Sync with your Moon Cycle
Lunar & Menstrual Cycle Guide · Week 1 · Body 🌙
Before you choose from this week's menu, take a moment to locate yourself in your cycle. We aim to work with your body's intelligence rather than against it.
Find your phase below and let it inspire your choices this week.
Menstrual
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Follicular
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Ovulation
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Luteal
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Menstrual * Follicular * Ovulation * Luteal *
🌑 Menstruation: Days 1–5 The Winter. The New Moon within.
Your body is completing a full cycle and releasing. Energy moves inward and downward. This is the most yin, receptive phase. The body asks for rest, warmth, and gentleness above all else.
This phase and the Body menu:
➕ Add: the morning body scan (option 1) is your most aligned choice this week. Lying still, moving awareness through the body, asking what it needs as this is exactly what menstruation invites. If you feel called to movement, choose slow and floor-based: restorative yoga, gentle stretching, walking in nature. Avoid cold water finish (option 2) and vigorous morning movement (option 3) this week - your body is already working hard.
➖ Remove: this is a powerful time to remove alcohol (option 1) — the body's detoxification capacity is heightened during menstruation and alcohol directly burdens the liver which is already processing hormonal changes. Removing eating after 8pm (option 3) also supports the body's natural downward release during this phase.
🌀 Deepen: tracking your body's energy through the day (option 2) is especially valuable to begin during menstruation. Day 1 of your period is the natural start of a new cycle - beginning your energy tracking here gives you the most complete picture. Also consider the self-care ritual (option 5) as this phase calls for it the most.
Journaling prompt for this phase:
What is my body releasing right now - physically, emotionally, energetically? What from the past cycle am I ready to let go of along with it?
General recommendations:
Warmth over cold. Rest without guilt. Reduce intensity in all areas; exercise, social commitments, screen time. Nourish with warm, cooked foods. Honor the bleed as your sacred time with your womb.
🌒 Follicular: Days 6–13The Spring. The Waxing Moon within.
Estrogen is rising. Energy is building fresh and clean from the quiet of menstruation. This is your most expansive, initiating phase - the body is ready to begin, explore, and try new things. Motivation comes more easily here than at any other time in the cycle.
This phase and the Body menu:
➕ Add: this is your best phase for establishing a new body practice because your brain's neuroplasticity is literally higher during follicular. Choose something that requires a little courage or novelty; the cold water finish (option 2) lands well here as the body has more resilience and the nervous system responds with energy rather than depletion. Conscious movement before screens (option 3) is also powerful now - your body wants to move and this channels that rising energy with intention. ➖ Remove: follicular is an excellent time to remove unconscious phone use in bed (option 4) - your sleep is naturally lighter and more restorative in this phase and protecting it amplifies the energetic rising. Also a strong time to remove the food your body has been signaling discomfort about (option 5) - you have the clarity and motivation to observe the difference. 🌀 Deepen: your existing yoga or movement practice (option 1) responds beautifully to follicular energy - this is when adding intensity, trying a new style, or showing up more consistently feels supported rather than forced. Also consider learning something about your body's specific design (option 4) - your mind is sharp and curious in this phase and new information integrates well.
Journaling prompt for this phase: What does my body want to explore or try that I have been hesitant about? What new relationship with my physical self am I being invited to begin?
General recommendations: This is your initiating phase, use it. Begin new habits here rather than at arbitrary calendar dates. Increase movement gradually. Experiment with foods, practices, timings. Your body is more resilient and adaptive now than at any other point in the cycle.
🌕 Ovulation — Days 14–16
The Summer. The Full Moon within.
Peak estrogen and a surge of LH (luteinizing hormone). Energy, magnetism, and physical vitality are at their highest. The body is biologically primed for connection, expression, and being seen. You may feel more comfortable in your body, more outwardly oriented, more physically confident.
This phase and the Body menu:
➕ Add: barefoot time on the earth (option 5) during ovulation carries a particular resonance. Your body's electromagnetic field is at its most expansive and grounding anchors that expansion rather than scattering it. Conscious movement before screens (option 3) is also excellent - your body has the most physical energy available now and moving it first thing honors that.
➖ Remove: coffee before water (option 2) is worth addressing during ovulation - cortisol is naturally slightly elevated around ovulation and caffeine before hydration amplifies this unnecessarily. Alcohol (option 1) also worth removing now if you haven't already -alcohol during ovulation can affect the hormonal surge and is worth experiencing without for at least one cycle to feel the difference in clarity and physical confidence.
🌀 Deepen: a body-based creative project (option 3) is your most aligned deepening choice during ovulation. Your body wants to be expressed, seen, celebrated; drawing it, writing to it, photographing yourself in movement, creating a body playlist. This is also a powerful time to do the self-care ritual (option 5) - receiving care when you are at your most outwardly alive creates a particular kind of fullness.
Journaling prompt for this phase: How do I feel in my body right now compared to other times in my cycle? What does it feel like to inhabit this body fully and what gets in the way of that feeling lasting?
General recommendations: Say yes to more. Move more, connect more, be seen more. Your body is doing something extraordinary this week, it is offering life. Acknowledge this miracle that happens in you every month!
🌘 Luteal — Days 17–28
The Autumn. The Waning Moon within.
Progesterone rises after ovulation. If no pregnancy occurs, both estrogen and progesterone decline toward menstruation. Energy moves from outward to inward across this phase - early luteal (days 17–21) still carries some of ovulation's warmth, while late luteal (days 22–28) asks for quieter, more reflective energy. This is the phase most affected by lifestyle choices - sleep, nutrition, stress, and stimulants all are felt stronger here.
This phase and the Body menu:
➕ Add: morning body scan (option 1) becomes increasingly important as luteal progresses - the body has more to say in this phase and learning to listen without judgment is the practice. Evening body gratitude (option 4) is particularly powerful in late luteal when the inner critic tends to be loudest, so we meet that voice with softness and love.
➖ Remove: alcohol (option 1) has its most noticeable effect when removed during luteal - sleep disruption, mood volatility, and physical tension are all amplified by alcohol in this phase. Even occasional drinkers notice significant difference in late luteal without it. Eating after 8pm (option 3) also matters more now as digestion slows in luteal and late meals affect sleep quality and morning energy more noticeably than at other cycle phases.
🌀 Deepen: tracking your body's energy through the day (option 2) is invaluable during luteal specifically because the energy shifts across this phase are so distinct. Noticing where your energy peaks and dips across days 17–28 gives you the map of your personal cycle pattern which is the information that changes how you plan, create, relate, and rest for the rest of your life. Also consider learning something about your body (option 4) - luteal is a reflective, inward-turning phase and studying something you've been curious about or reflection over the process you are currently in could be good practices for this time.
Journaling prompt for this phase: What is my body trying to tell me that I have been too busy or too loud to hear? What does it need from me in these last days before it completes another cycle?
General recommendations: Protect your sleep fiercely in late luteal as it is the single highest-leverage intervention for PMS symptoms of any kind. Reduce stimulants and increase warmth, rest, and nourishment. Say “no” more easily. Complete things rather than beginning them. The body is preparing to release again so let the rhythm complete itself.