I always dreaded my period. The cramps. The fatigue. The blood. It was unpredictable. The whole dang thing. I couldn’t see any positive part of the process.
Until I wanted to get pregnant.
It was only then that I dug deeper into what was actually happening within my body and the beauty of the intricacies of the entire dance. Yet between babies, I was happy for the extended absence of Aunt Flow due to breastfeeding and pregnancies.
After my third and last baby, I began a journey that changed my entire perception of my period. I learnt the impact of our hormones on the way we show up every single day. Those raging angry moments weren’t just coincidental. They were predictable. I began to realize what was happening because my hormones were way out of balance.
For years I had hustled my way through life… getting top grades, working two jobs, and saying yes to nearly every opportunity. My hormones were doing their best, but they couldn’t keep up. I didn’t know it at the time, but the stress I was putting my body through was creating a cascade of impacts on not just my hormones.
One day I was in a workshop with a Native American woman describing their rituals and traditions around the menstrual cycle and its sacredness. She shared how they would collect the blood and give it back to the earth. They would lean into each of the phases of the cycle, allowing themselves to go hard and rest based on where they were in their cycles. She described our cycles with such grace and strength, rather than the perception of it being a nuisance. It was a revolutionary concept for me, and I leant in.
I started slowly, with just noticing how I felt and where it coincided with my cycle. I made other shifts, such as transitioning to a menstrual cup (with period underwear in more recent years) and began leaning into my body’s natural rhythms. As I synced with my cycle, I noticed a shedding of the “gross,” “inappropriate,” and “secret” labels that I’d attached to my cycle. It was a deconstruction of all the societal and cultural norms that had been placed upon women’s bodies and their periods.
What began as a simple curiosity changed my entire life. I synced my life and business with my cycle. I listened to my body and my body’s needs. I led my life from a body-first approach and ultimately began supporting thousands of women to be able to do the same. What resulted was finding more time and space for all the parts of life I wanted, hitting bigger goals with more flow and ease, and noticing shifts within my physical body, including a more rhythmic and predictable period.
Historically, research on the woman’s body has been limited. There’s more research emerging today demonstrating how vastly different your body is throughout the month. Your hormones are different. Your brain activation is different. Your skin glows differently. Even down to your smell and facial symmetry, everything varies throughout the month. It makes sense that these biological changes would impact the way we show up for our families, our work and businesses, and our lives.
When I work with my clients, I break the cycle into four phases and correlate each phase with the energy that most women feel during that phase.
Menstrual/Recharge Phase: Most women already know this phase. It’s the phase of the month when you’re actively bleeding. It’s also the phase when you’re the most intuitive and most in need of recharging. So use this phase to lean into what YOU need, recharge your body and soul, and allow your biggest and most aligned ideas, goals, and intentions to manifest.
Follicular/Accelerate Phase: When you’ve adequately rested and recharged in your Recharge Phase, you’ll enter this phase with massive momentum and acceleration. You’re most aligned to get big projects done, check your to-do list off, and create massive movement. It’s a great time to try new things, explore implementing the ideas you created in your Recharge phase, and go all in.
Ovulatory/Connect Phase: When your estrogen hits its peak around the time of ovulation, your body is signalling to the world you're ready for a "mate". You’re the most radiant and magnetic now, and communicate most effectively. This makes this phase an ideal time for you to buy new clothes, do a photo shoot, ask for a raise, go on a date, etc. You’re in your prime to connect and radiate outward with others and the world around you.
Luteal/Reflect Phase: During this phase, estrogen drops off and progesterone picks up. Many women notice a shift in that outward energy and now feel like limiting their social interactions. Your emotions can pick up, with many women feeling overwhelmed and easily triggered during this phase. In the past, this was my least favorite phase. However, after learning the power of processing and feeling our emotions and our subconscious thoughts, this phase has become one of my and my clients' favorite phases. It has a deep power in allowing us to connect with ourselves.
Understanding each of these phases and how they impact you is just the foundation of truly understanding the language of your body and to begin trusting yourself to live an authentic life. Many of my clients begin noticing a huge increase in their ability to give themselves permission to rest, go against the grain, and begin trusting their intuition.
If you’re ready to begin trusting your body’s rhythms or go deeper into how you can leverage them in your life, the first step is to begin tracking your entire cycle, not just your period.
Trust me when I say that learning to cycle sync your life is a journey that will have profound impacts on your relationships, your work, your health, and literally every area of your life.
By Renae Fieck
BIO:
Renae is a mom of three, occupational therapist, and breath-work practitioner.
She helps women optimize their time and energy through unlocking the power of their cycles so they can be thriving high achievers.
Through her method, she helps women balance the demands of life, make a bigger impact, and get bigger results without adding more stress or needing more time. She’s the host of the Cycle Advantage Podcast. Find her at renaefieck.com.
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