Hello,
My name is Natalie.
Along with being a teacher here on Insight Timer,
I'm a women's health and mindset coach,
Yoga,
Meditation teacher and facilitator.
And I'm excited to bring you this talk where I'm going to introduce you to what we call the female advantage,
Which is our menstrual cycles.
This talk will give you the opportunity to reconnect with your most vibrant and energized self and give you the chance to really connect to your beautiful body and all that it encompasses every single month.
Before I jump into offering you some information and knowledge about your menstrual cycles,
I want you to take a moment to connect with your own personal story of your menstrual cycles.
What has been your relationship to your monthly cycles?
What thoughts or feelings come up around your monthly period?
What has been your relationship to your body and your monthly cycles across your lifetime?
Due to the lack of education and knowledge,
Us women all have our own personal story about our menstrual cycles.
We all have our own relationship to what they mean for us,
How they have supported us,
How they have challenged us.
There is significant research that's coming out that's demonstrating that us women,
From the very beginning of our first menarche,
Feel ashamed,
Disgusted,
Judged,
Embarrassed by our monthly cycles.
And we go through our lifetime feeling that way.
Through this talk,
I want to give you hope that there's great potential and power and opportunity that can come from tapping into your body,
Into your cycles,
And ultimately changing the relationship of your monthly cycles.
My own personal experience of my menstrual cycles ultimately led me to where I am today in doing the work that I do.
I had spent decades hiding,
Trying to push aside my monthly cycles,
Being completely disconnected from my body,
And not wanting to connect to that amazing power within us.
For me personally,
It was a true wake-up call to make space to connect with myself.
At the hands of so much stress,
Loss of balance and pressure to juggle everything,
My overall wellbeing suffered.
And I came to appreciate that women have an innate power within to cultivate that sense of power and energy,
Even in the midst of struggle,
Challenge,
And change.
And that is precisely why I'm here,
To help you connect to your female advantage,
To understand your cycle,
And how you can support your whole health by connecting to your cycle.
When women understand their bodies,
The symptoms,
And the ways to manage them,
They can get back to living life and immerse themselves with living every single day.
There's a lot of conflicting advice and information and thoughts and feelings about our menstrual cycles.
And this has been handed down from generation to generation.
It's no one's fault.
We've just never spoken about our menstrual cycles in the way that we can today.
The key is to understanding your body and your mind.
This concept of tapping into the female advantage is all about unlocking your potential and consciously connecting with you,
With your most vibrant and energized self.
Everything in your life,
Your body,
And the world around you functions in a cyclical matter,
From the seasons,
To the moon,
To your menstrual cycle,
To your hormones,
And so much more.
Each day is going to be different for a woman as she lives her own biological cycle.
She will not wake up feeling exactly the same way every morning with the same energy or the same thought processes.
And this is a huge misunderstanding that we place on our bodies and our minds.
And we often get frustrated and angry and upset that we cannot perform or don't have energy like we did the day before.
Have you ever wondered why you can do a stellar jog one day but completely fall in a heap the next?
It's got to do with your cyclical nature.
Ever wondered why you find yourself in the most insanely creative phase at work one week,
But can't quite simply get back to that way of thinking in the next?
It's your cyclical nature.
Our bodies work in a cyclical nature.
When we understand this,
The most profound things can happen.
Sadly,
The education women and girls receive isn't where it needs to be.
In the book about bloody time published in 2019,
The authors Karen Pickering and Jane Bennett were commissioned with the tasks of reaching out to 3,
500 women and girls about their experience of menstruation and menopause.
Those interviewed ranged in age from 12 to 46 plus.
With 60.
8% respondents coming from Australia and New Zealand.
The research showed that seven in 10 girls aged 12 to 18 had negative feelings about their period.
With four out of 10 disliking everything about their periods.
Three out of 10 seen their periods as good and bad,
But mostly bad.
Across the whole age group of women surveyed,
40% expressed predominantly negative sentiments with only one in four feeling predominantly positive.
While a little over one in 10 liking everything about it.
What was also interesting was where all these age groups received information about menstruation.
77% from their mother,
56% from schools,
38% from friends and 22% from books.
As I said earlier,
This isn't at the fault of anybody.
We've had limited information and knowledge and acceptance and positivity passed down from us from generation to generation.
But here is the opportunity that we have to bring to light and connect to our monthly cycles.
Further from this research,
When asked what their views were on making menstruation a better experience,
Generally for all age groups,
Close to six in 10 nominated time to rest.
30% of women wanted to be able to talk more openly about periods.
More than a third wanted to no longer make excuses when they felt unwell while menstruating and nearly a one in four would like to be able to ask for what they needed from a partner or employer.
There's a real disconnect with the full facts around women's biological makeup that extends to her physical,
Spiritual,
Mental,
Emotional self and how this relates to her whole self,
Her whole being.
And this disconnect is seeing women talking down their womanhood instead of talking it up.
And this concept I talk about around the female advantage is all about teaching you the whole health knowledge about your menstrual cycle and beyond.
When you understand the full potential of you,
That right there is a whole female health.
Those goals of you living healthier,
Getting that promotion,
Working in that successful corporate job you love so much,
Starting your own business,
Being more present for yourself and your family and most importantly,
Making time to honour your health through your cycle are much more achievable.
The female advantage is about realigning your mind with your body and understanding the cyclical nature of your hormones so you can make choices that will respond to the messages that your body is sending you.
Being a woman is a gift.
It is a privilege and a right.
Let's begin at the very beginning.
What is your cycle?
Women are blessed with a specific biology through a cycle that makes them who they are.
This is your menstrual cycle.
The cycle is split into four phases,
Which I actually liken to the seasons of the year.
This is a general view of a 28 day cycle.
And if you start tracking your cycle,
Over time you will begin to work out what your cycle looks like for you.
Now at the onset,
It's important to note that each woman's cycle differs and will function in a way that is particular to her.
So never compare yourself to others.
You do not ever need to.
You are unique.
So I wanna take you through each phase of your cycle.
So your cycle is made up of four distinct phases.
Your menstrual cycle,
Which I liken to the winter.
This is a duration of three to seven days and is also known as your reflective and restorative phase.
The follicular phase or spring as I call it,
Can last seven to 10 days.
And this is known as your dynamic phase.
The ovulation phase is your summer.
The duration of this phase is three to four days and is known as your expressive phase.
The luteal phase or autumn is in duration of 10 to 14 days and is known as your creative phase.
When a woman is connected fully to her cycle and the phases within it,
Her physical,
Mental,
Emotional,
And spiritual health has a greater capacity to thrive each month,
Month after month,
Year after year.
Let's look at each of these phases in a little bit more detail.
Although I would put a disclaimer here that there is lots to be shared under each phase.
So I'm going to keep it very basic for the purpose of this talk.
Beginning with your menstrual phase,
Day one of your bleed marks the beginning of your new cycle.
And this is where we start to experience some hormonal changes.
Progesterone drops off,
Estrogen does too,
But that also starts to rise towards the end of your period.
You might start to experience some changes in your body from pelvic cramping,
Low backache,
Fatigue,
Cravings.
Referred to as the reflective phase,
And I liken this to winter.
Think about yourself when you are in the season of winter.
You're taking a moment to go within.
You're taking some downtime.
Your ego is quiet.
You start to draw within and connect more deeply to your inner knowing.
There's a lot that we can do through this menstrual phase from a food and exercise and mindset perspective,
But thinking about what you need during this quieter reflective period.
So focusing on comforting foods that add nutrients,
Supporting this menstrual phase,
Thinking about resting and recovering to aid repair of muscles.
So looking at beautiful exercises such as yoga,
Stretching,
Walking.
And of course,
During this menstrual phase,
Taking rest and sleep are vitally important.
Moving into the spring phase,
The follicular.
And I'm sure when you think about the season of spring,
There's a feeling of rebirth.
And the same can be said during this follicular phase,
Often referred to as the dynamic phase.
Estrogen is on the increase and our physical energy is increasing.
We start to feel some new beginnings,
Creativity,
Positivity,
Energy starting to ramp up.
We start to feel more outgoing,
More upbeat and revitalized.
And we might start to say yes to more things from a food and exercise perspective.
Again,
Connect to that phase,
That season of spring.
We're looking at fresh,
Vibrant,
Light foods.
This is when our physical energy is at our highest.
So you might try new exercises or challenging workouts,
But you're also choosing foods that support you throughout this phase and onto the next phase,
The ovulation phase,
Or as I say,
The summer phase.
And again,
Connecting to that feeling of the season of summer,
Where we are ready to get out and be expressive and enjoying all that life brings us during this phase of life.
You might find that you'll have a surge of energy.
You've got heightened communication skills.
You're receptive to others.
You just wanna connect and be around other people and do things that really support those high energy levels.
So again,
Thinking about lightly prepared foods,
Fresh fruits,
Lots of veggies,
And exercise focusing on those high energy,
Strenuous workouts like weightlifting,
Running,
But also incorporating group exercise where you're connecting with friends.
And then finally,
The luteal phase,
Our autumn,
The phase of creativity.
This is where our physical energy may start to decline,
Where we might start to feel some PMS symptoms.
We might feel bloating,
Irritability,
Headache,
Mood swings,
Or cravings.
And we're really coming into that feeling and desire to nest.
So you might find that you start to organize,
You might do big shops or domestic chores.
You're looking here for the opportunity to bring some attention and comfort.
So you'll find that you'll have,
Or you may have higher energy in the first part of this phase,
But then it starts to scale back down again.
And this is where you wanna focus on foods that really support brain health,
Support those hormones of serotonin and dopamine,
And also looking at activities that are lower resistant.
As you can see,
There are four distinct phases of a woman's cycle.
And within each of those phases,
I've briefly outlined what each phase is,
And the things that you can do to support your physical,
Your mental,
Your emotional,
Your spiritual health.
Why do we want this information?
Well,
Connecting to your cycle allows you to be with who you are.
It creates self-acceptance,
Validation,
And confidence.
And it allows you to create long lasting work,
Life,
Blend,
And interaction.
It helps you feel and react to your changing mood and energy,
Whilst also recognizing those times where you need self-compassion and kindness.
When you can tune into your physiology,
You can start to better understand your physical being,
And it allows you to really hone in on those key parts of you,
From your physical,
Your mental,
Your emotional,
And your spiritual health.
Once you have this information,
It is very tricky to unknow it,
And you become so immersed in what might be possible for you through your cycles.
I would encourage you to think about what you can do with this knowledge.
Some key ideas I have for you is helping you embrace your true health and wellbeing,
Using your womanhood and your physiology to your advantage,
Tapping into your inner stress management system,
And seeing your monthly cycles as your health report card.
And then of course,
Most importantly,
It gives you the opportunity to come home to yourself,
To connect with who you are,
The phase of life that you're in,
To that cyclical nature that is so deeply connected to every part of the world around us.
Your monthly cycle allows you to go back to your roots,
And I want you to think of yourself as being four women in one month.
Every single month,
You get to connect to the changing phases,
The changing seasons within your body,
Within your cycle every single month.
If we don't understand who we are and how we work,
Then how are we supposed to cultivate the love for ourself and the love for the relationships around us?
Coming back to you,
Coming back to your roots,
Seeing yourself as the woman that you are,
Affords you the opportunity to be your true self,
To live up to your potential,
And to tap into that female advantage.
Thank you for listening.
