The Menstruality Podcast

Asha Frost is an indigenous healer and author. She is an Anishinaabe, Ojibwe woman who was raised in a menstrually positive culture and in today’s episode we explore how her menstrual cycle inspires her work, her new book, ‘You are The Medicine: 13 Moons of Indigenous Wisdom, Ancestral Connection, and Animal Spirit Guidance’, and the connection she sees between cycle wisdom and the unique medicine we each hold.‘You are The Medicine’ explores a lunar year of the 13 moons of the Ojibwe people, each moon aligned to particular powers and animal wisdom, and each one has profound and practical keys about how we can reach work to access more of a medicine.We explore:How the animal medicine of Bear supports Asha to rest and integrate when she bleeds,  and the medicine of Dear supports her to bring gentleness to the premenstrual phase of her cycle. How to honour our sensitivity as a gift, as well as the wisdom of our bodies (particularly the fierce wisdom of the premenstruum!) in a patriarchal, capitalist, productivity-driven world.Why Asha’s letter, ‘Dear white woman who wants to be like me’ went viral in 2019, and why white listeners must acknowledge the incredible harm colonisation has created, and act in ways that respect Asha’s culture, and all indigenous cultures.The doors will open soon for our 2023 Menstruality Leadership Programme, you can find our more and register your interest here: www.menstrualityleadership.com---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolAsha Frost: @asha.frost - https://www.instagram.com/asha.frost

Clare Dubois has given her life to reforesting the topics  as the founder of the not-for-profit, TreeSisters, but her menopause experience is demanding that she take a profound pause.In this conversation Clare breaks down her real-time death and rebirth initiatory process of menopause, from the place she is currently in - the deeply uncomfortable, uncompromisingly thorough, ‘ego-death’ part of the initiation. She likens it to being carried downstream very fast - you either struggle against the flow or you let go and trust that the river knows where it’s taking you. She’s choosing trust, and hard as it may be, she is loving the ride.Trigger warning: Clare talks in-depth about healing her childhood physical and sexual abuse.We explore:How menopause is supporting her to process early trauma and heal the patterns of dissociation that ensued, so she can land in her body and be herself. The deep gift of menopause - how it is uprooting the patriarchy within her, especially in own work addiction and over-responsibility.What to do when we can’t ‘let go’ in the way Clare has been able to in her menopause sabbatical, and how we can manage the often chaotic menopause process in a world that doesn’t honour our initiations. --- You can now pre-order our new book! Wise Power: Discover the Liberating Power of Menopause to Awaken Authority, Purpose and Belonging here: https://www.wisepowerbook.com---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolClare Dubois: @clare_dubois_treesister - https://m.facebook.com/clare.dubois.333

Our menstrual cycles can be a profound ally in work and leadership. Today we do a deep dive on how to channel our cyclical wisdom as it shifts and changes throughout the cycle month, with someone who has an extraordinary amount of personal and professional experience in this realm. Dr Joanna Martin is a renowned visionary, coach and catalyst. As the founder of One of many, her organisation has supported over 60,000 grassroots women leaders to greater impact without burnout. The cycle is at the centre of her life and work, she’s overlaid the five archetypes over the phases of the cycle to harness their power and meet the challenges they present: The Lover, The Queen, The Warrioress, The Sorceress, The Mother.We explore:How our inner winter awakens our ‘Sorceress’ phase, and how to harness the magic of menstruation at work. Jo’s monthly ‘catastrophising day’ and how she manages it as the leader of a global organisation, by channelling her ‘Queen’ archetype. How to catch the shadow of over-giving in inner summer - ovulation - by being mindful of how our ‘Mother’ archetype is expressing itself. Join our free online course - Love Your Cycle: Discover the power of menstrual cycle awareness to revolutionise your life here: www.redschool.net/love---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolJoanna Martin: @drjoannamartin - https://www.instagram.com/drjoannamartinOne of Many: @oneofmanywomen https://www.instagram.com/oneofmanywomen

Today’s episode is about what it’s like when our experience is actually supported, honoured and dignified through menopause, and it’s also about relationship, and how to take care of ourselves through - and make sense of - times of great transformation. Alexandra is your host today, because this is a continuation of our Wise Power Retreat series, which was an incredible journey, over 3500 of us gathered to explore the power of menopause. She's talking with Susannah Darling Khan, a teacher, dancer, music maker, trainee pony whisperer, the co-director of The School of Movement Medicine, alongside her husband Ya'Acov Darling Khan. We explore:How Susannah’s sexual relationship expanded through menopause, and how, through him meeting her anger and fierceness (sometimes with actual boxing gloves!), they were able to maintain their sexual fire.How menopause was a fierce taskmaster, requiring her to slow down - very quickly! - commit to her own inner peace, and hone her embodied listening capacity, as well as embrace death as a reality and a teacher.The only two other mammals who go through menopause - and what evolutionary biology shows us about the vital role we play in our communities post-menopause, as wisdom-keepers for the next generations.You can now order our new book! Wise Power: Discover the Liberating Power of Menopause to Awaken Authority, Purpose and Belonging here: https://www.wisepowerbook.com---Registration is now open for our live menopause course - Menopause: The Great Awakener. You can take your seat here: https://www.redschoolmenopause.com---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSusannah Darling Khan: https://www.instagram.com/shamanyaacov/

Dr Sonia Wright - aka The Midlife Sex Coach for Women - combines her natural ability to talk about uncomfortable topics with her medical knowledge, sexual counseling skills and life coaching tools to create a unique brand of sex coaching. In this conversation about sex in midlife and during menopause, we discuss sensitive issues with humour and heart. We explore:The sex challenges that can arise in menopause, such as changing libido, the surfacing of body image issues and vaginal dryness and pain. Redefining what fulfillment means when it comes to sexual intimacy, why orgasm isn’t the goal, and how this changes the game around sex. How to invite our partners into loving, generative dialogue around sex challenges, and the importance of having these brave conversations, especially since we may have 30-50+ years of good sex ahead of us. You can now pre-order our new book! Wise Power: Discover the Liberating Power of Menopause to Awaken Authority, Purpose and Belonging here: https://www.wisepowerbook.com---Registration is now open for our live menopause course - Menopause: The Great Awakener. You can take your seat here: https://www.redschoolmenopause.com---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolDr Sonia Wright : @drsoniawright - https://www.instagram.com/drsoniawright

The premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle - or ‘inner autumn’ as we lovingly call it - is often the most uncomfortable phase emotionally, and it is definitely the most misunderstood. The symptoms that show up for many in this phase and the critical, disruptive fire that burns through us premenstrually are demonised in our world and inside ourselves. In this conversation we want to deshame and dignify the gifts of the premenstruum; the heightened sensitivity, the permeability, the way we show up as a disruptor of the peace. We want to transform the premenstrual script which so often makes us question “what’s wrong with me?” to “how can I hold myself through this?” and “what’s powers are at work here?”.We explore:How the premenstruum gives us access to a different kind of intelligence - we know, without knowing how we know!Why we all deeply need the vulnerability of the premenstruum, and how it connects us to each other and to our humanity. How the powers of the premenstruum are the ones we’ll call on the most post menopause - they become the ground of the second half of our lives. Our new book is now available wherever books are sold -  Wise Power: Discover the Liberating Power of Menopause to Awaken Authority, Purpose and Belonging here: https://www.wisepowerbook.com---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.school

Once you’re in menopause, you appear to be off all the usual maps. You're cast off from a familiar shoreline onto a dark ocean of unknownness, with only the stars and the moon – your instincts, feelings and intuitions – to guide you. However, there is a map of sorts for the menopausal journey, a timeless archetypal pattern for transitioning this world between worlds, and it has an implicit order in five phases: Betrayal, Repair, Revelation, Visioning and Emergence.In today's episode, we look at the meaning and purpose of each phase, including all that you may experience and what it means, as well as stories from some of the many people we’ve worked with over the years (and a good dose of humour to see you through). We explore:Phase one of the menopause initiation, ‘Betrayal’, which can be a real dark night of the soul, though it is necessary to access the ‘gold’ of your menopause journey.The sweet moment that you can reach in phase three, ‘Revelation’ where - often in the middle of daily life - you suddenly see yourself for who you truly are.How the final two phases set you up powerfully for your life post-menopause.You can now pre-order our new book! Wise Power: Discover the Liberating Power of Menopause to Awaken Authority, Purpose and Belonging here: https://www.wisepowerbook.com---Registration is now open for our live menopause course - Menopause: The Great Awakener. You can take your seat here: https://www.redschoolmenopause.com---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.school

Today we’re talking about a much misunderstood part of the body… the cervix. Olivia Bryant is the founder of Self:Cervix, an organisation dedicated to revolutionising the way the cervix is viewed by the medical profession, by science and sex educators. She says:“As a sexologist and sex nerd, I know the cervix to be a powerful place of pleasure… For us, cervical orgasm is a thing worth exploring, just like Mars is for NASA”We explore:The spectrum of cervical awakening, from healing trauma, to enhancing pleasure, to cultivating states of deeply loving consciousness.The cervix is the only organ in the body that connects to three major nerves and it’s wired to feel PLEASUREThe connection between cervical orgasms and our capacity to relax into our naturalness, and receive support.You can now pre-order our new book! Wise Power: Discover the Liberating Power of Menopause to Awaken Authority, Purpose and Belonging here: https://www.wisepowerbook.com---Registration is now open for our live menopause course - Menopause: The Great Awakener. You can take your seat here: https://www.redschoolmenopause.com---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolSelf:Cervix: @selfcervix - https://www.instagram.com/selfcervix

Today’s conversation follows a powerful idea that woke Alexandra up in the early hours a few days ago. It’s the idea that drives our new menopause book, Wise Power, and it’s an idea that’s almost totally missing in the global menopause conversation...... We need to dignify menopause as a process of spiritual awakening. And it’s a very special episode, because it also marks the official release of Wise Power, which is now available wherever books are sold - you can get your copy at wisepowerbook.com.We explore:The spiritual union, or coming home to yourself that is possible at menopause, when we honour and dignify every aspect of menopause; the rage, the confusion, the challenge and dare to believe it’s meaningful. The role that rage plays in the spiritual awakening of menopause, particularly in the initiatory times we’re living in as a global community. The five phases of the menopause spiritual awakening, and how perimenopause, or the ‘Quickening’ prepares us for this great homecoming to ourselves.  You can now pre-order our new book! Wise Power: Discover the Liberating Power of Menopause to Awaken Authority, Purpose and Belonging here: https://www.wisepowerbook.com---Registration is now open for our live menopause course - Menopause: The Great Awakener. You can take your seat here: https://www.redschoolmenopause.com---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.school

The menstruality journey begins at menarche with our first bleed, and ends as we go through the great initiation of menopause. For some, pregnancy, birth, and motherhood are a key part of their menstruating years, but for some people, parenting doesn’t happen, despite a deep desire to have children.It's World Childless Week this week, and we've invited the brilliant Jody Day to share about the challenges of involuntary childlessness,  her work to honour and dignify childless women, and explore how to  how to find meaning and hope when looking towards a future without children. Jody Day is the founder of Gateway Women, the support & advocacy network for childless women. She’s a psychotherapist, a global thought leader on female involuntary childlessness, and the author of what many professionals consider to be the ‘go-to’ book on the topic, ‘Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children’.In the conversation we explore:Jody’s personal journey through grief, denial, hopelessness to real acceptance of her life as a childless woman. The creation of Gateway Women and Jody’s mission to make the world understand childless women, and help women who are childless-not-by-choice to understand themselves. Jody's emerging Gateway Elderwomen project, exploring the uncharted path to becoming a conscious childless elder woman.---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net---Social media:Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolJody Day: @gatewaywomen - https://www.instagram.com/gatewaywomen