Lunar Cycles and you
From March 2025 I am offering Yogini circles and rituals in South Devon, UK, exploring all of this and much more. To join me please click HERE
Ever since we came into existence we have had a connection with the moon and the lunar cycles. The moon is a feminine energy, strongly connected to water, emotion and the ebb and flow of life. Life comes from water and it isn’t possible to create life without it. When we are in the stage of life where we have our bleed cycle we often align with the moon, but the connection goes beyond this and into menopause and our wisdom years.
The combination of Earth’s gravity and the gravitational pull of the moon creates a phenomenon called tidal force. This and the gravity from the sun shifts around, the sun, moon and earth positions change and create different reactions in the water on planet earth, such as high and low tides. You are made of 60% water, it’s in every single cell in your physical body, so you will be affected by the moon.
As the moon cycles we have the different phases. The complete cycle of the moon is 29.5 days. When the moon is not visible we call this a new or dark moon and when it’s most visible this is the full moon. When it’s moving in-between, increasing from invisible to fully visible this is the waxing phase, and when moving back into darkness this is the waning phase. As the moon changes phases it is of course still there, it’s just that the shadow of the earth in front of the sun is obscuring it. This process changes how we feel energetically. When the moon is dark we naturally feel more introspective, restful and withdrawn. When it’s full we often have more energy, want to be out and about and more outgoing. As the moon shifts phases we can align this to the seasons, our life cycle and to the Ayurvedic doshas.
This energy also applies to the different phases of our female monthly cycle. When women bleed this time is naturally aligned to the dark moon energy. Although not everyone bleeds on the new moon, in times past this was more the case, with less synthetic hormones, more nature connection and living in community. The full moon is more associated with the time of ovulation. Fertile, abundant and heightened energy. Interestingly mens sperm count increases at full moon and so there is a natural time where both sexes are more fertile. Lots of things can impact upon and affect this cycle, taking it out of balance, especially stress, busy lifestyles, trauma and health issues. These things all create an imbalance which means that the whole body will be out of balance. Your cycle is trying to tell you to pay attention, to listen. When your bleed cycle is showing signs of imbalance (similar to how we look at the digestion, which also gives us signs) then the whole system is out of balance.
We can apply this cycle to our doshas or Ayurvedic constitution. New moon is the time for vata dosha because it’s about the downward movement of the blood and the need for deep rest. This subtly shifts more into kapha dosha when we feel more juicy and nurtured as the moon is waxing. As we come up to ovulation the heat in the body increases to incubate, now pitta dosha increases and continues to increase and incubate until we bleed at new moon. This is why things like PMT, anger and frustration, hot flushes and so on happen more during or after full moon. On new moon we need to rest once more.
It can be that once our bleed cycle stops we loose a sense of this cyclical rhythm and the moon can help us to continue the connection. In menopause, after hysterectomy or any other stopping of the cycle, we can still follow this cycle by having this beautiful awareness of the moon and her shifting energies. You may be in menopause and still feel a cycle happening in your body. This is normal and can act as a helpful prompt to rest regularly, to be more aware of the need for balance in our lives. We need to understand that everything is cyclical, constantly shifting and changing. Nothing ever remains the same. This keeps us connected to ourselves as women, cyclical beautiful beings that we are. The moon cycle is an incredible teacher for life, that things always come in, if we try to hold on too much, like full moon energy, we can create tension. We need to learn to let go, and to rest, with the energy that gifts us stillness in the dark quietness of the new moon. This cycle is constant, it never ever stops, so we need to learn to adapt and to go with it rather than overcome or ignore.
As we journey through life and begin to embrace our wisdom years we can find more intuitive knowing arises naturally within us. We can embrace this approach more and more. We somehow find that we feel more connected to nature and her cycles and this way of being, with natural cycles and rhythms, can feel so nourishing. Nature is a cyclical being. We are part of nature, we are not separate from it. We are cyclical beings.
From March 2025 I am offering Yogini circles and rituals in South Devon, UK, exploring all of this and much more. To join me please click HERE