, charting cycle day one, cycle day 2, etc, etc, all the way till cycle day, 28, 29, 30, whatever it is before you begin your next bleed. That already is going to help you feel more aware with this just– even just simple kind of overview I gave earlier on of oh, I'm on cycle day 10, like you talked about you might be earlier– or maybe you said you're 10 days away from your next cycle?
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10 days away from, yeah, that's, just from my app on my phone, says, I don't know, but yeah.
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Okay, so like well, your app thing. Yeah, so again, you know, who knows for sure–
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Who knows.
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But like– if it, let's say, let's say just for the sake of argument that you ovulated around cycle day, 14. So that would put you, like in your mid luteal phase. So with just that basic knowledge, you could think, okay, so probably, you know, at this point in my cycle, I am progesterone-dominant. I know I need to eat a little bit more. I know I need, you know, maybe I'm not feeling as social as I did like 2 weeks ago, maybe I need to prioritize a little more time alone. The luteal phase is a really great time to focus on like behind-the-scenes-type tasks. It's a great time to finish things up. You have that same sort of energy of the nesting vibe that happens in pregnancy, because your body is kind of nesting and preparing if a pregnancy might occur, might happen. And so it's a really natural time to like finish things up. Like it's usually the time in my cycle personally where I'm like just going down the to-do list, I'm finishing things, I'm shooting off emails– And it just feels a little more natural to do those kind of behind–the-scenes tasks versus in the first half of the cycle when estrogen is dominant it might feel more natural to reach out to do a podcast, to do a collaboration, do more forward-facing type tasks, be more social, go out with friends, maybe go on a date with a partner. Those type of activities. So just starting tracking your cycle days and with a very kind of rough guideline of understanding what the 4 phases of the cycle are you already put yourself in an advantage to understand what might feel most easeful. Of course, you can do anything at any time. Like we're all amazing. Like, you know what I mean? In terms of– Of course you can do anything. There's no rule that says like, well, on your period you shouldn't do this or should– like a hundred percent. I never would subscribe to that. But also I'm a big supporter of work smarter, not harder. So like, take advantage of your natural gifts of your natural strength at different times of your cycle. Make it easier on yourself. But yeah, like why not take advantage of your gifts? It's the same kind of concept of like, well, people might do– might focus on like important meetings in the more– people with a male hormone cycle I mean– might focus on like more important meetings in the morning or around midday, and then they have happy hour in the evening. Well, they're not doing happy hour at 8 am because it feels more natural to have happy hour around 5 pm, for people with a testosterone cycle. So like, let's take advantage of our cycle as well and work smarter, not harder. That's what I'm all about. And again, looking at those areas of your life that you can adjust, those things that you do have control over instead of, you know, lamenting over all of the ways that are working against us and how our society’s set up because frankly it's a lot.
So, you know, focusing on the things that– the areas that we can adjust. And really that comes to a lot of you know, lifestyle changes, like understanding that at certain times of your cycle, you need more sleep. And so maybe not scheduling social things during your period. Or in your late luteal phase because you need a couple, you know, you need an extra hour of sleep and to give that gift to yourself is just a huge, it's like a huge vote of confidence in yourself, in your health and it's supporting your cycle to support you back. So that's–
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I like that.
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Yeah, thank you. I think that's the, you know, how I've come over the last 5 years of my own cycle journey and, you know, helping others as well. It's like, finding that balance of –finding that balance of both understanding what your cycle needs and– and not like what you can get out of it, but kind of like what– how it can support you as well, that that symbiotic relationship. Because also that just makes it more fun instead of feeling like I'm constantly making so much effort to take care of it. It can feel nourishing as well, but also feeling like, oh, now I took care of it and now I'm like day 4 of my cycle, I feel great. Like I'm still bleeding, but I feel energized. I feel supported. I feel nourished because I allowed myself that rest. So it's really like, you know, it's like– It's like when you make your lunch the night before.
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That's cute. Yeah, that's cute.
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That's like the next– the next day at lunch you're like past me was such a genius because now I have – you know what I mean, like now I have lunch. Like now I have, you know what I mean? Like now I have lunch, I feel great. It's that same concept. It’s like doing the things now that are gonna help support you and feel better. It’s for future– for future you.
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Yeah, yeah, that's cute. I like that. Is there any implications or like– so starting to subtract– Track cycling, the words got stuck. Just start by like, you know, writing down the day for, start to bleed, one, and just sort of go from there.
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Yeah. Yes.
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Is there any, I know it's a complicated, long topic but, is there any indications that might suggest somewhat in your– Like the day you're ovulating?
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Yes, I'm so glad you asked that because that's exactly where I was going to go next. So getting a little more advanced, like okay now you have that kind of general understanding and– actually before I even get into that, I wanna say one more thing I'm sorry. As you're tracking the cycle days, I think a really important thing that you can do just tracking the cycle day and just tracking how you're feeling and kind of comparing it to that– to that outline that I sort of laid out in the beginning of the episode, because you might not be feeling exactly how I described. Maybe when your estrogen is really high, you might be feeling anxious. Or you might be feeling, you know, you might be feeling differently than how I described. So it's really important to also just– you know, the science is one thing, like estrogen is rising before ovulation, that's a scientific fact. But how you feel with high estrogen is individual to you. You know, all of our experiences of our cycles are as diverse as we all are as individuals. And so it's really important to getting in touch with your personal experience of it, and getting aware of like, oh, usually when I'm around mid-cycle, I feel this way, and that allows you to then take advantage of those things. So first like, you know, I wanted to say that. But now I want to get into a little more advanced in terms of like what are the things that you can track to know whether you are ovulating, or you know at what point you're ovulating. So I kind of mentioned a little earlier on in describing how the hormones affect our you know internal body in the reproductive system and what's going on in there– Excuse me, one of the things that you can track to understand as you're approaching ovulation and also to help you understand after ovulation has passed is cervical mucus. Also sometimes refer to a cervical fluid. I guess cervical fluid sounds slightly better than cervical mucus, but I originally learned cervical mucus, so although it doesn't sound that great, it is the terminology I use. Not the prettiest word, I guess, but really what cervical mucus is, is different substances that your cervix is producing that is– it's all about reproduction right like so really what cervical mucus purpose is in terms of your reproductive cycle is creating a– an ideal environment for sperm to survive so they can wait and meet the egg. It also, I mean, cervical mucus is actually fascinating and it has a lot of functions, it also, you know, takes out defective sperm or less than healthy sperm, it helps the healthy, you know, the kind of– the best sperm reach the egg fastest. It does so many things. But being able to understand that pattern of how cervical mucus changes across your cycle will help you get aware of when you're ovulating. So as estrogen is rising in the follicular phase, estrogen is what is causing the cervical mucus to change, both the quality and the amount. So to put it very simply, a basic explanation of how cervical mucus changes across the cycle is around your period, you may or may not see cervical mucus, but again, you're bleeding, so that's what you're mostly gonna notice here. After your period ends, you likely will have some dry days, but then as estrogen is continuing to rise as you get closer to ovulation, that's when you might start to notice that lotiony kind of creamy type cervical mucus. So you might notice this in your underwear, you could feel it just sensationally. Like as you're walking, you might feel just like more moisture, but also you can check it very scientifically and this is like what Chloe Skerlak teaches or fertility awareness symptoms, the methods of fertility awareness, teach is how to measure it like very specifically in a very regimented way, but basically just wiping with the square of toilet paper before you use the bathroom and after you use the bathroom, noticing the sensation that you feel– if it feels dry as you wipe across the perineum, that skin between the vagina and the anus and noticing does it feel dry, does it feel kind of soft, or does it feel super slippery and lubricative? During that beginning of the follicular phase you're getting closer to ovulation first noticing that kind of lotiony, creamy, you might pick it up with your fingers from your underwear, or with the toilet paper, and notice it's like lotion. It's like cream. Creamy, kind of– it doesn't stretch but it's– Yeah, like I think lotion is the best way to describe it. Lotion or like mayonnaise, but again, kind of a gross visual there, but you know, it is what it is.
And then as you get closer and closer to ovulation, that's when the mucus changes and that is your indication from a tracking perspective of, oh, I'm getting close to ovulation because I was wiping and was seeing lotiony, now it's getting slippery, more clear, and more stretchy, almost like egg whites. So you're seeing that pattern of dry right after your period, then you might start to see lotiony, then you see the super stretchy, clear, egg white, gelly type mucus, and then after ovulation, again dry. And that is because again, estrogen is dominant in the first half, progesterone is dominant in the second half. Estrogen is creating cervical mucus because it knows the egg is about to become available and wants the sperm to survive. You know, once, you know. And like– kind of this guy– you know what I'm trying to say? Goal, goal wise. And after ovulation has happened, after that 24 hours, there's no reason that sperm need to survive, there's no reason that sperm need to be there, and so progesterone dries cervical mucus, it thickens cervical mucus, and you likely will have dry days leading up until your next period. So that’s putting it very simply, in terms of something that you can track and be aware of, and I know different apps track different things. And a lot of apps have ability to put in cervical mucus, to notice when it's lotiony, to notice when it's egg white, and again, there's so many intricacies to learn and to understand, but that's to put it most simply. After your period you might have some dry days, you get closer to ovulation, you start to see that lotiony, you're approaching or ovulating within these days that you have that super egg white stretchy-like mucus, and then after that maybe you see a couple lotiony days and then dry. roughly for the rest of your cycle. Yeah.
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That's cool. Thank you. I'm gonna try this and see, because I think that's really helpful. And then like you said, maybe it will help give me some answers.
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Yay! And help you, and some awareness. And the second, the second, thing that you can track, which is a very easy thing to track that will help you, not predict when you're approaching ovulation– cervical mucus really helps you see, oh I'm getting closer and closer to ovulation and then once it dries up, you realize you've passed ovulation– Another thing that you can measure and track every single day that will help you confirm after ovulation has passed is your basal body temperature. And I'll again describe– very briefly again, this is like overview. There's so many intricacies, so many things to learn,but this is a very brief overview, and understanding why taking your temperature every morning could give you any insight into what's happening in your reproductive cycle. So progesterone, which is dominant after ovulation, which is dominant in the roughly second half of your cycle, has a thermogenic effect on the body, actually raises your body temperature, and you only produce progesterone after you ovulate. So when you take your temperature, every single morning, you see a pattern of basically lower temperatures pre-ovulation to a shift to higher temperatures post ovulation. And again, there are a lot of rules in terms of tracking your temperature in a way that's– like a regimented way to get an accurate understanding and accurate reading because so many things can affect our temperature. If you have a little fever, of course then your temperature is different if you had alcohol the night before, that can affect your temperature, your waking and sleeping time affects your temperature because our temperature rises and falls as we wake up and fall asleep in that circadian rhythm. All comes back to rhythm. My whole life is rhythms and cycles. So, so fascinating. It's like, wow, there's so many amazing things happening inside our bodies every day. You know, it gives you a little appreciation. But to put it very simply, taking your temperature at the same time every morning, before getting out of bed. Best practices that I learned and that I use is taking a glass thermometer – this is a pen, but – taking a glass thermometer under the armpit, keeping it there for 10 full minutes because that really allows to get the most accurate reading and just simply marking it down, and noticing that general pattern of low temperatures: pre-ovulation, higher range of temperatures: post-ovulation. And when you're tracking both temperature and cervical mucus, it's really helpful because you can kind of compare them back and forth like, oh, I noticed my temperature right, you know, is like a whole degree higher, and I can actually see if I look at my circle of mucus like 3 days ago I had that super egg white-like mucus and now it's dry so now I can see both my mucus is dried up which is an indication of progesterone being dominant, and my temperature is high which is the indication of progesterone being dominant, that means I've already ovulated and I moved into that post-ovulation luteal phase.
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That's cool. That's helpful. Thank you so much.
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I hope this isn’t super overwhelming, because I know it's like a lot.
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No, I think, I mean, it's a lot, but I think it's all really important stuff.
And I think that it's, like we talked about at the beginning, it's so important to talk about and to have more education on and I learned a lot from this, thank you so much.
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My pleasure.
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I'm really – as long as you're down – really stoked for part two.
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Yes, totally.
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I think– I'm really excited about it and I will– I feel like I'm just gonna keep learning more. I don't know, I just feel very excited about this episode and everything that you've shared, so I'm really grateful for you being here and sharing your time and being willing to come back.
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Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah, I would love like, in part because I feel there's just like we did like so much educating aspect side of it, and I would love like you said in part two to kind of get into more of like, okay now I know all this but now what do I do with it? You know, what do I actually do?
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Yeah. Yeah.
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So I'd love to get into as you said the kind of– basically more what I do in terms of the cyclical aligning, the cyclical living, how to actually adjust these lifestyle pieces. What can I do to support a healthier, more regular pain, less painful cycle? You know, treating PMS and period pain and all of that. And focusing on that aspect of it.
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Yeah, I think that'd be really great. I'm really excited to hear about that. Can you tell folks in the meantime where they can find you? Is there anything you want to plug or let us know?
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Yes, yes, absolutely. So I'm most active on Instagram. Probably too active on Instagram. But you can find me there @cyclical_yoga, that’s cyclical_yoga, that's where I'm most active. Just send me a DM like, hey, I heard you on Billie's podcast and my mind is you know, running a muck with a million questions, like I love chatting, you could probably tell, I love talking about this stuff. So feel free to reach out anytime. In terms of plugging different stuff, I actually have a few things happening soon that I'm super excited about. One is a cyclical yoga membership, so it's actually a monthly membership with essential practices for healthy cycles. So basically everything that we're gonna touch on in our second episode of like, what do I actually do with all this knowledge? How do I support healthier cycles? How can I live in alignment with my cycle? And then actually the practices that are going to help you do that. So you have, you know, both the education piece, and the supported practices simultaneously in a perfect little, you know, package with the bow. Weekly little package.
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That's cool. Yeah.
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So that's opening very soon. I actually really wanted to open in April, but we just moved from South America and life is a little dishevelled at the moment, but you know getting back on track, getting organized.
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Fair enough. Yeah.
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So that's coming up really soon, and then also I haven't even announced this yet, so this is like, prime announcement–
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Oh, exclusive. Yeah. Okay.
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Exclusive. You heard it here first, folks. I'm releasing a– basically a cycle tracking guide, because you know I did– it's something that I talk about all the time obviously, and it really is, tracking your cycle effectively is really the basis for. Pretty much everything that I talk about, everything that I teach because first, you know, learning how to of course care for your cycle, you need to understand the specific and changing needs you have across the different phases of the cycle. And then also, you know, in order for you to take advantage of these natural gifts, of these benefits and taking care of yourself better, you have to understand how to track it first of course. So I'm releasing a whole guide that is going to be a– basically a lower-ticket offer and allowing hopefully more accessibility, and of course have my podcast as well which is a totally free offer, free for everyone to use, please do. And you can find that on Spotify, The Cyclical Yoga Podcast. But yeah, so that, you know, the Cyclical membership coming out soon, the guide coming out soon as well, so those are things where you're– especially for people who are just getting into cycle tracking, just learning about their cycles, those are going to be really essential offers that I think can support them with that journey.
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Cool. Thank you so much.
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Thank you.
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And I will link, I link to your– just in case anyone's like listening to this when you're driving, whatever, and you didn't have to write any of that down. I'm just gonna let you know that in the show notes, I will put the link to your– actually it's Instagram and what else do I say? Oh, the podcast episode, and then is that about the links that I, that you want me to put?
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Yeah, that's enough. People can find me there. Yeah.
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Yeah, you'll find everything on there. Yeah. Okay, cool. Thank you so much for sharing your time and for being here today, this has been really great. And we'll see you for part two.
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Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much for having me, can’t wait to come back.
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I would love to know how you felt about that episode, because personally loved it. I don't often think that I could go back and listen to an episode again, mainly because of just hearing my own voice for that long. Not because of the content or the guests, just literally because of hearing my voice again, but this episode I feel like is one that I could go back and listen to just because there's so much stuff I didn't know and I learned about, and also this stuff has been taboo - quotes, “taboo,” for way too long so I'm just so excited about this episode, to share it with you. There's a little bit of a sneak peek in there, see if you caught it, about an episode that's going to be coming up soon. So if you caught it, maybe send me a message and see. Maybe you get a little prize. Who knows? Let's just do an impromptu contest. If you have questions for me, if you have feedback for me, send me an email: info@movewithbillie.com So, movewithbillie.com and You can also find me on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, I think that's it, @movewithbillie I mostly, honestly if you want to actually chat with me, better bet to find me on Instagram, than the other ones, I am a little bit better at using the other ones too though. In the show notes you can find all sorts of links to work with me, for freebies, stuff like that. And the other thing I'll share here too, if you are a yoga teacher, movement teacher, life coach, you do any kind of online work that's one-on-one or with a group, I have been using Offering Tree for the past year with my website and it honestly kind of does everything. I do my newsletter through Offering Tree. I have my schedules– like schedule clients through Offering Tree. I can book time off through Offering Tree, I take payments through it. It kind of replaces a bunch of different things, and also most importantly for me at the time when I decided to go with it, it hosts all of my on-demand videos. And you can set it up for courses and stuff like that too, I have my Rebel Movement one-on-one course on there too and I really like it. It kind of has all the things I need, so I don't have to have 5 million different subscriptions, which as a small business honestly makes a huge difference, and makes a huge difference it is all in one place. I am not getting paid to say this, however if you use the link in my show notes you will get a discount for signing up and then I will be– I will get a little bit of money for that, so if you want to be supporting me and the work I do with my podcast, and my business, want to have a– If you want to start a website, you wanna start to have a bunch of this set up– Got distracted because my captions disappeared– Use a link in the show notes, is what I'm trying to say. If you want to support me, but you don't really need a website, you can also buy me a coffee. I think it's like $2, $5, something like that, link in the show notes. And I want to say thank you. This is, I think, the first episode that I officially have a wonderful human who is helping me with the captions, they are going through the captions on the transcript and double checking all the spelling because it spells my name wrong all the time, getting rid of all the extra stuff, making sure it's saying all the right things and I just want to say thank you so much to Alyce who I'm really excited is my official first person I've kind of hired, like not, we’re doing– Anyway, this part doesn't matter. Oh my goodness, I'm gonna have to edit this whole thing. Sorry, Alyce. Someone, I have hired a private contractor and just for the first steps and I'm really excited. I so appreciate the help. So thank you to Alyce. Check out Offering Tree if you'd like, buy me a coffee please, and help support this work, this podcast is quite a bit of work and it's– I don't make money from it. It does support my business in terms of– it gives me lots of space to have content for it and stuff like that, and resources that I can share but anything and everything you can help me out with is appreciated. Thank you so much. Have a good one. Bye!
