I BLEED

In this episode I speak to Krista, a functional integrative nutritionist with a holistic approach to the body, where when there is a problem, the question of why this is happening is brought forward, and addressing the root cause of the problem is often the key to the solution. We talk about food, emotions, periods and how to look at our body in a holistic way.

Krista King is a registered dietitian nutritionist, integrative and functional certified nutrition practitioner, and holistic health expert. Through her online practice, Composed Nutrition, she provides virtual nutrition coaching, courses, and resources to naturally heal your hormones, digestion, and anxiety.

Website: https://www.composednutrition.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/composednutrition/ (@composednutrition)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/composednutrition

In this episode I speak to Marita, the executive director of the Surge Middle East branch and we talk about the the work Water for Surge is doing on the ground to break the stigma around periods and get the girls back to school.

Marita grew up in Dubai and has seen the city evolve. In her current role as Executive Director Middle East at Surge, a water non-profit organization, she is able to fulfill her desire to help fellow human beings through her volunteer work with them.

Surge’s mission is to end the cycle of poverty by bringing those most in need safe water and sanitation. The org has grown steadily in the last 7 years since it was established in Dubai. Surge’s wider mission is to bring awareness to water conservation. Reducing plastic consumption is very much aligned with this.

As a budding environmental activist and novice beekeeper, Marita spends a lot of her time learning more about various issues including the mainstream education system, sustainable agriculture, plastic pollution and their terrible side effects on the planet and our health. She helps organize community beach cleans ups, taught the Eco Club at her children’s school and is generally up for anything that brings attention to these very important subjects.

Being a mother of two little girls she is very passionate about teaching children about the connectedness of everything in nature and how our Eco system works. It is from this deep understanding that we must all strive to be good stewards during our time on the planet and learn to live in harmony with Mother Earth. By nurturing and rekindling our love of all living beings, Marita believes that together we will change the world.  https://surgeforwater.org/ and instagram

In this episode I speak to Nikki Tajiri, the beautiful author of the unique beautiful and inspiring poetry and art book about our cycle "She Dreams when she Bleeds".

Nikki Tajiri is a writer and artist, who creates through healing her own relationship with her femininity. She Dreams When She Bleeds: Poems About Periods is her first book.

Nikki is someone who discovered the power and beauty of her own menstruation, and calls for women everywhere to fall in love with theirs. She tells us, just like we can love our bodies regardless of our shape, we can love our menstruation regardless of its frequency, flow, or pain.

Follow Nikki on instagram here:https://www.instagram.com/nikkitajiri/

Get a copy of your book here” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NQTCBS1?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

In this episode I speak to Hannah, an acupuncturist based in London who specialises in dealing with menstrual issues, we talk about the philosophy behind acupuncture and how it can help women reconnect to their cycle in a more positive organic and holistic way.

Hannah Pearn is an advanced fertility acupuncturist specialising in women’s health. She has grown her own practice over the last 8 years and work predominately with women who want support with their fertility and their hormonal health. She has a huge range of patients, from those who have just come off contraception and are beginning to try to conceive to those who have had multiple failed rounds of IVF. She also supports women who may not be trying to conceive but are experiencing hormonal horrors, from painful periods, to no periods, to heavy periods to peri menopausal symptoms. Her passion is trying to change conversations and awareness of women’s health. Hormonal issues; menstrual health, infertility, perimenopause/menopause are often dismissed, under researched, under funded and poorly treated. We have not been given enough education to empower us to take better control of so many issues around these areas and she likes to work together to change this….alongside the needles of course!

Email her at : [email protected]

https://hannahpearn.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/hannahpearnacupuncture/

In the episode I meet with Meka, At age of 11 Meka started a Sacred Moon cycle circle to teach young girls about how sacred their amazing body is and the blood that flows. Meka wants to change the negative views that the current generation has ….It is weird to think that this generation still experiences taboo around periods

Meka Leach a certified Bhakti yoga teacher of 200 hours, being the youngest in the USA to finish the certification classes. She is a certified Harmonic Waves Healing practitioner. Performing sound healing for adult only as well as children only classes. Meka has also finished all the levels of training and is a Reiki master. Meka is the youngest instructor and facilitator at Soderworld wellness  center and the surrounding area/ community. Mindfulness With Meka is a class, program and book she has hand written from her soul targeting children 10-17 years old. At the age of 10 she teaches and leads an kids only class about mindful living. At age of 11 Meka started a Sacred Moon cycle circle. To teach young girls about how sacred their amazing body is and the blood that flows.

She is also the National Champion in the USA in for Y10 epee.

She is an amazing loving soul and has a passion for holistic health and mindful practice. She loves crystals and she wants to change her generation. Teach people about self love, how to calm their minds, to live present, to live a healthy lifestyle, to understand their body and soul. 

https://linktr.ee/Mindfulnesswithmeka

https://www.facebook.com/mindfulnesswithmeka/

In this episode, I speak to Samantha Charlesworth, founder of simplylisciousoils to find out about the benefits of essential oils for our cycle and what oils to used based on where we are in our cycle.

Sam is a mum of 2 girls ages 8+10. She set up her business Simplylisciousoils in February 2019 and she’s passionate about helping other people with essential oils.

She started my journey with essential oils just over 2 years ago and she was hooked straight away. She now uses oils in all aspects of her family life. Blends to help calm, help with sleep, to energise, to help fight germs and in cleaning products. They have diffusers in every room and don’t go anywhere without oils. 

Want to find out more about oils, reach out to Sam on 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3954089947999099/?ref=share 

or follow her on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplylisciousoils/

In this episode I speak to Alex, a menstrual cycle awareness advocate, who shares her experience from taking the pill, dealing with infertility and reconnecting to her cycle...

Alex has  worked in the media industry her whole life; running around at 150mph, chasing money, success, affirmation at the expense of her health and wellbeing. Relentlessly sculpting her body at the gym, eating clean and living in a state of constant disconnect. By the age of 34 she had everything she thought  she wanted from the picture of how her life should be and yet she realised it wasn’t giving her the fulfilment and happiness she had hoped.   Not only was she suffering with debilitating body confidence issues, but her feelings of low self-worth had become all consuming, and she had discovered I was unable to conceive.

She realised that none of these outside things were going to give her the worth and value and connection to herself that she had really been longing for. And so she went on a quest to heal from the inside out.  

So when she  came off the pill to have a baby and it proved impossible, things started to unravel. She just could not conceive. Her menstrual cycle and fertility was mirroring back to her the relationship she had had with her own womanhood and herself. And so she dedicated herself to re-learning and re-connecting to all the parts of herself that she had disconnected from her whole life.. With every moment of re-connection she began to learn about her menstrual cycle with new eyes.

As she began to consciously discover the magic and power of her menstrual cycle,  she learnt that her physical body, her menstrual cycle, was so powerful that it was able to connect to the Lunar cycle of the moon. Through cycle tracking, she became so aligned with her womb energy that she was able to surrender to each part of her cycle allowing the tears to flow or the rage to come without judgement or shame. 

She was able to move through each cycle with more compassion and understanding for herself as well as bringing her to a place of even deeper connection with her sisterhood.

"We have learnt that periods are something to be ashamed of, to stop and to hide, but I want to help women break free of these feelings of shame and disgust.  I want to help women feel their feminine power, their wild, their radiant inner beauty and show them how to get the most out of their period by following cyclical awareness.  Without the menstrual cycle, humanity would not exist and I feel moved to educate other women on the power of it, not just as a giver of life, but as a beautiful event that happens each month."

Follow Alex on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamalexcroxford/

I believe a collective healing happens when people from that collective share their stories out loud, when the story no longer remains untold, hushed, and forgotten.

For many of the women I interviewed, no one had asked them about the story of their first period, it was a forgotten story one not to be brought up…

I was honoured to hear them tell their stories for the first time.

This collection of first period stories, I see it as a healing circle, but also as an archive of stories for those who have not yet stepped into their cycle.

There is a power and beauty in sharing our stories….

WANT TO SHARE YOU 1st PERIOD STORY?

Sharing connects us to each other, and has the power to bind us and heal us.

There are two way to go about it.

You can either send me a video of around 2-3min, looking straight into the camera and sharing your first period story.

Or you can send me a picture of you around the time you got you first period along with your written story.

www.i-bleed.com

In this episode I meet with Melissa, a yoga therapist who herself struggled with PMDD and has used yoga practice as a way to heal. Because Melissa has experienced the healing benefits, therapeutic yoga provides, she now offers first hand remedies and practices to help women with PMDD regain their well being

Melissa Sue Vair is a 600-hour Professional Yoga Therapist specializing in therapeutic yoga for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Melissa has always had a passion for women's issues, completing her undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies in 2010. Vair began teaching yoga full time in 2011 and has been dedicated to sharing yoga ever since. With the arrival of COVID-19 and the imperative to move everything online, Vair felt compelled to share how she has addressed her PMDD symptoms and maintained her mental and physical well-being.

For Vair, the practice of yoga is a proactive approach to unhappiness and suffering. She firmly believes that the therapeutic application of yoga can help empower individuals to discover their own self-worth, self-acceptance and self-love: to be radically authentic and accountable to their own happiness. 

Learn more about PMDD and Yoga for PMDD:  https://linktr.ee/yogaforpmdd

In this episode I speak to Shoshana a women’s empowerment mentor and cycle guide, who believes that . We’re cyclical beings living in a linear society but that when we start living according to our feminine flow our life can be optimised. 

Shoshana Sadia is a Women's Empowerment Mentor and Cycle Guide who works with modern, spiritual women who desire to live connected, conscious lives. Shoshi draws on ancient teachings and womb wisdom to guide women into deeper states of self-love, self-empowerment and alignment. She teaches women how to harness the power of their natural rhythms to step into their feminine flow. Shoshi combines powerful spiritual practices, mindset and embodiment work to shift inner states of being that will manifest externally. Her life's purpose is to use her experience, intuitive wisdom and deep spiritual education to serve women on their journeys through awakening.

Follow Shoshana on: