Rebecca Rankin (00:01):
Stories teachings and guidance. Welcome to the Women's Moon Wisdom podcast with your host, Rebecca Rankin.
Rebecca Rankin (00:18):
Welcome back to the Women's Moon Wisdom podcast with me, your host, Rebecca Rankin. Today, we're gonna talk a little bit about this idea of our women's moon wisdom through the lens of cyclical living. So think of women's moon wisdom as this innate wisdom that we carry within us through our cycle. And it's the opportunity to lean into what has been called cyclical living. Cyclical living is a theme that you're gonna see woven into all these episodes. Cyclical living is recognizing these cyclical patterns and insights that can guide you in making more mindful choices each day. So in other words, tuning into each phase of your cycle that you're in and shifting your lifestyle to be in alignment with your hormonal strengths during each phase. So maybe you are like me and you feel you weren't given any sort of user manual when you first started having a period. You were just kinda left in the dark.
Rebecca Rankin (01:29):
And then over the years like myself, you've hunted and pecked around the internet to find what works for you or to even understand what's actually happening in your body. And for me, it was really when I was starting to try to get pregnant is when I really learned about the whole picture of my cycle and what that looks like from the fertility lens. And in that way, you just wanna understand the changes that your body goes through each month so that you can then tap into your body's natural blueprint for health and wellbeing. If you're like me, maybe you're just a busy mom who just wants to feel comfortable in your skin again. You just wanna feel comfortable in your body and also though be in tune with the ebb and flow of your energy as it shifts throughout the month so that you can just show up each day as the best version of you for yourself, as well as your family. Maybe you're just intrigued by this whole idea of cyclical living.
Rebecca Rankin (02:29):
You're intrigued by this idea of living in alignment with your natural cycles, so that you can just access your innate strengths. In any of those, maybe you're just looking to have some action steps to put into place so that you can just live the life that you really want to live. You wanna step into the life that you're dreaming of. And, and that's a great thing to look at is what would it actually feel like if you could access these hidden strengths that helped guide you in making the best decisions for you each day. It's all within. This knowledge is all within. It's really just a matter of uncovering it to discover these aspects of yourself. And when you are in tune with them, they help you make more mindful decisions. They help you live just a little bit more mindful life and help you step into whatever it is that you're dreaming of.
Rebecca Rankin (03:27):
And when you can live in greater alignment with yourself, think of it as that, you are just realigning to your true nature. You're realigning to your inner guidance system. And that inner guidance system, it's your inner cycle. It's your inner moon cycle. It will guide you in making choices that give you the greatest sense of power of confidence, ease. And honestly, it'll give you a heck of a lot of grace to navigate the ups and downs of life. And I feel that cyclical living, I feel it's just the most powerful way to live in harmony with your body's natural rhythm so you can step into the life of your dreams just as the best version of you. And what I find fascinating is that research actually proves that the natural fluctuations of our hormones throughout our menstrual cycle influence so many aspects of ourselves, of our daily life, like our mood and energy levels.
Rebecca Rankin (04:26):
So when you are thinking in like the late part of your cycle, "why do I not have as much energy?" Like "what, last week I just could get so much done. Now I'm just drained." There's reasons for that. Or it affects your focus and creativity, sleep patterns, the types of food that you crave, the types of food that you need, exercise preferences. And this is, I think a big one too, is it affects your endurance and pain tolerance. So for those of us who love to run and distance run, or do any sort of endurance sport, your cycle actually affects your endurance and pain tolerance, meaning that, give yourself a little bit more grace when you feel like you can't crush the miles, or when you feel like you just don't have the stamina. There's a reason behind it, your hormones. The fluctuations of your hormones are directly affecting that.
Rebecca Rankin (05:18):
And heck, your fluctuations in your cycle, it affect the clothes that you're like wanting to wear, and the partners that you're attracted to. So all those things affected by our cycle. And yet we're left in the dark, for the most part, unless you're actively seeking out this information, you were never taught this. We weren't taught about all these aspects of ourselves that are affected by our cycle. We've probably seen it through our own experience, but it's nothing that when you first had your cyclethat you were taught or given that information. And that's why I feel so strongly about cyclical living. It means aligning your daily activities, let's say work, nutrition, exercise, mindset, your social engagements with the natural cycles. And it can be something like aligning with the natural cycles of the season, the lunar cycle,
Rebecca Rankin (06:22):
meaning the actual moon cycle, and for our purpose today, aligning those activities with your menstrual cycle, as a way to help and improve your mental and physical health. To help you have more energy, to feel happier, to feel more productive, and also to promote spiritual growth. And one thing I do want to think anytime that we start to talk about lifestyle shifts, there can be this hesitation or pain points. So cyclical living isn't about shaming yourself and trying to fix yet another thing that you feel is quote wrong with you. Not at all. This is more about rediscovering, remembering this side of you. There's nothing wrong with you. We, you're a natural cyclical being. It is time for us to all learn about this aspect of ourselves with cyclical living. It's also not about fitting into a mold.
Rebecca Rankin (07:27):
Think of it as more of this framework. It's a framework to help you navigate life with a little bit more grace, a little bit more ease. It's not about "you must do this during your follicular phase. You must do this during ovulatory phase." Not at all. It's really getting in tune and realigning what you're already doing in your life. And in, in a way cyclical living isn't just for women who are still in the menstruating years. For any reason that maybe you're no longer menstruating, whether it's post-menopause or, if you're on hormonal birth control, you're postpartum, or perhaps you had a hysterectomy, aligning with a cyclical pattern will help you reconnect to that part of you that is cyclical. That is feminine, divine feminine energy. And for a lot of women, it can help heal and even just help us navigate the stories that we've been told, or we've told ourselves over the years about being a woman, about having a cycle.
Rebecca Rankin (08:34):
It can really help us navigate those old belief patterns. And lastly, think of it like cyclical living isn't about changing the way you do everything in your life either. I think once again, with any lifestyle shift, there can be this idea of overwhelm, like, "oh, where do I even begin? I have to change everything. I have to change the way I exercise, the way I eat." Not at all. It's really about just rearranging and realigning what you're already doing. And you start off small too. If this is something that you're, interested in doing, maybe it's just one aspect that you realign to your cycle. Maybe it's, how you move, how you do your exercise routine. That you shift it just enough that it is in alignment with your hormonal strengths and what your body needs in each phase.
Rebecca Rankin (09:26):
And then maybe later comes the nutrition part and maybe later then comes how you navigate your workflow throughout the month. Cyclical living is recognizing the cyclical rhythm in the natural world around us, and then taking that, drawing cues from the natural world, from it to align with our own inner cycle. Think of it as this way to recognize that we're part of nature. We are part of the equation here on earth. And it's seeing the whole picture of your cycle, not just the week that we're menstruating, I think that it's great to honor the week that,we're having our period. And it's also great to see the whole picture of our cycle. To see each week, knowing that each phase is going to help promote a healthier next phase. In your follicular phase, nourishing your body in the ways that is necessary in that phase is giong to then help support a healthy ovulatory phase, which helps support a healthy luteal phase, which then helps support your period, your menstrual phase. And then leaning into the hormonal shifts that come with each phase of your monthly cycle in order to just enhance your daily life.
Rebecca Rankin (10:43):
Just think, you're taking advantage of the hormones that are present so you can enhance what you're already doing each day. For example, in your inner waxing moon phase or your follicular phase, this is the time that your brain chemistry, the hormones that are present are great for seeing the bigger picture. They're great for trying new things and are great for saying yes to new experiences. And so knowing that, maybe this isn't the time to really check things off your to-do list. You don't have the same type of focus that you would in the later part of your cycle in the luteal phase, where you can be a little bit more focused and check things off your to-do list. So you take advantage of that, or you take advantage of, yeah, I want to try that new recipe, or I want to go to that workout class
Rebecca Rankin (11:34):
my friend's always been telling me about. In your waxing phase because you know that this is the time that it's going to feel nourishing. It's going to feel good to say yes, because it feels good to see that zoomed out big picture aspect of your life. And you lean into that so that it then enhances your day to day. It enhances your daily life. So for those of us with female biochemistry, for those of those who are women or have female biochemistry, we have two clocks. One you're probably very familiar with is the circadian rhythm. That's our 24 hour clock that our body runs on. And we also have what's called infradian rhythm. We have our 28 day cycle clock as well. So infradian rhythm just means any type of pattern that's longer than 24 hours. So seasons can be an infradian rhythm,
Rebecca Rankin (12:28):
the tides are an infradian rhythm, the lunar cycle is an infradian rhythm, and our own inner lunar cycle, our menstrual cycle is an infradian rhythm. And our inner infradian rhythm, our 28 day cycle. It actually affects six systems in the body. So it affects your brain, your metabolism, immune system, your microbiome.- so your gut health, your stress response system, and your reproductive system. It affects all those things in your body, just from your menstrual cycle. So once again, why aren't we talking about this more? Yes, we are. That's why we're here. We're talking about it here. I think it's really fascinating. Did you know that your cycle creates a 25% change in your brain chemistry over the course of the month. Fascinating, right? 25% change in your brain chemistry. And your metabolism speeds up and slows down predictably within the month, making it really necessary to change how we eat and what we eat and also help change the intensity of our workouts each week just to, to help optimize our metabolism.
Rebecca Rankin (13:47):
Once again, something we don't really talk about, unless this is something that you deep dive into. Your cortisol levels, our stress hormone are higher in one phase of your cycle. So our luteal phase. So pushing yourself through an intense workout could actually bump up your cortisol levels even further, which then leads to more stress, more inflammation to your body, which then disrupts your hormones and makes you feel even more anxious and unfocused. So knowing these things about ourselves and if we know those things, then we know better to work with them and not against them. And, and to touch a little bit more on what does cyclical living or, or cycle syncing is another term that's used for it. What does that actually look like? What is it to actually put that into practice? So some examples would be, let's say, scheduling important meetings for the phase when your verbal centers of your brain are most stimulated.
Rebecca Rankin (14:48):
So in your ovulatory phase, your verbal centers in your brain are highly active. So it's a great time to have important conversations. So maybe asking for a raise, or if you have the ability to schedule meetings, scheduling important meetings that you're going to be talking, that you're going to be communicating or even negotiating things for your ovulatory phase, for the phase when your verbal centers of your brain are most stimulated. So that's your ovulatory phase or what I call your inner full moon phase. Saving your intense workouts for when your body will make the most of them and avoiding it when it's more harmful. So, in the first half of your cycle, the follicular and ovulatory phases which is the week after your period all the way to halfway through your cycle, that's doing intense workouts, doing more highly active workouts are going to be the most beneficial for your body. Your self-care routine, in a way, that's your entry point into cyclical living.
Rebecca Rankin (15:51):
And I feel like it's kind of the easiest way to shift. Especially, if you have a partner, if you have a family, or if you are working with a team of people, you can't necessarily shift everyone's schedule to meet to your cyclical schedule. So using your self care routine is just this amazing way to align with your cycle. It's a great entry point to align with your cycle. Just important to remember to then nurture your unique female biochemistry with phase specific self care, your exercise, nutrition, and social engagements, mindset, all those things. Using that to nurture your female biochemistry. And I found cyclical living, there's just like so many reasons and benefits to aligning with your cycle. Greater awareness of your hormonal superpowers. So any person with female biochemistry who runs a business or a side hustle, or even runs a household, knows the stress that our society puts on us to be perpetually productive.
Rebecca Rankin (17:04):
That's why we have such self inflicted guilt whenever we take time off for ourselves. Right? So knowing the hormonal advantages, each phase of your cycle is gonna actually help you navigate life with just a bit more grace and a bit more ease. Even just the fact that you'll become more body literate and have the insight to navigate your daily routine, using your cycle is huge. And body literacy is something we were never taught in school. How to listen to your body, how to work with it, not against it, to even just know what's happening in general, and at a more specific level is a huge thing. We're gifted with this body our whole life. So knowing the ins and outs a little bit more is going to feel just so empowering and cyclical living is going to allow you to recognize the emotional patterns so that you can make more mindful choices each day.
Rebecca Rankin (18:01):
And I get it though, as women maybe you feel stuck. Maybe you feel like you're fully aware that you aren't able to show up to life as the best version of yourself when you don't feel good. Or maybe you're just tired. You're overwhelmed by trying to stay on top of everything everyday. You're juggling all the things and you just crave this ability to effortlessly get things done rather than that feeling that feeling of just trying to push through it and force being perpetually productive. And maybe by now, you're just intrigued. You fully understand that living in sync with your cycle means shifting habits and reframing your mindset so that you can take advantage of your body's blueprint. And you probably feel that your cycle is not meant to be a burden.
Rebecca Rankin (18:52):
And you're tired of society making you feel like it is, and you're ready to step into the power of your own inner lunar cycle. And it's so empowering. We're not meant to feel burdened as a cyclical being. So my hope is that this podcast and the episodes on it will give you the insight, the clarity, maybe some helpful practices and resources, and even just stories that can be of great service to your own inner journey. Well, that's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for tuning in and I'll you in the next episode.
