My journey with the fertility awareness method began at 26, when I wanted a hormone-free way to approach my birth control. An unexpected by-product of carefully noticing my fertile signs each day was that I found a portal of awareness into other areas of my life that were following a cyclical rhythm. I began to see patterns change in my mood, focus, libido and many other elements—the ebb and flow of my being started to form a predictable pattern.

These inner observations led me to discover the world of menstruality. As I started deepening into the mental, emotional and spiritual levels of the menstrual cycle, I found great insight and healing awaiting. Using this rhythm has become a way of life and organising principle for everything that I do. Today, I would love to share with you three of my favourite tweaks that can help you begin to anchor yourself in a cyclical way of life.

 

The Cycle Forecast

The Cycle Forecast

This handy tool came about on the request of my husband; to know, at a glance, what cycle phase I was in, at any one time. He was aware of what each phase of my cycle meant – but he wasn’t always sure where I was. We needed a clear way of communicating that didn’t involve me having to tell him daily. Enter the Cycle Forecast! It’s simply a circle divided into four, and I’ve got a magnet that I move across into the phase I’m in. It sits alongside our family calendar and shopping list, so it is easy to see every day. I intended to design it into something a lot fancier, but I have found this simple tool doesn’t need any more engineering.

In my next blog post, I’m going to share with you some of my favourite resources and perspectives that can help you come into a deeper relationship with your cycle.

 

My Digital Calendar

My Digital Calendar

I live and die by my Google Calendar! As a small business owner, I have to protect my time and energy with a great deal of intention. Using my calendar allows me to budget my time by marking menstruation and ovulation in my schedule so that I can plan my life to flow with my cycle as much as possible.
I know not to set any due dates or multi-day social events around menstruation. If I have any projects that are going to need high levels of energy and focus from me, I schedule them in at the higher focus times of my cycle.

I’m aware that calendar alignment is a more straightforward practice to do if you have a regular cycle. If you don’t have a regular cycle, charting your cervical mucus over a couple of cycles will help you identify when you’re ovulating. The second half of your cycle (the luteal phase) is typically more stable than the first half (the follicular phase). When you start to learn how to recognise when ovulation has occurred, you’ll be able to predict when your next bleed will be with greater confidence as it will typically follow 11–14 days post-ovulation. Knowing when you’ve ovulated will give you some visibility and some awareness about what to expect in the next fortnight.

 

Bullet Journal

Bullet Journal

You don’t have to be a bullet journaler for this tweak to apply. There are two little additions that I make to my daily logs. When I write my date at the top of a page, I also add my cycle day and the moon phase. As you’re beginning to learn what the inner-seasons are related to your cycle, you might like to add these in as well as a symbol, sticker or colour system.

Something that I also do is at the beginning of each cycle (usually day 2–3) is going through a process that I’ve dubbed the VITAL formula.

The VITAL formula is a sequence of journal exercises that will drop you into your cycle’s slipstream. They can accompany all the meditations of the Cycle Wisdom Series, or they can be used just on their own. It allows me to sketch out my goals for the coming cycle and will enable me to set it on a timeline that is aligned to the energy flow of my cycle ahead.

Each step honours the challenges of each inner season and helps you to cultivate its gifts. They are:

• Vision & Vanquish – Inner Winter/Menstruation
• Intention – Inner Spring/Pre-Ovulation
• Take aligned action – Inner Summer/Ovulation
• Actualise – Inner Late Summer/Post Ovulation
• Let go – Inner Autumn/Pre-Menstruum

I teach the full process in my Moon School course.

 

Start Small and Build from there!

You may like to be an eager beaver, and action, all these suggestions. Or you may wish to pick one and see how you find it for a cycle.

If you’d like to learn about your cycle, and it’s different phases, make sure you download my free eBook “Menstrual Cycle Masterclass” over here.