How Women are Connected to the Moon

How Women are Connected to the Moon

The sun has long been revered as a, if not THE, key source of life here on P. Earth. Little could we do without it, right? It shines, things grow and we’re all warm and happy. Few doubt the benefit of fifteen-minute, daily sun exposure.  It’s even become a medically-accepted health guideline to do so. Yet the moon, the sun’s softer-focus, night-side partner, has an equally important part in creating and influencing human life and mood. Its impact on us was once commonly understood and embedded in our lives, but is now largely ignored, or even taken for voodoo. Reawakening our awareness of the impact of the moon’s vibration on us can hold significant health benefits, both mentally and physically, and for men, women and children.

Let’s break this down:

The moon is the closest celestial body to the earth. Its gravitational effect is as important to our seasons as the sun. Tides are dictated by the moon. And here’s an attention grabber – the largest known natural orgy on the planet happens on a Full Moon – as Sir David Attenborough recorded for Planet Earth – 130 species of coral on the Great Barrier Reef all spawn at once under a November Full Moon. Within these three scientifically proven examples, we can see that both rhythms and reproductions in nature are significantly influenced by the moon. Yet we humans seem to have grown out of integrating the understanding of its energy into balancing a healthy lifestyle. Ignoring this builds up in our systems and can cause problems.

Whether we know it or not, when we lie in Savasana during yoga, the principle is to allow the fluids in our bodies to settle. We feel the benefit of just lying there as everything softens. That’s all our juices heading towards the mat as we yield to the influence of gravity. At a particle level, the water in our bodies is the same as in our seas. It may not slosh around but it’s still water. At over 50% water (higher for men than women, and higher still for infants and children), our bodies do not have ‘tides’ yet they do have cycles that ebb and flow in tune with the moon.

Much has been written about the impact of the moon on women’s cycles, so I’ll cover just a few basics here. Midwives know that their departments get busy around the Full Moon, for example. But have you ever wondered why our cycles are very rarely 28 days as the rest of the medical profession would have us chart? It’s because the moon’s cycle can be as long as 32 days. Wouldn’t that make you feel a bit more normal, a bit more relieved if your period is late or a bit more prepared? The midwives know…

I would encourage all women, whether pre-menarche, menstruating or menopausal to chart their day against the phases of the moon. Whether you have a menstrual cycle or not, you would soon appreciate the patterns of your mood and energy levels waxing and waning along with the brightness in the night sky. During our menstrual years, these signs will be more obvious (yep – they often shout at us, right?!) but they will be there for every woman of any age or reproductive status, whether subtle or screaming. Awareness of these cycles helps us to tune in to, accept and not push against our normal cyclical behaviour which we might otherwise think of as ‘being bonkers’ days, unexplained fatigue or ‘ooh, where’s that va voom come from?’. Generally speaking, we are designed to bleed, be introspective and ‘in the dark’ with the New Moon and dance, be extrovert and ‘out there’ under the light of the Full Moon. Chart it, see and make plans for your cyclical energy… We’re a Reef of Women…

It’s these sort of behaviours that our ancestors adopted in tune with their cycles. Today, we ask our adrenals to keep us powering through – day-in, day-out, linear and unforgiving, even when we’re feeling (the big) pants! This sort of ‘non-listening’ behaviour builds up in our bodies and is now being cited as detrimental to our overall emotional and physical health, certainly as we approach our menopause and our adrenals have been severely depleted.

Hormones are the messengers dispatched in response to environmental cues, such as day length and phase of the moon. Melatonin, the hormone for sleep peaks just before menstruation, normally around the New Moon. That’s when we’re tired. Plan for it! And studies have shown that men sleep less during a Full Moon and are more likely to show apathetic and emotional behaviour such as irrational rage. Just the same as women can have similar symptoms associated with PMT during their cycle, men too can be affected in the form of lack of energy, anger irritability and heightened or lessened sex drive. It has also been clinically proven through examination of men’s bodily fluids during the moon’s cycle that testosterone levels rise and fall by 30% during the moon cycle. We’re all water and blood and bone and hormones and we all live under the moon! We’re a Reef of Humans!

Because the effects of the moon are subtle, yet the lives we live daily are generally so full-on and environmentally polluted, it is very easy for us to get out of sync. Being exposed to the light of the Full Moon, either outside or through an open curtain can help to reset our body clocks. Be aware of when the next New or Full Moon is and just notice. Recognising commonality in your behaviour from one moon cycle to the next makes it normal and takes a whole heap of stress out of life if you can offer yourself some respite or understanding when waning, or a fabulous night out when you’re feeling fantastic!

And as for the kids? Well, they are the children of the moon and the stars. They have been least exposed to environmental factors and are closest to how we should ‘be’ as beings. Just watch their behaviour on the Full Moon and you’ll see. Allow them the energy that it can bring. Witness it and learn. Because it is not lunacy. It is heavenly JOY.

 

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