The menstrual cycle phases mirroring nature’s seasons

If you follow me on Instagram (or if you’re familiar with cyclical living), then you may have heard me mention an inner season or two.

“I’m in my inner autumn and I’m feeling exhausted,” I have said on many occasion.

What I’m referencing is the season, or phase, of my menstrual cycle. As menstrual cycle awareness becomes more widely understood, I believe we can use this nature-driven terminology to more easily communicate amongst friends and family. It’s revolutionary.

Each of nature’s seasons can directly correlate with one of the four phases of our menstrual cycle. As our hormones fluctuate and shift over the month, our body experiences something similar to Mother Nature passing through her four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, then Autumn.

We can use this framework to deepen our understanding of our menstrual cycle as a whole.

Relating the four seasons to cycle phases

Our inner winter is referring to menstruation, or the time when we are turning inwards, hibernating, resting and bleeding. It’s typically a quieter season, when we’re feeling low energy and more grounded.

Similar to how winter transitions to spring, we experience our inner spring during the week of pre-ovulation. It’s a tender time for play, when we emerge back into the bright world and blossom. There’s a fragility and a childlike excitement that comes with this season or phase.

Our inner summer is ovulation, and who’s surprised by that?! It’s a hot, sexy, sensual week in the menstrual cycle for many women and menstruators. For some, an egg has dropped and our hormones are roaring. We are feeling our most powerful, our most confident and our most extroverted.

Finally, just as the days shorten outside in fall, our inner autumn is a return to that inward energy. During the premenstruum week, (if the egg wasn’t fertilized) our body is experiencing death and decay similar to the changing leaves in nature. There’s a feeling of harvest, culmination, and winterizing our lives before we hibernate once more.

Now, imagine a world where these words and attached meanings were common knowledge.

Imagine how you could show up for your friends and meet them where they were, and vice versa. Imagine how your family could support you because they understood your needs based on your inner season. Imagine how powerful that would be in every facet of your life!

That’s the magic of cyclical living.

x Lauren