Best Alexandra Shepherd Podcasts (2024)

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156. How we Practice Cycle Awareness as a Couple (Lucy Peach and Richard Berney) 1:04:49

5d ago1:04:49

1:04:49

How can you practice cycle awareness in your relationship? We get asked this question all the time, so we’re especially grateful to our guests today, Lucy Peach and Richard Berney for being willing to invite us right into the heart of their cycle-aware relationship. Lucy Peach is a period preacher, author, and folksinger. She’s a graduate of our Me…

1
155. A Trauma-Informed Approach to Healing Pelvic Pain (Dr Peta Wright) 1:02:26

8d ago1:02:26

1:02:26

24% of women and people who bleed in the UK suffer from chronic pelvic pain, it’s 1 in 5 in Australia where our guest today, gynecologist Dr Peta Wright lives and works. Dr Peta wrote her book Healing Pelvic Pain: transforming the trauma of period pain, endometriosis and chronic pelvic distress to explore a wide range of treatments which often aren…

1
154. From PMDD to Power and Ending Menstrual Suffering (Kate Shepherd Cohen) 1:00:20

3d ago1:00:20

1:00:20

For many of us, the inner autumn can be a provocative, messy and painful part of the menstrual cycle, where old traumas and wounds can surface, and for some this becomes deeply debilitating and disruptive. Our guest today, Menstrual Cycle Support founder Kate Shepherd Cohen, shares generously about her personal experience of PMDD (Pre-Menstrual Dys…

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153. What Could Your Menstruality Career Look Like? (Alexandra & Sjanie) 56:36

10d ago56:36

56:36

Speaking about the menstrual cycle and menopause is becoming less and less taboo. You can see it everywhere you look; Instagram is wonderfully full of women teaching cycle tracking for health and fertility. Our recent podcast guest Dr Lara Owen is busy co-creating international menstrual and workplace policies. You can buy menstrual cups in superma…

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152. Menstruation and Menopause in the Workplace (Dr Lara Owen) 58:49

17d ago58:49

58:49

Today we’re delighted to welcome one of the original menstruality trailblazers, Dr Lara Owen back to the podcast. We’re exploring a topic which comes up regularly in the Red School community - how to practice menstrual cycle awareness and conscious menopause at work, and how to create workplaces which honour our cyclical needs, particularly during …

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151. Cyclical Wisdom for Heartbreak, Devastation and Rebirth (Sara Avant Stover) 58:50

24d ago58:50

58:50

In February 2016 our guest today, author and teacher Sara Avant Stover was coming out of a season of intense creativity and output and was preparing to enter into a cycle of rest and recovery, when one evening she received shattering news. Her former fiance came home one evening and confessed that he had been cheating on her, with many people, for …

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150. The Inner Autumn Powers that Awaken in our 40s (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:02:55

1M ago1:02:55

1:02:55

As with your early years of cycling, your later years of cycling are a transitional time. Your 20s and 30s are all about discovering your rhythm and firming up your sense of self. But from your 40s onwards, the focus begins to shift. Subtly, you start to feel that you're stepping up to a bigger game. It's as though the clock on your life is now tic…

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149. How to Move from Toxic Productivity to Honouring your Natural Rhythms (Tamu Thomas) 57:06

1M ago57:06

57:06

Do you catch yourself measuring your worth by how much you do, and how much what you do benefits others? If you do, you’re not alone. And, as our guest today, Tamu Thomas, says - it’s not your fault. In her groundbreaking new book, Women Who Work Too Much: Break Free from Toxic Productivity, Tamu challenges the societal norms that glorify relentles…

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148. How to Find the Gold in Your Menstrual Cycle Crossover Days (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:10:09

2M ago1:10:09

1:10:09

Is there a particular point of your menstrual (or lunar) cycle where you tend to fall into a metaphorical ‘hole’? For many it’s day 5/6, coming out of the bleed or day 19/20 as you transition to inner autumn. These are two of the four ‘crossover days’ of the cycle. We like to think of these days as mini gaps in the fabric of life, or the ground giv…

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147. Coming Home to our Wild, Instinctual, Embodied Wisdom (Michaela Boehm) 58:28

2M ago58:28

58:28

Many of us in the Red School community have an intuitive longing to connect to the wild Feminine within us. As our guest today Michaela Boehm says in her book, The Wild Woman’s Way, we’re longing to connect to “the ancient part of us that knows the rising of the moon, and the movement of the tides. The instinctual, deeply connected aspects in each …

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146. What we Know about the Power of the Menstrual Cycle (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:03:17

2M ago1:03:17

1:03:17

Today we’re talking about power, and it’s a word that comes up a lot at Red School. It features in both of Alexandra and Sjanie’s book titles, as well as the title of our new course coming up in June - Cycle Power. But what exactly do we mean by power? In our conversation, we explore how Alexandra and Sjanie define and understand power, why so many…

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145. Boundaries, Inner Mothering and the Menstrual Cycle (Bethany Webster) 59:24

2M ago59:24

59:24

The deeper we go with our menstrual cycle awareness practice, the more it can resource us as we heal our deepest wounds. Cycle by cycle, we step into deeper intimacy with our needs, which in turn enables us to take clumsy steps towards clarifying healthy boundaries. Today we’re speaking about a core wound which effects all of us, with the woman who…

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144. Decolonising Wellness & Ayurvedic Menstrual Wisdom (Jyoti Rani) 55:00

2M ago55:00

55:00

Today we’re exploring a vital topic to all of us who are looking to evolve, wake up and live in a way which is honouring and life-affirming - decolonisation. When you look at the modern wellness industry in western countries, you can see that it borrows heavily from the ancient traditions of cultures from around the globe - from turmeric lattes, to…

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143. How to Practice Cycle Awareness when your Cycle is Unpredictable (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:05:50

3M ago1:05:50

1:05:50

Do you have a menstrual cycle that doesn’t fit within the archetypal menstrual cycle maps? And are you - or someone you know - wondering how to practice cycle awareness when you have unpredictable, irregular cycles and are never sure when your period is going to arrive? When cycles become unpredictable it’s natural to feel uprooted, frustrated, pow…

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142. Your Womb, Your Menstrual Cycle and Expressing Your Truth (Alycia Camacho) 58:06

3M ago58:06

58:06

How easy do you find it to express your truth? On the podcast today, we’re exploring the connection between the womb and the voice, why so many of us feel blocked in our expression, and how we can literally talk and sing our way back to our power, so that we can use our voices to create the world we want for ourselves and future generations. Our gu…

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141. The Sacred Reckoning of Menopause (Elayne Kalila Doughty) 1:01:24

4M ago1:01:24

1:01:24

We’ve all been there at some point. A shocking challenge disrupts our lives - a loss, a health crisis, a great disappointment - and we become the caterpillar in the cocoon (ie: we turn to mush). But - as those of you who have been through it may well attest to (!) - nothing turns us into primordial goop like the initiation of menopause. Today I hav…

1
140. Cyclical Sex & How Cycle Awareness Deepens Intimacy (Alexa Bowditch) 58:32

4M ago58:32

58:32

Today we’re tackling two taboo topics at once. Firstly, sex - an area which many people find charged, challenging, confusing and sometimes shameful and we’re pairing it with menstrual cycle awareness - another topic so often shrouded in shame. Our guest and brilliant guide is Alexa Bowditch - the founder of sexandlove.co and a cycle aware woman who…

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139. Why we Need to Re-Write the Story of our First Periods (Alexandra & Sjanie) 55:48

4M ago55:48

55:48

Our first period - or our ‘menarche’ - is a big initiatory moment, which sets us on the path of menstruality - the path of awakening to our Calling. During menarche we are each birthed from the ‘womb of our family’, into the womb of our menstruating years. We’re coming into the holding, guidance and wisdom of our menstrual cycle, month after month.…

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138. Indigenous Cycle Wisdom and Menstrual Rituals (Dr Cre Dye) 56:40

4M ago56:40

56:40

When Dr Cre Dye was in her early 20s, she began to feel called to explore the power of her cycle - or as she describes it, her moon, flowers and power. Over our series of two conversations, we’re exploring the cycle wisdom she has learned, unearthed and received over the last three decades through the lens of her relationships with her two Grandmot…

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137. How Ancient Mythology Guides and Roots us on our Cyclical Heroine’s Journeys (Dr Sharon Blackie) 57:36

5M ago57:36

57:36

We’re thrilled to be welcoming mythologist and author, Dr Sharon Blackie back to the podcast today, to take another journey into the mythic imagination together. We explore how the ancient myths of our land weave us into connection with ourselves as natural, cyclical creatures, to our place in the world, and to the wisdom of our ancestral lineage. …

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136. What’s Going on with Pre-Menstrual and Menopause Rage? (Alexandra & Sjanie) 59:20

5M ago59:20

59:20

Today we're having a frank and feisty chat about one of the hot topics in our community - premenstrual and menopausal RAGE. Have you ever been driving in your car and felt compelled to wind the windows up and actually roar because you felt so wildly angry on day 24? Or, if you’re navigating menopause, have you experienced your own ‘burn-the-house-d…

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135: How to Feel Better in Perimenopause - REPLAY (Dr Lara Briden) 1:00:15

5M ago1:00:15

1:00:15

Today we’re actually replaying Dr Lara Briden's first episode with us, How to Feel Better in Perimenopause, because it’s the most popular episode we’ve ever shared, listened over 3500 times, and shared widely, and because we receive more questions about perimenopause than anything else. In the conversation Lara demystifies this major transition tha…

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134: Natural Approaches to Menstrual Pain, PMS and Contraception (Dr Lara Briden) 58:34

5M ago58:34

58:34

What causes menstrual pain? Why do periods go missing? Why do we get PMS and how can we treat it naturally? What is happening in our bodies when we're on the pill? What is a good alternative to the pill? We hear questions like these all the time from our community, and in today’s episode we’re talking with a great ally of Red School, Dr Lara Briden…

1
133: How The Menstrual Cycle Changed Our Lives (Alexandra & Sjanie) 59:37

6M ago59:37

59:37

Around 20 years ago, in London, Sjanie was living her life with great abandon. Bold, confident and out there…she was invulnerable. But she had no menstrual cycle - she had been on the contraceptive injection for seven years. It was only when she started to have intense pain after orgasm that she suddenly sensed something was missing and that she ne…

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132: How to be a Cycle-Aware Activist As a Highly Sensitive Person (Dorcas Cheng-Tozen) 1:03:12

6M ago1:03:12

1:03:12

Today's episode is for you if you’re curious about how to maintain healthy boundaries when you are working to create change for a cause that you deeply care about. It’s especially for you if you self-identify as a highly sensitive person. Many people come to cycle awareness because they are feeling burnt out from a system that pushes them beyond th…

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131: 100 Ways that Cycle Awareness Transforms Your Life: Part Two (Alexandra & Sjanie) 54:55

6M ago54:55

54:55

From finding oneself again through perimenopause, to helping to move through depression, to transforming communication with loved ones, today we’re exploring real life stories of how menstrual cycle awareness has changed the lives of our listeners. We explore: How discovering cycle awareness supported Melanie to move through a bout of severe depres…

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130: 100 Ways that Cycle Awareness Transforms Your Life: Part One (Alexandra & Sjanie) 59:02

6M ago59:02

59:02

It walks us home to our own natural rhythms. It keeps us close to what truly matters to us. It’s a innate self esteem builder. It even prepares us for menopause… Menstrual (and lunar) cycle awareness are a huge game-changer, and powerful spiritual practices for our wild times. But the truth is that most of us live in cultures that value productivit…

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129: Wild Power #8: Creating a New Life-Affirming Menstrual Story (Alexandra & Sjanie) 36:47

6M ago36:47

36:47

Welcome to the final episode in our Wild Power Bonus series - today we're creating a new life-affirming menstrual story. It’s time now for each of us to fully reclaim the power of our menstrual cycle. To do that we have to get smart in a world that doesn’t yet recognise or celebrate it. In this episode we share some of our key Red School cycle savv…

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128: Can Menstrual Cycle Awareness Teach us How to Live Sustainably on Earth? (Lazola MaDuka) 53:11

6M ago53:11

53:11

Our guest today, Lazola MaDuka lives a homesteading life on a biodynamic farm amongst giant mountains and trees in South Africa. Her life is utterly wedded to the land, the weather and the seasons - her land tells her what it needs and when. Lazola is also a Period + Menstrual Cycle Embodiment Coach, a Red Tent Facilitator and a certified Menstrual…

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127: Wild Power #7: How to Enter the ‘Temple’ of Menstruation (Alexandra & Sjanie) 39:20

7M ago39:20

39:20

Welcome to our penultimate Wild Power conversation series. These ‘round-the-kitchen-table’ chats with Alexandra and Sjanie were first released when we published Wild Power: Discover the Magic of the Menstrual Cycle and Awaken the Feminine Path to Power. They unpack the book’s teachings through powerful, practical and funny real-life stories and exa…

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126: Healing Our Trauma, Awakening Our Power (Kimberly Ann Johnson) 1:08:48

7M ago1:08:48

1:08:48

Our guest today is Kimberly Ann Johnson, who has been working hands on in integrative women’s health and trauma recovery for a decade with 1000s of women, as a Somatic Experiencing™ Practitioner, sexological body worker, educator, and author. She’s the author of many books including The Call of The Wild, and her work has been featured in the NY Tim…

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125. Wild Power #6: The Inner Seasons of the Menstrual Cycle (Alexandra & Sjanie) 31:26

7M ago31:26

31:26

Welcome to our sixth Wild Power conversation. These ‘round-the-kitchen-table’ chats with Alexandra and Sjanie were first released in 2017 when we published Wild Power: Discover the Magic of the Menstrual Cycle and Awaken the Feminine Path to Power. They unpack the book’s teachings through powerful, practical and funny real-life stories and examples…

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124. The Five Chambers of Menstruation (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:02:08

7M ago1:02:08

1:02:08

Happy New Year from all of us at Red School 🥳 May your entry into 2024 be full of everything you most long for. This conversation with Alexandra and Sjanie today is especially for you if you’re very much in inner winter mode, we’re exploring a topic which we’ve been wanting to since the podcast began, which is the deep spiritual power of menstruati…

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123. Wild Power #5: The Two Energy Dynamics of the Menstrual Cycle (Alexandra & Sjanie) 33:20

7M ago33:20

33:20

Welcome to number five of our bonus Wild Power series. These ‘round-the-kitchen-table’ chats with Alexandra and Sjanie were first released when we published Wild Power: Discover the Magic of the Menstrual Cycle and Awaken the Feminine Path to Power. They unpack the book’s teachings through powerful, practical and funny real-life stories and example…

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122. How Cycle Awareness Holds us in Dark Times (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:02:20

8M ago1:02:20

1:02:20

We just passed the darkest night of the year here in the northern hemisphere - the dark moon before the solstice, and it feels like a good moment to explore how cycle awareness can hold us during dark times; personally, collectively, and seasonally. Like many of you, we’re grieving the suffering and conflict in the world, and doing what we can to e…

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121. Wild Power #4: The Initiatory Journey from Menarche to Menopause (Alexandra & Sjanie) 36:25

8M ago36:25

36:25

This is our fourth bonus Wild Power conversation. These ‘round-the-kitchen-table’ chats with Alexandra and Sjanie were first released when we published Wild Power: Discover the Magic of the Menstrual Cycle and Awaken the Feminine Path to Power. They unpack the book’s teachings through powerful, practical and funny real-life stories and examples. In…

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120. My Journey from Self Doubt to Cycle Aware Creativity (Chloe Isidora) 57:41

8M ago57:41

57:41

Chloe Isidora is the creator of My Moon Power, a set of essential oils to help you connect to yourself and your inner seasons. She's also the author of 'Sacred self-care: everyday rituals for a more joyful and meaningful life' and is a graduate of our Menstruality Leadership Programme and has a deeply devoted practice of menstrual cycle awareness. …

1
119. Wild Power #3: Your Cycle as Your Path to Power (Alexandra & Sjanie) 33:27

8M ago33:27

33:27

Today we're excited to share our third bonus Wild Power conversation. These ‘round-the-kitchen-table’ chats with Alexandra and Sjanie were first released when we published Wild Power: Discover the Magic of the Menstrual Cycle and Awaken the Feminine Path to Power. They unpack the book’s teachings through powerful, practical and funny real-life stor…

1
118. Our Wombs and Cycles as Gateways to Reclaiming our Ancestral Wisdom (Tara Brading) 1:06:30

8M ago1:06:30

1:06:30

Five years ago, when women’s educator, storyteller and songstress, Tara Brading was burnt out from the hustle culture of the non-profit world, she dropped everything and went on a pilgrimage to Ireland to connect with her Irish ancestral lineage. This trip changed her life, setting her on a path of studying mythology and honoring the earth based fe…

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117. Wild Power #2: Cycle-Awareness as Your Spiritual Practice (Alexandra & Sjanie) 36:59

8M ago36:59

36:59

While there are many wonderful spiritual practices available today, the one thing we are not taught is that we have our own unique way or practice encoded in our being that changes everything. In this episode we restore menstrual cycle awareness as the original spiritual practice, and how it can support each of us to evolve, every day. This 2nd bon…

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116. How Menstruation Holds the Secrets for Successful Leadership (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:01:45

8M ago1:01:45

1:01:45

At the heart of the menstruality leadership path is the power and wisdom of menstruation. Slowly over time, bleed by bleed, we have the opportunity to experience a profound kind of homecoming when we menstruate - we remember who we are and what we’re about. This sense of purpose and meaning can fuel us up for another cycle of leading with heart, po…

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115. Wild Power #1: The Power of Loving Your Cycle (Alexandra & Sjanie) 41:22

8M ago41:22

41:22

For centuries we’ve been taught our menstrual cycle is a liability, something we must ignore or reject. In this special bonus episode we’re going to upend that old story and celebrate the power of loving your cycle or at least making tentative steps towards befriending it, and the inner resources you unlock when you do that. This conversation was r…

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114. How Yoga Nidra can Support Menstrual and Menopause Rest (Tracee Stanley) 59:02

9M ago59:02

59:02

Today’s episode is for you if - like me - you long to feel more calm, rested, peaceful and grounded throughout your days. Both because it feels better, but also because you know the gold that lies in this state of restedness; for your health, your relationships, your worklife, and your leadership. Our guest is Tracee Stanley, the author of the best…

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113. The Menstruality Leadership Wisdom that Saved Alexandra’s Life (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:06:17

9M ago1:06:17

1:06:17

When Alexandra began to experience monthly outrageous period pain in her 30s, she made a radical decision. She thought “my body is talking to me, and I’m going to listen”. On the podcast today she reflects on this moment as a pivotal step into leadership… one that led to the development of everything that Red School has created. The pain forced her…

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112. Why Do I Feel like I’m Losing it in Menopause? (Alexandra & Sjanie) 58:50

9M ago58:50

58:50

Menopause awakens us to the vulnerability of our humanity. The structures that have long held us safe begin to crack, and we lose the mechanisms we’ve used to hold ourselves in place; our bodies change, our shifting hormones rewire our psyches, our long held identities are shaken. It’s no wonder we can start to feel that we’re “losing it” - all the…

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111. How Menopause Initiates us into our Truth (Chameli Ardagh) 59:47

9M ago59:47

59:47

Today we’re carrying on a conversation about the initiatory power of menopause which we’ve been having with Chameli Ardagh, the founder of Awakening Women, since the beginning of her menopause process. Last year she emerged from her challenging process of descent and is sharing the fruits of her brutal, yet beautiful menopause underworld journey; w…

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110. Dismantling Old Identities and Rebirthing Yourself in Menopause (Lisa Schrader) 1:01:35

9M ago1:01:35

1:01:35

Our guest today, Lisa Schrader, is the founder of Awakening Shakti and the author of Getting Started with Tantra and has impacted the lives of thousands of women for over a decade as a workshop leader, author, speaker and coach. She joined us for our live menopause course - Menopause: The Great Awakener - last year and today, she shares how the cou…

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109. Signs that You’re Healing In Menopause (Dr Arianna Scholes-Douglas) 56:25

10M ago56:25

56:25

My guest today is one of many people who felt like she was losing her mind as she entered menopause. Dr. Arianna Sholes-Douglas is an integrative healthcare practitioner and visionary in the field of women’s health. She has practiced medicine for three decades and is the author of The Menopause Myth: What Your Mother, Doctor, and Friends Haven’t To…

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108. How to Know When You’re in Menopause? (Alexandra & Sjanie) 59:40

10M ago59:40

59:40

There's lots of confusion about how to define menopause and the years running up to it, making it difficult for people to clarify where they're at in their menopause process. At Red School, we stand for a reclamation of our cyclical experience in a world which denies and demonises our cyclicity. We see this menopause confusion as a symptom of the w…

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107. The Healing Power of Making Your Own Menstrual Art (Jasmine Alicia Carter) 58:42

10M ago58:42

58:42

Those of us who are passionate about the power of menstrual cycle awareness can feel a little crazy in our world. Not only does our culture overlook the power of the menstrual cycle, but it continues to perpetuate an atmosphere of shame around all things menstrual. That’s why I love meeting women like Jasmine Alicia Carter. Jasmine is a Menstrual A…

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Alexandra Shepherd Podcasts

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