Written by Dr. Mona Wiggins

Have you ever wondered why sometimes it feels like you can achieve everything - you can literally do two hours of yoga and a high intensity interval training class AND check numerous things off your to-do list - but then there are other days you struggle to even get out of bed? 

Or maybe you wonder why your mood and sleep patterns shift without reason or predictability. Sometimes you’re extremely outgoing, positive, happy...and then the next week you feel depressed, have poor sleep, or are bloated beyond belief.

Most of us don’t struggle with the high performing days or the days when we feel friendly, happy, outgoing, and sexy. But what about the rough days? How do you handle these?

When you feel like your body, your energy, your mood, even your daily experience of life is unpredictable, it can be incredibly disheartening.

But I’m here to give you some relief...

There is a reason your body has these fluctuations. It’s part of your femininity and it’s normal. You’re not a robot and you're not designed to show up the same way every single day, despite what society may have taught you.

These fluctuations you experience are likely a reflection of your inner cycles and your shifting hormones. 

Hormones

Hormones play a massive role in your physical, mental, and emotional experience. Each month your hormones go through cyclical changes. There is a synchronized rise and fall orchestrating your ovulation, periods, and cycle length. Estrogen and progesterone are the main female hormones, and these will impact not only your cycle but also your mood, energy, sexuality, sleep, food cravings, and health. 

Our cycles can be divided into 4 different phases, each of these phases has different hormonal shifts occurring which translate into different daily experiences. I like to think of these phases as our inner seasons. 

• Menses (your period) - Winter: In this phase your hormones are overall low, and energy and mood reflects this.
• Pre-ovulatory - Spring: In this phase your estrogen is on the rise, and your body is beginning to prepare an egg for ovulation. You’re likely to feel a rise in your energy levels, your mood, and your desire to be more playful in activity and with others. 
• Ovulation - Summer: In this phase your estrogen reaches its peak and you ovulate. You’re likely to feel this high peak in estrogen as high often extroverted energy, elevated mood, and increased self-confidence and sexuality. 
• Luteal (after ovulation) - Autumn: In this phase your progesterone takes over as the dominant hormone, and your mood and energy gradually begin to fade as you approach winter. Because progesterone slows it is more common to experience bloating, constipation, and other PMS symptoms in this phase of your cycle. 

These hormonal shifts and our inner seasons are cyclical and a part of our ever-changing inner beings: part of our divine feminine nature.

Why is it helpful to understand this? 

The beautiful thing about learning the hormones and cycles phases is that you can observe they follow a predictable pattern, cycle after cycle. Since your hormones are predictable, your body's response to them will be as well! 

Understanding your hormones allows you to plan ahead for the shifts in your health, your mood, and your behavior. Instead of confusion, you begin to see your body and your experiences from a place of knowledge and understanding. You can plan your day, your week, and your months in a way to be supportive of your unique cycle patterns. You can take advantage of the high-energy days and find ways to better support and understand the days that previously felt challenging, making each day and each cycle more energetically aligned, more fulfilling, and more empowering.

So how do you learn to track your hormones and align with your cycles? 

Through daily cycle charting and a practice called cycle syncing. ⁣

Cycle syncing is the practice of aligning your life and your activities to honor your menstrual cycles. It is living in flow with your body, rather than fighting against it.

Cycle syncing allows you to schedule in the awareness of your cycle to find more ease, joy, and love in your daily experience. It is allowing for your feminine, your intuition, the healthy hormonal fluctuations of your life! Because you are a woman, a cyclical being, and it’s time this is honored.

 

Want to learn more? You can check out my blog post on FAM or download my free ebook to get started cycle charting. 

Ready to take a deep dive into cycle syncing? My self-study program, “Cyclical Being” is for you. Learn about cycles phases, common themes, & receive a toolkit of rituals & recommended practices to support each phase of your cycle. Check out my website for further details.