Episode 13: Trust The Timing of Your Creativity
Have you ever felt the push to “do something” with your creativity before it’s fully ready? Lots of ideas in your Notes app that go from inspiration to overwhelm when you realise you’d need to live 100 lifetimes to do them all? Maybe like us, you want to birth your work more slowly, more intuitively, and in a way that feels deeply aligned.
In this episode, Claire is joined by writer, circle facilitator, and Cycle Coach School graduate Daniella Elias for a rich and soulful conversation about creativity, menstrual cycle awareness, and reclaiming the feminine rhythms of creation.
Daniella shares the reality of her personal story with physical and emotional burnout, big life resets, and the surprising transformation that unfolded when she began living in deeper connection with her cycle.
We all love a story of reinvention, and believe us, this is a good one!
Claire and Daniella chat about what it really means to create from a cyclical, feminine place – how to honour the different energies of each inner season and trust the timing of your brilliant creative ideas.
From being super boundaried around menstruation to letting writing emerge through the bleed, Daniella invites us into her creative practice… including the story of how one of her pieces was recently published by @the_kind_press following a powerful encounter with her Enchantress archetype during Cycle Coach School!
It’s time to create and live with the generative natural force of cyclical living.
Click play to explore more.
Resources and Links:
About Daniella Elias:
Daniella is a Certified Cycle Coach, intuitive guide, and author who has supported hundreds of women in reconnecting to the power they hold within. With a background in teaching and a deep passion for menstrual awareness, she now creates safe, soulful spaces through 1:1 sessions, meditations, and women’s circles. Based in Sydney, Daniella is also the co-host of the Aligned and Unfiltered podcast and is known for her cacao in hand, book in lap, and love of pastries.
Instagram:@thedaniellaelias
Website: www.daniellaelias.com
Substack: The Spiral Pages with Daniella Elias
Published Writing: Anthologia: Grab you copy
Book mentioned:
‘Code Red’ by Lisa Lister
‘Slow Productivity’ by Cal Newport
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
Daniella Elias (00:00)
And I think that something I've been able to take away from all of those moments and those experiences is that just because we love something, just because it lights us up, just because it fuels certain parts of us doesn't mean we need to birth it into something bigger. It can exist as is and it can be a sacred creation just for us.
And that's something that's changed my whole life now.
Claire Baker (00:24)
Welcome to the Cycle Coach Show.
Lauren Olivia Hughes (00:28)
Empowering Conversations on Menstrual Cycle Coaching.
Claire Baker (00:33)
We're your hosts, Claire Baker.
Lauren Olivia Hughes (00:37)
Olivia Hughes.
Lauren (00:38)
Welcome to another episode of the Cycle Coach Show. It's Lauren here once more to introduce a wonderful interview between Claire Baker, my co-host, and our guest today, Daniella Elias, who is an intuitive spaceholder and certified cycle coach. She really specializes and focuses in on our creativity in relation to our menstrual cycle. And it's a conversation I think Claire and I were both really excited to have because we are both creatives and love this part of our business and our focus just in life in general. And I really enjoyed hearing this conversation because Daniella was new to me and it was really wonderful to hear her perspective and how she really leans into that bleed and that surrender of menstruation to listen in and to have that curiosity of what's coming up, there was also really a big theme of that longevity, that creativity sometimes takes. I think sometimes when we begin our descent into the menstrual cycle awareness realm, it can feel like, I need to, instead of producing in that 24 hour day, I need to produce within the 28 on average day cycle that we experience our hormonal cycle.
And really just taking a step back and expanding that. I know Claire wrote a Substack on this theme, I think a month or so ago, and it's ever since been a theme I've been reading more about with Cal Newport's book, Slow Productivity. And so just to hear these two powerful women talk about just that, it just felt like a full circle moment for me. A good reminder that even though this might be a slower season, or if it's feeling like a chaotic busy season for you perhaps, that there is spaciousness for our creative projects to root in and to bloom in their own time. We don't need to have that rush or panic of, if I don't do it, someone else will. That sometimes I definitely fall victim to as well. Anyway, it was just a really potent conversation and I look forward to hearing what you think about it, so enjoy this new episode.
Claire (02:47)
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.
Claire Baker (03:27)
So Daniella, we start all of our conversations here on the Cycle Coach Show with the cycle check-in.
We get a sense of where everybody is in their cycle while we're meeting and drop in and see how we're feeling. So tell us whereabouts are you in your cycle and what's alive for you today.
Daniella Elias (03:43)
I'm day 11 today and I feel like day 11. I feel like day 11. I'm finally... I take a while to come out of my cave. I get reluctant. Just like, no, I love it. I like being in my own space. So yeah, I'm feeling kind of in my own rhythm again and in my own flow and this is where my creativity comes through. So I have all my ideas are constantly coming through, but...
This is where I finally feel like, yes, it's time to actually dive in and I'm ready and I'm not just forcing myself. Yeah. So I love this time period.
Claire Baker (04:16)
Ooh, gosh, there's so many things off the back of it I wanna ask you. ⁓ Any ideas that came through from this bleed or anything that's alive that you're feeling particularly excited about getting your teeth stuck into?
Yeah.
Yeah, 100%. So I had, I mean this was a unique bleed for me. It came earlier than I was expecting, but perfectly aligned with a little escape that I had literally in the woods, surrounded by no one and nothing. Except for a few horses next door and some dogs that I met. And where it happened to be was the mirror of this vision that I had for some writing and a book and a character and a story.
And while I was there, I was looking around just thinking, this isn't coincidental at all. And there were parts of the story that I have been sitting with for a while and have been procrastinating for being honest because you know, all of those thoughts and fears that come into your mind and doubt and whatnot when it comes to your own writing because there's vulnerability that's there. And there's this one moment that really stood out where I was walking, I was going on a little walk and I was...
Literally, nothing was around me except for the trees, but it's probably going to sound dramatic. I'm going to say it was about 20, but maybe it was really about 12. But it felt like there are about 20 of these butterflies, very specific butterflies, butterflies that in my journal I had just written a part for this story. They were the exact same. And I'm walking through these 20 butterflies thinking, okay.
All right, this is the time now, this is the sign. I have to write this, I have to write this. No more little voice in my head, no more doubt, no more excuses. I have to write this, this is in my face. And so I'm there trying, like, okay, no, I actually have to get this, I need to record this, because I need to remember this moment. And it didn't matter how many times I tried to whip out my phone, it was never on film. Okay, so the message is for me.
And so I feel like out of this bleed, so much clarity came through because it was my own inner voice coming through to say, this idea that you've had, this story that needs to be written, you've sat on it for a while, but now is the time.
It was a good one. That was a good blade.
Claire Baker (06:25)
Wow.
like three minutes in and my whole body is just like covered in tingles honestly. That is extraordinary. I really didn't know what was going to come out when I asked you that question and I can see these butterflies, you I can feel it. So you were writing about this and then you felt you had the experience right afterwards. I mean, what a sign.
Daniella Elias (06:31)
Hahaha!
Hahaha
Yeah.
Yeah.
Claire Baker (06:49)
Wow. And kudos to you for listening to it as well and for paying attention and being present enough to notice when these miracles happen that, you know, are pointing us towards something, something important.
Daniella Elias (07:02)
Yeah, I feel like.
post-cycle school and really just going all in with being connected to my cyclic self, the way I see things is different. And the connection to my intuition is different. And so these little miracles or these little glimmers, they're louder. And well, maybe they're not even louder. Maybe they're just... Maybe I'm just noticing and listening and accepting and allowing more. I don't know, but...
Yeah, they're definitely more in my face, I feel, since diving into this world, which is really cool because we all get access to that if we choose, right?
Claire Baker (07:32)
Mmm.
I relate to that.
Yeah, I really relate to that. And it's a good reminder actually as well for me to be honest, because it can be so easy to get swept up and away and life. I'm in a bit of a busy period myself right now with enrollments opening for the school and it's easy to forget that.
Daniella Elias (07:47)
Yeah.
Claire Baker (07:54)
Life is always sending us these little messages and because, you know, it takes like, in my experience anyway, like a real slowing down and settling the nervous system and being in nature often for me is a big one. And definitely through the practice of being with my bleed and listening to my body through menstruation and being open to the visions and the clarity and the insight that can come through at that time.
Daniella Elias (08:03)
Mm.
Claire Baker (08:20)
Yeah, I really hear you on that. And this is something that I definitely want to speak with you more about because I've noticed on your social media, you do something that's really cool, which is you share when you're menstruating a closed for bleeding, which tells your audience that you're not available and you're taking time offline to be with your bleed. And I love the way that you model that. How long have you been doing this for?
Daniella Elias (08:21)
I definitely can't take credit for that because I saw someone else do it about a year ago and I thought it was genius. Like I'm definitely, I'm definitely doing this. I would say a full year it's been. And I also, once I started doing that, I shifted my contracts as well. So all of my contracts for my one-on-one clients or whoever I'm working with, it'll say that during my bleed, when I'm menstruating, I will not be available. I might, if I choose to respond to things, cool.
But I'm making that boundary really clear from the beginning. And it's been really fun because in doing that, I've been holding myself more accountable.
Really following through with what I'm saying. Okay, I'm going to take this time off to just be and to notice and to just sit with and see what happens because of that. And it's become routine, but a beautiful routine and I guess a sacred practice for myself. And in doing that, it's also given other people permission to do the same. Because I'm noticing those around me sharing and maybe not putting it on their story in such a loud way, but maybe it's in quiet conversation saying, no, I'm going to retract for a little bit, I'm bleeding. Or I'll notice my clients wearing red scrunchies and I'll know that the red scrunchie is the signal. And so from there, we'll know how to approach one another. you know, yeah, it's really beautiful. I think we all should do it.
Claire Baker (10:05)
Yeah, I'm just speaking, I'm just imagining what it might've been like if we were modeled this our entire lives. And I know for a fact that some of my parents, some of my friends who are parents with kids are doing this, you know? And I just wonder how that would be to grow up seeing like, you know, the women in in my like family and then like, you know, in life, just unashamedly taking a few days to rest, to listen, potter about to do whatever, you know, feels best for them during that time rather than pushing through or having to medicate in order to function and show up for life. And yeah, miraculous really. And you've just been on the back then of like a really epic bleed where you just took yourself off to the woods and bled like on your own. I mean, this is the dream, right? So.
Daniella Elias (10:34)
Yeah, that's a good one.
Claire Baker (10:58)
What inspired you to do this for yourself?
Daniella Elias (11:02)
So it actually wasn't organized for that purpose. Initially, it was a pause in between the chaos so that I could just tune in because I needed to stop procrastinating with my writing. That was the initial purpose. And I wasn't due to bleed for another four days. And my cycle is always the same. It very rarely shifts and changes in time. And if it does, it's a day or so here or there. But four days is...
quite different for me to bleed early. And I was sharing the time with another soul. And then when I arrived, I was that relaxed instantly because I love being surrounded. That particular environment is just my soul lights up with trees and when there's just mountains and nothing and beautiful air and the stars and...
My body must have been so relaxed in that moment that it's like, okay, cool. Let's just make it a big bleed moment. Let's make it a big bleed moment because I actually remember in during cycle school doing the big bleed activity. And I got it in my journal where I was like, this is my ideal experience. I want to be in the woods. I made it so dramatic and big because that's just where my brain goes. And I did do big bleed experiences, but it was never like, because reality comes in and you create what you can with what you have. And so it's just hilarious to me and sort of perfect that years later, I unexpectedly got the big bleed experience that I had journaled about. And it was exactly the same experience that I had journaled about. Doing a whole lot of nothing, going for my walks,
reading so much. I think I've read three books, which is just wild. There's nothing else for me to do but read and write and just eat. I learned how to use, this is going to sound so juvenile, but I learned how to turn on the gas for the barbecue and I learned how to cook on a barbecue, which I've never done because everyone's always done it around me. And yeah, I just, got to do whatever I felt like in the moment and we don't often get that. So it was, yeah, kind of perfect and just well-timed in general.
Claire Baker (13:06)
Gosh, so much magic around you, these synchronicities and little miracles showing up. For anyone who's unfamiliar with it as a concept, the big bleed is a term that is coined by Red School and the idea is that we plan for and give ourselves a bleed, a menstrual period where we are as much as possible able to do what we would really love to do. And so for a lot of us, it's reducing or eliminating responsibilities for some or all of that time. It's being off technology or work. It's having food prepared or, you know, some things that are really nourishing. It's allowing yourself to imagine and really dream into the possibility of what would it look like if you really could just spend those few days of bleeding exactly how you would most love to, like really allow yourself to go there.
And the reality of that, you know, might not look exactly like how you imagined, but within the constraints and the parameters, the possibilities of your own life, could you orchestrate that to happen, you know, to a degree at some point in the future. And so this is something that we encourage all of our trainees to do at Cycle Coach School is to plan for and give themselves this experience because it's so healing to have an embodied experience of rest, particularly when menstruating, but also pleasure or also, you know, deep nourishment.
And like you say, the space to just kind of do whatever you want to do without time constraints or people wanting things from you and it stays with you that experience. That's certainly how it's been for me. And it means that when I reach, you know, when I get to my bleed each cycle, even if I'm not having a big bleed every month, certainly not, I can, I feel like I feel like I can access that space more easily when I've had, you know, a larger like extrapolated experience of it.
So it's just so cool that you did that and that it wasn't necessarily planned in that way, but like you say, you sort of imagined and dreamt into it previously and life gave it to you as well.
Daniella Elias (15:12)
Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like so much clarity comes from those moments in between, you know, when we retract and when we sink into those quiet spaces or that void-like period that we sometimes avoid. When we retract into that, for me, that's where everything just makes more sense. And I think it's because I'm not forcing myself to do or show up or...
overcomplicate things, even with my thoughts. It's just, it is what it is and through that acceptance of it is what it is, there's the clarity that tends to follow through with that. I love that we get to create those moments of pulling back, even when it's not in our bleed. know, creating those moments in between, I think is so important.
Claire Baker (15:40)
Yeah, it is. And not easy, you know? It's really, yeah, really can be tricky. Yeah, because life, really. Yeah, absolutely. I wanna, I wanna, we kind of, we just dove in, I love, but I want to backtrack a little bit because I want to hear a bit more about speaking of just life, like your, the huge life big red reset button that you went through when you came and took the training with us in 2023, because I think this is really important for people to hear.
Daniella Elias (16:30)
Yeah, this, okay. It's such a big story. It's like, I'll be probably wading through in the most random parts. This whole experience prior to hitting that big, I like how you call it, the big red reset. I'm going to call it that. I'm going to take that. That's great.
Claire Baker (16:46)
Do you know what? You actually called it that. I was going back through emails. Yeah, and you called it this. It was either... Yeah, no you did. Yeah, it was in an email. I wrote it down. So I... Yeah. No, I've taken it from you. You can have it back.
Daniella Elias (16:55)
⁓ That's my ingenious coming through. I'm like, that's fantastic.
That's so funny. So I don't even know where to begin. Basically, I've always been in this constant state of chasing my own creativity. I didn't know that's what it was, but I've always been in that constant state. I was a high school teacher for six years. I taught English and history. And I would say two years into that, if that, maybe a year and a half, I became bored, not with the job, but with the fact that my creativity felt stunted. And so behind the scenes of doing that full time, I can't even remember what it was at this point, but I started something on Etsy and I was hand making things and selling. And so was teaching throughout the day and then going home and hand making whatever orders had come through and sending them out.
And it was fun for a while because my creativity was I had an outlet and it gave myself a time to express, also it was relaxing. But then two years after that, like, ⁓ I don't, I like, I don't want to do this anymore. This isn't fun anymore. I'm bored. I need something else. And so my creativity again needed a new outlet because I had become kind of, yeah, stuck with whatever expression I had at that point.
And so I was sitting in conversation with my mom and she was trying to, I know now and I can recognize now that she was trying to lead me in this direction of being like, actually you need to slow down because you're moving too fast and you're jumping from one thing to the other. I was still teaching at the time. And instead of being direct with it, she said, how about you just create little moments in your day for a cup of tea and allow yourself to be slow, allow it to be simple, allow it to be easy.
And I really took that cup of tea idea and ran with it and that had to make it a thing because my mind at that point was running so fast and I had no concept of that taking it slow was just not a thing for me at that stage. And I was 23, you know, so everything is fast at 23. And so I ran with this thing. I'm like, oh yeah, that's right. I do.
I do like to take little moments of time and everyone stops for a cup of tea and coffee throughout the day. And why can't we make that a little moment of breath? I had to, I don't know why, but I had to create it into a business of course, cause I was just like, awesome, let's do it. Let's see what happens. I'm like, actually I don't, I'm not vibing with any of the teacups that we're drinking from at school. We were all issued these ceramic mugs that were white.
And they had in block blue letters, our first name and last name. And my name was never spelled correctly either, which was another issue that I had. And I thought to myself, well, I'll just design my own because I don't like anything that I'm using. So I had no business experience, no real like guidance with what I was going to do moving forward. But I decided to create a teacup collection. found an artist that I really love. I gave her my designs and concepts.
Daniella Elias (20:04)
I asked her to watercolor me some beautiful florals and prints. And then over the two years to follow that, I suddenly fell into with, with, and still to this day, it's been 10 years, I still have no idea, with no idea what I was doing and birthed this teacup brand. I've actually got, drinking, I'm still drinking out of one of my, this is my, like a later collection mug, there's my lipstick on it.
Claire Baker (20:29)
Look at this, gorgeous.
Daniella Elias (20:31)
Yeah, I had my poetry on the back and I birthed this teacup collection and I remember the moment when the first order came through, the first palette of cups came through to my mum's house. This giant truck rocks up to mum's house and they start unloading these palettes and my whole body went into... Holy shit, what did you do?
Like action for a second stop. What did, how you don't know how to sell things. You don't even have a website. What are you supposed to do with hundreds of fine bone China cups? Like what are you supposed to do with this? And I went into total panic mode because I hadn't thought it through. I just wanted to create and I just wanted to birth. And I think I've always been in that constant flow of just wanting to birth, but not really understanding why just kind of going with it. And so, fast forward another few years and the business actually did grow, which was miraculous because I still don't know what I'm doing.
And the business was growing in its own, but then I was again at that space of I don't want to do this anymore. I want to create in a different way. And so it shifted and changed in so many ways across nine years, because that's how long it stretched for. And it went from originally being teacups to then being a whole self-care brand where I was creating and crafting oils and aura sprays and just like all these things, candles and just finding all of these ways to just express essentially what I needed at the time. Not that I knew that. It was all of the things that I needed for myself that I was creating and putting it out there and just, yeah, expressing these bits of creative downloads that were coming through. And it was actually so chaotic because
I was chasing and following every single creative thought that came through my brain rather than just sitting with and being like, hold on a second. How are you actually feeling in this? Because I was run down. I was so exhausted. After six years, I left teaching and I went full time in the brands, which was around lockdown time. 2020 was when I went full time.
It exploded, I had to shift out of my home space and into a warehouse and it just grew very, very quick. And in all of that, I completely lost myself, completely lost myself. I had zero connection to myself. My body was screaming. And when I say screaming, that's not even me being dramatic. It was screaming at me. I had so many skin conditions and my chronic fatigue was just out of control.
With one of the skin conditions in particular that really stands out, it took away the ability for me to use my hands because my hands were just covered in blisters and because I still didn't listen, it then covered my feet in blisters. And so when you can't use your feet and you can't use your hands, what can you do? Literally nothing. And it was at that point where, so was at the 90 mark of the business at that point, I was just like, something has to change.
And that's where I, that's the same time. And this is the beautiful transition is where someone came in and in conversation, it was Lisa Lister's name that was dropped and her book Code Red. And through that then discussion of the way we cycle through these different seasons and our hormones are constantly fluctuating and we need to listen and we need to tune in. And I was just like, what is this world? Like what?
I need to know about this. This is something in my heart is just really connecting me to this and I need to learn and I need to understand more. And so I remember jumping onto, I got off the Zoom and I jumped online and I ordered a whole heap of books. Yours was one of them. And also there was Stella Tomlinson's one, The Cycles of Belonging, that, and of course, Lisa Lister one, a whole heap of books.
And I became obsessed. I became truly obsessed with all of the wisdom that was being shared by so many different voices. And I could not understand why we were not... I was a high school teacher for six years, never once did in conversation was the cycle, was our experience of our shifting hormones ever expressed disgust. And so I was just like, this needs to... Why aren't we talking about this? Why isn't this...
bigger than what it is currently. Why isn't it a thing, essentially? And it is a thing. It's just a little bit quieter than the noise that we have around us, right? But I became really obsessed. so much like everything else previous to that, that had been dramatic in my transition and changed, I had announced I was at an event and I was speaking at the event. And I remember there were 200 people in the room and then I had just said randomly, actually, you know what? I think I'm going to close my business this month. I shocked myself as much as I shocked everyone else in the room. And I knew that I said that because it was right. And I also, there was just so much drama after that because everyone was like, what do mean? didn't tell us you haven't warned us. We need to order more candles and like, give us some notice.
So I thought, okay, I'm going to do this properly. I'll take a few months to wind this down. But I did. I knew that it was time and I just closed my business. And that was scary because that's my income. And there was no backup and there was nothing else that was waiting. And at the time I was, because everything in my life is constantly transitioning, I also was building my personal brands in the background. So was holding space for women in circle.
But it wouldn't have been enough to completely and financially make me feel supported and safe, but I knew it didn't matter. And I knew that if I didn't choose myself in this moment, then first of all, no one else would ever be able to step in and support and hold me the way I needed, because only I can do that. But if I don't choose myself now, then when? Truly when? Because I've had all of these experiences and these flags being sent in my face to the point where I can't use my hands and feet, but yet I still don't listen. Like I have to choose now. And so it did, it just it suddenly closed and it was about two weeks after that moment that we were really, my husband and I were really blessed to be gifted an experience where we could go to Thailand and just unwind and relax.
And it was day two in Thailand where the email came through for cycle school and I for the wait list and I had been just sitting on that for so long and in my brain I'm like now now's the time just do it just apply it's time to learn again it's time to reconnect with what's lighting up your soul and your heart it doesn't matter what is going to come next because it will figure itself out and I was looking at the evidence in my mind, I'm like, everything has always figured itself out. Even if I couldn't see it, even if I didn't understand it. And I just have to trust in that and follow that. everything since then has just been so much more nourishing for me. And yeah, I can feel that my whole soul is just lit up by the unknown now. And I'm so glad that I trusted that the leap was needed at that point. So that's my very long winded experience of hitting that reset button.
Claire Baker (27:38)
Yeah.
That's so good. I'm really just feeling so much like, yeah, admiration and inspiration from hearing you speak and a lot of resonance. Although I've never closed a business before, I have like ended a relationship, for example, or chosen to move cities or made a really big change that felt scary. And I'm sure that everybody listening in some way can resonate with that feeling of when the truck arrived, I can so imagine just being like, no, what have I done? Like what have I committed to? And that knowing that like, you know, although, you know, it was just a testament to your creative spirit and force that you built this, you know, huge business over nine years. Yeah, that feeling of like knowing like, I don't think this is it. And I think something needs to change.
Claire Baker (28:33)
And often it's not until we close one door, it's such a trope, but it's true. know, we close the door and then the other door opens, then the email ends in our inbox, or we have a conversation or someone mentions and book on a Zoom call. Like these little like seeds are sort of placed on our path. I really, yeah, it's so courageous. I really commend you for listening so intently. And now, you know, you're seeing butterflies and writing and having like, you know, your beautiful writing published and hosting beautiful circles and spaces for women and coaching them on all of the things that you're talking about. So yeah, I'd love to hear some more around like, okay, what does life look like now then? You took this enormous leap, your health was really suffering in a time since then. What has transformed and where are you now? What are you up to in the world?
Daniella Elias (28:58)
What a scene.
The first thing that comes to mind isn't even a direct answer, but the first thing that has probably been the most impactful is that I've created space now for, I'm going to call it sacred creativity. I went through so many motions of feeling like I needed to express my creativity and then make it a thing. And when I made it a thing, it exhausted me or I lost the spark that I had or that connection that I had with it. And I think that something I've been able to take away from all of those moments and those experiences is that just because we love something, just because it lights us up, just because it fuels certain parts of us doesn't mean we need to birth it into something bigger. It can exist as is and it can be a sacred creation just for us.
And that's something that's changed my whole life now. Now I keep things closer to my heart. If I have these moments of really falling in love with something, I ask myself, is this something that is to be shared or is this something that's just for me? And I allow myself to hold things close and let it be just for me. Like that's been a really big shift and I feel like it's created, I don't know if balance really exists, but it's created more flow for me where I can take time if I need time because I recognize that it's actually serving me so much more and it's fueling my energetic battery and my cup and just my heart. And I allow that now. And in terms of all of those skin conditions, I don't have any of them anymore. My PCOS has completely reversed itself.
According to my specialist, they said they misdiagnosed me, but I was like, no, you didn't. No, you didn't. Chronic fatigue isn't a thing either. So I feel like it was a very dramatic reset and it's from a place of privilege as well, because to be able to take that reset isn't something we will always get access to. I recognize that, but it helped me to completely realign my life with what is important to me and that is spending that quality time with my partner, with my family and friends and sharing what I love when I have the capacity. And I feel like that's, yeah, that's probably the biggest switch.
Claire Baker (31:38)
That's a big one. That's a really big one. Particularly that bit around creativity being, it doesn't have to be something that you turn into like an income stream or a business or that you have to even share with anyone else. I really relate to that. I mean, I'm, you know, obviously self employed as well. And I love having having a business and I have also been through this. I really relate to this idea of like trying to figure out which aspects of my creativity are for other people.
Claire Baker (32:04)
What writing do I share publicly? What topics do I share publicly? You know, could I create XYZ? Maybe I could birth that product or service. Do I really want to? Is it necessary? Like, do we say yes to every single idea that crosses our minds, particularly when we're really creative people who are tapped in to that source that like we have inspiration a lot of the time. And this is definitely a challenge that I see a lot of women have. And I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on how the menstrual cycle, how your menstrual cycle awareness practice has supported you with this. You alluded to it a little bit with the ideas at menstruation and now on day 11 today, feeling like you're more inspired to put action to things. But could you?
Like break it down a little bit for somebody who is listening, who's like, I get it. have like so many ideas. How can my cycle awareness practice help me like birth my creativity in a way that feels joyful and sustainable? What would that, what would you say to them?
Daniella Elias (33:01)
Yeah, I love that. So I don't... I've noticed within myself and within my own cycle that the way I feel about certain ideas, my creative ideas, will change. So there will be moments within my menstrual cycle where I'm so lit up by the idea and it feels so right and it feels so connected and I just want to dive straight in and make it a thing. And then a few weeks later...
I'll start to look at it with more of a critical eye and I'm like, hold on a second. Let's just, let's just slow this down and let's really take a moment to sit with this idea. And something that I think we don't get encouraged to do a lot is to allow space for our ideas or the seeds to really integrate within us before we do anything with it. Because in order for something to be truly aligned and connected to whatever it is that we know we will be able to do with this idea. We need to understand it deeply. need to play with it.
We need to speak to it. We need to allow it to breathe within us. And a lot of the time that is done when we're doing nothing with it. When we're just letting it exist alongside us. And I don't know when we got to this point of feeling like if I don't do it now, then someone else will do it or it will never happen or you know, all those stories that we create. But I don't believe any of that is true. I believe that when an idea is gifted to us or we receive this idea, this creative thing is planted within us, it is through those moments of integration, which for me personally tends to happen around my late autumn and my winter, where I just sit with it.
And just don't make any decisions around it, just let it exist alongside me, that it just becomes stronger, but also there's so much more clarity around it. So that when my energy levels start to shift, like now I'm shifting into, I'm in my spring, when my energy levels are moving upward and I have the capacity to actually do I'm not rushing into something for the sake of rushing into the birthing process.
I've already sat with, I've understood, I've been in this deep communication with, and so I know that yes, this is actually something that needs to be birthed, or this is just something that is perhaps here for now and not forever, or perhaps it's something that I'm passing on, or whatever it is. But I think utilizing your shifting phases, your shifting energy to sit with and allow integration for your creativity is so important and I don't think we do it. I really don't. I think we rush into it because we are encouraged to dive into things quickly and fast but things don't need to be quick and fast. We can nourish things and water them in our own time and they will be birthed when they're birthed.
And it's as simple as that. And so if we can use our cycle as a guide to moving these creative ideas that we have in a sustainable, slow way, then it's going to be so much stronger at the end. And also it's probably going to feel more like us. We're going to have that connection to it.
Claire Baker (36:02)
I love this. You know, I really love this idea of creating more slowly and like you say, giving ideas time to gestate, giving it a cycle after cycle of being with something and getting to know it, how the idea feels in different phases of our menstrual cycle and learning to trust the more discerning phases, let's say, rather than just the phases that are like...I've got the energy, estrogen's rising, let's go, like, let's do it all. I'm gonna, you know, totally like explode and trusting that actually the slower phases of our cycle are the ones where our like, know, like no bullshit filter is, you know, is on and we can really like, the critical voice like that part of us that can see actually where there might be some things that we're missing, or there might be some blind spots, or actually maybe this doesn't feel so good. And again, we don't have to take all of that as 100 % truth either, but a combination of all of these different aspects of ourselves and the creative process coming together will then begin to shape the idea and to do it in a way that feels more like us. I totally agree with that.
Daniella Elias (37:18)
Because there's not one version of ourselves either. You know, if we're moving through so many different phases, we can't possibly be one particular type of self. So sitting with each part of self with those creative ideas is always going to be... I use that word sustainable and I feel like it's going to come out again because it is more sustainable in the long run.
Claire Baker (37:55)
Yeah. How do you do it though in the moment? Like when you've got an idea and you're really excited and it's just come to you and you're like where you are right now, like what does it actually take to slow down?
Daniella Elias (38:00)
Yes, have to get me personally, I have to get it out. So I'm a pen to paper girl. I have my journal is just full of all the scribbles. I will empty my mind with every single thought for this specific creative idea and I let it exist on the page and I allow myself to return to it to add to that crazy big scribble of all the thing ideas that brainstorm I add to it as I move through my cycle. And I noticed how what I'm writing down is shifting and changing, but I don't do anything with it anymore until I've had a full cycle to actually experience it. And that's taken a long time to learn because this is coming from a person who I had, it was the middle of a crazy busy Christmas season with my previous business and mid December is in the rush and I had this idea of creating a planner for the year ahead and I'm like, well, this should really be a whole business. So within a week, had the graphic design done.
I had all of the stuff ready to go for printing. And it's actually so stunning. And I have it right here on my desktop, but nothing ever happened with it because I thought, well, hold on a second. This is too quick. This was just for me and I've made it a thing again. So I've tried to teach myself now if ideas come through give yourself at least a full cycle of sitting with the different parts of that creative idea before doing anything with it. And that's not always realistic because there will be times where you're so switched on and you're so connected to something and it will be birthed instantly. But I feel like we know within ourselves when things need to slow down and when things are just right. Because when it's just right then okay, go for it. Like dive in, do it, you'll know.
But we need to have that discernment as well where it's like, okay, am I just going full force in that same cycle that I've done in the past because that's all I know? Or is this something that actually needs to be birthed in this moment because it's so potent and powerful and like it needs to happen right now? Like we can have those conversations with ourselves and we should be having those conversations with ourselves.
Claire Baker (40:13)
Is your writing an area where you might move a little bit more quickly or does that also take a slower pace?
Daniella Elias (40:19)
For me, it takes a slower pace. So I tend to have so many ideas all at once and the ideas are everywhere across a million journals and scribbled in many different ways. But I need to feel really connected to something before it's 110 % going to be shared with someone else when it comes to my writing because it comes from a deeper place of vulnerability.
Daniella Elias (40:45)
Whereas I don't, I feel like with my other creations, I don't have that same rawness there because I'm confident in it being like, no, this is amazing. You should have it. It's great. But with my writing, there's rawness that is there and there's parts of the self that we don't often show people. And so I take my time there. Yeah.
Claire Baker (40:55)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear that. I hear that definitely. Yeah, there's like, for me, it's like a self protection isn't quite the right word, but it's kind of like a caring for myself because also I'm like you when I'm writing often it's very, very personal and very vulnerable. Depends what I'm writing and who for, but I don't want to necessarily share things immediately. I actually sometimes feel like it's very, it's like a loving act to take my time with it. And like you say, to have a couple more weeks of my cycle and then get a sense of, right, am I now ready to share this? None of this is for me anyway, like blanket rules, but giving things a little bit more air and space and time to breathe.
Also practically, just in terms of ideas, I find if I write something and then I give it a week, in that week afterwards, so many things come through and I add to it and develop it as well. I will say that there often comes a point where I've left something for too long and it's become stale and it doesn't feel alive anymore. And I find that when I press publish on something that's sat for too long and I'm not connected with it anymore, my audience doesn't connect with it either. And there's like an energetic around that. And so...There is like, you know, it's a, it's a balance of again, listening and really trusting your instincts and also making mistakes and like being like, oops, I've ordered a chocolate of cups. oops, I've like published something a little too early or I said yes and I over committed or I, you know, I took too long and, and just learning from each everything we birth, right?
Daniella Elias (42:21)
Yeah, 100%. I really resonated with what you said there with the staleness that can come from when we wait too long. And I often ask myself and sit with that specific because I procrastinate a lot when it comes to writing. And the question that has been coming up recently is, am I in just the seasonal autumn of this particular piece and it needs time and I need to... retract and just let it be? Or am I using this excuse of things not coming with ease and with flow as a way to grab hold of that procrastination because deep down I'm fearful and I'm scared that this could be something big or this could make a mark or an impact that I'm not ready for. And I think that's something that we struggle with as creatives is like, okay, am I actually needing to give this space because it needs time? Or am I making excuses for myself because there's something deeper under the surface that I'm avoiding?
Claire Baker (43:43)
Oh yeah. And you had something published in a real life book published by the Kind Press, a story in an Anthologia at the end of last year, 2024. And that's another crazy story, which you'd have so many amazing stories. Could you share this one with us?
Daniella Elias (43:44)
Full of stories. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, that was really... That's another wild one is that I'd been stalking the Kind Press for a while because I just had a connection with them and I wasn't sure why. And this opportunity popped up to be part of this anthology and I knew instantly that I needed to be in it. I knew instantly that was not...
There was no question there. I looked at it, I resonated with it and I was like, this is it. And this is if you don't do it now, you never will. You won't rip the bandaid. And my struggle was that I had all of these things that I'd been writing, but nothing that fit. And so I can't remember what linked me back to the moment, but something reminded me of probably the biggest light bulb experience that I had in Cycle School and it was during meditation with you actually where we were meeting our enchantress for the first time and it's such a powerful meditation actually.
I feel like that whole that's my favorite that's my favorite because I have such an interesting relationship with my enchantress she's scared the absolute shit out of me the first time I met her I was like wow you're intimidating and that experience, so we were in meditation, it was this whole thing where I was connected to my physical self, obviously, but the visuals and the connection of the me in the meditation was just taking me on this whole other journey and it was so graphic and I could feel it in every part of my body. And I just had this huge light bulb earth-shattering for me experience of recognizing who I am at my core. My name and the power behind my name, not Daniela Elias, but my maiden name. And I saw my red thread and I had just this... It was like this primal rage that came through me in that meditation of like, remember who you are. Remember who you are. You've completely forgotten who you are.
You've let her go where you didn't need to let her go. You need to bring her back. You need to honor her. You need to honor her not just for yourself, but everyone who came before you and everyone who comes after you. You need to honor yourself. And I came out of that meditation. It was still happening in the background, but I pulled myself out and I was just in hysterics. And it was such a pivotal moment for me. And so when it came back to me, I knew that that's what I had to write about.
I needed to really relive that experience and birth it through words. And that actually is an example of a piece that came very, very quickly and very easily. And it felt so right for it to be the first published piece for me because it was where I was really claiming my full name, rather than the name that I had taken on once being married. So...
It just was the perfect piece for my first published piece. And I was so lucky because I got to be Chapter One as well, which I just felt like was such a beautiful way to honor that. And it's just been fun since then, truly, because I've been able to meet so many different people. And actually I'm working with the Kine Press now to bring together the authors for the second issue of Anthologia. And it's been really wonderful. There are so many voices that need to be heard and sometimes we get so in our head and we really pull ourselves back from having those opportunities to be seen completely. And because there's so much vulnerability in the words that are shared through writers, I feel really honored to be now working alongside so many to see them birth their creations through their words. And it's just been, I don't even know how I got here, but it's been awesome.
Claire Baker (47:53)
It's incredible. I really, really want to celebrate the courage that you have shown over these last years to really like press that big red reset button, create an enormous transformation in your life, listen to your body, listen to your instincts, and then to be really like in the summer phase of enjoying like the harvest and to hear you speak with such, like I can hear a pride, you know, that is so well deserved and the way you speak with such conviction about what you believe in and connecting, you know, women with their creative spirit through menstrual cycle awareness and really allowing your voice to be heard and elevating other voices. It's just so beautiful. And I think it really shows like what can be born from the womb. Just so much power. It's so awesome.
Daniella Elias (48:40)
So cool. It's so cool. And we all have access to it. That's the best part.
Claire Baker (48:48)
Yeah, totally. We really do. What would be your, just to wrap up, like one first step for somebody who wanted to reconnect with their feminine power through menstrual cycle awareness and creativity.
Daniella Elias (49:02)
Hmm. There are so many ways that we can connect. But for me, it always is just getting out in nature and asking myself, what do I need? What do I actually need? And what do I want? Because both of them are different and both of them need to take up space. There's room for both.
Daniella Elias (49:23)
And once I have that clear, then giving myself one little step or two steps if I'm feeling like that I can hold that to get closer to those things. That's it. We don't want to overwhelm ourselves. We don't want to set these big scary goals because we never will never take steps towards those things because it's just it's too much, right? We just want to get back to ourselves. So get outside, get away from your usual...day-to-day grinds and ask yourself what you want and what you need. That's it, start there.
Claire Baker (49:55)
Where can people read your writing and connect with you further?
Daniella Elias (50:01)
Well, I live on Instagram mostly, so you're welcome to come over and have a chat. I love chatting, I'm an open book. And I just, as of maybe two days ago, started my Substack. So I feel like, yeah, that's been a big band aid to rip off, but I feel like quite a bit is going to be birthed through there. So you're welcome to come along for the journey over there as well. Just, Daniella Elias on everything.
Claire Baker (50:14)
⁓ Yes.
Mm-hmm. my gosh. Everyone's coming to Substack.
Daniella Elias (50:18)
It's such a cool place, I can't believe I didn't know about it. So gentle.
Claire Baker (50:28)
It's so great. Yeah, and slow, you know, you really has that like, yeah, it really helps to cultivate that feeling of slowness and just so many beautiful writers there. And I'm so pleased to know that I can read your stuff over there as well. We'll link to all of this, of course, in the show notes, including the book published by the Kind Press and we just wish you so much love and continue forth. I just can't wait to see what you continue to create and I really appreciate your time today so thanks for joining us.
Daniella Elias (50:55)
Thanks Claire, I've loved chatting to you.
Lauren Olivia Hughes (41:12)
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