Women & Cycles
2.MENSTRUATION
WHAT'S IT REALLY ABOUT?
Guess What...
Your menstruation is NOT a curse!
This "time of the month" gives your body the chance to cleanse, clear, & start fresh from one cycle to the next supporting you to let go what's notworking in your life and embrace new changes...
As is often discussed amongst women, we experience this phase of the month as our body having an opportunity to deeply let go – physically and emotionally. Although sometimes unpleasant, we nevertheless have a clearing out, which give us a chance for a fresh start in the next month or cycle.
‘Our Cycles’ aims to support developing body-awareness, which means you can start to make sense of the symptoms and feelings you experience - it's your body's way of telling you "somethins up"... but what is that something specifically for you?
A few moments in your day to check-in is all that is needed - How are you feeling? What are your moods? What’s happening in your body? Over time your recordings in the diary grow, and you can take time to review and reflect on what are the repeating moods or re-occurring symptoms that you are experiencing.
This self-awareness is an empowering tool and can assist you to make better well-being choices and to seek the right help where necessary.
3 KEY PHASES
1.PREPARING FOR YOUR PERIOD
The concept of the preparation days is to bring a highlighted awareness for women to nurture the body before menstruation begins and to observe more closely what is happening on all levels...
For each woman the duration of this phase will vary; it may be a longer or shorter amount of days that you begin to notice or feel changes in the body, feelings and moods, all in the lead up to the body getting ready to release and let go in the time of menstruation.
Self-awareness is the key in this time of ‘preparing’, as much of what your body communicates to you in this time are indicators for how you have been living this past cycle... too much stress? or emotional unrest? too much in your head? or have you been looking after yourself?
In this time of preparing your body is your best-friend, the true one that really tells you how it is without any cushions on the side, and all designed to support you to look after your body with the care it truly deserves.
WOMEN & THE PERIOD DIARY
In essence Our Cycles is not (just) a period diary, it is, as the title suggests, a whole CYCLE diary, and in its simplicity it espouses a greater look at the whole, and not just one part.
There are many ways to keep track of a woman's period dates, which is without question crucial and helpful information to have, however, often overlooked are all the other details of what is in her days of menstruation and everything in between!...Which are, by all measures, vital pieces of the puzzle for a woman’s overall well-being.
The Concept of this period diary is simple…
Make time in your day to take note of what is happening for you, let the app do its technical mumbo-jumbo automatically, and overtime this recording builds and gathers a history of what’s been happening in your cycle…
...whether it be during the time of actual menstruation, the time just before, the time just after, around ovulation time or when you are fertile or not...all of these phases happening throughout your cycle are personal to you and your body.
The notes you make can be related to these phases for you to spot
re-occurring feelings or moods, and or physical body symptoms – which become very handy when visiting your GP or other health practitioner/s.
Our Cycles can be used for any thing
and every thing. It is in essence and by
all measures a diary that holds all of
your moments of self-awareness and
self-reflection
3.OVULATION AWARENESS
Ovulation what? ... unfortunately most women do not know much about their ovulation, until looking at pregnancy or avoiding it ... it's actually a very cool and interesting part and it has a huge impact on how we are feeling...
Our Cycles has deliberately made 'Ovulation Awareness' a feature that includes its own calendar, diary and feeling/mood/symptom tracker. But why the specific focus?
Ovulation is a vital part of a woman's cycle. It is not just unique for its reproductive functions, but unique in that it is the part where a woman can grow, deepen and expand an inner-connection to herself and then express it outwardly in her life. Countless studies report on this 'expansion' as a woman feeling more confident, out-going, sexy and so forth during this phase of the cycle.
Education and awareness about this part of a woman's cycle is sorely lacking, and so the app's features give women the opportunity to begin their own self-explorative journey and get to know themselves and their body to a whole deeper level.
Our Cycles makes Looking after
yourself simple and practical
"I really enjoyed the 'Press Launch' evening in London's Mayfair recently, and getting to meet Natalie, what an inspiring and confident woman she is! She is obviously very passionate about her app and was interested in getting feedback from the people who use it. I love spending 5 mins every evening to reflect on myself and my day I’m not too keen on spending time on computers or phones but I am making an exception for this app, I thoroughly recommend it to all women and , not forgetting men. "
- Shanti, 41yrs, Teacher, London
"I was recommended this app by a friend and had it downloaded on my phone for quite some time. Eventually I decided to give it a go. It was during a phase where I was struggling and experiencing various negative emotions on a daily basis. There was a definite negative slant on my life. I found the most powerful part of the app was clicking what emotions and feelings I was having throughout the day. Initially it was incredibly confronting to really acknowledge the actual quality of my daily life. I began to see where I was making choices to continue this perpetual cycle and wanted to change. So for fun I looked through all the gorgeous feelings listed in the app. I connected to these and realised I could foster these throughout my days instead. All I can say is that there was a pretty big difference. The results? Far more enjoyment in my relationship, a deeper responsibility for my health and the benefits of that, a lot more joy in my life and an understanding of just how much I can choose my feelings/emotions. Oh and my periods stopped hurting too. There's so much the modern woman is missing out on by not being educated on the cyclical nature of their bodies and how we can be in relationship with this.