ABSTRACT
A woman’s body has an innate rhythm, a cyclical process that promotes healing and self-regulation. This is the rhythm of the menstrual cycle. Reclaiming the value of the menstrual cycle and working with it, rather than against it, means supporting women to rediscover their innate wisdom and to reclaim their power. Society associates the menstrual cycle with hurts, wounds and body waste and dismisses the deeper somatic, hormonal and psychic integration the menstrual cycle supports and encourages. As with the tides of the ocean and the rhythm of the lunar cycle, the menstrual cycle also ebbs and flows in a cyclical rhythm. The pre-menstrual and menstrual phases of the cycle however, are interrupted and skipped, with the gestalt remaining incomplete. From an early age, both men and women introject messages about what menstruation means. In some Native American societies, menstruating women’s dreams are heeded for their oracular wisdom and menstruation is seen as a time for gathering spiritual wisdom.
