Here's the post by ‪@rhythmsofhealth‬ I explore in this ep: https://www.instagram.com/p/DTssPuBET...

I delve into the significance of the 2026 and its correlation with the Yang Fire Horse in period 9, a significant time in Chinese Zodiac that historically affected women's lives and bodies. Inspired by an insightful Instagram post by Rhythms of Health, I reflect on the industrial changes since 1846 that disrupted women's biological rhythms and cyclical living. I explore the current societal pressures, the need for body literacy, and the journey towards remembering our innate cyclical power. Listen as I inconclusively and very rambling-like discuss the challenges & adaptations our female bodies face, and the potential for societal change that aligns more closely with our natural rhythms.

TIMESTAMPS:

01:53 Cycle Check-In: Understanding Your Menstrual Phases
08:22 Chinese New Year and Women's Health
09:45 Historical Impact of Industrialization on Women's Bodies
25:32 Adapting to Modern Stress & Stressors
34:22 Embracing Cyclical Power in 2026
39:30 Conclusion and Reflections

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I may make a small commission if you purchase from any of the above links. This helps me support myself & my business and I'm grateful if you're happy to use these links/codes and share them if you love the products.

WATCH OR LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST:

💖 On website: http://karindawholistix.com.au/podcasts/oh-my-menses/

💖 Youtube: youtube.com/@karindawholistix

💖 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0SksHGmREZ7waOeGrIXgvw

💖 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oh-my-menses/id1673595367

💖 And be sure to check out my other podcast, The Nuanced Naturopaths with my bestie & colleague Julie Forrester: https://www.karindawholistix.com.au/podcasts/nuanced-naturopaths

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Karinda: Hello, welcome to another episode of Oh My Menses. I am Karinda. I'm a naturopath menstrual cycle educator and fertility awareness trainer. I love menstrual cycles. And thank you for clicking or tapping on this episode today. If you and new around here, we like to start off these episodes with what I call a cycle check-in.

[00:00:23] This is just a really simple practice of checking in with yourself based on where you are at in your menstrual cycle.

[00:00:29] I am on day 11, cycle day 11. I am firmly planted in my follicular phase and a couple of hints of how you can tell: I'm wearing a pink scrunchie, which I would almost never wear. I've got lipstick on and I've got a colorful dangly earring and a ring and a red top, and I am quite literally feeling follicular.

[00:00:52] And by the way, feel and follicular is the name of a herbal tea that me and my friend Madeline Lewin made. When we decided [00:01:00] to make tea blends for each stage of the menstrual cycle. So if that intrigues you, I love the blend. It's like licorice and spearmint and horsetail. It's very replenishing and building and is exactly what I need when I am in this phase of the cycle.

[00:01:17] How else am I feeling? I'm feeling, I'm feeling good. It's so, it's so follicular. It's so stereotypical of the follicular phase. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling solid. I'm feeling like I'm on a trajectory. It is easier to get things done. It's easier to talk to people.

[00:01:38] It's easier to look after myself. Follicular phase is the inner spring, and I am feeling like spring. I'm feeling springy, and I'm feeling like I'm in a spring kind of season. Energized and grateful for it.

[00:01:53] I invite you to check in with yourself and where you are at in your own menstrual cycle, if you have one.

[00:01:59] If you [00:02:00] are new to menstrual cycle tracking, you can download my free cycle tracking guide that will give you all the foundations for tracking. Your body, your signs and your cycle holistically. Get to know the four phases of the cycle. Understand what to track for your period, what your period's telling you.

[00:02:16] Get to know what ovulation is and how you can begin to identify that. So many good insights. It's like 25 pages, it is free and you can download it, get like an instant download at the link in the show notes.

[00:02:28] If you are ready for a little bit more than just cycle tracking, if you feel like you've got the basics of cycle tracking down pat, you're like, yeah, okay. I know my phases. I know how to track my cycle Tracking my period counting. My cycle day is cool, but you're feeling like you want a bit more info of how you can live in alignment with your cycle, or how to start addressing some of the hormone imbalances that you have.

[00:02:49] I have just revamped one of my favorite offerings that I've ever made. It's the cycle power bundle. It's now in the form of like a mini course on my website. It's like [00:03:00] 20 downloadable digital resources all targeted at helping you live in alignment with your cycle, helping you understand what your hormones are telling you.

[00:03:10] I've got resources like eating with your cycle, moving with your cycle, decoding your period blood, learning to love your luteal phase, the holistic hormone cheat sheet. I've got masterclass notes. I've got resources that I typically only give to the patients that I work with one-on-one. I love this resource so much.

[00:03:29] I love this bundle so much. Guys, it's $27. It's a once off payment of $27, and you get those resources for life. Not only do you get the resources, but you get the wisdom that the resources will offer you. So if you're looking for a little bit more than just the basics of cycle tracking, please do check out the cycle power bundle.

[00:03:53] Let's get into the episode. This was sparked up from a recent [00:04:00] consult that I had with a patient who, like many of my patients, was having a really hard time in her luteal phase. So we've got the four phases. The luteal phase is the second half of our cycle. It's after ovulation, it's before your period.

[00:04:16] We can refer to this as the inner autumn of the cycle. We can also equate this to like the waning moon, if we were looking at like the lunar phases.

[00:04:27] And I've referred to the phases and the hormones that kind of determine the phases like this before, but. As I was in the consult, sometimes the right words just come out and flow naturally out of me, and it, it, I'm so, so grateful for when that happens.

[00:04:44] And I found that there's a lot of medicine in storytelling and when things aren't stories like very overtly, it can be helpful to like turn them into stories. Make them make characters. Find characters in the [00:05:00] story. Assign characters to the menstrual cycle and the hormones. Make it mythic, right? Make it like mythological.

[00:05:07] This is a cycle that has existed for like how many, how many years? Millions, hundreds of thousands, at least. So this cycle goes way, way back, and I feel like when we talk about the cycle, we are usually lacking the storytelling components and that can make it a little bit hard to connect with. Now, if you haven't seen my previous episode on learning how to smooth out a rough luteal phase, I think that would be a really good place to start, especially if you are experiencing PMS, Premenstrual syndrome, or even honestly PMDD, premenstrual Dysphoric disorder.

[00:05:49] No matter what the presentation is in a premenstrual phase with the patients I'm working with, there is always a kind of [00:06:00] spiritual medicine to be found in the luteal phase, and symptoms will often prevail when we kind of dismiss or fail to acknowledge the myth and the medicine that the phase is trying to show us.

[00:06:16] It's ourselves. It's a part of ourselves trying to show us something, right? So even in severe cases of PMDD or severe cases of PMS where there's lots of physical, physiological support needed. Maybe there's pharmaceutical medications involved. Maybe there's, it's just like a heavy, intense like supplement protocol to help stabilize moods and, you know, neurotransmitter balance and regulate inflammation.

[00:06:44] Even if there's a really strong physical picture, there will always be benefit from acknowledging and paying a little bit more attention to this more energetic, spiritual picture. And I [00:07:00] found it's helpful to consider the hormones of these phases as characters. Now, if to make this easier, I'm just going to divide the menstrual cycle in half, right?

[00:07:13] So we've got the follicular phase, which includes menstruation and ovulation, and then we've got the luteal phase, which is after ovulation and before your next period. So we've got two halves. The first half of your cycle, the follicular phase, is really fueled by estrogen. Now, during your period, that's when your sex hormones will be the lowest.

[00:07:38] Contrary to popular belief and and myth, period is a time of low hormone activity. It's generally at the end or once your bleed has finished, that your estrogen is slowly gonna start to build back up again the closer you get to ovulation, which is like the middle of your cycle, right? So it's very estrogen dominated. [00:08:00] The luteal phase,

[00:08:01] however... now don't get me wrong, estrogen still plays a role. Estrogen even has a little peak in the luteal phase there, but, another hormone comes into play. Progesterone. Only after ovulation will significant amounts of progesterone be produced. So we've got two very different hormonal blueprints.

[00:08:23] And do you know, like if you are feeling like you are frustrated and confused. And feeling like you are two different people or maybe more than two different kinds of people throughout a menstrual cycle or throughout a month, if you don't track your cycle, and you are like feeling like, what is wrong with me?

[00:08:43] Why aren't I stable? Why can't I just stick to the one routine? Why aren't I consistent? Why do I get moody for like, no reason? Why do these things upset me? And like inside I can tell like, "why, why am I getting upset at this?" But like, I can't, my behavior is just [00:09:00] not reflecting that. If you have ever felt any of those things or ask yourself any of those questions, I promise that the menstrual cycle has some answers.

[00:09:12] The menstrual cycle is that: it's a cycle. It's not this solid, linear, flat line. Even just looking at these two halves of the cycle, you've got two totally different hormonal blueprints that are governing two halves of the cycle, that are governing each phase. So how you feel in your follicular phase, maybe when your period's finished and you're getting closer to ovulation, is expectedly, realistically going to feel different to when you've passed ovulation, when you've crossed that threshold, and now you're on your way to your next bleed.

[00:09:46] Or starting a conception journey, depending on what happens.

[00:09:49] So there's that first piece of validation, like you're in the right place. If you are sick of feeling like, "why do I feel crazy? Why do I feel like so many different people? What's going on?" [00:10:00] The good news is there's nothing wrong with you. You're a cyclical being. But there are ways that we can

[00:10:09] make the transition across the different phases, across those different hormonal landscapes, a little bit smoother. So we've got the two halves of the cycle. We've got these two different hormonal blueprints that determine how we feel during each phase. Now, an important thing I'm gonna throw in here is that your sex hormones don't just affect like your ovaries and your fertility and like your period, right?

[00:10:34] Your sex hormones influence, I'm gonna say nearly every single tissue of your body. Including your genetics, including your DNA, your sex hormones can determine which genes in your cells are turned on or off, right? Now, particularly a part I really like to hone in on is that your sex hormones in your brain act as what we [00:11:00] call neuro steroids.

[00:11:02] They are brain active chemicals. They are having an influence on your brain. Now you could think of anything else that has an influence on your brain and pretty quickly, you know, you could maybe think of a drug or neurotransmitters that you're familiar with, serotonin, dopamine, for example, and you can pretty quickly get an idea of like, "oh yeah, like that affects my mood and maybe how I'm thinking and how well I can concentrate, or my motivation or the nature of my thoughts."

[00:11:29] Now throw in the layer that these sex hormones are pretty much influencing all those things as well. Your thoughts, your mood, how you're thinking, how you're perceiving pretty much everything, your cognition, your memory, your concentration, your attention, your predisposition to certain emotions, your sense of motivation, your reward circuitry that we generally associate with dopamine.

[00:11:56] Estrogen and progesterone are also having a major [00:12:00] influence on these pathways, on these neural pathways in your brain, in your nervous system.

[00:12:08] Now, let's bring the myth in.

[00:12:10] First half of the cycle. Follicular phase. Estrogen is the pre predominating hormone. She's having the biggest influence, and estrogen...

[00:12:23] oh, she just, she's all about, you know, like, building and growth, and she just loves to please everyone, and she wants to be seen. She wants to be seen, she wants to be chosen, and she wants to get along with everyone. And she's a really good social networker and she's really good at supporting like serotonin and like a good mood and feeling like really confident.

[00:12:54] And she's very sensual and she's very sexual and she plays a huge [00:13:00] role in your libido, and she's just this like, just, "hello, here I am. What can I do for you? What can I do for you?" Because estrogen's role based on our DNA is to help you ovulate so that you could potentially make a baby. And continue our human race.

[00:13:27] 'cause that's what's wired into our DNA. That's what, that's the overarching code that our genes are running on. And estrogen is there to fill that role. Estrogen is people pleasing, estrogen wants to be liked and acknowledged and chosen. So that, again, in evolutionary terms: there's a potential, there's potential partners everywhere, right?

[00:13:53] Look at all these sperm donors, I'm just, just talking about it from an evolutionary perspective, right? This is what [00:14:00] our genes are thinking. And my God, look at all these potential like matches. Look at all these people who could ejaculate inside of me and potentially fertilize one of my eggs, and then I get to contribute to the human race.

[00:14:11] Oh my God. And I can continue the species, and that's just all fulfilling the destiny of my genes!

[00:14:16] Now if you are moody and bitchy and introverted and isolated and cold, and maybe you've got some needs and boundaries, the potential mates are like, "mm, nah, maybe not." It's less likely that you'll get seen and selected by a potential mate. So estrogen's role is to be that person that will get chosen.

[00:14:49] She's so accommodating. She doesn't wanna stress anyone out. She just wants to do the best she can. She wants to help in any way that she can, and she's just [00:15:00] stimulate. She's just having a party in there with your ovaries. She's stimulating those follicles in your ovaries. Getting the eggs, getting the eggs cells prepared for potential fertilization.

[00:15:09] "Who's gonna choose us this month?"

[00:15:14] That's her M.O. That's what she's focused on.

[00:15:17] You cross over ovulation and estrogen will have a little bit of a dip. "She's like, all right, peace out. Done my roll. Cool." A bit. She's still there. And about halfway through the lutil phase, she wakes back up to, to just be like, "well, hang on. What's going on here? Did we fertilize an egg? What, uh, uh, what's going on?"

[00:15:39] So she doesn't totally flatline. But after ovulation, this very special thing happens in our ovaries where we grow a temporary organ that produces the hormone progesterone. In your ovary, the follicle that housed the egg cell that got released at [00:16:00] ovulation is now becoming a hormone producing organ.

[00:16:06] Producing vast amounts of progesterone. Now, progesterone's role biologically is to help nourish the uterus in such a way that a fertilized egg could implant itself into your uterine wall and grow happily and healthily. And progesterone is, if we break down the word, it's Progest; pro gestation. It's for pregnancy, it's for gestating.

[00:16:37] So progesterone pretty much is the key hormone that supports and dominates during a pregnancy. So progesterone comes up, she's like, "oh. I've got a role now." And who is progesterone? If we're going back to the story, if estrogen is the people pleasing, very accommodating, very lovely, lovely, lovely girl, who is progesterone?

[00:16:58] Maybe they're sisters or maybe not. [00:17:00] Well, let's see where the story takes us. Progesterone. Well, she's come onto the stage because she heard that you might have a baby. Now she doesn't know that yet. Your body is preparing for pregnancy before it knows whether an egg has been fertilized. It's just, it just wants to play it safe.

[00:17:20] It wants to save resources, and so it prepares for a potential pregnancy. So progesterone gets called out. And she's looking, she's not as frivolous and inviting as estrogen is. She's kind of looking around the place. She's quieter, she's grounded, she's steady. And she's looking with a really steady eye, "what's going on around here?"

[00:17:47] 'Cause her role in supporting pregnancy, includes making sure that she finds herself in an environment that would be suitable to raise a [00:18:00] baby. So she's looking at safety, she's looking at comfort, she's looking at alignment of values. You know, think, kind of think about the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You know, there's, there's basic survival.

[00:18:13] She's looking at the basic safety things. Are there any immediate threats, or immediate dangers? But then on a deeper level, she's rustling up some things. Her eye is really, really keen. And if she senses that there's something in your environment that is not right for you. If there's something in your environment that is not serving you, she's gonna clock that.

[00:18:43] And something in particular that I said to my patient is that progesterone is a bit like a mother, and I guess that fits with her role in supporting a pregnancy. She's the queen mother, and she's coming out and she's getting a lay of the [00:19:00] land. And she's taking in all the information. And mothers are so deeply loving, right?

[00:19:07] But she's not fluffy. And so where estrogen might tell you a truth in a way that sounds like, "oh yeah, like, no, everything's kind of all right. And yeah, no, no, no, it's not that bad because like, no, no, no. 'cause afterwards he told us that like he was sorry, and like, it's all fine. And yeah, don't, yeah, no, no. Don't need to worry about that. So like, no, no, no. It's like, it's all good. It's actually really good." That's how estrogen will describe a situation. Progesterone is gonna be more like, "what on earth are you doing?" That might be a question that she asks, like your ego or your inner mind. She will be like, "this is unacceptable."

[00:19:54] And she's not trying to be harsh. She's not doing it because she doesn't like [00:20:00] you. She loves you so much that she wants to reveal to you the deepest, darkest truths about your life. And this is why the premenstrual phase, the luteal phase, can be one of the most intense times of a menstrual cycle. Because things in the first half of the cycle that are under estrogen's reign, it's just like, "oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:20:30] All good? Yeah. Yeah. Shake it off. Yeah. Yeah. No stress. No stress. Let's just, come on. Let's just make a baby. I'll just, yep, just be good enough and then someone can impregnate me and, and then we'll think about the rest later." Well then later, progesterone steps in. And any stuff that you overrode against, maybe some intuitive feelings or your higher wisdom in the first half of your cycle, progesterone is gonna call that shit [00:21:00] out.

[00:21:01] And guess what? It's not just cycle to cycle. If you have been living a life that you know, deep in your bones is not serving you, is not propelling you towards the life that you dream about, is not propelling you towards the goals that you have; if it's not steering you towards this deep sense of satisfaction and peace, knowing that you are living in alignment with your values, that you are acting in congruence, in full integrity, with the life that you want to lead.

[00:21:44] If it's anything less than that, she will call you out. At first you might get subtle signals. "God, why do I feel, you know, why do I feel anxious? All of a, all of a sudden, fuck. Wow. [00:22:00] I got, I got really angry yesterday. I, God, I, I don't know what came over me. Okay, nevermind." Or maybe you get the teary type of PMS.

[00:22:11] That was me. Well, I was all of them. I got ragey, I got teary, I got really, really depressed. Like it, it was, it was like having clinical high grade depression for a week, if not more, of every month. So, she might, she might send you those cues and you know, even those early signals are on a whole spectrum from mild and subtle to really, really intense, right?

[00:22:38] Feeling a bit teary one day versus like a week of depression, right? Getting a little bit irritable versus having like a full-on rage attack at your partner or your friend, or your coworker, or your parent. Or your sibling.

[00:22:50] But to be sure she, she's sending you signals. Now if we spend cycle after cycle, month after month, [00:23:00] most commonly, but really unfortunately, year after year, even,

[00:23:04] the wise mother that is progesterone is gonna be like, "Hmm, okay, I see. We're still doing that shit. I thought I, I thought I sent a message about this. I thought I raised the alarm on this. Okay. Maybe the message didn't get across. I. Okay, let's, well, let's send out a stronger signal. Okay, she didn't hear me."

[00:23:28] You know, again, think of like a wise, grounded, calm mother. She's told you once, she's told you twice, she's told you three times and now she's pissed. But why is she pissed? Because she wants the best for you. 'cause she loves you so much. And she can see that there aren't many people around you that are brave or bold enough,

[00:23:50] or who love you deeply enough to tell you the fullest truth, even if it's painful. Even if it's painful to face. Even if it's really, really hard to [00:24:00] acknowledge. She wants to get this truth across to you so desperately that she's gonna start upping the ante with her tactics. And so maybe if you did just start off with a teary day or two in your premenstrual phase, maybe now you are getting a full week of depression. Maybe instead of just getting irritable for a couple days before you start your period, now you are feeling rageful, you are feeling resentment. You are screaming into pillows 'cause you don't know what else to do with that energy. And anyone who steps in your space goes, but it's scream attacks,

[00:24:40] it's absolute frustration. It's full on anger. And maybe it swings, maybe it's up, down, up, down, severe mood swings. Maybe it's brain fog. Maybe it's feeling totally disconnected from any cognitive abilities you had in the follicular phase. And you're just like, "oh my God, I can't think properly, I can't [00:25:00] read properly, I can't write properly, I can't have, I can't converse with people normally."

[00:25:04] Maybe you are having thoughts of like, they feel really drastic, like, "I need to quit my job." "I need to leave this marriage." "I need to, oh my God, what am I doing? Why do I live in this state? Oh my God, I need to move country." "Well, hang on. I need to change careers. What am I doing?"

[00:25:18] The signals get louder because she's trying to get something across to you.

[00:25:24] So when we want to live as the estrogenic version of ourselves. All the time. It's gonna make for a really hard luteal phase. Because the truth is you are not that estrogenic version of yourself all the time. And if you have a menstrual cycle, you can't be that person all the time. Progesterone exists and she's serving a purpose, and she really, really wants to help you.

[00:25:51] She's not afraid of not being chosen. That's no longer her priority. Estrogen cared about being liked and [00:26:00] chosen, and how could she please the people around her? How could she be accepted? Where does she get her sense of belonging from? And maybe that's the phase where we are seeking more external validation.

[00:26:10] Progesterone in your luteal phase, she doesn't care about that. She cares about the higher truth. She cares about the potential inside of you that lays dormant in the follicular phase. If we are focusing more on the external. She cares about the soul voice deep inside of you. That has gotten ignored and ignored and dismissed and bypassed cycle after cycle, year after year.

[00:26:37] She's like a mother. She sees your potential.

[00:26:40] She's a visioner. She can see the life ahead of you that you are capable of. And she can't understand why you are settling for people, relationships, foods, activities, routines, lack of sleep, [00:27:00] shitty job, environmental toxins, stress, crappy habits. She can't understand why you are settling for that, and so if that stuff just carries over into the luteal phase.

[00:27:13] She's like, "what? What?" And she's just like, wants to like lovingly shake you and be like, "can you not see what you're capable of?"

[00:27:22] And remember, this energy comes from yes, initially laying the groundwork to have a healthy pregnancy and to create a stable, solid environment to have a baby in. But. We don't need to worry about your reproductive intentions. There is still medicine in the luteal phase. There is still medicine coming from progesterone, not just if you wanna have a baby.

[00:27:43] The pattern that I typically see is that the estrogenic version of ourselves is less boundaried. Maybe people can walk over her a little bit more. She's very accommodating. Again, she wants to be chosen and accepted. There's less boundaries. Her needs come [00:28:00] second.

[00:28:00] So then when progesterone steps in, in the luteal phase, she's like looking at all our needs. Maybe she's looking at a checklist of needs and she's just like, "why are none of these? Why are none of these ticked? In fact, why is that one crossed off and that one has a weird scribble on it and you've highlighted this one, but it's still not ticked off? what? What are we doing about this?" And estrogen's like, "oh yeah, oh, no, no, no. Like it didn't, well, it didn't matter. It didn't matter at the time. Like, oh, I forgot, like, you know, just," and progesterone's like, "well, well now to, to counter for what we did in that half of the cycle, now I need to put up some boundaries and now, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna revisit this list of our needs, and I'm gonna establish them and enforce them."

[00:28:39] And oestrogen's like, "yeah, yeah, do whatever you have to do." And progesterone was like, "well, yeah, I'll, because it's gonna help you as well."

[00:28:45] And sometimes that can frustrate, it can frustrate us. If we are not living in a way that is really prioritizing our deep core needs, we're gonna feel like, "oh, why do I have these urges all of a sudden? Why? Why? Why do I feel like I'm gonna say [00:29:00] no to that person? That's not like me? And now I'm getting anxious and I need to call in sick and I'm gonna let down my boss and oh, my partner's gonna be so pissed at me.

[00:29:08] 'cause like I don't wanna do that thing and like I need to cancel plans again and." Like, you know, whatever the, whatever the form of boundary is, it can be frustrating for the self when you are not used to enforcing boundaries. When you're not used to putting yourself first, that can feel really uncomfortable and like, no wonder you feel like you have a problem, right?

[00:29:29] No wonder you feel like something's wrong with you. 'cause like that discomfort can be so intense. It can feel foreign if we've lived a life where like people pleasing has predominated. The other thing that can get us down is that it can affect, yeah, it can affect the people around us. 'cause maybe they're used to a different version of ourselves being at the forefront of our personalities.

[00:29:50] And maybe that version of ourselves is very, very accommodating and very, very easygoing and polite and never rude. And we're so nice and we're so, so, so, so nice. You know? [00:30:00] And whatever's easiest for you. And we're so flexible. I'm endlessly flexible, you know? And then we get into the luteal phase and we start to be inflexible.

[00:30:10] We start to have needs. So maybe we are not as nice. We are kind, we are kind like deeper down, right? But we are not, we are not caring about the surface level niceties. You know, we're not necessarily as worried about people interpreting us; people's opinions about us. We are more concerned with, are we doing what is best for us, the self?

[00:30:32] And so the people around you might be like, "what the fuck?" And you know, I can still remember the first time my dad called me a selfish bitch.

[00:30:44] I was probably just in my luteal phase and trying to set some boundaries to protect a part of myself.

[00:30:53] And I wanted to share that in case it has ever been reflected to you, [00:31:00] that you're selfish, you're self-centered, you only care about yourself. Maybe the message in that... something's being reflected to us from other people. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna be so naive to say, "nah, you're wrong." People can see something in us, right?

[00:31:15] We can act as mirrors for each other. Now, I don't need to take on the identity of, "oh yeah, I am. Oh geez, I'm a selfish bitch. God, I guess I'm far out. Guess I'm just like a piece of shit," you know? But what I can do is go, "huh, what? Okay. If I am acting more selfishly is that trying to serve a purpose? Oh, okay.

[00:31:35] Have there been times where I've neglected myself and maybe that's got me into danger? Maybe that's made me feel unsafe? Maybe my health has suffered for it? And so now I'm being more selfish is one way of looking at it so that I'm more protected, so that I feel safe so that my, my boundaries are respected.

[00:31:57] Oh, and then I feel better in my body, and I feel better in my mental [00:32:00] health and my physical health. Oh, right."

[00:32:02] Your luteal phase is usually enforcing the boundaries that were neglected or forgotten in your follicular phase.

[00:32:11] Now a little caveat, you might not have any premenstrual issues and you might feel like, well, well no, I don't really need this. I don't think this is gonna help me. I don't think I need to do anything in my luteal phase. But maybe you experience period pain or heavy periods, or just feel really awful during your bleed.

[00:32:29] A lot of that work in the luteal phase is trying to set you up for a really healthy, beautiful period, for a really meaningful menstruation. So even if you don't have PMS or PMDD or any premenstrual symptoms, which I almost like highly doubt. 'cause in these times, most people do have some degree of PMS.

[00:32:51] But if you don't, but you have period problems, you struggle at menstruation, I promise you, turning a lens towards your [00:33:00] luteal phase is going to support your menstrual phase as well.

[00:33:05] What are some journal prompts that we can take from this? Where is your estrogenic self calling the shots?

[00:33:14] What are the gifts of your estrogenic self? What do you love about that version of her? What does she offer you? ' cause it might've, it might've sounded like I just like crapped all over her. That was, it was really just for the story. Of course, she's absolutely important. Estrogen is absolutely necessary and she does so much for us.

[00:33:33] But this is just like, you know, a part of her. It's a facet of her, right? So reflect on what she does for you, and how you feel in that time of your cycle and what you like about it. And if there's struggles in that time of the cycle, highlight them as well. Reflect on those. And then consider, what is progesterone trying to do for you?

[00:33:54] And maybe you are thinking back to my analogy about progesterone, kind of like scanning the [00:34:00] environment. Remembering that the environment is like, yes, your like physical environment, where you live, the room you are in. It's also the people around you. It's also what you put in your body and what, remember what you put in your body is not just food and drink.

[00:34:15] It's the cigarettes, it's the weed, it's the vapes, it's the alcohol, it's the chemicals, it's the people you let inside of you. That all makes up your environment. So she's scanning the environment, and maybe you might like to picture her doing that and maybe make a list of what could progesterone be detecting in my environment that doesn't make her feel safe? Or that makes her feel unsafe?

[00:34:39] What is my luteal phase trying to bring to my attention? And if you're not sure where to start with that, but you are feeling a specific emotion that comes up cyclically for you, that comes up in the premenstrual phase for you. Start with that emotion. So narrow in from your luteal phase, narrow into that specific emotion, and then [00:35:00] ask the emotion; dialogue with the emotion.

[00:35:03] "What are you trying to show me? What are you trying to communicate with me? What are you bringing my attention to?" And you might get body sensations, or you might get thoughts or feelings, or you might just wanna free write, just totally stream of consciousness. Don't censor yourself in what you're writing.

[00:35:23] Just reflect on that and just explore and see what's there. And then maybe read back on it. Maybe if you did the list of things that feel unsafe in your environment, and give, give the luteal phase and progesterone the benefit of the doubt. So even if your conscious mind is like, "oh no, I don't really think that's a problem."

[00:35:40] If there's any interview that suspects that it could potentially be, no, not quite right, or maybe there's something to explore there, just write it down, just brain dump it. And then maybe you zoom out and you look at that list and you look on your reflections, and maybe you do that for a couple of menstrual cycles in a row, and I bet there will [00:36:00] be some kind of pattern.

[00:36:01] And then you'll be like, oh, I see what she was trying to tell me. From that, I want you to pick 1, 1, 1, 1 tiny, tiny micro action, a single action step, that shifts you a little bit closer to helping progesterone as the mother that she is feel a little bit safer.

[00:36:32] That could be as simple as an extra glass or two of water a day. That could be an extra hour of sleep per night. That could be less time on screens, devices, or social media. That could be spending a day by yourself, not needing to interact with anyone.

[00:36:53] It could be dropping down from the three alcoholic drinks a week to maybe just one. It could look [00:37:00] like vaping every day, to vaping every second day.

[00:37:03] It could look like swapping out, scrolling for reading a chapter of a book.

[00:37:09] Or swapping any indoor time for a little bit more outdoor time. These are just some ideas. What your cycle wants to show you is going to be so unique to you. But please, the thing that I, I urge you to focus on is to make it as small and achievable as you can. When the luteal phase is a time where we can be so prone to overwhelm, don't let that be the thing that sabotages you from feeling better and feeling more grounded in yourself.

[00:37:39] Don't let that be the thing. Don't, don't be the perfectionist. We, we don't need her right now, who's like, no, no. Well, if I'm gonna change anything, well then I need to change all these things and I need to change it to this extent. And if I'm gonna do this, well then I need to do it cold Turkey. That might work for you.

[00:37:52] That could really overwhelm a lot of different parts of you, and you could end up spiraling and delving into more and more bad [00:38:00] habits. And then you get your period, and then it doesn't feel good, and then you're in your follicular phase and estrogen's like, "oh yeah, no, don't worry about it. We're all good for now.

[00:38:07] Keep going all good. Don't need to, no, we don't need to change anything. We're fine. Look at me, we're fine."

[00:38:14] And then progesterone, as she does, will inevitably come in after ovulation and she'll look at the mess and she'll be like, "okay, this one's a big cleanup. But what boundaries do I need to enforce this time and how? And how loudly do I have to send a signal?"

[00:38:33] Can we look at our cycles as mythological medicine,

[00:38:41] that always have something to offer us? That always have a potent reflection about our lives. Can we accept the possibility even if it feels like a narrow, slim possibility, that each phase has gifts? Each phase has something [00:39:00] to offer you? And all we need to do is lean in. Maybe do some reflecting, do some tuning in, do some sensing in order to receive that medicine from each phase.

[00:39:11] Just a possibility.

[00:39:12] If you are experiencing PMS or PMDD or any premenstrual symptom that you've been experiencing for a while, and maybe you've started to do this, like deeper inner work. But you know that some physical support is needed. Please, please, please do get in touch with me. I help so many patients with premenstrual symptoms and do you know what? It is

[00:39:36] usually the thing that we can support more quickly.

[00:39:40] I, I'm talking like one cycle of doing something a little bit differently.

[00:39:44] And patients will be like, "uh, my period came, but it kind of surprised me because I didn't have the usual spinning out of control and like mental breakdown that I usually have before my period." The period starts to [00:40:00] catch people off guard, which becomes a, another issue in and of itself. But there are so many beautiful naturopathic and nutritional tools that we can use to support the luteal phase.

[00:40:13] So many premenstrual symptoms are just aggravated or made worse by like a simple nutrient deficiency that can be diagnosed on a simple blood test. And sometimes it's a bit more complex than that. We can do, comprehensive hormone testing to understand what your estrogens and what your progesterone is actually doing, and we can look at testosterone as well, and your adrenal hormones and how everything's being metabolized and your cortisol and your melatonin, and we can put the whole picture together and go, oh, well it makes sense that you're feeling this way at this time.

[00:40:44] 'cause look what's happening. Here's the treatment for it. Here are the practices to include. It's very holistic. Supplements do such amazing work. Tailored herbal medicines like the ones that I make for my patients, do incredible, incredible work. But not, not at the [00:41:00] dismissal of this kind of deeper soul work.

[00:41:02] So wherever it feels easy to start, start, but please do feel free to get in touch with me. You can book in a free connection call. It's just a 15 minute chat where I get to understand what is going on for you, and then I explain how me as a women's health naturopath could help you on your journey towards more balance, towards less symptoms, towards whatever your health goal is.

[00:41:23] I can show you how I could be of support on your journey. The whole process is tailored to you. If you feel like you absolutely know, yes, I'm ready. I'm locked in. Maybe you've listened to heaps of my podcasts. Maybe you've been following me for a while. Feel free to dive straight into harmonized hormones.

[00:41:40] That is my three or six month package where we work one-on-one together to get to the root of your period problems and your hormone imbalances. That is the thing that most people, even after a connection call, most people are like, "yeah, harmonized hormones, three months, let's do it." Or "harmonized hormones,

[00:41:58] six months, with the full on Dutch [00:42:00] testing please. Let's do it. I'm ready for answers. I'm ready to do the work. I no longer want to feel this way. I know that there's a better way to live and I feel like you Karinda could help me on that journey." And I'm like, yep, no worries. Let's see what we can do. So most people end up going for that option.

[00:42:18] Most of the people who book in for connection calls are like, I ask how you came across, how you found me, how you found my work. And most people are like, "oh yeah, someone told me about you. Like, I don't know, like back in like 2020, like maybe five years ago.

[00:42:31] I've been like following you for five years" and I'm like, five years. Yeah. What? So. Yeah, if there's any more people who've been following me for that long and you've never had a connection, call with me. Please come out, come out, come out wherever you are. I'm really keen. I'm really keen to help you, especially if you are experiencing these hormonal issues, and gosh, especially if you've been like experiencing them for the whole time that you've been following me maybe on Instagram like or from whenever [00:43:00] someone told you about me,

[00:43:02] let's get to the bottom of that girl. There are so many tools. There are so many tools. If budget is the concern, if money is the first thing that you think of when I say book in, or yes, this is the package I think would be best for you. And you think of like, I can't afford it. Have a free chat anyway.

[00:43:19] ' cause I absolutely don't push you. There are no obligations to book in any paid appointment after the free call. You might get some insight from just the free call alone on what the journey could look like, and you might go, oh, that's like way more doable than I thought. If you do know that you need more support, but budget is still a concern.

[00:43:36] I'm in my follicular phase, so I'm endlessly flexible. No, but I do all the time. I offer payment plans. I wanna make this work as accessible to you as possible while respecting myself as a business owner. And even if you just start with the cycle power bundle, $27 a one-off payment, you get 20 resources.

[00:43:55] There is so much you can learn from that. And most of those resources came about [00:44:00] from consultations that I was having with real patients. And I was like, oh yeah, let me make this resource for this patient. And then I find myself using it again and again, again and again. And I'm like, oh, well this can help a lot of people. You'll get so much from just $27.

[00:44:13] Anything that I've mentioned, anything that I have referenced will be listed in the show notes, or I've also got some like juicy links, like any products that I recommend, I do have some affiliate links that I'm very, very proud to be an affiliate of. You'll find those in the description as well wherever you are watching or listening.

[00:44:29] If you are listening to this, and you'd prefer a video version. Uh. You can watch on YouTube and on my website, karindawholistix.com.au. If there's anything you would like to hear me explore or unpack in this very Karinda like way that I tend to do, let me know. I would love, I mean, I would love to know that you're listening.

[00:44:47] Any thoughts or comments or questions about this episode, let me know, but certainly if you have any requests, if there's anything you want to hear me chat about, I would love, love, love to hear it.

[00:44:57] I hope looking at the two [00:45:00] phases in this way has helped unlock something for you, and I really hope that you do those reflections and that you find that one little action step that will just pivot you closer to that internal sense of safety to help start to calm down those PMS symptoms just a little bit.

[00:45:17] Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for saying yes to me today. My estrogenic self is so, so, so, so thrilled that you chose me today of all days, of all the people you could have chosen, of all the podcasts you could have listened to, my goodness gracious! And I will see you in the next one.

[00:45:35]