227. The Connection Between Breathwork and Your Menstrual Cycle (Harriette Wight)

The Menstruality Podcast

The Menstruality Podcast
227. The Connection Between Breathwork and Your Menstrual Cycle (Harriette Wight)
Feb 04, 2026 Season 16 Episode 227
Red School

After being guided by her doctor to take the pill for twenty years to manage painful periods, breathwork practitioner Harriette Wight was still dealing with challenging bleeds and decided to try something different. She was guided by a friend to try seed cycling, then learned how to track her menstrual cycle and then - via her Yoga teacher - she discovered breathwork. The combination of breathwork and cycle awareness changed everything for her. 

Breathwork, as Harriette defines it, is the practice of using the breath to consciously change how we feel physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. And today in our conversation we explore the ancient roots of breathwork and the modern day expression, and why it is such a powerful tool for health and wellbeing, particularly when it’s used in combination with menstrual cycle awareness. 

Harriette is a graduate of Red School’s Menstruality Leadership Programme, and through her own intimacy with her cycle, she’s created a body of work designed around specific breathwork practices to support each of the inner seasons of the menstrual cycle. In our chat today, she shares her MLP experience including how it changed how she sees herself, how she wants to show up in the world, and how she delivers her work. 

We explore:

  • How the inhale and exhale correspond to the two movements of energy within the menstrual cycle, which Alexandra and Sjanie have named: the via positiva and the via negativa. 
  • Simple breathwork practices to support you to rest when you bleed, manage the rising energy in your inner spring, to help you feel confident in your inner summer
  • A ‘recovery breath’ practice to manage premenstrual emotional reactivity.

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Receive our free video training: Love Your Cycle, Discover the Power of Menstrual Cycle Awareness to Revolutionise Your Life - www.redschool.net/love

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The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email info@redschool.net

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Social media:
Red School: @redschool - https://www.instagram.com/red.school
Sophie Jane Hardy: @sophie.jane.hardy - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.jane.hardy
Harriette Wight: @yourfriendlybreathingcoach - https://www.instagram.com/yourfriendlybreathingcoach/


Episode Artwork 227. The Connection Between Breathwork and Your Menstrual Cycle (Harriette Wight) 58:07 Episode Artwork 226. The Power of No: Menstrual Cycle Awareness and Boundaries (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:00:00 Episode Artwork 225. The Courage of Genius (and What Your Cycle Has to Do With It) with Alexandra & Sjanie 1:01:44 Episode Artwork 224: Choose Your Menstrual Cycle Leadership Power for 2026 (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:11:25 Episode Artwork 223. How to Work with the Moon as Your Calendar (April McMurtry) 1:01:06 Episode Artwork 222. Menstrual Cycle Awareness and Trauma Healing (Alexandra & Sjanie) 57:04 Episode Artwork 221. How Cycle Awareness Helps You to Have Difficult Conversations (Sarah Rozenthuler) 1:03:23 Episode Artwork 220. How Cycle Awareness Frees Your Voice and True Expression (Alexandra and Sjanie) 1:07:17 Episode Artwork 219. The Rage, Grace and Alchemy of Menopause (Tanya Forgan) 55:35 Episode Artwork 218. Passing Through the Veils: Perimenopause as Sacred Preparation (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:01:02 Episode Artwork 217. How to Navigate The Heat of Menopause with Water Medicine (Tamu Mosley) 56:34 Episode Artwork 216. How to Manage the Emotional Heat of Menopause (Alexandra & Sjanie) 58:00 Episode Artwork 215. Replay: How to Mother Yourself Through Menopause (Chameli Gad) 1:10:46 Episode Artwork 214. Replay: How Yoga Nidra can Support Menstrual and Menopause Rest (Tracee Stanley) 57:53 Episode Artwork 213. Replay: Menopause as a Gateway to Magnificence and Knowing Our Worth (Prune Harris) 59:45 Episode Artwork 212. Replay: The Myth, Magic and Metamorphosis of Menopause (Dr Sharon Blackie) 1:02:34 Episode Artwork 211. Replay: The Transformation of Menopause: Stepping into our Responsibility to Life (Jane Hardwicke Collings) 57:22 Episode Artwork 210. How to Claim Your Sacred Rest (Octavia Raheem) 1:04:17 Episode Artwork 209. The Future of Leadership is Menstrual: A Revolution in Power (Alexandra & Sjanie) 1:00:50 Episode Artwork 208. The Messy Middle of Menopause (Ruby May) 55:49 Episode Artwork 207. How Cycle Awareness Can Help You to Navigate PCOS and Irregular Cycles (Shalize Giane) 1:04:34 Episode Artwork 206: Listening to Your Body, Reclaiming Your Power and Knowing Your Worth (Meggan Watterson) 1:01:14 Episode Artwork 205. How to Work With PMS and PMDD Using Menstrual Cycle Awareness (Alexandra & Sjanie) 59:10 Episode Artwork 204. How Cycle Awareness Helps to Create a Rest-Centred Life (Lou Perham) 1:01:02 Episode Artwork 203. How to Claim and Express Yourself in Inner Summer - REPLAY (Alexandra & Sjanie) 58:43