The Menstruality Podcast

Today I’m back with Alexandra & Sjanie and we’re kicking off a series which will unfold all the way through the summer - our Creativity series. Because these two powerhouse creative mavens have finally landed their teachings on creativity - born from the menstrual cycle and relevant to us all, whether you currently have a menstrual cycle or not. They’ll be sharing these teachings around what they call ‘The Creative Cycle’ for the first time ever this September in our new creativity course, and you can join us for our free webinar on July 12th to learn all about both The Creative Cycle and the course.In today’s conversation we explore how we’re all innately creative, how The Creative Cycle can unleash our creative flow, and how Alexandra and Sjanie have worked with these teachings to make everything they’ve created at Red School…We explore:The liberating power of The Creative Cycle, and how it can free us all up from self doubt, shame, procrastination and “too-many-ideas” overwhelm into a thriving, fulfilling creative life. What the menstrual cycles have taught Alexandra and Sjanie about the cyclical nature of creativity, and how Red School has been a ‘laboratory’ to practice these teachings.  Why - and how - we would LOVE to hear from YOU.---Join our free webinar: How Menstruality Can Teach You to Live a Wildly Creative Life on July 12th - www.redschool.net/creativity---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

“You cannot say how many cubic metres make up courage, or what kind of wires you need to construct freedom. What kind of lab do you go into to measure relationships between people?” ~ Minna SalamiWhen Minna, my guest today, said this, I got shivers up and down my spine (as I did many times, reading her brilliant book, Sensuous Knowledge) as a deeply intuitive woman raised in a hyper-rational world… or as Minna calls it, a world rooted in euro-patriarchal knowledge. Minna Salami is a Nigerian, Finnish, and Swedish feminist author and social critic. Her research focuses on Black feminist theory, contemporary African thought, and the politics of knowledge production, and today we’re exploring Sensuous Knowledge is a model of knowledge rooted in the dynamic landscape of Black feminist thought - one that empowers, enlivens, and liberates, through embodied insight.We explore:How the menstrual cycle is a source of profound, disruptive different ways of knowing. What happens in a world which only values that which can be quantified, measured and put into hierarchies, rather than honouring the knowledge that emerges from within our bodies and ourselves. The “kaleidoscopic method” and what rivers, trees and placentas can teach us about power and the nature of reality. ---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.hardyMinna Salami: @minnasalami_ - https://www.instagram.com/minnasalami_

When I first dreamed into the Menstruality Podcast, my guest today was one of the first people I knew I wanted to interview, and it’s taken a while, but boy, is it worth the wait!Tami Lynn Kent is the author of Wild Feminine and the creator of Holistic Pelvic Care, and I’ve been lucky to study with her several times over the past decade - the results have been transformative for me. Today's far-reaching conversation explores the power and medicine we hold in our pelvic bowls and how we can resource ourselves as we 'work on the frontlines of the feminine'.We explore:What could become possible if we continued the ancient indigenous practice of listening to the menstrual dreamers in our communities, as guides. Why Tami came to be known as the Vagina Whisperer, and the shame that shifts when we are deeply honoured in this part of our bodies. The funny, and deeply beautiful thing that happened when Tami taught her sons about the power of menstruation. ---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.hardyTami Lynn Kent: @tamilynnkent - https://www.instagram.com/tamilynnkent

Understanding how to dismantle racism is a charged and complex topic. So today we’re exploring how  menstrual cycle awareness can be a profound ally as we work to unravel our own unconscious bias, and find our way of deconstructing oppressive systems. My guest is Dr Sunshine Kamaloni who has a PhD in cultural studies and a deep cycle awareness practice. She shares from her own personal journey working with her inner seasons in her equity, inclusion, diversity and belonging work to unpack how the muscles that cycle awareness grow in us can help us to uncover our own personal race story.We explore:What a race story is, how they underpin unconscious bias, and how they impact us differently depending on where we are in the structure of the system. The blessings of inner winter as a time to rest, stop, ground and nourish as we take stock of who we are and how we sit with race, inside a safe container with less charge.How our own inner critic can actually be a supportive force as we uncover our race stories; as a truth-speaker showing us our blindspots and a guide in evaluating our progress. ---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.hardyDr Sunshine Kamaloni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunshinekamaloni

Kim McCabe, the founder of Rites for Girls says that without puberty rites of passage, young people self-initiate. The media tells them how they should be and our youngsters create their own ways of proving their adulthood through feats, dares, and adventures. They try to appear like adults in what they do and how they look: using clothes, make-up, drink, cigarettes, cars, and sex.According to Kim, we grown-ups can take back the role of initiating our children into adulthood, and “the children welcome it, we are fulfilled by it, and a transition that has become defined by its difficulty can become a joyous one.”In our conversation today we explore how to take back the role of initiating our girls and young people into their menstruating lives.We explore:How to begin speaking about menstruation, move through shame and support girls to have healthy relationships with their bodies.The importance of asking “what makes your heart sing?” and “what brings you joy?” to our girls, especially between age 10-12, so these threads are tended and their unique essence awakens. The profound impact of happens when you have regular “mother-daughter dates”…---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.schoolKim McCabe - Rites for Girls - https://www.instagram.com/ritesforgirls

At the beginning of the pandemic, Claire Baker released her first book, and went into a hyper-productive mode, galvanised by the new world we were all suddenly pushed into. At the end of 2020 she was depleted, suffering from critic attacks and her ambition completely dissolved. It’s only now in early 2023 that her creative energy is returning. In our conversation today we speak about the many ways that intimacy with our cycles manage our creative flow, our energy levels, our sense of confidence and purpose and our overall health. We explore:How cycle awareness helps us to hold the tension during phases of creative ‘wintering’, and the deep value of fallow times.The reluctant, bittersweet gratitude both Claire and Sophie feel about the learnings they’ve received from chronic illness, and burnout, and how it’s preparing them for the inevitable changes to come as they head towards menopause, and boosting their inner reserves in readiness. How we can work with inner autumn and inner spring to manage our inner critic and make more space to play and mess up. ---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.hardyClaire Baker: @_clairebaker_ - https://www.instagram.com/_clairebaker_/

How has your intimacy with your cycle (or your menopause process) changed you, and your life? It’s an important question to ask, in quiet moments, perhaps in your inner winter. Cycle awareness offers many fruits, and they can easily be missed in a linear world that rarely—if ever—shines a spotlight on your cyclicity and what it is awakening in you.On the podcast today, the tables are turned as Sjanie asks our host, Sophie this question and they explore what menstrual cycle awareness has taught Sophie over the past decade, particularly when it comes to living her calling and creating things of beauty in the world. They explore:The wild night of pre-menstrual rage that changed everything for Sophie; her career, her country of residence and her relationship. What late night breast-feeding dreaming taught Sophie about how to run a thriving, sustainable, impactful business.Why we all need to connect more to the 99.9% of life on earth that is cyclical, rather than the 0.01% of human culture that is largely made up of linear, productivity obsessed cultures. ---Join us for a free webinar on May 25th: How Your Menstrual Cycle Can help you to Create a Thriving Business - www.yourcyclicalbusiness.com---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

Hinewai Waitoa is doing powerful work to reclaim  Maori menstrual wisdom. In her words: “Colonisation took so much of what was magic about Maori culture when it came to things like menstruation practices. We are still reclaiming our sacred ways here in Aotearoa”.Hinewai is a māmā to two unschooled mini beings and the creator of Waikuranuku Indigenous devoted to wholistic womb wellness, reclamation & womb sovereignty. Her reclamation journey has unfolded over the past 15 years and she now lives her life purpose holding space for kōhine - girls, wāhine - women, tāne - men and whānau - families, to reconnect to and understand the natural rhythms and cycles of the womb,  heal inter-generational trauma and create a more nourishing connected loving earth for all living beings. In our conversation we explore:- How Hinewai is currently preparing her tamahine - her daughter - for her menarche rite of passage.- What it means to “speak aroha” - love - into the centre of our beings, and how to work with it as a powerful menstrual practice, and an act of rebellion which creates deep, inner alignment.- What is inside Hinewai’s ‘kete ikura” - her menstrual cycle basket - and how she uses it to keep her anchored into a real, lived honouring of her cycle. ---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.hardyHinewai Waitoa: @waikuranuku.indigenous_cycles - https://www.instagram.com/waikuranuku.indigenous_cycles

How do you experience the pre-ovulation phase of your cycle - your inner spring? Is it a time of ease and flow,  or perhaps anxiety and insecurity? Maybe  a mixture of both?  Whatever your experience, we hope that today's episode will shed some light on the powers of inner spring for you. It's our first Q+A episode where Red School founders Alexandra and Sjanie will answer your questions about how to work with your cycle in the pre-ovulation phase. We explore questions like: - What to do if your experience of inner spring is different to many people, due to health challenges, and how to handle the shame that can arise?- How to hold yourself when emotional vulnerabilities and wounds come up in inner spring.- How to emerge tenderly from your bleed in a world that often doesn’t support that, and how to meet the rising energy of spring in a generative way, especially when it appears as anxiety and insecurity. ---Join our free online course, 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

Today we’re welcoming back Ruby May to the podcast, who is the new community leader here at Red School. Ruby is the founder of the Know Your Flow cycle awareness course and community - she’s an earth-lover, a truth-seeker, an edge-dweller and a mischief-maker passionate about how we can each midwife a culture of deeper connection – to our bodies, each other and our planet through menstrual cycle awareness.I’ve been loving working with Ruby lately to co-create our new MLP grads community, The Hive, we’ve been riffing a lot about the power of cycle-aware friendship and community, and today Sjanie is joining us. So, if you ever feel lonely in your cycle awareness practice, or like you’re swimming upstream and would love some like-minded allies by your side, this one’s for you. I invite you to make a cup of something lovely and nestle into this conversation with us…We explore:How lonely it can feel to practise cycle awareness in a world that often demands productivity and a focus on what is visible, rather than what is slow and unseen. The harmony, creativity that love that emerges between people when we each authentically own the place they are truly in and can put the fullness of our humanity in the space - and how cycle awareness gives us access to that authentic expression. How the premenstruum schools us in how to meet conflict as a creative ally within our friendships and communities. ---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.schoolRuby May: @know.your.flow - https://www.instagram.com/know.your.flowSophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardy