Why I practise menstrual cycle awareness.
For the last eight or so years, I’ve been practising menstrual cycle awareness. Like it does for many, it began by necessity—my periods were intensely painful. Even with the flexibility of teaching yoga for a living, my cycle disrupted everything. The pain would crawl up my spine, and I’d find myself sweating and dizzy just from walking. Lying down didn’t help; no position was comfortable for more than a few minutes.
PMS was just as brutal—waves of anxiety and depression would crash in before my bleed. Then the moment my period arrived, it was as if someone turned off a pressure cooker. Relief, yes—but also shame at the destruction caused by the PMS version of me. I’d often feel like I deserved the pain, like it was a punishment. And by day three, once the cramps eased, I’d barrel back into life, never questioning the pattern. That was my cycle. For years.
Small Shifts, Massive Impact
Eventually, I realised this way of living wasn’t sustainable. I made one small change—then another.
I stopped drinking alcohol in the luteal phase.
I started seed cycling to support my hormones.
Most importantly, I began planning my life around my cycle.
I avoided triggering events when I knew my agitation was rising and actually rested while bleeding.
These shifts were simple but transformative.
What Is Menstrual Cycle Awareness (MCA)?
MCA is the conscious practice of living in sync with your menstrual cycle. Our period is just one of four phases in a full cycle:
Menstrual Phase: Begins on the first day of bleeding and lasts around 5 days.
Follicular Phase: From the end of your period until ovulation.
Ovulation: A short window (usually around day 14 in a 28-day cycle) when fertility peaks.
Luteal Phase: Post-ovulation, when the body prepares for menstruation again if conception hasn’t occurred.
This is the quick version! If you’re curious to go deeper, join one of our Cycle Syncing Workshops.
How to Practise Menstrual Cycle Awareness
There’s no one way to practise MCA. It can be:
Practical: Journaling, noting PMS symptoms, tracking cervical mucus, digestion, sleep, energy levels.
Creative: Drawing each day, meditating with your inner landscape, connecting with the energy of your cycle.
With just a few months of tracking, you’ll start to see your own patterns—and then the spiral deepens. You begin to sense the transitions between phases, the nuances and emotional terrain.
I’m currently training as a menstruality mentor with The Red School, and my awareness continues to evolve—especially around the “chambers” of menstruation and cross-over days. There is always more to discover.
Reinstating the Feminine ✨
Why does any of this matter?
Because the more I live in tune with my body, the more I believe that menstrual cycle awareness is world-changing.
I don’t need to list all the ways our hyper-masculine systems are burning us out and breaking us down. I lived that way—pushing through pain, suppressing emotions, ignoring my needs. So many of us do. And society applauds it.
But MCA offers another way of Being.
Not the consumerist pinkwashing of wellness—but a genuine, sacred return to the Feminine.
She’s been exiled, yes, but she’s still here—in the seasons, in the cycles, in the quiet whisper that says: Rest now. Be still.
We feel her absence:
When new mothers cry “Where’s my village?”
When girls are shamed for bleeding.
When perimenopausal women are gaslit and told they’re crazy, instead of honoured for stepping into a new life stage.
A Cultural Shift
How can half the population live in pain, shame, and confusion over something so essential?
The forgetting of our cycles wasn’t an accident. Sometimes it was violent (witch hunts), sometimes subtle but still violent (plastic tampons laced with toxins). But the effect is the same: disconnection from our power, rhythm, and worth.
To reclaim our cycles is to opt out of burnout culture. It’s a radical act of self-respect and collective healing.
And maybe—just maybe—it’s how we find world peace.
Ready to live more cyclically?
🌿 Join us at WOMB Summer Festival 2025
A celebration of all things menstruality, maternity, and menopause.
🎟 Get your tickets here:
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