Interview with Jenna Carelli, a Business Consultant who specializes in systems and automation. Jenna is also a speaker at network marketing leadership events and retreats, and the host of the annual Raising Influence live event, in Tampa, Florida.
In this episode, Jenna shares the facts behind cycle alignment and the effects on your business. Could you be pushing yourself at the wrong time of your cycle? When are you exuding your most charismatic self for interviews or guest appearances? How do men cycle through the same 4 phases in just 24 hours while it takes women 28 days? Listen to learn the phase names and actions to take with your business during each phase. It makes perfect sense as it aligns with the phases of the moon!
You may remember Jenna from Episode 5 where she shared systems for a business on a budget. If you missed it, it’s worth your time to go listen! Please support Face Your Dreams with Keri, by submitting a review and hitting the subscribe button now!
TimeStamp: 13:39 Kate Northrup author of “Do Less.” Guest Jenna said “Get it because this book explains everything in detail.”
TimeStamp: 16:30 Dr. Louann Brizendiner, quote “One of the greatest predictors of maternal thriving is predictability.”
Ovualtion Apps Mentioned:
FLO and My Flow
Where can you find my guest and me, the Host?
Guest, Jenna Carelli:
instagram.com/JennaCarelli facebook.com/Jenna.M.Carelli www.facebook.com/groups/jennacarelli jenna@jennacarelli.com
Host, Keri Brecht:
instagram.com/faceyourdreamswithKeri facebook.com/faceyourdreamswithKeri keri@keribrecht.com
***Full Trascript
Keri
Welcome to the Face Your Dreams Podcast. I am your host Carrie Brecht, a business coach and mentor, who uses intuition and soulful strategy to help new and aspiring online entrepreneurs go from dream to action in their businesses. In this podcast I, along with other amazing experts, will help you set your life and business on fire through insights on all things mindset, strategy, and soul, to truly own both your life and business dreams and turn them into action. Consider this the go to for your inner go getter, as you rock the socks off personal and professional goals. You are not just a dreamer. Now let's find out how to ignite your dreams together.
Hello again you business babes. I am here with Jenna Carelli. Again. Thank you for coming back. Thank you for having me.
Jenna
I love hanging out with your People.
Keri
So Jenna was on for Episode Five. And we talked all about systems and the importance of implementing systems in our business, how they can make your life easier, the ways you can do that on a very limited budget, and all of that. So you'll have to check out that episode if you missed it. But today, it's kind of a system that we're talking about. We're going to be talking about cycle alignment and specifically with using that to help us rock our business goals and, you know, hone or harness our energies. And you know, be able to use those to the best that we can. So first of all, I want her to just reintroduce herself again really quickly. And then we will go into discussing what this term cycle alignment actually means. You probably have been seeing and reading about it on social media media a little bit more, but she is going to share all of her wisdom with us today. So first of all, share a little bit more about just you what you do.
Jenna
Yay, so cycle alignment is one of those things that once you hear once, you're not going to be able to let it go
Keri
It will follow you everywhere!
Jenna
hen you want to be a Jeep owner like you You always see people driving Jeeps, right. Um, but I, so, I am a business consultant and I work with people primarily in the wellness industry on streamlining their systems and their processes. I also speak very heavily to network marketing leadership retreats, I speak at retreats, and I host my own annual raising influence live event here in Tampa, Florida. And I just love data and analysis. I love tracking what's working rather than focusing on what's not working in your business. And that's what I primarily do on a day to day basis. But I did come from the wellness space. And, I, the business that brought me home from my corporate job was fitness nutrition specialists and speaking to CrossFit gym members on how to track their macronutrients. And so the wellness space is always going to have a place in my heart. And that's really how I started diving into the research of cycle alignment, which is a system like you said, it's actually a system that keeps us alive as women Believe it or not, and it's taboo. But it's how we remain alive. It's how we cycle in our lives as the female species.
Keri
I love it. I always thought I'm sure you might have been like this too. We learned how we learn about our period is like, okay, you're going to start bleeding, and it's going to suck and you're gonna have a lot of pain. Here are some pads. Here's how to use a tampon. Good luck.
Jenna
I learned more how to hide the tampon.
Keri
Yes. I remember having to wear baggy pants and baggy shirts so that I could like stick them in my pockets.
Jenna
I’d stick them in part of my my jeans and then you had to walk a certain way.
Keri
Yes! Yes. They wouldn't make a sound because they weren't ultra thin yet. Yeah, they were still the thick. Yeah. And then I wore swishy pants to mask, to mask the sound of the pad. And then I was before everybody else. And so somebody would mention like, oh, Keri has her period. I'd be like, what? No, I don't know you're talking about
Jenna
They have no appreciation for what actually is.
Keri
Right. And I don't think it was until maybe just recently where I started. Like when it comes now I like I'm wanting to have children someday. So I'm like, grateful like thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for making me aware of your presence. And you're here all the time. Right. That it is always with us. It's just, we're at a different stage. And I remember in college thinking like, God, am I going crazy? Like I felt like I was bipolar my, my moods were so up and down. And that's kind of when I started realizing, okay, there is something to appreciating our cycle because I know now at certain points in my cycle that I might have more mood swings, or I might have a higher amount of anxiety. So like, what can I do to combat that, but I never thought about using this concept for business and productivity and really harnessing our energy at certain points in our in our cycle to help us rather than hold us back or, you know, think of it as in that those pain terms, like when we were learning about our cycles and cursing it and…
Jenna
Yeah, no, I mean, I grew up, what was it, sex ed in elementary school, middle school, whenever that was. They basically tell you, you're going to have your period and they tell you how you can procreate and then how to not procreate. And that's really all we learned about it. And I remember going on birth control pretty young because I was on a birth control for acne. And I was probably 15. I mean, I met my husband when I was 15. We started dating we've been dating ever since.
So, I also went on birth control for you know, preventing a pregnancy as well. But I remember using birth control to push back or push up my period, because I didn't if I was going on vacation, and I knew when that vacation date was I was using birth control to change when my menstrual cycle phase started, which looks back, it's horrible. And I always had this negative connotation surrounding it. So I, I love the fact that I can now appreciate the different phases that I'm in. And it gives me comfort knowing that if I am having mood swings, there's a reason behind it. And I'm not just crazy. My husband knows I’m not just crazy.
Keri
I love that. Um, I like that you brought up the birth control and using that because my mom was always like, hey, if you need to be on birth control, like I was literally learning how to drive in the car, and she was right next to me. So I know you started seeing someone and it was like, we would go to a movie and be like, hey, do you want to hold hands? Oh, I don't know, you know? And she's like, if you want to be on birth control, I'm like, Can you not talk about that? Like, it was so taboo for me to like, even think about talking about that stuff like, eww, you're my mom like, yeah.
Jenna
I would always hint to my mom. Like, we wouldn't talk about having sex. Okay, talk about me being on birth control for my face acne, right? Yeah, my daughter's on birth control for her face acne. And we both look at each other like hee, hee, hee.
Keri
Right, it’s so funny. We always felt we had to preface that with “Oh, I just do it for her acne and stuff.” And it's like, who can't like, you know, be sexually free or, you know, well, actually aware and safe and you know, all of that stuff, right? So I remember the last time I was on it, I was on it for a long period of time in college. And not a long period, I guess compared to a lot of people but it was maybe like, six, seven years or so. And I remember getting awful migraines all the time, and we could never figure out what was causing them. And then I did some really Research and it was like birth control related to migraines or changes your hormones around like, “Oh, I'm going to try it” and I took myself off of it and have never, well maybe once or twice just because of food that I’m eating or things like that, but I've never had a migraine since then.
Jenna
I've had so many friends who've had to switch from birth control to birth control because of leaking or migraines.
Keri
Yes!
Jenna
Wasn’t helping. I was lucky that the one I started with was the one I was on but I was on it for 13 years. So from 15 to 28 ish. I got pregnant at 28 and I stopped birth control three months prior to trying to conceive by the direction of my gynecologist and knew I was never going back on it. I said once I was off it, I'm not going back on. I don’t, I don't want to do that to my body. But the interesting thing about my story is I didn't know anything about cycles. I didn't know anything about ovulation and like, the term ovulation. It was used used loosely, you know, friends would say it and I'd be like, yeah, like, I know what that is. But I didn't know how to track it or even what it did for me. And I was lucky enough that I didn't need to track population to get pregnant. I got pregnant right away. But I had a friend who kind of poked fun at me after I announced my pregnancy. She was like, “Oh, are you tracking your ovulation?” And I was like, “What's that?” She's like, “How did you get pregnant?” I'm like, “I don't know. Like this stars. Yeah.”
Keri
The birds and bees work. That’s how it happened.
Jenna
I was like, well, you know, and then I went into the details. But I had, I'll share because this is kind of funny. I had a friend tell me if you want to get pregnant turned upside down afterwards. And that's what I did.
Keri
That's so funny.
Jenna
Just to add humor you guys day today. So you’re probably in your car or running. But um, after that, I looked into what ovulation was and I downloaded the app. It's not the My Flow app that I had been using, it was just slow. So there's two apps that are very similar to each other. The flow app, which is just F-L-O is the app that I started using, as soon as my daughter was conceived. And this whole encounter happened with my and I simply tracked my, my period and my observation using this app. Now, recently, when I found out about cycle alignment and the different phases that we’re in, I am now how using it's called My Flow, same thing and M-Y-F-L-O. Because it tells you the four cycle phases, and if you know the length of your cycle rotation, you know exactly what symptoms, as you should be experiencing, and you know exactly what types of tasks and energy allotment you should be giving in any given time, and it's, it's incredible.
Keri
I started that too. I was on Ovia. First I started using that one. And I never really got into tracking too much on it. I started when I was like, because I was using it to try to get pregnant. But I didn't track like I should, because I wasn't super inspired to do it. But now you got me on My Flow. And I'm really liking that one because it tells you just like everything that you said. And then it also gives the food suggestions also, which I like. So like you should be prepping for the next week by eating these things. And it like really does a great job explaining why it has all those different programs that you can learn more from about if you're trying to get pregnant, you know, you can do some of those types of things. I interrupted sorry.
Jenna
Yeah, no, I absolutely I love it. Um, I would love to just share how I even gotten into this and yes about the difference between men and women because that was my biggest eye opener was that men and women both cycle for the same four phases so I think that's an interesting yeah. I was in my car I was listening to Entrepreneurial On Fire the podcast. I clicked on the episode called “Do less have more.” Okay and I didn't know what it was about, but I was like, I like that right. I can align.
Keri
we all want to do less and have more. Yeah?
Jenna
This is my first encounter with cycle alignment. And it was Kate Northrup, who I now have her book called us it recently came out and if you don't have it, get it because this explains everything in detail. I also have a resource that I can provide to you because I've been taking notes but she started talking about before phases of our cycles. And what was the most interesting to me was that, um, you know, we've been programmed in society and with jobs in the corporate world to believe that we need to stay active at all times. And we've been programmed that, you know, for on this 24 hour cycle, we've been programmed to wake up every single day. Show up at the same exact time at our job, put in as much work or more in terms of effort and intensity than we did the previous day. And for men, it works because men have a cycle that is a 24 hour rotation. So for a man, they go through the same four phases that we go through as a female in 24 hours. And the rotation, as we know most of us is, on average, a 28 day cycle, right? So, for me, I'm ready. I was like, Okay, this is great information, knowing that I'm going through four different phases over the course of 28 days. But holy cow men are going through the same four phases in 24 hours. Like no wonder, my husband's, like, you know, so consistent with what he done and why we're so, um, you know, why we have these mood swings and like, well, we can wake up one day with so much energy and then the next day just want to crawl under the covers and not get out. Right. So that was that was the big eye opener for me when I was listening to the podcast. And I really wanted to apply this to my business coaching and the students that I worked with in terms of time and task management. So I dove into the research and all I could really find is, um, talk about food cycle of things. So aligning these four phases with the types of food that we should should be eating or whether intermittent fasting and this is a whole other subject should actually be done consistently or only when we're most resistant to insulin, which is the menstrual phase. Um, I couldn't find any research on time and task management as it relates to what phase we were in, in our cycle. The only person I could find is Kate Northrup. So I you know, listen to a few other episodes that she was on, podcast episodes, and I dove into some discussions with integrative health practitioners. Um, and then somebody by the name of Dr. Louann Brizdine, I quoted her saying “One of the greatest predictors of maternal thriving is predictability.” So as a mother, we want to be able to predict things but as a mother, like life, and everything in general is so unpredictable. So when there's something that we can hold on to that gives us a solid answer to why we're acting a certain way or whatever, like we really hold on to that. And growing up in the health and wellness space, I always counted my macronutrients. And that was my way of saying, I have a good handle on my health. I have a good handle on my body, I can I know exactly what I'm putting in because I'm counting it, I'm tracking it. So cycle alignment for me, has been has been my way now as a mother to be able to explain why I'm doing things and be sure of it right and be able to predict it.
Keri
Right. That's super important. Not currently a mother but future mother. And I think even for me just as a human being, I mean, it’s, there are some days where it's like you have so many things going on, especially living outside of the states. I feel like we have we need to be speaking with our families. You know, we need to be staying in contact with people, we're trying to, you know, do new things here. We're running our business. We’re doing this that the other and having that predictability and knowing, okay, this is going to be coming at this point in time really helps with that structure because especially like we were talking about working online, like there is a lot of unpredictability there where, okay, well, what am I going to do today? Well, I have this, this and this, but…
Jenna
How many times when people they're talking about what they've done, and how much they've done, we're aligning our value to that we guess, you know, look at everything that I've done. Like, look at here, here, it all is on my plate, like that's how much I'm worth all this stuff that I've done, and in one day. Like, like, I would want you to consider reframing that and like, I if somebody says, you know, “I haven't slept in five days,” like I don't say congratulations. I want to be just like you, ya know?
Keri
That used to be the status symbol. I think people still sometimes think it is. But yeah, no.
Jenna
Yeah. And I can completely identify with workaholic tendencies. I mean, my father was an entrepreneur. I became an entrepreneur. When you actually really love what you do. I mean, I personally see working as a break, a lot of times. I mean, whether you're a mother, a mother figure, or you have friends that you spend a lot of quality time with I, I tend to need that break. And a break for me is often working. So it's hard for us to turn that action into inaction unless we have a really good reason behind it. And I think that when we know the way that our bodies function, it's a good enough reason to rest instead of rest just being a default when we're overworked and frustrated, and then we've already hit rock bottom.
Keri
Right? Yeah. I love that. I love that. Thought like had we talked about this several years ago, I'd have been like, Oh, I don't know, but I have stuff I need to get done. So yeah, I like the idea of when I, for example, we know that there is a rescue, an important time of rest in our cycle. So, if we don't take that rest, we're basically making ourselves kind of set the clock back a little bit like we're not taking that time that we need for ourselves. So then we're going to be behind on some other Things that we take that rest are going to have the motivation and the the energy, the right amount of energy, you know, to tackle some of those tasks and those productive times. So why don't you share a little bit about it. The different cycles yeah the different phases and stages and all of that.
Jenna
And I will say that I am very data driven as well. So Like an energetic side to this, and then there's a biology side to this. So if you need the scientific evidence behind everything that we talked about, Kate does talk about it within her book. I'm coming at it kind of from an energy time and task management standpoint. So that it's really giving me a framework to use in my practice of my everyday life and not just in business if you're not a business owner. I only do my laundry now during the luteal phase, so I'm going to get into this but I kind of like that add.
There are four phases, and again, females and males, they go through all four of these phases, and they are cyclical. So I'm gonna give them to you in a specific order, but it really does not come in any specific order. You have to track and figure out that's the first step. How long your cycle, is to really know what phase you're in at any given time and on average. The female species cycle is 28 days. So you'll have to figure out understand what that is for you. That's what these tracking apps are for, to know where you start in your cycle phases. But I'm going to start with menstrual, which is bleeding. I like to start there because I feel like we all know when that phase is.
Keri
We know when that is, Yes!
Jenna
Yeah, we can, we can move forward from there. So it's menstrual follicular, ovulation, and then luteal. Those are the four phases. And there are two inward phases where we look internally and that's, you know, when we're resting and, and doing our data and analysis, and then there's two outward phases where we are most energetically primed and optimized to go do the outward things in our life, our business and our personal life. So the menstrual phase, which also aligns with the new moon or the dark moon. If you're into astrology and you have a lunar calendar. The menstrual phases, an inward phase and it lasts about five days on average. Again, you have to, you have to figure out what it is for yourself. And this is when we are most primed to take a break. This is a break that you can schedule every month for yourself and you should schedule it doesn't mean you need to go on vacation. But you should take a step back from all of the running around or you know, try not to force too much out of yourself during this period. So you're taking a break, it's a great time to do some research. If you're writing a book or you're starting a new course or you want to look into schools for your daughter to put her in school for the next school season. It's a great time to reflect on a course that maybe you launched or the way that your current businesses running and if it's working or not, it's a great time for reflection internally like on yourself, like your marriage, your relationships, whatever. So mental fees is about five days in length, and it's a great time for great research and reflection.
The next phase so right after your menstrual phase, typically, you'll know that you're moving into the follicular phase when your bleeding stops if you are experiencing a cycle and you're bleeding, the follicular phase also lines up with the waxing moon if you follow astrology, and it's an outward phase. So, after menstruation if you've ever felt like a big boost in energy. Like you have all this inspiration to start something or these like incredible ideas that like come to you at night, that's because your body is in its highest amount of energy right now, this is an outward phase. It lasts about seven days on air very well. It's your best time to brainstorm and certain things and you have a lot of energy so use it take advantage of that.
So seven days after that is ovulation and this is another phase where we might be able to identify that we're in ovulation. If we've got that like cervical mucus that comes and we know we're in ovulation. It's a very quick phase, it lines up with the full moon. And now it only lasts about one to two days on average, and it's like 16 to 32 hours typically. So it's really interesting. It's an interesting time because it's so short, but it's when we are most optimized to give presentations to shoot videos to pitch somebody. If you have a business proposal or you want to get on somebody's podcasts, like you should do it because you're obsoleting and you are most magnetic to other people. So you're giving off that magnetic response to the people that you're talking to, and they can feel that energy coming from you. So you want to pitch yourself, you want to give your presentations. You want to host a live event. You want to attend live events, you want to shoot all of your content. videos, you want to go to meetings, you want to schedule meetings during these one to two days, which can seem overwhelming at first. But then it can also seem like relaxing to know that those two days out of your 28 day cycle, the only time you're really going to be doing those things if you want to schedule your time around it.
So that's really interesting. And then my favorite is the luteal phase. And I say it's my favorite because it's the longest. It's 14 days in length. And it is the phase where we are primed to complete things, complete projects, complete tasks, cross your T's dot your I's, it's an inward phase. So it's, I mean, I always like poke fun at my students because they tell me, you know, you know, as an entrepreneur, we're really good at starting things, right? But we're really, really finishing the things that we follow through it. Yeah. So they can't get past that excuse now because I know that they have fourteen days in the luteal phase where they're primed to finish projects that they started in the other phases. So I, you know, give them those 14 days and this phase lines up with the waning moon, moon. All of that, I'm not sure how to say that, waning? I think.
Keri
Yeah, waning, that’s right.
Jenna
Again, I mean, that's the big picture. And I just have a big white board this bright computer on my wall. And I write out the days of the month every single month, and I underneath the dates, I put an M for menstration for the first five days that I menstruating. I put an F for follicular, I put an L for luteal, and an O for the ovulation. And in the little notes part of my calendar I have that little key for myself. So I know like okay I'm in menstruation. I should be breaking researching, reflecting and It's just a gentle reminder for myself. I'm not going crazy about any of this, but it's a gentle reminder, um, to give myself grace in certain areas of my life and my business.
Keri
I love that. So I have a couple of things that popped up as you're talking. So I have to ask, your live event in February, is it going to be when you're ovulating?
Jenna
I don't know actually.
Keri
That would be awesome if it lined up that way with it.
Jenna
I that's like, sounds right now like so far out to even try that out. But unfortunately, when you need to host an event on a weekend, you really got to roll with the punches, but that would be incredible.
Keri
I would be amazing.
Jenna
I attended an event this past weekend, and I was menstruating. So that was like a big thing for me. I'm like I'm going to this event. I'm forcing a lot of outward emotions and energy during an inward time when I'm supposed to be taking a break. And so what I did I got sick actually. So I don't know we can look at that as a lesson I'm still sick. So it's like forcing your body to do something, when it's not supposed to be doing it could lead to sickness, you know, if you're overworking yourself and not resting, you might have some health problems like these are some lessons we can learn. But I did go into the weekend, you know, with a mindset shift that I am taking a break from my work. And instead I'm, you know, reflecting and researching by consuming the information at the event and spending time, you know, outside of my desk outside of my office, so I think we can always prime our brains differently to analyze the situation we're in, and it's not always going to align but I think the more we track and the more we follow the cycle thesis, we become more and more in alignment, just kind of subconsciously right without even really trying.
Keri
Yeah, I think that's right. And the best thing to do is listen to your body because I so I've been trying this now for a little bit, but I'm really diving into it this month. Now that you've prompted me to, to get started again. So I’m currently in menstruation so what better way, or better time to start, but it's that new starting fresh and all of that, but I have found personally and we were just talking about this before we got on, that it could be a dietary thing as well, lifestyle, or whatever. My first two days I am like dead to the world, during menstruation like don't talk to me Don't touch me. Don't call me. Don't do anything. Just leave me alone. And then after that I get this like huge burst of energy but I'm still in the menstruation phase. So like I like yesterday and today I have been like, I updated my website. I did you know this that and the other. And I feel like I'm crossing a lot of T's and dotting eyes and all of that things that I might have been doing like in the luteal phase, let's say, or maybe in the flicker flicker can't talk follicular phase. So, I think it's just maybe a little bit different for everybody to like if you're feeling that burst of energy like you can go with it but also remember you're still in a downtime phase. So allow yourself like is it really that you have the energy or it's that you're getting restless from being, you know, away from doing things and having that rest time instead of allowing yourself to rest you're gonna force yourself into more energetically trying tasks. So you have to kind of be aware of that balance like listen to her body is but at the same time like there's something to this rest period that will help out with the rest of the month. If that made any sense?
Jenna
No, it completely makes sense that I've had so many conversations with people about, you know, how the way that their energy is showing up isn't necessarily aligning with the phases. I would take note of that right so take note of that, you know, that's how you felt during this phase and see if the same thing comes up for you next month I think the most important piece is just understanding what's going to come up for you as an individual. And I do think that there isn't a lot of research on the female hormonal cycle because it is kind of complicated. And the worst part is that the research is on rats and men and a lot of scientifically like back to case studies in the realm of phases for the female cycle which is crazy because it's how we stay alive. Um, I do have research on physical energy in the menstruation phase, being the lowest point so if you do physically feel, you know less active or you don't want to go to the gym you don't want to show up I would give yourself grace during demonstration. Physically, and if you happen to have a boost of energy. Don't overdo it because your body is just not in that place where you're gonna win a gold medal during this phase
Keri
Right and you might hit burnout.
Jenna
And you might injure yourself so just understand that. And then I did speak to an integrative health practitioner who I guess researches, a lot on intermittent fasting and the foods I mean there's a whole other world out there who's eating, eating specific foods for the these phases. I'm just taking the angle of time and task management, but I think it's all related so the level of adrenal fatigue that you might be experiencing can affect your symptoms. What phase of the cycle you're in can affect what you can eat the health of your thyroid can affect things and your pancreatic health as well. So, of course, you can go to a doctor. I would probably go to some type of integrative health practitioner who, you know, isn't just medicine bs so that they might have a better understanding of cycling and cycle alignment and hormones, but all of that can throw this off. And I think the first step is just taking the first step and starting to track if you don't know how many days on average your cycle is, that's where you start. And then starting to align with these different phases based on the symptoms that you have it can be one to three words that you write down in a journal at the end of every day just to identify you know what you felt, and then lining that up with the menstrual phases and seeing where you're at, I think it's like, remember in college or if you ever had a sleep over with a bunch of your girlfriends or you went on vacation with them. If it was like a two week vacation by the end of the vacation everybody's cycles. Right. I think the same thing half is going to happen once you start just being open to learning this and understanding the process I think it kind of it's supposed to according to what I read it's supposed to all line up with the seasons, like the moon cycles. So, if you. I have not gotten a lunar calendar or really dove into astrology but it's supposed to follow you know the moon new moon/dark moon, waxing moon, full moon, waning moon. Eventually, if you can align with the moon, then you're like, ultimate alignment according to the research.
Keri
I love it, I have not been that aligned I have had first menstruation on full moon that was interesting. I was like, Oh, that is so woowoo like people talking about this had that happen and I was like, holy cow. All right, let's go do this that and the other. And let's go do it I was like, on top of the world I wanted to be on Instagram like sharing I want to do a whole bunch of live video. I don't know what was happening. Um, but yeah, that's interesting I love, I love the ideas I'm very into like these parallels and like comparing the like the metaphors and all that stuff so I really like that example of the, the moon cycle as well, and aligning to that I think there's something. There's something to that. I think that would be awesome to explore a little more but I think it's great just to know the basics of this whole process and why it is important, how it can be helpful, and especially for a lot of these listeners are probably either getting started in business or maybe wondering like alright I'm trying to get all this stuff done? But I feel like I'm working 80 hours a week and I'm not getting anywhere. You know this can be something where you can it can help you not work harder but work smarter to where you're really structuring your time that you have like in the luteal phase and the follicular phase to really be out there and doing the things and structuring and brainstorming and all of that. And then you're using that menstruation phase not to just, I mean, there might be some times where you're just like kicking it back and relaxing and taking the vacation but you're also kind of thinking, you know what's to come and reflecting on what happened and just allowing yourself to do that I think that will be so helpful.
Jenna
I will say if you are a business owner and you're listening in my practice I've applied this to the students in my business courses, and the ones who did take the time to really understand cycle alignment and just the you know what it's all about. They took action faster and completed the assignments and the exercises and the tasks that I gave them in a business course much faster, and with more success than those who haven't yet. And I think that's something to say because too often, as an entrepreneur, you know, we want to dive in and see a return on our investment, immediately. And we try and get those quick wins but quick wins. We need to educate ourselves that quick wins are not going to give us long term success, they're just giving us short term success so if we could position ourselves better with something like cycle alignment or understanding of human body. It could have a very positive effect on the way you go about growing your business and your business success.
Keri
Right, that first thing that you were describing where we think we have to be doing the things all the time, that's a very masculine energy and it's good that we have that, like you were saying for part of our cycle, but then we are, we're, we're women we have a feminine energy as well which is our cycle, and we need to we need to appreciate that and start not hating it not being like, Oh, dang it.
Jenna
And the men in our life need to appreciate it too. I mean, they I talked to my husband a lot he he manages a department. He’s a director of a maintenance department. He has a lot of women that work under him and, you know, while he can't just go out and say hey you menstruating this week, like, No. And and it could help him align and have better conversations or be a little bit, give them a little bit more grease. I do know that there are companies applying this and in Sweden in particular I think I heard this on a podcast, but in Sweden. There's a company who is giving women the opportunity to work from home on day one of their bleeding phase of the menstrual phase. And that is specifically to accommodate their rest period. There are other companies that are moving to a four day work week in for the same reasons, and they're actually doing less but they're getting more done and nothing is being sacrificed in the work life balance and, you know, they're doing a service to their employees by allowing them to take that break. And they're actually getting more done on the four days that they show up because they're not, you know, kind of, dilly dallying around. You know tapping, their fingers. I remember being in the corporate space like we've got I had a lot of people who like to come to my office and talk to me. And I would get nothing done. Um, so it's not just a woowoo topic and I'm not a woowoo person, it's actually applied. And there are a lot of peace studies showing that this is improving work and life for many people.
Keri
I love it. I know I think we all, at least growing up I always thought it was a very loose and taboo like we were just talking about. So I think it's important to address to like coming into listening to this episode or reading a book about this or an article or starting to do the work around it if you come into this and you're, you're having this feeling of like, Oh, is this okay to talk about. Oh my god they're talking about periods you know gross, you know, things like that, examine, you might have a limiting belief created around this that you've kind of carried with you I know I certainly did I had several. And, to kind of think about that and be like okay why, why am I having this reaction when it is a very natural thing and it's part of who we are as women. It is part of our life and it's our guiding force basically. So think about that and do some exploration on that and then give it a try and see if it works for you. Wouldn't that be amazing if we like in the corporate role, everybody's sitting down to a meeting and. Okay guys, we have a presentation coming up. So when is everybody in ovulation. Let's see when the most of us are an ovulation that's what we're going to do it.
Jenna
Haha, we’re gonna pass out tampons today. Could you imagine if you get everybody in the workforce, on the same cycle, like how productive
Keri
Oh my God, that would be amazing. I love it, I feel like I'm even starting to cycle with some of my online friends I don't even know if that's possible but I feel like-
Jenna
we're talking about it. Right?
Keri
I feel like my, my cycle has been, and some of you may consider this TMI, but I don't care. If you want to stop listening go ahead but, um, so I, my cycle has been like it was super late last month and it was super early this month. And then I feel like it's kind of been all over the place. But I feel like I've been engaging a lot more with, especially females and podcast interviews, coaching sessions you know all of that to where I'm receiving a lot of energy still not physically but, you know, face to face on a camera and I'm wondering if that has something to do. I don't know.
Jenna
I do, I am somebody who can morph into the gas room so like I very high energy when, when I'm in person with anybody I love people and I am a very high energy person I need that space I need to go be an introvert as well. But if I bring my positive high energy into a room of people who are like experiencing low energy. I automatically I feel like it just like overcomes my body and-
Keri
yes!
Jenna
oh, like I need to go down a notch and I think that it affects us.
Keri
Yeah, I think so too. I think that's interesting. Um, so yeah we definitely covered a lot of the basics here of what cycle alignment is how we can make it work for us. If you guys, was there anything else that you wanted to add.
Jenna
No, no I just want you guys to know that you've got two people right here who are very open to conversation, have questions, or you need somebody to talk to you because you're not quite ready to go public with it yet. We're here and we are I am like ramped up about this. Like so awesome to me so I love having the conversations.
Keri
I'm excited too. and I'm really excited for this future generation of something that I need to be thinking about more, right, is future generation of women coming in, I don't want them to feel like this topic is taboo like we did growing up, I want them to feel comfortable hearing about this hearing about women being empowered, talking about cycle alignment talking about like owning you know who they are and to not be afraid to talk about that. So if you're a woman listening if you're a business owner whoever if you're a man. We welcome questions and discussions from men as well, please shoot us an email. I am keri@keribrechts.com, and Jenna, you are…
Jenna
Keri
Yeah, cuz it was something else that had to change. Right?
Jenna,
I had info I well, I still have info at jennacarelli.com, either. But
“Info” is seen as a spam bot FYI,
Keri
business FYI, yeah. Use your name!
Jenna
also don’t use customer service@
Keri
I love it yeah so shoot, either one of us an email. We are also on, we're both on Instagram, so you can shoot a DM there as well. But I'm hoping we'll get a whole bunch of questions there. And then we can have another episode and dive into it a little more in depth, and I'm sure you'll have even more practice with everything, and more research and all have more good things to share with us by that point in time. So, thank you so much for coming back on. And I will put your contact information how they can reach out to you and the description of the podcast. And, yeah. Anything else you want to add.
Jenna
Yes,I am on Instagram @JennaCarelli but I also created a Instagram handle, it’s @cyclealignment. So if you are sharing this and you want to tag us or just send me a DM through cycle alignment. We are specifically talking about cycle alignment on that handle. And there's a resource that you can grab completely free that outlines a lot of this information in the bio, it’s a blue link in the bio on cycle alignment. And so you can reach out there as well.
