As you know or sense, practicing menstrual cycle awareness can totally rewire the way you view your life and how you choose to live. It can also radically alter the way you love, care for and relate to others, which means it can have a profound impact on your relationships.
So, today we thought we’d speak to a question that we’ve received from many of you over the years — “how can I share my cycle awareness practice with my partner?” (Although we’re going to focus on intimate relationships, much of what we’re sharing could be translated to close friendships or family connections),
We imagine a world where everyone becomes an ally of the amazing power and wisdom held in the menstrual cycle. Both for practical reasons — how great would it be if our life-partners could be our protectors so we can retreat at menstruation?! — and also so that we might all begin to follow the cycle as a guide to cyclical, sustainable ways of living.
And the truth is that the recovery of the power of the cycle liberates us all. When this knowledge isn’t recognised within society it turns up as trouble — crazy emotions, destructive behaviours and menstrual health problems — all of which impact your nearest and dearest and those all around you..
Here’s a cheatsheet to share with partners who want to respect, honour and support the menstrual cycle process:
⭐ Get to know their cycle.
Ask your partner to share their cycle check-in with you each day, to start to get a flavour for how their energy and mood shifts throughout the inner seasons of the cycle.
⭐ Honour the cycle’s rhythm.
Working with your partner’s cycle helps you to stay more in sync — in subtle communication with each other — and brings your energies into greater harmony. To get more connected to their cyclical rhythms, it may help to begin to notice all the ways in which you too are cyclical: notice your energy pattern through a day, a moon month or through the arc of nature’s seasons. Equally, you could see the pattern of the Inner Seasons of the menstrual cycle in any creative project you’re engaged in. (You can read about this in chapter four of our book, Wild Power)
⭐ Use the rhythm as a container/organiser for the relationship.
Start by practicing living in sync with their cycle more. This could look like not planning big weekends away when your partner is likely to be bleeding, or adapting your schedule around the emotional ‘hot spots’ in the cycle. A good place to start can be marking the ‘crossover days’ (often day 7, 14, 21 and 28) in a shared calendar so you have a sense for where they’re at.
⭐ Respect the premenstrual critic and meet it.
As you may well have noticed, the premenstrual phase of the cycle can be a powerful truth-telling time. Many couples experience challenges in the premenstrual phase; but when the criticisms are not taken seriously, it can diminish our soul and increase our rage. Of course it’s hard to meet this criticism if your partner is unconscious of it, or not yet congruent with it. But consider this: behind that indignation is a yearning for the relationship to be nourished and supported? Perhaps both of you can hold that possibility? Above all, your job is to listen and hold space, rather than react to the critical feedback: you don’t have to agree with it.
⭐ Support your partner to get more menstrual rest time (even 1% more):
Your core job as a cycle-aware partner is to be a real guardian of the menstrual time, carrying the extra load in the home and giving your partner the deep space and time inner winter asks for.
⭐ Slow down together as menstruation approaches.
If you really want to experience the power of the cycle in your relationship, practice staying in deeper connection as the bleed begins. Do your best to stay present to each other and the unknown, to refrain from filling the space or distracting yourselves. Trust the emptiness, and you have the possibility of experiencing the most exquisite union just before bleeding that can bring a new dimension to your relationship. (We call this the ‘Holy Grail’ moment, and you can read more about it in chapter seven of Wild Power).
If you’d like to explore other ways to support your partner, this podcast conversation with Lucy and Richard may give you some real-life, practical ideas:
How we Practice Cycle Awareness as a Couple (Lucy Peach and Richard Berney)
How the Menstruality Leadership Programme can support you to integrate your cycle awareness practice into your life and relationships
If you’re longing for your partner or your loved ones to support you to work with your inner seasons, then the foundation is always your own cycle awareness practice. The more deeply you commit to listening to and honouring your ebb and flow through the cycle month, the more clear you can be with your partner.
If you’d like an immersive container to deepen your practice, we warmly welcome you to join us in February 2026 for the Menstruality Leadership Programme. One of the most beautiful aspects of the course is that you’ll be walking alongside an equally committed community of cycle-aware women and folks who also want to embody the power and wisdom of the cycle in their lives and relationships. You can register here.
