Woman
To be a woman and follow your cyclical nature can be challenging when we live in a society that is based on doing, on producing, and on complementing each other on how much we ‘get done’. But it’s one of the greatest journeys you can take as a woman. To realise and witness just how incredible you are, to truly connect with yourself and live in alignment with your rhythms, not with societies expectations, is a wonderful, liberating experience and one every woman should feel.
We are nature, and nature is cyclical.
Living in harmony with the cycles has had such huge impact on my spiritual, emotional and physical being. To discover my gifts in each phase of my monthly cycle has truly helped me understand, love and accept myself. I spent many years dreading my period. During my time taking the contraceptive pill I even went as far to just keep taking them and skip my week off. I would dread the tiredness, the cramps but mostly the emotional turmoil I would face. I see now, how much all of them contributed to the other. Since I started to track my cycle and let my Yoga Practice follow this rhythm, I’ve completely reframed the way I see, not only my bleed, but my whole month. Now, I enjoy to go through the month and witness all the changes that happen at different times, it amazes me. I feel so much more love and admiration for my body, the female body and how magic, beautiful and perfect it is. How perfect all of the changes are and how they complement each other, how lucky we are to have this cycle. I feel a sense of belonging. As a result, I notice when something changes, I am so much more aware of my body. I love how my mind changes during my bleed, how it slows downs into a calm space, I love the feeling of rebirth, when I can feel the energy rise in me. I love when I feel so much more feminine in my being, how I move in a different way, how beautiful everything feels, I love the amount of awareness and clarity that arises later in the month. Each phase brings something new, something beautiful.
I believe one of the key ways to embrace cyclical living is to find a balance between the masculine (YANG) and feminine (YIN) energy within you. A good way to start to play with this is through your yoga practice. Both energies are beneficial and both serve a purpose in everybody, when we can balance them within ourselves we can really learn to harness the qualities of both, bringing us into harmony.
We can find comparisons between our monthly cycle and the seasons;
Spring and summer; new beginnings, inspiration and heightened energy.
They are both YANG in nature.
DuYour yoga practice may be more active in nature. You can start to practice a stronger more dynamic asana.
Autumn and winter are a time for harvesting, releasing, resting and rejuvenating.
They are both YIN in nature.
You may be more drawn to an asana that is passive and inward. Finding time for grounding meditation and restorative asana.
In our current culture we embrace YANG qualities more often than YIN practices. But for harmony to be present, all parts of the whole need to exist within.
When we embrace this way of living, we understand that no one day is the same. Our needs are changing.
The most vital part of this practice and for me the most beneficial is the art of listening. To understand and embrace when you need to take time to rest or when you know you can push yourself more to go for something.
Understanding the complexities of your cycle can bring understanding and acceptance, seeing yourself as reliably changing as apposed to ‘irrational’ or ‘unpredictable’ which women are too often labelled.
Julia Turner
Founder of Moon Yoga