Back when I (Alexandra) first started teaching this work, I had the seed of a dream that it would one day become mainstream. And although we’re not there yet, it is definitely taking root.
First period circles and kits are much more popular now. Menopause and the years running up to it are having a real cultural moment. Fifty million of us are using cycle tracking apps. I am not exactly the queen of Tiktok (!), but people tell me that the hashtag #cyclesyncing has had over 500 million views over there!
If you feel a fire inside you around this work, I’m curious to explore what your role could be in making the wisdom and power of the cycle commonplace.
As you know, my path with this work was inspired by my own healing journey with menstrual pain - perhaps yours has been sparked by your own physical or mental health challenges? I was working as a psychotherapist in Sydney and within a few years of running cycle awareness workshops I found myself lecturing chiropractic students (mostly men) at Macquarie University, as well as running menstrual health workshops at Sydney's Royal Hospital for Women and with other organisations around the country, I was even featured in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian.
As I entered menopause I felt the call to devote my life completely to this work - perhaps the great initiation of menopause ushered in a new expression of calling for you too? Once I met Sjanie, we began developing the Red School body of work, including our early prototypes of our annual Menstruality Leadership Programme, as well as the writing of Wild Power, which happened while Sjanie was deep in the initiation of matrescence - another time where a sense of calling to work with the cycle can be born in us.
The publication of Wild Power coincided with a definite shift in the collective. In 2016 periods were on the cover of Newsweek, it was named the year that periods went public.
So my path has been long and winding with this work, with many unexpected twists and turns, because this work is still so new and emergent. If you feel called to contribute to the menstrual movement that is underway, there has never been a better time. What could it look like for you?
Teaching others about the power of the cycle? You might feel inspired to weave teachings around the cycle as part of your work as a wellness or health practitioner such as a Yoga teacher, homeopath or therapist.
Passing on this information to the next generation? Perhaps you feel called to teach girls and young ones how to track their cycles from the beginning
Bringing it into your workplace? Maybe you’re inspired to share your cycle-awareness practice with a colleague or manager, or perhaps even share it more widely or work to develop a menstrual or menopause policy in your workplace.
Representing the menstrual cycle in the world of academia? Some of us feel called to become part of the small but growing group of dedicated students changing the game in academia
Committing to a steady cycle awareness practice? Your quiet insistence on connection to your cycle galvanises you and starts to affect the field around you, in ways that we can't imagine with our minds
Becoming a Menstruality Mentor? Perhaps you’re feeling a nudge from within to make a shift and set up a new practice as a Menstruality Mentor, guiding people to cultivate their own intimacy with their cycles, in which case the Menstruality Leadership Programme is a great next step.
And however you feel inspired to contribute to this movement, we want to thank you for your dedication to anchoring the wisdom of cyclical consciousness in our world.
