Moon Cycle Madness: Let's Heal & Educate About Women's Bodies

Recently I shared this photo of myself in front of a messy mirror, featuring my "pelvic inflammation baby". Though smiling, I was doing my best to bring some humor to a painful situation in the same pose I'd taken when growing our daughter and son. In sharing and connecting with others I was reminded that this moon cycle madness I've been experiencing was a reminder of the need for us to heal and educate about women's bodies.

At the time I assumed it was another ovarian cyst. The pain started out similarly, with noticeable aching on the right side around ovulation time... inflammation and soreness growing throughout luteal phase. I wrestled with the mental decision of "Do I go in and be seen, acquiring another $500+ bill only to be told there is nothing that can be done?" or "Do I tune in and listen to my body's need for rest, nervous system regulation after the stress of a tree falling on our home, anti-inflammatory dietary choices, gentle movement, herbal medicine and continued scar tissue work?"

I chose the latter.

Let me be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with going to a trusted doctor when needed. I've also been down that road. Yet so many of us have been taught to trust someone else more than our own bodies simply because they're wearing a white lab coat.

We have made incredible medical advancements in the last hundred years... heck, in the last ten years! But as a society we have also lost touch of the fundamentals of what it means to be healthy and well.

Modern medicine is not always the best for addressing the subtle and complex nuances of the woman's body. In fact, women's bodies weren't even routinely included in medical studies until the nineties. No, not the 1890's... the 1990's!

Our generation grew up being taught to hide our menstrual products as if becoming a young woman was something to feel ashamed for. We learned very little about our reproductive health and that our cycle meant only either having a period or not, rather than the many shifts experienced throughout the month. Too many women (such as myself) have been sliced open for "emergency c-sections" by well-meaning providers who have never witnessed a natural and undisturbed birth outside of a hospital setting.

As I shared about my own journey, I also heard from so many of you. You expressed many important perspectives of what you felt you learned way later in life than you should have, including:

• "I learned the fertility awareness method few yrs ago and was able to stop my almost constant menstruation from age 14 to almost 22- from hormonal birth control (every type did not work with my body personally) , my daily pain went down dramatically and I learned to connect with my period as a way to watch my body's hormonal regulation. This is not to diss hormonal birth control! I just had no idea other options were available and studied."

• "That sometimes it’s more challenging to relax your pelvic floor than it is to contract it! And all the challenges that can cause! Thank goodness for pelvic floor therapy!"

• "How important it is to tune into my body's need for rest - particularly to the rhythm of my monthly cycle. I always pushed through and I've been paying the price for those choices. Prioritize rest."

• "Food is healing if you let it."

• "That it’s ok to have a period. It’s not shameful. That periods are not suppose to be painful."

• "I wish I had known that eggs age and freezing is a thing and there are also ways to keep cellular function optimal and hormones balanced. I didn’t learn these things til my 40s!"

• "Estrogen is an anti-inflammatory for women’s joints. Progesterone is what calms you down. When I entered menopause and had zero hormones, my joints ached like arthritis, I got frozen shoulder and shingles within 6 months of each other. Now I’m on HRT and feel 22! (Not quite- but close!)"

• "The knowledge of the HPV vaccine and its benefits. How LEEP procedures are painful, they thin the lining of your cervix, and can reduce your infertility even more (as well as raise risks for miscarriages). Anything about abnormal periods, PCOS and endometriosis, what they actually are and their challenges and complications. Didn’t know til I knew, ya know?"

• "Dry eyes during menopause."

• "That in many states it is still legal for a medical student to do involuntary pelvic exams on a patient without informed consent while under anesthesia."

Before medical studies and male-dominated practices, there were generations and generations of women who knew their bodies rhythms. Women in your own bloodline perhaps, who knew which native plants to use for remedies without a long list of harmful side effects. Indigenous women who understood the need for rest and spiritual connection during our cycle. Women who understood our innate connection with Mother Nature and how we are meant to live in sync with nature's rhythms and seasons. Women who were known in their villages around the world as the one to come to when their loved one began laboring in childbirth.

Many of these women were prosecuted as witches or ostracized by their communities. Others were deemed mentally unwell by those who did not understand their practices. Others were forced into quiet submission and underground practice in the years of medical schools only accepting men. Still others never taught their daughters these practices out of fear, as the modern and capitalistic "care" model run by wealthy pharmaceutical companies took over.

And yet... this wisdom still lives within us. It is shared by aunties who pass down old books of herbal remedies. It is taught by sisters bringing back treasured family recipes. It is birthed into being when we reject harmful patterns within womanhood. It is reawakened when we choose to relearn the ways of old, before our bodies were bombarded with unnatural food-like substances, artificial lights, and endocrine disrupting chemicals. It is nurtured every time we breathe deeply with our bare feet on the earth below us, gazing at the moon above.

I share of my own sensitive journey not because I have all of the answers, but because I believe sharing with one another with openness is how we truly learn.

Women, sharing our stories and experiences, are walking together into a world of more balanced wellness. A world where a home birth is as commonly celebrated as one in a hospital setting, and discussion of our hormonal shifts and reproductive health occurs as openly as a conversation about what we're making for supper. Where we reach for the original medicine of plants before we grab a bottle of pills. A world where our daughters feel no need to hide their period and our sons understand, respect, and honor our bodies and cyclical nature. Where rest is not only accepted but encouraged as our bodies move with the rhythms of nature, and we trust our inner guidance as we listen to their whispers of wisdom.

Thank you for holding this vision with me. I've created a simply, supportive tool to help you tune into these natural rhythms. Inside the Cycle & Moon Sync Quick Start Kit you'll find:

✨ Cycle & Moon Phase Alignment Guide – Understand each menstrual phase & your corresponding moon phase so you can plan your life, work, and rest in harmony.

✨ Daily Energy & Mood Tracker – Learn your patterns and predict your best days for creativity, rest, and connection.

✨ Moon Sync Calendar Template – Keep your cycle and the moon’s phases at your fingertips all month long.

✨ Quick Cycle Facts – Learn more about your body, your cycle, and its changes.

As I work on completing The Moon Within educational course to deepen our understanding of these cycles even further, you can begin aligning your energy, emotions, and self-care with both your menstrual cycle and the moon’s phases starting today here.

May we move through each month with more flow, balance, and clarity as we reconnect with our inner wisdom together.

Healing & Peace,

Ashley Kay