I’m feeling intensely premenstrual. Today was a struggle. I supported myself, and got inspired to share with you what I did & how I treat myself when experiencing PMS. This is just how I dialogue with myself & navigate my own journey, but I hope it’s of some benefit to you, too.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Raw Premenstrual Check In

02:24 Lunar New Year Expectations

04:26 Work Momentum Drops

06:23 Insomnia And Body Crash

08:47 Needing Alone Time

12:48 Spotting And Acceptance

13:43 Rescheduling For Space

22:17 Meditation And Focus

26:06 Nourishing Breakfast Ritual

28:37 Sunlight And Single Tasking

30:06 Meditative Nap Reset

30:43 Stop Chasing Follicular Energy

31:53 Creative Flow Over Hustle

34:51 Somatic Support and No Rush

37:20 Avoidance and Energy Boundaries

39:13 Luteal Day Recap Rituals

44:17 Business Alignment Lessons

49:03 Show Up Unmasked

52:24 Supplements and Iron Note

54:47 Resources and Farewell

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WATCH OR LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST:

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

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

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💖 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:

OMM Ep 28 - navigating PMS in real time, authenticity & healing

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[00:00:00] Hi. Hi. Welcome to another episode of Oh My Menses, and quite frankly, an episode that I didn't wanna record, and that is probably the basis of today's episode. This is going to be

[00:00:22] not me telling you what to do based on what I've done in the past. This is me showing you right now in the moment how I'm experiencing a challenging premenstrual phase and what I'm doing about it, literally today, literally in the moment. Now I say I didn't wanna record this podcast, like recording anything was the, not even on the radar of today's to-do list.

[00:00:52] And as I was navigating my own feelings and deciding how I was going to like piece [00:01:00] together my day and how I was going to steward myself through the day, I did just get the flashy instinct of like, "you should talk about what you're experiencing. What you're experiencing is very human and you know that this is something that most of your clients experience."

[00:01:22] And like beyond clients, like I just know so many, so many of us, so many of my loved ones and so many people that I just know, experience really challenging premenstrual phases. And I really do believe that it doesn't have to be as hard as maybe we currently experience, experience it.

[00:01:44] And there is medicine to be received from this phase. And I'm gonna share a little bit about what the medicine that I'm receiving from this phase was. And also just how, how I clocked the onset of this premenstrual experience. [00:02:00] What sort of like switched my brain into the gear of like, "oh, we need to be supporting ourselves a little bit better."

[00:02:07] And as a naturopath, as a menstrual cycle educator, what I'm doing to actually support myself through that. And you can see straight off the bat, like I'm in my dressing gown. I'm barely wearing any clothes. I'm in my big camping Karinda's Corner cushion, which I love, which I love.

[00:02:24] I probably clocked on to my premenstrual experience last week, maybe mid last week.

[00:02:32] I'm recording this on a Monday and interestingly, it kind of coincided with the Lunar New Year, which I know myself and so many of us were excited about. And there's so much hubbub. Um, I mean like, I don't know if it's just me in the phases that I go through, but I don't think I have seen any anywhere near as much content about a previous, um, Chinese Zodiac year, [00:03:00] or lunar New Year

[00:03:01] uh, compared to what I've seen this year around the fire horse. And, you know, yeah, it's easy to get excited about based on what people are sharing about it. And there's a, there was a part of me that, you know, you, and I'm sure maybe you relate as well, you know, there might be a part of you that expects this, "oh my God, this big shift is coming."

[00:03:21] You know, whether you read about a full moon that's coming up or an astrological shift or a transit, or you are like getting out of your Saturn return or something like that, and you go, oh my God. Like, I'm so excited for that. And, and then it just doesn't like hit you as you were expecting, or you, or the problem- the first problem,

[00:03:40] you know, you had an expectation about how it would appear in your life and how it would affect you. Expectations, I mean, really just lead to disappointment. So I think I was feeling like just flatter than I thought I would be feeling with the onset of the Lunar New Year. [00:04:00] Which is also interesting that I even thought that because I follow the cycles of the moon so frequently and it's, it's in my cells, it's in my knowing that, you know, a dark moon, a new moon as a, that's a quiet time.

[00:04:17] That's a time where you may naturally feel a bit more inward, a bit more, still, a bit more recluse. And that's exactly how I was feeling. I was starting to go more inward, day to day. I realized I could, I had so much momentum built up in the first half of my cycle in my follicular phase, and I was feeling that day to day I could no longer like, feel that pulse of the momentum that I had been working with and what I was building.

[00:04:42] And I'm in the process of, you know, creating a whole new course, Menstrual Cycle Magick. I was in the process of sort of like revisiting regular posting on Instagram and recording reels, to spread the message about menstrual cycle awareness and to generate interest in the Cycle Power [00:05:00] Bundle, which is one of my digital products, that is sort of just like ongoing that I wanted to more actively promote. 'cause like I released it in 2023 and then just forgot about it. And I had felt so good sort of like bringing this regenerative energy to my business. And then things just started to fall short. Again, the problem with expectations. In terms of views and engagement and response, um, all lack thereof.

[00:05:30] And whether I was doing it consciously or subconsciously, I was taking that personally, I was making that response about me.

[00:05:39] If that had happened earlier on in my cycle, in my follicular phase, I may have seen that from a more business owner mindset and strategist mindset of like, "oh, okay. Didn't get the response we were hoping for. Can we pivot? Is there something missing? Is there something we are giving that isn't authentic?

[00:05:59] Like, [00:06:00] let's, you know, let's look at it in a strategic way, and can we make it more authentic?" I think I just would've looked at it differently, but instead, luteal phase me, like made it personal. And so I think that started to affect my mood. But honestly, to tell you the truth, day to day, I couldn't even, yeah.

[00:06:16] I put a pulse on my mood. I was feeling numb, and just starting to feel more flat and low energy. I also had some more insomnia last week, and yeah, I had like one night of insomnia and then maybe a few nights of like less good sleeps. And not every cycle, but most cycles of the year,

[00:06:35] I would say that it's just one night in my luteal phase, usually smack bang, mid luteal phase. I will have a night where I just either can't fall asleep or I don't want to fall asleep. I was watching YouTube until 2:00 AM. Granted, with a red light filter on my, on my phone. That's not, that's not [00:07:00] what my body or soul or psyche wanted in my luteal phase, and it's probably not what yours wanted either.

[00:07:06] But that's what I gave it. And um, so yeah, I had a really intense insomniac night and interestingly the following evening I was walking around, um, a park that I frequent with my partner and my dog and I collapsed. I, I didn't faint, I was still mostly conscious, but I felt so off; nausea. I was hot and sweating, but it was a cool evening and I'm like, I can't walk back to the car.

[00:07:39] And I just laid there on the grass and could not move and felt, was conscious, but felt so out of it, almost like a drunkenness and did not have the energy in my body to walk myself 100, 200 meters through grass to get back to our [00:08:00] car. Partner came around with his van, and was able to like, get the van closer to where I was on the grass and then like, sort of carried me back to the van.

[00:08:07] So it was all fine and I took some Hydralyte and fell asleep and thankfully I was all fine and I think I'm gonna unpick what that even was in, a Karinda's corner email that I'm writing. But you know, just sort of just to highlight like, okay, the homeostasis of my body was out of whack. So I was feeling off emotionally, my body was clearly talking to me and I knew that something was going on but wasn't necessarily heeding, the call wasn't necessarily responding in a way, that was conducive, that was in alignment with what my body was asking for.

[00:08:47] Last night I had the privilege of going to a really, really beautiful women's circle and interestingly, before that, I had felt a softening on Sunday morning and I reflected [00:09:00] that to my partner. And then it was so interesting that I, like, I woke up with this softness and then over the course of the day, my walls went back up and like this firmness and this hardness was coming back in and I was just like, "oh my God, what is this?"

[00:09:16] So again, like my luteal phase was talking to me like something needed to be expressed or we weren't getting what we wanted. And do you know what? I think I wanted alone time. I think I didn't wanna feel any kind of pressure to perform or be pleasing in any kind of way that I had to. And, and gosh, if I had just said that to my partner, he would've absolutely respected it.

[00:09:42] And he knows all about my luteal phases and all about my menstrual cave and. Uh, but I just guess I still had it in me. I'm like, no, no. You know, we love to spend our weekends together. On one hand, I do wanna spend time with him. Um, but I, but I didn't have a lot of energy to, you know, be [00:10:00] really active and lively.

[00:10:02] I, I just wanted to keep it low key and be a bit lazy and watch YouTube and TV all day, which didn't even make me feel better. I, it just, just, it just reflected to me that my capacity wasn't where I wanted it. Also had chocolate cake for dinner on Friday night. So that's also the demonstration of where I was at.

[00:10:25] So then as that hardness developed throughout the day, I actually, it actually came to a point where over nothing over something so minuscule, I just had this big emotional release and I cried. And I felt better for crying, to tell you the truth. And it was really short-lived. And my partner was really supportive.

[00:10:48] And as soon as, as the tears stopped and I had felt the completion of that release, I felt like a contraction of sorts, like in my womb. A kind of [00:11:00] spasm, not a spasm, but just like a, the sensation was switched on and it was like, oh shit. I let myself feel something that was brewing under the surface and, and my womb responded.

[00:11:13] And I was just like, oh, okay. And I, and I was like, maybe I'm closer to my bleed than I thought.

[00:11:18] And what's interesting is that my intention at ovulation was to not fall into a habit to see if I could like, not follow my pattern of what usually happens where I get into like luteal mode mentally earlier than I think I need to.

[00:11:43] So I might be like a few days past ovulation and I'll be like, "oh, I'm premenstrual, I'm premenstrual", when I'm not even, I'm not really getting those signals from my body. My thoughts aren't even generated that way. I, I wonder if it's some kind of like [00:12:00] protective buffer guard rail system that I've built in myself so that I don't just run wild into my luteal phase and then have PMS like slap me.

[00:12:11] Like a ton of bricks. Fall on me, like a ton of bricks, more like. So this ovulation, I was like, okay, let me just see how I can really enjoy that early autumn, inner autumn energy that let me just ride through that early luteal phase that is not the same as being premenstrual. Um. And so I, I had this, I, I was carrying this thought that like, "no, no, no, I'm, I'm still early in my luteal phase.

[00:12:38] I'm not No, no, no, no, no. PMS No, no, no. We're not, we're not there yet." It turns out we were there yet, and, and I was resisting it. So I had a beautiful women's circle last night, and it's, it's exactly what I needed. It was so medicinal for me and just kept feeling heavier and heavier in my [00:13:00] womb. And that morning, actually, I, I had a few drops of blood, um, not even continuous spotting, just a few drops of blood when I went to the toilet in the morning.

[00:13:09] And I was like, okay, interesting. And again, it, it was like I wasn't mentally, energetically acknowledging that I could have been that close to my bleed. So like my body wasn't ready for the full flow, but like, wanted to somehow communicate to me like, "can you acknowledge that you are in this phase of your cycle?

[00:13:28] And perhaps you need to be a bit more tender and lighter and gentler with yourself and be a bit more compassionate to where you're at?" Oh, okay. So few drops of blood, uh, did the trick to get the message through for me. And then today, today, how have I been navigating my day? I made the conscious effort acknowledging that half of this week is a busy work week for me, and [00:14:00] I just, I just thought my bleed was coming later.

[00:14:04] And to tell you the truth, I track ovulation. I don't know why I thought it was coming later. I can see where I'm at in my cycle. I can see where, how long ago I ovulated that tells me when my period's gonna come. I don't know why I was in this different head space about it. And I realized that when my bleed will probably arrive was the day that I had a few clients booked and specifically lots of blood test interpretations to do and stool test, analysis, analyses to go through.

[00:14:35] And I woke up this morning, feeling like I was ready to dissolve. I had some really intense streams last night and just a really intense sleep experience, like womb related. I felt like literally I was birthing something and that something was dying, like throughout my sleep, in my physical body, but also in my dreams.

[00:14:57] So waking up with a really intense energy [00:15:00] made the conscious decision to keep to the foundations of my morning routine that had really been serving me in my follicular phase. Not like doing so much box ticking as I like to do in my follicular phase. Being gentle with myself, taking the pressure off, but keeping to some kind of structured routine because I knew it would be supportive for my body.

[00:15:26] So for me, that looks like going on my phone in the morning to check the time to acknowledge my partner and that's it. Oh, and to record my dreams. 'cause I'm, I'm in this really continuous practice of recalling and journaling my dreams every morning as much as I remember. I'm also very keen on getting outside as early as I can to capture the UVA [00:16:00] rise. Julie and I on the Nuanced Naturopaths, um, have spoken about this before and whenever we talk about circadian rhythm. So the UVA rise is a very specific signature of light that is available to us based on the sun being within 10 degrees of the horizon.

[00:16:22] So if horizon level is zero degrees, the sun is like just 10 degrees risen, if that makes sense. And just a little hand arm visual for anyone watching the video. That's really important for hormone health and for protecting against sun damage, for stronger sun exposure that you will get later in the day.

[00:16:44] That's a part of my morning routine. Look at my circadian app to see when that UVA rise will be occurring. The time of it isn't just set, it changes depend on, depending on your location and what time zone you're in. And it changes throughout [00:17:00] the year. So I'll check that and then I'm like, okay, get Laika, get a glass of water.

[00:17:06] I sit outside or walk around. Today I felt like sitting and I sat in a squat 'cause it's great to practice with squat for mobility. Uh, and I spent 20 minutes just voice recording, um, the dreams that I had had 'cause they were quite significant. And I'd also gotten into the habit of using my rebounder trampoline more often.

[00:17:29] So then I went and jumped on that for a bit and after maybe half an hour outside, I was like, okay, let's gently go about our day. And the thing that kept bugging me mentally was, we have clients booked tomorrow and i, I just felt like I would not be giving my clients the best if I kept those appointments.

[00:17:50] I need to reschedule them. And I argued with this thought. I don't want you to believe that because I've been tracking my cycles for however long and 'cause I'm a [00:18:00] menstrual cycle educator and advise clients on this kind of stuff, that I can just have an intuitive thought and go, yep, I'll follow that straight away.

[00:18:07] I still tried to argue with, I was like, "no, no, no. Like, no, no. This person's been waiting a while for their results and this person's really keen to see me. And I know we have a lot to discuss and yeah, no, maybe I can make it work and I've got that gap there in my day and maybe I can just really rest there" and, and you know, if I really, really had to, I, I could have made it work.

[00:18:31] I could have, and. That's the thing about us women, we can make it work.

[00:18:41] I think now one of the questions that's coming up, and dare I say this is maybe some fire horse. Yeah. Energy. It's like, okay, yeah, we can make it work. We can say yes to things that aren't a full yes. We can say yes to [00:19:00] things that are an active 'no' in our body. Do we want to? Can we be brave enough to see the bigger picture and the deeper purpose of giving ourselves the grace and the space and maybe rescheduling and maybe running the risk of being a little bit inconvenient? Can, but can we trust that it's for a good reason If we are getting that intuitive hit, "I need a call in sick."

[00:19:28] "I need to reschedule seeing that friend." " I made this commitment, I made this deadline. I need to extend it by two days or a week." You get that intuitive hit and if it keeps bugging you can you trust that it's there for a good reason? It was like the fourth time I, I think, yeah, I was making some breakfast and it was, it bugged me and I was trying to be off my phone, but it kept bugging me and I was like, just message these clients.

[00:19:51] And all of my clients were like, "absolutely, yeah, no worries." And 'cause the grace goes both ways. I don't want anyone [00:20:00] to show up when they're in the midst of their luteal experience or menstrual experience unless we specifically decide that we want to have a session while they're in that energy. I don't want anyone to feel like they have to show up for me 'cause they've booked an appointment 'cause they're in that energy.

[00:20:20] You know, canceling is one thing, and like not giving notice is one thing, and, uh, not showing up for yourself or like self-sabotage or putting something off is one thing, but listening to your body and where your body's at and knowing that something will be not as conducive as it could be if you forced that energy, if you forced yourself to show up, there's a real beauty in just acknowledging that and then just rescheduling or just pivoting based on how the energy is presenting for you in the day, on that day.

[00:20:50] And so I did, and I'm really glad I followed that intuitive hit. And now I have spaciousness. And, you know, I don't know exactly when my bleed will arrive. I know that [00:21:00] she's knocking, she's knocking on the door, and she's telling me that she's coming soon. But what I do know is that I now have spaciousness of a couple more days while I'm actively feeling this way,

[00:21:15] to give myself what I truly need, to allow myself to dissolve, to receive the medicine of the spaciousness instead of pushing through. And so even if I do happen to be bleeding on the days that I've rescheduled for worst case scenario, I know I can reschedule because my clients and I have an understanding and I love, and I'm so grateful for that relationship that I have with them, but also because I've carved out this time for myself, I haven't just like rushed into my menstrual phase,

[00:21:51] i've carved out this time for myself when my body told me that I needed it. So I actually feel even just knowing that I feel more confident that [00:22:00] I will be more resourced during that bleeding time, in a way that will allow me to have really good consults and hold a really good space and sessions for, for these clients.

[00:22:15] So that was a step I took.

[00:22:17] I also did a morning meditation after coming inside, Jane Hardwick collings, drumming journey meditation to meet your inner goddess.

[00:22:26] I find the, the repetition and the rhythm of the shamanic drum is something that I crave, the closer I get to menstruation. And even in the guidance in, in the meditation, she was reiterating the importance of single pointed focus. You know, if you notice yourself wandering off, getting distracted, just come back to the sound of the drum and that that's the exact reminder that I needed.

[00:22:52] So that meditation suited me perfectly. In acknowledging this, I'm realizing how far I've come in terms of like [00:23:00] decision fatigue and like decision paralysis. Like I guess it's something when I reflect on it, it's something I've really been working on since the start of the year. And especially in the last four weeks, I have been really committed to like making the decisions of what my morning's gonna look like the night before so that I don't enter the morning fr frazzled and like, oh, I could do this, I could do this meditation.

[00:23:25] Let me scroll through, oh, okay, I wanna do some Qigong. Let me scroll through all the videos I could possibly follow along with, and all the things I could possibly do. And am I gonna do stream of conscious journaling first or am I gonna do my dream recall first? And you know, so like. Something that I had to remind myself recently was like,

[00:23:47] it gets to be easier than you think. I don't know if it's like the modern human brain or just the human brain as is, but like we have such, we just have [00:24:00] such a habit for like, overcomplicating things, and maybe it's trauma and maybe it's ancestry and you know, a whole host of other things, but we just have this tendency to over complicate when that is not needed or helpful.

[00:24:17] And I'm glad I reminded myself of that recently because I, I nearly could have like, spun myself out this morning, but I didn't. So even when I was looking through all the meditations, I was just like, I know I want something for the womb. Just search the womb and make a decision and it's okay. You know, you almost need to convince yourself like there are no wrong decisions and you're gonna feel worse if you just don't make a decision.

[00:24:46] And a lot of that is just learning to trust yourself and like, let the answers come to you, let the guidance come to you. Not always having to like, think your way through decisions and like, think your way to an answer. Let yourself be intuitively guided. [00:25:00] Do you know how easy that gets to be? And I'm saying that to myself as well.

[00:25:03] No, I don't know how easy it gets to be. I still resist it. I still try to fight it. Ridiculously, ridiculously.

[00:25:12] I was starting to get into a little bit of work stuff on my laptop, and I was just like, girl. I was trying to focus on one task at a time. There were just some emails I wanted to read, I wanted to read some newsletters of, of people that I follow.

[00:25:27] I was like, just read this newsletter. Couldn't read the newsletter in full without checking my phone for other notifications, like two or three times. So already my attention's talking to me and it doesn't want to be scattered, but the habit is showing itself, right? So I'm like, okay, single-minded focus.

[00:25:48] Okay, cool. So I really tried to practice that with just some, with reading that I wanted to do. I could see myself getting sucked into my laptop a little bit with tasks that I wasn't [00:26:00] ready for. I hadn't even had breakfast yet, and I knew I was sort of pushing that eating window a bit in the luteal phase.

[00:26:06] That is the last thing our bodies need, especially if you're experiencing any premenstrual symptoms or any kind of stress, please feed yourself within 90 minutes of waking up, most ideally after getting that morning sunlight that I was describing. And definitely no coffee on an empty stomach if you're a coffee drinker.

[00:26:25] And so what I did for myself was I roasted some buckwheat and millet because I also just read a lovely, another, a different email newsletter while I was walking around outside in the morning, by one of my favorites, Ann Cecil Sterman.

[00:26:42] I almost wish I was a Chinese medicine practitioner just so I could learn more from her. She's a fabulous Chinese medicine doctor and acupuncturist. Who speaks to health and the body in a way that really, really resonates with me. And she had an email newsletter on pancreatic [00:27:00] cancer of all things.

[00:27:01] And she was talking about the energy of the pancreas and how that cancer develops from the Chinese medicine perspective. And she was talking about the non glutenous grains being really supportive for pancreatic health. And so that was on my radar. And her husband wrote a book that I really, really love called Welcoming Food.

[00:27:22] I've done a digital seminar with him and he has like a recipe book and then like a theory book, Welcoming Food. And it's just, haven't even gone through all the content, but it's already just revolutionized my perspective on food and cooking for myself and feeding myself and my body.

[00:27:40] He's just got such great experience. So I try to weave that into my life. So I, I roasted some buckwheat and millet and I added some soy milk and then I added some cinnamon and then I added some chia seeds and make sure that they soak through 'cause he shouldn't eat dry chia seeds. Um, they should also, they should always be like pre [00:28:00] soaked, to get the benefit of chia seeds, soak them first.

[00:28:03] and I had that with a little bit of local honey that a lovely family friend dropped off on the weekend and. That was warm and beautiful and nourishing, and I'm so glad I gave that to myself. And I made up some, Oh My Menses tea. 'cause that's the tea blend that I felt like my body needed, even though I'm not technically menstruating.

[00:28:23] And I had some leftover bone broth in my thermos, that I brought to the women's circle last night. So I was able to finish that. And that was just the warmth and the nourishment that I felt my body asking for.

[00:28:37] Whenever I noticed my mind wanting to go into multiple task and open multiple mental tabs, this, and this takes work, work and practice, I had to mentally pause, acknowledge it, pause and choose one thing.

[00:28:58] Even if I was [00:29:00] fully intentionally picking up my phone or opening Instagram to see what posts were there, I'm like, I'm doing this intentionally and if I'm doing it, it's the only thing I'm doing for five minutes or however long I decided. And then if I had an idea of, you know, oh yeah, I wanted to finish listening to that podcast, okay, then we're gonna just do that.

[00:29:23] The other thing I did was got some dedicated sunlight time closer in the afternoon. So I, gosh, is that the time now? I can't believe it's 4:00 PM. One of those days. Um, so at around one, I went outside with the book Eve that I'm reading, and I just got sun and read. And I didn't bring my phone out. I didn't wanna get distracted in that way.

[00:29:50] And when it felt too much to read, I just put the book down and I just soaked in the sun.

[00:29:55] I then, [00:30:00] and then at another point, I had done some errands, some chores, and

[00:30:06] I felt myself wanting to avoid something. I think I was ready to go outside and then, I don't know, maybe I'd seen a certain car go past, um, like at our neighbor's property and I was like, oh, I just don't wanna be seen right now. And so I came and I sat exactly here and I brought Laika into the office and she just laid on the floor and I was like, beautiful.

[00:30:27] We are just, we are just gonna sit. And I sunk into my chair like this and I just, I had a beautiful, like meditative nap for maybe like 30 minutes. And that's exactly what I needed and didn't cure anything. I mean,

[00:30:43] I think that's another thing to consider when it comes to like supporting ourselves through the luteal phase and through premenstrual symptoms and PMS and PMDD. The goal of what we choose to do shouldn't be

[00:30:58] the aim shouldn't be [00:31:00] to feel like my not premenstrual self. The aim shouldn't be to feel the energy that I had in my follicular phase; to feel how I feel when I'm ovulating. 'cause you're just not, that's just not where you're at and who you are feeling like, what is coming through for you in the premenstrual phase is, is you, is at least a version of you.

[00:31:27] And there's no benefit really to resisting that. Or trying to get back to a previous self that will come back again in the next cycle. So yeah, I woke up from that meditative nap, not feeling like my follicular self, but sure as hell feeling a whole lot calmer and present then, then how I started my morning and then how I was feeling last week. And eventually got to the point I was feeling myself getting sucked into work.

[00:31:59] I think I [00:32:00] did. Yeah, gosh, I think I did do some website editing and some like backend work, and was listening to a business related podcast and then just had to go, okay, we can listen to this, but can we please acknowledge that? Like we are not in that energy today. This is not the energy to be making big business decisions or to be

[00:32:24] to be doing a bunch of like recording or getting into the nitty gritty of like, fleshing out the course and going through test results. Like, we are not in that energy. And I'm sitting there, I'm still on my laptop still. Again, I have this thought. I may be resisted like half a dozen times before going, "babe,

[00:32:48] actually what you need to do, not, you don't need to do anything but just a thought babe, is have this podcast playing. Sit on the floor of your [00:33:00] office, get a canvas out, get two colors of paint out and paint a little canvas."

[00:33:10] And that's what I did and I felt so much better for it because I think it's also too important to acknowledge that rest and stillness and not exerting is, is one thing to be sure. But that doesn't necessarily mean that nothing wants to come through you. Most of the time I find that creating in some way will be therapeutic or cathartic or will help you process something that you didn't know, you didn't even know you had to process.

[00:33:50] It's not necessarily exerting. Now, if I said, okay, we're gonna paint this really beautiful non-abstract portrait and we're gonna follow all these rules and we're gonna make sure it's really [00:34:00] realistic and it's gotta be at this standard... different story, that's absolutely putting the pressure on, that's not creating from a place of like flow and intuition, right?

[00:34:11] So I was like two colors. Make the decisions super easy. Small canvas. Keep it small, keep it simple, and just paint. And I did that. And I'm looking at my painting now when I'm looking down. Um, and only I guess I can just show you.

[00:34:27] So that's what wanted to come out of me. It's nothing special. It's nothing fancy. It's nothing proper. It doesn't even really make sense.

[00:34:37] But it came out of me. And I trust that that's what, that's what wanted to come out of me today. And I felt better for, I felt better for giving myself that space to just create with no rules and no pressure. And it was shortly after doing that painting that I was like, I brought the yoga mat into my room and I was like, okay, I wanna finish listening to this podcast episode, [00:35:00] but I just need to lay down on the mat and maybe do some somatic exercises.

[00:35:05] Some like rocking or shaking or tapping. I actually did do a tapping video, EFT tapping, uh, with tap with Brad. Uh, that came up in one of my intentional Instagram scrolling sessions today. Um, and again, it's not curative. It's not gonna take you back to how you are feeling at a different point in your cycle 'cause this is where you're at in your cycle.

[00:35:31] But it helped me feel more easeful and that happened before I decided to paint. So it like helped, you could say, it helped nudge me to what was actually just wanting to come through. Rather than being stuck in my resistance of like, "oh no, but I should do some business work today and I should, oh, I've really gotta fix that thing.

[00:35:50] Or like, I gotta like look at that thing and, you know, maybe add to it" and no, no, you didn't need to do [00:36:00] that. There is no rush. And that's something I had to remind myself today as well. There is no rush. I think with this premenstrual energy, your energy's lowering and so naturally your output might be a bit less, or that might be your intuitive calling to produce less, to exert less of your energy and to conserve more to go inward, that can increase the likelihood

[00:36:30] uh, being susceptible to the belief that we are falling behind, that we are not working hard enough, that we are doing something wrong, or that we are doing something that we shouldn't be doing. Shout out to any millennials who like grew up being scared to appear as though you're relaxing in front of your parents or in front of certain family members.

[00:36:53] From fear of like appearing lazy and like not letting yourself rest. Sorry. Letting [00:37:00] yourself rest and like how that's perceived in a family dynamic, um, by our beautiful parents who have their own traumas and shortcomings and imprints that make them who they are, that sets the landscape for how they will react to our behaviors.

[00:37:19] Right? And so I felt, I have felt really avoidant, really avoidant today. 'cause I'm feeling so called to rest and I do not want to be perceived resting. So I'm just locking myself away in my office. And

[00:37:37] on a day like today where I'm at my cycle, I, I'm not available. I'm not available. I'm not available for a high level of, or in fact any, external social interaction. This feels okay. 'cause all it is now is talking to myself. And that feels [00:38:00] safe and comfortable, and it's actually cathartic for me to like, just talk about my process and un unpack it a bit.

[00:38:05] But otherwise my energy wants to be in, my energy wants to be conserved. And

[00:38:12] I, I'm just picturing now a visual from a meditation I did recently about like, just like picturing all the threads that are leaving your body to go into other things, work, people, places, commitments, ideas, responsibilities that you have. And just like this part of my luteal phase feels so like. I just wanna draw those threads back in and they're golden threads and like I feel this vitality to them.

[00:38:41] There's this sparkly energy to them and my body wants to call that back in for myself. For my own regeneration. For my own healing. I do believe it is healing to give to others. Generosity can be healing, but not at the expense of starving ourselves, not the expense of energetically [00:39:00] starving ourselves, not at the expense of saying no to us.

[00:39:06] Just to say yes to something else.

[00:39:08] And yeah, I guess that's what landed me here. I.

[00:39:13] So let's recap what I did.

[00:39:15] I set my morning up to be minimally distracting. I had these morning ritual foundations that I've already been working on for the past month that made it really easy to commit to those in a lower energy way, to match my current phase and needs. And that was

[00:39:34] doing some dream recall while sitting outside in the sun to get the UVA rise of the sun and going for just a little walk. Around my property with my dog outside.

[00:39:46] And then physically I had a tall old jar full of

[00:39:51] Some lemon water, um, with a sprinkling of some added vitamin C. I had my Oh My Menses tea, which [00:40:00] is a herbal tea blend that me and my friend, naturopathically formulated specifically for what's happening around menstruation, and what your womb is going through,

[00:40:12] during menstruation. And that was the tea that I felt called to have. I made sure to eat within 90 minutes of waking up, and I made sure that that choice, um, had some protein in it. It was very, it was probably richest in fiber, relatively low carbohydrate. Of course, there's gonna be some, some carbohydrates in the grains, but, um, both millet and buckwheat, uh, also have a fair bit of protein content too.

[00:40:39] Fed myself within 90 minutes of waking up, committed to single pointed focus, not necessarily meaning that I was only doing one thing all day, but that whatever task I chose to put in front of me, or whatever task I decided to turn my attention towards, I intentionally decided that [00:41:00] that would be the only thing I would be focusing on until I decided to not focus on it anymore, and that doesn't look perfect.

[00:41:09] The key thing there is curious accountability, being curious about your habits, being curious about your attention span and the strength of your focus. Being curious about where your focus naturally wants to go. And just being like honest and accountable with yourself. Like, oh yeah, I said I would do just that task, and within a couple of minutes I was distracted by a notification that came up on my phone, and how could I prevent that next time?

[00:41:37] Okay, I got distracted. Can I maybe put my phone in a different space now and return to that task I want to return to and maybe do it for 10 minutes now instead of getting distracted within a couple of minutes. So just being really accountable there and just bringing it back to single pointed focus, whatever it is you're choosing to focus on.

[00:41:58] I prioritized [00:42:00] nature, time, and outdoor time. Actually, one of the first things I did this morning, um, after I had my dream recall, outdoor time. I, I repotted some plants and just got my hands in like the soil and just repotted a couple of plants that were asking for my attention and also watered some indoor plants.

[00:42:19] And this is also a thing that can happen when your luteal like you are scanning your environment and you might get into bouts of cleaning or you might just like see things that like could do with some tidying or rearranging like around your space or like, oh, I need to water that plant. Oh, I need to chuck that thing in the bin.

[00:42:36] Oh, I need to like reorganize those boxes again. Bring it back to single pointed focus. That trait can be such a superpower, like to get things done and to like have a beautifully clean, organized space. But it can also sabotage you if you let it be overwhelming and frazzle you and you don't know where to [00:43:00] start.

[00:43:00] So choose one thing. Single pointed focus, one foot in front of the other. That's how I was stewarding myself through my day to day. Got dedicated sun when UVB was available. Again, you can use like any circadian app or like UV tracking app to see when the uuv is available in your area that supports Vitamin D production.

[00:43:24] I knew I wanted to get some reading in 'cause that's a habit that I'm always falling in and out of, but I feel better for when I do it. So I habit paired those two things, getting sunlight exposure and doing some reading.

[00:43:35] Other things I did, I acknowledged my needs. I needed more spaciousness. I needed to give myself space and grace. I rescheduled appointments that I had, easy.

[00:43:47] I needed social space. So I'm not messaging people a lot today. And I'm staying relatively re recluse from the rest of the household, and that's okay. I'm letting that be [00:44:00] okay. and then yeah, in, in realizing that I needed to create more spaciousness for myself, um, letting myself paint and not do any like rigid, like business tasks, like logic, mind things, you know, like my energy wasn't there, so why would I force it? And in fact, I mentioned at the start of the episode that I believe there's always medicine in your luteal phase, no matter how intense it feels,

[00:44:25] there is always medicine there. And this is something I talk about a lot and. I think what my luteal phase was trying to show me last week and sort of coming to a peak over the weekend and today was like, it was trying to show to me that I was pushing in a direction that I didn't need to be pushing in. I was pushing in a direction that I didn't actually want to be pushing in.

[00:44:52] I think I was falling for- and you know, just being so transparent here, falling for the trap that I think a lot of [00:45:00] small business owners can fall into where it's like, oh, I need to be visible like everywhere and like, as much as possible. And that equals success or that leads to success. And it's a lie, it's a myth.

[00:45:15] I get why it's an easily fallen for myth. And I even get why I fell for it. And I think all of the resistance that I was coming up against like last week was trying to demonstrate that to me, like "stop pushing. Like you actually don't need a poster reel every day. And it's actually not making that much of a difference anyway.

[00:45:39] So don't", but recording and editing and posting those reels gave me like this false sense of momentum, which was really interesting. And so I think that was like, yeah, an internal struggle that I was coming up against. I was getting this sense of momentum and like completion and like, yes, but [00:46:00] something deeper in my body was like, this isn't what we actually wanna do.

[00:46:04] We're we've. We've done, you know, much to everyone's dismay. Don't worry. I hear you guys tell me about it all the time. Much to everyone's dismay, like, I'm really done in my entertaining quick reels creation era. and I prefer writing emails, and I prefer a recording podcast in this way so I can see where like I was resisting myself in the first place.

[00:46:25] And that kind of conjured up the idea that like I had to push through and create this content that I had, like decided was a thing that I would do, even though it stopped feeling good. And even though it wasn't giving me any results, of course my body was gonna react to that. It wasn't in alignment.

[00:46:44] Wasn't in alignment with what I actually wanted to do it. You know, I, I, whatever I choose to do, I try to make it as authentic as possible. But yeah, there was something about it that just, um, didn't feel totally authentic. But do you [00:47:00] know what? I'm actually glad that I pushed through and posted every day for two weeks or however, however long I did it for, because it showed, it proved something to me.

[00:47:11] It gave me information. Everything you do, especially, you know, in life, but especially in business, is data. It is feedback. It gave me the feedback that I needed that, yeah, that's not where you wanna be spending your energy on. That's not, that's not the 20% of effort that brings you 80% of the results. And I'm also glad I did it because I declared that I would do it.

[00:47:34] And even when things started to feel challenging last week in my luteal phase, I did it. I am not necessarily saying you need to push through on a decision you've made or something that you've decided for yourself. I mean, it's, it's you versus you. Essentially. It's you having to make the calls that are gonna feel best for your soul and for your development.[00:48:00]

[00:48:00] And I think I needed to push through on that little content creation promise that I made myself to see the results and, and, and to learn from it. And now that's gonna inform my future decisions in business and that helps me. So it's all medicine. Do you know what I mean? Even the, even the quote unquote mistakes.

[00:48:26] It's all medicine. There's something, there's something to learn and be realized from every angle of it. No matter whether we label it as, you know, a negative experience or a positive experience, there's always medicine there. It just require, it requires a lot of patience, a lot of patience, and a lot of choosing you, even if that is as simple as like choosing to turn towards yourself throughout the day, to check in with your needs, to communicate those needs and to give your, [00:49:00] make sure you are giving yourself what you need.

[00:49:03] And I am so very proud that I did that for myself today and I'm also happy that in the process of that, in the process of listening to my nudges and supporting myself, I was led to this decision to record a podcast, which has been something really nourishing to create for my business and to share with you and past me would just get into luteal mode and then spiral out.

[00:49:39] And I, I didn't know how to follow through even on things that were supportive of me, I guess you could say. I was, I fell for this like stupid belief that like I had to be in a certain mode and only in a certain mode to be able to give to my business in certain ways. But what I'm realizing and even just a lot about life [00:50:00] is that like you don't have to be on a certain mode or on 110% to like show up.

[00:50:09] You can show up like however you are. Like, is this not, I mean,

[00:50:14] I this not like. The medicine, like we all have to learn in terms of like unmasking? Like can that be another, I don't know, is that another lovely thing that the fire horse is gonna bring in this year in terms of like realizing that we don't need to like, wear these masks and perform this performance in a certain way and especially in a world where like, where it feels like we're just drowning in artificially intelligence can't for some reason.

[00:50:53] I didn't wanna say I Ai. But yeah, like when, when we are like drowning and like wading [00:51:00] our way through this pool of like AI generated content and everything, like, is humanness not exactly what we need, like more than ever? And I think for me that includes like showing up to podcast recording a thing that I would deem better or more ideal to do when I'm not feeling the depths of PMS when I'm feeling more confident in myself and assured when I'm not drowning in self-doubt, much more ideal to record when I'm not feeling that, but like, I think I wanna get better at like, showing up to life from wherever I authentically am, PMS or no PMS feeling heaps of self-doubt or feeling like relentlessly self-confident.

[00:51:56] Like, let's, let's meet life where we're at and [00:52:00] maybe we'll be, maybe we will be able to receive more in saying yes to that. Maybe we'll be able to receive more from life? Especially if we feel like we are lacking. If we just choose to show up as we are, maybe life will be like, oh yeah, sure, absolutely.

[00:52:18] Let's give you some more living. I,

[00:52:22] So that was my experience today. They're the things I did to support myself, supplementally. Um, I maybe could have benefited from having some B vitamins that I have on hand, but I chose not to. I think I'm just going a less is more approach. Um, I did take an iron and brain support tablet, and I will share more about how I came to terms with my own iron deficiency, as the queen of, you know, "don't supplement with iron."

[00:52:52] And, you know, I, I love to hate on, um. Just like everyone being iron deficient [00:53:00] and like everyone getting iron infusions and everyone like supplementing with like stupidly high dose iron supplements. Love to hate on that. but yeah, needing to come to terms with my own iron deficiency, sub subclinical deficiency, let's call it.

[00:53:16] Um, so I'll share more about that in um, and how I'm naturopathically treating myself for that. And maybe that's a part of this picture too that I'm experiencing. But anyway, I didn't want today to be super naturopathic and super biological. I just want it to be me showing up as I am telling you exactly what I did today to support myself and how I went from feeling tense and guarded and resistant and overwhelmed.

[00:53:43] And I saw the fork in the road. I saw how I could've fully steered into that skid and spun myself out and let myself feel entirely overwhelmed and ungrounded for today. But I saw the alternative path of we are not gonna change how we feel. And that's not the [00:54:00] goal, but we're gonna support ourselves intentionally based on what we are navigating.

[00:54:05] And that's exactly what I did. And I feel better for it and I feel better for having shared it with you. And this isn't like do what I do because you are not me. And your needs may be entirely different. But at the very least, my invitation, I think, is to get to know your luteal self and what she's asking for and

[00:54:32] go from there. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other, single pointed focus.

[00:54:43] I promise you've got this. I promise you've got this.

[00:54:47] If you feel totally, totally, totally lost, please, please, please check out my free Cycle Tracking Guide, linked in the description wherever you are watching this, YouTube, Spotify or Apple. [00:55:00] That is a 25 page guide that will walk you through how to holistically and accurately track your entire cycle, yes, your period, but also other important signs that are giving you clues as to what your hormones are telling you.

[00:55:16] If you feel like you've got the basics of cycle tracking down pat and you are looking for more understanding, more information, more insights, I highly recommend the Cycle Power Bundle. It's 20 resources, and I've actually, I'm always deciding to add more. This is a growing well of resources that I'm adding to over time.

[00:55:38] It's a one-time payment for $27. Resources on understanding your fertility. Getting to the bottom of PMS, I have my whole no stress PMS ebook in there, which is, I don't know, I feel like at least 50 pages, a whole ebook of unpacking, decoding and treating PMS naturally. Cycle tracking templates.

[00:55:59] Understanding [00:56:00] cervical mucus and basal body temperature. If you want to confirm ovulation, if you're starting your fertility journey, they're great places to start. I've got a period pain prevention guide, insights on what the color and quality of your menstrual blood is telling you.

[00:56:14] So many resources in there. I've also linked like some naturopathic resources that I have, 'cause I've got like this Eating with your cycle guide because your menstrual cycle phases kind of change your nutritional needs throughout the month. Believe it or not. And so in my Eating with your Cycle guide, I decided to share a bonus 4 resources that I call upon frequently in my naturopathic practice.

[00:56:39] Tips on like digesting your food better, tips on like how to eat like what your body actually wants to eat. Understanding the different levels of digestion and how to spot signs of malabsorption to know if your gut is asking for a little bit more support. I'm really passionate and keen to just like keep adding to this growing well of [00:57:00] knowledge, this foundation of cyclical awareness to help us more deeply understand this thing that is embedded into our DNA, that there is still so much conversation and accurate information lacking on, and I just want to expand that conversation.

[00:57:22] I just want to expand the access of knowledge and information about this beautiful menstrual cycle of ours that has so much to give us, so much to give us.

[00:57:35] May those resources be of benefit. May this episode be of benefit. If you found this helpful for you at all, I would love, love, love if you shared this with a friend. If you've got another PMS gal-pal, please, please, please share. Wherever you are listening or watching. If you love the Oh My Menses podcast and you like what I talk about, please consider subscribing or [00:58:00] following.

[00:58:00] And if you can leave a comment or a rating or review, that helps the podcast so much, it helps me so much. And my God, it is the antidote to my self doubt that I feel when I'm luteal. So any review, comment, subscription is so, so welcomed and appreciated.

[00:58:21] I think that's all I've got in the tank, so we'll leave it there. Everything relevant to what I do and who I am will be linked in the description or the show notes, wherever you are enjoying this podcast,

[00:58:36] and I'll see you in the next installment of, oh My Menses.

natural pms relief, pms support, women's health, women's hormones, tips for PMS, premenstrual health, premenstrual advice, menstrual cycle awareness, cycle syncing