Episode 15: Cycle Coaching Across Cultures
In this episode, Lauren speaks with Zainab Alradhi — Cycle Coach School graduate and founder of Niswa, a growing platform dedicated to menstrual cycle awareness and body literacy for Arabic-speaking women around the world. Zainab shares how she built a community of over 100,000 women by choosing to teach exclusively in Arabic, despite being told her audience "wasn't ready" for this work.
Together, they explore what it means to bring menstrual cycle awareness into cultures where these conversations have often been silenced, and how Zainab is working to break cycles of shame and isolation. From reclaiming rites of passage and hosting global women’s circles, to weaving lunar wisdom and ancestral memory into her business, Zainab offers a grounded and poetic perspective on cyclical living.
She shares her own journey of learning fertility awareness in English, then translating it into Arabic — finding the words, reclaiming her mother tongue, and reshaping this work for a different cultural context. We also hear about her red thread ritual for pregnant members, the challenges Arab women face in corporate life, and her passion for bringing this work into families and schools.
If you’ve ever wondered how menstruality work can be adapted across languages, landscapes, and lived experiences or what it looks like to lead with soul in business, this conversation is not to be missed. Click play to hear how Zainab is transforming cycle coaching across cultures.
Resources and Links:
About Zainab Alradhi:
Zainab is a wife, writer, and entrepreneur who believes in women’s right to physical education from birth. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences from the University of Michigan and is the first Arab certified Fertility Awareness Educator. Zainab is also a period awareness mentor for teens and holds certifications in period awareness counseling and facilitating women’s mindful circles.
Instagram:@niswaorg
Website: www.niswa.org
Book mentioned:
‘Taking Charge of Your Fertility’ by Toni Weschler
Stay connected:
Cycle Coach School Website: www.cyclecoachtraining.com
Cycle Coach Instagram: @cyclecoachschool
Claire's Instagram: @_clairebaker_
Claire's Website: www.clairebaker.com
Lauren's Instagram: @laurenoliviahughes
Lauren's Website: www.findingjulian.com
Zainab Alradhi (00:00)
My passion is to break the and for no more girls born through shame. Going through menarche, I want it to be in every household. I want it to be a source of celebration, of honor, of loving and just joy.
It is a rite of passage that I want to have as the norm again.
Claire Baker (00:29)
Welcome to the Cycle Coach Show.
Lauren Olivia Hughes (00:33)
Empowering Conversations on Menstrual Cycle Coaching.
Claire Baker (00:38)
We're your hosts, Claire Baker.
Lauren Olivia Hughes (00:42)
Olivia Hughes.
Claire (00:44)
Hello everybody. Welcome back to the show. It's Claire here and I'm excited to intro today's episode for you. But first a little story. So when I first discovered menstrual cycle awareness back in 2013, I'd just come off the pill and my period went AWOL and I didn't bleed for an entire year. That's another story entirely. But I went down this rabbit hole of learning about my body, about ovulation and body literacy, fertility awareness, and discovering this magic world of the menstrual cycle. And one of the biggest aha moments that I had ⁓ was around the inner seasons framework that was first named by Alexandra Pope.
And this framework offers menstruation as being aligned with winter, pre-ovulation as spring, ovulation as summer and the premenstrual phase as autumn or fall. And you probably are familiar with this framework. It's quite ubiquitous and a really common one that is often shared in menstrual cycle awareness circles. But what about folks who live closer to the equator and don't experience the four seasons at all? What if body literacy and menstrual cycle awareness aren't even really being taught in your mother tongue? I'm personally fascinated by how the culture and environment that we grow up in can shape how we understand cyclical living. And so in this episode, you're going to hear Lauren speak with Zainab Al-Radi, who is the founder of NISWA, a platform dedicated to body literacy for Arabic speaking women around the world. And when Zainab first discovered fertility awareness in her early twenties, she experienced
similar to what I described as a true initiation and something that she never felt when she first got her period as a young girl. For her, it truly was an initiation into womanhood. But here's what's remarkable. Zainab has made the bold choice to teach this work exclusively in Arabic despite people telling her that Arab women weren't ready for this kind of content.
Not only were they ready, they were hungry for it. And today she has built a community of over 100,000 followers and runs a membership connecting Arabic speaking women from Saudi Arabia to Palestine, to the U S and beyond. It's honestly so remarkable and so powerful. So another little story, we have an assessment process at Cycle Coach School to equip our graduates to be globally certified as menstrual cycle coaches. And when I was assessing Zainab's final assessment for her certification, she mentioned in her assessment how natural it felt for her to share the lunar framework with women in her community because they already live by the lunar calendar. And I think that this is such an important point to be mindful of when we're sharing menstrual cycle awareness.
You know, to be mindful of the culture and the environment that our clients and communities are living in. And of course, the language that they use. And I love ⁓ hearing in this episode, Zainab sharing her process of learning about her menstrual cycle in English, from English speaking educators to then translating this wisdom into the poetic language of Arabic for her community, but also for herself.
This is a conversation about ancestral wisdom, rites of passage work, building a cyclical business that works for you, and trusting the magic of your body's timing. Enjoy delighting in every word.
Claire (04:41)
Before we dive into today's episode, I just want to let you know that enrolments for Cycle Coach School for 2025 are now officially open. This will be our seventh year running the training and it's for anyone feeling the call to guide, educate or support others through menstrual cycle awareness. The course begins on Tuesday, June the 24th of 2025 and spots always feel quickly. Since 2019, we've trained over 200 facilitators in 27 countries. And so if you would like to join us, you can see the full syllabus and apply at cyclecoachtraining.com. We would love to have you in the circle this year.
Lauren (05:21)
Welcome to the Cycle Coach Show, Zainab. I'm so excited to have you here today. And as we begin, I will say let's do a little cycle check-in. What cycle day are you on and how is it feeling so far?
Zainab Alradhi (05:34)
Well, first, thank you for having me. to be here today and I am in Cycle Day 27 today, feeling kind of transitioning between my inner autumn and my inner winter and feeling very grounded, feeling very grounded. I feel also the transition in seasons around me, which is also very supportive. So yeah, that's how I'm feeling today.
Lauren (05:59)
Yeah, because you're transitioning into spring where you are right now, right? Yeah. That's so lovely. And I am currently 32 weeks pregnant. I haven't had a cycle for a bit. Thanks. I feel like listening to this season, it's just you'll get like the weekly update basically of this this trimester. But yeah, officially in the eight month pregnancy and resonating with where you are in your cycle because I definitely..
Zainab Alradhi (06:02)
Yes.
Amazing! Congratulations!
Lauren (06:24)
feel today that like, I find towards the end of my cycle, I always just like, decide at some point that I'm in my inner winter before I even start bleeding. So I'm just like, when your body starts feeling like heavy, and I'm just like, I don't have the bandwidth for like, silly questions. My like fuse is a little shortened with certain people. It's just like, that's the kind of energy I'm feeling today. And I'm like, okay. It needs like go into a bit of a cave over the weekend, maybe.
Zainab Alradhi (06:36)
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Lauren (06:47)
So it's been, yeah, interesting just, yeah, feeling this pregnancy and noticing that menstrual cycle awareness and how important it is in all different areas of life, I suppose, and how.
Zainab Alradhi (06:57)
Yeah, I must say I was very excited that it landed, that the recording day landed and knowing that I will be in my inner autumn because this is my creative season. This is the season when I feel more comfortable in my body, where I'm comfortable in myself, where I'm very like, very grounded, So it's very exciting to be here and knowing this superpower that you already have, and embodying it today. So yeah, very exciting.
Lauren (07:22)
I love hearing that because I think sometimes that luteal phase gets a bad rap of just, you of course there's like shadows to every phase, but I really resonate with that because like for me as well, like when I have like an active cycle, that enchantress archetype, like I'm just like, it's my most true self because I'm just like not people pleasing. I'm not cutting. I'm just like I'm like, yes, asking for what I want, doing what I want. It's just like, it could be like the most magical time of the cycle for me. Yeah.
Zainab Alradhi (07:36)
Absolutely.
Lauren (07:48)
Let's start from the beginning and I would love to hear how your story begins with menstrual cycle awareness. How were you first introduced to this work?
Zainab Alradhi (07:56)
Yeah, absolutely. So I think I was my senior year in college. That's when I first learned fertility awareness method. I took a course to learn about my cycle and how to chart my cycle. It was after I read, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, the book. And it was really fascinating to me because that time,
in life where when I read that book I felt like it was my initiation into womanhood which is very interesting in Cycle Coach when we're talking about the initiation into womanhood when it comes to Menarche and this celebration and this rite of passage that we're entering into womanhood from childhood.
I didn't have that. It wasn't something that was celebrated or honored or recognized in a way that I felt when I was 22 years old. Reading, Taking Charge of Your Fertility and learning about my body in a way that I've never heard before, that I've never was introduced to before. It was a foreign language to me and I felt, wow, I can actually relate to this. I can speak about my body and read about my body.
In a way that's so close to who I am. It wasn't sexual in any way. It was very me. And that was really exciting. I took that course I started charting my cycles with my cervical fluids, with my temperatures. And then I graduated. And I was newly married, newly graduated. I was applying to all jobs and I wasn't getting hired. And I was, I remember sitting with my husband. It was a peaceful day at a pond and we were brainstorming and he looked at me and said, what about you start your own business? And that was a moment for me to realize.
I would say that was one of the scariest moments that I've ever lived, maybe up to that point in my life, because maybe I had a dream in my head that yes, maybe I wanted to own my own business one day. Maybe I wanted to be the boss one day. But maybe like in 10 years, not today, not right now. Because I didn't see that. I didn't have that representation around me in the community that I grew up with. Every woman that I knew that had higher education, graduated from college, worked for someone. And even if she had a business, it was always a side hustle. I never saw that example for me to say, can do it because she could do it.
And that was a leap of faith. That was a very big risk to take. And I did. And I took it. it wasn't so hard for me to come up with the idea for the business because just you know, year ago, I started charting my cycle and that was so much bigger than me. This knowledge, this rebirth of going, I would say the closest I could describe it is going from the maiden archetype to the queen like owning your body, of owning your sexuality, of owning who you are and knowing, knowing...the person that you are living in this body.
So that was really exciting. And I thought, okay, Niswa didn't want to be born 10 years from now, it wanted to be born now. And I did. It was conceived and born very soon after. And I started teaching the fertility awareness method after going through a training for three years and then I found there was a missing piece. There was the fertility awareness method is amazing, hands down, but it is clear cut. It is scientific. It is straightforward. It is true for everyone.
There was a missing piece or there was a bigger picture that I wasn't seeing with fertility awareness because it enabled me to take care of my health, of my hormonal health. It enabled me to achieve my reproductive goal. But then there was my emotional wellbeing, my creativity, my...just the spark of life that I had, that I knew there is more to my body, there is more to my cycle than...
data that I put on paper. And that's when I discovered Claire's work. That's when I read the book Wild Power. And I loved how approachable Claire's work was to implement the inner seasons and my understanding of the inner seasons into this world that I'm living in. So that's basically the original story or the origin story of how it all started. So yeah, now it's just expanding from there.
Lauren (12:47)
And it's absolutely incredible. I, yeah, I'm resonating with so much of your story of just that like, that rebirth moment of finally understanding like for me, that was like in my late twenties as well, like finally like coming off hormonal birth control and just feeling like this like awakening of like, I get it. And then like, so right that that how fertility awareness method, it's almost like the very like masculine energy of like, this is the science. And Coach School does have some of that, but there is like such a feminine because our bodies are both. And so we need that like complexity of just having, yeah, the spiritual element, the emotional element, and also just like understanding what our physical bodies are doing too. It's just absolutely, yeah, it's magnetic, this work that we get to do. You mentioned, you mentioned in passing your, business that you create, created, Niswa. Tell it. How did this land, like your husband kind of planted the seed?
Zainab Alradhi (13:29)
So, yes.
Lauren (13:38)
But what does this business mean to you?
Zainab Alradhi (13:39)
Yes.
Yeah, thank you for that question. Yeah, like I said, it was a moment where I wanted to start my career and no one was hiring and I knew that was intentional in some way, in some magical way. So NISWA is a platform that's dedicated to body literacy. When I was still brainstorming when I was doing the branding, when I was talking to people about it before launching, there were some people that were telling me, well, how about you start it? Since you are living in the US, what about you start your content and do your offerings and your courses in English? We don't think that Arab women or Arab community or Arab societies are ready for this kind of content.
And I thought, that's very silly and very foolish to think because I am an Arab woman and I was ready and I'm sure that Arab women are ready and I wasn't wrong because the moment I launched the business and I started creating this community online, women were not just ready, they were hungry for this knowledge. They were hungry to understand their bodies, to implement, to know that there is a better way, there's a different way, there is a more approachable way, there is a more healthy way to live our lives, to mother, to have relationships, to run our businesses. Can we have this, again, the zooming out perspective of life that's beyond the linear that we're used to?
So the fertility awareness method is the core of what I teach in NISWA and what I offer. But then I have expanded way beyond that to reconnect us as women to our bodies, being able to name our anatomy, to look our anatomy, to identify our bodies without shame, without barriers, but really truly in a raw form be there for our bodies. I recently last year, we have been for a year now, over a year now, started a membership, an online membership of women that the one factor that's collecting us all together is that we are Arabic speakers, but we're all over the world.
We are in the US, we are in Saudi Arabia, we are in Egypt, we are in Morocco and Palestine and all over. it's just so interesting to see the different perspectives of women growing up in different places, living in different places, having different backgrounds. Yet we have this common language, common mother tongue that we speak and we're bringing all of these experiences together. I host women's circles every month. I actually will be hosting one after this call. And it's so interesting and fascinating to me to be able to connect with women, to be able to live our lives in a cyclical way or to see the potential of how our lives can be when we honor that cyclical nature.
It's been a few years of magic. That's the only thing I can describe it. Yeah.
Lauren (16:58)
Yeah, I'm getting like tingles on my arms just hearing about it because it's just so I think yeah, like you said there could have been that like easy not even easier way because I think this was the right way of teaching or like, you know, like listening to external voices. But of course, like an Arab woman and I want to I want to teach this not only do I want to learn it. And so I'm wondering, what was that initial response like like I mean, I grew up in a small town in Canada, even like for me, like menarche was kind of, here's a book about your body, like good luck, like hide the tampons up the sleeves, that kind of thing. So what is the response from the Arab women that you're teaching? Like what is their experience with menarche and with menstrual cycle awareness in general?
Zainab Alradhi (17:42)
Yeah, I thank you for bringing that up because when I decided to teach and to talk about these things in Arabic, it was all new to me because, you know, I didn't learn this in Arabic. I learned this in English, you know, as a 20 something year old. So that was interesting for me to to learn about my body and to learn about my cycle and to learn about all of the processes that are going through in my body, in my mother tongue. And I think that's very, very important and it's sometimes, you know, we take it for granted, but it's really, really important. It hits in a different way. that, it rings truth when I started reading those words in Arabic. When I started, like when I translated, the first time I translated the word vagina in Arabic like wow I've never heard this word before I've never read this word before I've never knew this word before and that was really it was very special moment for me it was a turning point for me and I knew that this language is the language I it was the first language I heard since I was you know a baby in my mom's room and it's there is something there's something special for women to learn this knowledge and to pass this wisdom in that language that they heard since before they were born.
So when I started talking about it, especially in Arabic, because when I started in this way, used to create the content bilingually. So I used to create it both in Arabic and English. I think that I did that for a couple of years before I decided I will create only in Arabic. But the response was amazing. Women, like I said, were very excited, very hungry for this knowledge. And then the experiences were also very varied when it comes to their initiations with monarch. So some women had the scary moments, had the, I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's happening. This is... this is very scary, where some women would have the talk with their mom, maybe talk with their dads. saw also a pattern with dads that are in the medical system, like doctors or nurses, that they would take that initiative and talk to their daughters about it.
There is, yeah, like there is a variety of experiences where there is the positive and then there is the not very pleasant experiences. And now what we're doing, our intention is to reclaim that moment, reclaim that story and rewrite it. Rewrite that story. What can I do right now to re-initiate myself? What can I do right now to celebrate myself? What can I do right now to actually take rest and have rest and take naps while I'm on my period to honor that inner maiden.
Lauren (20:45)
Yeah. Yeah, it's incredible. And I love this highlighting of the language because I think of even, as I said, I grew up in Canada, so we're bilingual country, French and English. And so I remember learning science for the first three years in school was all in French and then going to like, or first eight years actually, and then going to high school and having to relearn all the words in English and being like, I feel like I'm starting from scratch. So was there…like I don't speak Arabic, so was there the language already existing that you could tap into for like menstrual cycle awareness and cyclical living or was it something that you kind of had to like create yourself? What was that like?
Zainab Alradhi (21:21)
Yeah, it was a process because I didn't want it to feel translated and I didn't want it to feel so dry. it wasn't just a... Yeah, it wasn't just a mere translation. What does this word mean? And here is the translation of it. But how can I transform this language that I, that I'm, or this knowledge that I'm learning English and say it and present it in a very poetic language that's Arabic. So I love that. And also when I, when I started reading about it, say I go to literature, like Arabic literature, some biology books, the language is very scientific, it's very dry, it's very straightforward. And it's needed, it's necessary. I needed to read it in that way to have a solid foundation and then go and be creative from there and use my menstrual cycle, use my luteal phase and use my this enchantress soul that she wants to say words in the way that her ancestors spoke it and not in a way that a professor in a university would say. So it was really interesting to come up with how can I describe the processes that our bodies are going through in a non-dry way and in a way that's fluid and moving and not just moving in the literal sense, but truly moving our experiences and our emotions and our embodied lives. So, yeah.
Lauren (22:59)
And speaking of that ancestral link that we all have as women, I know there's different cultures just globally that have menarche ceremonies that maybe we've lost or just that blood magic that we've maybe become disconnected to in the modern world. Does that exist in Arab culture? Were there practices that we've maybe just lost and then now you're trying to reconnect to?
Zainab Alradhi (23:22)
I'm sure there was.
I don't know if there is documentation on paper where I can find and point to, but I heard all of the stories from the woman that I have encountered and worked with throughout all of these years of farmers, free bleeding and not wearing any menstrual products and actually being one with the land.
Women having their midwives as part of, you know, a woman in their neighborhood in the village and having that community, that sense of community, the woman circles, the woman gathered, woman gathered and danced and sang and they actually were having those experiences that in my opinion right now, what, at least me, what I'm trying to do, my intention especially with the community and the membership is to remember because we're not creating anything new. We're remembering something that once was and we have forgotten it throughout the years and now our intention is just to really truly dig deep and remember.
Lauren (24:29)
And when Claire and I were chatting about this episode ahead of time, she mentioned your relationship with the lunar calendar and how you had mentioned it in your assessment. And so I'd love to hear more about that.
Zainab Alradhi (24:38)
Yep.
Yeah, I love the moon. I grew up with the moon. think any Arab person would be very interested in the moon because that's the calendar that we go by. We go by the lunar calendar. So our start of the month, our end of the month is very associated with the moon and it is a guiding force in a way.
So that was very interesting to me when I started to learn the connection between the moon and our menstrual cycles and how easy that connection was to translate, embody, to feel. Because one of the first experiences that I had with being introduced to menstrual cycle awareness was the inner seasons and that was bit challenging for me at the beginning because I grew up in Saudi Arabia and we didn't have much of a difference in seasons. We would have winters but they were not harsh winters but then we would have long summers and autumn was very short-lived so I didn't experience that. It was something that I learned in science, you know, class. It wasn't something that actually experienced until I moved to Michigan and that changed a lot.
That changed a lot of my experience because Michigan, I'm very fortunate to live in a place where I'm able to not only experience the Four Seasons but to live the Four Seasons and experience them to their fullest and that truly made my experience of understanding my inner seasons so much easier because I'm able to see it around me throughout the year. So the lunar cycle was more relatable for me from the get-go and it's very interesting because we talked a little bit about this ancient wisdom, this ancestral knowledge and I'm sure you know about the white moon cycle, red moon cycle, where women who bleed with the full moon are known as the wise women of the village, of the community. They're the women that are the best teachers they can be.
They're the women that they're there to share their wisdom. They're there to they thrive in caring for their community and caring for other people and sharing their light with other people. Because if you think about it, they're bleeding and that's the wisdom phase with the full moon when it's illuminated and so shiny and outward. So that was interesting and I have a story about that. And then the other cycle is the red moon, the white moon cycle. Yeah, the white moon cycle is the one where the woman would be bleeding with the new moon, and that's the woman that would thrive in self-discovery and self-development, becoming the best students that she could be. And an interesting story about that is before I applied for Cycle Coach School, I actually wanted to apply a year prior to the year that I actually applied and I saw the announcement, I downloaded my application, I started writing down my answers and then towards the end something inside of me was saying, not now. There was like a whisper voice. within me that was saying, not now. And I didn't know what it meant at the time. And it didn't make sense because I was very excited. But at the same time, I chose to trust it and I put the application away, forgot about it. The next year, the announcement came again. I'm very excited. I download the application. I feel extremely ready. I submit it. I get accepted. I go through the training.
And towards the end, I'm reflecting on this moment of not now and why now. And I go through my charting and I realize that this year that I was part of the training, I was having the cycle where I'm the best student I can be, where I can thrive in self-development and in becoming or being the sponge that I can just absorb and take all of the gifts and knowledge that are coming my way. And then by the time the training ended, I shifted, my cycles shifted to being the cycles where I am the wise woman. I am ready and thriving in sharing all of my knowledge, in sharing all of the wisdom that I have gained and all of the gifts that I have received.
And it's so true because during the training, I was so focused on becoming the student, on gaining all of this knowledge and I wasn't being extremely active in my business. I was doing the courses every once in a while. But after I was done and that shift in my cycle, I had so much energy and I was just able to not only continue with the FAM courses but creating different workshops, different courses, introducing menstrual cycle awareness into this realm and that was just amazing. knew, I know that I would have been okay if I had taken the training the first year, but it's very special for me to come into that realization of, wow, there is wisdom in our bodies that cannot be comprehended, cannot be pinpointed, it's so magical in a way that once you trust it, there is gifts all over the place. So yeah.
Lauren (30:28)
I like that idea of the student versus the wise woman because I, I mean, I've noticed my cycle kind of like flip between the two. And I always it as like, whatever the full moon needs to highlight. Like maybe I need more rest this season, or maybe I need to be like, you know, out in the world more, like whatever it might be. So it's kind of a beautiful lens to look at it through to be like, okay, this is my, the role that I'm in right now. And to like, whether you need to receive information or like give information.
Such a cool story. landed when it needed to, right? The training. ⁓
Zainab Alradhi (30:56)
Yes, yes absolutely.
Lauren (31:01)
I'm wondering, what are some unique challenges that Arab women are kind of coming up against when you're teaching them with your business niswa? Like what are some of the challenges or the celebrations that they're like kind of coming into as they're learning this for the first time?
Zainab Alradhi (31:16)
Yeah, I would say, okay, I'll start with the challenges and then we'll go through the celebrations because there's more celebrations.
I would say the challenges, one of the challenges that would be experienced is for women who are working in corporate settings and are interested to embody and bring forth, and this is not unique for Arab women, I think it's international, but they're interested in bringing more cyclical living, more caring for their bodies, more alignment of the different seasons and what's their vulnerabilities in each of them and what's their strengths in each of the seasons. And sometimes the linear way of working in a corporate job would not be the easiest for them to be like, I'm the creative person right now and I wanna be in a creative role at this moment where their role is not in that season or in that week or whatever.
It's interesting to navigate that challenge because once you work in a team. Maybe I can share a story of a woman that went through that experience and she's working in a corporate job and she would talk to her other colleagues about what she's learning and they actually ended up creating a new schedule that they can work together where each of the employees can actually embody and implement their strengths every season of their cycle where they can take the workload from each other as it feels needed. But that's not always the case and I think it's okay to realize that sometimes those challenges exist and that's the life that we're living in and that's the world that we're living in.
And it's okay that we only control the things that are in our hands and the things in our personal lives. So if a woman is working in a corporate setting where it's very linear and there is not much flexibility in the job, we would work on how can I create that cyclical living in my own personal life, with my own relationships, in my home, with my friends, in my mothering, with my partner. That's very inspiring to fruits of that, say, self-responsibility, if I might say. But there is, I do see that there is hope, especially when it comes to smaller companies and startups, the culture of change and honoring the differences between men and women and the differences within our menstrual cycles and the inter seasons is very apparent and I'm very inspired by that. But when it comes to the celebrations.
I would say there is a lot to celebrate. I work with lot of in my business, especially within my membership. have a lot of entrepreneurs and very fortunate to have that experience with them and to see again how they are managing their business, how they're running their business, how they are navigating their challenges and their creative process in alignment and in honor of their menstrual cycle and their inner seasons where they wouldn't have that freedom or flexibility otherwise. And I see a lot of women also choosing to change the nature of their careers, change the nature of their businesses and change the nature of how they're working after they learn this they go, there is other options. is another way.
I thought this was how it is and now I'm learning that there is a different way. So yeah, there is a lot to celebrate not only within entrepreneurship and business, but we have a lot to celebrate in motherhood and in women reclaiming their bodies and women feeling safe in their bodies again, in women going through the journey of motherhood consciously and intentionally with celebration. I'm wearing this today. I have been wearing it for the last month. It was in honor of two women that are pregnant within our community.
And every woman in the community wrapped this red thread around our wrists until they give birth. So we hosted a mother blessing for these two women and they shared their pregnancy story. They shared their dream birth story. We blessed them. We shared our our dreams for them, our hopes and wishes and prayers. And it was just so special to just hold them and celebrate them and to have that reminder with us, carrying them with us everywhere we go, wherever we're at. They're all over the world. We're all over the world. Yet she's here with me and I'm here for her and once she gives birth the plan is that we will cut those threads. So this is us kind of putting this tapestry together as we are scattered all over the world.
Lauren (37:06)
Mm, It just feels like a universal reclamation, like an unlearning of all the different structures we as women have been kind of placed within. And it's so beautiful to hear these stories of just like, like you said, in entrepreneurship, in motherhood, like all the different facets that we get to show up as in as women to be able to come back to.
Yeah, that beautiful idea of like that red thread that like extends around the globe to like hold these two women who are in your membership who are like going through this like very maybe new scary experience. What is the significance of the red thread for you in this example?
Zainab Alradhi (37:42)
I wanted to create this symbolism. I want to dread because it is the color of our blood. It is where life begins. And that's what they are embodying right now. That's what they are holding. That's the reminder everyone who is looking at this woman is seeing.
Yeah, I wanted to carry that. just recently also went to wedding and I was wearing it on my wrist. It was just, again, this reminder of these women, my sisters, are with me. And I am holding them with me as I travel, as I rest, as I sit, as I lit my candles.
Lauren (38:33)
Mm-hmm, mm. Yeah, because it just seems like such a beautiful representation, because I obviously for myself haven't had a cycle in so long, and yet when you really think of it in pregnancy, your blood volume So there is such a presence of blood, but it's not in the relationship that we've had for maybe 10, 15 years, depending on when or if you conceive. And so I love this idea, the red thread, that your sisters are almost like, holding that story for you that when you look back on your life, this 10 month span, or mean, once you start breastfeeding and stuff, it extends obviously. But it's the marker, holding the place of your bleed. And it's just so beautiful to be held globally by your fellow women. I love that so much. ⁓ What are you hoping is next?
Zainab Alradhi (39:16)
Yes. Yes.
Lauren (39:21)
Like you've built, I can't remember the number off the top of my head, but it's a very big scary number on Instagram. It's like 170,000 people or something.
Zainab Alradhi (39:26)
Yeah, I think it's over 100k. But yeah.
Lauren (39:34)
It's It's huge. So what's next? Like what would you love to, yeah, create?
Zainab Alradhi (39:41)
My passion is to break the and for no more girls born through shame. Going through menarche, I want it to be in every household. I want it to be a source of celebration, of honor, of loving and just joy.
It is a rite of passage that I want to have as the norm again. Because again, I think it was always celebrated. think we have evidence throughout the globe in many different cultures of celebrating this rite of passage. It is very, very special for every woman, for every community, for the continuation for human race.
And I would love for that to happen. from the beginning, because of also I think because of the experience of Menarche that I had, I didn't want for that experience to happen again because I felt so alone at that time. And I didn't think that anyone was going through this. I thought that I was going through it alone and
I was wrong and I proved that to myself by talking to hundreds of women by now. So yeah, that's something that I want to jump into, that I want to build upon. It was there from the beginning, but I knew I can't talk to tweens and teens without their mothers, their sisters, their aunts this feeling it. Because I can be the teacher and talking to a tween and teen and then the class is done and they're living with their mom, they're living with their sisters and they're visiting with their aunt and nieces and those women that are holding the circle this child, they need to be honored to. They need to rewrite their story and to heal that inner maiden. And that's what I have been doing for the last few years. And the next step, I think, to work now with those women after building this wonderful foundation together and celebrate our maidens.
Lauren (42:03)
Yeah, it just sounds so healing for women everywhere, right? I've just like that idea that I love that vision of the circle holding the child and you're so right. It's, yeah, it feels sometimes like, we could just like start fresh with the fresh like, of course there's space for like, kids are the future and I love that. But I also equally love the idea of being able to rewrite our stories and connecting with that.
Zainab Alradhi (42:06)
Yes, absolutely.
Lauren (42:25)
What advice would you have for perhaps new cycle coaches or just any sort of facilitator entering this realm around niching down or like really focusing in on like one community because you've done such a beautiful job like you said like stepping out of that like I don't want to do English and Arabic. I just want to teach and then like your business exploding because of it.
What would your advice be to someone who's maybe a little resistant or hesitant or fearful of that?
Zainab Alradhi (42:52)
Yeah.
I ask that question to myself a lot because sometimes you just want to do all. And with as big of a platform as NISWA is, I usually get a lot of messages of people asking for a course on this topic and a workshop on this topic and can you provide the program in this? sometimes I feel spark of excitement because someone is interested in this so I should I should go for it but there is also a time for me to to say what what is really lighting me up what is something that I would wake up every single day excited about working on dreaming about planting the seeds brainstorming writing about talking about.
Like I won't be bored. I won't be exhausted. It won't feel like I am draining myself and it won't lead to a burnout. What is my why? Like my why is to break the cycle. And that's why it needed to go in this. I needed to go through this journey with the woman that I went through this journey with to get to the point where I'm reaching that goal and that's the question that I would ask or advice or suggest any cycle coach embarking into this journey is what lights you up? are you doing this? What is your story and what do you want to change in it or what do you want to reclaim in it or do you want to rewrite in for other women?
Lauren (44:27)
Yeah, I think there's the power of claiming your story and saying like, this is what I want to teach and knowing that like other women like you like, like you, you with this beautiful example of like globally women resonating with what you're saying to me like, me too. Yeah, I hear what you're saying. No.
Zainab Alradhi (44:44)
And I'm not catering to all Arab women, right?
I'm speaking Arabic, of course, yes. There is no one teaching fertility awareness in I know a couple of women that are cycle coaches, they're Arab cycle coaches, and they do provide their services in English. So that is also very interesting. So what I would say is...
Yes, I am maybe one of the first that's teaching in Arabic. I'm sure there is going to be more, but I'm not catering to all Arab women. Not everyone is going to resonate with my message. Not everyone is. And that's okay. That's actually very important that I'm not being that not everyone is resonating with my message that not everyone is agreeing with what I'm saying, because then I'm mainstream, that I'm a textbook, that I'm not humanizing my story, that I'm not humanizing this journey. But what about refining who I am, refining my journey? Actually, taking the time to journal, taking the time to chart my cycle, taking the time to actually understand what does it mean to be in a cyclical body before going and introducing this to others. I think it's very important to go through this experience of becoming the educator from a place of embodiment and not just sharing what you just learned or sharing what you just read, but actually taking the time to absorb this knowledge, to live this knowledge, to walk through it. And that would be just walking through integrity and authenticity. And it would be so unique because it's your experience and you won't need to talk about other people's experiences or other people's story, but owning your own, like you said.
Lauren (46:36)
Yeah, and that unique magic that we all possess because I think sometimes it's so easy to come out of any sort of training and be like, well, know, Zainab's already doing it. It's like, OK, well, first off, all Arab women. billions, billions, I don't know the exact number. But then also, like you said, you won't appeal to all of them. So like, let this if this conversation is sparking something within you that you're like, I would love to teach in my mother tongue. I would love to like there's so much space. And I say this for like everyone, like regardless of what culture you are. It's like, it's always such a liberating thing to be like, you know, like anyone working with me might not want to work with you and vice versa. And it's just like, but we need this community. We need the circle of women who are like, you know, have the red thread around our wrists holding each other because it is such needed information across the world. So.
Zainab Alradhi (46:59)
Yes. Yes. There are billions of people.
You know, what is very exciting for me when I started the membership is having a guest month. And when I started the membership, part of me wanted to not be in the educator role in that setting. And I wanted to sit in a circle with women.
Lauren (47:36)
Mm.
Zainab Alradhi (47:40)
That has transformed the way I run my business and the way I see a feminine business and a woman led business, because I can actually be, we have this cyclical system of being in educational system of being in the membership because everyone is a teacher, everyone is an educator and everyone is a student, including myself. Everyone is sharing her own gifts and everyone is receiving through that and I love it because that's how women gathered. That's how women gathered. They gathered in circle and every woman shared and every woman received and that's what we're trying to re-invite into our reality.
And to have the women that inspire me, to have the women that are bringing such beautiful offerings into this world, the women that are being authentic in their sharing, and they are my guest speakers every month. They come in and they share, and here you get that shedding of...collaboration versus competition. of course I want to be surrounded by women that are supportive and I want to support them and I want to have that cyclical way of living, not in a pyramid way where I'm on top and everyone is underneath me. Like how about just sitting in circle and everyone is benefiting where it's a win, win, win So, so I just love that.
And I get women that are interested in menstrual cycle awareness or women that are in finances or women that are relationship coaches or whatever. They're interested in something that they are excited about, something that they are offering into this world. And they come and they give their workshops and the women are just relishing in all of it.
So fascinating for me to know that this is a valid version living into this world.
Lauren (49:43)
It's such a healing approach to business. And I feel this as well, like in any mentoring space I've held where it's just like, I don't want to be on a pedestal. Like, I don't know going to be like, you know, and I think sometimes that like need for perfectionism or like, have to have all the answers. It's like, that's no, like that's unhealthy masculine energy. Like I'm not, I'm not like, yeah, like you said, on the top of the pyramid, on a pedestal, whatever. It's that circle feeling of like, I, every circle I like hold, I'm like, yes, I'm holding it, but I still get to learn. And go away and I'm like, wow, brilliant. I just think this is what I want for the world is like more of that, more of that space of just like sharing collective knowledge and just, I think that's the way of the future. So I love that idea. Breaking that cycle. I have to ask your beautiful husband who planted the seed of your business, however many years ago, what does he think now?
Zainab Alradhi (50:33)
He's the proudest. He's very proud. He's very supportive. I couldn't have done this without him. He's definitely there for me. He's definitely is in all of this. We brainstorm a lot together. And he was the one introducing the idea even of fertility awareness method of me learning fertility awareness. Because funny story.
Lauren (50:34)
Is he blown away?
Zainab Alradhi (50:55)
We came up with this list of the contraception that we wanted to use and we wanted it to be hormone-free, side-effect-free, environmentally friendly, and we didn't know that fertility awareness even existed. But that was our list and we wanted to manifest it and then we found it. So yeah, he's amazing. I love him. Like I said, Niswa wouldn't have existed if he wasn't here.
Lauren (51:20)
Yeah, he must be so, so in awe of like a woman taking a small idea and like planting it and being like creating such a world out of it. Is there anything I didn't ask you that you would love to touch on before, before we close our conversation?
Zainab Alradhi (51:33)
I think we good. We covered a lot of good stories and moments. So I just want to thank being a beautiful host. I really felt like I know you forever. So thank you.
Lauren (51:45)
Thank you so much. And yes, this is the beginning of a great relationship, I'm sure, because I'm so inspired by all the things you do. Where can people find you and connect with the work that you do?
Zainab Alradhi (51:50)
Yep.
Yeah, you can find me on Instagram. That's the place where I'm most approachable and I will answer your DMs if you send me. It's at niswa.org. So you can find me there. Looking forward to having more conversations like this.
Lauren (52:09)
Amazing. Thank you so much for joining us. I just feel like you're such a well of knowledge and yeah, your story is so inspiring and yeah, thank you. you. Thank you.
Zainab Alradhi (52:20)
Thank you. Thank you, thank you.
Lauren Olivia Hughes (52:28)
Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Cycle Coach Show. If you loved what you heard, then please review, share and subscribe to help us reach more cyclical listeners like you. You can find us on Instagram at @cyclecoachschool or online at cyclecoachtraining.com.
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