Inner Autumn Wisdom | PMS + PMDD | Live Recording

So for those of you that may be new to me,

My name is Megan,

Welcome,

And I am a cyclical living guide.

So I support people to connect to cyclical ways of being,

Mainly the menstrual cycle or the earthly cycle and seasons.

And doing this as a way of creating a sustainable way of living and being,

And living attuned to your own natural rhythms and your natural energy.

So today we're talking specifically about the premenstrual phase of the cycle,

Which is called the inner autumn,

And I'll share a little bit more about the inner seasons.

But before we really dive into the topic,

For those of you that aren't familiar,

I'd love to do a cycle check-in.

So if you know what cycle day you're on,

You can share that,

And just like a word or two about how you're doing,

How would you describe how you're doing right now.

And if you don't have a cycle,

Just share how you're doing,

What's coming up for you now.

I'll share mine as well.

I am,

I'm cycle day 13 today.

In my inner summer,

Yet my ovulation has not shown signs of arriving yet,

So I'm still waiting for that sort of ovulation boost kick of energy to come in.

And after a really,

Really rough inner spring,

It's probably one of my more difficult inner springs this cycle,

With lots of inner critic talks,

Lots of self-doubt,

Lots of,

You know,

Am I doing the right things in my life,

Am I in the right place in my life,

All of these sort of like existential questions,

What does it all mean.

But feeling,

Just today,

I had a really,

Really rough day yesterday,

But just today,

Sort of feeling a little bit more grounded.

And my partner and I were like a little bit rough in the past week,

But today it sort of like settled down as well.

So yeah,

Feeling much better today,

Much more grounded,

Much more settled,

Much more hopeful.

So that's the energy I'm bringing today.

So I will start by saying some of the things I share,

I will share in this talk,

When they are coming from the medical side of things,

I am not a medical doctor,

And a lot of the information I receive from the physical,

Medical side of the cycle is from Laura Brydon,

Who I recommend for anybody really wanting to dive into that physical healing,

Physical understanding of the biological process of the cycle.

And so just saying,

Yeah,

I'm not a doctor,

My area of expertise is in the psycho-spiritual awareness of the menstrual cycle and the energies that the seasons and the phases of the cycle hold because of our hormones and how they are shifting and changing throughout the cycle.

So I'm going to be sharing both sides of that,

But just saying that I am,

You know,

I'm not an expert in the medical side of things.

So if you want more information on that side,

I would definitely check out Laura Brydon.

Okay,

The other thing I will say is that there is a huge lack of research on the cycle in general but specifically the premenstrual side of things and how this premenstrual phase affects us and how it affects us living in a society that oftentimes shames the premenstrual phase and is a bit taboo,

Right,

Talking about these things that we experience in the premenstrual phase.

So there's just not a lot of information and research out there to access deeper wells of knowledge and wisdom about this.

So a lot of this is going to be learning your own signs and signals and invitations and learning,

Yeah,

Where your area of,

Where you're being called into your own healing because there's,

Again,

Not a lot of info out there.

So let's start just by talking about the energy that the premenstrual phase in the inner autumn holds.

So this is a transition phase.

If we look here we see hormones at their lowest during,

This is the inner winter,

The time of menstruation.

Then in spring,

Mainly we're focused on this estrogen rise.

Then in ovulation we've got this huge surge of hormones that are supporting that release of the egg.

And then we come here to the inner autumn and it is dominated by progesterone.

So we have this big surge of progesterone.

And this is the transition.

We're transitioning from ovulation to menstruation in this phase.

So ovulation,

Our energy,

Is the most sort of like up and out that we experience in the cycle.

And menstruation is the most down and in,

The most inward time of the cycle.

And so it's like right after ovulation,

It shifts,

It transitions,

And it starts moving back down and in.

And this is a harvesting energy,

Right?

Just like we think about the autumn season,

It is harvesting energy.

So it sort of has this two-fold energy.

One is,

So we're reflecting back on what has happened in the cycle because we know it's coming to an end.

It's time to take stock.

So you're looking back in this cycle,

In your life,

You know,

Like you can look back as far as you want to,

And begin to harvest.

We're going to harvest those things that we want to keep,

Those things that are really supporting us,

Really beautiful,

That we want to carry forward.

And then noticing,

After the harvesting is done,

Right,

Noticing those stocks that are left that we don't want to keep anymore.

So those things are not supporting us,

That are not serving us.

Our shadow self comes to the surface so we can see these things that we haven't integrated,

That we,

You know,

That are life draining.

And so then it is letting those things decay,

Right,

Compost into the soil of our being so that then they can bring new life in the next cycle.

So sort of this double-sided energy where we're gathering the harvest and we're letting go and letting those things that aren't supporting us to decay and be the food for the rebirth,

Rebirthing energy in the next part of the cycle.

So the strengths here in the premenstrual phase is that there is a critical energy.

Now this can be positive and it can be negative.

So we have this critiquing of where you are in your life,

Right?

So it comes down,

It's like a veil has been dropped and you can see clearly all of the things that are life giving and all of the things that are life draining.

And you get to discern and decide,

Am I where I want to be or is there a course correction that I would like to change and make a new step on a new path.

And you get that,

It's that editing energy of the creative cycle.

So again,

Coming down to the end of the creative cycle as well,

You're gathering that feedback and you're editing,

Making your decisions to complete and come to that end of the cycle.

With that critiquing also comes this energy of a truth speaker.

And so you can also see clearly things that are happening in the world.

And oftentimes you can get this energy that you want to speak truth to that.

And it's sort of like this inner power comes that you are desiring to see the world and our collective head in the path that you want to see it go,

Right?

And so you have this truth speaking energy where you're a little less afraid to ruffle feathers and say what you mean and speak your truth.

And also comes with this intuitive energy that feels like things are just connecting on a deep level and you're able again to see all of that clearly come together.

And what I like to call the rewilding phase of the cycle.

So because you have this energy of truth speaking,

You can see through all of the bullshit happening in the world and in your life.

There's this energy of rewilding.

Other parts of the cycle you may become a little bit more domesticated,

Right?

And trying to fit into society,

Trying to be nice and pleasing.

And then you get to this premenstrual phase and it's like your inner tiger or that wild animal comes out.

And so I'll share more about how society sees this,

But I see this as a strength for the inner autumn season.

But some vulnerabilities here with all of this energy,

Especially the critiquing energy,

Is that our inner critic can become very loud during the inner autumn and it can turn against us,

Right?

And if we don't have strong boundaries around our inner critic,

It can take us down,

Down a path of anxiety,

Of stress,

Down deep into that shadow self.

And so noticing that and being aware of that is very important in the inner autumn.

And if you have an inability to say no,

Because you don't have a lot of margin,

A lot of buffer,

A lot of resiliency capacity here in the inner autumn,

Really learning how to say no to things that aren't priorities.

So really focusing only on doing things that are priorities in this time and not extending yourself too thin,

Because what happens when we extend ourselves too thin,

Especially in the premenstrual,

Is oftentimes we will react and snap.

That's when we're getting those feelings of irritability,

Frustration,

You know,

And you just sort of like snap without having the time to process and think about it.

So making sure you're saying no to things to give yourself a little bit more buffer here in the inner autumn,

Building those boundaries.

And then a vulnerability is for those that experience PMS and especially for those experiencing PMDD.

And that's what we'll dive into a little deeper here today.

The first thing I want to share though is that PMS and PMDD are two different things.

And PMDD is an actual diagnosis of,

You know,

There's 11 symptoms and your doctor or healthcare provider will work with you through those symptoms to see if that is indicating PMDD.

And those symptoms,

I'll share a little bit more later,

But the symptoms with PMDD only happen during the premenstrual phase.

So they're only happening because of a reaction to progesterone.

So it's like you don't experience any of these symptoms in the beginning of your cycle when you're bleeding,

The inner spring,

The inner summer,

And then you hit inner autumn and it's like it all comes down on you.

And then it leaves as soon as you start bleeding again.

And that's an actual diagnosis because of a biological process where your brain cannot process that shift in the hormones.

And the receptors in your brain aren't able to,

They're very sensitive to that hormone of progesterone.

So that's an actual like biological process and diagnosis.

So if you think you have PMDD,

You know,

Reach out to a healthcare provider and that might help you actually get that diagnosis.

Whereas what we call PMS is,

They're sort of like two folds,

Two folds to PMS.

The first thing I want to share is that I wish there was a different name for it.

I do not like the name premenstrual symptoms or premenstrual syndrome.

Like I do not,

I do not like that.

I can't really think of a better one.

If you can think of a better one after we're done sharing here,

I would love to hear that.

But I believe a lot of the things that we experience in the premenstrual are demonized by society and not seen as normal because they don't fit into a narrative of the linear way of living that has been set up in our society by patriarchy,

By capitalism,

This idea that we are always supposed to be the same day to day,

Right?

And because we have these shifting hormones,

I mean,

If you have these shifting hormones,

How can you feel the same day to day?

Like it would,

It's impossible to feel the same day to day because of all of these shiftings that we're experiencing,

Right?

So if we just look at,

If we just look at estrogen,

Right?

So we have this estrogen and then progesterone.

Estrogen activates,

There's been some studies done,

Some small studies,

And like I said,

There's still not,

There's still a huge lack of research,

But estrogen activates the parasympathetic,

That rest and digest of your nervous system,

Letting your body know that it's safe,

That it can come into a state of rest.

Whereas when estrogen drops off in the second half of your cycle and progesterone takes over,

It has the opposite effect where your sympathetic is being more activated.

And the sympathetic stress response is what?

That's our fight and flight response.

And so this is just a normal,

This is a normal process of our body experiencing this shift in hormones.

And because we are,

Have closer access to this fight or flight response,

That's why it can become easier to feel irritated,

To feel angry,

To come into those states of being in that stress response.

And our society has not,

Is not able to accept that,

Right?

It's not able to accept that this is just a normal process that we are,

For those of us that have cycles,

Are experiencing every cycle and has not created a container for us to support ourselves in that.

Instead,

It has just become a way to shame,

Right?

A way to shame us for feeling that way and a way to,

Yeah,

I just demonize is the word that just comes up,

A way to sort of like demonize that part of our cycle and make it seem like there's something wrong with us,

Right?

Something's broken because we experience those different ways of being in that time of our cycle.

So hopefully,

Like,

By being here,

By listening to this talk,

Hopefully it is helping to break down some of those stories,

Right?

Within ourselves,

Because we internalize those stories as well.

Internalizing those stories,

Breaking down those stories and the stories that we receive from outside,

That like,

No,

It's okay.

It's okay that we experience these symptoms in our pre-menstrual time because it's just our body reacting to this normal process of our hormones.

And it's not something,

Like we're not broken because of it.

We are completely perfect and completely whole.

It's just that those things have not been accepted as normal.

So if there's anything that you take from this talk,

That's the one thing I would like for you to take on,

That like,

You're not broken if you experience these difficulties in your pre-menstrual.

And hopefully there will be things here that will help support that experience.

Because when our nervous system is activated into the fight-flight,

Of course we want to help,

Help ourselves come into those states of safety and activate the parasympathetic,

Which we'll do some practices at the very end to activate that parasympathetic.

But it doesn't mean you're broken.

Okay,

So.

Let's see here.

A side note to that is,

I am wondering,

Have any of you ever been called hysterical?

Have you ever been called hysterical because,

And having it linked to being something about your cycle?

So this is just a little side note trivia piece of where the term hysterical has come from.

So it comes from a Greek word,

Hysterikos,

Which means suffering in the womb.

Because ancient Greeks believed that when women and people with cycles were behaving irrationally,

That it was because their uterus was literally wandering around the body causing trouble.

So it's like,

If you're being irrational,

You know,

What society claims as irrational,

Right,

Then it meant your womb was traveling around your body and causing trouble,

And forcing you to be irrational,

Right?

And so this word hysterikos,

Meaning suffering in the womb,

Turned into a medical diagnosis of hysteria.

So any woman or person that bleeds was labeled with this medical diagnosis of hysteria if they weren't fitting into this nice neat box of,

You know,

This,

This,

This neat neat box of society that is telling us,

You know,

We need to,

We need to just fit in and go with the flow and why don't you just smile?

Right?

All of these,

All of these stories that were told,

Especially for those of us socialized as females.

And so I just thought that was an interesting trivia point to bring in here,

To see how society has really shaped the way that we experience especially our pre-menstrual time of the cycle.

But PMS actually could affect about 3 out of every 4 people who menstruate.

3 out of every 4,

That is,

You know,

3 fourths of all people that menstruate.

You think about all of the people in the world that menstruate,

3 fourths of them could be experiencing these difficulties in the pre-menstrual.

So let's talk about some of them.

What are some of the difficulties?

And some of you have already shared some of the difficulties you've had.

Bloating,

Aches and pains,

Breast tenderness.

What else do you experience during the pre-menstrual that week before you bleed?

Brain fog,

Yep,

I was just going to say poor concentration.

A heavy chest,

Interesting.

Heavy chest,

Yeah.

You may experience more joint or muscle pain.

You know we have the food cravings,

Right,

So our appetite changes.

More emotional,

More curvature of the back pain,

Anxiety,

Depression and extreme irritability.

Pickles,

Oh,

You have a food craving for pickles,

Interesting.

Yeah,

Severe trapped wind,

Yeah,

So that more like constipation,

Like your bowel flow slows down.

Severe anxiety and panic attacks,

Getting hangry,

Yeah,

So that combination of hungry and angry,

Yep,

Definitely.

I get headaches.

I know when I haven't been taking care of myself,

I will get like straight four or five days of headaches before my bleed comes.

Sugar cravings and migraines,

Yeah.

Now for those to be sort of like in the PMS category,

Sort of like the things that still allow you to continue on with your normal everyday living,

You know,

They don't disrupt your daily activities,

They're just sort of like this nuisance that is underneath the surface but you can still sort of like carry on with your day.

Now if you find that these things and the 11 PMDD indicators,

Which are depression,

Anxiety,

Mood swings,

Irritability and marked anger,

Decreased interest on things that were interesting before,

Difficulty concentrating,

Fatigue,

Appetite changes,

Sleep difficulties,

Feeling out of control and sort of like the physical pain,

Those are the 11 PMDD indicators.

And if you find that those things are really overwhelming,

That they take you away from your daily activities.

And again,

They only come during the premenstrual phase,

So you know,

If you are feeling anxious and depressed the whole cycle,

That's probably not PMDD.

But if it comes on after your ovulation and it stops when you're bleeding,

Then that could indicate PMDD.

So if those things are taking you away from your daily activities and allowing you to live a normal daily,

Into your normal routines,

Then I would seek out a healthcare professional to help you diagnose and assess if that's what's going on.

Because again,

PMDD is an actual biological process of the brain being sensitive to the hormone progesterone,

Whereas PMS does not have that brain sensitivity and is just that reaction in the body to that shifting into the progesterone dominant phase of the cycle.

Yeah,

So there is not a cure for PMDD,

But there are treatments to lessen the symptoms,

Lessen the difficulties that you have,

Which I'm going to share now.

And both of these things,

Both of these factors,

Or the factors that I will be sharing,

Can be used for both PMDD and PMS.

It's just that,

You know,

With PMDD,

These factors,

You know,

They're creating more presence,

A stronger reaction in the body.

So the factors that could be contributing to these difficulties in the premenstrual would be histamine.

So histamine is not something that I don't think I ever heard talked about until I started,

You know,

Looking into how it affects the cycle.

And so histamine in things like cow's milk and any dairy product that is made from cow's milk and alcohol.

Those are two things that are very high in histamine and they activate mast cells in your body and can cause more difficulties in the premenstrual.

I know for myself,

I don't do dairy very well,

But it's not completely cut out of my diet.

It's an occasional here and there thing that I eat.

And I know when I've had too much,

If my breasts get tender.

That's like,

That is a direct correlation that I have found in my cycle,

That when I eat too much dairy in the beginning of my cycle,

My breasts get tender in my premenstrual phase.

When I don't eat it,

Then my breasts are fine.

I don't have it.

And I've heard other people connect that to alcohol and caffeine.

So if you experience breast tenderness or any of the other sort of symptoms,

See what it would look like for a cycle or two to cut out dairy or alcohol and see how that may affect it.

Okay,

So other factors that could be contributing.

If you have an iodine deficiency,

Because iodine is helping to support your thyroid.

So if you have thyroid problems and an iodine deficiency,

You want to look into that.

If you have a history of depression or anxiety,

And especially if you have genetics.

So especially if you have PMDD and there are other people in your family that have had PMDD,

And it can be a genetic component to that as well.

So just being aware of that,

You know,

There's nothing you can really do about that except for be aware of it and then decide to take steps to help reduce some of those symptoms that you may be experiencing.

Low serotonin.

So an interesting fact that I also didn't know is that 70% of our serotonin levels are absorbed in our gut.

And so if you have problems with your gut health,

You are not receiving,

You know,

Your optimal serotonin levels.

And if you have low serotonin,

You are prone to experience difficulties in your premenstrual phase.

So improving gut health is going to improve your cycle.

That's just some facts there.

Improving gut health is going to improve your cycle.

So looking at things,

Anything you have around your gut health,

Like I said,

I have celiac disease,

So I've had to be very careful in cutting out all traces of gluten,

All cross contamination of things that even like remotely look or feel like gluten in my body.

And if you have things like SIBO,

Small intestine bacterial overgrowth,

Things like candida,

You want to like really look at that gut health and then look at any food sensitivities you may have.

So I took a food sensitivity test and cutting out some of those foods has been probably one of the best things for my cycle health and reducing period pain and reducing the symptoms I experienced in my premenstrual.

And so because if we're taking these foods and they are having an inflammatory reaction in our body,

That is making our sensitivity to our hormones even stronger.

So looking at those foods that cause inflammation,

The big ones being sugar,

Caffeine,

Alcohol,

Gluten,

Those histamines,

Those things.

And then supporting the gut health by taking things like probiotics,

Fermented foods,

Making sure we're getting that good gut bacteria back into our systems so that we can absorb our serotonin.

And digestive enzymes,

Yes,

Are also great.

Digestive enzymes,

Bitter,

Eating,

Drinking bitter foods.

My other problem was low stomach acid,

So I drink apple cider vinegar before I eat a meal to help.

We want to make sure that we have this good digestive detoxing pathway,

Especially if we have excess estrogen and to move those histamines in our body as well.

So making sure we're supporting all we can that gut health and that digestive movement.

So other factors,

I said the chronic inflammation.

If you have chronic inflammation from,

You know,

Chronic inflammation can come from the physical side.

So like I shared,

Those foods,

Your diet,

Your lifestyle,

It can also come from the energetic,

Emotional side as well.

And another contributing factor being that stress and trauma,

Which is,

You know,

Just seems to be a part of life that a lot of us accept as normal.

But you know,

It's one of those foundational pieces that we need to address to find more holistic ways of being and healing and well-being for us.

So continuing on to address those things that are stressors for you and address any traumas you may be experiencing.

Yeah,

If you're looking at supplements,

I already said magnesium,

Right?

Making sure you're getting enough magnesium because of modern day agricultural practices,

Modern day farming,

Magnesium has been depleted from the soil.

So we really need to supplement magnesium.

We're not getting enough from the food that we eat.

So yeah,

Looking at taking supplements or taking those epsom salt baths or getting that magnesium spray or oil for your skin.

Magnesium vitamin B6 is huge and zinc.

Magnesium vitamin B6 and zinc are going to support your premenstrual experience.

Hmm,

Yeah,

And the last one.

So looking at that,

That vagal tone,

Because remember I shared,

There's been some research showing that estrogen is activating the parasympathetic,

The rest and digest part of our nervous system,

Whereas progesterone and also in the premenstrual,

We have a surge of adrenaline as well.

So this combination of adrenaline and progesterone is more activating to the sympathetic,

The fight flight.

So bringing in some practices and some exercises that are activating the vagus nerve,

Where we can come back into this parasympathetic response and again,

Growing that buffer where we are experiencing things and then reacting.

So I'll share some of those practices that we can do to improve our vagal tone.

Before we go into the practices,

Just some other things to do,

And this is going to be more on the psycho-spiritual,

Where my expertise lies.

So if you're not already charting your cycle,

Chart your cycle.

I will share here one of my chart just to show you.

This is a very,

Very simple process where every day,

You're writing in your cycle days,

You're writing in the date,

And then you're writing in how you're doing physically,

Mentally,

Emotionally,

Spiritually every day.

And it takes like a minute or two at the end,

Or at some point during your day,

Just to write that in.

Now,

The importance for writing this in,

For those of you experiencing PMS and PMDB,

Is to really see what energy you're holding in those different phases of your cycle.

So if you finish filling out one of your cycles and you're looking at it,

And you see like,

Oh,

I was doing really great,

You know,

Days 6 through 14,

Like that's,

I was really,

You know,

I was really in my element,

I was really aligned and felt powerful.

And then,

Oh,

This crash happened on,

You know,

Day 19.

And then you realize that,

Oh,

It was sort of like downhill from there,

From day 19 until my bleed comes.

That then gives you the information you need to see,

Oh,

My body is not doing well with that hormonal change when progesterone becomes dominant.

And seeing that then is your invitation to ask more questions and investigate to see what is under the surface,

What is the root of that.

And you get to see these sort of like natural ebbs and flows that happen for you.

Usually we say after about 3 cycles.

So if you can commit to charting like this for about 3 cycles,

You'll start to see your natural rhythm.

And then you can create your own personal self-care plan,

A plan of healing,

Where you can,

Where you know where you are in your cycle and what you need that day,

Depending on where you are.

So if there's any sort of practice just to like get you started and becoming aware,

That would be the practice I would invite you into.

And you can download this chart on my website.

The link is here on Insight Timer.

And also you can just search my name.

My website is just my name,

MeganNurene.

Com,

To get that chart and start your charting practice.

And then come here every week,

We do a cycle check-in,

Where we do a meditation or a reflective journaling practice,

Where we use this chart to check in with our physical,

Mental,

Emotional,

Spiritual,

How we're doing that day.

And so you can come and join us weekly for that session.

Yeah,

Other things to do,

Making sure you've got some boundaries,

Like I said,

Learning how to say no,

That's giving yourself a buffer between your reaction time and allowing your shadow self to reveal itself and be integrated during the inner autumn,

The premenstrual,

Because those are going to be your invitations into deeper healing,

Right?

So if you have a practice of shadow work and looking at those shadows within,

Noticing where those shadows show up in your cycle and how you can address those,

Specifically in the premenstrual,

Inner autumn phase.

Yeah,

Other things,

Other things,

Okay,

Let's talk about the vagal tone before we end here.

So vagal toning exercises to help activate that parasympathetic in the premenstrual when estrogen is not supporting us to do that,

Doing those things.

So your vagus nerve starts at the base of your brain and then it first connects here in your throat and really like the bottom where your tongue is,

Like the really back of your tongue where it's meeting in your throat.

So your vagus nerve comes here to your neck.

So things that are,

You can activate it by these vibrations in your throat.

So doing things like gargling,

Humming,

Singing,

And there was laughing.

So things that are like bringing this vibration,

They're activating that vagus nerve,

They're like sort of waking it up,

Saying like,

I wake up,

It's time to work and activate my rest and digest process.

Some other things like we already shared,

Breath work,

Breath work is very important.

Doing deep breath work that is activating the diaphragm,

Really getting that diaphragm activated and doing breath work where the exhale is twice as long as the inhale.

So doing things like the 4-7-8 breathing practice where that exhale,

Because the exhale is signaling the body into that parasympathetic rest-digest safety place of being.

So if you find yourself in your pre-menstruum,

You find yourself feeling angry,

Irritated,

Try doing just a couple rounds of breath,

Making that exhale twice as long as the inhale and seeing how you feel after that.

Cold exposure,

Taking cold showers,

Or just if you can't really stand a cold shower on your whole body,

Doing face immersion in cold water or just like splashing your face with cold water.

I do that every morning.

After I brush my teeth,

I immerse my face in cold water.

And if you have like an ice pack,

You can also do ice pack on the sides of your neck,

So that's where your vagus nerve is coming.

So putting that ice pack,

You're exposing your vagus nerve to that cold,

You can also do it on your forehead,

Doing that ice pack.

You can also do ice in your mouth,

So you can suck on ice cubes or popsicles,

Things that are cold,

Sucking on that inside your throat is also activating that vagus response.

I do bucket baths here in India,

But when I was,

I started doing cold showers when I was in Canada,

And I would do a warm shower when I was like washing,

Right,

You know,

The shampoo,

The soap,

All of that.

But then at the end of my shower,

I would turn it cold,

And I would just try and stay in the cold water for as long as I could until it was,

You know,

Too much,

And then I would hurry up and get out of the shower and put on,

You know,

Like a nice warm robe.

And so that was sort of my practice to get like a little bit of cold exposure in there.

And if you have access to natural bodies of water that are cold,

Like lakes,

Oceans,

Rivers,

I know there's a culture of people that,

You know,

Jump in the cold bodies of water.

You probably heard me talk about Joni Jinten,

Who's one of my favorite YouTube creators,

But she,

You know,

She lives in the north of Sweden and lives near this,

I think it's a lake or a river,

And that covers,

You know,

In deep thick ice every winter.

And she goes out there and carves through the ice to make like a little swimming hole and then like dives in the water and like sits in the water like up to her neck in this cold,

Freezing water in the winter in the north of Sweden.

So it might take some time to acclimate your body to that,

But that is very,

Very supportive of your vagus nerve.

Doing things like massage,

Massaging is very good.

And especially if you get the acupressure points,

I'm not,

You know,

I don't know much about acupressure points and acupuncture,

But there are specific points in your body that will activate the vagus nerve and,

You know,

Seeking out somebody that may be able to support you in that if that's what you're interested in.

And then sort of like this spiritual side of activating the vagus nerve,

Doing things like meditation and meditation in connection to these energies of gratitude and being in wonder and awe.

So being able to notice and see the beauty around you.

And one of the,

It's coming back to the cycle,

Right?

So we have this cycle,

We have these four seasons.

The summer,

The inner summer is the time of ovulation.

And then you have a crossover,

Usually about a day that is in between the seasons.

So in between summer and autumn,

You have this one crossover day where it's that shifting.

So this day right here,

You know,

Would be about that crossover day before the progesterone comes online and takes over.

During that crossover day,

The sacred invitation there is to celebrate.

Celebrate yourself,

Celebrate your life.

So like,

If you have a journaling practice,

Getting out your journal,

Writing down all of the things you're grateful for,

All the things you can celebrate,

All of the beauty,

All of the things that are wonderful around you.

And so if you can have that,

That is going to create this buffer then for you to move into the pre-minstrel inner autumn time with more resilience and more bagel tone.

And so looking at that time,

Right,

The end of your inner summer,

Beginning of your inner autumn,

Where you can build up those resources and those reserves for yourself.

And celebrating is that sacred invitation.

So I would love for us now to celebrate.

Let's just practice that as a community right now.

So I would love to hear in the comments,

What are you celebrating today?

What are you grateful for?

What is beautiful around you?

What have you,

Have you taken a moment to just stop and pause and look at,

Look at where you are in your life and look at all of the beautiful things in our environment,

In our world and just be in awe of that.

So let's do that together.

What is something you are celebrating today?

I am going to,

I am going to celebrate that my partner and I worked through our difficulties and had a really beautiful connection,

Reconnection.

You know when you're like,

You feel distant,

You feel separate and then you have like this reconnection,

Rekindling.

That was my morning this morning and it was really beautiful and it was tender and vulnerable but just had this energy of care and love that we were able to reconnect and come back,

Come back together again.

So I am,

I'm celebrating that today.

Anybody else want to,

Want to celebrate and be grateful with me?

I know,

I know you all have things to celebrate.

We all have things to celebrate.

Even if it's not anything big,

Right?

We can,

We can celebrate that we are here,

Right?

We can celebrate we're here,

We're together.

We are breathing and alive.

Like what a beautiful thing that is that we can put our hand on our heart and feel that blood flowing through our body.

I'm feeling better after having COVID for 10 days.

Yes,

Beautiful.

Let's celebrate those of us that have had COVID.

I have had two rounds so far.

Like we have,

We have made it through.

We experienced that and we are,

You know,

For those of us that are feeling,

Feeling better now.

Had a difficult morning and got over the hump and had a great rest of the day.

Beautiful Katie.

Oh,

That you are here with us.

Yes.

Oh,

That's beautiful.

It's lovely to have you here,

Marjoleen.

Having a supportive boyfriend in this.

Yes,

Having supportive partners,

Having supportive family.

That is something to celebrate.

Definitely definitely.

Also I,

I'm celebrating my morning ritual.

It's something that I started in the new year on January 1st and I have been continually doing it.

It is been the longest streak I have read every day and the longest streak I have meditated every day.

I think I'm on 42 days now and yeah,

It's all because I set up this morning ritual and I have done it every day of the year so far.

And it's been really beautiful and it's been a beautiful time to connect with nature because I do the first half of my ritual outside.

I don't know what it's going to look like when hot season comes and I'm sweating really bad being outside.

We'll see,

We'll see how that changes.

But I am celebrating,

I'm celebrating that right now that the,

That the weather and the temperature is beautiful here and that I can be outside without too much difficulty and,

And connect in that way.

I celebrate life and being genderqueer.

Yes,

Let's celebrate how we can embrace our identities and be authentically who we are.

Mmm,

Beautiful.

Yes.

Yes,

That is beautiful.

And so just like fascinating to see how our energies change and how we can,

How we can invite others into those,

Right?

So if we're holding this energy of celebration,

Of being grateful,

Gratitude,

Not only is that supportive of ourselves,

It's supportive of those,

Those around us as well,

Right?

And of course,

Honoring those difficult things that we're holding as well.

But having,

Having a process and having resources and practices that we can move through those and,

Um,

Enter into states of being,

Being grateful,

Even being grateful for those difficult things whenever we move through them,

That is,

That's the beauty.

And the beauty of cyclical living is that nothing,

Nothing stays the same forever,

Right?

It's the beauty of it,

That today,

Tomorrow is not going to be the same as today.

And so if you're having a difficult day today,

Learning how to be present with that and work through that and see how it shifts and changes when you move,

Move forward.

And if you're having a great day today,

Really just being present and soaking that in because tomorrow might not be as great,

Right?

So then we're able to be present to everything because we know that none of it lasts forever.

That's the,

That's the beauty of cyclical living,

Coming into an awareness and appreciation for where we are,

No matter where,

No matter where that is.

All right,

So as we come,

Come to an end here,

Are there any,

Any questions that you have about what I shared,

Any reflections that you have if you found this talk supportive for you and you are,

You know,

Grateful for just being here and learning something new,

Giving back in return,

Either through a donation would be greatly appreciated to support,

You know,

The time and energy that it takes to be here and for this platform.

And also,

You know,

Doing things if you don't have the monetary means to donate,

You can do things like you can get added to my email list by downloading,

You know,

If you go to my website,

Download the cycle chart,

Listen to my meditations,

Leaving a review,

That is,

You know,

I greatly appreciate and gladly receive those type of interactions and energy returns as well.

So all of that is welcome.

And I will just say that it's been lovely being with you.

Thank you all for showing up here.

Thank you all for being,

You know,

Curious and interested what's happening in your body,

What's happening in your cycle.

I just find it so amazing that there are people from around the world gathered here,

All connecting to the menstrual cycle.

Like,

I would have never imagined this possible,

You know,

Even like 10,

15 years ago.

And to see that,

You know,

It's becoming more of an accepted topic,

An accepted narrative in society that gives me hope that we are building these new ways of being and knowing away from the linearality of how our society is now.

So you're all giving me,

You're all giving me so much hope,

So much hope for our future together.

And yeah,

Hopefully I will see you again soon,

Sending you lots and lots of love.