The Vital Veda Podcast: Ayurveda | Holistic Health | Cosmic and Natural Law
The Vital Veda Podcast is a show for people who intend to live the most evolutionary life at their highest potential, while experiencing total wellness and bliss.
Our host Dylan Smith brings you the most inspiring interviews with thought leaders and experts from around the world in the fields of health, spirituality, personal development and natural law.
Dylan Smith is an Ayurvedic practitioner, holistic health educator and exponent of Vedic wisdom. He is devoted to learning, sharing and radiating this profound knowledge for everyone to utilise and enjoy.
Enliven your natural capability to tune into your own body and mind, awaken your instincts and engage in life in a frictionless flow.
Find out more at www.vitalveda.com.au
The Vital Veda Podcast: Ayurveda | Holistic Health | Cosmic and Natural Law
Honouring the Cycle: Men’s Role in Menstrual Wellness | Sophia Pace #143
The menstrual cycle is more than a physical process—it's a profound opportunity for growth, self-reflection, and harmony.
For this episode we have a twist on our usual podcast format: Dylan is interviewed by guest host Sophia Pace as they explore the profound wisdom and misunderstood beauty of the menstrual cycle. Together, they delve into the rhythms of the menstrual cycle and discuss how aligning with these natural processes can foster understanding, empathy, and balance in relationships and communities.
This conversation highlights how men can be integral allies in supporting women through their cycles. Dylan and Sophia offer practical insights into honoring these natural rhythms, from Ayurvedic approaches to menstrual health to cultivating environments that respect and empower women. They explore the importance of including men in the conversation, breaking down stigmas, and reshaping societal norms to foster mutual respect and support.
Whether you're curious about the cultural significance of menstruation, interested in practical self-care tips, or eager to learn how men and women can collaborate to create a more harmonious world, this episode offers a refreshing perspective. It's a call to action to embrace cycles as opportunities for connection, growth, and empowerment.
IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:
🩸 The Menstrual Cycle: A Natural Rhythm for Growth and Harmony
🩸 Including Men in the Conversation
🩸 Challenging the Paradigm: Breaking the Stigma
🩸 Ayurvedic Wisdom for Menstrual Health
🩸 Building Bridges: Men and Women Collaborating for Harmony
🩸 Practical Self-Care and Rituals
🩸 Cycle Syncing and Cultural Perspectives
🩸 Practical Tools for Menstrual Harmony
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This time on The Vital Veda Podcast. I was studying Ayurveda college in Australia and the teacher he said this thing. He said the menstrual cycle is the greatest gift for a woman. And there I something. Light bulb was for me, like something drew me, something got my attention, like oh wow. I think if we can all be honoring these rites of passages together and these rhythms and these times and cycles, then it creates harmony for everyone.
Speaker 2:And I think for both men and female. Can you answer that question? What is a normal period?
Speaker 1:From the menarche from your first period.
Speaker 1:In the Ayurveda, it said how you are during your period influences your future offspring. Welcome to the Vital Veda podcast. I'm your host, dylan Smith. I'm an Ayurvedic practitioner and holistic health educator and someone who strives to be empathetic and compassionate to the women in my life and to honor them. That's, women who are premenstrual, who are yet to start their menarche, women who were during their menstrual cycle, women who are postmenstrual, who are yet to start their menarche, women who are during their menstrual cycle, women who are postmenopause. And one way I do that is through honoring these profound cycles such as the menstruation.
Speaker 1:This podcast episode is with my friend, sophia Pace, pedro Implement Bio. Here and in this episode, sophia is interviewing me and we have a discussion about the wisdom of the menstrual cycle and how men can play a role, and as a community a whole community we can play a role. So I hope you enjoy this episode. Welc ome to The Vital Veda Podcast. I'm your host, Dylan Smith, an Ayurvedic practitioner, holistic health educator, and today I'm joined by a good friend, Sophia Pace, and we're going to switch it up, because Sophia's kind of going to lead this discussion and I'm stepping out of the seat of the interviewer and I'm not sure whose idea this was, I think, a combination of yours and my wife Soleil on having this conversation around the integration of the men towards women's business. But I'll leave it with you, Sophia, to initiate, and you can start everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So thank you for having me, Dylan, thank you for taking this and giving me a break. I'm not needing to prepare so much for taking this and giving me a break because, I'm not needing to prepare so much.
Speaker 2:So the idea came about because I was leading up to my menstrual cycle and I was being, funnily enough, served so many reels online which kind of like emphasise the quote-unquote craziness of women leading up to their. So there was a guy. Guy he had posted a reel and his wife was pretending to be asleep in bed and he had sage and he was saging her to say what hoping she's you know nice to me as she wakes up on her on her cycle and um, I sent it to soleil and I was like this is hilarious, because I feel like women feed those conversations, like it was a woman that shared it with me.
Speaker 2:And so I was interested in because my experience, for example with you and my relationship with you and our friendship, I've just never seen a male so present, loving, supportive, considerate, on not just Soleil but any women around them, around you on their cycle. And it shocked me, I guess, to be so supported, even just as a friend from you. And so I was like to Soleully, why is Dylan like that? How come? And then it sparked this conversation between her and I and then she thought it would be a great idea for you and I to talk about it.
Speaker 2:I love that. Yeah, so I think that's a great question to start with is why are you so? Because for everyone out there who has an experience still, in support even just as a friend.
Speaker 2:A situation happened we were at a camping festival together. I woke up one morning and it was the time where we had to leave the festival. It was the last day and I had my period. I woke up with my festival. It was the last day and I had my period. I woke up with my period. It was like the New Year's Day and Soleil was like to Dylan oh, soph has her period. And you were like sit down, don't do anything.
Speaker 2:He packed down my tent, he got me a chai and I was like wow, like I was just so shocked and that's for me to also look at why I struggled with receiving that support but, yeah, I think it would be wonderful to hear from you. Why were you like that?
Speaker 1:it started when I was studying ayurveda college in australia and the teacher we came to the module of the course or the unit, I think think it was titled Woman and Children and he said this thing. He said the menstrual cycle is the greatest gift for a woman. And there I something light bulb, was for me, like something, drew me, something, got my attention like, oh, wow, like to my, to the level that I am involved in menstrual cycles. You know, as I was in my early 20s then, or around 20 or something, was obviously much less than a woman, but still I was familiar with and engaged with all the conventional ways of relating in the west that we do and it just got me really interested and, uh, it's, that's how it really started.
Speaker 1:This was a teacher who you know, is not very had a huge influence on me. I went on to study with other ayurvedic teachers who were very, very close and influential to me, but this had a really big impact. And then and I guess I, I guess I was thinking about it right now I was intrigued of the rhythms, of I love rhythms, I love nature, I love music, I love the flows and the ebbs and flows and that's very feminine, like it's masculine. It's like, okay, I wake up, I do this every day of the year and, like every day, I have to do my exercise and this, that and that. But women have that. Well, the feminine has that dynamism of it's not just every day with the same thing.
Speaker 1:you know, some days there's a new moon, some days it's a full moon, some days there's a menstrual cycle, some days there's an ovulation some days there's an equinox, so it's bringing more dynamism into the every day and that and like, oh, there's an opportunity for a woman to have a big blessing. And what I then learned is it's like a detox or a purification is a better word yeah, so that's, that's what started. And then, of course, my teachers are like experts in gynecology and work a lot with menstrual disorders and general fertility and women's health in many ways.
Speaker 1:So there's so many other things which inspire me, but that's kind of how, how it started, yeah, and I started implementing it with my family my sister coming with my mother, but my clients and and I was just I even went when I was touring in us, I toured colorado and I I wanted to host an, a workshop on women's health, and it wasn't exactly a woman's circle, but it was kind of like that. Yeah, but men also invited.
Speaker 1:I would always love to educate the men because they have, they know about this profound opportunity of purification and I wanted them to come to these workshops and to come to the consultations. As a couple and even as a man if a man came to me for consultation I'd still do it I'll educate them about the menstrual cycle, just so he can respect the woman and create better harmony in the relationship. The menstrual cycle, just so he can respect the woman and create better harmony in the relationship. And and also for them, if they're having intimacy issues or stress issues or any conflict, like it helps to know the different hormones, how they play. And so, anyway, I did this event in colorado and I had some, and a woman who was hosting me I was also promoting me she had some, I don't know.
Speaker 1:At least a couple people say come on, there's a guy running this like and I and I also felt like a bit you know, it's my first time in colorado and I I also was like you know being gentle, but her response I loved her.
Speaker 1:it's like would you rather him not to care at all about woman's health? So that's like made me feel good and and of course, there's a lot of things are out there on the internet and people will have a go at me and I'm fine with it. But you know, recently I did an Instagram reel about urinary tract infections and then there was this one someone who commented or messaged one of them.
Speaker 1:It's like I hate when people talk about things which they haven't experienced themselves and like first of all men experience UTIs as well, so that was a mistake she made. But even if they didn't, it's like I'm although I'm not directly experiencing pregnancy or I am in a different way and menstruation, for example.
Speaker 1:I am in my way. So it's again. It's like more feminine is the mother likes to involve everyone and take care of everyone. So, yeah, I think if we can all be honoring these rites of passages, then as together, and these and these rhythms and these times and the cycles, then it creates harmony for everyone.
Speaker 1:Another thing which gave me inspiration, which I just thought of, is the indigenous traditions, so many other. You know in the, in our indigenous australian tradition, the aboriginals, the woman would go off and men would do the dance and either the men would leave or the woman would leave and just and then there's the red tent and the vedic tradition in india.
Speaker 1:How the woman are can have that time of separation and inwardness. Of course, now in the west so much of that has been taken to the extent of demonizing and misinterpretations. But I love wisdom traditions, so a mix of the love for wisdom traditions and the honoring of the rhythms that's what got me into it?
Speaker 2:yeah, and there's so much that you've just said in that and you know, something that came to mind was, even though you aren't a female, that has those.
Speaker 2:You have feminine qualities, as everyone does masculine and feminine, but also to watch you as a practitioner and also a friend, the love and support and care and education you have towards women. If people were to see that and to know that they'd want to listen to you, regardless of what sex you are. You know and it's funny because as I was preparing for this podcast, I looked up the most searched things on google from men and from women- when it comes to anything to do with the menstrual cycle.
Speaker 2:And it's funny because there's a study done and 85 percent of men felt it was important to know about a woman's period. But they didn't know and they didn't feel confident in asking the female and for the female, the most common things were what is normal like? Is my heaviness normal?
Speaker 2:is my cycle length normal and I feel is like there is an ownership that women need to take, because if we aren't educating ourselves and unaware of it, then we won't meet ourselves with compassion and love and support for such a sacred purification, and I think for both men and female. Can you answer that question? What is a normal period like? And I say normal as in quotation, but I think it's important because they're both searching for it.
Speaker 1:Right. It's one of my favorite topics of contrasting what's become the norm to what's natural so it is natural and healthy for a woman to have no pain at all. Yeah, and only some, and only, not only, but to have heightened sensitivity, and only some and only not only, but to have heightened sensitivity, and with that comes vulnerability, because it's that time. That's why the wisdom traditions say to be more inward, because that energy is very centered.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's normal to have no pain at all, just heightened sensitivity and in terms of the amount of blood, it's about 50 to 80 milliliters for a whole once a month. So that is like a tampon is between 5 to 10 milliliters and a pad can, I believe, is between 10 to 15.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so a lot of people are heavier than that. Um, it's like as soon as you use like kind of four or five super pads or heavy flow pads, it's like the whole, that's what the whole month should be, but again, it depends on the person and so, and it should be regular, it should be about every 28 days or 27 days. It should last for anywhere between three and seven days, including spotting. Okay, so if it's two days and that's it, no spotting after that. That's. That's some imbalances there, particularly maybe some low energy, low prana, some low strength, and then if it's heavy period, it can be too much fire, too much inflammation or extended period. You know, people can be bleeding for seven days and they'll spot till day 11 and like that. Yeah and um, so, yeah, that's the, the rhythm, the regularity of a period, the amount of blood and the amount of comfort.
Speaker 1:And also there should be no swelling or intensive motions or even slightly any emotions or stress that cause one to let that vent it out on other people yeah and that happens because we're not respecting the menstrual cycle so it's not like, oh, I'm getting angry at my husband or my friend because I have my period coming up in three days, like that's okay.
Speaker 1:It doesn't mean you're not out of balance. It could mean that you're out of balance depending on the severity of the emotions. But it could also mean that you're not in tune as a couple or as a family or as a unit. The unit is not in tune with that rhythm, so they're not doing the things which would create harmony, so that emotions don't come out in a rough way.
Speaker 1:So the point is, if we respect the rhythms and we're aligned with them, then the expression of these hormones and the expression of these cycles will be more harmonious. And really not just harmonious, they're beneficial.
Speaker 2:You're like riding the waves of the menstrual cycle it's funny because, even as you're sharing this, um, I also sent a message to some of my friends, a mixture of friends and um a lot of them. I asked them you know, what's one thing that you would like to learn about the menstrual cycle? And all their responses. All I could think about in my mind was gosh, we're at war with ourselves Because and it's such a cultural thing as well, and I don't know if that's an Australian thing or it happens also in other Western countries but there's this like huff and what you said about, if we're venting, it's like an anger towards oh, for frick's sake, my period's coming up.
Speaker 2:I don't want my period. Oh, it's so annoying, or whatever it is. So we're at war with a natural process and I feel like some people might feel I don't know, ashamed of saying that, but it's what. Would you advise women the core benefit to be at harmony and at peace with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and also Soph, like please also answer your opinion. I'd love to hear all these questions because it's yeah you know this is a I acknowledge to the listeners that this can cause some uh, this may trigger you or cause some tension hearing this from a man.
Speaker 2:We've already discussed that, I'm not gonna have to explain myself anymore and it's also probably to demonstrate my trust in you yeah because I really honor his opinion on this and for my own, yeah, it's probably important to demonstrate Like I've come from a place of. I used to many moons ago, be on the pill and I used to hate getting my period. And when I did get my period it was something not to really discuss with my dad or it was kind of like a secret thing.
Speaker 2:And then as I got older, took the period, the peel, and that was more because I wanted to help my skin this is like you know, 15 years ago, um, but came off that quite quickly and now for me it's still an ongoing journey with myself, but I get excited when it comes because I see it as like a reflection of the month prior. Beautiful. So I'm like oh, I wonder if I'm going to get pain. I wonder if I'm going to be quite heightened and emotional. I wonder what my relationship is going to be with myself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it's purifying the month that happened, so I get a bit excited.
Speaker 2:And this is why I really love this conversation and I'm sure we'll get to it a little bit later is like having a male in my life. I do get nervous about their opinion of oh, women are a bit erratic on there, so I don't feel so confident, let's say, in addressing hey, I'm on my period right now and it was actually recently someone sharing with me from a male, him saying actually it's a very vulnerable time for a woman right now and in reality, the support and love that you offered to me is such a gift and it's like we're scared to ask that from the men, or I can speak for myself. I have been so yeah.
Speaker 1:I'd like to take a pause in a moment to let you know about a retreat and course that we are running with my teachers from India, and this is on the sense of touch, particularly on pulse diagnosis, pulse feeling feeling your own pulse and what's called Marama ways to enliven the vital points of the body. And that is happening in March 2025 in Byron bay, australia, and it is for two types of people one, if you want to activate self-healing on a deep level, like what we were speaking about in the podcast of those subtle layers of the physiology, if you want to heal yourself on a deep level, because marama is a very profound healing method and modality in Ayurveda. And the second type of person is for any health practitioner that wants to increase the capacity and capability to heal from touch. So, when you put your hand on your client, whatever healing modality you do, how much prana, how much life force can come through your hands and that we activate and enliven and develop and cultivate what we call Siddhis, supernatural human capabilities, this case through the sense of touch. That is done through pulse practice and marma practice.
Speaker 1:So, if you want to heal yourself or you want to heal others, this is a wonderful opportunity, a very rare opportunity, to get so much time with world renowned Ayurvedic doctors Dr Harsh and parvani raju in byron bay, australia, march 2025. Back to the show. It really starts with, like many things in life, with embodying, yeah and and being confident and okay, this is what I want, I'm going to live this. I'm going to respect myself at this time I'm going to respect my boundaries.
Speaker 1:I'm going to respect my actions and I've seen this with some women that I know who are really like, really honored their, their bleed, and it's like, oh, you're not coming over. We had this plan or we had like even a gig we had to do and you got your period, so you just just the way that you don't, then you don't end up coming and all these things. It's when you, you create the environment and the man will see that and see your power in that and like respect that like a similar example.
Speaker 1:Just yesterday or yesterday it was I had a patient who who's two weeks pregnant, and when I say two weeks, I mean two weeks since she conceived. Conventionally speaking you'd say four weeks pregnant, just got pregnant, been trying for some time and got pregnant, and in. Ayurveda. It's very delicate the first trimester.
Speaker 1:We usually don't tell anybody she was traveling from overseas back to Australia and about to live with her family, with her siblings she's an older and she was about to live with her family, with her siblings she's older and she was about to tell them and she didn't kind of know about it and I said no, you've got to be embodied of because they know that they've been trying. And she was scared and I said no, you have to be if someone asks, she's like what do I do? If they ask they know we've been trying, I say just say we're in the process. I, they know we've been trying. I say just say this, we're in the process, I don't feel like speaking about it when.
Speaker 1:When I do, I'll let you know, but it's coming. It's coming because the pregnancy is still coming. It's not established yet. After the first trimester it really establishes. But being confident, saying we're in the process and and just the way that you speak communicates that.
Speaker 1:I don't want to speak about this right now and even if that means that her brother is going to think that they're having troubles falling pregnant or miscarriage. Whatever the point is, the way you say it, it's like how can you create boundaries and create people to respect you in certain ways that you desire? Through the way that you communicate, and that starts with being confident in yourself, like I had to communicate to this woman and her partner. You don't want anyone to know except your health practitioner, not even your family, until three months is finished. And when you embody that and you're confident in that, no one's going to see it through you. No, because if someone's hiding it and they're not confident in that, then you know the brother and sister can read through. Yeah, so it's same with the period. It's like if you want to have that space, you just, you just act that and and the masculine, and everyone around you will follow yeah, yeah it's.
Speaker 2:it's very true when I think about it, because if I'm coming from a place of it's kind of like lack or like oh, husband like, I really want to tell you something.
Speaker 1:Or like look, can we please talk about it? But like no it's just like start acting without words and oh, you're not doing the dishes or you're not going for your exercise. Silence, I'm in a time of silence, and then that will start emanating and the results will show as well, because, as you said, the menstrual cycle. It purifies the month ahead, but it also forms for the month ahead so it purifies the month before and it forms for the month ahead. So it's like pulling back the bow during the menstrual cycle.
Speaker 1:If you really pull back, take your time, which means rest, not using the mind much, using the pelvis mostly, and yeah just pulling back, taking it, taking a step inward, being more inward and less social and less active, and then you fire an ovulation. Ovulation is I create, I fire the target, whether it is sperm into an egg or it is creative, project, business venture, relationships, love. So when you do honor that, the month ahead will be smoother yeah, in so many ways, so getting in that rhythm and and experiencing it, and then those around you start to also recognize that and and see it and they're like yes, it works I want to be on board with this, because it's more in harmony with natural law and it's more in harmony for health and all of our relationships yeah, simple no need to like wait, know what to say.
Speaker 2:Or to the partner, like just start to embody it embodying it, which is so true, and it's we're of a culture so much where it's like pop a pill and look after the pain and and it's it's interesting because I've got reduced pain and that first day it's because sometimes it might change for me, like I'm generally on the dot very regular but that first day I tend not to work, or do anything and just lay or be inward or go for a walk and it's kind of like a time for me to kind of it's a practice of nourishing myself of just like recognizing and honoring which is something I've had to educate myself on is the process of what's actually happening and the beauty of the fact that this could have given life to something yeah and this it wasn't.
Speaker 2:I'm not trying or anything, but just to to allow that time to purify and to to honor that. And then it is like I'm being reciprocated with a beautiful hug from myself because I'm treating myself well in that. Yeah. And then from there. I guess when developing that relationship it would be easier to then invite the masculine in, because I've developed that relationship with me, it all starts with the self.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I guess for many women after that and it's funny because I know your audience is more predominantly women listeners but from a male's perspective, what is the impact or benefit for both the male and the female if the male is?
Speaker 1:involved or aware. Yeah, before we talk about how, about we give more perspective of like what it actually looks like to honor your menstrual cycle?
Speaker 2:because you said some things you said yeah you go for a light walk.
Speaker 1:You don't work. So the science, if we look at, which I learned from you and soleil. Well, that's great, because those are, you know and it's great that those are the things you said, like you said walk no work and rest yes was. Was there anything else that you Even just then?
Speaker 2:those are the things you said. And sipping hot water, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So even those like those are just like kind of the top things which are on your mind, which is why you just said it now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And like those are key. Of course there's so many things you can do, but the reasoning behind it and the biological science behind it is in Ayurveda we have the doshas, the five elements, the bio-energies, and one is called vata, which is the air and space element. And vata is all the movements in the body, it's the movement of our limbs, it's the movement of our blood circulation, our lymphatic movement, it's the movement of our neurotransmitters and the blood and prana, which is life force and energy. So we have this axis of vata, one on the head called prana vata, and one in the pelvis, called apana vata. And during the menstrual period we want that vata, that blood flow, that energy to be in the pelvis and going down.
Speaker 1:So as we start thinking, working, stressing, studying excessively, the vata the energy, the blood goes up to the brain and then that causes that improper downward flow of the blood which causes improper purification or incomplete purification, and then you can have this kind of tension between the mind and the brain and the pelvis and that can create menstrual disorders itself, just by having not proper downward flow and proper purification. Because what the menstrual period is doing it's not just purifying blood out of the body, but with that comes a hormonal purification, an emotional, a subtle, a spiritual purification. And this is again one unique thing about Ayurveda, because once I interviewed a wonderful gynecologist who I love Her name is Lara, I think her last name is Bryden.
Speaker 1:She's a famous author on menstrual cycle, very well known and I spoke about the purification and she got a bit offended. Or they might get offended on the detox word because it's like there's nothing dirty about it, period. But, it's not that you're purifying like toxins. Everyone has some toxins in them, whether it's emotional, mental, spiritual. It's purification, it's cleanliness. It's a beautiful thing to do so, facilitating that downward motion of flow during the three to seven days, without over activating and, as you said, day one for sure.
Speaker 2:Like do that?
Speaker 1:Yes, then to a lesser degree, or if you want to go all the way for the next three days again do that. And then even up to seven days. Maybe for seven days you're not doing intense exercise, so there's so many things you can there's so many things, protocols and things you can do. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Which we can speak about later, but that's just kind of the gist of it is rest and go inward, so that one the blood and energy goes down and out physically and that you have that more silence. It's that time of silence. It's like the new moon where the moon is is empty, or no moon is a more appropriate word, and that moon is like the soma.
Speaker 1:It it's the fluid, it's the energy, the flow of consciousness. And when the moon is no moon, that's time of introvert, of inwardness, and that's menstrual period. And then, when the moon becomes full, and it's full, full of soma, full of consciousness, that's why people go crazy, that's why the emergency department's more busy because people have this energy and some people it's unrefined and uncontrolled, so they go commit some stupid thing or extreme thing.
Speaker 1:Or you want to really be creative or sexual or sensual, or create musical and dance, so that's, that's like ovulation energy. So, again, these rhythms and during that, no moon or during that menstrual cycle, to be more in silence, be more inward. And one thing I also explain to people, particularly for them, why not to be sexual during a menstrual period, or why the Vedas talk about the woman not being involved in temples. And it's not because the woman is dirty and they're going to pollute the temple, but it's because this energy is so powerful. We call it shakti, yeah, and we just want to let that be. It's like as a man, I can say it's. It's too. It's beyond sophisticated on what I can comprehend because, as you said, it's like creative energy.
Speaker 1:So I'm just gonna. That's why all the indigenous cultures, they just they did their dance and they left. Like you, woman, deal with that something yeah so take a step back and I'm gonna let that energy go don't go into a temple because temple has other energies.
Speaker 1:They chant certain mantras which create certain flow of energy. They send kundalini up the spine. So it's a more upward spiritual energy. Similarly with gardening, you know the upward growth of the plant. That's why, you know, veda said to not garden during a period. So all these things, it's. It's that flow of energy and the menstrual period. It's such a specific, yet kind of simple downward flow of inward energy, silence, energy and respecting that really pulls back the bow and and it's like having a good sleep or good rest monthly rest.
Speaker 2:That's what it is like, a monthly retreat and it reminds me so much because, as a female who potentially would listen to this when you are like what you've shared with yourself and nourishing yourself during the period, some women might be like oh well, my month isn't that bad, but I'm like, but your period is, and it's something that you don't enjoy or you have a negative opinion towards, and that's because of the heightened emotions you experience or the pain that you may feel.
Speaker 2:And by honoring this in such a small window of time say it's one day to five days to seven days the benefits that you can experience over time is, and it's so, natural and and easy and I also feel like having been a very intense trainer, like physical trainer as well, and a runner, and used to compete in running events, I used to like literally look at races and then look at my my app to tell me if I was on my cycle or not and I wouldn't register to compete. Yes, and at first, a couple of years ago, used to be like, oh, it's so annoying.
Speaker 2:But now I'm like, when they are and there were the races on during my ovulation I can't tell you how much I excelled yeah and the races and the times and the performance that I could do, because I was honoring me and my training changed significantly during that time. I really worked with okay, this isn't a time to be training or running or lifting heavy or anything like that and I programmed my training around my cycle and I let that lead and it's funny because it my performance increased.
Speaker 2:It's as though I wanted previously you would want to put your performance first and your menstrual but the menstrual is a natural process of the body which is always like going to be there and unless you unfortunately lose it for a period of time. Um, so I think it's really important to really emphasize the benefits of this in in singularity and also when you were sharing. One thing that came to mind was with that downward flow of energy. Something that I changed was products that I'd used to support myself. Soleil, a few years ago, introduced me to Modibodi period undies and I know I have friends that are like, oh, I just can't use it.
Speaker 2:But even those I've developed a relationship with I had fun with the different ones I bought because I was like, oh, I'll try this one out or this one, and they've got like g-string ones that I know sometimes aren't the best to wear, but I do when I'm lighter, so then at least I can go back to wearing some of the clothes and, um, I now enjoy.
Speaker 2:Sounds bizarre, it might be, but like wringing out my undies and seeing my blood, because I'm like, wow, this came from me, like, and to some women they may not be there yet and it's like, oh, but I I honestly feel like, having been on the opposite side, it can happen, and it's kind of like a beautiful relationship you can have with yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see that insulation, the ringing there's like a an oar when she does it.
Speaker 2:I see in the laundry yeah I can see it's special yeah, but I think it's important to hear from you also because a lot of people it was. Another thing that people were wanting to know about is like there's horror stories about women using tampons and I think there's a huge movement to period undies or alternatives or cups, that's great. And so I'm not a fan of cups personally. It's just one. I just didn't really enjoy ever using them. But two I still felt it still blocked for me.
Speaker 1:But yeah, we don't want that channel blocked during the menstrual period. It's the time of the month where we don't want that channel blocked during the menstrual period yeah time of the month where we don't want anything up there, whether it's a menstrual cup, a penis, a dildo, a tampon yeah so including menstrual cups, which is becoming popular, and so the reason is because it's blocking that, what we call a panavayu or downward flow of vata, also called vata analomena.
Speaker 1:so we don't want anything blocking it or obstructing it. And I have seen patients who I had one recently from a menstrual cup. She was getting headaches and she figured that out only after stopping the menstrual cup and it was very clear for her because, again for her.
Speaker 1:What happened is when that flow of energy, which is like in this element of air or gas, is blocked, it's kind of putting pressure from the uterus all the way up to the head and giving a headache. It's kind of like suppressing the urge to urinate or defecate. If you hold it in over a chronic time, which a lot of people do, it can create that pressure to go back up, upward, when it's not meant to go up and that creates, whether it's a headache, whether it's high blood pressure, it can so so many things.
Speaker 1:So, yes, the beautiful thing is, I mean back in the day, before there was any of these technology, they would use rags and stuff. So, similarly, menstrual underwear, even organic pads, are great and then, of course, if you're not using organic, that's a problem, because cotton is one of the dirtiest crops in the world.
Speaker 1:It's got dioxin, which is a really bad toxin in the cotton and especially you don't want that in the yoni when it's such a sensitive, vulnerable area. But I would love to ask you, soph back to the sports thing and we don't have to speak a lot about it because, I'm not very into sports. I see some patients who are so it's a big topic, but I would love to ask you how were you talking with your colleagues or your friends? In the sports world, because I would love to see this happening more, because we live in a patriarchal society where again, it's masculine.
Speaker 1:Every day of the week you train, or however many five days a week, every week of the year you train. The uh cross country is on every you know, november so it. There's no, there's no consideration from what I've seen from an outsider who's not into sport. There's no consideration for the cycle so and it starts with individuals. It starts from the ground up. Yeah, so. I would love to see more women discussing this with their teammates and with their training partners and then Having that dynamism integrated into sports.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I would like to take this moment to invite you to have a consultation with me or my wife Soley. You can book that on vitalvedacomau forward slash bookings and there we will integrate whatever practices you're doing, whatever modalities you're doing, whatever lifestyle you have with Specialized Ayurveda, with an intention to make you self-sufficient in working with your health and optimizing that in whatever way that you intend, in whatever way that nature intends. So if you'd like to work with my wife Soleil, who's also a practitioner, or myself, you can book on vitalvedacomau forward slash bookings.
Speaker 2:So I'd say people women are becoming more aware of it, but they don't know why they're doing it, they just are told it's probably good. For me personally, I'm a very curious human, like I love learning, and so when I trained for an ultra I had had different trainers. I had a strength trainer, I had a sprint coach and I had a dietician to help support me and someone with my recovery. I was very fortunate there were people I knew as well because I'd been training for a period of time. But for me I realized my period it was something I wanted to develop a better relationship with, because my pain was so significant and I'd had tests done and I didn't have PCOS.
Speaker 2:My sister had endometriosis, so I thought maybe I had that and I didn't. But I was like my pain was quite agonizing the first day and I don't even think I touched on emotion because I was so focused on how, how much pain I was in um and I was curious about that because I was like this isn't for me. I didn't think it was normal um and when it came to training, I kind of used my trainers to understand my training and then I'd get my app to look at my flow and then that would lead my training.
Speaker 2:So I'd know where my training was, and then I'd say, okay, based on my cycle, the first two weeks post bleed, so I'd say from day three. I'd then start to like, I'd start my month train of training and I learned to understand up until the ovulation phase and in during the ovulation phase, more of that, sprint and strength training was relevant. And the race. Funnily enough, my ultra happened to fall in my ovulation phase, which was just a blessing.
Speaker 2:But I learned to really honor that phase and then post that phase it was like I built up and then regressed down and that's just with training. Then I focused really heavily, even though I was doing recovery.
Speaker 2:Then I focused on recovery coming down it's like I was recovering into knowing, oh okay, my period is coming, um, and then food was really really, really important with that because I think a lot of the time women need to understand just like cycles, we go in flows and so eating the same meals around your training needs to change throughout the course of the month because towards our period, sometimes we do need to consume more nourishing, wholesome foods and, from my perspective, my dietician was helping me because I needed to eat certain foods for my type of body and then I noticed in coming in which had less carbs but for me, I noticed I was really becoming lethargic, so it was a trial and error and then I just introduced much more carbs and nourishing, wholesome, warming foods leading into it, and it was interesting because it's like I gotta thank you from myself, like, and I feel like women.
Speaker 2:Really, it comes back to that conversation. This is a part of all of us and it's not going anywhere unless you know we um grow, you know we go into menopause or happen to lose it and it's you're either going to become in relationship to it or you're going to be aggressive towards it, and it's just.
Speaker 2:It's not going anywhere.
Speaker 1:It's going to keep knocking at your door, even if you have a contraceptive pill or iud marina which stops it it's still there, the hormonal activity is happening and you're band-aiding it, and that's causing some other issues by suppressing and also I feel at that time, and if that time is relevant for me to have children, I feel like I'm helping myself as well.
Speaker 2:I don't know that, but I also feel like I'm nurturing that part of me where I'm assuming and I guess you could respond to this is that by nurturing my period is also nurturing my fertility absolutely from the menarche, yeah your first period in the area of edit said, how you are during your period influences your future offspring and it gives some examples of if you listen to loud music during your period, your baby's going to have hearing issues.
Speaker 1:Or if you cut your hair and nails during your period, your baby's going to have bone issues, because the bones are the hair and nails are the byproducts of the bone tissue, the secondary tissue. So things like that. Um, it's said. Definitely there's a correlation, because it is. It's it's how that lining is shedding, it's cultivating your future eggs. It's how are you looking? You know your eggs are there from when you and your grandmothers were, when your grandmother was pregnant. So it's how are you? It starts then and the menarche in eraveta, which I think for another, another conversation but that's a huge rite of passage which is new, and when I say new, I mean it's not so known in the west, even amongst eraveta and like this podcast, for example, we haven't spoken about it, I believe. But there's, and I look forward to soon sharing more about rituals and practices that women can do for their girls starting their period, and I love when I see a patient who brings their teenage or young daughter who is about to like.
Speaker 1:You know, maybe they're 12 and haven't got their period yet, or 11. And they're curious on how, what they can do when it happens. 11 and they're curious on how, what they can do when it happens. And because it really is, there's so many beautiful rituals that the women can do for the girls and it's a really. It's like similarly with the pregnancy and the menopause like these are big transformations, they're big rite of passages and, like any rite of passage, it should be honored with ritual and community and family and done with sacredness as well yeah so and it all starts with us.
Speaker 2:yeah, it really does, because when I think about it, I like and this is obviously times have changed, but I think about my relationship with my mum when that first happened and the way that I would like to be, and if I have a child and if it happens to be a girl, just to really emphasise early on just the beauty and the elegance of a. I think the conversation really needs to change and also I feel like it's heavily begins within us, within the women.
Speaker 1:It's like some people I see, and I did it as a kid the other day I visited my friends. I just rocked up to their house and there was a five-year-old and a three-year-old and I said, oh, I just walked in and they go. Mum and dad are meditating Like they know to be quiet in the living room. They're not disturbing the mum and dad, they're crazy kids. They run around a lot.
Speaker 1:But mum and dad are meditating. So, they're sitting there entertaining themselves Similarly like what about? Like oh mum's on her period. I know that every time she's taking it more easy.
Speaker 2:I need to be more you know, towards father or towards the other partner for more of the activities that require my intensity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yes, absolutely. It starts again back to that embodiment. Another thing I thought of when we were speaking about, like how can woman create an environment, that one they honor their period, but then those around them. And I've seen this with women around me of even getting a bit radical on choices and decisions you make during your period such as if you were invited to your friend's birthday and they're like a good friend and you feel obliged to show show up.
Speaker 1:But you end up getting your period and in your heart. You kind of prefer to stay home, but you're just going. You want to go to the birthday because you think you should and saying no, like I'm actually not gonna go like I love you, I got my period and I have one particular friend who's really good at that, yeah like if it's a very important event or um, you, you have a race on but you're saying no and you're like a professional athlete, like that's huge and just those big decisions can be really helpful in establishing that relationship yeah, period.
Speaker 2:I think it's important because it's actually something I do and I did the birthday thing recently and it's just because it's empowering right yeah, and I also flip it. If she did it to me, I'd fully get it yeah, great.
Speaker 2:And so I realize if she does have a problem, which she didn't, it's really that's on her, that's something to do with her, because it generally it's because they may not feel like they can do that and it's I would say to everyone, any woman listening, it's an honoring, especially on that first day, because who is feels like being social and going out and having a conversation when you do want to be rugged up at home or just looking after yourself in? Your womb during that time. It's a powerful thing. It's like a gift you're giving yourself. It's a really nice thing.
Speaker 2:But I guess also I wanted I know I asked you it, and then we kind of moved through, but I think it's really um important for women to understand, and also men to understand, that why would they want to be involved?
Speaker 1:like why should the man? Yeah, like as a man. What's the benefits for the man? Yes, as a man. As for both. Yeah, so as a man as well.
Speaker 2:Why would you want to be supportive of your partner, wife, sister? What is the benefit that they get in that? And also not necessarily like the impact, because I think a lot of men, like from the research, do show, they do care, they do mind, and I think we women may come across like we complain that oh, I'm in so much pain or something like that, but it's really, I am in pain and if you could help out a little bit more. That would be amazing.
Speaker 1:whilst I can honor this and yeah, so can you- I mean it's like why do men want to help anyone?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's great, so support.
Speaker 1:Obviously you support in any way you can. If someone had an accident, you support hoping you would want to support them and offer their love. If someone's mother passed away or parent or whatever you support. So if someone is doing fantastic, you're, you know, supporting and you're you're giving them your well wishes. So it's just another rhythm of life that you want to support.
Speaker 1:And, yes, some men may be like, oh, but she's and I've heard friends say this like she's such a bitch Like does she have to be such a bitch every month, like um, like come, does you have to be such a bitch every month and things like that? So like having that resistance to even being involved, so even like, maybe there's some fear of offering support because you just prefer to just as a masculine tends to do sometimes, is just close the door and just not even talk about it or face it in any way. So I think the benefit of doing, of being involved and attending to your woman is well, happy wife, happy life. So that's part of what's going to happen.
Speaker 1:She's having a good rest, she's having good rejuvenation, she's having good purification and you want to facilitate that for as much as possible. It's like when your partner is sick in bed with a fever, you're going to be serving them food and soup and teas it's the same thing and nourish that for a bit and the month ahead is going to be much more smoother and also respecting the space. I think it's so healthy for a couple to be separated about once a month and when I say separated.
Speaker 1:You can still see each other every day, but maybe there's no kissing for three days or one day no sex for four or five days, whatever it is um, that's also at the end. It's like pulling back the bow. It's all all the rubber band effect you come back. There's greater intimacy.
Speaker 2:After the period.
Speaker 1:You come back, there's greater love and the woman is more adaptable. They are more conducive and more harmonious with you the relationship is better Receptive.
Speaker 3:Yeah, receptive as well. Which a feminine is so receptive. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So there's so many benefits um for future children, if if you plan to do that because of her health.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's as though when you say that man like men are at um what I and I know that one very well oh god, she's a bitch. And in a way I could say, yeah, I am being one and it's because it's funny, because our internal world is reflecting our external world and I'm at war with myself because I've got my period and then now I'm at war with my partner because I'm not right, I'm not nourishing something so natural.
Speaker 2:And then now I'm like annoyed at myself because I have my period, and now I'm annoyed at my partner because and?
Speaker 1:so I would say that look, it comes as you talk it comes back to the thing of embodying yourself and respecting how you want to do things and if there is tension there still, which there very well may be, because, now you're not cleaning the dishes, Now you're not, you know doing the chores, it's just just space. Chores, it's just just space. Like if, if the partner is saying come on. Like you know I, I will need you.
Speaker 1:I've been to work all day and still the sink is full of dishes like I will just kind of give some silence to it and just take a pause like don't add to the conflict and don't add to the fire keep that energy, of pulling back and you can discuss that after and things will realign and balance out.
Speaker 2:And it's a pause of not passive aggressive, it's a pause of like, hey, baby, or hey, or whatever, I'm trying something new. I'm trying something new of just really being with me during this time and it really has nothing to do with you For me, I will say like when my wife is on her period.
Speaker 1:I love the extra responsibility. I just like I feel like I'm serving. Yeah. Like this devotional part of myself comes up of unconditional service yeah.
Speaker 1:Like this devotional part of myself comes up of unconditional service. Like I feel honored to do the dishes more and do the chores. Like I just love the fact that she gets to rest and put her feet up and I'm doing the cooking and the cleaning. Yeah, like that's what we call bhakti. Like this devotion comes out of me and it's a joy. It's like people love to help, right, some people don't like getting help. They find it really hard to receive. And like I remember once there's this guy who his tent got. I was camping and his tent was completely wrecked.
Speaker 1:Like he got flooded and stuff it was raining and I was helping him a lot and he felt really bad. I go do you like when people, do you like to help people? Does it make you feel?
Speaker 2:good when you help people, so let me do that for you. It is, that's really true. It can happen in the period.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. And also when my wife does do that and accepts that like a queen that gives me like, turns me on, it's like, wow, you're in your power.
Speaker 2:You can just direct your husband to do all the dishes and like, and you just like yeah, she's in her power, yeah, and yeah, that's great. It's actually because it goes back to like. It reminds me of caveman days, when men want to be the provider, the tech star and you are vulnerable and it allows the man to step up and take on that role and it's funny because we, as women, can, and I know, speaking very heavily from myself, this hyper-independence who used?
Speaker 2:to struggle heavily, and there's still something ongoing I'm learning to deal with is asking for help and receiving help. But to hear you share it is allows that woman to to take that role of the vulnerable at this moment feminine time and the man to own and stand into his masculine, and it is such a powerful gift for both of us and it's it's unity in a way, even though it looks like you're taking space, it's not.
Speaker 1:It's a allowing of, it's an embodiment of each other's natural capabilities yes, and then, and then there's non-heterosexual dynamics as well like you know, I can't speak from experience, but how does that look like living with a, with a girl and their mother?
Speaker 1:and their sisters and or, if you're on you know, four girls sharing a house or three women sharing a house. Like that that's there's also, I'm sure there's beautiful ways and I'm, and I see it when I see the woman going into their circles and doing woman's business. You know, particularly when I see my wife with her friends, there is that beautiful you, you can speak that soft energy of like. You know we got the space. This is what I perceive when I see my wife do these kind of whether it's going away with a few girlfriends.
Speaker 1:It's like we can do it our way. It's just like that weight off the shoulders of we can really be ourselves, we can be open, we can be vulnerable and we'll support each other as girlfriends do.
Speaker 2:Yes, we've done that. I've gone camping with a few of us, and it's wonderful as well.
Speaker 1:It's just, yeah, so bringing that energy into the menstrual could also be a thing If someone is single or you know same-sex relationships or whatever it is like how asking for help spending time with each other. And another fascinating study which is kind of well known is how, you know, women who sleep in dormitories together end up aligning their menstrual period like their period starts happening at the same time yeah that's kind of that quantum physics phenomenon of when people are going to that same state of consciousness or that same place, then what around them also gets attracted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, the analogy is like a big canvas and you put the bowling ball on the in the middle and then more bowling balls and they all kind of go down to all of that field of the bottom, and certainly the same thing happens during a period.
Speaker 2:So because it's funny, that's one of another thing that was most searched. What is going on and why do I keep cycle syncing with my friends?
Speaker 1:Cycle syncing, that's the term yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it's the synchronization and it's funny because that just goes back to what you said. It's like so sophisticated it bypasses the mind Like how does that happen?
Speaker 1:It's phenomenal and it's magic and it's. Yeah, there's a lot of phenomenal things that I've experienced with patients, and particularly with my teachers of the wonders and power of the menstrual cycle and the immense healings from severe imbalance and what it's created.
Speaker 2:And I feel like that's what's missing in today's culture, especially online and social media, is there are so much, so many memes or reels or things that demonstrate our emotional side or craziness, where it's like it misses that educational piece around. How beautiful it actually is and no one's really talking about that. It's so it takes the conversation left, which increases that at war feeling we have with ourselves. It's not yeah, it's like oh yeah, I get emotional and it's really that's it, yeah it's.
Speaker 1:There's a little bit uprising, you know, it's particularly where I live northern rivers yeah women who are talking about that and but yeah, like that, that, how you started with that reel, like when you told me like it, it didn't make me feel good. Like no, it's just, and that's that's where it starts.
Speaker 2:It's like this there's a few women and more than a few women and who are gonna be sharing more about the sacredness and the honoring, and it is coming up and it's really starts with the, with the girls, with the teenagers and yeah hopefully um that's shared more from from woman to woman and that's why I felt like this conversation would be great, because it allows people from whatever a normalcy stand but like to demonstrate, like who I am as well, who isn't on the tail end of like my whole life is is a learning process, but I'm also not a therapist or healer or heavily involved in Ayurveda. I have seen you and I've had your practices and I couldn't speak highly of them. But also from a like I am a classic western, westernized, you know, australian, that um, I guess you know he did circulate those memes at a time you know, and laughed at them and things like that, so to kind of bridge the gap between both sides.
Speaker 2:It's like a middle bit and there's, I think, a huge audience that can relate to that for sure but I wanted to touch on as well, just as I. It came to me because I've seen you for um coming about my menstrual cycle, and so I think it's important for people to understand when it's good to come and see someone, why they would, and the benefits of involving a practitioner during their menstrual cycle.
Speaker 1:Like yeah, Ayurveda is about prevention, so one thing is just honoring the cycle and then, of course, if it's not a natural cycle, if there is some discomfort, then definitely there are some protocols. You can do some herbs, some treatments, and it's good for everyone, especially if you plan to conceive in the future, to start having that full benefit menstrual cycle of cultivating good eggs and quality in reproductive health, and not just reproductive health. The reproductive system and every other is tied in with immunity, with vitality, with energy levels, with our vigor. So when we have that healthy reproductive strength and youthfulness and fluidity, lubrication qualities, then our whole vitality is impacted.
Speaker 1:Every tissue there's a shloka in Ayurveda which says shukra, which can mean the egg, or especially with the semen, is present in every cell. So when a man, for example, ejaculates, they are having a diminishing quality of every cell in the body and similarly with the woman as well. The reproductive system is the last tissue in the body. So it is the the deepest tissue, it's the tissue that underlines all the other tissues, which are lymph, plasma, blood, muscle, bone, bone marrow, fat. So all our body is like.
Speaker 1:The foundation of our body is our reproduction so if you look at your sports you know arthritis, joint issue, cardiovascular issue, cardiovascular health, diabetes, like all that, especially diabetes. The reproductive system is like the foundation. So when that's healthy, that's really influential to our whole body and attending to that is important. And Ayurveda, yes, definitely if you have issues, but ideally before you get those issues, some herbs you can take, always till you're pregnant. If you don't want to get pregnant, that's fine till you. Menopause and then you change it like there's different.
Speaker 1:Of course there's different cycles of cycling herbs but, yes, for for so many things we treat like menorrhagia, heavy periods, amenorrhea. We have a lot of patients with success with the absence of period. And dysmenorrhea, the painful periods. I won't speak a lot about the special treatment called banana treatment, but I've seen patients who literally have been going to hospital every month due to the pain.
Speaker 1:And they've had very good results with just one treatment. Even so, there's so many things. Fertility is a big one, so see a practitioner and work with the practitioner and to not just for yes, start with honoring your lifestyle, so honoring the menstrual cycle, honoring your lifestyle in the whole month, honoring your diet the whole month, and then you can increase the sophistication of that as well by.
Speaker 1:Okay, I take some herbs and I do some special practices during my ovulation or when I'm not menstruating. And if you also can't do those lifestyle and diet practices, then at least herbs can help for those who have struggled, because they're easy to just take a herb. But the practices or the rituals or the self-care practices might not be so easy at first for some people who are still wanting to adjust their lifestyle so that they can include more health-promoting healthy lifestyle habits.
Speaker 2:Most definitely, well, definitely, that was me, and also from training and working yeah I worked quite a lot during that time as well. Um, it didn't happen overnight it didn't happen in one month either, it was something that built up over the course of many months into years, and recognizing, I think, what you touched on first is that education piece, like my thing is. Well, why not? Why not do it when this is something I am going to have consistently?
Speaker 2:and it is when I started to understand what was happening within our systems when we are bleeding. I started to really respect my own system and and with that came the education, and then from speaking to yourself and Soleil and understanding of practices that I could do, like Abhyanga throughout the month, and also understanding some people have. Well, why would I take herbs? Yes, it's also easier, but it's a whole another conversation. But the food that we're receiving now, just you know, if it isn't fresh farm grown, there's a lot of things that I'm missing from what naturally would be in our vegetables. That herbs can help either enhance or my body can receive.
Speaker 1:Um, so I found herbs just an added supplement that I needed personally and it's more than a supplement, because it's not just replacing nutrients or minerals that are lost, but it herbs like a precious plant yeah, so it's working on the level of intelligence, working on the level of hormones and what I've had it does in herbology and with, particularly when you have good quality formulas is it activates the body's own endocrine system, hormonal system to secrete the hormones.
Speaker 1:So, rather than giving some hormone replacement therapy or giving an iron supplement to take care of the heavy bleeding which is causing low iron, or putting exogenous substances in, it actually works on the endocrine system to create your own hormones or reduce estrogen, increase estrogen, whatever needs to be regulated. Or why is your body not absorbing iron from the foods, although you're eating so much meat? And so it's working on the body's intelligence? And then, yes, supplements or food can do, also play a role yeah, I think that's really important to highlight, because I think also, people have a lot of misunderstanding of that as well.
Speaker 2:Um and also, uh, scarcity around affordability, let's say, and yeah, yeah, triggering the body to realign back to its intelligence.
Speaker 1:Why, why is? The body causing this inflammation? Why is the inflammation manifesting? Why is the body causing this inflammation? Why is the inflammation manifesting? Why is the ovarian cysts growing? Why do fibroids keep coming back? Even though I'm getting surgeries and taking certain medications. So, why is that growth happening? Why is? The tumor?
Speaker 1:Why are the abnormal cervical cells manifesting? So, going back to the root, and a lot of the time the body is doing it. Obviously the body is doing it. The body is doing it. So what? Why has that intelligence become mistaken? Yes and that's what why I read is so powerful, particularly when the specialized ayurveda is.
Speaker 1:It's working on that level of intelligence and we've seen like miraculous, literally miracles in the topic of gynecology which, with some of the patients who have had these miracles, have like gone back to their doctors and documented with scans because people can't believe it and it is because it's working on that very fundamental level, like root level of disease is one thing, but it's like more subtle than that, it's like the intelligence of the body like if you're having chronic painful periods for 10 years, that you have to, you know, curl up in a ball or go to hospital and take serious painkillers like that's a long time that's going to be in the memory of the cells.
Speaker 1:So we need something, something to really work on that cellular level. And this is what, you know, my teachers specialize in and what we do it a little better and different things so and many, many other ways you can do it, but it's, it's addressing the whole physiology yeah not just the physical and the mental because it's such a, it's this big part of it as well.
Speaker 2:emotionally. I had a lot held in my body.
Speaker 2:So not only was it all the physical nourishment, but also an allowing and a lot of inward reflection I had a lot of emotions still stored in the body to naturally allow my system it's like I recreated safety in my own system to allow the emotions to arise, you know, and like a bud come out and even though, yeah, it comes out squiggly and things like that it was, it was an inward reflection of my behaviors or mindsets or things like that which also heavily played into my period and what I feel played a lot from an emotional level that a lot of people don't realize also impacts.
Speaker 2:So I don't have as much of them, I'd say mood swings or something going into the cycle now, but it's also because in the lead-ups to my cycle, I am really with myself. When I feel stressed or anxious or emotions are arising for me, I'm, I'm there with myself, with them, yeah. So, and education is really important.
Speaker 2:With that and seeing someone to understand that better, I felt like we, as humans, we've become quite um well, I can speak for myself when I was hyper-independent, trying to figure it all out on my own but I didn't have the tools or the resources or the understanding and, to be honest, soleil led by example and I used to just keep asking her because I really saw what she was doing and I was honouring and I was like impressed by it and seeing her change.
Speaker 1:And not being liberated to having to figure it out, because, particularly when it's chronic or whatever it is, it's a very big part of you, your menstrual cycle, your genitals, like if you can just surrender that to a physician and not have to try to figure it out and just be because that's a big stress for someone. Be cause that's a big stress. It is big stress, I know male patients who have, whether it's you know, some issues with their genitals or some scrotum issues or warts or whatever it is like.
Speaker 1:it's highly stressful for men as well, and for all genders, if anything. So to just find a physician you can trust and let them take care of you that's with all disease. Everybody really emphasizes that. It's like even a physician himself, or themself, should not treat themselves like. Forget about your diseases, let the physician take care of it. Enjoy your life, enjoy your health and that way, okay, great. One less thing to think of 100 but yeah, there's.
Speaker 1:There's so many other things you can do during a period or and that everyone can facilitate. We don't have to go through them all today at all but I have done another podcast with nibby padya and we'll have the show. The podcast episode number in the in the show notes it's on menstrual cycles, but not just in the podcast. There's other things which we share about how to bathe during a menstrual period, what to eat, as you said, nourishing carb foods, but also really light foods.
Speaker 1:A lot of people are saying like, eat a lot of meat because you're losing blood, like you can eat the meat later, but during the period we want again, we don't want blood flow going into the gut to digest the heavy food, the heavy steak. We want the blood flow to stay in the pelvis and go out so light foods, so that the biological attention can focus on purifying the blood out the womb rather than having to digest heavy foods such as meat, which is considered heavy. So how to shower, how to eat? Type of exercise light walking is the best. Gardening, certain energetic practices, spiritual practices there's a lot, so that can be people can explore that in other resources or personalize things which is for them.
Speaker 1:And, as you said, a really important point is this doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen in one month, no Like everything it's developing your relationship with your yourself and your health practices and the way that you treat yourself, and it's not about being over complex or fundamentalist. Oh, I've got my period.
Speaker 1:I'm not speaking to you, I'm doing this in silence like it's you can see someone doing a lot of that, but for them it's blissful, it's effortless and they've probably developed that over many years. And I see it rather than over complexity. It's more sophisticated. Look how rich and sophisticated my life is. I have this time where I can go in and my diet changes and my socializing changes and my screen time changes. So, yes, you develop, it's kind of like how I have my relationship with electromagnetic fields and devices.
Speaker 1:Like now I plug in my laptop into the wall and I don't use Wi-Fi. That took a while. I knew a lot about EMFs before I was doing that, and now I have a wired keyboard instead of putting my wrists on the laptop, which emits EMFs. So that took months and years to develop.
Speaker 2:And it just just it's really important to stress that because it doesn't happen. Because you could read or understand all these practices and feel overwhelmed, and then you add more stress to your body and it's like it doesn't stick, yeah, and so for me personally, it was a I'm not, I wasn't doing adding anything that was going to cause more stress.
Speaker 2:So it was like let's just try not working the first month, or let's try and reduce the pain medication and try some alternatives. Or you know, I have a love relationship with coffee and I was like I know it's not the best to have it during that time, but I'm also not going to slander myself if I do, do you? Know, what I mean like add no additional pressure and and slowly build start with day one start with some of these practices and explore them all.
Speaker 1:Experiment, do your own research and let us know how you go yeah tag vital veda tag sophia pace yeah, if you want to or just message leave a review, like I would love to see and hear and your experiences and how that feels in the moment, how that feels that month and then how that evolves and develops for you as a listener?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and if anyone ever has questions, you can also reach out to me to funnel through.
Speaker 1:We'll put in the show notes and contact you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Totally. Is there anything else I?
Speaker 2:think that I honestly think I covered. I took notes. I like to be prepared thank you, sophia, I'm so happy for you for initiating this, oh my pleasure. I think it'd be really valuable cool.