Menstruation: Actually a miracle, but...

It's actually one of nature's great miracles: our menstruation, the female cycle in general. We women can bring new life into this world; that's one of the greatest miracles of all.

Our menstruation also makes us healthier and stronger: During these "bloody days," we detoxify – in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), our menstruation is considered an opportunity for deacidification and purification. This is one reason why we often feel more vital and energetic after our period.

Menstruation helps us let go of the old and acts as a small reset for the coming cycle. For many of us women, menstruation and the period before bleeding, the premenstrual phase, are characterized by discomfort that restricts us in our daily lives and our natural being.

But what causes these symptoms? What does our cycle, our menstruation, say about our health—mentally and physically? And what can we do to bring our cycle back into natural balance?

What PMS & Co. tell you about your current condition

Your body is talking to you, giving you clues about how you're feeling right now, where you might need to take a closer look. Where might you be neglecting yourself? What doesn't feel right?

Dealing with the symptoms you experience can be an opportunity for you to get to your true core, your innate feminine nature, and thus your true needs. Even though there has been a noticeable change in recent years (thankfully!), the taboo surrounding menstruation and the failure to integrate a cyclical lifestyle still play a major role in why so many women suffer from PMS and other symptoms.

Because how often do we go against our true nature instead of with it?

Like all living beings, we women are subject to cycles and are thus cyclical beings. In a society that is primarily structured around linear thinking, i.e., one that demands constant, consistent performance, there is still little room for a life in rhythm with nature.

That is why it is so important that every single woman, you and I, begins with personal responsibility and does not helplessly surrender to a social model that goes against our original being.

It starts with you. Because you are part of this nature and thus inextricably connected to it. The "hamster wheel" we often find ourselves in, coupled with the associated discomforts, effectively obscures our intuitive abilities, our feminine powers. Yet, it is precisely through these discomforts that you can attain inner strength.

Menstruation, your cycle as a guide

Many women experience their bleeding as a kind of "mini birth." In the days before menstruation begins, we often feel "full," bloated, restless, and uncomfortable. Our bodies and minds are characterized by a sluggishness and heaviness. When the bleeding finally arrives, a feeling of lightness and relaxation spreads. We feel like we're "reborn," becoming completely calm and in tune with ourselves.

Instead of trying to get rid of the symptoms as quickly as possible, resisting them and swallowing painkillers and the like, you can view the emerging symptoms as "helpers" that give you important messages about your physicality, your current life situation, and your womanhood. If you allow yourself to embrace this new perspective, you will get to know yourself more deeply, understand your own nature better, and in the long run, present yourself more clearly and strongly to the outside world.

Start questioning your own symptoms.

• What needs, what feelings are you suppressing?
• Where do you feel like you are not seen?
• What familial or historical influences might lie behind this?
• How was menstruation handled in your family?
• And what possibly outdated understanding of roles as a woman is still anchored in you?

Often, PMS symptoms are caused by suppressed anger, grief, and overwhelm. Or parts of you that have simply not been allowed to be lived. Recognize that you can gradually resolve these symptoms if you get in touch with your true needs and allow yourself to increasingly live them.

Severe hormonal fluctuations during the cycle can be caused by an excess of cortisol, the number one stress hormone. One reason for this could be, for example, that women have little space in their daily lives to pursue their needs during and before their period, as they often have multiple roles at once and lack the necessary cycle sensitivity in the family and at work.

Studies show that women who have a positive experience with their first period experience little to no discomfort throughout their lives. "Positive" means that the family has passed on a positive image of women.

A positive connection with one's own bleeding can develop when girls have received sufficient attention, education and an open, conscious approach to the topic of sexuality, cycle and lived femininity.