August 8, 2025 • 30 mins
Your body speaks a unique feminine language, operating not on the 24-hour clock that men do, but through a beautiful 28-day cycle that profoundly affects your energy, focus, creativity, and wellness. Yet most of us have never been taught to listen.
When women try to maintain the same productivity, exercise routine, and social calendar every day of the month, they're fighting against their natural rhythms. This disconnect leads to the burnout, fatigue, and frustration so many women experience. Cycle syncing—the practice of aligning your activities, nutrition, and self-care with your menstrual cycle—offers a revolutionary alternative.
This episode breaks down the science behind our cyclical nature, explaining how the four phases of our cycle (follicular, ovulatory, luteal, and menstrual) each create different hormonal landscapes within our bodies. Unlike men, whose testosterone and cortisol follow the same pattern daily, women experience dramatic fluctuations in estrogen, progesterone, LH, and FSH throughout the month. These changes aren't weaknesses to overcome—they're intelligent biological rhythms to honor and leverage.
Whether you struggle with irregular cycles, hormonal imbalances, or simply feel disconnected from your body's natural wisdom, this episode provides the foundation for understanding your unique feminine nature. Learn why tracking your cycle is as important as monitoring your blood pressure, and discover tools to begin this journey toward hormonal empowerment. By working with your body instead of against it, you'll experience more energy when it matters, deeper rest when you need it, and greater alignment with the divine cyclical goddess within.
Ready to transform your relationship with your body and reclaim your feminine power? Subscribe now and join us for part two, where we'll explore practical ways to implement cycle syncing into every aspect of your life.
Alisa Vitti has a wonderful chart for reference and as a guide of how your hormones fluctuate HERE over the length of your cycle.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode
of Journey to the Soul.
I am sitting here with youtoday.
If this is your first timetuning in.
My name is Jacinda.
I am a spiritual life coach andholistic health coach, and today
(00:26):
we are diving into a little bitmore health stuff.
Today, and we talk about allthe things on this podcast,
because I feel like it is all sorelated to us being in our
highest expression.
We really are mind, body, soul,so none of these aspects should
(00:49):
be neglected.
And today I wanted to touch onsomething that I think is super
helpful for women to be aware of, because we intuitively know,
as women, that we functiondifferently than men, yet
(01:10):
sometimes we can struggle toreally accept that.
So we're going to be talkingabout cycle syncing today and
I'm going to be breaking this upinto a couple of different
episodes, actually and todaywe're going to be talking about
what exactly cycle syncing isand how that looks like from a
(01:33):
hormonal standpoint, and thefirst few steps that we can take
to understanding our cycle more, and then I'm going to be
making a whole nother episode tocome on the more grounded,
small ways that you canimplement that into your life.
This is one of the things that Ifeel like we should be taught
(01:56):
when we're very young, from themoment that we have our first
cycle as women, is how we arecyclical beings, how our energy
functions, so different of thatof a man, and I feel like now,
in this moment, women arebecoming more aware of that.
(02:18):
They're becoming more in tunewith their natural rhythm,
because more and more women arefeeling burnt out or just not as
energized as they normally are,trying to keep up with all the
demands that we have everysingle day, whether it's as
mothers or wives or partners.
(02:39):
You know, it's hard to keep upwith everything, and I feel like
we set such high expectationsof ourselves by nature and more
women are beginning to feeltired and just not fully alive,
and a lot of that has to do withus not being fully aware that
(03:00):
we actually don't function thesame way as a man does.
We have our own unique way ofmoving through the world from a
daily basis to a monthly basis.
I mean, there are so manycycles that go on within us, and
this is just one of the manyyou know.
So I wanted to touch on howthis shows up for us, because it
(03:25):
could be so life-changing forus if we knew what the
intricacies that happen in ourbody every single day and how,
from one week to the other, thatlooks totally different.
And our current way of beingtoday, our current world, isn't
(03:46):
naturally supportive of usliving in a way that actually
honors our cyclical nature.
I feel like this is going tochange.
The more that women becomeeducated on this topic and begin
to live more in alignment withthemselves, and begin to live
(04:09):
more in alignment withthemselves.
The more that women choose tomove with these seasons of life
that go on within them.
More women are beginning towake up to this, because more
women are beginning tounderstand that you can't
function the same way that youalways have and not burn out at
some point or not feel like youare creating or doing things the
(04:32):
way that you did last week.
You know your energy is not ashigh, and I really do believe
that this being aware of thisaspect of cycle syncing is what
we're going to talk about.
But just being hormonallyempowered and knowing how to
work with our cycle, which iswhat cycle syncing is, is the
(04:56):
way of the future.
I believe that this is going tobe a conversation that is normal
and that women are going tomove with their natural rhythm.
So, whatever inner season theyare in, they're going to be
there and they're going to makethe most out of it, and it's
just going to be something thatwe naturally do and it's going
(05:18):
to be something that becomesmore and more accepted with our
society.
You know, if women feel liketaking a few days off around
your menstrual cycle or yourlate luteal phase or something
like that, or just notoverwhelming yourself during
those parts of your cycle aswell, saying no to more things,
it's like we're going to makemore decisions based off of this
(05:42):
knowledge that we have, butit's a work in progress and in
order for us to move towardsthat, we really have to start
with the foundation, which isjust having as many women as
possible know about this.
You know, educating ourselveson what is actually going on
(06:03):
within our body and that's whatwe're going to be talking about
in today's episode is how thisactually looks within your body.
This is more of the scientificsbehind it and we're just going
to do a high level introductionon it, but it's just so you're
(06:23):
aware of what is going on withinyou and our internal clock is
very different of that of aman's.
So we have a cyclical cycle.
We function off of a 24-hourhormone cycle Huge, huge
difference here.
So men's hormones functionthese 24 hours in the day.
(06:56):
So their hormones more or lessfluctuate the same way every
single day.
So at the start of theirmorning, their testosterone
tends to be heightened, alongwith cortisol, and both slowly
lower throughout the day, andthey repeat this every single
(07:17):
day.
They start off the day with themost energy, focus and ability
to communicate, and they repeatthis pattern every single day.
So for them it is very naturalto align what they do within a
daily perspective, becausehormonally they are the same day
(07:41):
in and day out, and this is howmost women have been taught we
need to function is that weshould move through our day in a
similar way as men and do thatevery single day.
But that's just not natural forus.
(08:05):
We are not the same as men andif we've thought about different
moments in time, I'm sure thereare moments throughout the
month where you feel superenergized and creative and feel
like you have all this energy todo all these different things,
(08:27):
and there's other momentsthroughout the month where you
don't feel as energized andyou're struggling to just get a
few things done and you don'treally want to see anyone and
you want to spend more time athome.
This is normal for us.
So, having that in mind, weneed to know that we are not the
(08:49):
same as men.
We function off of this 28-dayhormonal cycle and it's based
off of our menstrual cycle andit's broken up into four
different phases Follicular,ovulatory, luteal and the
menstrual phase and our energyand productivity is going to be
(09:10):
so different depending where weare in our cycle.
So I want to touch a little biton what's going on in each
phase from a physiologicalstandpoint.
From a physiological standpoint, so there's four key hormones
that play a role in our cycle.
(09:31):
That's estrogen, progesterone,luteinizing hormone, sometimes
abbreviated as LH, fsh, folliclestimulating hormone.
So these are the four hormonesthat we're going to be looking
at and seeing how they changefrom one phase to the other, and
(09:54):
the way that these four keyhormones interact.
That plays a huge, huge role inhow energized our body feels,
how focused our brain is,whether or not we want to
connect or collaborate.
So the first phase, thefollicular phase this is going
(10:17):
to be the first part of ourcycle and this starts right
after your period.
So your hormones are stillpretty low post-menstruation and
during this phase what we seeis that they slowly begin to
rise because your body isgetting ready to release an egg,
(10:37):
which leads up to ovulation,and the follicular phase usually
lasts between 7 to 10 days.
The next phase is the ovulatoryphase, so this is the second
part of our cycle.
Here we see a dramatic rise inLH and FSH, and this is where
(11:01):
they stimulate our body torelease an egg.
After the egg is released,estrogen increases to increase
our uterine lining.
So the ovulation phase usuallylasts anywhere from three, and
(11:25):
here we see progesterone as themain hormone and it slowly
begins to rise along with theestrogen and testosterone.
During this time, and oncethey're at their peak
concentration, your hormonesbegin to fall at their lowest,
(11:46):
which is right before you getyour period, at their lowest,
which is right before you getyour period.
So when your progesterone drops, here that's what triggers your
body to shed its lining theuterine lining leading to you
having your bleed.
So your luteal phase is thephase right before your
menstrual cycle, and this stormonly lasts between 10 to 14 days
(12:09):
, and this is also when mostwomen experiments PMS, that's,
most Women can experiment PMSactually throughout any time of
their cycle, because there arehormone fluctuations going on
basically throughout the entiretime.
But this is because of themajor hormones that play a role
(12:32):
in this, with the rise inestrogen and testosterone All of
these bigger hormones going on.
This is where most women doexperience some kind of PMS.
And then we're at our menstrualphase.
So your hormones are at theirlowest tier and, like I
mentioned, your estrogen peaksright before your period starts,
(12:55):
which is what signals your bodyto repeat this cycle again, and
your menstrual cycle can rangeanywhere between three to seven
days.
And if you've never heard ofcycle syncing before, you might
wonder why is this evenimportant?
Why does this matter?
Why do we even need to havethis conversation?
(13:18):
And, honestly, there are somany reasons.
We're just going to talk abouta few.
But it allows us to be in flowwith our natural energy, and
that alone relieves stress fromthe body.
So it's a way to manage ourbody stresses.
It's a way for us to move withour energy and not against it.
(13:44):
It's a way to honor whateverseason, you know phase of our
cycle that we're in and actuallyfully be there.
It also allows us to cultivatea deeper understanding about our
body.
All of this might sound a bitcrazy.
If you've never heard any ofthis before, you know it might
(14:04):
sound very intricate, and then,when we talk about how you can
actually do this in a moretangible way, it also might be a
little bit overwhelming.
But truly, when you starttuning into it, you are going to
come to understand your body ina whole other way.
You are intuitively going toknow what phase you are in.
(14:28):
You are intuitively going toknow what you need to eat,
whether or not you need toexercise that day, what you
should be focusing on or not,and this helps you develop that
understanding because it turnsthe connection back to ourselves
.
It allows us to go withinourselves on what we need.
(14:51):
It allows us to trust ourselvesand our intuitive knowing of
what our body needs.
It also allows you to be morein control of your health.
Again, this is a way ofallowing you to choose what is
best for you and for you to knowthat you are ultimately the one
(15:13):
that's most in tune with yourbody, regardless of what anyone
else says to you, and there isways for you to work with it so
that you can continue to be inthat power.
I also love to think that thisdoes allow for just some more
(15:35):
flow and ease into our life.
Which I think more women arebeginning to crave is to not go
through every day withresistance and heaviness and all
of these other things.
We need to accept that we arefluid beings and when we begin
(15:56):
to see how this functions withinour body, we're going to allow
ourselves to honor that.
And allowing our fluidity to bealso increases our overall
well-being in our life.
Some pluses as well for womenthat do suffer with PMS or other
(16:18):
menstrual problems or otherjust hormonal issues like
endometriosis or fibroids, pcos.
When you cycle sync, it canactually alleviate many of those
symptoms because certain foodsallow your body to detox
hormones.
Not adding any stress to yourbody when your body is already
(16:44):
in a more stressful state bynature helps things such as
inflammation, which is super keywith endo and PCOS.
So you are just relieving someof that pressure.
Essentially, when you are cyclesyncing, it can allow some of
(17:05):
the things that you experienceto really lighten, some of the
things that you experience toreally lighten, and I love to
think as well that this honestlyjust connects us to the divine
goddess that's in each and everyone of us.
You know this beautiful beingthat we are, that creates, who's
attuned to her intuition, andthe beautiful, intricate just
(17:31):
being that we are every singleday.
You know how we approach ourlives and how we go about our
day-to-day, connecting to thatdivinity within us and trusting
ourselves and our beautifulpower in us, forever ebbing and
(17:51):
flowing.
One of the first things that wewant to try to do, if we want
to try to be more conscious ofthis beautiful cycle that's
going on within us and to workmore with it, is to track our
cycle to some degree.
This takes a little bit oftrial and error, but I think
(18:14):
it's so essential for women toknow where our bodies are, where
our cycle is, and our cycle is,honestly, our vital sign for
our health as women.
It's just as important as yourblood pressure or your heart
rate, and it can tell us so muchabout our internal landscape,
(18:36):
and tracking is the first stepto developing this already
intuitive connection within us.
Sometimes we just need a littlebit of help with that, so
tracking is going to help us getthere, but there's honestly so
many different ways that you cando this.
You can try out a few thingsfor yourself and see what you
(19:01):
like, what works for you andyour lifestyle.
But there's some apps that youcan use and there's honestly so
many to choose from.
The one that I have been usingfor a couple of years is called
MyFlow, which was created byElisa Vitti, and she's actually
(19:22):
the person that created cyclesyncing, and her book on this
was obviously a huge, hugeinspiration for this and my
growth and experimentation withthis.
But another app that I've usedis Flow F-L-O in the past, and
(19:42):
if you go onto the App Store oniTunes or anywhere, you're going
to see so many differentoptions because there are so
many now, which is amazing.
I think it's so incredible thatyou have all of these options,
and some of them are going to bebetter suited for what you need
.
Some of them may help you trackany symptoms you may have
(20:05):
throughout the month, likebloating or cramping or acne or
anything like that.
Some of them will also give youinsights based off of where you
are in your cycle.
So, if you are in yourovulatory phase, some little
tips about that, and some ofthem will give you insights on
(20:28):
whether or not your cycle isnormal or not, and that might
take you logging a few of yourcycles in the app for that to
actually happen, because mostpeople's cycle doesn't change
very much from month to month,but some women's do.
So if there are any extremechanges, or if your cycle is
(20:52):
shorter or longer or you haveyour symptoms of some sort, it
could definitely give youinsights onto whether or not
that's normal.
Another very easy way to do this, which is what the apps just do
, is, honestly, to just use acalendar.
You can use the calendar onyour phone, you can use a
(21:13):
calendar on a paper planner andyou're basically going to count
the days from your first period.
So when doing this, your periodwill be day one of your cycle,
and then you can use theapproximate dates of each cycle
length in your period, which Igave just now, to guide you on
(21:37):
where you may be, and a healthycycle can range anywhere from 21
to 35 days, but that's just anaverage and there's so much that
goes into that.
You can also look at trackingyour body temperature throughout
the month.
When your body temperaturerises and it's sustained for a
(22:00):
few days, this typicallyindicates that ovulation has
occurred.
So, instead of counting fromyour period.
You can count your bodytemperature and know when you
are ovulating and use that as ajumping off point for where you
are in your cycle.
(22:21):
If your cycle is irregular, Istill suggest that you do use
one of the apps, because it'sgoing to help you gain insight
onto what may be going on.
Not having a regular cyclewhether it's a bit shorter or a
bit longer or significantlylonger can be a sign that
(22:45):
something else is going onbeneath the surface.
So I still think that, even ifyou don't get a cycle every
single day, you should justbecome friends with one of these
apps or tracking your cycle ona calendar on your phone.
However, you want to do it whenyou do get it, because if you
(23:07):
choose to go to someone to talkabout that, that's going to help
you at least have some insighton that.
And a lot of women don't know.
You know how long their cycleis, or you know if their cycle
is healthy or not, and all ofthese things.
We just don't really thinkabout them.
We just kind of go through themotions of.
We know we get a period, mostof us feel different and not as
(23:31):
energized, and some of us havereally bad periods.
Some women you know strugglewith really bad PMS or other
period disorders that can makehaving a period very
uncomfortable.
So, and if you don't have acycle at all, I still think that
you should totally use one ofthe apps to track any symptoms
(23:54):
you may have throughout themonth.
You're not going to be trackingyour cycle, especially if you
haven't had one in over twomonths but using an app, or,
again, it could just be listingit on your notes app on your
phone or a calendar, any waythat feels good to you, but just
(24:16):
tracking any symptoms that youmay have throughout the month.
So maybe you haven't had acycle in two or three months.
Some of the symptoms that youcould be tracking is that you
had acne for a few days, or youhad some spotting, or you were
(24:36):
having some bloating, or youwere having difficulty sleeping.
These are all things that, eventhough might not seem like
they're that important, canactually help create a bigger
picture of what might be goingon, of why you might not be
(24:56):
having a cycle and whether yourcycle is a regular or if you
don't have a cycle at all.
I would suggest that youconsider speaking to someone
about that An acupuncturist,integrative medical doctor or a
functional health practitioner,or if you want a regular doctor.
Again, this is going to comedown to comfort, your values and
(25:20):
what you want to try to do orfocus on when it comes to a
health perspective.
If you want to focus more onWestern medicine versus Eastern,
or just get a few differentideas, speak to a few of them
and see what you feelcomfortable with, and getting
(25:41):
some blood work done.
If you are experiencing eithernot having a cycle or lack of
one, getting some blood workdone is going to be super
insightful onto what may begoing on and I mentioned this
already but hormones are sointricate and multifaceted, so
(26:03):
hormone imbalances are so manydifferent layers of things that
need to be looked at and to kindof understand what is going on
at a bigger picture.
So, one of the things that youwant to look at if you are
trying to work through eithersome hormonal imbalances or a
(26:27):
lack of a cycle or you know youhave some really extreme
symptoms of some kind, you arereally going to want to look for
someone that knows their stuffwhen it comes to this, doing
your research on a doctor or apractitioner or an acupuncturist
that focuses on hormones orwomen's health.
(26:48):
That's going to be super, superbeneficial for you because,
again, that's the whole reasonfor this episode.
We are so different than men andhealth, I feel, should really
be looked at from a holisticlens.
We are very, very layeredhumans, you know, not just
(27:10):
looking at them from one side ofthe table as well which I feel
is where sometimes Westernmedicine can limit us but just
having multiple conversationswith people and then maybe
deciding, you know, if you wantto move forward with any kind of
support in any of those things.
This is just kind of ahigh-level insight onto what is
(27:34):
going on with us hormonallyduring these 28 days as women.
Why do we feel so different tomen on a day-to-day basis?
Truly, from one day to theother, we can feel so, so
different, and this is justgiving us some insight onto what
is going on within ourwonderful body so that we can
(27:59):
fall in love with all of theseaspects of ourselves and really
just want to honor them.
So that is what we're going tobe touching on in the next
episode.
That we're going to be talkingabout when it comes to cycle
syncing is how to actually workwith these seasons, when we are
(28:19):
in each season within ourbeautiful hormonal cycle.
So that's what's to come in thenext episode.
But let me know if you have beeneither tracking your cycle for
some time, if you're familiarwith this concept of cycle
syncing, or if you are justsomewhat familiar with being
(28:43):
more in tune with your cycle.
If you are just somewhatfamiliar with being more in tune
with your cycle, I'd love toknow how it's helped you become
just more aware with your needsthroughout the month.
And if you are not familiarwith cycle syncing, let me know
what aspect of your life youwould love it to help you flow
(29:04):
with more life.
You would love it to help youflow with more If that's with
the way that you.
Maybe you struggle moving yourbody throughout the month and
being consistent with that.
Or maybe it's a way that you eatand there's certain times in
the month where you just craveeating certain things.
Or maybe it's just a way thatyou would go about your day, you
(29:25):
know, or your weeks sometimes,where you expect yourself to
have the same output andsometimes that might be
overwhelming another week.
What do you feel you'd like tokind of highlight and work on
when it comes to this?
And that's what we're going totalk about in the next episode.
So I look forward to talking toyou all then and we can dive
(29:51):
into this more all in thatepisode.
But have an incredible week,wherever you are tuning in from.
I am sending you all a big hugUntil then.
Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode
of Journey to the Soul.
I am sitting here with youtoday.
If this is your first timetuning in.
My name is Jacinda.
I am a spiritual life coach andholistic health coach, and today
(00:26):
we are diving into a little bitmore health stuff.
Today, and we talk about allthe things on this podcast,
because I feel like it is all sorelated to us being in our
highest expression.
We really are mind, body, soul,so none of these aspects should
(00:49):
be neglected.
And today I wanted to touch onsomething that I think is super
helpful for women to be aware of, because we intuitively know,
as women, that we functiondifferently than men, yet
(01:10):
sometimes we can struggle toreally accept that.
So we're going to be talkingabout cycle syncing today and
I'm going to be breaking this upinto a couple of different
episodes, actually and todaywe're going to be talking about
what exactly cycle syncing isand how that looks like from a
(01:33):
hormonal standpoint, and thefirst few steps that we can take
to understanding our cycle more, and then I'm going to be
making a whole nother episode tocome on the more grounded,
small ways that you canimplement that into your life.
This is one of the things that Ifeel like we should be taught
(01:56):
when we're very young, from themoment that we have our first
cycle as women, is how we arecyclical beings, how our energy
functions, so different of thatof a man, and I feel like now,
in this moment, women arebecoming more aware of that.
(02:18):
They're becoming more in tunewith their natural rhythm,
because more and more women arefeeling burnt out or just not as
energized as they normally are,trying to keep up with all the
demands that we have everysingle day, whether it's as
mothers or wives or partners.
(02:39):
You know, it's hard to keep upwith everything, and I feel like
we set such high expectationsof ourselves by nature and more
women are beginning to feeltired and just not fully alive,
and a lot of that has to do withus not being fully aware that
(03:00):
we actually don't function thesame way as a man does.
We have our own unique way ofmoving through the world from a
daily basis to a monthly basis.
I mean, there are so manycycles that go on within us, and
this is just one of the manyyou know.
So I wanted to touch on howthis shows up for us, because it
(03:25):
could be so life-changing forus if we knew what the
intricacies that happen in ourbody every single day and how,
from one week to the other, thatlooks totally different.
And our current way of beingtoday, our current world, isn't
(03:46):
naturally supportive of usliving in a way that actually
honors our cyclical nature.
I feel like this is going tochange.
The more that women becomeeducated on this topic and begin
to live more in alignment withthemselves, and begin to live
(04:09):
more in alignment withthemselves.
The more that women choose tomove with these seasons of life
that go on within them.
More women are beginning towake up to this, because more
women are beginning tounderstand that you can't
function the same way that youalways have and not burn out at
some point or not feel like youare creating or doing things the
(04:32):
way that you did last week.
You know your energy is not ashigh, and I really do believe
that this being aware of thisaspect of cycle syncing is what
we're going to talk about.
But just being hormonallyempowered and knowing how to
work with our cycle, which iswhat cycle syncing is, is the
(04:56):
way of the future.
I believe that this is going tobe a conversation that is normal
and that women are going tomove with their natural rhythm.
So, whatever inner season theyare in, they're going to be
there and they're going to makethe most out of it, and it's
just going to be something thatwe naturally do and it's going
(05:18):
to be something that becomesmore and more accepted with our
society.
You know, if women feel liketaking a few days off around
your menstrual cycle or yourlate luteal phase or something
like that, or just notoverwhelming yourself during
those parts of your cycle aswell, saying no to more things,
it's like we're going to makemore decisions based off of this
(05:42):
knowledge that we have, butit's a work in progress and in
order for us to move towardsthat, we really have to start
with the foundation, which isjust having as many women as
possible know about this.
You know, educating ourselveson what is actually going on
(06:03):
within our body and that's whatwe're going to be talking about
in today's episode is how thisactually looks within your body.
This is more of the scientificsbehind it and we're just going
to do a high level introductionon it, but it's just so you're
(06:23):
aware of what is going on withinyou and our internal clock is
very different of that of aman's.
So we have a cyclical cycle.
We function off of a 24-hourhormone cycle Huge, huge
difference here.
So men's hormones functionthese 24 hours in the day.
(06:56):
So their hormones more or lessfluctuate the same way every
single day.
So at the start of theirmorning, their testosterone
tends to be heightened, alongwith cortisol, and both slowly
lower throughout the day, andthey repeat this every single
(07:17):
day.
They start off the day with themost energy, focus and ability
to communicate, and they repeatthis pattern every single day.
So for them it is very naturalto align what they do within a
daily perspective, becausehormonally they are the same day
(07:41):
in and day out, and this is howmost women have been taught we
need to function is that weshould move through our day in a
similar way as men and do thatevery single day.
But that's just not natural forus.
(08:05):
We are not the same as men andif we've thought about different
moments in time, I'm sure thereare moments throughout the
month where you feel superenergized and creative and feel
like you have all this energy todo all these different things,
(08:27):
and there's other momentsthroughout the month where you
don't feel as energized andyou're struggling to just get a
few things done and you don'treally want to see anyone and
you want to spend more time athome.
This is normal for us.
So, having that in mind, weneed to know that we are not the
(08:49):
same as men.
We function off of this 28-dayhormonal cycle and it's based
off of our menstrual cycle andit's broken up into four
different phases Follicular,ovulatory, luteal and the
menstrual phase and our energyand productivity is going to be
(09:10):
so different depending where weare in our cycle.
So I want to touch a little biton what's going on in each
phase from a physiologicalstandpoint.
From a physiological standpoint, so there's four key hormones
that play a role in our cycle.
(09:31):
That's estrogen, progesterone,luteinizing hormone, sometimes
abbreviated as LH, fsh, folliclestimulating hormone.
So these are the four hormonesthat we're going to be looking
at and seeing how they changefrom one phase to the other, and
(09:54):
the way that these four keyhormones interact.
That plays a huge, huge role inhow energized our body feels,
how focused our brain is,whether or not we want to
connect or collaborate.
So the first phase, thefollicular phase this is going
(10:17):
to be the first part of ourcycle and this starts right
after your period.
So your hormones are stillpretty low post-menstruation and
during this phase what we seeis that they slowly begin to
rise because your body isgetting ready to release an egg,
(10:37):
which leads up to ovulation,and the follicular phase usually
lasts between 7 to 10 days.
The next phase is the ovulatoryphase, so this is the second
part of our cycle.
Here we see a dramatic rise inLH and FSH, and this is where
(11:01):
they stimulate our body torelease an egg.
After the egg is released,estrogen increases to increase
our uterine lining.
So the ovulation phase usuallylasts anywhere from three, and
(11:25):
here we see progesterone as themain hormone and it slowly
begins to rise along with theestrogen and testosterone.
During this time, and oncethey're at their peak
concentration, your hormonesbegin to fall at their lowest,
(11:46):
which is right before you getyour period, at their lowest,
which is right before you getyour period.
So when your progesterone drops, here that's what triggers your
body to shed its lining theuterine lining leading to you
having your bleed.
So your luteal phase is thephase right before your
menstrual cycle, and this stormonly lasts between 10 to 14 days
(12:09):
, and this is also when mostwomen experiments PMS, that's,
most Women can experiment PMSactually throughout any time of
their cycle, because there arehormone fluctuations going on
basically throughout the entiretime.
But this is because of themajor hormones that play a role
(12:32):
in this, with the rise inestrogen and testosterone All of
these bigger hormones going on.
This is where most women doexperience some kind of PMS.
And then we're at our menstrualphase.
So your hormones are at theirlowest tier and, like I
mentioned, your estrogen peaksright before your period starts,
(12:55):
which is what signals your bodyto repeat this cycle again, and
your menstrual cycle can rangeanywhere between three to seven
days.
And if you've never heard ofcycle syncing before, you might
wonder why is this evenimportant?
Why does this matter?
Why do we even need to havethis conversation?
(13:18):
And, honestly, there are somany reasons.
We're just going to talk abouta few.
But it allows us to be in flowwith our natural energy, and
that alone relieves stress fromthe body.
So it's a way to manage ourbody stresses.
It's a way for us to move withour energy and not against it.
(13:44):
It's a way to honor whateverseason, you know phase of our
cycle that we're in and actuallyfully be there.
It also allows us to cultivatea deeper understanding about our
body.
All of this might sound a bitcrazy.
If you've never heard any ofthis before, you know it might
(14:04):
sound very intricate, and then,when we talk about how you can
actually do this in a moretangible way, it also might be a
little bit overwhelming.
But truly, when you starttuning into it, you are going to
come to understand your body ina whole other way.
You are intuitively going toknow what phase you are in.
(14:28):
You are intuitively going toknow what you need to eat,
whether or not you need toexercise that day, what you
should be focusing on or not,and this helps you develop that
understanding because it turnsthe connection back to ourselves
.
It allows us to go withinourselves on what we need.
(14:51):
It allows us to trust ourselvesand our intuitive knowing of
what our body needs.
It also allows you to be morein control of your health.
Again, this is a way ofallowing you to choose what is
best for you and for you to knowthat you are ultimately the one
(15:13):
that's most in tune with yourbody, regardless of what anyone
else says to you, and there isways for you to work with it so
that you can continue to be inthat power.
I also love to think that thisdoes allow for just some more
(15:35):
flow and ease into our life.
Which I think more women arebeginning to crave is to not go
through every day withresistance and heaviness and all
of these other things.
We need to accept that we arefluid beings and when we begin
(15:56):
to see how this functions withinour body, we're going to allow
ourselves to honor that.
And allowing our fluidity to bealso increases our overall
well-being in our life.
Some pluses as well for womenthat do suffer with PMS or other
(16:18):
menstrual problems or otherjust hormonal issues like
endometriosis or fibroids, pcos.
When you cycle sync, it canactually alleviate many of those
symptoms because certain foodsallow your body to detox
hormones.
Not adding any stress to yourbody when your body is already
(16:44):
in a more stressful state bynature helps things such as
inflammation, which is super keywith endo and PCOS.
So you are just relieving someof that pressure.
Essentially, when you are cyclesyncing, it can allow some of
(17:05):
the things that you experienceto really lighten, some of the
things that you experience toreally lighten, and I love to
think as well that this honestlyjust connects us to the divine
goddess that's in each and everyone of us.
You know this beautiful beingthat we are, that creates, who's
attuned to her intuition, andthe beautiful, intricate just
(17:31):
being that we are every singleday.
You know how we approach ourlives and how we go about our
day-to-day, connecting to thatdivinity within us and trusting
ourselves and our beautifulpower in us, forever ebbing and
(17:51):
flowing.
One of the first things that wewant to try to do, if we want
to try to be more conscious ofthis beautiful cycle that's
going on within us and to workmore with it, is to track our
cycle to some degree.
This takes a little bit oftrial and error, but I think
(18:14):
it's so essential for women toknow where our bodies are, where
our cycle is, and our cycle is,honestly, our vital sign for
our health as women.
It's just as important as yourblood pressure or your heart
rate, and it can tell us so muchabout our internal landscape,
(18:36):
and tracking is the first stepto developing this already
intuitive connection within us.
Sometimes we just need a littlebit of help with that, so
tracking is going to help us getthere, but there's honestly so
many different ways that you cando this.
You can try out a few thingsfor yourself and see what you
(19:01):
like, what works for you andyour lifestyle.
But there's some apps that youcan use and there's honestly so
many to choose from.
The one that I have been usingfor a couple of years is called
MyFlow, which was created byElisa Vitti, and she's actually
(19:22):
the person that created cyclesyncing, and her book on this
was obviously a huge, hugeinspiration for this and my
growth and experimentation withthis.
But another app that I've usedis Flow F-L-O in the past, and
(19:42):
if you go onto the App Store oniTunes or anywhere, you're going
to see so many differentoptions because there are so
many now, which is amazing.
I think it's so incredible thatyou have all of these options,
and some of them are going to bebetter suited for what you need
.
Some of them may help you trackany symptoms you may have
(20:05):
throughout the month, likebloating or cramping or acne or
anything like that.
Some of them will also give youinsights based off of where you
are in your cycle.
So, if you are in yourovulatory phase, some little
tips about that, and some ofthem will give you insights on
(20:28):
whether or not your cycle isnormal or not, and that might
take you logging a few of yourcycles in the app for that to
actually happen, because mostpeople's cycle doesn't change
very much from month to month,but some women's do.
So if there are any extremechanges, or if your cycle is
(20:52):
shorter or longer or you haveyour symptoms of some sort, it
could definitely give youinsights onto whether or not
that's normal.
Another very easy way to do this, which is what the apps just do
, is, honestly, to just use acalendar.
You can use the calendar onyour phone, you can use a
(21:13):
calendar on a paper planner andyou're basically going to count
the days from your first period.
So when doing this, your periodwill be day one of your cycle,
and then you can use theapproximate dates of each cycle
length in your period, which Igave just now, to guide you on
(21:37):
where you may be, and a healthycycle can range anywhere from 21
to 35 days, but that's just anaverage and there's so much that
goes into that.
You can also look at trackingyour body temperature throughout
the month.
When your body temperaturerises and it's sustained for a
(22:00):
few days, this typicallyindicates that ovulation has
occurred.
So, instead of counting fromyour period.
You can count your bodytemperature and know when you
are ovulating and use that as ajumping off point for where you
are in your cycle.
(22:21):
If your cycle is irregular, Istill suggest that you do use
one of the apps, because it'sgoing to help you gain insight
onto what may be going on.
Not having a regular cyclewhether it's a bit shorter or a
bit longer or significantlylonger can be a sign that
(22:45):
something else is going onbeneath the surface.
So I still think that, even ifyou don't get a cycle every
single day, you should justbecome friends with one of these
apps or tracking your cycle ona calendar on your phone.
However, you want to do it whenyou do get it, because if you
(23:07):
choose to go to someone to talkabout that, that's going to help
you at least have some insighton that.
And a lot of women don't know.
You know how long their cycleis, or you know if their cycle
is healthy or not, and all ofthese things.
We just don't really thinkabout them.
We just kind of go through themotions of.
We know we get a period, mostof us feel different and not as
(23:31):
energized, and some of us havereally bad periods.
Some women you know strugglewith really bad PMS or other
period disorders that can makehaving a period very
uncomfortable.
So, and if you don't have acycle at all, I still think that
you should totally use one ofthe apps to track any symptoms
(23:54):
you may have throughout themonth.
You're not going to be trackingyour cycle, especially if you
haven't had one in over twomonths but using an app, or,
again, it could just be listingit on your notes app on your
phone or a calendar, any waythat feels good to you, but just
(24:16):
tracking any symptoms that youmay have throughout the month.
So maybe you haven't had acycle in two or three months.
Some of the symptoms that youcould be tracking is that you
had acne for a few days, or youhad some spotting, or you were
(24:36):
having some bloating, or youwere having difficulty sleeping.
These are all things that, eventhough might not seem like
they're that important, canactually help create a bigger
picture of what might be goingon, of why you might not be
(24:56):
having a cycle and whether yourcycle is a regular or if you
don't have a cycle at all.
I would suggest that youconsider speaking to someone
about that An acupuncturist,integrative medical doctor or a
functional health practitioner,or if you want a regular doctor.
Again, this is going to comedown to comfort, your values and
(25:20):
what you want to try to do orfocus on when it comes to a
health perspective.
If you want to focus more onWestern medicine versus Eastern,
or just get a few differentideas, speak to a few of them
and see what you feelcomfortable with, and getting
(25:41):
some blood work done.
If you are experiencing eithernot having a cycle or lack of
one, getting some blood workdone is going to be super
insightful onto what may begoing on and I mentioned this
already but hormones are sointricate and multifaceted, so
(26:03):
hormone imbalances are so manydifferent layers of things that
need to be looked at and to kindof understand what is going on
at a bigger picture.
So, one of the things that youwant to look at if you are
trying to work through eithersome hormonal imbalances or a
(26:27):
lack of a cycle or you know youhave some really extreme
symptoms of some kind, you arereally going to want to look for
someone that knows their stuffwhen it comes to this, doing
your research on a doctor or apractitioner or an acupuncturist
that focuses on hormones orwomen's health.
(26:48):
That's going to be super, superbeneficial for you because,
again, that's the whole reasonfor this episode.
We are so different than men andhealth, I feel, should really
be looked at from a holisticlens.
We are very, very layeredhumans, you know, not just
(27:10):
looking at them from one side ofthe table as well which I feel
is where sometimes Westernmedicine can limit us but just
having multiple conversationswith people and then maybe
deciding, you know, if you wantto move forward with any kind of
support in any of those things.
This is just kind of ahigh-level insight onto what is
(27:34):
going on with us hormonallyduring these 28 days as women.
Why do we feel so different tomen on a day-to-day basis?
Truly, from one day to theother, we can feel so, so
different, and this is justgiving us some insight onto what
is going on within ourwonderful body so that we can
(27:59):
fall in love with all of theseaspects of ourselves and really
just want to honor them.
So that is what we're going tobe touching on in the next
episode.
That we're going to be talkingabout when it comes to cycle
syncing is how to actually workwith these seasons, when we are
(28:19):
in each season within ourbeautiful hormonal cycle.
So that's what's to come in thenext episode.
But let me know if you have beeneither tracking your cycle for
some time, if you're familiarwith this concept of cycle
syncing, or if you are justsomewhat familiar with being
(28:43):
more in tune with your cycle.
If you are just somewhatfamiliar with being more in tune
with your cycle, I'd love toknow how it's helped you become
just more aware with your needsthroughout the month.
And if you are not familiarwith cycle syncing, let me know
what aspect of your life youwould love it to help you flow
(29:04):
with more life.
You would love it to help youflow with more If that's with
the way that you.
Maybe you struggle moving yourbody throughout the month and
being consistent with that.
Or maybe it's a way that you eatand there's certain times in
the month where you just craveeating certain things.
Or maybe it's just a way thatyou would go about your day, you
(29:25):
know, or your weeks sometimes,where you expect yourself to
have the same output andsometimes that might be
overwhelming another week.
What do you feel you'd like tokind of highlight and work on
when it comes to this?
And that's what we're going totalk about in the next episode.
So I look forward to talking toyou all then and we can dive
(29:51):
into this more all in thatepisode.
But have an incredible week,wherever you are tuning in from.
I am sending you all a big hugUntil then.
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