3 Ways to Care for Yourself on Your Period

Let me make it clear that self care for your period goes so much deeper than simple period ritual and integrating menstrual cycle ceremony.

There’s a reason you may feel shame when we rest. There’s a reason you may want to take some time off, but have a nagging feeling that if you don’t keep up with the tempo, you’ll get left behind.

The culture we live in relies on womben denying the needs of their bodies in order to continue functioning.

I know you’re here because you dream of another way for yourself and the future generations of this Earth.

My prayer is that the tips below will help you make your dream a reality.

1. Eat foods (that you can actually digest)

Now we’ll get down to why that huge bowl of chocolate fudge ice cream might not be the best idea on the first day of your cycle… (please don’t shoot the messenger)…

During our periods, our digestive ability is lowered.

And many of us get our periods on or around the new moon, which may add to this. Read about the moon and menstrual cycle connection here.

This means that we don’t have the energy to metabolize difficult to digest foods like raw salads, stress foods like alcohol or caffeine, or cold foods like ice cream.

In fact, according to traditional Eastern medicines like Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda, eating cold foods during your period can actually lead to internal cold and cause stagnation (a major cause of menstrual cramps!)…

Here are two period food recommendations that I’ll explain in detail below:

1. Cook your food
2. Add in carminative spices

Cook Your Food

Your body is already using a lot of energy to shed your endometrial lining while on your period, not to mention the added loss of blood.

To work with the natural downward moving, cleansing energy of our menstrual phase, opt for cooked foods seasoned with warming, carminative spices.

And now, somewhere in the distance I hear a raw vegan screaming “but raw foods have more vitamins and enzymes!!” (I can only joke about raw vegans because for many months I was one and they accepted me into their club).

On paper, yes it’s true that raw foods have more vitamins and enzymes than cooked foods because they haven’t been broken down by the cooking process.

But when we’re looking for foods to eat on our periods, or when we have a weak digestive system in general, raw foods aren’t the best option for us.

Whether the raw food has more vitamins or not is not the question…

The question is, can we break it down and absorb the nutrients? For most of us when it comes to raw foods on our periods, the answer is no.

I noticed a huge shift in my health when I switched from regularly eating raw salads or snacking on raw vegetables and opted for steamed, stewed, roasted, or sauteed vegetables instead.

Add In Carminative Spices

Carminative spices and herbs don’t inherently make food more digestible, rather they encourage fresh blood and oxygen to nourish your GI tract, relax intestines, stimulate secretion of bile, and decrease digestive inflammation to fortify your body and increase the natural function of your digestive system.

Menstrual issues and digestive issues are often linked.

For a healthy menstrual cycle, it is essential to metabolize and absorb our nutrients. If we don’t, our systems are left undernourished and stagnated.

P.S. If you’re struggling with irregular periods, here’s a blog I wrote for you.

And if you’re struggling with heavier than normal periods, I’ve got one for you too. Voilá!

Now back to the spices… I always use carminative spices when I cook, especially when I’m making something that takes more energy to digest like dishes with meat or dairy.

List of carminative spices and herbs:

• Ginger
• Cinnamon
• Black pepper
• Turmeric (fresh and dried)
• Caraway seeds
• Asafoetida
• Epazote
• Hyssop
• Oregano
• Tarragon
• Cumin
• Coriander
• Fennel
• Basil
• Peppermint
• Lemon zest

2. Rest during the first few days of your period

Resting during the first few days of your period is essential to set yourself up for success for the month ahead.

Even after years of teaching this information, I need to read the sentence above again and again in order to drum up the courage to go against the programmed desire to grind, hustle, and work myself to the point of exhaustion.

Maybe you’re rolling your eyes at this suggestion… thinking “I don’t have time for that!”

Or if you thought you might skip over this one real fast, I’m speaking to YOU especially.

My guess is that you know you need to rest more, you just don’t know how the F to do it.

And as a mama to a voracious and curious toddler and full-time business owner, I get it. You’re busy.

But if you don’t advocate for yourself and your rest, who will?

Historically we see that when we leave it up to someone else (especially those who don’t menstruate or have a uterus), the cards don’t play in our favor.

If you can schedule your life around your cycle, that’s great. Take those first few days off to rest.

And if you can’t, I guarantee you can still find periods of meaningful rest. Even if it’s 10 minutes with your eyes closed without your phone, that is meaningful.

And if you feel like it would be easier to be guided through a practice of rest, here’s a Guided Womb Healing Meditation that I made (and synchronistically, it’s exactly 10 minutes).

It’s not just up to you to take care of yourself on your period though. Ideally, everyone in your household will know that you’re on your period, and will organize themselves in a constellation that feels supportive.

Because so many of us are out of practice when it comes to rest, and sometimes structure can help, here are some restful experiences that are great on the first few days of your period:

• Restorative yoga
• Yin yoga
• Taking a warm bath
• Yoga nidra
• Laying outside on a blanket the sun
• Turning off your phone for half the day or more
• Taking a nap for however long you damn feel like it
• Organizing childcare so you can have a few hours to yourself
• Listen to a guided womb healing meditation (like the one I made right here – it’s free)

We call the menstrual phase of our cycles “inner winter” for a reason.

In winter, we go inside, we rest, we retreat. I believe that reorganizing our world to support our cyclical bodies is essential for the health of our planet and the vitality of future generations.

Do you agree?

3. Create ritual with your period blood

When I wrote this in-depth blog about creating ritual on your period blood, I had a few women reach out to me and let me know that I was certainly calling in evil, Devil energy by working with my blood in this way.

But after years of practice, I have noticed no sense of being cursed after I give my blood back to the earth in ritual, for example..

Instead, I walk away with an incredible sense of sacredness, of being one with nature, of being a part of it all. It is fabulous, calming, and instead of “evil”… a feeling of being divine!

A few ways to create ritual with your period blood are:

• Mixing blood with water (take your pad, tampon, menstrual cup, or period underwear and mix with water) and pour into your garden or the land where you live
• Use it for period art (yes, you can use your menstrual blood similar to paint!)

Right now, we’re offering 35% off my most popular menstruation course, Breathing, Bleeding, Being.

This course is for you if…

1. You struggle with period issues like painful periods, irregular cycles, heavy periods, or lack of ovulation.
2. Your menstrual cycle education is seriously lacking, and you want to know what happens in your body every month.

If you’re like me, you learned nothing about your period in school…

And missed out on valuable guidance from elders.

But it’s not too late to change the way you experience your period. Imagine a world where you actually looked forward to your cycle and celebrated the superpowers that came with having one…

The missing link? Education about your cycle in a practical way that alchemizes both science and the sacred.

In my Free Power of The Period Workshop, I break down the four phases of the menstrual cycle and teach you about the spiritual, energetic, and physical changes that take place throughout the month so you can live and plan your life according to your innate feminine rhythm.