Understanding the power of your menstrual cycle
Guest post by Nadine Lee.
Much like all aspects that offer us empowerment, societal conditioning has created a culture of taboo & shame; a woman’s menstrual cycle is one of those. Look at how many women see their menstrual cycle as a ‘burden’. In a fast paced masculine dominated world where we are always DOING, there is no room to rest & surrender, to reflect, to simply BE.
What we don’t realise is that allowing ourselves to rest in the nothingness, in the void, is where TRUE creativity arises from; inspired action & empowered life choices, made from a deeply ingrained embodied heart space vs. a fearful headspace, clouded by conditioning.
Since the rise of the patriarchal society, in which was determined to abolish the connection to the power of the feminine (in order to control society into a valuing consumerism vs. humanity); women & men alike have forgotten their connection to their roots, the earth, to intuition, to the power of the heart, and the powers & potency that lies within the feminine essence.
A woman’s yoni (vagina) is the portal of all receptivity; literally in lovemaking we receive the lingam (penis). In life we receive & absorb many subtle energies through the yoni, that can affect us negatively or positively. Therefore we must bring awareness & healing to our yonis, and guard her like the temple she is. The true power of the yoni is to receive. If you cannot receive you cannot give. You cannot fully enter the heart if you’re not receiving through the yoni. For a woman to reclaim this, she needs to go into deep meditation and reconnect the yoni as it is her oldest and dearest friend. We must see the yoni as a receptive vessel of existence itself; therefore the more it trusts existence, the more the energy pours through the yoni & heart.
The womb is a physical metaphor for consciousness itself, the void, the place of nothingness, from which all life emerges; it is a place of pure potential. Most of us don’t honour it as such, and use it as a psychic dumping ground and store repressed emotions in there. These are unconsciously blocking so much from being birthed through this magical portal – creativity, unconditional love, life force, awakening to higher consciousness etc. Our womb and yoni is our temple, a place to access our wisdom and power.
Many religious traditions do not allow a woman into the temples when they are bleeding. If we chose to look at it from an empowered victory perspective vs. victim mentality – we, collectively as women are being forced to go deeply inward during this time, visiting our own inner temple, rather than an external building. This is where the true power comes from, the true connection to the divine, the true wisdom arises – from deep within.
When we are bleeding we are invited to go here… deep into the mystery of our womb, of the void.
If we honour ourselves and practice self love, and rest during our period we can come back with some profound new birthings. It is from the place of dissolution that creation arises. Something has to be destroyed for new to be birthed. Each month we have the magical opportunity to do this, IN OUR BODIES, an embodied practice that is naturally happening to us as women.
In tantric traditions menstrual blood is viewed as holy of holy directly delivered from the holy grail (the womb) seen as an elixir of the divine. Connecting with it directly connects us with the divine. “Menstrual blood is life giving & sustaining. There are also native tribes that would return the sacred life-giving blood back to the earth. They would sit over seeds and let the sacred blood flow directly on the seeds or on newly planted seedlings, which indeed does give the seeds growing power.
Several Native American cultures consider women in menses to be at the height of her powers. For instance, the Lakota tribe would not permit a menstrual woman anywhere near warriors or healers. They believed that menstrual blood was so powerful that just the presence of such power would weaken the strength of warriors and interfere with a healer’s ability to heal. The menstrual blood serves to purify, to cleanse, renew, and it prepares the woman for higher spiritual accomplishments. The Yurok, and Lakota tribes practiced monthly rituals by retreating into moon lodges with other menstrual women. There they celebrated the power of their menstrual blood”. (source: www.mum.org).
Tantric & Taoist traditions advise to reduce the amount of blood that is lost as it is losing vital life force energy. Just like men ejaculate, their seed is life force energy, so are our eggs. Every month if we are not making a baby with the egg, it is suggested in Taoist & Tantric practices to use this powerful blood elixir, with intention, hence the use in ritual aspects.
Our vital energy is stored in our ovaries, and by losing it each month through our blood unconsciously we are losing so much vital life force energy that has the ability to create life. We need to create conscious practices around our ‘moon time’.
We are very powerful during menstruation – bleeding, our senses are increased, psychic powers increased. A large amount of DMT is being released in the brain, our dreams are vivid. It is an incredibly powerful time to reflect, manifest, and create magic. It is so important to rest during the first 2 days of the cycle in particular, this is when we are losing the most blood, but if we actually rest deeply the amount of blood lost diminishes. It is a powerful time to go deep, deep within to then from that space create and take inspired action, to literally birth new projects, from our wombs.
If we aren’t making babies, we can tap into this powerful ‘life creating’ energy – and create from this vortex of energy.
Once you are more in tune with your body and your cycle, mood swings and PMS actually disappears. These symptoms only are there because of an avoidance of what is being ignored internally, your body wants to rest & feel and if you ignore this, of course it will manifest in bad moods. Never force yourself to do anything during at least the first day of your bleed. It is so powerful what we feel during our bleed, because that is what is going to be put out for the next month in life, if we are cranky, angry, resentful to our period / femininity, that is what will flow into our next lunar cycle, in all we do. If we are embracing of our moon, celebrating, nurturing our self, creative, that is what we will infuse into our life for the next month.
One of the transitions into Moon Menstrual Ecstasy is through using a Moon Cup. There are countless benefits of switching to a Moon Cup instead of using tampons & pads, 10 good reasons can be seen here. Through using a moon cup, we are able to collect our blood & therefore build a stronger connection to our sacred elixir, rid ourselves of conditionings & fear around our power & sexuality, and also create ritual & magic around this time.
One ritual is to offer our blood back to the earth, through doing this we awaken an ancient part of our psyche. We awaken the part of the subconscious mind that has been suppressed over the thousands of years; the feminine mysteries. Through connecting to ancient menstruation rituals; Sacred Sexuality is healed, as we begin to build a positive relationship with our bodies, and feminine elixir; and restore the balance on the planet to return home to love.
About Nadine Lee
Nadine is a Tantra Yoga Teacher, Sacred Sexuality & Embodiment Coach. She is gifted in seeing others potentials & is passionate about creating sacred spaces & community for others to awaken to their true essence & innate wisdom. Devoted to the call of Kundalini Shakti, has led her on a radical path of self-discovery; however the path of Tantra has provided her tools for integration, to come back to what is real at the core. She is currently passionate about sharing Tantra Embodiment Sessions, Retreats, Workshops & creating feminine awakening resources & products, such as her renowned Womb Healing Guided Meditation, Moon Cups & Moon Chalices – Available in her online Shakti Shop, all of which support the planet to return to love.
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