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Far 2 Fabulous
Join Catherine & Julie, your feisty hosts at Far 2 Fabulous, as they lead you on a wellness revolution to embrace your fabulousness.
Julie, a Registered Nutritional Therapist with over 20 years of expertise, and Catherine, a former nurse turned Pilates Instructor and Vitality Coach, blend wisdom and laughter seamlessly.
Off the air, catch them harmonising in their local choir and dancing to 80's hits in superhero attire. Catherine braves the sea for year-round swims, while Julie flips and tumbles in ongoing gymnastics escapades.
With a shared passion for women's health and well-being, they bring you an engaging exploration of health, life, and laughter. Join us on this adventure toward a more fabulous and empowered you!
Far 2 Fabulous
The Cosmic Dance of Wellness: Aligning with Moon Phases for Peak Vitality
Ever wondered about the cosmic dance between the moon's phases and your hormonal cycles? Julie and Catherine invite you to a riveting discussion on how these celestial patterns could be shaping more than just the ocean tides. From the peculiar origins of "lunatic" to the statistical synchrony of menstrual cycles with the new moon, we unearth the mysteries of our watery composition's responsiveness to lunar influence. Personal stories intermingle with historical anecdotes, painting a vivid picture of how our lives are intertwined with the moon's enigmatic cycle.
Navigating the waves of hormonal fluctuations is akin to mastering an intricate ballet, and understanding this interplay is vital for well-being and performance. As we share how to align exercise with the menstrual cycle, the revelations might just transform your approach to physical activity, creativity, and rest. Delving into the nuances of our hormonal tides, we share tips on harnessing the peak times for goal setting, while also recognizing when to yield to the body's call for relaxation. Our chat includes the less-discussed challenges of menopause and how society's reluctance to address these issues impacts women's health.
Our conversation doesn't just stop at the water's edge; we extend the exploration to those who might not experience menstrual cycles but are still curious about syncing with the moon for overall well-being. We shed light on the therapeutic benefits of tuning into the lunar cycle, from stress management techniques during transformative life phases to meditation and gentle exercise. The lunar cycle offers a natural rhythm for introspection, decluttering, and renewal, and we share how embracing this cadence can lead to a more balanced and harmonious existence. Join us as we navigate the cosmic and hormonal tides that ebb and flow through each of us, sharing insights and personal experiences on the way.
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Welcome to Far Two Fabulous, hosted by Julie and Catherine. Join us on a mission to embrace your fabulousness and redefine wellness. Get ready for some feistiness, inspiration, candid chats and humour as we journey together towards empowered wellbeing. Let's dive in. Welcome to this week's episode of the podcast.
Speaker 1:Now, we've been talking a lot about stress recently and we were chatting away saying how hormones are very much related to that and we needed a transition on to talk about hormones, which is what we're going to start to do over the next few episodes. But today we're going to come at it from a slightly different angle, because we are going to talk about our hormones and the moon, absolutely yeah. So we obviously can't talk about hormones without thinking about our menstrual cycle. So we thought the obvious to us progression was to talk about the moon cycle. So, if you think about it, we are made up roughly 60 percent water and you know what the moon does with the tides. So it's fairly obvious to me anyway, that this is obviously going to have an impact on us. Yeah, except for the men are also made up of 60 to 70 percent water, but they don't necessarily have that relationship with the moon because we've got these hormones. That circle around 28 days is what we've told. The average is actually 29 days and the moon cycle is 29.5 days. So that can't be a coincidence, right? No, absolutely not. It's, yeah, incredible, and I've really enjoyed looking a little bit deeper into this and how our energy is really associated to these phases of the moon. And what was very funny was that the origins of the word lunatic, which apparently we all are, just means lovers of the moon. Oh, we're all lunatics. Yeah, absolutely hilariously, my dog is called Luna and one of the moon oh, we're all lunatics. Yeah, absolutely hilariously, my dog is called luna, and one of the reasons that we called her luna is because she is an absolute lunatic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's definitely a relationship between how crazy we feel and what's going on with the moon. Without a doubt, when I was nursing I mean I, I can literally still picture this one particular night shift that was completely insane, absolutely insane, and I have to say that the moon was definitely affecting some of the men that night as well. But we do often say, when it's a crazy night shift, we'll go and look and see what the moon is up to, and more often than not it is a full moon. It definitely has an effect and I know my sister's a midwife and she's confirmed it as well. Weirdly that not a lot of the research confirms this, but, as we say a lot, that the research doesn't often follow up on female things like cycles and the moon, so it's probably not a surprise. Yeah, I do wonder as well.
Speaker 1:With the research, when you look at science, there is quite a lot of studies that have been done looking at this connection and some of them are definitive. Yes, there's a definite connection and others are no. So it's not conclusive. But I do think that a lot of the time, we've got to look at how we live our lives again, because there's a huge difference between. Again, if we were out in, you know, living out in the open, in a cave, I think we would have more connection with the moon and the daylight and the darkness than we have now. Anyway, yeah, absolutely, and I do always when we're outside and it's dark and the moon is there, you always notice it, don't you? But you're right, if we were outside, living outside all of the time, it would be on our radar far more. Do you know what?
Speaker 1:I have quite a fascination with the moon. I always notice it, and if it's not there, I'm like where is the moon? I don't know what it is about it, but I walk the dog in the evening. I'm always looking for the moon and when my parents lived in Spain, I used to have this slightly weird obsession with the fact that I was looking at something that my parents could see at the same time, even though we're in different places, and I would often message my mum and say have you seen the moon tonight? It's really big. Yeah, you know, I always had a fascination with it. I love it, and so, from looking at all this stuff that we've been researching and stuff for the podcast today, I've always had this story idea.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I just made it up, I guess, that that when you couldn't see the moon this is embarrassing now I'm going to say this out loud it was the other side of the world. Like at night time, it was the other side of the world. When, actually, it's just showing us its dark side. Yeah, it's just showing us its bottom. That's why we can't see it, because it is between us and the sun, so it's just showing us its bottom. Yeah, or, as I used to tell the children, it's because the cheese monster who lived on the moon, had eaten all the cheese, and now it's got to make some more cheese. Well, what do we do to our children? That's another episode. Yeah, exactly. So. Despite the scientific evidence not confirming that we've got this connection with the moon, I think we all know that we have, and actually 28 of women do start their period on a new moon. So that's quite a high percentage. That's a huge percentage. That's so interesting.
Speaker 1:And this week, the 25th of march, was actually a full moon, and it was a stunning full moon, wasn't it? It was super shiny, yeah, it was beautiful, and I couldn't sleep that night on the full moon. It's amazing, is it? I know often the Blue Tits Swim Group in Whitstable. We often organise a full moon swim, so we go down. It's and again, this must be. I've never really looked into it or thought about it until the point I'm saying it out now.
Speaker 1:I really must think a bit more about these things is that when we go down in the evening for a full moon swim, the tide is often only just coming in. Now, when it's a full moon, our high tides are higher, our low tides are lower, so we get to get into the water a lot sooner than we would do normally, and what's really really interesting is that we always get pulled much, much harder in one direction, depending on if the tide is coming in or going out. It's so much stronger when that full moon is present. It's really incredible and there's certainly a lot of howling and whooping going on. Very nice, and it must be pretty energizing to be in the water with a full moon. It's absolutely incredible. And what's incredible is that it pulls people. So people that would normally not go and do something as crazy as get into the sea in the pitch black it really draws people to come and do it. It's such a spectacle. Another thing that's really incredible is that when we do get a clear night with a full moon, it is so bright, it's so bright. So there's absolutely no way that we can think that this doesn't affect us. No, absolutely not.
Speaker 1:So the phases of the moon are actually. There are actually eight phases, but I tend to break it down into four because it relates quite nicely to the four phases of our menstrual cycle. So the phases that I would look at for the moon are the new moon, then the first quarter, the full moon and then the last quarter and for our menstrual cycle, we've got our period, the follicular stage, ovulation and then the luteal phase, so it kind of fits in quite nicely. Yeah, fantastic. So the first phase is the new moon, which is nothing. You can't see it, no, no, we can't see it. Yeah, and again. So this is when it's showing us its bottom, this is when the moon is between us and the sun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and at this stage, the thing that I find most interesting is that, from the new moon through that first quarter, the moon is called waxing, which is growth. It's growing for its aim to be the full moon, and we have in that first half of our cycle. So, from day one when we bleed up to ovulation, we are utilising oestrogen, which is is our growth hormone. So tell me, there's no connection there, exactly, exactly. And so what we wanted to give you as well through this podcast, was a way to be able to, to utilize, to be able to work with your cycles in a way that is helpful for us, because in modern life, we tend to well, we tend to run like men, quite linear, quite the same day to day, and that isn't how we are built. No, not at all. And, in fact, once you know this, and if you utilize this, I try and do this. I don't know that word, try, you know I don't know that word, try. Yeah, I aim to do this.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it doesn't work because because of that society thing. Yeah, you know, like exactly like Catherine said. But once you have an idea of what's going on, like when you have a day of utter frustration, especially when you run your own business and you just can't seem to get your act together, then at least you can look and go oh, that makes total sense right now. Or, if you like, have a moment. I'm sure you have this, katherine. You know where you look around your house and you just lose it. You're like this place is a tip and you totally lose it. Everyone, usually before someone's going to come around yes, always that but you know those moments where you have that. And then you, yeah, you look at where you are in your cycle and you discover that you're in that cycle where you should be decluttering and organizing and then you go, oh, I understand why I've just lost it. You know, whereas the first two weeks of of my cycle maybe I didn't care that it was a great big tip? No, absolutely. It's so interesting, isn't it? Yeah, and we're not taught particularly to work with these cycles, which is a real shame. So I'm hoping it's always my intention to work more and more, and this is looking at the moon cycles and talking more about the cycles really G'd me up.
Speaker 1:So, in the first phase, in that new moon phase, this is where you're encouraged to start to set your intentions. When we're talking about the moon, so you are either visualizing perhaps you are going to plan to inject some energy into some perhaps sleeping projects or brand new projects this is where you start to have those creative ideas and start to think about what you would do to put them in motion. Yeah, I think the new moon is all about new beginnings and fresh starts, and at that point we are. If we've got a period, we talk about what happens, how you can use the moon when you haven't got a period in a minute, but if you've got a period and you're in sync with the moon, and you can actually get yourself in sync with the moon as well if you want to. But you, you are generally having your bleed at this time, and so this is all about fresh start, new beginnings, absolutely setting intentions with regards to periods and hormones and well-being. What should we be doing as women at this point?
Speaker 1:So those first couple of days when we bleed, we will notice the energy's low and it's because there is a crossover between progesterone decreasing or actually just falling off a cliff pretty much before oestrogen picks up. So we've got those couple of days where most people will know you don't really feel your best, do you? The first couple of days of your period, especially if you've got a heavy period, you know you're not going to go out and want to start something new and you know everything else. But then that first half of the cycle up to ovulation where oestrogen really picks up, this part is actually quite a superpower. So I was telling Catherine that when I was competing I always hoped that my competition, especially the important ones if I was trying to qualify for nationals when I was a trampolinist, I would hope that it would be around day four of my period, which you'd think would be bonkers. You'd think you wouldn't want to be competing, especially in a leotard if you've got your period. But actually my ability to deal with stress was much better. I was stronger, my coordination was better and my balance and my routines are always better. It's so incredible, isn't it? Again, that just really highlights using these cycles. So for me, it's been really highlighted when I've been training for the marathon because I've had this, I think, 14 week plan. So it's been really interesting to see what I'm doing on each week and then looking back and going, yeah, actually, that happened three, four weeks ago, exactly the same, and so the thing that's really highlighted it for me is that in my week four so just heading up to my period I have found it this is, this is a lovely conversation I found it very, very hard to remain continent, yeah, and initially I didn't, because I hadn't made the link to it happening at a regular time.
Speaker 1:I didn't realize there's lots of people that have had lots of children and we're, all you know, getting a little bit older and we just put that down to two age, two children, all of those sorts of things. And without following my cycle, I wouldn't have realised that this was a hormonal input, if you like, and so now that I know that, that is something I can then work with. So again, I was looking at when the marathon lands. Thankfully, it lands in about week two, so, phew, that is really good. That's gonna really help you and I think it's great that you've brought up, you know, the pelvic floor issues. I think we'll probably have to have a chat about that. Yeah, Because I was talking to my physio last week about having an overactive pelvic floor, which I know that we've spoken about.
Speaker 1:Lots of people tend to think that they've got the opposite. Yeah, but actually it's quite even between those that have overactive versus underactive. But yeah, the hormones play a key role here. So one of the symptoms of menopause is that incontinent side. So, yeah, lots of people will comment on on that. Yeah, and again, it's not talked about, is it? We don't like to talk about these things. We don't, certainly, historically, we don't talk about menopause. So why would anyone know to put those things together in sort of general society? Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:We're on the new moon. We've got the first couple of days where we're bleeding, and that does give us a bit of an excuse and a reason to be self-aware, nurture calm, you know that rest side of it. But once you get out of that and your superpower kicks in, then that positivity setting goals, creativity, you know, getting things going is really huge and you can really benefit from that. Absolutely and we were talking earlier on, before we started recording, about historically I would have thought that the the time that you are really kind of snuggling down and, uh, taking care yourself, being a bit slower, maybe, being a bit brain foggy, and all that sort of stuff, would be that whole first week, and certainly that would be the story that society would have us believe that in that first week, whilst we were bleeding, we'd be under the duvet cover with a bar of chocolate and friends on repeat. However, that is not actually the case, is it? When should we be doing that nurturing little bit and I know we will cover this as we get towards the other end of the cycle, yeah, if we get around the cycle.
Speaker 1:So we're kind of going back now from the new moon to the end of the other phase. So those four or five days leading up to your period and then the two days after you start your period, that is really the time where you want to be resting and taking things easy and being kind to yourself. I just wanted to. I really want to highlight that, because for me I would have thought that it was that kind of whole first week and it wasn't until I realized that actually by about day three or four, you can start to really use those hormones, that energy, to your advantage, and I feel like I've kind of missed out on that a little bit so far. Yeah, so, when you were training, well, no, you're training, but you haven't got that long. Now, not long, but with your training. If you had a particularly big run like your 20 miles, if you timed that right, I'm going to have to go back and look and see what week it was, because that went really really well. There you go. So it might have been. I think you'll have to check.
Speaker 1:That's really really interesting, isn't it? We've done the first little bit of it. So you talk about yours in quarters. The moon cycles are actually there's eight cycles. So then, once you've got the new moon, you've then got waxing, which is this growing sliver, and it's suggested that you do things like meditate on your desires and start to embrace those in that second part of the cycle, and then we go on to three, which is that first quarter.
Speaker 1:Apparently it's up in the northern hemisphere, I'm not sure if I know. I kind of, I kind of know where to look for the moon actually when it's out there, but I don't think, I generally think about roughly where it is. It's still waxing at that point because it's still growing Yep, still growing. It's the right half, it's quite bright, and so this is the point where you start to take action, you start to make decisions, you're a little bit more decisive. Perhaps I need to really utilise that point in the cycle and you get to kind of edit your lifestyle to suit you. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And when the moon is waxing and it's growing up towards a full moon and you've got oestrogen climbing, oestrogen is very much linked to mental clarity, so you also can utilise the connection there for decision making. It's perfect time. Yeah, that's great. So, again, when you're looking at your diaries and you're planning things in your diaries, knowing where you are in your cycle is so important. So if you have got a meeting where you might have to make some big decisions, why don't you make sure that you plan it within that planet? Get it, yeah, in that part of your cycle.
Speaker 1:One of the things I must just mention with oestrogen rising and heading towards that new moon is that, as you've got mental clarity, you've got lots of positives going on, you've got the ability to make decisions, you can really set your goals, etc. But there is also an element of frustration and impatience. That happens because you're so wired to just get going on everything. There is that, that frustration, that comes in, and that is when oestrogen is peaking. It's having an impact on lots of things in the body around how your blood sugars are managed, what's going on with your neurotransmitters. So, yeah, if you start to get a bit frustrated, it's because your oestrogen is getting to its peak. That's really interesting.
Speaker 1:So then your fourth part of the moon cycle is your waxing. Am I saying this right? Gibbous, I don't know if I'm saying that right which is when it's two weeks after the new moon, it's almost full, and at this point they suggest refining your plans, talking about your feelings, starting to look inward, about how you're, how you're feeling, how everything's working out for you, adding things like positive daily affirmations. And it feels like this would be really good for what you've just been talking about, about starting to push us through that frustration and and hopefully, hopefully I don't know the word hopefully either turning that no into something tangible. Yeah, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:In that first half of half of the cycle, as the moon is waxing growing. You have the ability to make lots of new starts, to really think about what you want, to get it down on paper, to journal it, to set the intentions, to affirm it, and your ability to deal with stress is at its best as well. So once you know that, you can start to look at your schedule and see how can I make my life work better in conjunction with that cycle. Yeah, absolutely, and so at this point, it's also great point to start hitting any harder exercise. I'm going to drag that in now. Yeah, because you are, you're full of energy. I will.
Speaker 1:I will let julie talk about testosterone at this point, but it's a really great time to perhaps do some of your high impact training, some of your weight training, to really utilise this part of the cycle. Well, yeah, so you've got testosterone, which helps you to build muscle, but you've also got oestrogen, which reduces the chance of you injuring yourself, which is another big reason why, when I was competing, doing the stuff I was doing, I didn't want to be doing that the week before my period, when my chance of injury was massively increased. Oh, flippy and well. Surely that flippy and flimsiness would make you kind of jump over that trampoline even better? You'd think so, but no, not the way. Okay, so again working.
Speaker 1:If you're looking at exercise that, after you've got over the the first few days of the beginning of your cycle, starting to slowly, don't like go right day four, boom, let's go building up that exercise and being able to do perhaps your cardio, perhaps your higher impact stuff, and really use those hormones to your advantage. You know what we should do. What should we just say this out loud on this podcast now? Uh-oh, we should actually write a plan for women that tells them what exercise they should do with their cycle, what food they should eat to suit their cycle and what activities they should do. I like the sound of that. Would you like that people? Let us know. That sounds fun. I think we should definitely do that because I think that would be incredibly valuable to a lot of people.
Speaker 1:Right, let's head into the new moon. Okay, because the new moon is often Full moon, the full moon, sorry, yeah, full moon, full moon. Head to the full moon, half moon. It's very easy to Totally clips. Sorry, that's the Jaffa cake advert, isn't it? See, marketing works so well. We're talking about wellbeing and we're now talking about Jaffa Cakes again. You did this last time. You started talking about chocolate. I'm like this is not helping, right, jaffa Cake. The thing is that people will remember that and that is quite funny, right? Yeah, do not muddle up the new moon and the full moon, because they're completely different. They are different and I always meddle them up. Yeah, okay, full moon. So this is the earth between the sun and the moon, which is why you can see it full and super, super, shiny and bright, really bright. It illuminates everything, literally and metaphorically. I love that.
Speaker 1:So this is the time when we, if we're in sync with the moon, we're going to ovulate and it's the best time for us to socialize and connect. So, party time around this time although I was reading this party time, great, but avoid the bad boy in the office, because your hormones are going to be driven to their masculinity and horrible things might happen. Yes, yes, don't do that. But if you've got, you know, a plan and you're setting an intention and you've got a goal and that needs you to speak to someone, this is the best time to do it. So if you're applying for a job or something like that, this is the time to then go and do it. So, yeah, full moon, socialize, connect absolutely.
Speaker 1:Interpersonal relationships are at their most intense at this point, so it's a good thing to be aware of I'm certainly aware of that in the last few days at home. So, again, being able to being able to know that, perhaps, if things feel intense, this is this is why and to be able to take a breath before one says something one may regret. Indeed, I wonder if this is why I can't sleep on a full moon as well, because I'm supposed to be out partying. That's what it is. I should go clubbing. Let's do that On a full moon. No point in going to bed at half past nine on a full moon. No, got to be out partying. We'll have to do that next full moon. Then, in that case, we'll have a full moon party. You can come down for a swim. Trying to get Julie in the sea she keeps trying. I'm not going in that sea after today's news about all the sewage in there, that's for sure I know. Oh yeah, so it's time to quit bad habits. We've talked about habits plenty of times. This is a good time to do things like that and associated rituals charging crystals oh yeah, definitely charge your crystals in the full moon incredible.
Speaker 1:I've got a crystal tree. Do you? Do you have to? Do you think you have to actually literally put it out in the moonlight? It's Incredible. I've got a crystal tree. Do you think you have to actually literally put it out in the moonlight? It's better to, but you can also put it on the windowsill where the moon is really shining. Wow, that's very interesting. I'd love to know a bit more about crystals, so perhaps we'll bring that to you at some point as well. Yes, indeed, we'd have to get someone on to talk about that. So we've ovulated.
Speaker 1:This first half of the cycle is looking really positive for liquid phase. Everything's good. We set all our intentions and then, uh-oh, everything comes crashing down. And it comes crashing down for some people very severely. I happen to be one of those people where it crashes for a day and I literally cannot be bothered. That day I'm like what is the point? I'm always in a bad mood, I'm really snappy, I just think nothing's working and then I go oh, hang a minute, I know what day that is, because that's not naturally me, as you all know, katherine, do you what day, literally? What day that is for you in your cycle. Yeah, so normally for me it's about day 14.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so my progesterone, especially as I get older, my progesterone doesn't kick in as it should now. So I've just lost all my oestrogen and my testosterone. It's just been left high and dry. Yeah, and it's the same just before your period where you get that progesterone crashes and you're waiting for the estrogen to pick up. It's that bit in the middle where you're without your hormones, right, well, you're not without them, but they're not in balance and they're not doing all the good things for you at that point. A bit naked hormones at that point.
Speaker 1:So what should you do on that day rather than battle through swearing at your computer and deciding everything's gone wrong with the world? Yeah, I've just got to accept it that I'm not going to make any good decisions on that day. And, yeah, I've just got to take it a little bit more easy. Do you get, have you noticed, anything like that after ovulation? I mean, you're a bit younger, so you've probably got your progesterone still kicking in there, right? Hopefully, although there's definitely. It's definitely having to jump around all these ones at the moment. I don't think I have noticed. However, now that I am looking at this I will pay more attention.
Speaker 1:I know that there are points in my cycle where the procrastination is just utterly ridiculous. That'd be the day, yeah, yeah. It's like when you're even thinking about what to have for dinner because it's your job in the house. Yeah, it's my job in my house have for dinner. I can't even make a decision on that day. And even if you have planned it, you don't want that anyway, because that's horrible, exactly, in fact, if that I always do my meal planning on a sunday evening, if I had on that day, seriously I can't do the meal plan Pizza and chips for the rest of the week, then it seems ridiculous. But that's the impact that it has on me personally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and you may notice now, listening to me say these things, you might think do you know what I've got? One of those days too? Have a look, see where it is in your cycle. You might find that it's just after ovulation. You're on such a high, I think it's going so well. And then you get up the next day and it's like you go out the wrong side of the bed and then it's like see, I knew I couldn't do it. I knew I couldn't be on fire all the time, which, of course, you, you can't be just so just knowing this.
Speaker 1:And then my favorite, saying forgive yourself for judging yourself, for being a complete failure for the whole day, exactly because that's those the voices that we've got in our head. Yeah, that we've spoken about before. Nagging nelly, I'll bet she's that she's on fire that day, seriously, yeah, it's like go away. So, yeah, so just forgive yourself. Don't beat yourself up. Go and do something lovely for yourself. Go and have a bath, I don't know. Fill it with crystals, fill it with all sorts of lovely things and just, really just look after yourself, because you're not going to get very much done, so you may as well just stop trying to beat yourself up. It's like trying to walk uphill in welly boots, exactly.
Speaker 1:And then when your progesterone kicks in, if you've got normal hormone balance and we are going to come on to when you've got an imbalance, when we talk about hormones, because I appreciate that for some people they're not going to have that climb of estrogen and they're not going to get the testosterone coming and they're certainly not going to get progesterone, but progesterone will come in and it balances everything. So the way that I think about it is that estrogen is like you know the friend that you've got that always pushes it a bit too far, and maybe you're the friend that has to go. Do you know what it's? Maybe, if you're out and they're drinking too much, you're the one that has to say right enough, now let's go home, like your progesterone. If that's you, estrogen is the one that's that's burning the candle at both ends. That's how I think about it. So these two work together like a seesaw.
Speaker 1:So when progesterone comes in the second half a half of the cycle, when the moon is now waning, so it's decreasing, we've lost our estrogen not completely, because there's still some there and but we're in progesterone dominance. We should be fairly balanced at that point if everything's working in our favor. I don't know if I've ever been balanced, but here we go, yeah, so this is part six of the moon cycle. It's a waning giveous again. I don't know if I'm saying that right we are. The moon is getting smaller. It's also the light is beginning to dull from the moon, and this is the point where you can start to look back at the first half of the cycle, see how far you've come, start to take stop of where you are right now.
Speaker 1:You can start to or not start to, you can practice gratitude at this point. It's a really nice place. Nice place to do it and to perhaps not on that particular day, but stand in your power at this point, and I guess that's where that association with balance comes in. Yeah, so, once you've ovulated, if you're like me and you get that, drop off the cliff not everybody gets that. If progesterone kicks in, we get another few days where we are quite like you have got full on superpower again. So it's quite nice because you can really get stuff finished.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's what this whole part of this part of the cycle is all about, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, so reflection and gratitude, all of that kind of stuff and finishing projects is a massive thing. So if we again, if we look at what we're doing in our life, in our work, and we start to be aware of it, then you can use these times of your cycle to really help you achieve these things. So don't start new things at this point. Again, that's going to be like pushing a boulder uphill. Yeah, exactly that. However, if you know, if you've got no control over when you start new things, and you know that this is not the best time to do it. The awareness is going to be a great start. You'll know that it might feel a little bit harder and give yourself the space. So, certainly, as we start to go even further into this cycle and there are things out of your control, that you have to have meetings or you have to do things that like hard, things that you don't wanna do, that are and we're not standing in our sort of hormonal and moon superpower here at this point make sure that you give yourself time either side to kind of almost charge yourself up ready for it and to be able to recover afterwards. Yeah, recovery is really important and we've already mentioned about that. Week before you get your period is really a massive dose of self-care needed.
Speaker 1:So, talking about exercise, like you were before, now's the time that you want to go the complete opposite. Yeah, absolutely Don't go hard. Just be really, really gentle with yourself. And that doesn't mean that you don't do anything Again. That doesn't mean you crawl into. Sometimes you can crawl into bed, maybe not with chocolate, but you can do things like some gentle stretching, some gentle exercise. Just drop into some meditation and things like that stretching, some gentle exercise. Just drop into some meditation and things like that. It's far more beneficial to you than pounding the treadmill or pounding the streets or really really pushing your body. It is a real balance here, isn't it? And it's about listening to your body and making sure that that's what your body is saying and not maybe a nagging nelly that's going ah, don't worry about doing anything this time, because actually, when you do some movement and it can be an energetic kind of movement it will bring your energy back up and it will help you carry, carry yourself through some of these lower points. So there is a there is a balance to be had.
Speaker 1:Definitely yeah, because the last thing you want to do is stress your body, because we I will talk about this in a bit more detail when we go into hormones in depth but the adrenals, which are your stress producing organ, they produce your stress. Hormones also have the ability to produce progesterone when progesterone is low. So if you stress your body, your adrenals can't do both at the same time. We should naturally have the adrenals pick up the slack for progesterone as we're going through perimenopause into menopause. But how many people do you know going through those phases that are calm and relaxed and don't have any stress. Yeah, I think we're probably more stressed at this point in our lives than we've ever been and again, that's a that's a modern day impact and symptom on on course. Yeah, exactly. So we will look at all these because they're all connected and it will make sense then when we start to talk about what you can do to help yourself in those stages.
Speaker 1:But even if you don't follow the moon cycles, just understanding the menstrual cycle as we've spoken about oestrogen in that first half of ovulation, the hormones going off a cliff for a lot of people, and then the progesterone kicking in you can have an idea of what your body can cope with, even if you're not in sync with the moon. The moon just gives you an extra help. I think, yeah, absolutely, and you can, even if you're not in sync with the moon. It's a good thing to know your menstrual cycle and that can work very much with your body, so with your exercise, with your food, with how you're interacting with people, how your work goes, whereas with the moon cycle, you can use it as this kind of over the top sort of planning and just guiding everything and just making sure that you that your life in general is going in the direction that you want it to be and that you're in charge of that, and it just gives you a really nice plan.
Speaker 1:So number seven in the cycle is this is this last quarter, or called the third quarter of the moon. It suggested that this part is actually spring cleaning, so you clear out all that doesn't serve you, and that could be literally from people to jumpers in your wardrobe to grotty knickers in your drawer. Getting rid of all those things that, uh, that don't serve you. Spring cleaning your mind. So, again, lots of meditation is a great thing to be doing here, and cord cutting. Now I do a really fantastic core cutting exercise, often at the end of a breath work when we're in a really, really nice place. But you don't need to be doing that. You can do that in a meditation and just literally visualize all the things in front of you that no longer serve you and then visualize physically cutting those things away from you, just letting them go. I love that you're doing the actions. I'm actually doing it, even though people can't see that. It just made me chuckle a bit. Yeah, that's a great exercise to do and it ties in nicely with this phase because it is about decluttering, letting go, organizing, cleaning up Absolutely, and sometimes we forget that we've got to clear up our mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Up absolutely, and sometimes we forget that we've got to clear up our mind. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and it's. I mean, our minds are so full, aren't they all the time, of everything that's going on. So it's a really good, even if we, even if we only remember for a few days once a month, to to just meditate and declutter our mind. It's a good start, exactly. So we've gone. Have we gone through all the phases? Now we're back to start.
Speaker 1:So phase eight is your waning crescent, which I forgot to look up. Why it it's also called a balsamic moon, and I think I've. I think I've written that right and I, but I forgot to look up why. So if anybody knows, please let me know why it's called that, because I'm just thinking about dipping some bread in it with some olive oil at the moment. Um, it always comes back to food. This is why I have to exercise so much, right, um, so yeah, so at this point, be still at peace, rest, focus and relax.
Speaker 1:Before we start on the new moon, before we start a new cycle reflection of the month just gone, and again, things like epsom salt, baths, crystals, those sorts of things are very supportive at this time. Yeah, a big, a big focus on self-care at this point. I think is is very key. So I must just say that if you don't have a period, you can use the moon cycles to see where you are, even though you haven't got a period. It can be really useful. So when you listen to especially people like Dr Mindy talking about you, know what to do at various phases of your cycle. You can use the moon if you don't have a period, but also know that although the average period is 29 days, which does fit nicely in with the moon, the actual range that's considered normal for periods is between 23 and 36 days. That's considered normal. That's a huge range, isn't it? Mm-hmm, really interesting.
Speaker 1:And again, I'm sure we will go into detail later on when we're talking more about hormones. But we are still. We still have some sort of cycle as females, even if we're not menstruating. Is that right? Yeah, I think people tend to think that they lose all their oestrogen and progesterone. That's not the case. It's not like you flatline and you haven't got those things anymore. It's just that they are a lot lower. Yeah, but the body does have ways to help, but we don't always utilize those, because we are stressed or we're doing the the wrong sort of exercise that suits us, or we've we've tried to use the same diet that we did when we lost weight in our 20s. That doesn't work anymore, doesn't yeah? So all of yeah, there's lots to talk about, and I'm really looking forward to discussing hormones and that side of it in a bit more detail in a future episode. Gonna be so exciting because we have got so many ways that you can help yourself. I mean, this is literally what we're all about is empowering you to be able to do these things. So it's uh, yeah, I'm really excited about that as well. I've really enjoyed this. Yeah, it was nice chat.
Speaker 1:I'm glad we we spoke about the moon. It's. It can be seem a little bit random, yeah, but you know we're living with the moon every day, so it kind of makes sense to understand it and how it impacts us. Well, yeah, and I mean, we are, know, we're creatures of this earth and it seems ridiculous that we don't think that we are affected by the moon, its light, planets, gravity, etc. Etc. I think that human beings that think that they are separate from nature are Well, I mean, it's sad, but I also think they're missing a trick, because we get to use this to our advantage. Absolutely. It all comes back to nature again, doesn't it? So I think I'm just going to finish by saying that if you're in the first half of your cycle and you've got your oestrogen climbing, then thoroughly enjoy it, because you're fully in your superpower. Go and get you know the things done, start planning what you want out of life, and if you're not, it's coming Because it's a cycle. Yeah, and I'm going to finish with oh, oh, oh.
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