How we tend to ourselves when we menstruate can set the tone for our whole cycle and we believe this menstrual truth extends to all new beginnings. So, on our podcast this week—How to Begin the Year (and Everything Else) with Cycle Awareness—we explore how menstrual cycle awareness can guide us all to begin 2025 with cyclical wisdom.
The Five Chambers of Menstruation is a powerful map for us here - so today we’re teasing out how each chamber can guide us to begin this year beautifully…
Chamber One: Separation
Before you can begin something new, you have to tend to an ending. The first chamber of menstruation shows us the power of carving out some spaciousness to complete the previous cycle well. And sometimes we have to be fairly ruthless to do that in a world that isn't very good at slowing down and making space for transitions.
(And it’s not too late! We explored how to end the year with cycle awareness on the podcast last week, so if you’d like some supportive, cycle-aware company as you reflect on how to wrap up last year well please tune into that episode).
Chamber Two: Surrender
Rest paves the way for good new beginnings. The second chamber invites you to walk away completely, drop your bundle and drop all thought and activity. Even a small gesture towards this (think a ten-minute nap instead of a day in bed, or a lunch break walking in the park, instead of a weekend away) can reward you with a sense of let go and rest. Preparing the way for the next chamber.
Chamber Three: Renewal
The letting go of the old and the rest you’ve received creates a receptivity that allows you to be filled with fresh creative inspiration and new energy. Much like when you've had a really good night’s sleep and the fresh morning feels full of possibility.
Chamber Four: Visioning
So, once you’re nourished, rested, soft and open, receptive...the seed of your visions and dreams can be planted. Just like an acorn holds the blueprint for a whole fully grown oak tree, you have all the seeds of what you’d like to call in and create in 2025 within you. By taking the time to receive that vision-seed now at the start of the year, you bring your full presence to what you are creating this coming year.
When you honour this fourth chamber of menstruation, you create a thread of connection to your deep self, which will prevent you from losing your connection with yourself as you move back out into the world. It’s the same with the annual visioning process—it creates a golden thread that can keep you in touch with what is most important for you for the rest of the year.
Chamber Five: Clarity and Direction
And then in its wisdom our cycle shows us how to cross the line, cross the threshold from the warm, gentle cocoon of menstruation back out into the world. The fifth chamber reminds us that we have to hold the line to ourselves and to that potent seed that was birthed from the rest. This vision is going to fuel us as we step into this new beginning—gifting us confidence, self belief and a bone deep knowing of our worthiness.
Commitment is key here, and ritual can help. For example, by lighting a candle and stating your intentions for the cycle (or year) to come, you set up an inner energetic template for it to unfold.
