I have had a few friends over the years love what I do, but don’t really understand what Emgoddess is. I hope this helps.
Emgoddess is here to help us embrace our natural rhythm of life and become intuitive to our emotional, physical, and social needs throughout our menstrual cycle. Using the tools and resources to recognize the four phases of our menstrual cycle and how insight and intuition into this phenomenon can inspire you to take control of your life and embrace the power that is womanhood.
I developed Emgoddess in the hope to change perceptions and attitudes towards a woman’s monthly cycle.
My story is like everyone’s, we all have a journey, don’t we? As a younger person, I had low self-esteem. I didn’t really know why I felt the way I did when I felt it, but I was always in turmoil about how I felt each and every day and I couldn’t pin why, I couldn’t understand why it was.
So, years later after I left school and still unsure what life was brining me. I went to study aromatherapy in London, and that’s when I started to learn more about my body, and how it works and why I feel the way I did, and it was fascinating to me, I learned more about my body, and as I understood more about my cycle, it made more sense to me. So that experience put me on a journey of research, and it was this where I started to realize that actually, it’s not something new, I haven’t created or uncovered something, it’s been out there forever, but women just don’t talk about it, and I couldn’t understand why.
So why don’t we talk about our cycle? We all know it is such a big part of our lives as females yet we just don’t. This shame began many, many years ago. According to a research paper in Women & Health Journal, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, members of the medical profession in America began to view menstruation and other uniquely female functions as pathological – meaning they are caused by a physical or mental disease. They considered a man’s body as normal, and women’s reproductive functions as signs of their inferiority. These harmful assumptions and misconceptions persist today.
Other reports noted, although the menstruation is an affirmation of womanhood, it is also viewed as disgusting and therefore shameful. It exits body parts that are viewed as sexual and are therefore taboo. These negative messages lead women to purchase products necessary for avoiding and managing menstruation.
It’s funny, how things like this influenced history, how entire societies conceived ideas about these topics, saying but now, thankfully, we realise how crazy it sounds.
Imagine if we all simply understood our bodies better. It’s so powerful, Emgoddess is about teaching women about the internal tool you have to help you navigate through each day.
By learning this, you can be aware of the days you are full of energy, focus or compassion. You will identify days to be exercise with caution and other days you may risk more to get the best results. It can help you identify great study times, and times when you should rest your body more. The science behind it all makes sense and it will give you a head start to others that have no idea what is going on.
Imagine being able to plan your month, using the strengths your body has for that day. It’s powerful and it’s a gift only women have.
Put simply, we go through four phases each month, the first phase I call Daphne, its day five to day 12 in our menstrual cycle. We have finished menstruating for the month and now have lots of energy, we’re clear, light and focused. These changes are due to the fact we have an increase of estrogen in our body. As the oestrogen steadily inclines, so does your mood, energy and concentration levels. It can reduce sebum secretions and stimulate collagen production therefore we are less prone to breakouts, giving us better skin.
Days 13 to 17 around ovulation. It’s a shorter phase. It’s a time where we’re obviously ovulating, so it’s a time for procreation, so to be careful, but what it is, it’s a time where we’re a lot more loving, we’re a lot more empathetic, we’re a lot more understanding. There is mounting evidence that ovulation actually prompts a range of subtle behaviours aimed at attracting the best possible mate. One study showed the women can unconsciously change their voices with the approach of ovulation, using a higher, more feminine pitch in social communication. Other research supports that this phase shows self-esteem to be significantly higher than other phases of the menstrual cycle. You don’t have to think hard about what you could plan for this time of the month!
The next phase is one that gets a bad rap, our Persephone phase, it is a longer phase from around day 18 to 28. A surge of progesterone can encourage feelings like depression, irritability, insomnia, water retention and slower digestion (even constipation). So we find ourselves somewhat crankier than at other times of the month.
Escalating progesterone encourages the production and secretion of higher amounts of sebum. With the increase in temperature plus excess oil in the body, it can lead to breakouts and problem skin.
It is in this phase, women’s energy intakes and energy expenditure are increased, and women experience more frequent cravings for foods, particularly for foods that are high in carbohydrate and fat.
On a positive note however, this phase encourages passion and fire. A time to enjoy life and be creative, so whatever your passion, now is the time to enjoy it.
Day one to five of our cycle, around menstruation is the next phase, which we call Hecate. A more inward, reflective phase, you’re a bit tired, your energy’s a bit lower, again, and you’ve had a big decrease in progesterone and estrogen, so you’re possibly a bit flat. During this phase you experience a decrease in temperature and sebum secretions. Your circulation slows down leaving the skin a little dull and dry.
This is a great time to rest your body more, take in the world. A time to be intuitive and reflective. Use this time to re-assess your world, plan what is coming up and clear space for some self-time.
Often we only focus on the negative, and on that ‘ONE’ phase, and I can’t understand it. This might be a bad analogy, but I think about a teacher who has a class full of students. If the students all fail, we all blame the teacher, but if the students all pass their exams and do well, it’s the students, not the teacher. Well I feel it’s the same with your menstrual cycle. We anything goes wrong, if we are having a bad day, it’s our periods, but when things are going great at other times of the month, we don’t actually give it any of the credit.
Why not use our cycle to our benefit? Why not ask yourself…what phase am I in today, what are the strengths at this time of my cycle? How can I use this information to enhance my relationships or do better in my business or solve a problem, maybe it’s a good time to address an issue or maybe reflect and think over it, rather than jump in?
If you’ve got decisions to make, you’ve got goals to set, you’ve got work to do, then set time during your Daphne phase as this the best time to do it.
Then, when you move into Demeter, a more motherly and compassionate phase, if you are a professional woman, with staff, and you need to do performance reviews, or professional development, set it for now as it a time more contusive to nurturing others, more empathetic, more patient and kind.
Planning for around Persephone, where you’re feisty and maybe a bit frustrated, may allow you to schedule time for a complete those projects that have been lagging. But also fitting in some time for a massage, or even better, time to do your favourite pastime whether it’s painting, drawing or cooking.
And finally Hecate. Looking at your diary and understanding that you may not feel on top of your game today, so ensure you have the right support in place. Allow yourself more time, don’t feel rushed or stressed.
This can work also if you are in a family with a number of girls, a workplace or a sporting group. Everyone’s at different stages of this cycle, so it would really help to be able to help each other depending on what phase you are in.
Our cycle is a gift. I know some days it may not feel like one, but most days it is. Each phase has a little tip, it has a strength and if you understand it, you can use this internal guide to make decisions that can truly enhance your health and well-being.
Just have to have a little bit of mindfulness around it each day, just be, where am I, how am I feeling, and what’s going on. Look at what you have to that day, is there something that could be better scheduled for another time, because you could be more effective, have a better outcome.
And just, some days, you sit there and you think, what’s going on, why can’t I get this to work, and you just sit there and sometimes do nothing, instead you could go, okay, where am I, what’s going on, maybe I should just reschedule this and I’ll go and do something else, I’ll go pick up my pencils and paper and do some drawing instead, cause I can’t quite focus.
You could also have a different conversation within your own mind about who you are, there are days you want to retreat and just take care of yourself, and other days when you have your A game on, and it’s just going through your natural rhythm.
How can you start? Download the free Emgoddess chart (www.emgoddess.com.au) and start making a note of your cycle. Chart the day of the month, the day in your cycle, and what is happening for you. All the information is in my Emgoddess book. Within a few months you will see a pattern emerging and you will be able to then start to use this as a tool for planning ahead.
I created Emgoddess to show women of all ages a simple way of living a more mindful and powerful existence. Enjoy.
Embrace. Emerge. Embody. Empower…Emgoddess.