The journey to cycle syncing…
Emily founded Déjà after a breakthrough in her early 30s. She was overcome with anxiety and had been trying to “fix” herself in the name of wellness for years. Her greatest discovery in self healing came from “giving up” the fight and learning to embrace the wisdom of nature’s cycles. Here is her story from struggle to ease.
“It started 5 years ago, I was teaching way too many yoga classes, travelling all the time and “living my best life” but underneath it all experiencing extreme anxiety and exhaustion. I had regular skin break outs and horrible PMS but I still believed I could heal myself - if I just tried harder. (haven’t we all thought that before….)
It peaked one night when the cramps got so bad that I threw up. My hot water bottle wasn't enough so I thought I would take a hot bath. When it was ready I couldn't dare take my pajamas and hoody off - so I actually got in the tub with all my clothes on… like a dramatic movie scene of some sort.
From there I accepted that it wasn't normal to be so out of balance.
I sought out acupuncture - which had healed my hormonal skin issues in the past - and started going every week. By being forced to lie still and do nothing I was reminded that healing works best when we get out of the way, and let our bodies do it's incredible work!
Around this time I read every book, article, podcast and instagram account that I could find about women's health and came across “cycle syncing”. This concept, introduced by Alisa Vitti, suggests that since the hormones that flow from the glands in your brain dictate every major body process - including regulating your temperature, digestion, mood, heart rate, fertility and more, your monthly hormone cycle should dictate the food you eat, the activities you take part in and the rest you need. That made sense to me.
This information also reminded me of the importance of the mind body connection and all the years of yoga and meditation training I had done. I saw that stress management was the first domino to fall, knocking all the other systems out of balance with it. So I set out to completely alter my self care practices to manage stress as best as I could. More on that to come.
After about 3 months, I finally felt like myself again. In fact, I I felt even more free. It was the end of my striving journey in wellness. The end of my suffering, forcing, pushing and restricting. It was the time of true surrender into the feminine. What seemed like an overwhelming solution at first was actually intuitive, natural and proved to be a huge relief.
It turns out that the very healing modalities I was trained in - yoga and meditation - were mostly designed by men, for men. And, I had adopted a very masculine approach to my self care by pushing my limits and pressuring myself for growth.
Yin yoga, yoga nidra and meditation became the core of my healing practice. From there I balanced my self care with vinyasa and more active exercise but was now able to approach them with a feminine lens and avoid burnout. It was simple yet revolutionary - every piece of my 10 year journey in wellness seemed to fit into place.
I already knew this struggle was something my friends and students were also experiencing, so I wanted to find a way to help and empower them - so they could take on their own self healing.
I studied more about the meridian theory to discover which yin yoga poses affected which systems and in the body. In the weekly yin class I was teaching at the time I decided to make a monthly sequence that nourished the specific organs that were most under stress during that particular month and season. I also dove into yoga nidra and included more meditation in my classes to offer stillness and opportunities for the body to heal on its own. After teaching these monthly sequences for a few years, and lots of feedback from students, I had refined each month's sequence and created beautiful playlists to match.
And then every yoga studio shut down - we all know that story - and so I created the Homeward Calendar. My annual guide to nourishing the yin, or feminine power by syncing with nature and supporting your body’s natural processes. This was my way to offer guidance while everyone moved their practices to their homes.
Five years later, living this way is second nature - and teaching this way has evolved to include two additional phases within the monthly meridian sequences. These are the phases of “rising” and returning” and allow for opportunities to incorporate energizing practices as well as introspective and restorative practices - which are still the foundation of self healing, in our masculine dominated culture.
When I manage my stress and surrender to my cycles I can handle it all. This lifestyle has given me the stability, strength and courage to live in high stress situations chasing my dreams and building the life I want.
I'm now convinced that alignment over will power is the formula.
And I’m convinced that underneath the struggle and symptoms, our bodies are already well and are working to heal us and thrive - it is syncing with our wellness that offers ultimately freedom and flow.”
