Episode 10: The Inner Seasons of Pregnancy
In this episode, Claire speaks with Monique Dickson, a menstrual cycle coach, women's hormonal health practitioner, and graduate of Cycle Coach School. Together, they explore the powerful connection between menstrual cycle awareness and the journey of pregnancy, diving into Monique’s framework of the "inner seasons of pregnancy."
Monique shares her personal story of discovering cycle awareness, the challenges of motherhood, and how understanding her own cyclical nature transformed not only her health but her entire approach to life. She introduces the beautiful concept of aligning pregnancy with the inner seasons — winter, spring, summer, and autumn — offering women a way to stay connected to their bodies even when their menstrual cycle is paused.
If you’re curious about how menstrual cycle wisdom can guide you through pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood—or if you’re supporting clients through these seasons—this episode is for you. Click play to hear how tuning into your body’s natural rhythms can be a transformative guide through every stage of life.
Resources and Links:
About Monique Dickson:
Monique is a mum to four, almost five kids, a farmer's wife, a hormonal health practitioner, menstrual cycle coach living in rural New Zealand. And she specializes in working with moms and women over 35 so they too can feel energised and balanced.
Instagram: @moniquedickson_
Website: www.moniquedickson.com
Nourish app: download here
Stay connected:
Cycle Coach School Website: https://www.cyclecoachtraining.com
Cycle Coach Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyclecoachschool/
Claire's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_clairebaker_/
Claire's Website: https://www.clairebaker.com/
Lauren's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenoliviahughes/
Lauren's Website: https://findingjulian.com/
Monique Dickson (00:02.028)
I was just exhausted, like I was just giving my all to everybody all the time. I literally thought of the role models of the women around me, like growing up, that that's what women did. We put three meals on the table for our husbands every day. We kept the baking tins full. I just couldn't keep it up. I literally was like, how on earth does anyone even do this? And I felt like I was like losing myself and falling apart. And then I read Maisie Hill's book The Period power and it was like this massive weight was off my shoulder.
Claire Baker (00:34.956)
Welcome to the Cycle Coach Show.
Lauren Olivia Hudges (00:37.956)
Empowering conversations on menstrual cycle coaching. We're your hosts, Claire Baker and Lauren Olivia Hughes.
Lauren Olivia Hudges (01:01.282)
Welcome back to the Cycle Coach Show. are in part two of our episodes on motherhood. We had a beautiful conversation with Olivia Waller in the first episode and now we are shifting into a conversation with Monique Dickson and I would love to hear from Claire. So, interviewed her, what was your favorite part of this conversation?
Claire Baker (01:24.956)
You know, what was really great for me with this interview is that Monique is actually one of our alumni guest teachers in the training and she teaches a lesson that is so beloved. It's the inner seasons of pregnancy, which is super relevant to you right now, Lauren. And also for myself in this preconception phase. So was really great to just hear Monique go through those inner seasons of pregnancy, because I tell you what, in my like 12 nearly years now of coaching women, this is something that has come up so frequently from those who have been practicing menstrual cycle awareness for a while and then get pregnant. And then it's like this anchor just, I think that was actually the word that you used in the conversation with Olivia last episode. Like it's just kind of gone and the handrail that we use, you know, to hold us through our days and our weeks and our months is gone. And that can leave, you know, some folks feeling pretty lost at sea.
And so it was just so awesome to hear Monique go through. And I think listeners are really going to love hearing about how the inner seasons framework can be applied to pregnancy and how you can really use that to empower you through that new cycle of pregnancy. So I loved that. And I really liked what we spoke about around menstrual cycle awareness, you know, not only being for the, you know, the woman or the female in the family or in the relationship or out in the world, but how it can really impact our children, how it can really impact our partners and why that is so important for those of us who are coaching or holding space for, or, you know, facilitating work with mothers.
Because if you are a practitioner who works with mothers, whether you're working as a coach or maybe as a therapist or a yoga teacher, a nutritionist, relationship sexologist, the list goes on. It's really important to have a framework to be able to work with moms because the experience is different. That shift from maiden to mother creates a lot of changes. And I just loved hearing about how Monique is doing that beautiful work in the world. And I feel so strongly about empowering those who are working with moms to empower themselves with the skills to hold truly, know, transformational spaces for moms to be able to rest, to exhale, to express, to, you know, fully embody their, their bigness and to feel really heard and seen and supported because they're just so special.
Lauren Olivia Hudges (04:03.282)
I completely agree.
Claire Baker (04:08.306)
Before we dive into today's episode, I just want to let you know that enrollments 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 Olivia Hudges (04:50.282)
I would love to introduce this conversation with Monique Dickson. She is a mom to four, almost five kids, a farmer's wife, a hormonal health practitioner, menstrual cycle coach living in rural New Zealand. And she specializes in working with moms and women over 35. Enjoy this conversation. It's absolutely brilliant.
Claire Baker (05:03.306)
So Monique, can you give us an introduction to who you are and the awesome work that you're doing in the world today?
Monique Dickson (05:16.71)
Yeah, this is because I'm a Kiwi, I'm from New Zealand and we're not talking ourselves. I am a nèi, or mon, and I am a mom and a wife. I'm a farmer's wife, I'm a menstrual cycle, a woman's hormonal health coach. Like, what else do you want to know, I'm pregnant with my fifth.
Claire Baker (04:54.454)
Five kids is so cool.
Monique Dickson (05:57.71)
Did you have a big family?
Claire Baker (04:54.454)
Yeah, I'm the eldest of six. Yeah. So no, no, I'm really not that surprised.
Awesome. And have your siblings also gone on to have big families?
Monique Dickson (05:53.71)
I was the eldest and I started so young, like I was in my early twenties. They're really just starting. Yeah, I'm having my last, it's definitely my last baby. they, yeah, everyone's kind of starting. I think there'll be a couple of big families in there too, because we're just, there's something about big families that just like we're all so, I feel like it's a real unit. And that's kind of what we wanted to in my family, like to just have these kids that were like friends with their siblings, essentially.
Claire Baker (06:21.454)
Yeah, that's really awesome. I'm the eldest of five and if I share the eldest daughter role with you and next week, three, no, four of us will be together for Easter. One's abroad so she can't make it, it's, you know, it happens so rarely now, honestly, that we all get together. But I'm really looking forward to it. I've planned all these recipes and activities and there's nieces and nephews now. So it's, you know, it's cool. It's nice when everyone gets together, big family.
Monique Dickson (06:45.71)
Yeah, it's like that and it doesn't happen that often but when it happens, it's sure you want to like protect it.
Claire Baker (06:55.454)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, we do all get very protective, actually. I hear that. Definitely. So tell me what brought you to the women's health, menstrual cycle awareness, hormonal well-being field of work?
Monique Dickson (07:11.71)
Well, I reckon it all started with like when I was really young, all I ever wanted to be was a mum, like kind of the eldest daughter like you. And I just, I just had this desire to have this massive family myself and to be the farmer's wife and be at home. Anyway, I went to university and I found my husband and we got married and we got pregnant with our first child. And then that was all very well. And then our second child came along and I was just exhausted. Like I was just giving my all to everybody all the time, a literally thought of the role models of the woman around me, like growing up, that's what woman did. We put three meals on the table for our husbands every day. We kept the baking tins full. We gave to our kids everything they needed and more. And we had a really tidy, looked gorgeous. And we always were like bubbly and positive and smiley. Anyway, I just couldn't keep it up. I literally was like, how on earth does anyone even do this? And I felt like I was like losing myself and falling apart. And then I read Maisie Hill's book, The Period Power and was like this massive weight was off my shoulder. I don't have to do it all. Like God didn't actually design woman to do it all the time for everyone else. And I'm not broken. It's not about me. Like, and it's also not in my head. Like it's my whole mind doing this to me. Honestly, it felt amazing. I then went and bought like five copies of the book and I wanted my husband to read it.
I highlighted all the parts and gave them to my friends and my family. Like, you guys? There's another way of living and it's like aligned and it is how we're meant to be. And then I was in depth in it and I was like, course I'm going to study this and like, cause I want everybody else this and how to tune with yourself. But I think what I love the most, it wasn't just like in our heads, you know how so many were just told it just in your head. This was actually like hard science. Like this tell us about to live, our hormones actually how we feel, how it changes our body and our energy and our desire and appetite, all the things. So it really validated me, I suppose, living in quite a masculine world of farming and like the gruff men and all of that. like, I feel like I had some like scientific evidence to say, Hey, this is actually how women are made and how we are designed. That's not to be on all the time. And it just felt like so much weight off my shoulder.
So much relief.
Claire Baker (09:28.214)
What were the signs for you that the way that you were living wasn't working before you discovered Macy's book?
Monique Dickson (09:56.71)
Like the physical symptoms like exhaustion, the resentment actually probably is my go-to. Like I was resentful of my husband and what he could do and what I couldn't do. And then that turns into like resentment for the kids. Yeah. And like an anger as well and trying to stay about it because I thought this is just what everyone was doing. Turns out they weren't. Like no one can do it all and give it all to everyone all the time. It was mostly it. I actually remember my worst point in that part of my journey was when I woke up and I would count down the hours of when the kids went back to bed. So I had go to bed as well. Like I was just, that's a trigger. Like when I started counting down the hours, I knew this was not right. This is not my dream. I wanted to be the mother and the wife and the woman that like Brian and Bubba had a big family. But if I only had two kids and I wanted like five, how, how's that ever going to have a third and fourth and a fifth if I felt so resentful and I wasn't much fun to be around.
Claire Baker (10:33.214)
Wow, I'm sure that there are many other mothers out there listening who can relate to some of the resentment and the anger and the exhaustion that you're talking about, right?
Yeah, I know because I see them too in my life still.
Yeah, and I'm really looking forward to speaking more about the clients you're working with, but I want to stay for a little longer with your journey. So you found Maisie Hill's, The Period Power, which is such an iconic book. And then realized we're not meant to be on all of the time and it's perfectly normal. Like you say, it's literally in our physiology to change from week to week.
What were the practical changes that you actually made in your life in order to support this new knowledge.
Monique Dickson (11:12.71)
I love this question because looking from the outside into my thing much really three meals on the table a day like keep the baking tins full and and the mom that I be but it's more about the internal shifts and how I go about doing the thing that I need to do in my day so the energy that I the tasks that I need to do whether I go slow or whether I make it really fast or whether I in my life you wouldn't change like I still still do like put meal out of the freezer and cancel my appointments for the day. That's the difference. So from the outside looking in, women often say me, how do you do it all? And you can't really tell from the outside looking in what I'm doing differently because it's me and how I feel.
Claire Baker (12:05.74)
Yeah, I often find myself answering a lot of questions about cycle syncing with when people want to know how they change everything week to week and how I do it. And honestly, think like awareness and attitude and the way that we hold ourselves and that self-kindness and gentleness and like you say, the understanding and the relief that comes with knowing that it's okay not to do it all, that is the majority of the work actually. And it's not often what people want to hear because they want the practical tips, but
Yeah, there is actually something to be really to be said for just knowing that it's okay that the way you're showing up today is different to how you showed up the week before.
Yeah. And that was the gift that doing your program or training and the book gave me what it's not like it's more about how I feel and okay, like whether I wanted to eat three, like that or the next, let's have a smoothie for dinner. And that was okay. Like it wasn't as hard like have to do like, you know, often told on Instagram or by the doctors or the dietitians and like you have to eat this way or else, but actually when you tune into your body and like, suppose it's intuition, isn't it? Like a deep knowing and you can listen to that and give yourself permission to do this.
Claire baker (13:03.71)
Yeah, that can be tough though, right, as well, to give yourself that grace? What do you think helps you to actually allow yourself that space and that flexibility and that kindness that I'm hearing you talk about.
Monique Dickson (13:56.71)
Because I've experienced what happens when I don't. Now, like a non-negotiable, I don't do completely right. Seriously wrong at the end of my last pregnancy. Like I just tried to keep going and doing everything. Lockdown that we had here in New Zealand and a season on the farm. I pushed through, but I just didn't. And then one day I quite literally couldn't even get out of bed. Like my body was just, you didn't give me rest. Now I'm going to force you to rest. And I had three young kids and it right all the time, but I got it right.
Monique Dickson (14:08.366)
I am seven days a week on the farm and I couldn't help any of them. And that moment I swore that I'd let them get back here again because I couldn't help anybody. And they had to spend weeks helping me to come back to full health. And so I suppose I needed that toike that point that learning to go my health is so mother
and I can't show up and be the woman and the wife that I want to be if I don't give myself that. like learning for sure, but I had to learn it to continue and go through and give myself the grace and permission that I so easily give myself now.
Yeah, our all reckoning moment. How common do you think that is with women who dedicate themselves to this way of living, living by their cycles? How common do you think that reckoning moment is for people?
Yeah, I reckon for us to go on and teach someone to help, we're really likely.
People probably had a real moment, and often a real low.
Claire Baker (15:05.858)
Yeah, yeah, totally. And you know what's interesting is like our cycles and our bodies and our lives change as well. So, so much throughout our whole lifespan and there's still moments to come for both of us and for probably many women listening, like menopause, for example, all of these rites of passage where there might be more lows to come. There might be more moments where the way that we've been made, the way that menstrual cycle awareness has worked for us might change actually and I'm sure with every birth as well there's like another moment of, right, now I need to re-listen to what my body's telling me and work in a new way so it's not like we figure it all out and then here's the perfect plan and now we just follow this indefinitely, right?
No, I think it's part of the beautiful thing, isn't it? because it's not set way like
Like you have to do this in your spring, you must do this in your winter and you have to eat. Listen to our bodies and as long as I think we keep on listening and then we might think...this way, it's about that we've got it right like you said and we just and this is what I always do in my autumn phase or this is I know I need to do. Oops the daisies, nope that's not what your body wants right now like it's all changing or it's catching up with you or like these stresses coming and pay. Yeah, yeah, I think the be of listen and tune in all the time from elsewhere that's affecting you. but is that we get to like.
And this is something that I find myself teaching a lot when people ask about, how do we, you know, people ask me how do we work with women who are mothers or who are in perimenopause or who are experiencing grief and loss through infertility, for example, areas of life that might be unfamiliar to the coach. But I really believe that if we can teach someone the skill of like you're describing, listening to their bodies, learning how to chart their cycle and to stay present with their experience and adapt and be graceful and kind to themselves, it actually really matter what phase of life somebody is in because these skills will take them all the way through their menstrual path, right?
Monique Dickson (17:03.33)
Yeah, I agree with that 100%, but that's the hard thing to teach someone or to give permission to as much. Here's my way to feel this. Yeah. you're. That's not actually going to help in long term or for all the changes that to come. You're so right.
Like you said earlier. Do like it's easier to go here eat for your cycles follow this chart like don't do it'll be fine but like.
Claire Baker (17:23.541)
So let's go back to you. 2021, you came and enrolled and trained with us at Cycle Coach School. What was that like for you beginning your studies there?
Monique Dickson (17:56.71)
So I signed up and applied and then I got pregnant. wasn't if that one wasn't planned. We're gonna wait a year but she came early. I was like, do I do this? Like what are people gonna think I'm the menstrual cycle coach that got pregnant? I was like gonna do this training and I didn't have a cycle.
Claire Baker (17:50.71)
Yeah, talk a little bit more about that because you know, you're not alone in this. This has happened a number of times now that someone will enroll and then they'll email me and say, I'm pregnant. Can I still take the training? So my answer is of course, yes, but I'd be really curious to hear what that was like for you.
Monique Dickson (18:12.71)
Yeah, so I armed an art with my husband and with you like do I do it like will I still get the maximum out of it? But you can absolutely delay it a year like if you want like if you don't want to do it this year and I was like no I so ready to losesigned up for a reason and I'm so in this information. think actually it was you, you might come away with something else entirely that somebody who is not pregnant will won't get and I did.
You said like it? I absolutely like, I don't think I developed it by leaned into like the cycle of pregnancy and far out that has been incredibly amazing. Probably not so much in my, like my professional work life because I don't work with that many pregnant women. I mostly work with them after pregnancy, but for me to be able to articulate what it's like to through a pregnancy and the amount of women that say to me, my gosh, was just like that. Like how did you, because I did the training and I was pregnant and I leaned into it so much more.
So, more than what would've if I wasn't pregnant, it actually was a real blessing in disguise as these things often are.
Claire Baker (19:18.71)
And you went on then to deliver a lesson within our training. So Monique teaches in the training, a lesson on the inner seasons of pregnancy. And this has been one of our most popular alumni lessons. And just in the most recent cohort we had, we had three of our trainees become pregnant in the first few weeks. So again, a lot of these back and forth, which is still appropriate for me. my gosh.
Yes.
Claire Baker (19:35.468)
And this lesson was one that I know people were hanging out for because they were like, okay, I need this map now, this understanding of what kind of cycle I'm on now. So I'd love to give you the floor to just speak about the inter-seasons of pregnancy and how this has been like for you to name these, because I think the way that you teach it is really interesting.
Yeah, interesting. the cool thing is that I'm living it again. Not that I was unsure, but like I'm
take it to like, not like double, so sure. It's definitely like I'm on the right track because it's so aligned. So I'm onto it.
I kind of found into it and found that the first trimester, so the first trimester per cycle or last day of your menstrual period LMP, yeah, until about like week 13, week 14. So you, your period about the time that you found your, you have conceived. And so you're expecting to go into your winter. If you know your cycle, then you kind of know you're going to winter and you kind of go into it and you come out like from like the last time you're meeting all the way out you're out. It, you do find out that you.
Don't come out of until you finish that trimester so it is the ultimate act of surrendering of giving up of resting hard in itself but it got a little bit easier because I knew that when I like what comes after winter is spring off of the second trimester of pregnancy is like your spring like that inner spring energy the really interesting part is the transition between the winter to the spring so I don't know if it's of letting go, which is really and so the first half. It's that this for everybody, it's the hard question for me to go for.
I really trans at me when I have my menstrual cycle from winter like my bleed into spring. It was really hard for me in my pregnancy. Kind of got to the end of week 12, week 13, my goodness, I Let's out and do all the things like I've got this pregnancy glow.
I just feel on this cute little bump, but I would do that and exhaust it.
that the next day would be a good. So I kind of like teeter-totted or like swung in and out of winter spring for two weeks.
out for like, really, really hard in my menstrual cycle. It's normally owned about like two days that I have to like go in and out of the spring, but was too long a my poor husband. was like, it's coming. I'm gonna like be there soon. Hang on. I'm gonna be there. It was so frustrating.
acid all the way I think to like halfway of tricester too. So that might be around like the 20, week 21, that I really felt my energy ramp up, my nurturing ability to really like give even more to my And I felt like that was my inner self. So I got to access this really high energy, high nurturing activity, really social time for six of my inner self, my second trimester. And then I had to transition after summer into all-time and my trimester.
my family. Summer.
strain hyperlipidemia.
what like five weeks, summer, which is
Monique Dickson (22:34.318)
was like my auto. I had to slow down, I had to surrender, like eat different foods, I had to at life a different pace, I had to have more me time, more bound, all the things that we normally do in our menstrual cycle, I had to really lean on that. And then of course, the birth came and then that fourth trimester, like the sixth trimester, that like in a winter again, and I would lean into that and soak up knowing that was like s- I had to go first like 12 weeks after birth was like I was able to like really get out.
Spring was coming, so I felt like after that fourth trimester because I rest so much and gave my body so much like with my baby I was able to like about like what's like leap into spring or like about raising my time.
downtime and connection. I would into spring and I had an amazing like rest of my time until my first period came I felt like I was just consistently in spring because I'd given myself that winter time so yeah that was kind of how I felt the inner seasons of your menstrual cycle align with the inner seasons of preg
a real short overview of.
And this
Right. Framework has been so helpful for so, like I say, so many trainees who've taken the lesson and then gone on to share it with their clients. I love the way you describe that waiting for your period to come and then discovering that you've conceived. So it's like you're waiting, going from like the inner autumn of your menstrual cycle. Then you actually then transition into a much longer, uh, in a winter. So the inner winter is just to recap that. So I've got this right, the first trimester.
is like another, know, is like an inner winter, rusting, surrendering and really nurturing yourself. And then I love the way you describe this crossover between the inner winter then and the inner spring of pregnancy, because yeah, I guess like the month long menstrual cycle is expanded to around, you know, nine, nine or so months.
Yeah.
Claire Baker (24:29.176)
So then it makes sense that some of these transitions between the phases will also be elongated. And the way you described that in a winter, in a spring transition of the ups and downs is really, yeah, that makes so much sense to me. And I'm sure it also would be so like such a relief for women to hear this as well during pregnancy that there may be these transitions that might actually take longer. It's not like you might just wake up one day and suddenly.
You're in trimester two and your energy has returned and you're feeling great, that it's also normal to have a transition between these phases. And so then it takes us, okay, then in the summer is in that second half of the second trimester, right through to a more slowing down again in trimester three and preparing nesting luteal kind of energy before then again, another surrender into birth to take you then into the postpartum.
phase and that's just like 90 days of winter rest. Incredible. just love the way these cycles lay over each other and how our menstrual cycle awareness practice can support us in pregnancy as well.
Yeah, so that was my experience that and I didn't experience it with my first three and now that I'm in it again. I'm able to sink into it more because I know it's not forever. You know how like when you feel a certain way you of feel like you're going to feel like that until the end of your pregnancy? But I know because of knowing my cycle so well that
fourth baby.
It's so...
whole way away.
Monique Dickson (26:07.34)
and knowing the cycles of pregnancy or the seasons of pregnancy that it's not like it's gonna end and I can just sink into it now. So it really helped me with my winter limbo trimester this time around knowing it was definitely gonna come to an end. Like I'm not gonna have a whole pregnancy of like surrender enough to it. You know what I mean? Like you just get and let it happen. And then now I'm out now I feel amazing in my spring and looking forward to just, I do wanna point out actually was you who
my fish.
Speaker 1 (26:21.102)
or I might do if I didn't.
to like really
I'm by my summer and it's so beautiful. what I do is that it was massive inspiration. I must have been complaining about how hard my transition was or something that's like a good strain the question.
Monique Dickson (26:40.918)
And you said to me like, is this like a mirror of what happens in your menstrual cycle normally? was like, my gosh, It's just about getting weeks. So I that question that really cemented the learning like, wow, yeah, this is.
Absolutely, this is replaying itself, but it's not a couple of days, it's a couple of...
Claire Baker (27:00.622)
Yeah, the patterns just, they really pattern. Patterns are gonna pattern.
It'll show up in your cycle, in your pregnancy, in your birth, mental.
Yeah, so perimenopause likely as well.
But how awesome to have this knowledge as well and it's something that I hear a lot from people, from women who have gotten really into menstrual cycle awareness and they love charting their cycle and it's been a real support for them and then they become pregnant and it's like they feel a bit lost at sea because suddenly this hand rail is
is gone. So this is why this framework that you're a articulated and delivered is so powerful because it means then that it's not, it hasn't completely vanished. It's just changed shape. And actually all of the cycles and cycles and cycles they've been practicing are actually going to really support them to, like you say, to know which phase they're in, to embody that phase and to look forward to what comes next, knowing it's not going to stay how it is, you know.
Claire Baker (27:58.072)
Like that's really powerful, particularly I guess in someone's first pregnancy, but I can imagine in all pregnancies as well.
Yeah, to really hang on to that. they're really like, I'm still, I've got something I can lean on. I'm not just lost in this limbo land, like with no sun. It gets a little bit like that after your fourth trimester, like after you've had that in the winter, you've your really little tiny baby. And then you're like, then you're to just like go. Kind of feel the same all the time, but you still want to grasp.
I feel it.
I the moon cycle was really, really strong for me in that time when I literally had no cycle because I was breastfeeding for like a year, whatever, and still having something to lean into because it's innately how we've been designed to live like that all the time. then, yeah, so it's kind of like ancient wisdom we're bringing back to just, or just permission to lean into your body and give it what it needs and what it's desiring.
Such powerful work. And this is, I made-
and some of what you're doing with your clients now because you mentioned most of the women you're working with are postpartum. So I'd love to hear some more about who it is that comes to you, why are they there, what are they needing support with, and what does the work look like that you're doing together?
Yeah, so when I say postpartum or after birth, it's mostly like, up to like.
seven years after birth, they're still, and they just wanted to find themselves. What I found, so I did cycle coaching and then I was getting these questions like, why is my period so heavy or why is my periods like not coming all the time or why am I not ovulating or why have I got really bad cramps at time my period? And I was like, okay, so before for some women living with imbalance hormones before they can even live their cycle, they need to their hormones so that they can go in
And then like, like not hate on their cycle, like not really, cause I have really negative energy towards it because it brings them pain and it brings them confusion and embarrassment. And so I then went and did a training to become a woman's hormonal health practitioner so I could help them to balance their hormones. And then I thought I would teach them about cycling.
I understand they're menstrual cycle, it's actually like, it's so cool. doing it all at the same time. Like they want to know why they're feeling like the way they're feeling. And then I get to explain, well, this is because you're at this time in your cycle. Feel like that. I go, well,
entwined.
Monique Dickson (30:15.554)
And then they'll go, actually don't. Or maybe you didn't ovulate. So let's look back at the signs and what you've been writing. And also it's kind of beautifully, mostly women come to me. So exhausted. Like they're just, there's nothing left in their tank. They've got no resilience and not enjoying their life. They sometimes have periods that are really heavy or just like resentment. So it's funny, isn't it? That you attract women who are.
in your journey. Live the same kind of story that you have. So definitely on that bar.
and then we work together and we balance the hormones in a really holistic natural way. don't realize how much to do. don't realize how the things like the lifestyle changes, the mindset shifts, the belief things at the same time as working or helping them to understand where they're at in their cycle. And there's still a woman out there that needs to be there. They're like, you've been talking about it for so long. And women still come to me and say, I had an idea. It's long time.
I do all the
Monique Dickson (31:19.22)
many women out there who just literally no one's ever told them or no one's ever sat down with them and said hey it's okay feel like really hungry right now and see your body needs food let's find some food to feed it so it feels really full like heavy periods aren't actually like they're normal but they're not natural in your body it's a sign like a something your body's trying to show that you need like something to change in your life so yeah it was a real journey to get there but now I feel like I've spewed
It's okay to real.
Get the beautiful approach to like.
menstrual cycle awareness and understanding hormones, all the things.
and how and
Yeah, such a holistic approach that you're able to offer by supporting women on their hormonal health journey and then looking at how they're feeling across their menstrual cycle and offering that piece around grace and kindness and learning how to really embrace this work. Why do you think, I mean, I know what I think, but I'm so curious to hear why you think this is so important for the mums to have.
Oh, so much. I love this conversation. so a woman or my mother is in the next generation and she is being the example to her daughters. I used to talk a lot about just showing you a... But then I realized a woman is really the first, or a mother is the first example of what a woman is to her son as well. So it's just as important that we show our sons what a woman's body is.
Speaker 1 (32:20.536)
is a literally right
Speaker 1 (32:26.446)
Daughter's had a live.
Speaker 1 (32:39.534)
woman like
feels and how it's designed to live as well as giving our daughters permission. And we can't teach our children without living it ourselves. 100 % believe it all starts with the mother and the home that she has. Like get herself healthy, bring healthy habits in, understand her body, understand her needs. Wants and it's not until she can articulate what she actually wants, like we give her the tools to articulate what she actually is feeling.
show or
Speaker 1 (32:57.528)
us to.
Speaker 1 (33:03.554)
and who.
Monique Dickson (33:12.258)
that she can then ask for what she wants, right? We have so many women like say, I don't know what I would even do with an afternoon or I'm so cross and I'm so grumpy or the kids just do this, but last week they didn't. So they need us to like give them permission to feel that way and then to guide them to as to why they might feel like that. And then to create some kind of like, they can ask your family and use words that is going to really help their family understand where they are at. so it comes like,
Literally changing generations because when the mother can explain what she needs or why she's feeling this way, then it just becomes normal language in the house. And it's not like shamed upon or like where she's the mom's telling her children that she's got her period. So she's going to TV. It's just, you need more of that. So when the son grows up and finds a wife to marry or other woman in his life, he's able to give them permission to rest and like take it easier. Bleed.
now and sit on the couch like, to like.
These are only
Compared to if he didn't have a mother that showed him that that's normal and that's how it hap- That's just-
been so powerful we get to raise our children in a household like this.
Yeah, wow. They have singles on their body listening to you speak. Thinking about the generational impact on the surface, work so often just looks like balancing your hormones and feeling good and actually it's a revolution.
Speaker 4 (34:35.079)
is.
It's so neat. I have this wonderful story. It's not wonderful. It's actually a really sad story. just a scary story. It's a realistic story. So I've got four brothers.
Right. so we were at a family gathering at my parents training and I got the iPad.
house one day. I'd just finished my hair out and I was so excited to show everybody what hormones were doing. So I sat down at the, my brother came and like watched over one shoulder, one of my brothers came over my one shoulder. Next generation above us came and watched over my other shoulder and I it did. I explained to like how this is, my brother said to me,
what the whole thing is and at the table.
Monique Dickson (35:01.644)
and my uncle.
Monique Dickson (35:06.188)
I was like drawing out the hormones and put them into the four Cs. I was in this one and this one and I was like so passionate.
okay I just need two wives one's always in like this it's not really the point and my uncle's like no no I need four wives I've always got a wife in that summer part and I was like you are the reason that woman feel like this we're really hit home that being like this is what the
So why is half of the cycle? was like, huh.
Monique Dickson (35:32.398)
This is the world that we are living in. whether it's their fault or not, are expecting and projecting onto the world. And this is why we are so exhausted and why we're trying to give too much of ourselves. Let ourselves slow down and listen. It's a real moment. This is what we're battling against and whether it's like the boys fault or not or it's how they were indoctrinated into society and like their grandparents and all the things. But wow, that really hit home.
woman in their life.
too much ourselves that we don't live into our bodies, like far out.
Claire Baker (35:58.498)
Yeah, it makes me think about how important it is for a mum to have support to be able to make these changes and to be able to live her, you know, her most cyclic self in the home because on one hand it's like, yes, let's break these generational patterns and let's cook beautiful whole food in the home for the family and let's get everybody on this
gorgeous cyclic rhythm and model the way that, you know, we really want to be living. All of us, like even men, they're cyclic beings as well. They go to sleep every night. They have their own patterns and cycles. But if we're trying to do it by ourselves and we're not supported by
people around us, that makes it really tough. And I do fear that the labor then is really on the female to again be like doing like this, you know, doing all of the work. And so I'm curious, like maybe in your own relationship or in the relationships that your clients are in and for anyone listening who's like, yeah, I want this, but I would also really need my partner to get on board. What would you suggest?
It's a tricky one and I think it starts, I had a lovely conversation with Sh- on her cast about encouraging our men, not encouraging, empowering our men to stand up in the home because initially what my husband, my brother and my uncle were thinking at that time, they have to deal with the unhappiness and the grumpiness and they to pull their weight more in the home when the woman wants to rest, when she doesn't want to cook a meal for the family or something.
I'll put this conversation was like
Monique Dickson (37:32.716)
And so they just see that level of it, but they were missing the level of like the extra connection, the extra love, the extra vulnerability. With a woman who's able to be freely herself, like how much more we have so much to give. I'm constantly surprised how much love we have to give, but not when we're exhausted and resentful and bedraggled and like we've got nothing to give and we're trying to give it all the time. But I always think the first step that comes.
So much.
Monique Dickson (37:58.67)
And it does, the change does come from us as being the mother and the wife in the home. The first step is to understand the male is coming from and what he's seeing, like in my rural community and my rural generational male go out on the farm and do the jobs and he comes home and the woman does everything else. And that's what my husband's mother did. So when I understand that it's not his fault that he can't
parents in my family. The male's job is to go
Speaker 1 (38:18.574)
at the
Monique Dickson (38:26.638)
me to be like this because that's literally the only blueprint that he was showing was his mother doing that. So once I understood that I had more compassion, that it wasn't him, I didn't know what I was trying to explain to him. And so I think when we come at it from that angle, like, and don't expect like overnight is going to be absolutely amazing, understand everything and like know my cycle better than I do. Like he does now, but we have to understand where we're starting from and we have
his fault that he'd know what I'd
Speaker 1 (38:55.192)
do.
And then the next part is like, before we have to be able to articulate what we actually need or want or desire from them. We can't just let them guess what we're needing. And they haven't read the books and like done the courses and like the trainings and coach. They need us to be really clear, but not come at it and at a, told you this, you have to do this. This is not my coach.
We were at.
Speaker 1 (39:10.702)
haven't like down with the Metro cycle
Speaker 1 (39:20.974)
We need to come at it really.
gentle, nurturing, power and way that we can, hey, my... I appreciate it. Just so we get takeaways or whatever it is. you do that for me, please? I can go and go and rest. I think that's where it starts and I think that's hard.
Hormones are really low right now. Would really appreciate it if you could call dinner tonight. Whatever. Do that.
Speaker 1 (39:41.058)
like.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it can be tough, right, to articulate what you need and to also extend compassion and understanding to our beloveds. know, whether they're male or female, you know, even in same-sex relationships, two women are going to have different...
menstrual cycle experiences as well. So I think it's really important that we know our own bodies and we have done this beautiful work of understanding our cycles. Maybe we've worked with a menstrual cycle coach or we've taken a course online, but we've really worked with it for a while. And then, yeah, to come at that conversation with faith in our partner as well, that they're going to.
want the best for us and want the best for our relationship. And again, it's challenging because often it can, like you say, there can be assumptions based on past experiences, based on what they saw in their family of origin home and what the gender roles were like in that space. you know, it's like tough. I think for anyone listening, you know, I get it that this can be really tough. And I think the more we can just be gentle and patient.
with each other and not expect perfection or dramatic changes overnight and take it slowly too, you know? But I think this like faith, like you say, like really trusting that the person that we're chosen to spend our lives with also wants us to feel good and they're going to see the benefit and experience the benefit over time. And I imagine that now, you know, I'd love to hear like, would your husband be an advocate now for?
Claire Baker (41:22.252)
menstrual cycle awareness and living like this, having witnessed the transformation in you and I imagine your marriage.
Absolutely.
And it's not like a staunch Kiwi bloke. His parents, his grandparents, comes from that real rural masculine, the man does the work, woman. And we've managed to, I'd say, flip it completely. He is so aware of my cycle, or he was pregnant, and my energy. It was just, like, it wasn't, we've got to the place where it's not even, like, talked about that much, like we just know.
But he's like, his parents are farmed and like, he comes.
Speaker 1 (41:39.468)
and the stuff inside. I wouldn't do all the stuff inside.
Speaker 1 (41:55.022)
But I've been on this journey for more than five and I didn't.
you start out that way and it started out with
I really had to ask for what I needed and why I needed that. And I often would say it would make me feel so good if you could, or I would really like he was giving me more than the dinner. He was giving me the support and the love that I needed. But like the flip side to him doing the action to help me out, then I then had to really, and also out like, cause he was doing my love bank or doing more for me.
from a support.
Speaker 1 (42:11.586)
like
It is.
out or whatever in the home.
don't think it because it was like Philly like show
him that extra love in that summer and that spring season. Even in the autumn season, the more that we ask of him, the more that we have to love him, but we kind of want to love him. So they need to get both sides of the stick here. It's not just, they need to the whole picture. And we're so blessed that it happens like month after month, times to practice this.
Speaker 1 (42:45.07)
See how it happens?
month and we get lots of time to get it right the first time you can like you've got so many cycles to practice and to get fine honestly but I just if I can turn my very
tweet and what works for your marriage. It's real good.
Monique Dickson (43:04.878)
husband and my very staunch traditional husband into under completely then it's I just hope it gives us hope in the emeriti and getting my fourth girl four girls in the house would
someone who stands a woman's cycle.
somebody that they can do the same. Then I feel like I'm so I'm also my husband's going to have house like teenage girls at once because they're so close and, and one son. I kind of feel like it's my God given path to my cycle so that I could go on.
This was my destiny. Learn this about my. As often my four daughters and my one son.
Yeah, yeah. I, my family, my family of origin, there's four girls and one boy. So same, same gender balance there. And my dad is so up to speed with all of it. He also married a nurse, so he was always going to, you know, be, down with this kind of, conversations. But, even this last month I had my period and I've been staying with my parents while I'm settling back into Australia. And.
Claire Baker (44:03.372)
You know, he just happily empties the bin, you know, with like menstrual products in there. Like he washed my reusable pads the other day and then came and delivered them. He's like, here you go sweetheart. I just brought my menstrual pads back into the room and it's just like, yeah, I really, had this moment of thinking, wow, how many dads would be like.
as relaxed about this as my dad is. And he grew up with no sisters, just a family of boys and his mom. So I know that having daughters has really helped to shape his understanding of how important his work is. And he's so supportive of my work too. So like you say, is about, you know, menstrual cycle awareness is of course about supporting females and women to like really care for themselves and.
know what they need in each phase and to be able to live more freely and to feel great. But it's for men too, right? Like it really is. It's for all humans. It's for all humans to learn about the magic of cycles and how we all move through different phases and how none of us should be expected to show up the same every single day, regardless of our body. We just have an extra one that they don't have. Yeah, beautiful.
All right, Mon, I'm curious if there's anything we haven't touched on yet that you'd like to talk about.
nothing really other than if anyone is sitting out there and listening to the podcast and has some kind of like hormonal imbalance or symptom that they're struggling with and they, often get told, my mom had heavy periods. Heavy periods? And I just like, you don't have to have heavy periods. Like that was not what God put you on this earth to have to suffer with. Like we really do get to have a say.
Speaker 1 (45:39.723)
So that's what I had.
Monique Dickson (45:51.926)
in how our bodies, how healthy our bodies are. And there will be a root cause as to why the heavy periods are happening. And it's not about the heavy periods themselves. Like we don't just want to treat the heavy periods with things. We want to actually go, so why is your periods heavy? So why is your hormones imbalance? So why is that happening? So why is that? But like, it's just, need to go really deep to fix it. And I just feel like there's so many women out there who are suffering with not just heavy exhaustion or poor sleep or, or acne or like weight loss or weight
But like
Monique Dickson (46:21.838)
for no reason or sluggish, like any of this, like it's not, it's often said it's normal, but it's not natural. Like we weren't put here to live with that. So if anyone is struggling with that, then reach out to a health professional or I find doctors don't treat the root cause. They're really good at treating the symptom and like, but you need to find someone who's like specializing in women's health and can actually go deep with you and not just in a one session, like in a overtime to work it out and yeah.
keeping us alive
Monique Dickson (46:51.182)
I just see so many women suffering with so many horrific symptoms that they just put down to, it's just, I take the price or the cost of being a woman or my mum had it, she's tried everything, I just want to give you, there is a way and there's often a solution to fix it when you fix the root cause to feeling better and energized and your health back on track, there is always something we can do.
bonus bonus, bye.
or private. Hope that.
Claire Baker (47:14.55)
you say to anyone listening who wants to do that work, who wants to work with women to better understand their cycles and who maybe even feels really called to working with mums? Like what would you say?
absorb everything you can and I think you'll know, I feel like it's just inner calling to do the work and nothing will really stop you. Things will get in your way for sure, but nothing will really stop you from actually doing what you need to do. We need more women doing that. Claire has an amazing training, lots of incredible trainings. Claire's one thing I learned about course training was not just central cycle of this, but
can about it.
Speaker 1 (47:42.018)
so
Speaker 1 (47:48.918)
I loved about yours and why I like this, but also how to hold space.
I think we need more women holding space for other women because a lot of the work is just done in the holding space and the amazing question asked. Yeah, so please find a way to do the work. We need more women doing the work.
Yeah, I agree. We definitely do. And the industry is definitely growing. think more people have ears to hear this message now. More people are open to having these conversations. So yeah, there's so much room and space for more people. Like you say, sometimes it can be surprising when you have a conversation with someone and they're like, I didn't know that I need to eat regularly. No one had ever told me that that could have such an impact on my life. I think often practitioners like you and I can live in little...
bubbles where we're following a lot of other people who are teaching about fertility or menstrual cycle awareness and hormone health. But the reality is when we step outside of this bubble, this lovely bubble, we realise that there are so many women who are desperate for this knowledge and may not even realise that they need it yet, but they're to understand how important it is.
Absolutely. A woman often go like, who else? I would do for my, for my health. There's so many options now, but it's not quite, it's not mainstream yet, but the more we talk about the more we see and share on. Just, it's so exciting to watch. It's just, it's such a, such a joy, such a gift to be able to bring this work to the world, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (49:04.258)
been to the doctor like so I go off and I'm like so yeah.
that we talk about there, like online and socials that's, to space. it's been five years nearly, I think, that I've been doing.
Claire Baker (49:27.768)
So are you still working then in preparation for baby number five? If somebody wanted to come and work with you, then what could they expect and how could they go about that?
Absolutely. I take my last clients on in June because I work in three cities. This is my last intake of new clients. But I've developed an app called Nourish where it's women who are
month like best. So June. So we're one to one
over 35 who want to like learn about all the things.
things they can do to get healthy from the inside.
out. So it's like doing the actual lifestyle changes and I've laid it all out in a step by step pathway. So that will continue to go and I who helped me with that. I can't
I've got a team of who can still take my maternity leave and like signal to my family and do all the things. All still run. So yeah, you can work with me with the app or through one-on-one until June is my last intake.
that
Claire Baker (50:17.454)
I was just checking out the app actually before we spoke and we hadn't yet got to that. But yeah, you've developed an app. That's amazing. There can't be like too many apps like this out there that I can think of specifically for women over 35 who want to understand this work.
Yeah, not in like my approach, like they're not relying on supplements, changing your health lifestyle approach way. And it also has a community built into
like a real, like,
it so it's like a Facebook group or like a group inside the app so it's like we're like within that every day it's very cool.
Very special.
Claire Baker (50:51.645)
my gosh, it's amazing. I'm going to go and download it now. So that's the Nourish app.
go through my website to get it. It's hard to find on the app store.
Okay, we'll link to it. Yeah, we Well, congratulations on getting that together. Congratulations on baby number five. And thank you so much for talking with us today. I've just loved everything that we've meandered through. And I really celebrate the work that you're doing in the world and the joy and the passion that you bring to it because it's just so like, it's such a pleasure for me to speak with you and to feel.
And again, I'm so grateful for the lesson that you've contributed to our training on the inner seasons of pregnancy and just want to like, yeah, affirm how powerful that's been for a lot of our trainees. So thank you for the courage to name these things. It's really powerful for future generations.
you 100 % wouldn't be sitting here doing this work if it wasn't for you.
Speaker 1 (51:43.234)
clear.
from my heart to yours. Thank you for being brave.
enough to bring that to the work, your work. I know it's.
Claire Baker (51:57.518)
So much love, we'll link to all of your socials and stuff like that. What's the best way for people to find you?
Yeah, Instagram is where I'm at. Instagram, yeah.
Instagram? Cool. And on Instagram you are at monetdixon underscore, right? Awesome! Okay, well I think that's probably it. Let's leave it there. That was great.
Yeah, that's the one.
Speaker 1 (52:18.466)
Thanks Claire, it so lovely.
it.
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