A crash course in Cycle Work for Decolonising the Mind...
Cycle reclamation is resistance.
Cycle work is how we get free. I believe this so ferociously.
Cycle work represents the antithesis of everything colonial capitalism is socialising us into.
A lot of mainstream menstrual cycle awareness spaces will focus on teaching you how to work with the inner seasons your cycling body is moving through… in order to maximise productivity and “show up more effectively” inside of capitalism.
And look.
No shade. Or at least, very minimal shade.
I’m all about learning what our bodies need and working alongside them, rather than constantly against them (as colonial capitalism teaches us to).
But we are doing ourselves and our bodies a huge disservice if we gloss straight over the mythic, the poetic, the mystical, the liberationist aspects of cycle reclamation work… and ONLY focusing on the bits that make us more “efficient” and “compliant”.
Glossing over the anti-colonial and full-spectrum liberation that cycle work represents… is to allow our cycles to become yet another thing that is weaponised against us, yet another way we are driven further from our humanity.
It becomes another colonial tool in shaming us and othering us.
Another set of dogmatic rules to follow.
Another unrealistic standard we have to meet.
All with maximum productivity, efficiency, and “personal growth” (read: individual profit) in mind.
Nope. No no no.
Our cycles are so much more than that.
They represent our total emancipation from the colonial capitalist paradigm, forever.
In the same way you might be used to “cycle syncing” for efficiency, for productivity, for burnout recovery reasons…
…try “cycle syncing” for anti-colonial shadow work + recovery instead.
Below, is a real quick crash course in cycle work for supporting your anti-colonial awakening. Take it. Make it yours.
During INNER SPRING (right after you finish bleeding => the beginning of your fertile window🌻🌻) your body is riding along on a gentle wave of increasing oestrogen- and heightened dopamine receptivity.
You’ll be journeying themes around inspiration + creativity here.
Depending on your relationship with those themes, this can be a very joyful (or very confronting) time.
Inner Spring is the perfect playground for UN-COUPLING creativity from productivity.
How would your creativity move if it wasn’t a resource to be fracked + extracted for productivity and colonial accolades?
INNER SUMMER (beginning of your fertile window => ovulation🌞🌞) is when everything gets turned up to 100.
Oestrogen and dopamine receptivity skyrocket, alongside a quick burst of testosterone.
Summer is (classically) a very extraverted time.
Your body is exploring what it means to take up space, how to be outward, how to give yourself to the world.
This makes ovulation an amazing place to explore what it means to be SEEN.
What would you be unapologetically declaring to the world if you weren’t confined to the violently homogenising + hierarchical colonial lines?
When you’re in INNER LATE SUMMER (immediately after ovulation => the second drop in oestrogen… usually half way through the luteal phase 🌷🌷), your body is running on paradox.
You’re producing oestrogen, AND progesterone, simultaneously.
Oestrogen is outward focused, progesterone is inward focused.
This is some real Archetypal Mother stuff.
How to hold the Self, while simultaneously showing up for The Other.
Late Summer is when we learn what community care really means.
What would it look like to discard your individualism… and realise that caring for each other in REGENERATIVE ways… is the fastest way to care for ourselves?
When Inner Autumn arrives (right after the last oestrogen drop => right before you bleed ⚔️), progesterone is all that’s happening.
You’ll begin to feel a sharp inward focus here, as well as a heightened sense of discernment.
(Without healthy outlets and a thorough untangling of the colonial paradigm in our minds, this discernment shifts into internalised violence and shame).
Autumn is sharp, clear, direct, and often very very angry.
Inner Autumn says NO MORE.
It’s the Dark Mother’s stake in the ground.
Can you hold your anger with radical approval, while also disrupting the violence you’ve internalised from colonial patriarchy?
Then comes Inner Winter (your bleed 🩸 ).
Everything drops to an all time low.
Not just oestrogen and progesterone, but energy levels and digestion and cognitive function as well.
This is our most primal time.
Which makes it such a beautiful space for interrogating where we CELEBRATE dis-embodiment.
Where are we putting logical, mechanical, intellectual, linear, intelligence ABOVE the deeper knowing in our bones, AT THE BEHEST of the colonial paradigm?
Who benefits when we cut ourselves off from our primal instincts, and trust only our (highly conditioned, very well socialised, highly indoctrinated) conscious minds?
What would it mean to land back INTO your body?
Work with your cycle to get yourself free- to the point where your existence will start to free others.
It’s all there for you, already. Let each cycle initiate you deeper into the role you’re here to play in the revolution.
Cycle reclamation work - with decolonising taking centre stage - is how we interrupt a lifetime of colonial patriarchal indoctrination.
This map of our cycles for the purpose of being the crucible for our anti-colonial awakening… it’s the epicentre of EVERYTHING we’re exploring inside REWILDING.
To journey all of this more deeply, come and join us.
There’s a robust + comprehensive curriculum already in place, containing everything you need around cycle reclamation and interrupting colonial patriarchy.
We meet every Monday for live workshop + ritual to explore these themes together in real time… and to centre the liberation of all in our work to liberate ourselves.
Think of it like a community space / renegade school of radical unlearning.
The deal is, you pay once, you’re in forever. No subscriptions or ongoing costs.
All decolonising feminists + menstruating people of all genders are enthusiastically invited.
You in? Fab. Click through the button below to join us. ❤️