As I am currently going through my moon cycle, I found myself reflecting on how much my relationship with menstruation has changed together with my relationship with my own body, femininity and cyclical nature. The way I experience these days now is completely different from how I used to experience them years ago, and I wanted to share a little bit about what has changed, how I take care of myself during this special time and why something that I once considered an inconvenience has slowly become a very meaningful and sacred part of being a woman for me.
There was a time when I genuinely hated getting my period. I would see it as my “weaker days”, an inconvenience, something disturbing my plans and making everyday life more difficult. If I was in pain, I would normally take painkillers or find another way of suppressing what I was feeling, and most importantly, I wouldn’t really slow down. I expected myself to function in exactly the same way regardless of what was happening inside my body. Today I look at it completely differently. I celebrate every moon cycle, because for me it is a celebration of being a woman, of my femininity, my body and the beautiful changing nature that comes with it.
Over the last few years I have been connecting much more deeply with my own cyclical nature. We experience four seasons throughout the year, but as women we can also recognise our own inner seasons throughout each menstrual cycle. The days before menstruation already feel to me like an invitation to slowly move towards winter, and the bleeding itself is the deepest part of that winter, the moment when my body naturally wants me to turn inwards. The more connected I have become with my body, and the more consciously I work with it, the more clearly I can feel those changes. I know now that giving myself permission to slow down doesn’t make me less productive or less creative. Actually, I have noticed quite the opposite. My creativity, vitality and ability to give to the world feel much more sustainable when I also respect the moments when my body is asking me to rest.
I am becoming more and more aware of everything that happens inside of me throughout these days and, actually, throughout my entire cycle. I can even recognise when I am ovulating, and from that moment onwards the whole process leading towards menstruation is more or less noticeable to me. I can feel the changes in my body, energy, emotions and the way different areas of my body begin to respond. My periods can be quite painful, and I can start experiencing tension and cramps several days before the bleeding begins, sometimes even around a week before, so I have learned not to wait until I am already in pain to start taking care of myself. This is the moment when I begin paying even more attention to hydration, warmth and circulation, especially because I have always experienced my circulation as being on the weaker side. I know my own body much better now, so I have learned to recognise when it needs additional support rather than waiting until it is already struggling.
I drink plenty of water and different herbal infusions and often reach for ginger or rosemary when I want to bring more warmth into my body and support healthy circulation. Cleavers are another herb I like to use as part of my herbal rituals. Sauna can be another beautiful remedy for me when it feels right for my body, bringing warmth and a sense of movement throughout the whole system. For me, all of this has become part of learning to respond earlier to what my body is communicating rather than only reacting once discomfort has already become intense.
Years ago, if the pain came, I would probably simply take a tablet and continue with my day. Now I approach it in a completely different way. Self-massage has become one of the most important things for me during this time, especially massaging my belly and the whole area around my pelvis and hips. I use warm compresses or simply keep a hot-water bottle on my belly, work with my breath and gently move my pelvis instead of forcing my body into intense activity. I also sometimes give myself sound-healing sessions with my Tibetan singing bowl and tuning forks, especially around my womb and pelvic area, allowing the vibration, breath and movement to become part of my own little ritual of care.
Gentle movement helps me a lot too, so depending on how my body feels, I may do some soft stretching, a little yoga or just a few very gentle abdominal exercises. Nothing intense, no cardio and no pushing myself through a workout, just enough movement to bring some softness, awareness and circulation into the whole area. I have actually been working with my pelvis almost every day recently, releasing tension and bringing more awareness into this part of my body. I keep my morning practices regular because they’re my sacred rituals and they’re part of my regulation too, although during my moon cycle I adjust them to what my body is actually asking for.
While being in Poland my mum even joined me, and it has been beautiful to explore some of this together and notice certain similarities in where our bodies hold tension. For me there is something very meaningful in two generations of women bringing awareness to the body together, especially when I think about everything that can be carried through families, consciously or unconsciously.
Sleep is another huge part of it for me, and during my menstruation I simply need much, much more of it. Instead of fighting this or feeling guilty that I should already be awake, productive or doing something, I allow myself to sleep. Sometimes a lot. I look at it as giving my body the space and energy to do what it needs to do instead of spending that energy everywhere else. If my body is asking me for another hour, a nap during the day or a much longer night of sleep, whenever I can, I give it that. This has probably been one of the biggest changes in the way I treat myself during my cycle because I no longer see rest as wasting time. I see it as allowing my body to use its resources for whatever process it is moving through.
Herbs and plants are another big part of the way I care for myself. My mum and I collect and dry different herbs, so throughout the year we have our own little natural pharmacy available to us. Yarrow and cleavers are among the plants we gather, and I love preparing different herbal infusions and baths depending on what my body feels like it needs at the time. I also love rosemary baths, which I experience not only as physical care but also as an energetic cleansing ritual. There is something very beautiful about using plants that you or someone close to you has actually collected from the land, dried and stored, and then returning to them months later when your body calls for them. It makes the whole process feel much more connected to nature and to the natural rhythm that we are part of.
Hydration and nourishing food become especially important to me during these days too. Rather than restricting myself or expecting my body to function on very little, I try to give it nourishing, warming food and simply pay more attention to what it is asking for. Again, it comes back to the same thing for me: listening instead of forcing, and allowing my needs to change throughout the month rather than expecting myself to eat, move, work and rest exactly the same way every single day.
My relationship with menstrual blood itself has changed enormously too. Something I once considered uncomfortable or something simply to get rid of has become something I no longer feel disgusted by or disconnected from. Whenever it is practical for me, I try to collect some of my blood rather than immediately treating it as waste. Sometimes I return a little of it to Mother Earth as my own personal offering of gratitude for life, femininity and the ability to experience this cycle. Sometimes I use a little of the blood from the first day as a face mask (wild woman – I know), or creatively, painting intuitive symbols, runes or different shapes on canvas or on my belly, simply allowing whatever wants to come through me to appear. These are very personal practices and I am not sharing them as something every woman should do. They are simply part of the relationship I have developed with my own body and with something that I used to reject.
My natural cycle itself has also been a journey. In the past I used hormonal contraception and at one point I also had an intrauterine contraceptive device, and afterwards it took time for me to feel that I was truly connected with my own natural rhythm again. During the years that followed I started working much more consciously with Yoni, my pelvis, hips and uterus area, my sexuality, emotions and different experiences that I felt were still held somewhere within my body. I cannot tell you scientifically which particular practice influenced which change in my cycle, and I don’t want to pretend that I can, but from my own experience I can say that the deeper my relationship with my body became, the more differently I began to experience my menstruation and the whole month surrounding it.
There have also been many moments when the timing of my menstruation has felt incredibly meaningful to me. Sometimes it has arrived around an ending, a transformation, an important ceremony or the beginning of something completely new in my life. Perhaps someone else would call those moments coincidences. Through my own spiritual perspective, I often experience them as synchronicities and invitations to pay attention. My menstruation has therefore become a natural moment for me to look at what happened during the previous cycle, what moved through me emotionally, where I lost my centre, what I learned, what I am still holding onto and what I am ready to leave behind.
This is also why the beginning of my menstruation has slowly become a little ceremony of closing and opening at the same time. I consciously give gratitude for the cycle that has just passed and allow myself to recognise everything it brought me, including the uncomfortable moments and the lessons hidden inside them. Then I begin opening myself towards the new cycle and whatever it may bring. I connect more deeply with the element of water, with the Earth, with my emotions and with the natural flow of life, asking myself what I would like to release, where I want to bring more awareness and what I am ready to receive or create next.
I find the relationship between menstruation, women and spirituality fascinating as well. Across different cultures and traditions there have been very different beliefs and practices surrounding menstruating women, sometimes treating menstruation as sacred and powerful, and at other times placing restrictions around women during bleeding. I have come across teachings and stories within spiritual and shamanic spaces that interpret menstruation as a particularly potent time for a woman, and I personally also experience it as one of the most powerful moments of my whole cycle. Not necessarily because I have the most physical energy, because very often I don’t, but because there is something about slowing down, turning inwards and becoming more receptive that allows me to hear myself differently and connect with another kind of power.
For me, the biggest transformation has been that I no longer look at menstruation as something that happens to me and interrupts my life. I experience it as part of my life, part of being in this female body and part of the rhythm I am learning to trust more deeply. I give myself much more sleep, more warmth, more water, nourishing food, herbs, self-massage, breath, sound, gentle movement when movement feels good and stillness when stillness is what I need. If I genuinely need to change my plans, cancel something or create more space for myself, I allow myself to do that without feeling guilty or thinking that I should somehow be stronger and simply push through.
The more I connect with my cyclical nature, the more I understand that being a woman doesn’t mean expecting myself to wake up with exactly the same energy, capacity, emotions and needs every single day. There are moments for expansion and moments for turning inward, moments for creating and moments for receiving, moments for being visible and moments for disappearing into our own little winter for a while. And perhaps this is what my moon cycle has been teaching me most: instead of constantly asking my body to adjust itself to my life, I can sometimes allow my life to move with my body.
Today I know how sacred this time is for me as a woman, and with everything I have learned and experienced along the way, I try to honour it and embrace it as fully as I can. I allow myself to receive what this time brings me, to listen more deeply, to rest, to release, to create and to reconnect with myself, my body and my feminine nature. And this is something I truly wish for every woman: to discover her own relationship with her cycle, in her own way, and to experience how much beauty, wisdom and power can be found in something we were so often taught to simply endure.
With love,
Ania <3
