Women’s cycle and phases of the moon: how does it affect our emotions?

Increased female emotionality (in comparison with male) is also the result of cyclical changes in the hormonal background. How to balance your psychological state, relying on the knowledge of Chinese medicine?

“According to Chinese medicine, man is part of nature, and the female cycle in the understanding of traditional doctors is associated with the phases of the moon. Have you noticed that both the female and the lunar cycle average 28 days? Centuries ago, Chinese medicine experts suspected that this was no coincidence.” — Anna Vladimirova says

There are many similarities in how these two cycles affect the emotional state. For example, some girls know very well how their mood worsens before menstruation.

Chinese medicine is based on the concept of qi — energy or, to put it simply, the amount of strength. Before menstruation, the level of qi drops, hence all the experiences associated with the so-called PMS: sad, no strength, no one will understand and help (hence the irritability), I want to cry and have a chocolate bar.

A similar emotional state occurs against the background of the full moon, and if suddenly menstruation occurred during this period, the negative state literally doubles. The new moon, on the contrary, gives strength — just like the hormonal background during the period of ovulation. Therefore, if the new moon and ovulation coincide, sudden attacks of aggression are possible (the easiest way to “drain” excess strength), hysterical activity, or such violent fun, after which one is often ashamed.

Finding balance: why is it needed?

An exercise that allows you to balance emotions, using knowledge about the relationship between the menstrual and lunar cycles. But first, a little clarification — why do I think this balance is especially important?

In Western culture, emotionality is considered a positive quality. How many books have been written and films made about sincere, emotional girls who know how to rejoice in everything and everyone, and if they are upset, then to consumption and complete extinction.

The Chinese tradition is more rational: it is believed that the task of a person is to live a long, full, fruitful life, and for this you need to wisely manage the energy (qi) that you have. Emotions, as they say, «with an inflection» — this is the easiest way to get rid of qi, literally lose strength. And this applies to both negative and positive experiences.

With the bad ones — anxiety, grief, despair — everything is more or less clear: few people want to experience them. But how, one wonders, positive experiences: joy, fun, delight? Remember the saying: “If you laugh a lot, then you will cry a lot”? In this case, we are talking about the very fun «with an inflection»: a hysterical rampage that takes away so much strength that complications are possible later.

If we imagine a conditional scale, where -10 is the deepest despair, and +10 is crazy fun, then +4 can be taken as a conditional norm. — +5 — a state of calm joy, inspiration, a mood in which it is most pleasant to act, no matter what you do. And if you agree with the ideas voiced, then we move on to practice.

The Path to Cycle Synchronization

This practice is designed for an average of 3—6 months. Its purpose is as follows: by bringing attention to the body and tracking your own emotions, synchronize the menstrual cycle with the lunar cycle in such a way that on the full moon (the period when there is less strength) there is ovulation (increasing the amount of qi), and on the new moon (a lot of strength) — menstruation (little qi): in this case, one cycle will balance the other.

Sounds ambitious, doesn’t it: now I will adjust the hormonal system to the changing phases of the moon. As a teacher of women’s Taoist practices, I can say that we ourselves are able to correct a lot in our body. As a rule, this becomes noticeable against the backdrop of bright negative events: for example, girls who have passed responsible exams know that during this period a delay in menstruation is possible. The body is so tense that it postpones this energy-intensive activity for later.

Taoist practices teach you to negotiate with the body — to tune it to the style of work that you need, so the exercise below gives the fastest results in women who practice regularly.

So, exercise.

Step 1. Draw a graph: the vertical axis is a scale of emotional state, where -10 is a deep depression, and +10 is a hysterical insanity. The horizontal axis — mark the dates of the month on it, starting from today.

Step 2. Find out what day the new moon and full moon fall on, fix these two points on the chart. By the full moon, the moon, respectively, will increase, and by the new moon, it will decrease. Draw these processes in the form of parabolas — as in the figure below.

Step 3. By analogy with lunar parabolas, plot the parabolas of your menstrual cycle on the chart: the top point is menstruation, the bottom point is ovulation.

Step 4. Put this chart in your bedroom and every night before bed, note what your average mood was for the day. For example, there were a couple of positive moments, one negative, and on average the whole situation is more or less drawn to +2. As you note the mood, mentally relate it to the two cycles. As a result, you should get some kind of curve. If there were any sharp negative or positive events that sharply unsettled, briefly sign under the prominent points what exactly happened.

Step 5. At the end of the month, look at the graph, note when what reactions unsettled you, and what you managed to successfully cope with.

What does it give?

Despite its apparent simplicity, this is a very deep and powerful practice that allows you to achieve amazing results.

You learn to objectively assess your emotional state. This is the first step towards what is called the beautiful term «wisdom»: you have an internal observer who analyzes when and why this or that emotional reaction occurs. Thanks to him, you slow down those eternal emotional swings that many girls try to hide from in shopping, eating cakes or drinking alcohol on Fridays.

You learn to control emotions — in the Western sense, this skill has a negative connotation, because the word «control» is directly related to silence: «swallow the resentment and move on.» I’m not talking about such control: you literally get a superpower that allows you to show emotions when you want, and when there is no such desire, to calmly and confidently refuse it. A gap appears between the stimulus and the reaction to it — a space in which you decide what to do next and react in the way that is most pleasant and comfortable for you now.

You regulate your hormones. Hormones are directly related to emotions — that’s a fact. The reverse relationship is also true: by adjusting the emotional background, you harmonize the endocrine system. For 3—6 months can significantly reduce the manifestations of PMS — from experiences and ending with pain and swelling.

And finally, this exercise, as mentioned earlier, after 3—6 months allows you to synchronize the menstrual cycle with the phases of the moon and naturally harmonize emotions — as shown in the figure below. And nature begins to help you become even stronger, more energetic and happier.