The Menstruality Podcast

It’s world menopause day later this month, and throughout October we’ll be sharing on social media about how we can rewrite the cultural narrative of menopause. On October 21st - 23rd, Alexandra and Sjanie would like to invite you to join them for their free three-day online menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power. And their online course, menopause the Great Awakener starts on October 31st - you can register for the free event and find out more about the course at redschoolmenopause.comToday’s bonus episode is a replay of a delicious conversation I had with Chameli Gad, mystic and Goddess Wisdom Keeper and the founder of Awakening Women, who has been a teacher for me for the past fifteen years. Chameli’s menopause initiatory process unfolded throughout the pandemic and included the death of her son, and her divorce. She’s been generously sharing her menopause process with us here on the podcast over the past three years, and in our chat today, she explores the fruits of her menopause process, from the other side, and she is as honest about her current peace, ease and ecstasy as she was with her mid-initiation pain and suffering.We explore:What it means to ensure that your inner “mama is in the house” in menopause, in three different aspects: the witnessing mother, the nurturing mother and the guardian mother.Chameli’s ‘baby dolphin’ menopause dream and how it has radically transformed her capacity for self-compassion.What Chameli learned about boundaries in menopause, and how she moved from using boundaries as a way to control others, and instead as an act of leadership that arises from within us. ---Register for our free three-day menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power on October 21st-23rd---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardyChameli Gad: @chameligad - https://www.instagram.com/chameligadAwakening Women: @awakeningwomen - https://www.instagram.com/awakeningwomen

It’s world menopause day later this month, and throughout October we’ll be sharing on social media about how we can rewrite the cultural narrative of menopause. On October 21st - 23rd, Alexandra and Sjanie would like to invite you to join them for their free three-day online menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power. And their online course, menopause the Great Awakener starts on October 31st - you can register for the free event and find out more about the course at redschoolmenopause.comToday’s bonus episode is for you if - like me - you long to feel more calm, rested, peaceful and grounded. Both because it feels better, but also because you know the gold that lies in this state of restedness; for your health, your relationships, your worklife, and your journey through menopause.Our guest is Tracee Stanley, the author of the bestselling book Radiant Rest, and the recently published The Luminous Self. She is a post-lineage yoga teacher, inspired by more than twenty years of study, and she’s devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidra, rest, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor reverence.We chat about how to set up a practice that allows for rest inside a mainstream culture that says we’re not worthy unless you’re pushing through; whether that’s pushing through grief, illness, exhaustion or menopause. Through it all, Tracee illuminates how deep rest, peace and truth are our birthright.We explore:The importance of unveiling the messages we received about the value of rest from our parents and ancestral lineage; particularly for Black, Brown and Indigenous people.How the practice of Yoga Nidra is a way to know our true self, as well as a powerful act of rebellion in a culture that wants us to keep endlessly grindingThe story of Mataji - a female yoga teacher in her 90s, who was famous for never sleeping, and became one of the first people to teach the wisdom of yoga nidra. ---Register for our free three-day menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power on October 21st-23rd---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardyTracee Stanley: @tracee_stanley - https://www.instagram.com/tracee_stanley

It’s world menopause day later this month, and throughout October we’ll be sharing on social media about how we can rewrite the cultural narrative of menopause. On October 21st - 23rd, Alexandra and Sjanie would like to invite you to join them for their free three-day online menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power. And their online course, menopause the Great Awakener starts on October 31st - you can register for the free event and find out more about the course at redschoolmenopause.comIn today’s bonus episode, we’re exploring the immense capacities that open up to us as we move through menopause, and Alexandra is your host. Her guest is Prune Harris, an energy expert, a consciousness educator, and soul activist, who has trained with healers, elders, and wisdom holders throughout the world. Prune shares her personal experience of navigating the great threshold of menopause, and how it can collectively awaken a new, immense capacity to reclaim our deep worth as human beings, beyond concepts of gender and status, but as a lifeforce that is part of the great web of life. They explore:The different cycles that Prune is tracking now post-menopause, and how our life force moves into different expressions of wisdom once we’re no longer being held in monthly cycles. Menopause as an identity death process which brings us face to face with our inner soothsayer, to hear deep truths about ourselves, our relationships and the world, so we can choose the new identities we want to embody in our third act. How menopause is helping to meet the modern day crisis of separation and call us home to our essential place of belonging, so we can radiate it into our lives and into the world. ---Register for our free three-day menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power on October 21st-23rd---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardyPrune Harris: @pruneharris - https://www.instagram.com/pruneharris

It’s world menopause day later this month, and throughout October we’ll be sharing on social media about how we can rewrite the cultural narrative of menopause. On October 21st - 23rd, Alexandra and Sjanie would like to invite you to join them for their free three-day online menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power. And their online course, menopause the Great Awakener starts on October 31st - you can register for the free event and find out more about the course at redschoolmenopause.comToday’s bonus episode is a replay of my conversation with the brilliant writer, psychologist and mythologist, Dr Sharon Blackie called The Myth, Magic and Metamorphosis of Menopause.When you explore old European myths, it’s the elder women and grandmothers who run the world. In Greek mythology, there are the Fates - three elder women who make the world go round. In Easterm European mythology, the crone Baba Yaga initiates young people and facilitates transformation. In ancient Gallic mythology it is the Cailleach who created and shaped the land, from the beginning of time. In today’s episode Sharon explores the gold that these myths and archetypes hold for us as we navigate the shape-shifting crucible of menopause and enter the second half of our lives as elders.We explore:The Greek myth of the ‘Furies’, the sacred role of their rage, and the necessity of the comparable anger many of us feel in menopause.Why our world doesn’t allow us the time to ‘do menopause properly’ and the impact this has for us on a soul level. The Jungian archetype of the ‘Medial Woman’ who doesn’t define herself according to anyone else, is whole unto herself, and chooses to dive deeply into the mystery of the world.---Register for our free three-day menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power on October 21st-23rd---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardyDr Sharon Blackie: @sharonblackiemythmakings - https://www.instagram.com/sharonblackiemythmakings

It’s world menopause day later this month, and throughout October we’ll be sharing on social media about how we can rewrite the cultural narrative of menopause. On October 21st - 23rd, Alexandra and Sjanie would like to invite you to join them for their free three-day online menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power. Their online course, Menopause: The Great Awakener starts on October 31st - you can register for the free event and find out more about the course at redschoolmenopause.comToday’s bonus episode is a replay of Jane Hardwicke Collings’ conversation with Alexandra for the Wise Power Series, and it’s called - The Transformation of Menopause: Stepping into our Responsibility to Life. Jane is a teacher, author, former homebirth midwife and creator of the School of Shamanic Womancraft, and in the conversation she shares how she prepared for menopause, the gifts it gave her of intuition, vision, confidence and courage, and the new responsibility she feels post-menopause - to be the archetypal grandmother stepping into her power and using it for the good of all, and the earth.We explore:How menopause is the most transformational process we can experience. Jane shares all it required from her; the presence, the energy, the leaning in, the stamina, the self care, as well as the size and magnitude of the transformation, hormonally, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.How to take care of yourself through menopause; including strength training, reducing stress, reducing alcohol, learning nervous system regulation practices, and paying real attention to your mind chatterHow Jane’s intuition was enhanced by menopause, awakening a new visionary capacity and skill in receiving downloads of information.---Register for our free three-day menopause event: How Menopause Awakens Your Power on October 21st-23rd---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardyJane Hardwicke Collings: @janehardwickecollings - https://www.instagram.com/janehardwickecollings

In a world which is moving too fast, we have to claim our rest, which is why I’m delighted to share this conversation with an incredible woman who sees herself as a Chief Operating Daydreaming Officer and Dream Keeper. Octavia Raheem is an award-winning author, rest coach, a yoga and meditation teacher, and speaker. Yoga Journal magazine has recognized Octavia as one of fifteen experienced yoga professionals who have elevated and changed the field on a global scale. Today we chat about her most recent book - Rest is Sacred, and Octavia shares her personal, extreme journey to claiming her sacred rest, which included overworking and exhaustion to the point of hospitalisation. She describes what her mother taught her about how to carve out space for rest as a single mum in the rural south of the USA, and the profound reclamation of energy she’s experiencing now in her journey towards menopause, reclaiming the rest that her ancestors were not safe to take. We explore:Rest as a refuge when we’re grieving the loss of people we love, and Octavia’s Yoga Nidra rest story after the loss of her mother. The power of “closing our eyes to see” as a direct line to knowing our innate worth.The wisdom of the earth that is revealed in winter, and how the most transformational movements of now and the future will be sustained by the pause, and by people who are resourced by rest.  ---Receive our free video training: Love Your Cycle, Discover the Power of Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Revolutionise Your Life - www.redschool.net/love---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardyOctavia Raheem: @octaviaraheem - https://www.instagram.com/octaviaraheem

In a world where fast-paced technology and artificial intelligence are on the rise, where each day brings fresh news of global injustice and conflict and where radical shifts are needed to create a sustainable future on earth, it’s no wonder that we can find ourselves overwhelmed and numb. But, the daily practice of menstrual cycle awareness can serve as a powerful antidote, and today we’re exploring how cycle awareness can create a ground of connection to ourselves and our sense of agency and power in challenging times. They also illuminate menstrual cycle awareness as a cyclical, soulful leadership model which can help you step more fully into your leadership and live into your unique way to contribute to the future you long for. Through teachings and stories from the Red School community, Alexandra and Sjanie share about the power of the daily cycle check-in as a fundamental leadership practice, the cycle as a living rhythm of rest, renewal, energy, and release, and how the power of the second half of the cycle invites you to trust your inner voice over the noise of the outside world.We explore:Menstrual rest and connection as the ground of our Feminine leadership, where we can reconnect with our purpose and our innate goodness.Menstrual cycle awareness connects you to a kind of power that is sourced in the Feminine. How the cycle guides us home to what we were made for - to our calling and the deep meaning at work in our lives. ---Receive our free video training: Love Your Cycle, Discover the Power of Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Revolutionise Your Life - www.redschool.net/love---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardy

As we’ve explored a lot on the podcast with the women and folks who have shared their own menopause stories, it can be a disorientating, deeply challenging, and very messy process. And today we’re hearing from a woman who is generously sharing right from the messy middle of her menopause journey. Ruby May is a coach, facilitator and community weaver, passionate about midwifing a culture grounded in the wisdom of the body. She is also a Red School Menstruality Leadership Programme graduate and is the community catalyst of the Hive graduate community at Red School. Most recently she has been co-creating Sabia, a platform with a vision of menopause as a transformative life stage.This conversation was born from my listening partnership with Ruby, where she shared a voice note which powerfully illuminated the many challenges of her menopause initiatory process, including the multiple emotional descents she’s taken, the rock bottom places she has hit, (particularly when she has had very little sleep) and how menopause has shone a light on all the parts of her that still want to be rescued, and validated.We explore:The importance of having allies who mirror your goodness back to you, even in your darkest times, without having to sugarcoat anything or find the silver lining. How her menopause doula aka fairy godmother, Kate Codrington (a fellow Menstruality Leadership Programme graduate) is following the pulse of her journey alongside her, and how her ‘go-to-crone’ - a rabble-rousing rebellious healer - is offering her acute support in the moment. How Ruby is navigating her own journey around whether to get HRT, and what do we do when we’ve created a life that we no longer have capacity to live out?   ---Receive our free video training: Love Your Cycle, Discover the Power of Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Revolutionise Your Life - www.redschool.net/love---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardyRuby May: @_.ruby.may._ - https://www.instagram.com/_.ruby.may._

What do you do when your experience of the cycle doesn’t match the archetypal description of the inner seasons? Many women and folks with cycles experience sporadic, irregular cycles which are very challenging to track, particularly if they’re dealing with health challenges like PCOS, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Our guest today is Menstruality Leadership Programme graduate Shalize Giane, who shares generously about her two decades of dealing with PCOS, and the infertility challenges that have accompanied it. We explore her long and winding journey to getting a diagnosis, and how practising cycle awareness has transformed her experience of her cycle and her body, as well as inspiring her to reassess and reorganise her entire life to remove stressors and give her body what it is asking for.We explore:How women and folks with PCOS can feel excluded from the cycle awareness and cyclical living conversation, and why it’s vital for everyone working in the menstruality field to create belonging for all.How Shalize experiences her inner seasons, even with an unpredictable cycle, and what they have told her about what her body truly needs; rest and slowness. Her experience on the Menstruality Leadership Programme, and how it helped her get in touch with and process the childhood trauma, emotional suppression and parental neglect that was contributing to her PCOS challenges, as well as inspire her to start helping other women with PCOS to heal. ---Receive our free video training: Love Your Cycle, Discover the Power of Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Revolutionise Your Life - www.redschool.net/love---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardyShalize Giane: @misstomadame_ - https://www.instagram.com/misstomadame_/

Today’s conversation is an exploration of what happens when women’s stories and voices are suppressed, and how we reclaim our power in a world which has historically denied our worth. It’s the story beneath the story of menstruality, the foundation for all we’re reclaiming with menstrual cycle awareness and conscious menopause. Our guide in Harvard-trained feminist theologian, Meggan Watterson.When Meggan first encountered the new testament she broke out in hives. For years she studied the female saints, gurus, poets and mystics throughout history in all the world’s religions, got a master degree in a comparative world religion view of the divine feminine.  As she says, our ideas about the divine and who gets to speak on behalf of the divine effect the status of women the world over, as well as our own relationship to our sense of spiritual authority and trusting the voice of love we hear inside of us. Meggan is also the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of Mary Magdalene revealed, and her new book, The Girl Who Baptised Herself, explores the erased story of one of the first female ministers in the pre-patriarchal, Christ movement, a girl named Thecla who reclaims her power from within her, inside a society which entirely denies her worth, so that she can ascend to the life that’s meant for her, and what her story can teach us all about how to claim our worth, and the lives that we desire. We explore:Why Meggan often gets called a whore - as well as a lot of other colourful names - for teaching about the ancient gospels that were erased from the new testament by Constanine in the 400AD, so that the idea of male succession could have legitimacy.Writing as a spiritual practice, and how Meggan became the woman she needed to be to write this book.What Thecla’s story can teach us about how to honour the divine in a way that includes the female body, particularly in a world where the reproductive rights of women and people with wombs are being taken away. ---Receive our free video training: Love Your Cycle, Discover the Power of Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Revolutionise Your Life - www.redschool.net/love---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardyMeggan Watterson: @megganwatterson - https://www.instagram.com/megganwatterson