“Too many of us are afraid of our power and have pretty messed-up notions about it. Given the many displays of distorted power in the world today, it’s easy to see how we might assume that power is the problem…”
- Wild Power
We’re pretty obsessed with power (there’s a reason it features in both of our book titles and the title of our new upcoming Cycle Power course). At the centre of all of our menstrual cycle and menopause work is an exploration of how we can each come to know and embody a healthy expression of power - for us and the world.
Here are four truths we’ve harvested from four decades of devoted personal exploration, teaching and story-gathering with 1000s of cycle-seekers like you, about the power that lives within the menstrual cycle…
(We’d love to hear which ones resonate with you - please respond to this email to let us know.)
ONE: Vulnerability is key to healthy power
Power is a Big Word, it conjures up different things for different people. The misuse of power is rife in our world, so it’s no wonder that many of us feel concerned, suspicious, confused about what power is.
Our over culture currently sees power as perfection – tough and hard, insensitive, unemotional, untouchable and bulletproof. The tender, apparently fragile, emotionally messy, inept, imperfect or immature parts of ourselves are all perceived as weak and powerless. However, these vulnerabilities are at the heart of our humanity. They’re the doorway to a wholesome, integrated, wise expression of power that brings compassion and respect to other people, along with a cooperative and respectful relationship with the natural world that supports us.
TWO: The power of the cycle is accessed through our body, not our heads
It’s through the daily, ongoing, disciplined work of daring to lean into our cycles and trust our experiences throughout the cycle month that the power of the cycle emerges.
We awaken it through choosing to take our own side, rather than give in to performative roles. We awaken it through daring to follow the rhythms that our bodies are teaching us.
Because we don’t live in a cycle-aware society, trusting the rhythm of cyclical life in this way is a brave act. On our Cycle Power course, we’ll gather as a global community to support, guide and hold you as you engage with your cycle and how to access the power within it.
THREE: The menstrual cycle gives us access to spiritual powers
At the heart of the practice of menstrual cycle awareness lies a deep journey of initiation—the cycle guiding and growing us up into greater purpose, responsibility and wholehearted living. It has the power to awaken us to our life calling.
To access this spiritual power of the cycle, we must each begin by building the foundational layer of cyclical self care - guided by our unique experience of our inner seasons. This open the door to enter the magic realm and taste the powers available in each cycle phase.
Because many of us have lived outside ourselves for too long, there can be trauma in our systems and our capacity to genuinely feel our own experience may be thwarted. Through the ongoing process of menstrual cycle awareness we can steadily work towards recovering our deep feeling connection to ourselves, restoring our inner ecology to claim and embody the powers more and more.
FOUR: The menstrual cycle is our best bet for making sense of our power and becoming wise custodians of it.
The powers available to us in each season of the cycle need to be explored and received in real time - you can’t just read about them in our book and then expect them to show up. You’ll only experience them when you engage with your own cycle, with your unique pace and rhythm, and what your inner seasons are revealing to you. As you honour them, the powers are released.
Remember…
The challenge is that power is always a step ahead of us – we’re always negotiating and learning about it, being tripped up by it and growing into it. We have to get smart. We have to come into a respectful relationship with power, and practise a mindful discipline around it.
And awareness of your menstrual cycle is this mindful discipline.
So, let’s befriend power, embrace the menstrual cycle and create a new power story. Let’s learn how to become wise channels, for our own sake and that of the world.
