Coming Home to Your Body: A Reclamation of Ancient Women’s Wisdom through the Menstrual Cycle
For thousands of years, women lived in rhythm with the moon, the earth, and their bodies. Menstrual cycle awareness wasn’t just personal—it was cultural, communal, and sacred.
Today, as many women find themselves disconnected from their natural rhythms and struggling with all sorts of women’s health challenges such as infertility, PCOS, endometriosis, and PMDD, a powerful movement is rising to reclaim what was lost: ancient womb wisdom, the menstrual mysteries, and the deep knowing that lives within the female body.
Historically, cultures around the world honored menstruation as a time of spiritual power, reflection, and rest. The concept of the Red Tent—popularized by Anita Diamant’s novel but rooted in ancient traditions—speaks to this reverence. In many pre-patriarchal societies, menstruating women would retreat together to bleed in community. These gatherings were not shameful or isolating, but sacred spaces of renewal, insight, and shared power. In the red tent, women received visions, processed life events, supported one another, and communed with their cyclical nature.
Authors like Merlin Stone (When God Was a Woman) have explored the history of matriarchal and goddess-centered cultures, where the feminine was held in deep respect, and where the menstrual and lunar cycles were guiding forces for societal rhythm and ritual. In such societies, women's intuitive capacities, connection to the earth, and embodied knowing were central, not marginal.
But with the rise of patriarchal systems, colonization, and the medicalization of women’s health, these feminine ways of knowing were suppressed. The menstrual cycle became taboo. Pain, shame, and silence replaced celebration and reverence. This disconnection has taken a toll. Many women today suffer from hormonal imbalances, painful periods, chronic fatigue, and a pervasive sense of alienation from their own bodies. The emotional and spiritual cost for women is just as great: a loss of self-trust, intuition, and a feeling of belonging in our own skin.
Menstrual cycle awareness is not just a wellness trend—it is a reclamation. A remembering. By learning to track, honor, and live in harmony with the phases of our cycle, we return to the innate intelligence of the body. We begin to understand that we are not meant to operate the same every day. We feel the rise and fall of our inner seasons—the creative spark of the follicular phase, the radiance of ovulation, the turning inward of the luteal phase, and the deep renewal of menstruation.
And this reclamation is not only mental or emotional—it must be physical, too. Dance, movement, and somatic embodiment are vital practices in returning to our wild womanhood. Through the body, we access what cannot be spoken. We shake off layers of conditioning, reconnect with our sensuality, and remember our cyclical, instinctive nature. Embodiment practices help us feel safe to be fully alive—in our power, in our softness, and in our truth.
When women gather in circle again—whether in person or online—to share, reflect, and be witnessed in their cyclical journeys, something ancient awakens. This is not just personal healing; it is collective remembering. It is the weaving back together of threads that were torn.
How to reconnect with this ancient feminine knowing within?
In my work as a somatic menstrual cycle mentor, I help women reconnect with this embodied wisdom—not through theory alone, but through felt experience. Together, we explore the body’s language, integrate emotional patterns, and awaken the deep feminine intelligence that lives in the womb space. This is not about fixing or optimizing ourselves. It is about coming home.
If you feel the call to reconnect with your cycle, your intuition, and your feminine way of being in the world, I invite you to explore my offerings. This path is not linear, but it is transformative, and it begins with the body.
Come back to the wisdom that was always yours.
Because your cycle is not a curse—it is a compass.
Explore Somatic Cycle Mentoring → www.ebbandflowlife.com/services
About Ebb & Flow: Ebb & Flow is the holistic women’s coaching practice of Emma Brinkman. Through menstrual education, women’s mentoring, ritual and somatic practice, Ebb & Flow works to connect women to the power and wisdom within their bodies, in order to live more easeful, sensual, vibrant and empowered lives. Follow along to stay up-to-date on blog posts and articles, and check out all of Emma’s offerings, which include 1:1 mentoring, monthly donation-based online women’s circles, and custom ritual guidance for navigating life’s transitions.
