This episode is all about cyclical nature, menstrual
cycle and circadian rhythms. In this episode,
I speak to Iris Josephina, one of the leading
experts in holistic hormone health and integrated
cyclical living. Her teachings have supported
thousands of women in reclaiming their body literacy
and working with their cycle so that they can
truly thrive in life. Because our cycles are
not just inconvenience, they really are a map
and a guide for us to truly unlock our fullest
potential, our well -being, our vitality and
our success. So in this episode, we will cover
the phases of menstrual cycle and what your body
truly needs in each phase. You'll learn how to
align your work relationships and self -care
with hormonal shifts. You'll learn the top biohacks
that every woman needs to know. And you'll understand
why cyclical living is the key to sustainable
health, energy, and feminine power. You are listening
to the Feminine Power Podcast, your portal into
embodiment, feminine awakening, and the true
power of your life force, sexual energy. I'm
your host Mariya Grinina, founder of Feel, a global
platform for feminine embodiment and a coach
for women ready to live with magnetism, love
and full aliveness. If you're ready to rise,
you're in the right place. Follow the show and
let's begin. I kind of like organically segued
my way into this work, like my... My academic
background is in cultural and medical anthropology,
so I've always been very interested in how people
across cultures approach their body, approach
health, approach healing, approach pathology,
and everything that can happen within a body.
And so during my final research, I was in the
south of India researching pregnancy experiences
among the women there and how they perceive their
pregnant bodies and the whole process of healing
after birth and the experience of being pregnant
and the experience of birthing. And so my entrance
into this work was actually through the like
phase of the cyclical continuum that is pregnancy,
birth and postpartum. And after I got back from
this field work as an anthropologist, I decided
to become a doula. My wish would become a midwife,
but I was already studying for five years and
I was like, oh, am I going to like study another
like academic study in midwifery or clinical
study or am I just going to study to become a
doula so I can be present in this very special
part of our cyclical continuum and be like a
witness of this whole process and supporting
people. And as I set up my business as a doula,
which I was doing part time, I was seeing clients
and I noticed that after a while and after seeing
more clients, the main chunk of my work was actually
not like helping people prepare for their birth
and their postpartum, but it was actually explaining
basic biology. And what had happened during conception,
what happens during pregnancy, what happens physiologically
during each phase of the pregnancy and each trimester,
what happens during the postpartum period and
what can happen physiologically and what experiences
come with that on a very physical, mental, emotional
level. And I was like, hold on a minute. how
is it possible that all these highly educated
people that I'm working with, because I lived
in a city, I had like highly educated people
with PhDs, high quality careers, and yet the
simplicity of biology was missing from their
lives, which then also led them to experience
things in their bodies that were very normal
like shifts in cervical mucus or shifts in temperature
or shifts in mood that they perceived as something
is wrong with me or this is not normal while
all of the things that most of them experienced
were actually very physiologically anatomically
normal. And this had me think like, wow, so many
people during their pregnancies are having all
these insecurities and all these alarm bells
going off that are completely preventable and
unnecessary. And I feel that what adds to the
stress of being pregnant is having to educate
yourself while you're pregnant and meeting yourself
on all these levels. Because pregnancy is a portal,
it opens up like so many different layers of
what is physiologically possible, how you see
yourself as a person, your whole identity shifts.
And I feel all of this is way harder when you
haven't met your cyclical self before falling
pregnant. A lot of women and people who are pregnant
need to do this work of homecoming to their cyclical
self during pregnancy. because the shifts and
changes of pregnancy really bring you to your
body and to your physical embodiment of what
it means to be cyclical. And I was really called
to move the focus of my work to before pregnancy
so that I could help people really land in their
bodies and land in the education and understanding
of their bodies and their body sovereignty, their
body literacy before falling pregnant so that
the process of pregnancy could really focus on
the pregnancy and not on all the other stuff
that you can actually already do before you get
pregnant. So it was like an organic shift. I
really loved being present at births and witnessing
people in that whole process. It's an absolute
honor that I got to do that. But I really feel
my place now with my work is really before that,
regardless of whether people want to have children
or not. But the process of physically, emotionally,
spiritually, psychologically, mentally coming
home to this cyclical body and all of the phases
it can move through, because I feel when we do
that, it's easier. and it makes more sense to
shift to other parts of our womb continuum, whether
it is conception, pregnancy, postpartum, and
then later on perimenopause and menopause. So
it was organically the way that my work unfolded,
but I feel that this is really my place and it's
like a place of the womb continuum that really
inspires me and it's really powerful to see people
come home to their bodies in their own unique
way through my guidance like of course I give
guidance but every person has their own experience
of their cycle and there is like gradations that
are different and expressions that are different
and it's just a very big honor for me to be able
to witness people in that journey and play a
role as a guide to help people experience this
sense of like sovereignty and agency over their
bodies. Yeah. So really, I would love on this
podcast today to show how beautiful and amazing
it is to care for yourself, even if you don't
have a problem now. You don't have to have a
problem to care for yourself. And if you already
have something that bothers you, there is a way
of healing that holistically. and in a caring
and beautiful way. So I would love to ask you,
what cycle is actually about? What is it about?
Why do we need to care for it? Wow, that's a
huge question. I first want to affirm what you
just said and that there is like this whole cultural
narrative that focuses on, okay, we only need
to act when something is wrong. I think this
really also has to do with, and this is a bit
of like backtracking, but it'll make sense when
we move forward. I think this also has a lot
to do with actually the industrial revolution
where the attention was taken away from community
and community care and caring for one another.
and really making a person's life about being
in service of other people, most importantly
an employer, to then make us believe that being
in service of society in the form of working
for an employer is the best way that you can
do that. And I feel that this movement in time,
especially in Western society, has pulled us
away from community care. Community care is also
really about reminding each other that we can
care for ourselves, but also checking each other
how we're doing. And I feel that this is, you
know, with the coming of the Industrial Revolution
and the vast movement towards individualism has
really harmed also the way that we take care
of our bodies because this productivity mindset
and being in service of something greater outside
of ourselves in the way of productivity and performance
really pulls you away from your body because
something else outside of yourself is always
more important than what's going on inside of
you and that can be how you feel, how your body
physically responds. We are very much taught
to override that for the sake of Being in service
like this whole glorification of being busy and
working hard has completely gone like Overboard
like it's it's gone. It's become so intense that
the balance has been lost and I feel this ties
into One of the reasons why so many people have
problems Because when something outside of you
is always more important than you checking in
with yourself in your boundaries Your boundary
is going to keep crossing keep being crossed
by you because you're unaware of where the boundary
is. And we have been trained, let's call it trained
by society, specifically Western society, to
always keep going. And this makes that, you know,
in all the layers that we have in the body, especially
from a nervous system perspective, we are always
in the forward movement, but we forget like the
movement that comes back to us and the reflect.
movement. So I feel this really ties into why
so many people have problems. That's one part
of it. And then, you know, having a cycle ties
into being part of something bigger. So I see
the menstrual cycle really as the body's report
card. but it's also our blueprint so our infradian
rhythm is very tightly connected to the circadian
rhythm going on outside of us and then we also
have our internal circadian rhythm so we have
hormones that run on a 24 -hour clock but we
also have hormones that run on like an average
29 -day clock and these are very very much on
a tight rhythm. Western society in a way that
we have organized time is not in alignment with
both the circadian rhythm and our infradian rhythm.
Continuously override both of these rhythms by
various things that we do like on the daily,
like being in front of a screen for too long,
not seeing enough daylight, eating at weird times
or doing something else while you're eating like
watching TV or something else. So we have created
this lifestyle, if you will, that is almost like
a biological mismatch with how our body is supposed
to be dealt with and supported. And I feel that
this mismatch where we with our human brains
have created this lifestyle where we think that
we can control nature or overrule nature or be
better than nature is actually enormously backfiring
and it's showing up in signals and symptoms of
our body. That's the way I look at it and I feel
that when we become aware of that, awareness
is the most important thing, then we can move
towards like a framework that honors both this
circadian rhythm, this day -night rhythm that
we are in as animals, we are animals, and this
emphradian rhythm that moves through our body
in the form of a menstrual cycle. And I feel
we need to become aware of this mismatch and
see how we can return to our physiologic blueprint
that is meant to thrive with having this emphradian
rhythm and the circadian rhythm in check. And
I also personally think that we should step away
from our idea that the way that we organize society
and the way that we organize time is really the
best way for us to thrive. Yeah. Well, I agree
with that for sure. Clearly it doesn't work,
right? So you say there is no reason to dispute
that. Clearly we're not becoming healthier by
living in this fake way. Instead of looking at
the sun and the light and then the moon and aligning
what we need to do with nature, we are aligning
ourselves with rules that we ourselves created,
which doesn't really make sense. And I love how
you describe the... cycle and circadian rhythm
and different rhythms that we follow that actually
make us more natural and natural means healthy.
Very often we are created as healthy beings and
then we meet the world in a way that doesn't
make us healthy anymore. Let's actually describe
a healthy circadian rhythm, align ourselves with
that and then with a cycle. I'd love to hear
how you describe that. So what I would love for
people to understand is that everything in our
bodies is timed. So our melatonin runs on a 24
-hour clock, our cortisol runs on a 24 -hour
clock, our estrogen, LH, FSH, progesterone, they
all run on their own unique clocks. So what is
natural for me is that we start to understand
how do these clocks work? And I think the most
important thing that we need to remember is that
we are animals and animals respond to light and
our cells respond to light. And I feel that this
is the biggest missing link in the whole hormone
health space that not many people are talking
about. Like everyone is about how to fix your
hormones. Like here, pop this supplement and
do this and do that. But what we are forgetting
is that our body runs on specific timelines.
And I feel that when we start to understand these
timelines of our body, we can actually support
it better. And the way in which I see health
thrive in our body is when we start to do things
on the clocks that already exist. Not the clocks
that we created, but the clocks that already
exist. For example, When the light comes in the
morning, it's very important that we turn ourselves
to that light to let the retina of our eyes know,
hey, it's day again, and you can start producing
all the hormones we need for the day. So our
glucose and our insulin drop at the beginning
of the day, cortisol rises, which is very much
needed to get the body started for the day. Now,
how many people do not look outside or go outside
first thing in the morning? They just ramp up
their inside light, which is often LED, which
is not good for all of your cells and the energy
centers in your cells. What we need is light
in the morning. We need light to communicate
to the retina of our eyes that it's okay to start
the day again so that all of the processes that
are needed, so cortisol goes up, glucose and
insulin goes down, your body gets hungry, it
lets you know it needs fuel, you need to start
preparing the first meal of the day. and then
these clocks get started when we are supported
by light and fuel. And then throughout the day
there are certain times that our body requests
fuel like food. For most people that is two to
three meals per day. The two most important meals
are your breakfast which has to be eaten about
one hour within one hour after waking, after
this cortisol awakening response, then we have
lunch and then we have a small dinner. And the
way that nature has set it up is that we need
the most fuel at the beginning of the day to
get through the most part of the day and that
we don't need so much fuel at the end of the
day. And this also brings me into like this whole
idea that people are like into fasting and all
of those things. I really like to look at the
field of chrono nutrition, which means how do
we time our meals for optimal thriving in the
body and science shows that the morning meal
and the lunch meal are the most important ones
to get us through the day and we finish the day
with a smaller meal so that we can peacefully
go into the night and have the body go into regeneration
and we create the most nourishing field for our
body to produce melatonin to have a good night's
sleep. So how I look at it is that nature has
provided us with this beautiful internal clock
system and it's up to us to just attune to it.
So when you wake up, when you see the light,
when you plan your meals and when you go to bed
and ideally we don't eat before the sun or after
the sun has set at night before that. So the
way I'd like to look at it is that we just have
to simplify it by looking around us to see what
is the natural clock that you know governs all
our body's processes and the clock is literally
light and dark. It's as simple as that and then
we eat when it's light and we don't eat when
it's dark. Yeah, I'm noticing a lot of menstrual
health specialists, menstrual health coaches
and women -centered health and nutrition specialists
do share that for women specifically it is quite
important to eat in the morning because of course
it's all right and how toxic this whole idea
of intermittent fasting specifically for women
could you speak to that a little because I do
not find enough information on that and enough
clarity because you know one person says you
have to not in the morning and then the other
person says you have to eat in the morning and
then what do I need to do? I don't understand.
So from a female physiologic perspective what
happens in the morning, I just mentioned it,
our cortisol goes up and our insulin and glucose
go down. They are at the lowest in the morning.
We don't want our insulin and our glucose to
be at a very low stage and cortisol to be revved
up higher. So for that to be prevented and for
both of these to stay within a natural normal
curve, we can dampen that by fueling specifically
with protein. Now, how our body deals with cortisol
and insulin, they are at the top of the hormone
hierarchy. So our body will always prioritize
these hormones over our reproductive hormones.
So cortisol and insulin are really about survival
and delivering energy in the body and preventing
threats, really. That's what cortisol is good
for. don't listen to these natural clocks and
these natural signals of the body and make these
curves like go very far out of each other so
cortisol revs up even more more more and insulin
dips really deeply this can create an internal
stress response that is completely like preventable
and I feel that you know western society already
revs us up so much and fasting for the female
body specifically waiting to eat that's how people
perceive fasting it's not how i perceive it at
all fasting has a purpose so we fast to give
the body a break from intense like proteases
but we have an internal design for that like
when you do a 12 hour fast overnight this is
amazing for the body And this is natural because
at night the body doesn't need fuel. The body
is here to regenerate. Now, if you're going to
not eat and prevent your body from taking in
fuel while you have a lot of energy output for
your work, for sports, for caring for your children,
you're going to create a biological mismatch
with how your body is meant to function because
then you're undernourishing while your energy
output keeps going and that's not a smart thing
to do especially not with a female body because
our sex hormones also impact how our cortisol
and our insulin respond. So in the beginning
of our menstrual cycle specifically in our follicular
phase all the way up to ovulation we are a little
bit more resilient and we are more insulin sensitive
and fasting could be a little bit easier then
whereas in your luteal phase we naturally become
more insulin resistant which means that the body
is not as responsive to glucose and glucose distribution
as we want it to be. So in this phase it can
actually be very dangerous to fast because you
throw off your rhythm even more. So the moment
in which I recommend fasting for people which
technically is time -based eating and allowing
periods of not eating in your day is the night.
Because then you have the lowest energy output
and the lowest risk of creating damage. So the
way in which I recommend it like people can definitely
do a 12 hour fast. So let's say you stop eating
after 6 or 7 p .m. at night and then your next
meal is between 7 and 8 or 6 and 8 the next day.
That's a great fasting period and it is in alignment
with your circadian biology and you don't harm
your sex hormones with it. It is harmful when
you are pushing your energy output like hard
by just living and doing your day and being on
the run and then undernourishing because your
body needs energy and a lot of people especially
females are already under eating. A lot of people
don't eat enough protein, they don't eat enough
fat and what you then create is actually a malnourishment.
and an undernourishment while your energy input
is not matching your energy output. And this
is what we want to prevent. This is how a lot
of problems get started. And I would say if you're
into fasting, if you really like the idea of
giving your body like a break, the best way to
do that is to do it in alignment with your physiology,
with your circadian biology. and in alignment
with these circadian hormones, namely cortisol
and insulin. Because you have a new chance with
these hormones every single day to support them
or to harm them. And I more like lean into like
how can we support them rather than rev them
up. Because living in a Western society has already.
you know negative effects on how our bodies respond
like we take on so much there is so much like
stressors in our day like being in traffic is
like a massive stressor and people don't realize
that just you know running to the train getting
your bus like all these things are stressful
for the body they're like minor stress events
that happen throughout the day which are the
amount of stress events in our day is significantly
higher than our ancestors, or even our grandparents.
Like if I think about my own grandparents and
the stressors that they had, they were very minimal.
Like I deal, two generations later, deal with
so much more stress on the daily that they cannot
even like perceive or come up with. And when
I say, you know, when I shared, they pass now,
but when I shared like with the stressors, they
were just looking at me like, what? It's just
inconceivable to them. So I think we need to
be aware of that. And if you want to fast, do
it in alignment with your physiology and your
circadian biology. And most of the times, unless
you're severely undernourished or you have a
severe issue of insulin resistance or leptin
resistance, your body will probably do well when
you just do time -based eating. and don't eat
overnight until your breakfast. Well, thank you
for clarifying that. Yeah, I must say, this eating
thing is something I'm going to be introducing
this month because I've had quite a rough time
with my hormones recently. And this is something
I'm discovering. Food is important. It is. It's
how we nourish. And it's not only food. Like
food is part of it. Like food really helps us
transform or alchemize it into ATP, which is
the energy currency of our body. But there is
also other factors that provide that energy currency.
So it's not just food that we need, we also need
light. I spoke to that earlier. And we need to
have specific forms of light to support our body.
Yeah, it's something I do and I would love you
to maybe share some of these biohiking tips,
I'm sure you know. But what I've noticed years
ago, even before I found out about the blue light
and all, that it's very, very stressful for me
to go back at night in the underground. I have
these extremely strong LED lights or in shops
and supermarket when it's after 10 and I'm just
going home and I'm tired and this light is just
so stressing me out. So I started wearing just
eyewear, like sunglasses to protect myself. Now
I use blue light eyewear. And I feel like that's
quite a powerful biohack for women for sure.
I mean, for everybody. Yeah. So when we have,
I call this like poor light hygiene, when there
is too much artificial light and not enough natural
light, which is a problem for most people these
days, this can actually disrupt our ovarian function.
like severely our progesterone production, our
mood, our thyroid health, our general, you know,
adrenal health. And what it does is it really
exhausts our mitochondria, which are the energy
fuel centers of our cells. And when we allow
our body to receive natural light and not only
light through your eyes, also light through your
skin, like we forget that our skin It's like
our biggest organ that can perceive UV light
and different types of UV, penetrate different
layers in our skin to activate certain parts
in our cells and help our mitochondria to create
this ATP that we need. So you can do everything
right. you know time your meals you can go to
bed early you can get up you know early in the
morning you can do your movement but if you do
all of that in an artificial light environment
you're doing actually more harm than good without
even realizing and I feel that this is where
a lot of people like lack awareness and knowledge.
I recently even read this article that said if
you go to the gym like five days a week instead
of you know half of the week going to the gym
and half of the week going out and being out
to do your exercise, being in an LED lit gym
can actually negate all the benefits that you're
trying to get from your exercise because the
artificial LED light is disrupting it and that's
a really big thing to realize so it's yes movement
is good for you and it's good for you know yourself
your body but you don't want to move too much
in a very densely artificially lit environment
because this light is penetrating your skin,
it's penetrating your retina and it's disrupting
the benefits that you're seeking with your movements
because artificial blue light really disrupts
your mitochondria, it exhausts the mitochondria
and I feel that this is the missing link in a
lot of like health conversations. And this is
also why I've started to ask my clients like,
what kind of light do you use? What kind of light
bulbs do you have in your house? And I mean,
I'm renting this apartment and we have like,
I don't know where you can see it. No, there
is like these square LED lights in my apartment.
I've switched them on once ever since I moved
here like one and a half year ago because it's
just too bright and it's disrupting everything.
So we really want to pay attention to what is
the kind of light I spent most of my days in.
Like a lot of people are in offices these days.
A lot of people are inside in offices with artificial
light and acclimatized temperatures. Like our
bodies need to be able to oscillate between different
types of temperatures to improve immunity. So
these two things are two things that we often
don't talk about. but that are very important
to take into consideration when someone has problems.
Like we cannot underestimate how important light
exposure is for our bodies and this means in
the morning we want to have a lot of you know
more blue type UV light from the sun like preferably
and in the evening we want to have more infrared
UV light. entering our eyes because it really
tells our body to produce melatonin and to prepare
for the night. Yeah. Yeah, it might sound complicated
for some people. However, I want to bring it
down to a very simple notion. Everything that
you share in a simple way means just be closer
to nature. Yeah, real light, real rhythm, sun
goes up, sun goes down, real food. The time to
eat is really when our bodies need it the most
and the more attuned we are to the bodies, the
easier it is to actually just feel it. So just
being closer to nature makes things so much simpler.
And from here, what about the 29, 28, 30 -day
cycle of a woman? How does the healthy cycle
look like? How would we move through the cycle
in the most healthy and respectful way to our
bodies? Shall I first explain how I would describe
a healthy menstrual cycle? Yes, please. Because
I feel like a lot of people don't really know
even absolute basics. So it would be really amazing
to have the absolute basics of the menstrual
cycle and how a healthy one looks like in the
very basic level. So ideally, we have a cycle
that starts with bright red blood. That's day
one of our cycle. That's our menstruation, like
our menstrual time. And for most people, we want
to see this between three and seven days, depending
on their environment and what their body's normal
is. And then from our menstruation is actually
part of our follicular phase. Like a lot of people
think it's like four distinct phases, but I prefer
to see two big phases of the cycle. So we have
our follicular phase. with menstruation being
part of the follicular phase because during menstruation
the egg already starts ripening again for the
next cycle then in the middle we have a main
event of our cycle which is ovulation which is
when the egg is released and when we're most
fertile and then after ovulation we have a longer
phase which is our luteal phase and in the first
part of the cycle so end menstrual phase and
the follicular phase estrogen is dominant. And
after we've ovulated, we start producing progesterone.
And in the whole luteal phase, progesterone is
the most dominant hormone. And a healthy menstrual
cycle is, let's say, between 25 and 35 days.
Science says 21 days, but I find that a little
bit too short to be quite honest, especially
if people want to conceive. Bleeding is three
to seven days. Ovulation happens somewhere in
the middle of the cycle, not always on day 14,
like that's a myth. And ideally we have a luteal
phase of about 11, minimum 11 days to make sure
that whenever we want to conceive there is enough
progesterone to sustain the first part of pregnancy.
And most people have the lowest energy during
their period and the highest energy during their
ovulation. And the last part of the luteal phase
where people may experience PMS is for most people
the hardest time to like deal with. I think that's
also because we culturally have labeled this
phase as like the trouble phase or the phase
that nobody wants to deal with. But I feel that
there is wisdom in every single Yeah, in every
single phase. And with my clients, I always try
to support them to see what their strengths are
in each menstrual cycle phase. And it's very
funny what comes up because people report different
things, which really shows to me that we cannot
generalize the menstrual cycle. Everybody is
so unique. Every situation is unique. and how
someone feels and interacts with their cycle
is very bio individual. And how a cycle expresses
itself is also very bio individual. I find it
deeply empowering to track cycle and symptoms
and understand oneself over time. I've learned
so much about myself. I know very specific things
that happen on very specific day of my cycle,
like really specific things. And that helps me
plan my life. And it helps me indeed understand
the superpowers because before starting to track
cycle, it's just frustrating. It's like, I feel
shit today and I don't understand why do I feel
like, and I should be feeling differently. And
I'm like, why do I feel not this way? And with
more awareness comes more appreciation. I'm like,
I feel this way today. And that means I'm going
to go and take a long walk and sit under the
tree. And then amazing ideas are going to come
to me. All these little things that I get to
find out because of tracking is fantastic. And
I'm wondering, what do you find about your clients
and their differences in the way they track and
what kind of symptoms can arise in different
things? just so that we can show people what
can be known and what awareness we can have?
Yeah, so first of all, I think it's important
to understand the difference between tracking
and charting. So I tried to make this distinction
because they are used interchangeably and they're
not really the same. So tracking is really...
trying to get to know your cycle without necessarily
using your tracking as birth control or to call
in pregnancy. And this can look like marking
when you start bleeding, marking when you stop
bleeding, marking when there is emotional shifts
or physical shifts happening in your cycle and
then marking when you are starting to bleed again
so that you have an idea on how long your cycle
was. Whereas charting is really a more in -depth
practice where you keep track of your biomarkers,
so your acyl body temperature, your cervical
mucus, and potentially your cervical texture
and position. And you use these biomarkers to
really see where you are in your cycle and when
your fertile window opens and closes so that
you can manage your fertility for conceiving
or for preventing pregnancy. And some people
use tracking and charting in unison. So they'll
track their fertility biomarkers, but they'll
also keep a journal to write down how they feel,
what happened in your cycle, what they feel drawn
to. And they can use, you know, It can be used
in unison, but I really want to make this distinction
because tracking is not really a way to perform
birth control, whereas charting is really like
the symptoms of thermal methods specifically
that most people use when they're charting is
really introduced as a fertility awareness method,
but also a birth control method or a method to
get really clear on when conception could potentially
happen. Yeah. And so what happens when you...
Let's speak about tracking. How one can empower
themselves by tracking their cycle. I feel that
tracking is a really good tool to get to know
what your normal is because when you track what
happens in your body for a couple of months most
people start to recognize patterns and when you
recognize patterns you can I think make better
decisions about your body let's say five days
before your period starts you know that your
energy absolutely crashes and many things make
you cry and all the things on your to -do list
feel like an extreme mountain you could potentially
be more proactive about that and go like oh usually
a couple of days before my period I feel this
way so maybe in the next month I can plan a lower
workload on that day and see how I respond to
that and how I feel in my body and whether my
symptoms or signals of feeling overwhelmed get
less. And I feel tracking can be really seen
as almost like a self -love practice because
you're getting really up close and intimate with
your body's boundaries. and your body's information
and how you're feeling your body. And I also
feel that with tracking, especially if we do
it every day, we get to know ourselves in each
phase of our cycle. And I really feel like I'm
four different women in an entire menstrual cycle.
And I love tapping into like, oh, what does ovatory
iris need? And what does she crave? And what
does she thrive in? And I have that very clear
written down in my journal. And so every time
I hit that phase, I check in with that part of
myself and I try to bring her out as much as
I can and really try to step into that person
that I am in that moment in my cycle, because
it's fleeting, you know? If you're listening
to this and thinking, I want... to live more
in my power as a woman. I want to embrace my
cyclical nature, embody feminine energy and experience
more love, creativity, flow and money in my life.
Then I want to invite you into the feminine power
blueprint course. It is our three -month feminine
school. of love, money and power, where 11 world
-class teachers guide you through the practices
and wisdom that reconnect you to your body and
your feminine essence. Enrollment for the next
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2nd and Iris will also be teaching in this course.
You can now join through the link in the show
notes. Simply go to the show notes, find the
link and you can learn all about it, download
your syllabus and join us today. When I'm ovulating,
I'm like, oh, next week I'm going to crash. So
now I'm going to like do all the things that
I would love to do and do all the things that
I'm really good at. And I love, you know, when
I'm ovulating, I usually love like pushing a
little bit harder in my business and doing all
these things and finalizing all these projects.
And I know I'm really good at it. And I also
know that one week later, I'm not going to feel
like I want to do all of that. So I tried to
be very proactive about Yeah, how I feel. Yeah,
so this gives, same for me, similarly, it gives
us awareness that is deeply empowering because
we can plan so much better for ourselves and
take care of ourselves without... being frustrated
onto anything that might happen or be in the
way because of this awareness and awareness is
the most important step as you've mentioned.
Yeah. Since you work with so many people on their
cycles, I wonder what are the most common superpowers
you find in each phase? Oh, that's a good question.
I think in the menstrual phase, a lot of people
start embracing their own like permission slip
for rest and taking it easier. And when they
do that, they also usually on day two and three,
they really tap into their intuition and develop
their intuitive sense and what that means for
them in their lives and how they make decisions.
And in follicular, I see that people have an
extra sense or an extra perception about their
highest potential. So who they can be as a person,
who they want to be as a woman, who they want
to be in their business, who they want to be
in their relationships, who they want to be in
the world and how they put themselves out there.
Like I work with a lot of entrepreneurs as well.
And in the follicular phase, I really see like
this forward moving force coming out of people
and people really embracing their own potential
and their own power. And in ovulation, this gets
like amplified. And I also have actually met
a lot of people in their ovulation who got like
the perception like, oh, maybe I shouldn't actually
be dating while I'm ovulating because I hyper
-focus on like my dates potential, but not necessarily
who they are as a person. So maybe I should better
date them in my luteal phase when I'm like more
like like a detective and more like sharp and
cut bullshit. So I've met a lot of clients who
had that realization for themselves, especially
if they were dating someone. And I think in the
luteal phase, one of the things that people learn
through me and that they give back to me is that
in the luteal phase, we need more fuel. We need
more calories like on a very physical level and
eating more can really dampen like the nervous
system response that sometimes get really revved
up for some people. And that can give people
more energy just to get through that phase. And
this is a game changer for a lot of people, like
an insight that they have, like, wow, really,
when I eat just a little bit more, I feel so
much better. And if I eat before my raging hunger
comes up, my mood stays a lot more stable as
well. So I feel in the luteal phase, it's like
a very physical, tangible thing that people start
to realize, like, oh, when I... fuel myself properly,
my symptoms significantly become less and also
the planning part. So I teach people and I think
you do that too, as soon as their period starts
to like map out their entire cycle in their calendar
so that they are aware of what is potentially
coming and of course there is a little bit of
wiggle room because we never know how a cycle
is going to unfold but like roughly we can put
into our calendar And another game changer for
people is to plan less during their luteal phase
because a lot of people feel that they're like
backfiring their decisions. And then they plan
too much when they're like follicular and ovulatory
and they feel like, oh, this endless potential.
And then they land in luteal and you're like,
oh no, I plan too much in my calendar what to
do now. And then they feel guilty to potentially
reschedule or cancel. But if we are aware about
what is coming and take precautions and go like,
I probably should not be planning too much in
my luteal phase, but move it either to my follicular
phase or just plan less in my luteal. This for
a lot of people is a game changer. Yeah. I mean,
for sure. For sure, I can definitely resonate
with that. So what are the superpowers of luteal
phase? What are the good things that come through?
I mean, as you mentioned in dating, you can become
way more aware. Yeah, I feel for a lot of people,
they are very honest. There's a lot of deep honesty
that can move forward in luteal phase. Usually
the veil is so thin in Ludial that we cut all
the bullshit in that phase and I feel that this
part of Ludial is very much disregarded in our
society and is perceived as like hysterical or
dramatic or overreacting but I think when you
really peel it down to what it actually means
I think this is like the best superpower that
we can have like everything that's not going
well in our life or where we are crossing our
own boundary is like looked at from a magnifying
glass and it can feel like really big in the
moment I'm not denying that and it can come with
like big emotions but if you peel it down to
the essence of the message there is a lot of
wisdom that comes with that and I think if we
start embracing that more and teach ourselves
to like see through the emotion and see what
the message is underneath that we can like organize
our lives in such like more embodied ways because
then we truly listen to what our body is trying
to tell us because usually at underneath the
big emotion let's say anger Underneath anger
usually is sadness or grief or something that
we're really not happy with. So I think it's
important that we learn when there is a big emotion,
can we sit with that and allow it to tell us
what's underneath and where we may listen or
adjust and then use our menstruation and our
follicular phase to bring forth these changes
from a more energized space. Yeah, and this is
how the cycle completes. I love that, right?
I find this time, ritual phase for many people.
I don't do cycle coaching, but I do emotional
and tantric kind of approach to life. And I am
seeing in this phase and also for myself, this
is actually the perfect time to alchemize emotions,
to do shadow work, to understand yourself, to
practice a ritual because also presence becomes
easier. is you're no longer distracted as much
by the force and what to do and all the excitement
of life that comes in for the clear face and
here you can actually sit with yourself and see
and indeed the society has been naming it as
like toxic this is when you just cry for no reason
and you're a bitch and all of that but really
if something bothers you so much and that you
feel it in your chill face so much Probably there
is a reason for it. Maybe, yes, you're overreacting,
but maybe there is something to listen. And I
find this time can be really beautiful and so
great and so powerful in so many ways when we
discover that. Yeah, I completely agree with
that. And I think it's also important that we
realize the way that we perceive time in ludiol
shifts. Like our body wants to slow down, but
many of us keep pushing at a specific pace in
life and keep you know shoving things onto our
plate that most likely can wait a little bit
longer and I feel this is another like biological
mismatch like how our body perceives time and
wants to move in luteal is usually much slower
and not so pushy and we don't like like mountains
of things on our plate but When we manage our
time and our workload in that time we can actually
land in that space that you are describing where
we can actually just be present and witness what
needs to come up for us and then work through
that in a slow steady pace and have space for
it. I sometimes say that PMS means providing
myself with space And I try to remember that
and remind my clients about that. And it's based
on every level, mentally, emotionally, physically,
for some people even sexually. Where do you need
space in your life? Yeah. And on this note, one
thing that I want to share is with people, how
you say everyone is different and different symptoms
are out there on different ways of perceiving
different phases. And there is one thing that
people have been always saying in the menstrual
health space or with cycle thinking that you
might be the best at performance in your ovulatory
phase, like going out there, meeting people and
being on stage, et cetera. And I do. public speaking,
and I've noticed before I was, oh, a voluntary
phase, I should be doing it then because of all
this information, that's how it's supposed to
be. And with time, I've noticed I am way better
at that in my luteal phase because in the voluntary
phase, I am intense. I want to be out there.
I want to do things fast. I want to get it done.
I want to be, I have a bit too much of that energy.
And in my, in my luteal phase, I can be just
slow and present. and just get to the point slowly
and just stay with the audience. And that's one
thing I'm fascinated by because I think unless
we learn about our own unique selves, there is
no real strong guideline. Everybody needs to
understand their own cycle and how they in their
unique bodies perceive themselves in each phase.
And maybe there are like common, there are lots
of common things that happen to many people,
but it doesn't really mean that that necessarily
applies to one individual. And yeah, just want
to highlight that. Yeah, I completely agree with
that. And I think it's very important to always
keep in mind this bio individuality, because
I feel with like the whole wellness space, there
is like this perfect image of what a menstrual
cycle should look like that is projected into
the world and whenever people are on their healing
journey and they're like oh my god mine doesn't
look like that at all people immediately think
like oh is there like something wrong with me
do i need to be fixed is there any pathology
going on and i really want to like ensure people
that the way that our cycles manifest has a reason
and you're not broken if your cycle like one
or two months skips an ovulation. It's actually
very normal for that to happen. Like we are an
ecosystem. Our bodies are ecosystems and all
that our body is constantly doing is responding
to what it receives and what it doesn't receive.
And it's very important to keep that in mind
and our bodies are very intelligent and they
never do something without reason. So even if
your cycle is not like coming out as perfect
this month or the next month or the next, trust
that your body is doing this with a reason. And
if you do feel like I actually want support,
know that there is support and that you can receive
support if that's what you feel that you need.
But don't go thinking if your body just doesn't
ovulate for one or two months that you're inherently
broken because there's probably a very physiologic
reason for that. Why your body has now prioritized
survival over reproduction. Like we cannot forget
that our bodies are super smart and they're just
trying to communicate with us and to respond.
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me and for
the people listening. Thank you so much for listening
and Yeah I love these kinds of conversations
where we can focus on this very important topic
in conversation because I feel that storytelling
is how we have always learned as human beings
and I feel that podcasting and every time I'm
invited I'm reminded about this that you know
we learn through story and we learn through experience
and Sometimes that's even more important than,
you know, learning hard science or yeah, reading
research articles. So I'm very grateful that
you invited me and that you honor my wisdom and
my knowledge. And I just want to say thank you.
That was Iris Josephina and you can find her
work on Instagram at Cycle Seeds. This is where
she is sharing more on menstrual health, hormonal
health, women's well -being, sexuality and more.
Iris will be teaching in the Feminine Power Blueprint
all about cyclical nature, how we women can embrace
our hormonal cycles and circadian rhythm and
lunar cycle and as a result truly thrive in life.
Feminine Power Blueprint courses are a three
-month journey. of love, money and power. A kind
of school where you meet together in a community
and get to learn powerful feminine wisdom and
then practice through ritual and embodiment.
By the end of the course you come out with your
own feminine power blueprint, really knowing
in your bones how to live a life of your dreams.
And as a listener of this podcast you can now
join with 10 % off using the code podcast love
at checkout. The link is in the show notes and
I can't wait to welcome you there. My name is
Maria Grinina. I am your host of the Feminine
Power Podcast. Until the next time.