Last week during our Origin enrollment period, I was messaging back and forth with Ellen who manages our customer service inbox to find out what the most common questions we were getting about the membership were, so I could make sure to answer them in my emails and social media.
Hot Do Less tip: Keep a running doc of the questions that people send in about your products/services, so you know exactly what to talk about in your marketing and don’t have to waste time or energy wondering what they might want to know.
Her response surprised me:
“I found about five different iterations of “I don’t get a period because__________ (ablation, menopausal, etc.) so how would this work for me?”
We have a rule in our company that if we get something in the inbox 3 or more times, it’s a trend and it requires action or communication of some kind.
So, I thought it would be useful to write about how you can practice cyclical alignment (whether you’re part of our membership, Origin®, or not) when you don’t have a period.
This is something I talk about all the time on podcast interviews, but I wanted it to have its own sweet home on my website so that we can send it to folks who ask in the future.
Hot Do Less tip: When you get the same question over and over again, create a piece of free content that answers it so that you can direct people to it easily. It can be a blog, a podcast, or a video, as long as it makes your and your customers’ lives easier. No need to type out the same answer over and over again. Just keep the link on hand and send!.
So, here we go…
Ironically, the bulk of the time that I’ve been teaching the Do Less Methodology, I’ve either been pregnant or nursing and have not had a period myself.
Here’s what so cool (this is the crux of how to practice cyclical alignment when you don’t have a period):
The moon has an incredibly predictable cycle that lasts 29.5 days.
It has 4 distinct phases, each of which have their own energetic signature.
These 4 phases and 4 energetic signatures have the exact same energetic quality as the 4 phases of the menstrual cycle and the 4 seasons.
Here’s how they fit together:
So, whether you’re pregnant, do not have a uterus, are post-menopausal, or don’t have a period for any number of other reasons, guess what?
You can use the moon!
(And if you do have a period but you don’t get it at the new moon and you’re not sure how to work with the 2 different energies of your menstrual phase and the lunar phase, get on my list so you don’t miss the post I’m doing about that next week.)
The advantage of using the moon for cyclical alignment is that it’s freaking predictable.
Why are we affected by the moon?
Because we’re made up of 60% water, and the moon’s gravitational pull affects water. (Hello, tides.)
Even though we don’t have tides in our bodies, there’s some fascinating data showing the moon’s effect on us, such as baby booms during Supermoons, the moon’s phases affecting our sleep, and the moon’s phases affecting our emotions.
So, how do you use cyclical alignment with the moon to do less and achieve more?
Here are some ideas:
- Put the lunar phases in your calendar, so you know what energy you’re working with each week. (It’s really easy to add them to your Google Calendar or iPhone calendar.)
- Organize what you’re doing each week according to the energy of the lunar phase to the degree that you can (even 5% of tasks in alignment is amazing).
- Examples:
- Full Moon: Batching videos or podcasts
- Waning Moon: Bookkeeping, filling out metrics and analyzing them
- New Moon: Resting and listening to your intuition for insights around important decisions
- Waxing Moon: Mapping out a launch, taking steps to get something new off the ground
- Examples:
- Align how you’re doing things with the energy of the lunar phase each week. We often can’t change what we’re doing, but we can always change how we’re doing it. And the how really matters.
- Examples:
- Full Moon: Moving quickly and getting “out there”
- Waning Moon: Doing as much as you can solo
- New Moon: Moving more slowly and giving yourself extra space and padding (with time, your emotions, and self-care)
- Waxing Moon: Doing things innovatively with a spark of fresh energy
- Examples:
- Write out your intentions/goals/desires on the New Moon.
- Write out what you want to release on the Full Moon.
- Note where the New and Full Moons land in your own astrological chart to see which house they’re affecting the most. (There are 12 houses, and each represents a different area of your life.)
You definitely do not need to have a period to benefit from cyclical living. While your energetic relationship with the moon may be more subtle than hormonal energetic ebbs and flows that cause periods, it can be equally (or even more) powerful.
Remember: This is an energetic practice. There’s no way to get it right or wrong. It’s about listening to yourself and honoring how you feel. Put away your protractor, have fun with it, and lean back into the flow of lunar support that’s available to you at all times.
Now I’d love to hear from you:
How do you work with the moon around productivity, manifesting, and energy management? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments!
Xoxo,
Kate
P.S. Want to dive deeper with more strategies for doing less to achieve more? My book, Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Ambitious Women, has 14 experiments to try that will blow your mind with how simple, yet effective, they are.
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