REBUILD: WEEK 4 MENSTRUAL PHASE
MOVE.
What is the best way to move your mombody during the menstrual phase? The answer is napping. Especially if you feel tired. Imagine that - a wellness program that promotes napping instead of working out. (Napping is a fantastic way to activate autophagy too, by the way).
Your hormone levels are at their lowest and so are your energy levels. Any form of high intensity exercise during this phase will backfire by turning on fat storage, causing muscle wasting and putting stress on your cardiovascular system.
According to the book, The 28 Days Lighter Diet, this is the time of the month that your body is working hard to shed its uterine lining if you did not become pregnant. So kicking up your heels is exactly what your body calls for during the first 1-3 days of your menstrual bleed until energy levels return. If you feel like exercising during this time, make sure it is restorative exercise: gentle stretching, breathwork, yoga, walking, foam rolling. This is not the time to pop a midol or ibuprofen and push through a hardcore workout like I used to do.
So now you understand slow, restorative movement is what your mombody craves during the menstrual phase. But let’s push the envelope even further because, in addition, your mombody loves anti-movement here as well. Meaning. when you sit still, and breath, and calm your nervous system, you can start to enter the elusive, blissful, mysterious world of meditation. Now meditation is one of those things that could take weeks alone to teach someone but if you are open to it, this phase is one of the best times to start reaping all of the benefits this simple technique has to offer.
Not only is meditation good for your nervous system, it’s also good for kick-starting autophagy in your brain. When you meditate, you are rewiring your brain to be happier, healthier and younger. In fact, one of the perks of meditation is the left and right hemispheres of your brain are communicating more fluently. That’s great news because guess what else is happening in your brain during the menstrual phase? That’s right, your left (analytical side) and right (feeling side) hemispheres have the greatest communication between the two sides, making it easier for you to understand how you feel about your life, and then determine the best course of action to get to where you want to go . It’s so important to get these two sides of your brain talking - and the easiest path to get there is through meditation during your menstrual phase! So basically, your mombody is begging for you to meditate.
Here are some of the benefits of meditation I’ve learned from Emily Fletcher’s Book “Stress Less, Accomplish More”, in a nutshell:
Meditation bathes your brain in dopamine and serotonin, making you blissfully happy - it’s like the exercise high you get from endorphins but different, A much calmer and centered form of a high.
Meditation rewires your brain. (Autophagy is at play here - neuro-plasticity is your brain’s ability to make new connections by growing and reorganizing the neural networks ). Meditation “fixes your brain” by forging better communication between the left and the right sides. This makes you happier, calmer and less stressed.
Meditation teaches you to live in the present moment, this is because it de-excites your nervous system. Too much of our stress comes from living our lives in the past. Or as the worrisome moms that we are, we are always stressing about the future.
Meditation de-excites your nervous system, leaving you calm and centered. Exercise, on the other hand, excites your nervous system, leaving you feeling stress-free and energized. Do not mistake the benefits of exercise with the benefits of meditation-most people do not understand the difference.
Studies show that meditation makes you younger. Autophagy is at play here. (See Emily’s book for the studies).
The book also teaches you the difference between mindfulness and meditation, because they are distinct. Mindfulness is a technique that gets rid of immediate stress in the body, as in, when a car cuts you off in traffic and you use breathing to calm down - the immediate feeling of stress can be cleared from your body. On the other hand, meditation tackles the stress in your body that has been stored in your tissues and fascia for years. The best way to release this stress is to meditate twice a day for 15 minutes. Once in the am for 15 minutes and then again in the afternoon for 15 minutes.
Meditation is 5x more restful to your body than sleep. You will have more restorative sleep when you have a daily practice of meditation.
So what is this technique of Emily’s that works so well? It’s called the Ziva technique and I learned how to do it from her audiobook. I’ll give you a rundown of what you can expect from Ziva here. But there are many free youtube videos on Emily’s technique, be sure to check them out. Here’s what you do:
Sit comfortably in a chair or on the floor - no need to sit like most yogis you see - the point is to sit comfortably. Start a timer in the room for 15 minutes.
With your eyes closed, try not to open them again until your 15 minutes is up - eventually you will get good enough that you won’t need a timer even. Your body will know what to do, when to do it.
The first 1-2 minutes take notice of your five senses - trying to breathe evenly while focusing on sight (darkness since your eyes are closed but can you see anything in that darkness), then smell, then taste, then hearing, then finally, touch. This is how you come into the present moment - paying attention to all of these things. Think of this first step as the “appetizer”.
Next, repeat a mantra for the next 7 minutes. Think of this step as the “main course”.
Then, give thanks for all of the blessings in your life. Also think of this step as the “main course”.
Then, manifest what you want from the world. Try to see it, feel it, say it, as you slowly bring yourself to full consciousness again. Think of this step as the “dessert”.
This technique is much easier to do this with Emily’s guidance (she’s amazing at talking you through it!) because meditation can feel completely overwhelming trying to learn it yourself. But Emily’s point is, you meditate to become good at LIFE, not to become good at meditation - so it’s worth it to carve out time to practice this gift.
I’ve included one of Emily’s guided meditations on youtube to get your feet wet if you’ve never tried it before.
I also included a much less daunting version of meditation that I created that can be used during your luteal phase when you are lifting weights. Think of my method as a simple way to start changing your thoughts while you are working out. A simple mantra I like to use that I forgot to put in the video is: “I am brave enough to try new things,” or “I am brave enough to follow my dreams.” Can’t wait for you to try it out!
“Trying to find the answers from outside yourself is nonsense. You must look inward.” The Dalai Lama