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Welcome to the Period Power podcast. I’m your host Maisie Hill menstrual health expert, acupuncturist, certified life coach and author of Period Power. I’m on a mission to help you get your cycle working for you so that you can use it to get what you want out of life. Are you ready? Let’s go.

Good morning, or good afternoon, or evening. I want to warn you that it’s morning here for me when I’m recording, and the seagulls have been going wild outside my studio. And I’ve shut the windows, but I just want to let you know if you hear interesting background noises, so I’m pretty sure you hear them frequently on the podcast. But I was cracking up recently because someone told me that they thought that they had mice in their house because that’s how the sound was coming through. So I’m hoping by shutting the window we’re not going to hear them but just to prepare you.

Okay, I am really looking forward to talking with you today which is how I feel with every episode because I create so much joy for myself by doing this. But today’s episode is going to touch on the seasons of the year, and Chinese medicine, and mindset. So I reckon it will be a juicy one for you. And at the start of the week I was toying with the idea of this episode, but I wasn’t 100% sold on doing it this particular week because it’s about seasonal changes and here we are still in summer technically, although there is a fifth season that I’m going to be telling you all about today.

But then yesterday I woke up before Paul and Nelson did which I love. I love to wake up naturally just of my own accord and before them. Then I tiptoed downstairs, and I really do mean tiptoe because we’ve got some loose creaky floorboards. And one foot in the wrong place means that my morning cup of tea in peace is gone because it wakes them up and then I don’t get to have my morning cup of tea in peace.

So yesterday I tiptoed my way downstairs, I made my tea and as I looked out of the window into the back garden I wondered for a moment if I’d read the time correctly because it was darker than I was expecting it to be. So it was light, but it was dull and there was this damp cloudy quality to the air. And then I realised it was also cooler than usual. So that’s when I first clocked that we’re nudging our way closer to autumn vibe. And it’s also coming close to the end of my son’s summer holidays and neither Paul or I were working on that particular day.

So we decided that as the weather was cooler that we’d go to the woods because we all love trees. But where we live, it’s a seaside town and there’s hardly any trees. So we like to go to this place called Blean Woods but last summer every time we went there it didn’t really go so well. It sounds nice, a family trip to some woods, take a walk, take some food, all connect together. But last year every time we went we would get a bit grouchy with each other. We were all getting a bit annoyed in the heat and the bugs and all those things.

So we haven’t gone there this summer, but I’ve been craving it. And as soon as I realised the temperature had dropped I was like, “Yes, that’s what we should do today.” And there was actually light rain the whole time we were there which just felt so great. And with all the leaves above us we were actually very protected from the rain anyway, but it was just like the weather was, there was just something about that day. And as soon as we got there and started walking around I just noticed how many trees were already dropping their leaves.

So it was this day of really noticing the seasonal shift. Now, at the time of recording we are in the last week of August, so it’s summer. We are off to carnival on Sunday which I’m hyped about because there hasn’t been one since the pandemic, Notting Hill Carnival. And it’s where Paul and I first met. So very much still summer vibes over here but autumn is coming, and it starts on September 23rd this year, that’s the day of the autumn equinox. So at this point in time we’re a month away from the start of autumn.

So today I want to talk to you about where we are in the seasons because in Chinese medicine there’s a fifth season and that’s where we are now. And I’m going to talk to you about the qualities of it so that you can notice these things in yourself and around you as well as how to work with the energy of this time of year. But before we get into that I want to invite you along to our autumn workshop, which is happening on Saturday September 24th, it’s the day after the equinox.

So in my membership, The Flow Collective, we do a workshop at the start of each season, and they are nothing short of transformational. But so far they’ve only been for our members. But this time we’re opening it up to all of you, so you get to come. How fun is that? Now, if you’re already a member you don’t need to do anything, your membership includes access to the workshop, and the replays, and the worksheets that go alongside it. So you don’t need to buy a ticket. If you’re not currently a member though, go to maisiehill.com/workshop and sign up.

And we will stick the link in the show notes, and you can go to my Instagram profile and sign up there. But it’s just maisiehill.com/workshop. And this workshop is going to focus on the qualities of autumn, is going to be epic. I’m going to be teaching you how to make a decision. I know how many of you struggle with this and I wish I could remember the name of this person, but I can’t. But I met someone about a month or so ago on a train who listens to the podcast.

And we were talking about how helpful she finds it, and I was just curious like, “If there’s something you would like me to focus on, what would it be about?” And we were speaking about how hard it can be to make decisions. And I know that she’s not the only one because I’ve heard this from many of you. I know it’s an ongoing issue and I just want to put it to bed for you and show you how to make a decision so that you can stop wasting time and your using up your mental and emotional bandwidth.

I’m very excited to see what comes about for all of you after this workshop. And there’s also going to be coaching in the workshop, questions for you to reflect on, a visualisation. It’s this whole process that I walk you through and it’s a lot of fun too. I just love doing these workshops. We always get such incredible feedback. So I’m excited to open it up to all of you for the first time and yes, you’ll be able to get access to the recordings if you can’t make it live.

Or if you want to go through it again because we often have people who come along, they take part and then they like to go back and watch kind of some of the juicier parts for them. So just go to maisiehill.com/workshop and get yourself signed up. We’ll put the link in the show notes and on my Instagram profile, etc.

So autumn is on its way. As I said, there’s this sneaky fifth season that we are currently in, and it’s called late summer. So late summer is a short season but it’s an important one. It comes after the height of summer and before we shift officially into autumn. So summer has this very out there energy. I think of summer as an extraverted season, a very social season where we’re physically outside and maybe our most extraverted version of ourselves.

So whether you consider yourself an ambivert, an extravert or an introvert I would take a guess that summer for a lot of you is where you are the most extraverted version of yourself. And late summer is slightly different because there’s still that sense of connection because we often feel very connected in summer. We want to meet up with people, we want to do things, we connect to ourselves. And we connect to others, to the world around us. So there is still this connection going on in late summer, but it shifts from joy and being social into connection with purpose.

And that doesn’t mean that any other type of connection doesn’t have purpose but there’s this collective effort that takes place at this time of year because we’re gearing up for harvest. So traditionally this is when we would start coming together in the fields and harvesting crops. Now, think about that for a moment and reflect on how you’ve been feeling recently. I know that for me I felt this strong urge to get back to work, this natural desire to get down to business. And it’s like that high energy of summer is becoming more contained.

Like how horses have landscape vision, a horse’s eyes are just incredible. They can take in so much which is why they put those blinkers or blinders I think they’re sometimes called on a horse, because they reduce their field of vision so that the horse stays focused on what’s in front of them. And that for me sums up the vibe of late summer. It’s that energy in summer that was so expansive and out there but now it just becomes more contained and focused like there’s a direction to it.

So notice if you have a sense of that within you. And if you’ve been feeling a slight apprehension about the coming months then I want to offer that that make a lot of sense for this time of year. We’re very quick to pathologize emotions but I’m going to suggest to you that some apprehension at this time of year is appropriate and helpful, here’s why. We are getting into the time of year where we look at our stocks and we get a sense of what the lean months will be like for us.

So over the spring and the summer, crops have been growing, and this is where we look at how well those crops have done. Is there enough to get us through the winter? Are we going to make it? There’s this very real sense, I know with our modern lives, crops, groceries, they’re much more readily available to us. But we have a long evolutionary history of this time of year and experiencing the seasons of the year. And even within our lifetime, things have radically shifted in our generation and in previous generations.

But this is still hardwired into us, and I think it’s normal for us to have this checking-in moment of are we going to get through the autumn and the winter, have we got enough? What’s in the cupboards? Did our crops do well? And that’s where that sense of apprehension can come in.

And I think as long as that is in check, as long as it feels just a kind of a flicker of it rather than being dominated by it. And as long as you can manage your mind around it and you’re not getting consumed and paralysed with worry and fear or going around in circles with rumination. Then to me that slight apprehension means you’re just right on track with the seasons of the year. What if that’s all it is?

Because I think it can be helpful. It’s a moment to just check-in, and making decisions, and edit, and refine, and go from there without getting stuck in your head with it all, without getting stuck in a stress response, and without hitting pause on your life. It’s kind of like when you go to walk out of the door and you just take that moment to check that you have your keys, and your wallet, and your phone. Or when you check how you look as you go out of the door. Have you got everything? Is your lipstick smudged or whatever the case may be? Do you need to brush your hair?

There’s just that moment, that’s the vibe of this time of year. It’s the checking-in moment of the year. We don’t have to get lost in it or descend with it, but it can be extremely useful and we’re going to be getting into this in the autumn workshop because this is the time of year to evaluate and to make decisions and edit as necessary. It’s also the time to look at your health and focus on nourishing yourself. So the element that’s associated with late summer and this season is earth.

And earth collects and contains nutrients that the seeds and roots can draw from. And it’s the nourishment that creates and sustains growth which is why we’re going to be spending October in The Flow Collective on a wellbeing reset. And we haven’t done this in over a year. And I can’t wait to do it. It’s happening in October because I want to set you up for success over the autumn and the winter. So we’ve got some amazing plans to do just that, and it all starts with the autumn workshop.

And you’ll get so much out of just doing that workshop, it will give you a really solid foundation. And then if you want to join the membership, you’re going to get your first month with us for free. You won’t have to pay any extra so that you can take part in that wellbeing reset and get support from our team of coaches and of course our incredible community too. But you can start this process now because here we are in late summer. So summer’s gradually winding down and there’s this decreasing energy to it.

But there’s also a sense of abundance from the harvest and from topping ourselves up over the summer. So this is where we can use that abundance to nourish our bodies and our minds. Because what you do now is going to hugely influence your health and your wellness over the autumn and the winter. So I would love for you to reflect now on what would be supportive to your health, your mental wellbeing, your physical wellbeing, even if you have a vague sense of something.

Even if you don’t know how you’ll do it. Just realise what would feel supportive to you because I think you do know that without any guidance from me. And I am going to be giving you guidance for the wellbeing reset month. You’ll get to cherry pick from loads of suggestions that I’m going to give you and create your own plan for the month. But my recommendation as always is to keep it simple and doable. And I think you can use this moment now to check-in and think, well, how am I doing? What do I need? What would feel good to me?

This is a time to stabilise, and centre, and bring in that grounded energy of the earth. And this will also influence your ability to make decisions. So part of what we’ll be doing, we’ll be focusing on creating that stable quality because when you’re in a scattered energy and quite a stressful energy it’s more challenging to make a decision. And I’m going to be sharing with you why and how to get around that during the workshop. So we want to focus on creating this stable energy without getting into things being stationary and stuck.

Because I’m talking about the kind of stability that’s nourishing and allows you to take purposeful action because we can also get too bogged down in the earth and become fixed and stuck there. So this is also about bringing in movement to the parts of your life that feel stuck. It’s going to be quite an autumn in The Flow Collective. And this is where we are all maybe just beginning to slow down a bit and to gather in. Like I said, we’re still in summer but you just might notice in some places in your life or on certain days that there’s just a slight shift in the vibe, in the energy.

And the earth element also relates to our ability to digest. And of course that can mean food, but it can also mean anything else that is offered to us, like opinions, and ideas, and feedback, and also our ability to be nourished, whether we’re talking about the food that we eat, or the love and the support of others. So when the earth element is out of balance you might find it hard to receive love and support from others. Maybe you’re overly resourceful and independent, and insistent upon standing on your own two feet.

And maybe that’s kind of exhausting you, not receiving help that’s there. Or you could swing in the other direction and be overly reliant on others and continually need more. Nothing wrong with needing by the way but you could feel like you’re, also kind of another variation of this is that you could feel like you’re always caring for everyone else and that nobody’s taking care of you or ruminating and obsessing about things. And with all of this there is of course a gradient that we’re all moving along and going back and forth with because as humans we all have these things going on.

But does it feel within a range that’s more or less balanced? Because we all need to be self-reliant. And we all also need community. And there will be times when we lean into one more than the other. So again we’re not pathologizing those needs, but you can probably think of someone in your life who’s very needy. And it’s like no matter how much they receive it’s never enough. And likewise you may know someone who refuses all offers of help and someone else, they might be very overbearing, and meddlesome, and stuck.

So these are all variants of the earth energy and that comes into play at this time of year. And if you’re really honest with yourself, you can probably identify times when you have been in some of these places too. So just remember, when we’re taking note of these things and spotting them within ourselves, we don’t have to judge ourselves for this. We’re just practicing the art of noticing and naming and getting curious about it all. And this is what late summer is asking of us. We’re checking that we have what we need, and also checking, do others have what they need?

Because it goes both ways, it’s about receiving and giving, being nourished and nourishing. We’re taking note of what needs to be addressed. What decisions do we need to make? What needs to be edited? I cannot wait to get into all of this in the membership over the coming months. I’ve been musing on it all year in preparation for autumn because I know that for many of you, autumn is challenging. It might be the autumn season of your cycle, when you’re premenstrual, or the season of the year.

Well, certainly the qualities, and the powers, and the challenges of autumn I know for most of you that’s where you need help. And I want to help you, so that’s exactly what we’re going to be doing. But right now we are in the late summer season. So here’s what I’m inviting you to do. I’ve got some questions for you and just take a moment to answer.

First of all, just notice if you feel a shift in your body and how you feel. This might be as you’re listening to this, you might look back on the previous weeks, or you could just pay attention to it in the coming weeks. Are you noticing a shift in your body and how you feel? Has how your thinking shifted? What emotions are present for you at the moment? So are there particular ones that are dominating your emotional landscape? Is there any concern or apprehension, or are you going into worry and rumination?

Does it feel like you’re able to manage your mind? And by that I just mean, can you put the reins on your brain and steer it or is it just going wild and you’re a victim to your thoughts and whatever the hell your brain gets up to? And lastly, what would feel supportive and nourishing to you as we head towards autumn? And you can find all of these questions in the transcript for this episode.

So every time we release a podcast episode, if you go to my website, maisiehill.com, in the podcast section there’s a page for each episode with the full transcript and relevant links. And you can access that just by going to wherever you listen to podcasts and finding the link to the show notes for each episode. So you can get those questions there.

And that’s it for today. I hope that you have got what you needed from this episode and that it’s helped you to understand some of the shifts that you might have been experiencing in yourself or are currently experiencing in yourself. Because often I just think it makes such a difference when we can have that experience named for us and that we can start to make sense of what’s going on which is of course what my work is all about. So thank you for listening today my lovelies. Sign up for the workshop at maisiehill.com/workshop. And I will see you there. I can’t wait.

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of the Period Power podcast. If you enjoyed learning how to make your cycle work for you, head over to maisiehill.com for more.