Alisa Vitti - In the FLO

Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force.

L AO T ZU

This book is dedicated to my daughter, Ariana.

May you always know the gifts of nature that you contain

and the force of nature that you are.

Contents

Whats the greatest lesson a woman should learn? That since day one, shes already had everything she needs within herself. Its the world that convinced her she did not.

R UPI K AUR

I remember from a young age hearing from multiple sources that to succeed as a woman you have to work hardtwice as hard as a man, in fact. Early on, I felt a drive to do as much as I could and to push myself. In school, I took all of the hardest classes, worked for top grades, and was involved in activities to develop my creative talents and practice leading teams. These are all admirable pursuitsbut I noticed that my drive came with a cost. In high school I was regularly up past midnight trying to complete homework. I was spread as thin as I could be, and now, looking back, I can see the toll it was taking on my body. The pressure I felt to perform, create, achieve, and work only grew, however, as I continued on through college and into my career. All the while, my health issues became more problematic. My anxiety went from occasional to constant, my insomnia became a nightly problem, I was gaining weight despite being active daily, my skin was breaking out, my periods were missing, and I felt more and more overwhelmed by all that I had to do. Instead of being invigorated by the things I wanted to do, I felt unable to tackle them and drained. I criticized myself for procrastination, for inefficient time management, and for not having my body and my life perfectly together. I tried diets, workouts, and planners, and I bought every inspirational book I thought might help me figure out how to do it all. I see my struggles reflected all the time in the lives of other womenand the fact is were working long hours but struggling to get everything done, care-taking children and friends with little time left over to rest, exercising constantly but not seeing results, trying to eat well but still feeling blahand we find we have less and less energy left to create our best work, nurture our relationships, and access our joy for life in general. Were all looking for a way to make everything more doable, but doing everything still leaves us feeling like somehow weve failed.

Our culture forces us to keep pushing, pushing, pushing. We overstretch ourselves, our expectations, our bodies, and our time. We race breathlessly to keep up with never-ending to-do lists, put everybody elses needs first, and juggle career and family. We look outside ourselvesrelying on magazine articles or male-centered health researchfor healthy living strategies rather than listening to the inner wisdom of our biochemistry.

As a result, our physical health is deteriorating. Fibroids, endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), infertility, low sex drive, premature ovarian failure (POF), and challenging perimenopause are all on the rise. Chronic stress takes a toll on our bodies, our abilities to pursue our dreams, and our bonds with the people we love. At our deepest levels, we feel were not good enough, not smart enough, not organized enough to achieve what we desire in our lives.

What if I told you that there was a secret blueprint youve had available to you for yearsa simple way to be more powerful and more effective in all areas of your life? Not only have you been ignoring it, youve viewed it as a liability. Youve even tried to override this powerful tool, unintentionally dampening its force and causing it to work against you. As a result, its sapping your energy, making you sick, and holding you back from getting everything you wantand deservein life.

The secret isnt really a secretits been within you all along. Ill cut right to the chase: your female biochemistry, and more specifically, your hormonal cyclethe one you probably lament on a monthly basisis an incredible asset. Think of it as our unique and miraculous female advantage. Its a game-changing tool we can use to empower every aspect of our livesif we will only leverage it.

The problem is, weve been taught the opposite about our hormonal cycle. From the moment women get our first periods, were told about the cramps, the premenstrual syndrome (PMS), the burden our bodies must now take on. From a young age, were taught to feel ashamed rather than empowered by our bodies. Something that is so fundamental to usour biochemistry, our reproductive system, our menstrual cycleis twisted into the curse that we must hide or deal with rather than celebrate and use. Weve been conditioned to ignore our hormonal cycle until something goes wrong with it. Then we treat it like an adversary that needs to be tamed with medication or other interventions so we can go back to ignoring it. This treatment has created a dysfunctional relationship with our hormones, our bodies, and ourselvesobliterating the power of our hormones and rendering them ineffective at best and a stumbling block at worst.

The good news is, with some simple lifestyle tweaks you can tap into this natural power source to biohack your way to better health and fitness, enhance your productivity, master time management, and enjoy greater success in every area of your life. Best of all, its really easy (compared with exhausting yourself trying to cram as much as possible into your day, striving to accomplish impossible to-do lists, and ignoring your most basic physical needs). By living, eating, and working in synchrony with your cyclical nature rather than fighting against it, you can unleash your creativity, fire up your energy, strengthen your relationships, and even be a better mom (if youre a mom). Youll use time strategically instead of being a slave to your calendar, increasing your energy and ultimately getting more done with fewer struggles. Youll tap into that elusive sensation of flowthat incredible feeling you have when everything just clicks. Youll be able to reframe your concept of success to feel great about yourself rather than tear yourself down. Youll intuitively understand how to manage stress, increase self-satisfaction, quiet your inner critical voice, improve your health, and empower yourself to become productive and efficient in ways that are sustainable for you.

All this is achievable, but we cant access our full potential when were living by someone elses rules and not listening to the wisdom within. Simply put, we are round pegs trying to fit ourselves into square holesno wonder were exhausted. We live out of sync with our unique female brain and body chemistry; we dont eat in a pro-hormonal way that gives our endocrine system the building blocks it needs to keep our hormones balanced, and too often were prescribed medications like synthetic hormones that further prevent us from accessing the inherent gifts inside our bodies that could help us live our best lives. Our non-female-centric diet and lifestyle put a strain on a system that is perfectly equipped by nature to keep our hormones balanced and health optimized. Being out of sync with our female chemistry weakens our thyroid, our ovaries, our livers, our adrenals, our immunity, and our digestion. In fact, being out of sync weakens everything about our physical health, makes our thinking foggy, and takes us out of our creative zone.

The truth is, all the cultural myths about womens bodiesthat we are inherently weaker, more vulnerable to aging, less worthy of studyare BS. Weve been sold a lieharmful propaganda that says our body and biochemistry are a disadvantage. Its time to flip the script. Ive pioneered the groundbreaking Cycle Syncing Method to empower women, finally, to use their hormones in ways that are nothing short of revolutionary.