The Menstruality Podcast

When Dr Cre Dye was in her early 20s, she began to feel called to explore the power of her cycle - or as she describes it, her moon, flowers and power. Over our series of two conversations, we’re exploring the cycle wisdom she has learned, unearthed and received over the last three decades through the lens of her relationships with her two Grandmothers; today her Granny of hidden First Nations descent, and in part two, her African American Mama. Dr Cre Dye has served her local, national, and international communities with heart, mind and body activism for over 25 years as a mental health therapist, yoga teacher / trainer and university professor. She is also part of the Red School team as our Menstruality Justice and Inclusion Educator, facilitating inner change for social change on our Menstruality Leadership Programme, supporting us all to work with the power of the cycle in a way that is just and inclusive.We explore:Why women gathered together in Moon Lodges, in many indigenous cultures to listen for the dreams of bleeding women, and how Cre has followed this lead to embody the sacred through her cycle and her body. A wide range of indigenous menarche rituals, including the Anishinaabe rite of passage known as the Berry Fast, the Navajo Kinaalda ceremony and the Hupa Flower Dancers coming-of-age ceremonies.What Cre has learned from her research about how to honour and trust her menstruating body, and guide her clients to honour the moon 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.hardyDr Cre Dye: @credyeyoga - https://www.instagram.com/credyeyoga

Dr. Sharon Blackie, a renowned mythologist and author, delves into how ancient myths connect women to their cyclical nature and ancestral wisdom. She discusses the ‘Well Maiden’ as a bridge to restoring the Feminine through dreams. The wild character of ‘Mis’ offers solace during misunderstood phases like premenstruum and menopause. The tale of the ‘Selkie’ inspires a reclamation of authenticity and belonging. Blackie emphasizes the importance of storytelling in understanding grief and rediscovering one's identity in a modern context.

Today we're having a frank and feisty chat about one of the hot topics in our community - premenstrual and menopausal RAGE.Have you ever been driving in your car and felt compelled to wind the windows up and actually roar because you felt so wildly angry on day 24? Or, if you’re navigating menopause, have you experienced your own ‘burn-the-house-down’ moment when your fury threatened to destroy everything you’ve built so far in your life?What is going on with this rage? Why are so many of us feeling it? And what is it trying to tell us? In this episode:- Anger as an indignation of soul, bringing us closer to our essence.- Sjanie, Alexandra & Sophie's personal journeys with rage. -  How to work with rage in the menstrual cycle by practising the menstruality Leadership skill of 'holding the tension'.  ---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

Today we’re actually replaying Dr Lara Briden's first episode with us, How to Feel Better in Perimenopause, because it’s the most popular episode we’ve ever shared, listened over 3500 times, and shared widely, and because we receive more questions about perimenopause than anything else. In the conversation Lara demystifies this major transition that happens in our bodies in the years that lead up to menopause, when many people are left wondering if they’re going crazy, experience symptoms which can seem to come out of nowhere; including anxiety, depression, irregular cycles, insomnia, night sweats, hot flushes, migraines and more.Lara is a naturopathic doctor and the author of The Hormone Repair Manual, Every Woman's Guide to Healthy Hormones After 40, a practical guide to navigating the change of perimenopause and relieve symptoms with natural treatments such as diet, nutritional supplements, and bioidentical hormone therapy.We explore:The four phases of perimenopause and how to navigate them, including the ‘waiting room’ where your periods are very irregular, but you haven’t yet reached the 12 month pint which defines the beginning of menopause. The science behind this life transition and the hormonal events that can drive symptoms like irregular / heavier cycles, sleep disturbance and hot flushes. Lara's rescue prescription for peri-menopause and how it can help you to look after your whole being, and especially your brain and nervous system - Lara assures us that there is always a way to feel better. ---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @red.school (https://www.instagram.com/red.school)Lara Briden: @larabriden (https://www.instagram.com/larabriden)

What causes menstrual pain? Why do periods go missing? Why do we get PMS and how can we treat it naturally? What is happening in our bodies when we're on the pill? What is a good alternative to the pill? We hear questions like these all the time from our community, and in today’s episode we’re talking with a great ally of Red School, Dr Lara Briden who answers all of these questions and more. The conversation is an amazing resource, and one that we hope you’ll share with your friends who may be experiencing challenges in these areas.Our guest, Dr Lara Briden is the author of the Period Repair Manual: Natural Treatment for Better Hormones and Better Periods. She’s also the author of a second book - the Hormone Repair Manual: Every Woman’s Guide to Healthy Hormones after 40. She has treated 1000s of women with menstrual health symptoms, and has a wealth of wisdom and experience as well as an amazing capacity to make complex health topics and challenges seem simple. We explore:Why ovulation is so important, the common false narrative that the pill can regulate the cycle, and Lara’s five favourite alternative forms of contraception.Lara’s lifestyle and diet approaches for menstrual pain - they have supported 60-70% of her patients to relieve their pain. (And when to know if you could be dealing with endometriosis).Underlying health factors that can cause PMS, and how to make it a thing of the past through natural approaches.---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.hardyLara Briden: @larabriden (https://www.instagram.com/larabriden)

Around 20 years ago, in London, Sjanie was living her life with great abandon. Bold, confident and out there…she was invulnerable.But she had no menstrual cycle - she had been on the contraceptive injection for seven years.It was only when she started to have intense pain after orgasm that she suddenly sensed something was missing and that she needed to get her cycle back… and today we hear the amazing story of what happened once her cycles returned.We also hear the full story of how the menstrual cycle also changed everything for Alexandra, including her long journey to heal debilitating menstrual pain, and the immense gifts she received along the way, by surrendering to the power of menstruation. We explore:What Sjanie’s mentor Maggie meant when she said that Sjanie was living life with her gloves on?!What happened when Alexandra’s partner held her through the worst of her pain, even as she was cursing the patriarchy.And how the intimacy with the menstrual cycle awakened a profound sense of purpose for both Alexandra & Sjanie.---Join our Cyclical Wisdom Quest - Feb 20th - 22nd: www.redschool.net/quest---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's episode is for you if you’re curious about how to maintain healthy boundaries when you are working to create change for a cause that you deeply care about. It’s especially for you if you self-identify as a highly sensitive person. Many people come to cycle awareness because they are feeling burnt out from a system that pushes them beyond their natural limits. Our guest today, Dorcas Cheng-Tozen is someone who knows burnout intimately, and - luckily for us - has devoted herself to a study of how we sensitives can find our way to contribute to creating a more just and beautiful world, which doesn’t break us in the process. Dorcas Cheng-Tozen is an award-winning writer, editor, speaker, and communications consultant whose work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal and today we’re diving into her brilliant new book: Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways.We explore:The "Activist Ideal" and the peer pressure that exists within activist circles to be ‘on’ all the time, willing to sacrifice mind, body and soul on the altar of the cause. A wide variety of activist approaches and roles for sensitive, introverted empaths; including research, art as activism, record-keepers, builders, and what Dorcas calls relational activism.The ‘seasons of activism’ and how to find your own natural ebb and flow as you work to increase the love, compassion and justice in the world. ---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.hardyDorcas Cheng-Tozen: @chengtozen - https://www.instagram.com/chengtozun/

From finding oneself again through perimenopause, to helping to move through depression, to transforming communication with loved ones, today we’re exploring real life stories of how menstrual cycle awareness has changed the lives of our listeners. We explore:How discovering cycle awareness supported Melanie to move through a bout of severe depression to a sense of deep alignment with her true self.Erin’s journey from feeling lost in perimenopause to returning home to herself, making sense of the process and finding grounded clarity.How cycle awareness has brought Rebecca back into a sense of belonging to the earth, and it was such a life-changing realization (and a gift) that she’s made it her life's work.---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

It walks us home to our own natural rhythms. It keeps us close to what truly matters to us. It’s a innate self esteem builder. It even prepares us for menopause…Menstrual (and lunar) cycle awareness are a huge game-changer, and powerful spiritual practices for our wild times. But the truth is that most of us live in cultures that value productivity over rest and profit over health - so we all need inspiration to stay committed to our personal cyclical rebellion. That’s why today’s Menstruality Podcast episode is devoted to all the ways that menstrual cycle awareness can transform our lives. (And ok, we may not have quite reached 100, but we easily could have given a couple more hours!) We explore:How cycle awareness helps us to pace our our bodies, energies and unique nervous systems, rather than allowing the culture around us to dictate who we have to be. When we lean into our own cyclical experience we help to deshame the menstrual cycle and menopause, and instead dignify and honour them as powerful sources of wisdom.  Cycle awareness as a foundational wellness practice, bringing soothing and ease, and helping us clarify and hold our boundaries.---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

Welcome to the final episode in our Wild Power Bonus series - today we're creating a new life-affirming menstrual story. It’s time now for each of us to fully reclaim the power of our menstrual cycle. To do that we have to get smart in a world that doesn’t yet recognise or celebrate it. In this episode we share some of our key Red School cycle savvy tips and strategies for restoring the cycle’s wisdom and creating a new life affirming menstrual story.In this episode you will:- Get to know your four undercover agents for a cycle savvy life- Learn practical ways to create a cycle centred life- Hear us talk about the crucialness of women and all people who menstruate gathering together to change the world.---Registration is now open for our 2024 Menstruality Leadership Programme. You can explore the curriculum here: https://www.menstrualityleadership.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