Sharon Wood - Empowerment Cycle: Know Your Flow

A Rockpool book
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NSW 2130
Australia

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ISBN: 9781925946741

Published in 2021, by Rockpool Publishing
Copyright text Sharon Wood, 2021
Copyright design Rockpool Publishing, 2021

Design by Sara Lindberg, Rockpool Publishing
Edited by Lisa Macken
Images from creative market and shutterstock

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

To a world without
menstrual shame.

I would come to be known as the period lady

Hi, Im Sharon and I wrote a book about periods, then proceed to do my utmost to spread the word about the work that has been my passion project for the past 24 years. You could literally see the lights in their eyes switch off as they began to dart their eyes around the room, looking for an escape. Oh, another one bites the dust . I would be forlorn and then seek out someone else I could spark up a conversation with about the incredible discoveries I was making through Emgoddess.

I get it: its not the most glamorous topic. To be honest, there was a part of me in those early days that was petrified I would come to be known as the period lady, but at the same time I was driven to share the knowledge Id accrued over years of paying attention to my cycle, of noticing how it had repeating patterns that were unique to me. The more time has passed the more prepared I am to take on the moniker that once made me cringe anything to reach more women so I can show them how to embrace their cycle and step into their power.

Dont get me wrong: as with any woman, there are many times when I have cursed the fact that I have a period. It has caught me out once or twice and there have been months when the cramps and aches were the final straw for what may have been a rough week. Then I remind myself of how powerful my cycle is, what it allows me to do and how I can tap into the cues my body gives me every single month and harness their power to become my best self an emgoddess!

The creation of Emgoddess was an accident, as are some of the best things in life. I travelled to the UK with someone I met in my early 20s and began to study natural therapies. One lecturer spoke about womens cycles and the essential oils you can use to help different conditions: If you understand your female body, it just makes such a big difference, she said. She recommended a few different books that would serve as great guides for those who wished to delve deeper, but I never really thought much of it. As a young aromatherapist, massage therapist and herbalism student I ventured into a New Age-y bookshop and stumbled across two of the titles my lecturer had mentioned. Deciding they had been put in my path for a reason, I bought them both and read them from cover to cover faster than Id read any books before. Why? I became fascinated, absolutely captivated, by the notion that understanding the way the menstrual cycle works can unlock so much for women.

I began to read more, and the more I read the more I discovered. I started to chart aspects noticed about myself and, through this process, recognised features I liked. I began to pay attention to my cycle, recording my physical and emotional feelings and what was happening in my life in general and how I responded to it. I created my own template and filled it out each and every day, as you would a diary. I was only a few months into the process when I began to see patterns emerging: on certain days in my cycle I would feel sluggish and unmotivated, while on other days I would be flooded with boundless energy and a feeling that I was invincible. Noticing how the patterns appeared around the same time every month meant I could anticipate those days and begin to love my body and my mind.

Discovering Emgoddess and developing the empowerment cycle were major events in my new awareness. Understanding my body has allowed me to build on my times of strength and confidence and support me when I knew I would feel vulnerable and be more susceptible to self-doubt.

I didnt have a lot of connection with my body in my younger years, abusing it fairly regularly with alcohol, crappy food and little exercise. Like many young women I had a personal struggle with low self-esteem and feeling worthless, ashamed and small. It took me many years to find and develop an inner strength that allowed me to stand comfortably in my skin. Starting to chart and focus on myself created that connection, that missing link, which enabled me to stop so I could start recognising all of the good parts of myself. It gave me time to reflect on and acknowledge the positive things that were happening in my life. The ultimate outcome was that it gave me gratitude for my body and who I am: I became empowered. Whenever I was feeling upset, angry or frustrated and on the verge of tears, there was also a sense of peacefulness about it, because I knew that in a couple of days Id be fine again. I didnt go into a downward spiral and head deep down into a rabbit hole; I just had to hold tight and ride the waves of emotion with the knowledge that what I was experiencing was normal.