Why Menstrual Cycle Awareness is the Missing Piece in Women’s Health and Coaching Work
Periods are having a moment, have you noticed? Honestly, it’s about time! After decades (centuries… millennia) of silence, menstrual health is finally inching its way from the margins into the mainstream.
Brands are talking about periods. Magazines are talking about periods. (Did you catch the latest cycle syncing article in Singapore Vogue?) And more and more of our alumni are now sharing menstrual cycle awareness in corporate wellbeing settings, too.
As periods move into the spotlight, the demand for skilled and embodied menstrual educators and coaches is about to explode.
These understandings are no longer a “nice to have”, but essential knowledge for any practitioners working with female clients. This is the moment to up-skill and ground yourself in menstrual cycle awareness (MCA) not just as a personal practice, but as a professional tool that will elevate any modality you work with.
The problem with ignoring the menstrual cycle
We’re living in a world that still expects women to be linear, steady, unchanging. Fit in. Keep up. Don’t mention your period. Don’t ask for rest. Don’t be “too sensitive.” Don’t show your cyclic nature.
As we’re sure you already know, the menstrual cycle can profoundly shape the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual lives of those who bleed.
Brené Brown says it best…
“The opposite of belonging is fitting in.”
…and women have been trying to “fit in” to a patriarchal template for thousands of years, with predictable consequences:
Shame around periods
Lack of menstrual education
Workplaces built for non-cyclical bodies
Rising menstrual disorders and burnout
A culture that asks women to override their needs
A loss of feminine rites of passage in our culture
Ignoring the cycle disconnects us from ourselves.
And your clients feel this every single day, even if they can’t articulate it.
Menstrual Cycle Awareness is a gift you can offer your clients
Menstrual Cycle Awareness (MCA), as articulated by Red School founders Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer, is the practice of noticing where you are in your cycle, understanding what’s happening hormonally and caring for your changing needs.
On the surface, it can look “simple.”
Charting. Pattern noticing. Tweaking lifestyle. Being curious. Learning to say “no” in the pre-menstruum (a common one!) and so on.
But underneath, MCA is a radical rebellion. It builds:
self-knowledge
emotional literacy
nervous-system regulation
better relationships
confidence and self-assuredness
permission to be who you actually are
sovereignty, agency and belonging
Now that periods are moving into the cultural spotlight, clients will begin to expect their coaches and wellness practitioners to understand the menstrual cycle, and to make space for it in the work you’re doing togegther.
It’s becoming as standard as knowing the basics of trauma-informed practice.
If you work with female clients or communities, not knowing the cycle is quickly becoming a professional limitation.
What happens when you bring cycle awareness into your work
Over the years, I’ve watched women transform when this awareness becomes part of their support system.
Clients:
stop blaming themselves for burnout and mood swings
finally understand their anxiety or sensitivity patterns
recognise hidden hormonal imbalances earlier
reclaim creativity after years of feeling stuck
understand why motivation can wax and wane
communicate their needs in relationships, often for the first time
experience deeper therapeutic breakthroughs
And coaches who add Cycle Coaching into their framework take their work from “helpful” to life-changing. They gain a tool that gives every session more context, more depth, more precision, more care.
This is why our Cycle Coach graduates integrate menstrual cycle awareness into:
holistic coaching
psychotherapy
yoga classes
somatic work
fitness and nutrition coaching
fertility awareness and reproductive health
rites-of-passage education
relationship coaching
corporate wellbeing programs
menstrual education for young people
and so on.
As Menstruality goes mainstream, it will be specialists, not generic TikTok “cycle syncing” tips, that will rise to the forefront.
How to start integrating cycle awareness professionally
Here are the essential foundations for any cycle-aware practitioner:
Teach clients to effectively and sustainably chart their menstrual cycle with curiosity, not perfectionism.
Name the four hormonal phases and support clients to identify their unique strengths and challenges in each phase.
Contextualise emotion and energy within cycle patterns.
Support rest, boundaries, creativity and communication for physical and emotional wellbeing.
Use the menstrual cycle, as well as broader cycles in life and nature, as compasses on their female life journey.
Cycle Coaching isn’t about micro-managing or fitting women into a new “should.”
It’s about letting them belong to themselves.
As Brené once again reminds us,
“Our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.”
This work is one of the most direct pathways to that self-acceptance.
The menstrual cycle is finally being acknowledged in culture, yes.
But most professionals still don’t know exactly what to do with that knowledge.
That’s where you come in.
If you work with women or people who bleed, integrating menstrual cycle awareness isn’t optional anymore. It’s the future of women’s health, coaching and personal development.
And if you’re ready to up-skill, deepen your impact and become part of the new wave of menstrual educators leading this movement?
Our Cycle Coach Self Study program will show you how.