Self-Care & The Menstrual Cycle
Starts 11 Oct 2020
Have you struggled in some way with your menstrual cycle and are now looking for answers? For so long, women have put up with intense pain or emotional suffering around their cycle every month. I am here to tell you this is not normal and that there is another way! Join us for this online course where I will guide you to understand the ebb and flow of the menstrual cycle as we create our very own personalised self-care plan so that your cycle no longer holds you back in life. Rather, you can be fully yourself in the world, feel good in your body, with clear and easy self-care to support your own cycle.
You may have regular PMS and period pain, or been diagnosed with a condition such as PCOS, endometriosis or PMDD. You may have tried all sorts of options from painkillers, the pill, natural supplements and even read books about hormone health but still feel a bit stuck.
As women with menstrual cycles, it means that our hormones change every day of the cycle impacting us physically, mentally and emotionally. Some days we can feel drained, anxious or in pain, while other days we can feel full of beans and joyful. This can create challenges for us personally, but also in relationships and how we show up at work. It can be difficult to always keep up to speed with the world and we end up pushing through our menstrual cycle, leaving us feeling drained or overwhelmed.
In this course, we will look at the menstrual cycle as a whole, as opposed to just what is happening during menstruation or where the problem area lies. When we look holistically at the cycle and each phase, we can then identify more clearly what to do and where we need support. We can prepare for our needs in advance and then get to know how to best take care of ourselves during each phase of the menstrual cycle.
Lisa de Jong
I firmly believe that it is not a woman’s lot to suffer. It is her birth right to feel good in her body and therefore safe to be fully herself in the world. The menstrual cycle no longer needs to be a burden or a non-event. Rather, it can be a something that supports our lives, an inner compass to optimal health and to our true vibrant selves.
In this course, I will guide you to understand the cyclical nature of your body through a practice called Menstrual Cycle Awareness. We will look at tools and practices to support the body through each phase of the menstrual cycle including diet, sleep, exercise, mindfulness practices and creativity that support the body, mind and spirit. I will support you in understanding your strengths and vulnerabilities around the cycle so that you can take better care of yourself holistically and come to feel more ease in your everyday life.
By the end of the course, you will have a Menstrual Cycle Awareness practice and a clear path to understanding the needs of your body around your cycle. You will have clarity on personalised self-care that feels easy to integrate into your life and a deeper relationship with your menstrual cycle.
“I absolutely loved this course and got so much from it. I originally did it to learn about menstrual cycle awareness due to an endometriosis diagnosis late last year. I have already seen an improvement with my periods with the help of Lisa through cycle tracking and changes to my diet. However on top of that, I learned so much about myself and how I relate to the world. I feel more positive about my life moving forward. I really enjoyed learning about other women's experiences on the course which further enriched my own. I now have the confidence to practice menstrual cycle awareness myself moving forward which makes the experience of being a woman way more rewarding.”
~ Emer, Ireland
Week 1: Paving the way for cycle self-care
Week 2: Health for happy hormones
Week 3: Diet and movement
Week 4: Self-Care implementation
Week 5: Psychology and the cycle
Week 6: The inner critic
Week 7: Creative & spiritual self-care
Week 8: Integration of self-care
Weekly lessons delivered over video
x8 Live weekly group coaching calls for sharing, listening and processing (recorded)
Meditations and energy medicine practices for relaxation
Cycle charting templates
Practical tips and tricks to support pain and PMS
Peer group support in a private online group
Optional: listening partnership for deeper integration
BONUS: an optional private 1 hour coaching session with me for deeper integration if needed
BONUS: interviews with experts in the fields of pain psychology and nutrition
Limited space to allow for a contained space and engaged process
Clarity on self-care around your cycle to support you physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually
An opportunity to alleviate period pain, PMS, irritability, anxiety, improve moods, feel safe, good and free in your body.
Make self-care practical, efficient and easy – coming from your body’s needs
Improve energy levels and confidence
More efficient use of energy for better productivity
Greater mental and emotional resilience
Feel more grounded, calm and engaged in social situations
A greater sense of ease and freedom from within, with less overwhelm
A fresh spark to your creative life with space for ideas to emerge
Improved relationships with loved ones so you don’t feel drained
Self-care support for conditions such as endometriosis, PCOS, PMDD, fibroids, a fertility journey etc.
A more natural ability to be kinder and gentler to yourself
A stronger connection to your intuition for guidance, direction and trust in life
Overall, a no fuss, no nonsense and non-negotiable approach to self-care that works in the context and reality of your life
An opportunity to deepen existing self-care practices through the wisdom of your body and cycle
For anyone struggling with their cycle in some way physically, mentally, emotionally or even spiritually
For those who have been diagnosed with something like PCOS, endometriosis, PMDD, fibroids or are on a fertility journey and looking for support
For anyone who would like to bring Cycle Awareness into their already existing self-care practice
For anyone who has read lots of self-care / spiritual / creativity books and intellectualised it ALL but still struggle to practice and implement changes
For all women and people with or without a menstrual cycle who feel they will benefit from this course
Start date: Sunday 11 October 2020 - access to course material
Duration: 8 weeks
Group calls 1.5hrs:
Tuesdays at 7pm, GMT+1 Ireland time
Get in touch with Lisa if this does not suit and an alternative or additional option will be considered depending on demand.
Installments payment option available. See below.
Featured interview on pain psychology with Chartered Physiotherapist, Brian O'Rourke who specialises in systemic approaches in his practice of supporting clients with pain management through movement. Find him at linktr.ee/brianorphysio.
Featured interview with Orla Mc Laughlin. Orla is a registered nutrition therapist with an MSc in personalised nutrition from a functional medicine perspective. She works with clients in the areas of hormonal, digestive, mental and skin health, to get to the root of why symptoms are present and what nutrients or environmental changes the body requires to support balance and wellbeing.
Working with Orla will empower you to make the right food choices for YOU so you can live a happier, healthier and more socially engaged life. Find her at www.healthbyorla.ie.
Yes, absolutely! Getting curious about the rhythms of YOUR cycle will be an opportunity to work with the cycle you experience in terms of self-care whether it is irregular or not. As an anchor for the course, anyone who has an irregular cycle or does not menstruate can work with the lunar (moon) cycle. Then from there, we will work with the body. The practices in this course will contribute positively to menstrual health which can support anyone experiencing irregularities.
Yes! Perimenopause and menopause are huge physiological transitions for the body that require self-care and kind attention. We can work therapeutically in retrospect of the cycle you experienced before as a way to bring inner healing, self-compassion and self-care practices that support the place you are in now. For any menopausal people, we will also use the lunar cycle as the anchor for this course and then work with the body.
Yes. There are many reasons a woman might not be cycling including: pregnancy, menopause, no physical womb in the body, a condition such as PCOS or amenorrhea, trauma, an eating disorder, surgery, people who identify as female but don’t menstruate etc. This course is about working with the body, mind and spirit as a whole. I will make sure you are catered for and that the content is both practical and relevant for you. We will work with the lunar cycle and seasonal cycles in these instances.
If you are on hormonal contraception, you can absolutely still take part and benefit from this course. You will not experience the same ebb and flow as a cycle without hormonal contraception because most forms of hormonal contraception prevent ovulation, however, we can still work with that! We will work with the cycle you have and create self-care to support you. You may still experience cyclicality in some form.
No problem! The calls will be recorded and sent to participants only. We will also have a ‘group contract’ to ensure privacy, safety and anonymity of all participants. If you are in a different timezone to GMT Ireland and can’t make the calls for that reason, please email me to let me know as I can look into rescheduling times based on demand.
You’ll need approx 2 - 3 hours per week on average (spread out) for the calls, exercises, charting and engagement in order to get the most of the course. You can of course continue to engage with the content once the course is complete at a pace that works for you.
Yes! All the content will be available via the Thinkific platform. The online support group will close at the end but I have another private support group you can join to continue your work and process.
This course is an open invitation for women, those raised as women or those who identify as such to explore cyclical self-care for the mind body and spirit in relation to the menstrual cycle or moon cycle. For women who are ready and willing to step up to the responsibility of their own well-being and for women who struggle with self-care in some way. This course is also ideal for healers and therapeutic practitioners looking to deepen their own practice.
Please contact me if you have any questions, requests or anything at all. We can speak over email or over the phone too!
11 October 2020