MINDFUL MENSTRUATION

Happy Wednesday! I am happy you’re back and today, I want to talk to you about mindful menstruation and how you can optimize your life around your cycle.

Simply put, mindful menstruation is a holistic practice of being more mindful of the changes happening in your body (source). It’s actually a movement that encourages you to change your mindset about your periods, and to care more for your body at this phase of your cycle.

For a lot of us, menstruation can be very annoying. While our bodies are amazing, it’s so easy to consider our periods as just messy, painful, expensive and inconvenient. They make us feel bloated, hangry, irritable, and they’ve ruined way too many pairs of underwear to count (source). The mindful menstruation movement aims to change this attitude and my point is to introduce you to it.

So, let’s get into it and don’t forget to check out my previous post: HOW TO STAY GROUNDED WHEN YOU LIVE IN THE CITY

Why is cycle syncing important 🩸?

Cycle syncing is the idea of moving, eating, and working to support your natural cycles, and in turn, letting your cycles support you. It’s important to be more mindful of your menstruation because our hormone levels change weekly, depending on where we are in our cycle. Eating the same food, doing the same exercise and practice might not work for every phase. We can support ourselves better when we are mindful of our cycle, making us feel more in tune with our body and intuition, and enhancing our overall wellbeing (source).

Menstrual phase (1st day of period – day 7) 🌑

Your menstrual cycle is a time to rest, and nurture yourself. So, during this phase of your cycle, try to keep things slow. Do a light stretching, little yoga, but mostly, rest. Take this time for yourself. Lay on the couch and read a good book or watch a movie. Do anything that allows you to recharge mentally, physically and emotionally. It’s that time of the month. Eat warm and nourishing food that allows you to feel nurtured. Wear comfortable, flowy clothes and allow yourself to feel bloated, it’s normal.

When I am on my periods, I usually stop working out, and choose to do something relaxing like painting, reading or embroidery. I also tend to watch a new tv show and cocoon myself in bed!

During that time, you are also more intuitive and inward-focused, so take that time to amp up your meditation practice (source – source). Personally, i follow this meditative routine where I place a rose quartz and moonstone on my uterus and envision a healing light just wrapping my womb.

Follicular (days 7 – 14) 🌔

Our follicular phase comes directly after our menstrual period. It’s the moment you have more energy and brain power to take on something new and challenging. Your feminine and masculine energies are balanced and you’re more creative. So, take this time to explore new ideas, to try something new – maybe a new restaurant or activity.

Ovulation (days 14 – 21) 🌕

The ovulation phase can be represented as the full moon. You are high in energy, you make things happen, you are socializing, you are in full bloom. This is when you can go with higher-intensity workouts and cardios like running, cycling, or weight-lifting. This is also the moment to nurture the social aspect of your wellbeing so take this time to plan a dinner with your friends, spend time connecting and catching up.

Luteal phase (days 21 – 28+) 🌘

The luteal phase is a transformative phase. A phase of releasing what’s not serving you and to wind down. At first, you might still have a lot of energy for higher-intensity workouts but as you go through this phase, try to transition to gentler activities such as yoga, walking or pilates. This is actually the phase when you’re going to PMS. During that time, my selfcare practice doesn’t really change, I’m always very attentive to my physical, mental and spiritual self, so i just do what I usually do. This is also the phase where you usually start feeling more bloated and sore so this is when I’ll start taking things slow.

Source

Useful tools💡

In order to understand where my cycle is I like to use “Flo”. It’s a tracking application that allows you to plan your life around your cycle, predict your fertile window and just make sure your body is okay. It also contains section for sexual wellbeing – on the paid version – which is awesome!

Another tool I want to share with you is the menstrual underwear by Mme L’Ovary. This is probably the best brand for reusable pads in the market. They actually propose a pair of padded panties with 3 removable pads and a carrying bag. It’s extremely practical and comfortable. I literally only wear these.