June 9, 2024 • 19 mins
Send Katie a Message with Your Questions/Thoughts! :)
Do you dread your period every month? You're not alone.
Join Katie as she shares the powerful tool that brought her from loathing her menstrual cycle to joyfully embracing it through the life-changing practice of cycle syncing.
In this episode, Katie welcomes Cassandra Mulhern, a cycle syncing expert, creator of Cycle Synced, and mama of two, who sheds light on this empowering approach to hormonal wellness.
Cassandra explains the four phases of the menstrual cycle—menstrual (inner winter), follicular (inner spring), ovulatory (inner summer), and luteal (inner fall)—and how each phase influences our energy, emotions, and physical health. Learn how to harness the unique strengths of each phase to enhance your well-being and family dynamics.
You'll discover practical tips for:
- Tracking your cycle and predicting symptoms
- Aligning your diet and workouts with your hormonal changes
- Improving communication with your family about your needs
- Using cycle syncing to create more balance and joy in your life
Discover how understanding and aligning with the four phases of your menstrual cycle can drastically improve your health, happiness, and productivity!
Resources:
- Download Cassandra's free Cycle Syncing Toolkit here
- Register for her live webinar on June 22nd and use the special discount code "ecosync" for our listeners to receive 20% off
- Follow Cassandra on Instagram @cycle.synced
- Join our Eco-Minded Mama Collective (below) for an exclusive Live Q&A with Cassandra, as well as several more perks!!
Tune in now to transform your relationship with your menstrual cycle and unlock your full potential!
Pssst--
🌟 It's Jumpstart June! 🌟 June is my favorite month because there is so much I'm personally celebrating, and I'd love to spread the joy by gifting you ONE FREE month inside our Eco-Minded Mama Collective! ➡️ Use the code JUMPSTART at checkout to receive one free month and let's jumpstart your sustainable living journey with instant access to everything you need to start saving money & reducing your stress levels + carbon footprint!
⏰ code expires at midnight on June 30th, 2024
P.S. Be sure to subscribe to the show so you never miss an episode and follow us on Instagram & TikTok @ecomindedmama to stay connected! ✨
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie Kurpanek (00:00):
So I used to hate my period, like most people
with menstrual cycles do, atleast that's how it was when I
was growing up. And this is howit was until I learned about a
way of living that was a totalgame changer for me. And it's
called cycle syncing. So I hadno idea first of all, that there
were even four phases to mymenstrual cycle, I was nearly 30
(00:24):
years old when I finally learnedthat, and I didn't even know
that I could actually like,track or predict my symptoms
throughout every month, or thefact that I changed throughout
the month, and that my hormonesdidn't stay consistent. And so
that would impact the symptomsthat I was feeling or
experiencing. All thesedifferent things blew my mind.
And so I'm very excited to getinto this topic with you all
(00:47):
today. If we haven't met yet,I'm Katie. I'm a mama, a coach
and a podcaster, who is focusedon empowering eco minded mamas
just like yourself to livesustainably. And in just a few
years, since learning how tocycle sync my own life, I have
gone from absolutely dreading myperiod, to now actually kind of
loving it, which is really weirdto say, because of everything I
(01:08):
learned about my body and how tohonor her in all four phases
from month to month. Today, I amjoined by a cycle syncing expert
and a mama of two, Cassandra.
She's the creator of CycleSynced. And she has a free
toolkit for us today, and tonsof tips to help us sync up our
lives with our cycles. SoCassandra, welcome to the show.
Thank you for being here.
Cassandra Mulhern (01:29):
Hi, Katie, thank you for having me. It's an
honor to be here and share a lotof this wisdom with like minded
women who deserve to know thisknowledge earlier than in their
30s. Because I was just likeyou, found myself in my 30s
being like, what is going on?
And that's when I learned allthe information as well. And so
same boat of like, why didn't Iknow this earlier? Why isn't
(01:50):
this taught in schools? Right?
Katie Kurpanek (01:52):
It totally should be I was like, I feel
like my entire, like, healthsystem and education system, let
me down in this area.
Cassandra Mulhern (02:01):
100%, they totally did. But also, I feel
like back then they probablydidn't fully understand we were
still relating ourselves to menback then. And I think a lot of
us get caught up in still doingthat. But the truth is, is that
we are far vastly different frommen. And we need to start making
this more common knowledge sothat we can stop comparing
(02:22):
ourselves to the way that menoperate and realize that we are
on a completely differentplaying field.
Katie Kurpanek (02:27):
Absolutely. And for the purpose of this show,
too, I wanted to be sure toclarify that when we're using
men and women terms, you know,we're talking about cisgender
men and women, and if anybodyhas a menstrual cycle that
doesn't identify that way, butthis information will pertain to
them, then I hope you find thisinformation valuable. But I
would love, Cassandra, to justhear a little bit more of your
(02:49):
background and your story andlet us know like what brought
you into such a unique space ofcycles thinking and then
coaching other people and how todo this.
Cassandra Mulhern (03:01):
For sure. Um, so I like you in my 30s had
found myself with two smallchildren. And just really
recognizing that my normal PMSsymptoms tend to be way more
intensified. And by that, likethe rage, I felt so angry, like
once a month. And then Irealized, like, Oh, it's right
before my period. And I couldhave sworn that I had a hormone
(03:25):
imbalance. So I sought outactual answers, I got my blood
tested, I was seeing afunctional medicine doctor, and
all my results came back normal.
And it was just like, Oh, you'rejust learning to live with small
children. And that is whatultimately brought me to cycle
syncing. I had heard on anotherpodcast actually about what
cycle syncing was. And it waslike all these light bulbs went
(03:46):
off. And it really moved me tobe more serious about tracking
my cycle. Also, because it was alittle bit irregular. And so I
was like, I need to reallydiscern if this is like an
actual problem, or, you know ifthis is just normal, right, your
fluctuation in days. So Istarted off by just tracking two
basic things, which are my cycleday, and my basic emotions. And
(04:07):
from there, it kind of evolvedinto this whole whirlwind of
tracking everything andrealizing that there is a way to
sync up every facet of my life,to my cycle for my benefit. And
in doing that I also learned howto communicate with my husband
and my kids about these things.
(04:28):
And then my friends as well andjust kind of removing that achy
shame feeling that a lot ofwomen tend to have around
talking about their periods. Andthat just grew in confidence to
where the point I wanted toshare it with everyone and
realize that like there has beenso much happiness that has grown
out of me understanding my cycleand being able to communicate
(04:48):
about that too. I realized likeI need to share this with other
women and we all need toexperience this level of change,
if you will, again, notcomparing ourselves to men and
trying to keep up with the waythat they operate hormonally,
which, men operate on a 24 hourhormone cycle. So they literally
wake up and reset at the samespot every single day. versus
(05:11):
women tend to wake updifferently every day. And it
changes week to week. So ourcapabilities do not reset
everyday like a man does.
Katie Kurpanek (05:20):
Mm hmm. And the more that I've dug into this,
the more that I've realized,like what you're talking about,
so much of our medical history,and the information that we
know, even today in 2024, isbased on you know, cisgender
man's physiology and biologicalfunctions. And even the way that
(05:40):
we have like our workweekstructured, it's all based on
that hormonal cycle, or justlike, you know, a consistent
rate of living that is notcyclical, like what we
experience with a menstrualcycle. So that was like a huge
eye opener for me. And itallowed me to look at myself
differently and with more graceand understanding, because I
(06:02):
realized, there's nothing wrongwith me, there's nothing wrong
with the fact that I feel moretired a certain time of the
month and more energy anothertime of the month. Like, there's
actually, and I know we're gonnaget into this, but there's kind
of like superpowers in thosethings. And recognizing you said
something in one of yourwebinars recently that I loved
(06:24):
that you said, like, recognizingthis is not me forever, this is
me for the next few days. Andjust recognizing that alone,
that like I'm going to change,the way I feel is going to
change and fluctuate throughoutthe month, is actually really
liberating to to know that. Socould you give us, for anyone
who is absolutely brand new tothis topic like I was, could you
(06:45):
give us like a bird's eye viewon what are the four phases of
our cycle first of all, and whatdoes each phase typically hold?
Cassandra Mulhern (06:54):
For Sure. So yeah, as you pointed out, it is
not just like, oh, we bleed forfive days, and then the rest are
all the same, right? We'rechanging and fluctuating
throughout, we have three majorhormones that are taking place
in our bodies over the course ofthe month, the first one that
comes into place estrogen, andthen we ovulate, and you get
progesterone being the moredominant hormone, so they play a
(07:16):
role in two phases for the four.
That probably doesn't make awhole lot of sense. But let me
start at the beginning. When youmenstruate, cycle day one is
your first day of your bleed.
And that's your menstrual phase.
And this is correlating to likeour inner winter. And when we
think about winter, what doeswinter tend to feel like? It
feels like only hanging out withyour family and close friends,
right? We're kind ofhibernating, like bring it in,
(07:38):
bring in the circle and reallyclose, right. And there's also
not a lot of life around us,like all the leaves are off of
the trees. There's no fruitingthings happening, like
everything is kind of retreatingand feeling inward. And that's
exactly how your menstrual cyclefeels like retreating and
slowing down. But then, as soonafter we bleed, our estrogen
starts to kick in. And that'swhen our inner spring happens,
(08:00):
right. And spring is like thisresurrection of life, we
immediately have this sense ofthe days are getting longer. The
flowers are coming out in bloom,everything is made, everyone's
making all of their summerplans. And that's what estrogen
kind of does for us. Right? Itgives us this nice sense of
energy and confidence, if youwill, going out into the world
(08:22):
and just springing into life,right. And then we make our way
into ovulation, which is kind ofthe peak of our menstrual cycle,
that release of the egg. That iswhat your body is working for.
And the entire cycle is torelease that egg and hopefully
fertilize it right. And soovulation is like our inner
summer that peak energy. Thepeak amount of daylight in the
(08:43):
day like summer for us usuallyfeels like out and about hustle
and bustle, doing all of thethings we're planning on the
trips, doing all the barbecues,we're making new friends, this
tends to be like our biggestnetworking season right and
getting out and socializing.
It's very opposite of the winterfeeling right? So that's
ovulation. And then just afterovulation is when our
(09:07):
progesterone tends to kick in,and your progesterone rises,
because that's what your bodyneeds to sustain life. So if a
baby were to be made, an eggfertilized, your progesterone
would stay high. And yourprogesterone rising tends to
lead way to more emotionalfluctuations, right. So that's
when we tend to be labeled asthe PMS b-word right? And have
(09:31):
all of those sensations andangry feelings. We want to
retreat from the world. And thatis also in alignment with the
fall the harvest season, right?
You're harvesting all the thingsand you're getting ready to
retreat inward for that winterseason. And so that's a lot of
what your luteal phase feelslike. It feels like leave me
alone. I need to put up aboundary. I'm feeling very
tired. I just worked really hardduring my follicular phase and
(09:52):
my ovulatory phase. And now I'mjust tired of all that hard work
right so we retreat moreinwards.
Katie Kurpanek (10:00):
Hmm. Okay, so I love the correlation between the
four seasons because that's soeasy for us to remember. So, So
recapping your menstrual phaseis like your inner winter. And
then follicular is like yourinner spring. So you're starting
to kind of wake up and getenergized again, your ovulatory
or ovulation phase is like yourinner summer. And then the
(10:21):
luteal phase is like your innerfall. And then it just
continues, like, you know, itjust starts over again, month
after month. Okay, so then whatare some like tangible or maybe
just relatable real lifeexamples of what happens when we
don't live in alignment with ourmenstrual cycle with these
(10:41):
phases, because I feel like mostpeople listening in are going to
be able to relate to that that'sprobably where they are, if they
haven't been giving this anyattention, or they just didn't
know about it.
Cassandra Mulhern (10:51):
So first off, I just want to highlight again,
this kind of like male drivensociety that we get sucked into,
and be wanting to perform atthat level. And men, like I
said, can wake up and performtheir daily routines have the
exact same breakfast, theirworkouts, like everything
scheduled to the nines, right?
And so we want to have that typeof regularity in our life,
(11:11):
right? And so we try and dothat, right. So if say, you're
on some sort of diet plan,right, intermittent fasting, or
you're wanting to eliminatecarbohydrates, that's a big one
for women, right? Let'seliminate the cards so I can
eliminate some of the fat. Sohere's how it goes. After you
menstruate, you feel really goodand your body is able to keep up
(11:32):
with your changes in lifestyle,the eating less calories, a more
restricted window andeliminating the carbs. But as
soon as you ovulate, your bodyis literally craving more foods,
you will burn an excess of 80 to250 calories during your luteal
phase. So that's why your body'sliterally craving more. So when
(11:52):
your body is craving more, butyou're giving it less, that gap
between what you desire and whatyou're giving it is larger than
it normally would be. So whenyou fall off that wagon, you
fall hard, right. And so thesame thing goes with like our
work schedule, our workoutschedule, when you're just going
hard all the time, eventually,it's going to catch up to you,
(12:13):
and you will crash and burnharder. Rather than finding that
balance between Yeah, let's workout really hard this week and a
half to two weeks. And thenlet's take it easy and bring it
back a little bit. So findingthat balance and more of like a
week to week schedule, ratherthan a day of the week schedule
will help you find a much betterbalance that's in alignment with
(12:33):
your cycle. And let me back upreally quickly and say that when
we are in alignment with ourcycle, lots of beautiful things
tend to manifest. You'reintentionally creating a
boundary and a space foryourself to rest and reflect
when normally you're feelinglike you need to go, go go. And
so again, just that gap betweenexpectation and reality is more
(12:54):
decreased. And that leads to anincreased sense of happiness and
success. And happiness is what Iam all about. Right?
Katie Kurpanek (13:05):
Oh, yeah, we all need that. i Yeah, what a game
changer, like even realizingthat your workouts don't need
like, it just doesn't work to dothe same exact workout routine
day after day after day, likeyou're gonna burn yourself out
so hard. And then yeah, what youeat, I mean, so I know that in
the toolkit that you've created,those are some of the resources
(13:26):
that you have, like you may evenhave ideas on what kinds of
meals or snacks would bebeneficial during the four
phases so that you can liketreat your body the way that she
needs during those phases. So Iwill have that toolkit linked
below. But if you could justtell us briefly like what is
this cycle syncing toolkit thatyou've created? How do you
(13:49):
envision this to be used?
Cassandra Mulhern (13:50):
So the cycle synced toolkit is used as a
weekly planner, if you will. Yousit down, I sit down every
Sunday, and I look at thisthing, and I'm like, alright,
what are my cycle days going tobe like next week? How is my
energy correlating with thesecycle days? Am I on this like
upward Spring energy? Or am I onthis downward Fall energy,
(14:12):
right? And then I also kind oftaken to the moon phase as well,
which I know we haven't talkedabout a lot. But it definitely
still correlates between thislike peak of high energy and low
energy. And so I tend to cyclemy family through this moon
phase so that they can maintaina balance between high and low
activity loads, right. And so Iput together like my internal
(14:32):
energy and their external energyand put them together and be
like, oh, what does our familydynamic look like this week? And
then through that, I make my wayaround and figure out what types
of priorities still need to getdone no matter what phase I'm
in. And again, like you werementioning those foods and cycle
supportive snacks, right? Whatam I going to grocery shop for
(14:53):
this week that's just going tobe readily and easily available
so that when I'm hungry and Iwant to snack, it's just
immediately enough alignmentwith what my body wants, right?
And then the last part of thetoolkit is your How are you
going to love on yourself? Asmoms and as women, we tend to
throw a lot of that other stuffto the wayside without taking
care of ourselves. And that onlywidens that gap between reality
(15:16):
and expectation, right? So wewant to eliminate that by
filling our cups a little bitmore, because the more that we
can fill our cup, the more wecan continue to show up for
others in our lives.
Katie Kurpanek (15:26):
That's amazing.
I feel like that goes back tothe point that you mentioned
where when we are living inalignment with our cycle, then
there's so much more natural,like joy and happiness. And I
feel like maybe like I know,some of the the mood swings are
related to like what youdescribed with the drop, you
know, in our hormone levels, orthe rise in progesterone and,
progesterone? Did I say thatright? Yeah, yeah. But then if
(15:49):
we're also not, you know, if westart living a life that is
aligned with this, and takescare of our needs, like
physically and emotionally, andwe're communicating with our
families about that, then that'salso going to obviously affect
our emotional state of wellbeing and our mood swings. So
I'm super excited about that.
Cassandra Mulhern (16:10):
And it literally just, it, it helps
everyone. So if we're allworking on the same team to help
manage mommy's hormones andemotions, then the less likely I
am to be grinding with everyoneelse in the house. It's not like
I'm putting myself up on apedestal. But it's the reality
of the fluctuation of hormonesand how they actually make you
feel. Hormones equal feelings.
And women have fluctuatinghormones. So their feelings and
(16:32):
emotions are going to fluctuate.
Whereas a man is very different.
They're very steady, and samethroughout, right? So it's
different. And the more that wecan bring them into
understanding of where we areat, and how we feel and how that
correlates, the more that theycan step in and help out I
always say, like, open the doorfor help, right? If you don't
speak up and say something,you're not opening that door for
(16:54):
help, for someone to step in andbe like, Oh, I can take care of
dinner tonight. Or I got thekids during bedtime routine, why
don't you go take a bath? That'sway better than you being really
frustrated feeling like afailure about dinner, and then
just grinding with your kidsabout the normal bedtime
struggles, right? So allowingthat space for someone else to
step in and help out. Teamworkmakes the dream work. Right.
Katie Kurpanek (17:19):
Exactly. That's huge. And I'm so glad you bring
that up. I know we are going topause this conversation at this
time and we're going to be backwith part two, where we really
focus on how cycle syncing canimpact your family dynamics like
exactly what you were justdescribing. And then some real
actionable steps that the mamaslistening can start to take
(17:39):
today. So I'm very excited toget back into that with you in
just a little bit Cassandra. Andbefore we go, I wanted to
mention two important things forour listeners. So Cassandra will
be hosting a live webinar onthis topic on Saturday, June 22.
And she has generously created adiscount code for our listeners
of this podcast. So I will besure to have all that
(18:02):
information linked in the shownotes. I joined her most recent
webinar, and it was soenlightening. And then she's
also going to be featured as oneof our experts inside The
Eco-Minded Mama Collective. Ifyou haven't heard about that
yet, that is just the onlinemembership program that I've
created for eco minded mamasjust like you all. We are
meeting each other virtually,it's an online community
(18:24):
supporting each other week byweek. And so the following week
after her webinar, thenCassandra will also be doing a
Live Q&A with our mama membersto have more like in depth and
personalized questions duringthat time. So you can find more
information on that in the shownotes. And that leads me to my
second and final thing tomention which is very exciting.
(18:45):
So this month, I'm calling itJumpstart June. In honor of my
birthday, my anniversary,Father's Day, so many things to
celebrate in June. I am giftingyou all one month completely
free for joining The Eco-MindedMama Collective. If you have
been wondering if this issomething that is a good fit for
you, and you just want to try itout, now is the time so you can
(19:08):
use the code JUMPSTART and thatis all linked in the show notes
as well. But use the codeJUMPSTART at checkout to receive
one month for free and use thatbefore midnight on June 30. It
is good all month, you willreceive instant access to our
digital library of videos andresources, a community of mom
friends and then perks like thisLive Q&A with amazing experts. I
(19:31):
can't wait to see you on theinside and we'll be back later
with part two of this cyclesyncing conversation.
So I used to hate my period, like most people
with menstrual cycles do, atleast that's how it was when I
was growing up. And this is howit was until I learned about a
way of living that was a totalgame changer for me. And it's
called cycle syncing. So I hadno idea first of all, that there
were even four phases to mymenstrual cycle, I was nearly 30
(00:24):
years old when I finally learnedthat, and I didn't even know
that I could actually like,track or predict my symptoms
throughout every month, or thefact that I changed throughout
the month, and that my hormonesdidn't stay consistent. And so
that would impact the symptomsthat I was feeling or
experiencing. All thesedifferent things blew my mind.
And so I'm very excited to getinto this topic with you all
(00:47):
today. If we haven't met yet,I'm Katie. I'm a mama, a coach
and a podcaster, who is focusedon empowering eco minded mamas
just like yourself to livesustainably. And in just a few
years, since learning how tocycle sync my own life, I have
gone from absolutely dreading myperiod, to now actually kind of
loving it, which is really weirdto say, because of everything I
(01:08):
learned about my body and how tohonor her in all four phases
from month to month. Today, I amjoined by a cycle syncing expert
and a mama of two, Cassandra.
She's the creator of CycleSynced. And she has a free
toolkit for us today, and tonsof tips to help us sync up our
lives with our cycles. SoCassandra, welcome to the show.
Thank you for being here.
Cassandra Mulhern (01:29):
Hi, Katie, thank you for having me. It's an
honor to be here and share a lotof this wisdom with like minded
women who deserve to know thisknowledge earlier than in their
30s. Because I was just likeyou, found myself in my 30s
being like, what is going on?
And that's when I learned allthe information as well. And so
same boat of like, why didn't Iknow this earlier? Why isn't
(01:50):
this taught in schools? Right?
Katie Kurpanek (01:52):
It totally should be I was like, I feel
like my entire, like, healthsystem and education system, let
me down in this area.
Cassandra Mulhern (02:01):
100%, they totally did. But also, I feel
like back then they probablydidn't fully understand we were
still relating ourselves to menback then. And I think a lot of
us get caught up in still doingthat. But the truth is, is that
we are far vastly different frommen. And we need to start making
this more common knowledge sothat we can stop comparing
(02:22):
ourselves to the way that menoperate and realize that we are
on a completely differentplaying field.
Katie Kurpanek (02:27):
Absolutely. And for the purpose of this show,
too, I wanted to be sure toclarify that when we're using
men and women terms, you know,we're talking about cisgender
men and women, and if anybodyhas a menstrual cycle that
doesn't identify that way, butthis information will pertain to
them, then I hope you find thisinformation valuable. But I
would love, Cassandra, to justhear a little bit more of your
(02:49):
background and your story andlet us know like what brought
you into such a unique space ofcycles thinking and then
coaching other people and how todo this.
Cassandra Mulhern (03:01):
For sure. Um, so I like you in my 30s had
found myself with two smallchildren. And just really
recognizing that my normal PMSsymptoms tend to be way more
intensified. And by that, likethe rage, I felt so angry, like
once a month. And then Irealized, like, Oh, it's right
before my period. And I couldhave sworn that I had a hormone
(03:25):
imbalance. So I sought outactual answers, I got my blood
tested, I was seeing afunctional medicine doctor, and
all my results came back normal.
And it was just like, Oh, you'rejust learning to live with small
children. And that is whatultimately brought me to cycle
syncing. I had heard on anotherpodcast actually about what
cycle syncing was. And it waslike all these light bulbs went
(03:46):
off. And it really moved me tobe more serious about tracking
my cycle. Also, because it was alittle bit irregular. And so I
was like, I need to reallydiscern if this is like an
actual problem, or, you know ifthis is just normal, right, your
fluctuation in days. So Istarted off by just tracking two
basic things, which are my cycleday, and my basic emotions. And
(04:07):
from there, it kind of evolvedinto this whole whirlwind of
tracking everything andrealizing that there is a way to
sync up every facet of my life,to my cycle for my benefit. And
in doing that I also learned howto communicate with my husband
and my kids about these things.
(04:28):
And then my friends as well andjust kind of removing that achy
shame feeling that a lot ofwomen tend to have around
talking about their periods. Andthat just grew in confidence to
where the point I wanted toshare it with everyone and
realize that like there has beenso much happiness that has grown
out of me understanding my cycleand being able to communicate
(04:48):
about that too. I realized likeI need to share this with other
women and we all need toexperience this level of change,
if you will, again, notcomparing ourselves to men and
trying to keep up with the waythat they operate hormonally,
which, men operate on a 24 hourhormone cycle. So they literally
wake up and reset at the samespot every single day. versus
(05:11):
women tend to wake updifferently every day. And it
changes week to week. So ourcapabilities do not reset
everyday like a man does.
Katie Kurpanek (05:20):
Mm hmm. And the more that I've dug into this,
the more that I've realized,like what you're talking about,
so much of our medical history,and the information that we
know, even today in 2024, isbased on you know, cisgender
man's physiology and biologicalfunctions. And even the way that
(05:40):
we have like our workweekstructured, it's all based on
that hormonal cycle, or justlike, you know, a consistent
rate of living that is notcyclical, like what we
experience with a menstrualcycle. So that was like a huge
eye opener for me. And itallowed me to look at myself
differently and with more graceand understanding, because I
(06:02):
realized, there's nothing wrongwith me, there's nothing wrong
with the fact that I feel moretired a certain time of the
month and more energy anothertime of the month. Like, there's
actually, and I know we're gonnaget into this, but there's kind
of like superpowers in thosethings. And recognizing you said
something in one of yourwebinars recently that I loved
(06:24):
that you said, like, recognizingthis is not me forever, this is
me for the next few days. Andjust recognizing that alone,
that like I'm going to change,the way I feel is going to
change and fluctuate throughoutthe month, is actually really
liberating to to know that. Socould you give us, for anyone
who is absolutely brand new tothis topic like I was, could you
(06:45):
give us like a bird's eye viewon what are the four phases of
our cycle first of all, and whatdoes each phase typically hold?
Cassandra Mulhern (06:54):
For Sure. So yeah, as you pointed out, it is
not just like, oh, we bleed forfive days, and then the rest are
all the same, right? We'rechanging and fluctuating
throughout, we have three majorhormones that are taking place
in our bodies over the course ofthe month, the first one that
comes into place estrogen, andthen we ovulate, and you get
progesterone being the moredominant hormone, so they play a
(07:16):
role in two phases for the four.
That probably doesn't make awhole lot of sense. But let me
start at the beginning. When youmenstruate, cycle day one is
your first day of your bleed.
And that's your menstrual phase.
And this is correlating to likeour inner winter. And when we
think about winter, what doeswinter tend to feel like? It
feels like only hanging out withyour family and close friends,
right? We're kind ofhibernating, like bring it in,
(07:38):
bring in the circle and reallyclose, right. And there's also
not a lot of life around us,like all the leaves are off of
the trees. There's no fruitingthings happening, like
everything is kind of retreatingand feeling inward. And that's
exactly how your menstrual cyclefeels like retreating and
slowing down. But then, as soonafter we bleed, our estrogen
starts to kick in. And that'swhen our inner spring happens,
(08:00):
right. And spring is like thisresurrection of life, we
immediately have this sense ofthe days are getting longer. The
flowers are coming out in bloom,everything is made, everyone's
making all of their summerplans. And that's what estrogen
kind of does for us. Right? Itgives us this nice sense of
energy and confidence, if youwill, going out into the world
(08:22):
and just springing into life,right. And then we make our way
into ovulation, which is kind ofthe peak of our menstrual cycle,
that release of the egg. That iswhat your body is working for.
And the entire cycle is torelease that egg and hopefully
fertilize it right. And soovulation is like our inner
summer that peak energy. Thepeak amount of daylight in the
(08:43):
day like summer for us usuallyfeels like out and about hustle
and bustle, doing all of thethings we're planning on the
trips, doing all the barbecues,we're making new friends, this
tends to be like our biggestnetworking season right and
getting out and socializing.
It's very opposite of the winterfeeling right? So that's
ovulation. And then just afterovulation is when our
(09:07):
progesterone tends to kick in,and your progesterone rises,
because that's what your bodyneeds to sustain life. So if a
baby were to be made, an eggfertilized, your progesterone
would stay high. And yourprogesterone rising tends to
lead way to more emotionalfluctuations, right. So that's
when we tend to be labeled asthe PMS b-word right? And have
(09:31):
all of those sensations andangry feelings. We want to
retreat from the world. And thatis also in alignment with the
fall the harvest season, right?
You're harvesting all the thingsand you're getting ready to
retreat inward for that winterseason. And so that's a lot of
what your luteal phase feelslike. It feels like leave me
alone. I need to put up aboundary. I'm feeling very
tired. I just worked really hardduring my follicular phase and
(09:52):
my ovulatory phase. And now I'mjust tired of all that hard work
right so we retreat moreinwards.
Katie Kurpanek (10:00):
Hmm. Okay, so I love the correlation between the
four seasons because that's soeasy for us to remember. So, So
recapping your menstrual phaseis like your inner winter. And
then follicular is like yourinner spring. So you're starting
to kind of wake up and getenergized again, your ovulatory
or ovulation phase is like yourinner summer. And then the
(10:21):
luteal phase is like your innerfall. And then it just
continues, like, you know, itjust starts over again, month
after month. Okay, so then whatare some like tangible or maybe
just relatable real lifeexamples of what happens when we
don't live in alignment with ourmenstrual cycle with these
(10:41):
phases, because I feel like mostpeople listening in are going to
be able to relate to that that'sprobably where they are, if they
haven't been giving this anyattention, or they just didn't
know about it.
Cassandra Mulhern (10:51):
So first off, I just want to highlight again,
this kind of like male drivensociety that we get sucked into,
and be wanting to perform atthat level. And men, like I
said, can wake up and performtheir daily routines have the
exact same breakfast, theirworkouts, like everything
scheduled to the nines, right?
And so we want to have that typeof regularity in our life,
(11:11):
right? And so we try and dothat, right. So if say, you're
on some sort of diet plan,right, intermittent fasting, or
you're wanting to eliminatecarbohydrates, that's a big one
for women, right? Let'seliminate the cards so I can
eliminate some of the fat. Sohere's how it goes. After you
menstruate, you feel really goodand your body is able to keep up
(11:32):
with your changes in lifestyle,the eating less calories, a more
restricted window andeliminating the carbs. But as
soon as you ovulate, your bodyis literally craving more foods,
you will burn an excess of 80 to250 calories during your luteal
phase. So that's why your body'sliterally craving more. So when
(11:52):
your body is craving more, butyou're giving it less, that gap
between what you desire and whatyou're giving it is larger than
it normally would be. So whenyou fall off that wagon, you
fall hard, right. And so thesame thing goes with like our
work schedule, our workoutschedule, when you're just going
hard all the time, eventually,it's going to catch up to you,
(12:13):
and you will crash and burnharder. Rather than finding that
balance between Yeah, let's workout really hard this week and a
half to two weeks. And thenlet's take it easy and bring it
back a little bit. So findingthat balance and more of like a
week to week schedule, ratherthan a day of the week schedule
will help you find a much betterbalance that's in alignment with
(12:33):
your cycle. And let me back upreally quickly and say that when
we are in alignment with ourcycle, lots of beautiful things
tend to manifest. You'reintentionally creating a
boundary and a space foryourself to rest and reflect
when normally you're feelinglike you need to go, go go. And
so again, just that gap betweenexpectation and reality is more
(12:54):
decreased. And that leads to anincreased sense of happiness and
success. And happiness is what Iam all about. Right?
Katie Kurpanek (13:05):
Oh, yeah, we all need that. i Yeah, what a game
changer, like even realizingthat your workouts don't need
like, it just doesn't work to dothe same exact workout routine
day after day after day, likeyou're gonna burn yourself out
so hard. And then yeah, what youeat, I mean, so I know that in
the toolkit that you've created,those are some of the resources
(13:26):
that you have, like you may evenhave ideas on what kinds of
meals or snacks would bebeneficial during the four
phases so that you can liketreat your body the way that she
needs during those phases. So Iwill have that toolkit linked
below. But if you could justtell us briefly like what is
this cycle syncing toolkit thatyou've created? How do you
(13:49):
envision this to be used?
Cassandra Mulhern (13:50):
So the cycle synced toolkit is used as a
weekly planner, if you will. Yousit down, I sit down every
Sunday, and I look at thisthing, and I'm like, alright,
what are my cycle days going tobe like next week? How is my
energy correlating with thesecycle days? Am I on this like
upward Spring energy? Or am I onthis downward Fall energy,
(14:12):
right? And then I also kind oftaken to the moon phase as well,
which I know we haven't talkedabout a lot. But it definitely
still correlates between thislike peak of high energy and low
energy. And so I tend to cyclemy family through this moon
phase so that they can maintaina balance between high and low
activity loads, right. And so Iput together like my internal
(14:32):
energy and their external energyand put them together and be
like, oh, what does our familydynamic look like this week? And
then through that, I make my wayaround and figure out what types
of priorities still need to getdone no matter what phase I'm
in. And again, like you werementioning those foods and cycle
supportive snacks, right? Whatam I going to grocery shop for
(14:53):
this week that's just going tobe readily and easily available
so that when I'm hungry and Iwant to snack, it's just
immediately enough alignmentwith what my body wants, right?
And then the last part of thetoolkit is your How are you
going to love on yourself? Asmoms and as women, we tend to
throw a lot of that other stuffto the wayside without taking
care of ourselves. And that onlywidens that gap between reality
(15:16):
and expectation, right? So wewant to eliminate that by
filling our cups a little bitmore, because the more that we
can fill our cup, the more wecan continue to show up for
others in our lives.
Katie Kurpanek (15:26):
That's amazing.
I feel like that goes back tothe point that you mentioned
where when we are living inalignment with our cycle, then
there's so much more natural,like joy and happiness. And I
feel like maybe like I know,some of the the mood swings are
related to like what youdescribed with the drop, you
know, in our hormone levels, orthe rise in progesterone and,
progesterone? Did I say thatright? Yeah, yeah. But then if
(15:49):
we're also not, you know, if westart living a life that is
aligned with this, and takescare of our needs, like
physically and emotionally, andwe're communicating with our
families about that, then that'salso going to obviously affect
our emotional state of wellbeing and our mood swings. So
I'm super excited about that.
Cassandra Mulhern (16:10):
And it literally just, it, it helps
everyone. So if we're allworking on the same team to help
manage mommy's hormones andemotions, then the less likely I
am to be grinding with everyoneelse in the house. It's not like
I'm putting myself up on apedestal. But it's the reality
of the fluctuation of hormonesand how they actually make you
feel. Hormones equal feelings.
And women have fluctuatinghormones. So their feelings and
(16:32):
emotions are going to fluctuate.
Whereas a man is very different.
They're very steady, and samethroughout, right? So it's
different. And the more that wecan bring them into
understanding of where we areat, and how we feel and how that
correlates, the more that theycan step in and help out I
always say, like, open the doorfor help, right? If you don't
speak up and say something,you're not opening that door for
(16:54):
help, for someone to step in andbe like, Oh, I can take care of
dinner tonight. Or I got thekids during bedtime routine, why
don't you go take a bath? That'sway better than you being really
frustrated feeling like afailure about dinner, and then
just grinding with your kidsabout the normal bedtime
struggles, right? So allowingthat space for someone else to
step in and help out. Teamworkmakes the dream work. Right.
Katie Kurpanek (17:19):
Exactly. That's huge. And I'm so glad you bring
that up. I know we are going topause this conversation at this
time and we're going to be backwith part two, where we really
focus on how cycle syncing canimpact your family dynamics like
exactly what you were justdescribing. And then some real
actionable steps that the mamaslistening can start to take
(17:39):
today. So I'm very excited toget back into that with you in
just a little bit Cassandra. Andbefore we go, I wanted to
mention two important things forour listeners. So Cassandra will
be hosting a live webinar onthis topic on Saturday, June 22.
And she has generously created adiscount code for our listeners
of this podcast. So I will besure to have all that
(18:02):
information linked in the shownotes. I joined her most recent
webinar, and it was soenlightening. And then she's
also going to be featured as oneof our experts inside The
Eco-Minded Mama Collective. Ifyou haven't heard about that
yet, that is just the onlinemembership program that I've
created for eco minded mamasjust like you all. We are
meeting each other virtually,it's an online community
(18:24):
supporting each other week byweek. And so the following week
after her webinar, thenCassandra will also be doing a
Live Q&A with our mama membersto have more like in depth and
personalized questions duringthat time. So you can find more
information on that in the shownotes. And that leads me to my
second and final thing tomention which is very exciting.
(18:45):
So this month, I'm calling itJumpstart June. In honor of my
birthday, my anniversary,Father's Day, so many things to
celebrate in June. I am giftingyou all one month completely
free for joining The Eco-MindedMama Collective. If you have
been wondering if this issomething that is a good fit for
you, and you just want to try itout, now is the time so you can
(19:08):
use the code JUMPSTART and thatis all linked in the show notes
as well. But use the codeJUMPSTART at checkout to receive
one month for free and use thatbefore midnight on June 30. It
is good all month, you willreceive instant access to our
digital library of videos andresources, a community of mom
friends and then perks like thisLive Q&A with amazing experts. I
(19:31):
can't wait to see you on theinside and we'll be back later
with part two of this cyclesyncing conversation.
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