What do you do when you have a menstrual cycle that doesn’t fit within the archetypal menstrual cycle maps? How can you practise cycle awareness when you’re not sure when (or if) you’re ovulating, or when your period is going to arrive?
Today, we’re exploring this common question, first by sharing the three main reasons why cycles become irregular…
(And in this episode of the Menstruality podcast, we offer ideas for working with the feelings of frustration and powerlessness that can arise, as well as sharing a big truth - that unpredictable cycles can actually awaken new levels of embodied, cyclical intelligence within us.)
ONE: Your menstrual cycle is your fifth vital sign
Your menstrual cycle is a stress sensitive system, showing you what needs to be tended to in your body and overall health. Those of us with cycle challenges are the canaries in the coalmine, showing up something for the collective about the levels of stress, pollution and toxicity in our world.
In this way, irregular cycles are your inner guidance system calling you to pay closer attention to yourself and your needs. A physical disturbance that is raising a red flag to invite you to up the game of self care. And your MCA practice can also help to reveal the exact kinds of self care you need.
TWO: You’ve changed, but you haven’t yet adapted to it (particularly in your 40s)
In our 30s we enter the summer of the cycling years, where the needs (and powers) are similar to the inner summer of the menstrual cycle. In our 40s, our needs become more akin to the premenstruum. Gradually, we become differently wired; we can’t pull all nighters anymore, our capacity changes, we can more easily hit a wall of collapse or exhaustion. (Or it shows up in our immune system or burnout.)
If we don’t acknowledge this gear change - and let’s face it, our world doesn’t support this change one bit - it can show up in our mental and emotional health as anxiety, panic, rage, as well as physical health crises. Irregular cycles at this time can be our body calling us to slow down. And, beautifully, this profound act of turning towards ourselves in our 40s sets us up well for the great initiation coming at menopause.
THREE: When we go through life’s big initiations
Big life transitions such as motherhood and menopause are precarious, full of unknowns. We negotiate (sometimes battle with!) with who we were, and who we’re becoming. Oftentimes we don’t let go easily!
When we first start menstruating, it’s not uncommon for people to have very irregular cycles, and then at some point they settle into the new ground of who they’re becoming.
And there’s a version of this which happens in motherhood, where the potential irregularity of your cycle is calling you into your new self, which can only happen gradually with huge amounts of kindness and patience, as with menopause. If you’re experiencing irregular cycles, tune into this Menstruality podcast episode - this one's for you.
