Category: MENSTRUAL CYCLE

New Period and Full Moon Diary App And So Much More

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by AP, Sydney, Australia

I was really looking forward to hearing Natalie Benhayon talk about the new ‘Period and Full Moon Diary’ App she was launching. This is not just for women who are still menstruating, but is also just as applicable for menopausal women, like me, or even young women who haven’t started their periods yet. This new App will be a perfect way to record how I’m feeling from day to day so I can see when there’s a pattern emerging. Was I frustrated for just a few days, or was it actually a lot more than that?… and if so, I can then think about what caused that frustration. Did something happen at work, or with a friend? With this honesty and awareness, I have the opportunity to make different choices moving forward. Maybe I speak up more when I’m with my friends and say how I really feel about something, rather than just going along with the group. Or at home, I could explain to my teenage sons that I’m really tired and would love some help with dinner, rather than feeling frustrated and then snapping at everyone because I’m annoyed that I’m doing everything myself! As we can make notes on a daily basis with the period diary, I can see how the changes I make affect me, not just on a daily basis, but also with regard to my cycle. I know how I am feeling each day, but I can honestly say that I can’t remember, with clarity, how I felt yesterday, let alone the days before. I’m really looking forward to using the App, specifically as I’d like to look back over the days and weeks to see what I can learn from it. Continue reading “New Period and Full Moon Diary App And So Much More” →

Putting Down the Bat

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by Natalie Hawthorne, General Manager, Hospitality, London, UK

I am just finishing the most amazing period I have ever had in my life! I know, how cool is that?… and I thought that the ones before that recently had been pretty good. Lately my ‘normal’ would consist of: tender breasts, with swelling coming up sometimes before the period was due, along with feeling tired. And on its arrival, most times I would feel a little foggy or dazed – not clear headed – and my lower back would have an ache, nothing major, but it was there. By day 3, when I am in full flow, I would sometimes get an ache in the ovaries and, depending on the month, it could be sometimes worse than others, but never crippling.

What had I done this month differently to others, for me to feel amazing in this period? Continue reading “Putting Down the Bat” →

Our Natural Monthly Cycle

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by Sandra Dallimore, Melbourne, Australia

At the Melbourne presentation for International Women’s Day 2013 titled; ‘Nurturing the woman within: Reclaiming your natural rhythm within our modern times’ Natalie Benhayon presented a new app for iPhone, iPad (and in future, Android) called ‘Our Cycles’.

Natalie had tried various apps to track her own symptoms, moods and feelings during her monthly menstrual cycle, and due to the limitations she found with these apps, and the emphasis on them being for a woman to either become pregnant or to prevent becoming pregnant, she decided to develop her own app and the ‘Our Cycles’ app was born.

The ‘Our Cycles’ app is not just for menstruating women, it is also for women in Menopause and for all men, as they too have a natural monthly cycle which follows the full moon cycle – the full moon being a time of healing and clearing, just as the bleeding is for a woman during her menstrual cycle, (For more information about the full moon cycle, visit www.ourcyclesapp.com). Continue reading “Our Natural Monthly Cycle” →

Sydney Launch of ‘Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary’ App

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by Jean Gamble, Sydney, Psychotherapist, Mother, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Cousin, Student, Teacher, Cook, Cleaner, Car Owner and Blogger!

About 60 women of all ages gathered on Sunday (9th Feb 2012) in Sydney to participate in Natalie Benhayon’s presentation about her ‘Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary’ app for iPhone and iPad, and to discuss what it means to be a woman in 2013.

Unlike most other period tracking apps, this app does not focus on fertility and / or contraception. Instead, ‘Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary’ app makes it very easy for us to track how we are feeling at different times of the month and encourages us to assess how our choices are affecting our moods, vitality and our periods (if we are menstruating). We all know that it’s easy to blame and name others and / or circumstances when we feel moody. With this app we can see the direct correlation between our own unloving choices and our resulting moodiness and lack of vitality. Similarly, we can track our self-loving choices and the resulting increase in vitality and self confidence (when we have mastered making better choices (woo hooo). Continue reading “Sydney Launch of ‘Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary’ App” →

Walking back: Re-connecting to the True Woman I already am

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by Anonymous

When I was about 11 years old, I became obsessed with getting my period. Now, at that point I hadn’t yet, but I had heard about it from my family and friends and in my 11-year old mind thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard. Every month I get to be special! I thought…

After that, I listened intently to my body, and with any pain in my tummy I would get a little excited and hope I was finally getting my period. A year later, I started to really notice that I was alone in my feelings towards this special event. My friends thought it was gross and would tell horror stories about their sisters bleeding on their uniforms, or about how much it hurt. I started to feel embarrassed that I was looking forward to it and so I would pretend I felt the same way, but kept my little secret. Continue reading “Walking back: Re-connecting to the True Woman I already am” →

Celebrate, the Woman Within

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by Cherise Holt, Nurse, Australia

At a recent Women’s Presentation in Brisbane, a group of women shared how truly beautiful it is when we re-connect to ourselves as women: a connection that we override when we invest in fulfilling the roles we have adopted, or live under the pressures from ourselves and from a society that constantly tells us how and who we should be.

As women, it is important to reconnect to our bodies… what are we really feeling? In any moment, when we begin to ask ourselves this question we realise that our bodies never lie to us. If we are feeling stressed, tired, unwell or out of sorts, tense or exhausted – our bodies can feel it: or if there is something we don’t want to do, perhaps something doesn’t feel right. In addition, we may find ourselves doing too much in our day, or doing for others ahead of ourselves; or even when we are simply being hard on ourselves – we know about it. But when we make the time to stop and feel, we get to see that there is another way to be; a way that is honouring and cherishes the woman we already are. Continue reading “Celebrate, the Woman Within” →

The Return of the Pad

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by Annette Baker, Sydney, Australia

If somebody had said to me six months ago that in a few months I would only be using pads during my period, and would no longer be using tampons, I would have laughed in disbelief, and probably a bit of embarrassment too. I had some pretty bad memories of using pads during the first year of having my period, and based on that experience, to me pads were ‘backward’, clumsy and messy, so I wasn’t about to go back there. As far as I was concerned pads were antiquated, and used only by much older women who had neither discovered nor enjoyed the convenience of tampons. So how is it that today, I sit here in the knowing that it is very unlikely I would choose to use a tampon again? Continue reading “The Return of the Pad” →

Pads and Tampax

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by Sally, United Kingdom

I have been using tampax probably for the last 30+ years; clean, efficient and they’ve allowed me to concentrate and focus my mind on all that I need to do in the busy workplace without giving it a second thought – just a usual day, same routine, no problems.

I was inspired by others to give pads a try, and yes… they have changed since the early days when I first tried them. I was really taken aback by the profound effect they had on my life. Continue reading “Pads and Tampax” →

My Periods & Me

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by Angela Perin, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

My first real introduction to education about periods came when I was about 12, and my mother called me into the lounge for a private talk (I thought it was about a school report card, so I was a little nervous, but not at all prepared for what was to come). She pulled out a large brown paper bag and began with, “Did your cousin Debbie tell you she got her period…?” (or something to that effect). Embarrassment and anxiousness overwhelmed me, and at that point I could only regret that the talk had not been about my report card.

It wasn’t a long conversation (I’m guessing that Mum may not have been that comfortable either) and the rest of what she said was just a blur. I can’t even remember if the bag was opened to show me what was inside, but whatever it was, I’m really sure I didn’t want to know about it! And as soon as she had finished and I was allowed to escape, I took the brown paper bag and shoved it to the back of my underwear drawer – hoping no-one would ever see it (including my two younger sisters with whom I shared a bedroom), and that Mum (or anyone else) would never bring up the conversation again! Continue reading “My Periods & Me” →

Re-claiming my Relationship with my Period

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In this article Vanessa McHardy reveals how the simple act of checking in with herself, via daily notes, has had a big affect on the quality of her monthly cycle.

Four months ago during my period the pain in my left hip was so painful that I was taking nurofen with no relief gained (I take painkillers once in a blue moon). My periods were so heavy on the first and second day it required me to change my pad every hour. They lasted four days max and I had PMT for a week before the period began. My last period I had slight pain for a few hours, it was only heavy for a few hours and lasted 7 days.

So what happened in those three months? I have taken no drugs, had no medical intervention, so what was it – how could there be such a significant change? Continue reading “Re-claiming my Relationship with my Period” →