Generational Tea

Align, Don’t Grind: The Power of Cycle Syncing for Women | Functional Practitioner Hope Pedraza

• Kaina | Ronnie • Season 1 • Episode 24

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 What if your burnout, mood swings, or lack of motivation weren’t personal failures—but signs your body’s asking for a different kind of support? In this eye-opening episode, we sit down with functional practitioner Hope Pedraza to explore the power of cycle syncing—the art of aligning your lifestyle with your body’s hormonal phases. Spoiler alert: men run on a 24-hour hormone cycle… women, on the other hand, are navigating a month-long rollercoaster. From energy levels to brain chemistry, your hormones affect everything—and learning to listen instead of push through can be a game-changer. Whether you have a regular cycle, no cycle, or just want to better understand your body, this episode is packed with insights that every woman should know. Because we can do anything men can do—but our bodies were designed differently, and that’s not a flaw. It’s a superpower. 

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Well, thank you for joining us. We are so excited to talk to someone that understands cycles and how to sync'em, because I feel like I've seen that increasingly on social media nowadays, but I've never taken the time to like really dig in and understand it. So now we're gonna talk to a professional. Mm-hmm. Which is exciting. Yes. Well, yeah. Welcome everybody to the Generational Tea Podcast. Ronnie's filming from her car'cause she had to get her hair done. But I am Cana and welcome everybody. And I'm Ronnie, and we're so glad you guys tuned in. We got a great show for you today. Woohoo. Heck yeah. On that note, we're gonna welcome our guest, so Hope welcome. She is going to talk to us about understanding and sinking our menstrual cycle today. I. So to get us started, do you just wanna share with the listeners a little bit about yourself so that they know your background and your expertise on these things? Yeah, for sure. So I am a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner, and I know it's a mouthful, but essentially it means I use functional labs to help people get to the root cause of chronic symptoms. And as a functional practitioner, I use multiple modalities'cause I'm also. Certified in a lot of other things to help. I use human design. I use NLP, I use hypnosis. I use subconscious reprogramming. And so when we're, you know, quote, getting to the root cause, this is like mm-hmm. Physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. So we're putting the whole equation together. So that's what I do on that. And I have my online business. As a functional practitioner. I work with people all over the country, all over the world, which is awesome. And then I also have a brick and mortar pilates and fitness studio that I've had this year is my 14 year anniversary of that. So I've had that for a while. Nice. And yeah, so I I am blessed to be able to have kind of the best of both worlds, having the brick and mortar and the online business, but with the cycle sinking part, this is a part that I started tying into a lot of my work with clients a few years ago, and just recognizing that. Women. I mean, honestly, women just don't understand their cycles. Like we just don't understand how our bodies work and we weren't given a manual. Yeah. We were not given good education on any of this, or if, if any, at all. And so, you know, recognizing that women are, you know, I work with a lot of high performing women, a lot of women who, you know, they're career driven or they're goal oriented, or they're entrepreneurs or women in business and they're, they're doing a lot, you know, they're, they're doing the mom thing, the relationship thing, the business thing, the career thing, all the things and. They're doing it in a way that's draining their body or running them into the ground. It's like, okay, well you don't understand how your hormones work, so there's that. You're not understanding how your energy works. There's that, there's all these pieces where we're fighting against each other, trying to, you know, build the mission and the dream and all that. And, and if we just put these pieces together, we could do this in a sustainable way that doesn't require us to sacrifice our bodies and our minds and the process. Alright, well you, you got me definitely interested now. Yeah, I've seen or heard that like men operate on like a 24 hour hormone cycle, whereas women, it's a monthly thing and that's why we have all the different phases that are so key to understand. Is that true? Yeah, it's totally true and I think that's really another big reason why so many women deal with things like burnout and just, even if it's not burn, I. I hesitate using that word burnout. I feel like it's such a like catchphrase now, and it's overused and it's kind. I think we're all like mm-hmm. Dumb to the word now, like, oh yeah, we're all burned out. Which, I mean, we are, but I think that just'cause we're like, now we're just all surviving in it. So it's like, okay, whatever. I'm still, you know, I'm still alive and I can still function. But the fact is that yes, men do run on a 24 hour hormonal cycle and men or women run on a 28 day hormonal cycle, which is why so many women deal with. Chronic issues, even if it's not quote unquote burnout. It's, you know, it's hormonal issues, it's reproductive issues, it's period issues, it's thyroid issues, and there's so many things that women deal with. And I really feel like so much of it stems from this piece of not understanding how our hormones work throughout the month. And, you know, if we look at the way our system is set up, it, it's set up for a man's body. I mean, a man can go to bed and wake up the next day and do the exact same thing he did yesterday, the next day, and the next day, the next day. Women's bodies don't work like that. So we're trying to operate in the same way as a man, and we're wondering why we're tired all the time, or we have brain fog, or we have migraines, or we have, you know, all these things are happening to our bodies. Yeah. Okay. Well now that we have a great understanding of why we need to learn, uh, and listen to whatever you have to say, let's just talk a little bit about you first as well. So like, you kind of gave us an introduction to, you've worn a lot of hats, so like a Pilates studio founder, nutrition coach, functional practitioner. So can you walk us through like way back when the journey that led you to do all of these things and why you're so interested in it? Yeah, for sure. so with my brick and mortar business that came from my love of dance and my background in dance. Mm-hmm. I was a dancer for 20 plus years, and so that led me into this, this love of movement and wanting to bring that to the masses. When I opened my Pilate studio, I wanted to create this one stop shop where everybody could come in and get whatever they want. I mean, we have the Pilates, we have the HIIT stuff, we have the mindfulness. I, um, at, at the time I just did just a basic nutrition coaching certification, so I could give just. Basic nutrition coaching. Mm-hmm. And when I started working with women, it was mostly women at the time. I was recognizing that, you know, they were coming to me'cause they're like, oh, I wanna drop 10 pounds or 15 pounds, or I wanna, you know, I wanna tone up or whatever, which is fine. There's nothing wrong with those goals. But when I'm having conversation with these women, I'm seeing that. What's actually going on in their bodies requires deeper conversations than talking about calories and macros. Like there are deep hormonal things going on. There's gut things going on, there's thyroid, like there's all these things. So that led me down the path of, becoming a functional practitioner, really being able to go deeper with clients. And at the same time, I think kind of parallel to that in my own journey was also my own journey with my own health. I, I grew up with a lot of gut issues, which. Eventually was diagnosed as IBS, which is basically doctor speak for like, we don't know. Your stomach's messed up and we don't really know what to do about it. And so that kinda set me on my own path to figuring out, you know, how to heal my own gut and how to heal that part of me. And then now, it's obvious to me now that these things are very related, but I also, I was very type a perfectionist and had disordered eating behavior for years. Which was a hundred percent why I had IBS. So we can see it now. But so that was another thing. So there's like these multiple facets of me on my own healing journey that also led me down the path as a functional practitioner. I think especially bringing in those other pieces of being able to do like the energetic and the spiritual and the mental work.'cause that was a huge part of my healing and kind of putting all those pieces together for the people that I work with. Yeah. That's really cool. I like how what you do has so many different layers of healing. It's not just like physical or mental. It's everything coming together, which I do think is really important.'cause our bodies are designed to work in tandem. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I, I, I remember you telling us a little bit about just sharing like your experience with IBS, or I think I was watching some of your Instagram videos or something on it. And that's really interesting. I feel like that happens a lot nowadays where you're seeking answers in traditional Western medicine is like, sometimes they just really can't because they're only looking at the physical side of things instead of, of the whole picture. Mm-hmm. So yeah, that's why I think it's so fantastic about what you're doing and, just really helping women to understand how layered and multifaceted their bodies and. Everything is is fantastic. So I'm excited to learn a little bit more. For cycles sinking, let's dig into it. So for listeners that are unfamiliar, maybe haven't heard of this before. What exactly is cycle sinking? And I know you talked a little bit about why it's important for us to understand it, but anything else you wanna share on that as well? Yeah, so cycle sinking is just what it sounds like. It's literally sinking to your cycle, sinking to your hormonal cycle. And because like we just talked about, you run on a 28 day hormonal cycle, give or take. Not everybody's exactly too many days, but give or take, your hormones are changing and fluctuating throughout the month. Your energy is changing and fluctuating throughout the month. And so it's really learning. What that looks like for you, how that affects youth throughout the month, your energy, your mental capacity, your physical capacity, and then knowing that and using that in your everyday life. In my case, you know, I work with a lot of entrepreneurs, so it's using it in their business or their careers to be able to optimize their energy. For me, it's all, the cycle sinking is all about working smarter, not harder. That's, that's the goal. Yeah. Okay. I love that. I feel like I'm very much a routine person. Like I like to try and get a routine stick to the whole, same thing, but I find it unsustainable. Like unsustainable because I like notice like, yeah, some weeks I just feel like absolute garbage. Mm-hmm. Or I need more sleep, or I need different foods. And so yeah. I'm excited to learn like what I'm doing wrong. Yeah. And how I can maybe adjust my routine. Yeah. To work with my body, not against it. For sure. That's it. That's exactly it. So can you walk us through the four phases of the menstrual cycle? Mm-hmm. And how that affects our energy, mood, physical health, anything else? Yeah. Yeah. So the way I like to explain it, and I didn't come up with this, I'm not taking credit for this, but the way I like to explain it to my clients is looking at it through the seasons. I think it gives us a good visual to be able to understand like what's going on, on with the four seasons of, the seasons themselves and looking at the seasons of your cycle. So if we start with the first season, and, and I, you know, it's funny to me, when I've worked, I've worked with so many women. That a lot of, and, and there's no shame, no, no shade, no hate on this, but a lot of men don't even know when their first day of their cycle is. So if you're listening and you don't know what the first day of your cycle is, it's your first day of menstruation. So now, you know, so that would be first day of winter. So if you think about winter, right? So your menstruation phase is, it's when you're bleeding, it's when you have your actual cycle, your period, you're bleeding. This is winter. So think about winter. Winter is when. Things are resting, things go, they, they die so that they can grow again and be born again. That that's it. Because literally you're shedding parts of you, right? That's what's happening. Mm-hmm. And I think we all at least know that part, that's, we're shedding your uterine lining. So there's a part of us that's essentially dying away, So during winter, your body needs more rest, your mind needs more rest. So this is the time where you do wanna give yourself compassion and grace and space to rest. The other piece that I love about this part of the cycle is because, the two hemispheres of your brain are synced together. They're, they're talking to each other more closely during this part of your face. So this is a really great time to get intuitive and kind of go inward and do a, uh, maybe do some deep work. So I always encourage my clients, you know, maybe this is the time when you're going deep into meditation and you're really reflecting and contemplating on, you know, next steps in life or next steps in business or whatever it is, but taking that time to go inward, and this is the time where you can get those intuitive hits, those intuitive downloads, because our intuition is so strong during this phase of our cycle, and there's this story. From, Eastern religion and Eastern, tradition that the reason that so many women, or women, not so many, but all women, women, weren't allowed in the temple. When they were bleeding. And a lot of people think it was because of this, men feared how much knowledge and how much intuition women had during this phase of their cycle. And so they weren't allowed to go into the temple because they were so intuitive. And it's like, God speaking to you at this time, you can't come in here. So anyway, I love that story. I love to share that with women. Wow. But I think we can really use that as our superpower. And so taking time to, to reflect and rest. Maybe if you set goals, I mean, this is a good time for thinking about, you know, goal setting and what you wanna do next. So that's winter phase. When we go into the next phase, so the first half of your cycle is the follicular phase. So we go into the late follicular phase that this, after you've finished bleeding, you're moving towards, ovulation. So we're not quite there yet. We're moving towards it so that after comes winter comes spring, right? So when spring is when everything starts growing and flourishing, and that's kind of what's happening in your body. So we think about what's happening during menstruation. Your, your hormones are essentially at their lowest. Which is why we're, you know, we don't feel so great. A lot of times we feel lethargic. Mm-hmm. We feel kind of blah. We might feel bloated. We might feel like we feel a lot of things. Our hormones are at their. Lowest. So now our hormones are gonna start coming up. So we kind of feel our energy start to lift. We kind of feel our creative brain come back on board. I always tell my clients too, your menstruation part of your cycle. This is not the time to try to be creative like your creative brain is. Like, for me, it's like a static, it's like static or fog covering your creative part of brain. Like it's not time to get cute and creative. Like hold that, hold that off. Like we can get cute and creative later. So during spring is when that part kind of comes back online. So now you feel your energy start to kind of rejuvenate. Maybe you feel more energized to do some high higher intensity workouts and you have more energy to actually just work out in general. Right. Move your body and, and get up and do things. Mm-hmm. Your creative brains coming back on. So now we can kind of start acting on things. Maybe we. Set out as goals in our, in our menstrual phase and in the, in the winter phase from spring we go to summer, and summer is ovulation. Now summer ovulation is when hormones are at their peak. Now, technically ovulation is just a one day thing, right? This is scientifically, it's a one day thing, but we're gonna feel the effects of that, those peak hormones, you know, for a few days before and after. So you're gonna feel that peak now during ovulation. Your hormones are at their highest. You're gonna feel your best. You're gonna feel energized, you're gonna feel, um, social, you might feel really confident. This is the time I tell my gun. It's like social activities, social events, networking, like putting yourself out there, getting on camera. And that's, for me, in my business, I do not schedule, I don't have calls. I don't do interviews during my menstrual phase ever. Like that's the time I, I know when it is, but I know my cycle to a t. The, the time to do it is when you're spring and summer, like, I'm feeling good, I'm feeling energized. I'll get on camera, I can be right. So that's the time to, to, to do those kind of things. You're feeling good now. Okay. When you get through your follicular phase, we're now gonna go to your luteal phase, right? And that's kind of basically the second half. Now the first part of your luteal phase, your estrogen's gonna drop and your progesterone's gonna go up before it crashes back down again when you get back to your menstrual phase. So your hormones are gonna kind of come back down on on the down. They're gonna come on the way down, go, heading towards menstrual. So if you think about fall, we think about fall is kind of this, uh, like things are starting to settle down. We think about fall, like the leaves are falling off, right? So things are not dying away, but they're slowing down. So the luteal phases for that. Now, during your luteal phase, because your hormones are in a particular place where your progesterone, your estrogen are doing certain things, this is the time of the month. I tell my clients. Your BS meter is at its highest because this is the time that, and y'all know what I'm talking about. Y'all know what I'm talking about. A couple of my clients, one of my clients a couple weeks ago, she was like, I turn into a raging bitch. I'm like, that, that's, that's the, that's your BS meter coming out strong. It's just, it's just there. So, because our hormones are in a particular place. We are very attuned to what we do and don't like during this part of our cycle, but I also think that we can use this to our advantage and use this again as a superpower. And because it is a time to, to really think about what is serving me and what is not. Like, this is a great time to have those conversations with yourself. And so whether it's in your house, in your living space, in your environment, whether it's in your business, your career, relationships, like this is the time to think about those things. The other thing with luteal phase is your creative brain. I'm not gonna say it's gonna go totally offline, but because in this part of your cycle, it, it's kind of like checking things off the to-do list. So for me, all my admin things and all like the not fun things that I don't wanna waste my creative brain on, this is what you do during your luteal phase. So for me it's like. The admin stuff, like the spreadsheets and the QuickBooks things, like, I hate doing that stuff, but I know it doesn't require a whole lot of creative brain power and it requires like staying power. Like that's what your luteal phase is about. So it's like admin things, tasks you can check off your to-do list, your cleaning out your closets type stuff. Like that's the stuff that your luteal phase is four, and then we go back into winter and back into your menstrual phase. So. I think thinking about the Four Seasons and tying that into your cycle, I really feel like that's the best visual for you to remember. And I think, I wanna say this too, I think the, the biggest thing to get all of this started is to really understand your body. That's the first thing.'cause if you don't know what, what's happening in your body, then it's gonna be hard for you to be able to track these types of things. So I think the first step is gonna be, mm-hmm. Well, let's see how long,'cause maybe your cycle is 29 days or you know, 26 days, right? Like understanding when your cycle is, check tracking, like, you know, when are you ovulating, how long is your menstrual phase?'cause some people have a shorter or longer menstrual phase of their cycle. So the, the big thing getting started with this is really understanding your specific cycle. Okay. Wow. First of all, I love the visual of like the seasons.'cause I. That is like very easy to remember. I feel like it's, it's in my brain now. It's not leaving. And second of all, I feel like you just explained like the key to life. This is it. This is all you need to know. This is all you need and you're good. But I mean, really this, this is amazing'cause I feel like women and including myself, and it's almost just like a staple of being women is being hard on ourselves for not being able to do everything a man can. When like in reality we're dealing with all these other complex things that are happening in our body that are making us feel a certain way and. The idea of like giving compassion to yourself, like when you're going through the winter phase, because I think I tend to not do that a hundred percent. Most people. Yeah. So many. Yeah. Yeah. It's so, yeah, that's, it's big. I think that's such a big piece, and I know that was a big piece for me because I, I know, because here's the other thing. We grow up, and at least in western society, like dreading, hating our period. Yeah. And it's such a shameful thing. There's a lot of shame around this too, which it's, for me, is bonkers.'cause literally every woman on the face of the planet has one. Like, why are we embarrassed about it? It's like, I don't know why we make such a big deal about it. Mm-hmm. So there's so much shame attached to it. And so yeah. So we end up dreading it or hating it. And so we don't know how to use it to our advantage like we're talking about here. And I think that's the thing is it's we, well, no, I'm just gonna push through. Like that's the mindset we have. Well, I know I feel like trash and I don't wanna, do anything, but I'm gonna force myself to do it. And this is how we end up with, you know, chronic symptoms really, because it's like, well, I've just pushed through. Mm-hmm. But no, you're not designed to push through. You're not supposed to push through, like this is your rest season. And it's the thing, if you think about it in the big scheme of things. Your period's not that long. It's only really a few days really, that you feel, yeah. Like, you know, so in the grand scheme of things, it's really not that big of a deal. But if we use that, like I was talking about, we use it to like, okay, let's go inward and let's, you know, reflect and let's contemplate like you're setting yourself up for the rest of the month to use that in such a powerful way. And so it's not just like, well, I'm sitting here laying on my couch with my heating pad, feeling like trash and not doing anything. Like I can still use the time. To be, I don't wanna say productive.'cause it makes you, it makes it sound like you have to be productive, but I'm using the time in a Yeah. In um, like an empowered way. A different kind of productivity. Yeah, yeah. Right, right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That intuition piece that you're talking about was really interesting to me.'cause I mean, we do a lot of like self-growth topics on this podcast and understanding that at some points in your cycle you're gonna be more equipped to do that kind of thinking, right? Mm-hmm. That piece is really interesting to me'cause I do feel like that way, like. I struggle to like journal and like do therapy or whatever during certain mm-hmm. It feels random to me, but you're explaining to me that it's not, it's not. That's it. That's exactly it. Yeah. Yeah, because that's the thing. If you think about like during your, you know, late follicular phase towards ovulation, I. Sitting still and going really deep into meditation might feel like, blah. Like, I don't wanna sit still, I don't wanna do this. So it, it's totally, there's a rhyme and reason to it. And so I encourage my clients, okay, if maybe,'cause like I've had a lot of clients who are like, oh, I don't like journaling. Well, how about you just try journaling just for the few days of your cycle? Like, let's just try that and see what comes up. And it's such a powerful shift and understanding like, okay, there's these different tools that I can use in different parts of my cycle that are gonna, you know, benefit me the most. Yeah, for sure. So next question, what are some signs that a woman might not be in sync with her cycle or utilizing it to the best that she can, or that just that her hormones are out of balance? Hmm. Yeah, this is, it's a tricky question because it could literally be anything, and I think that's why, yeah, so many women deal with symptoms for so long because they can be similar symptoms as 28,000 other things. They can be symptoms that aren't necessarily serious enough to warrant a quote diagnosis and from Western medical standards. So they're often brushed off and, or'cause, like I said before, a lot of times like, well, I'm still Functioning human being. It doesn't mean I'm completely not functional just because I have, you know, headaches, whatever. I think the biggest ones for hormones is brain fog and energy. I think those are the biggest two. Now that, I'm not saying that that's not an extensive list, obviously, but I think those are the most common. Mm-hmm. And then with that, it could be, it could be headaches, it could be joint pain, it could be painful periods, it could be missing periods or irregular periods. It could be, anxiety, depression. Trouble concentrating. I've had clients before who thought they had a DHD. It was just their hormones. It wasn't a DHD. It could be, food sensitivities. Like, there's so many things, there's so many symptoms that could be, but like I said, I think the most common, or probably the brain fog and the energy, and when I say energy, it's like lack of energy. It could be like energy crashes throughout the day. It could be. You wake up and you feel like you're not rested like you, even though you slept, you don't feel rested. It could be just feeling like low energy the whole day. Just energy, physical energy, just kind of all over the place. Okay. So as it kind of pertains to this question, you're right. It's probably hard to really determine the, the signs and symptoms and how it relates to that issue specifically. So maybe it's more of something where you really have to like, give it a try and kind of evaluate how you're feeling to realize like, oh, that symptom was maybe because I wasn't in sync with my cycle. Yeah, yeah. And stuff like that. Yeah. So I'm interested,'cause you said like mental health can be an aspect of that too. Mm-hmm. And a sign that maybe you're not in, in touch with your body or your hormones are outta whack. And I do feel like I've, I've struggled with mental health issues over the course of my life and. A lot of times I've felt like I'm doing everything right, like I'm going to therapy, I'm doing X, Y, and Z, and I'm still like, at the end of the day, I still have these issues. And I know it's not that simple like, you go to therapy, you're healed. But I am really curious to really give the cycle, sinking a try and see how that affects my mental health issues. Yeah, maybe that is something that's contributing to it. Totally. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And like you said, I don't think it's ever gonna be like a one trick thing that fixes it all, but I think it's definitely a tool to help regulate. Things in your body mm-hmm. That could a hundred percent play a part in that.'cause that's the other thing, I, I, I've worked with a lot of women with anxiety, and it's anxiety. I know there's like a spectrum, just like depression. There's a spectrum. Some are like clinical anxiety where they're on medication, like clinically diagnosed. Some of it is just like, I just, I feel anxious. I get, you know, anxiety attacks, I feel anxious. So it's been kind of across the, the spectrum and, mm-hmm. It's so often. I mean like, and yes, there's like multi-layers here as I, I don't wanna say it's just hormones.'cause here, here's the other thing with hormones, hormones are just chemical messengers in the body. Hormones are just telling us what's going on. Hormones are never the root cause. They're, they're just not. Mm-hmm. And so I have women who come to me that are just like, ah, my hormones are all over. Good place. Like, fix my hormones. And that's fine. Like, I'd love to fix your hormones, but I'm not gonna directly address your hormones'cause your hormones aren't the problem. Like, there's other things that deeper that are happening with. Your gut and your minerals and your nervous system and a bunch of other things. This is probably like a whole other conversation, but I do think that just this piece alone, again, it's just another tool in your toolbox to help start to regulate your body. So at least your body is starting to run in a way that it's designed to, right? As a woman, it's running in a way. Your energy is operating a way that it's designed to, rather than pushing and forcing things. You know, 24 7, 365. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. So is the work you do, is it always focused around cycle sinking first and then you move on to like other issues once you kind of are at that threshold where you're working with your body and then if you're still having other issues, you can work through like the other emotional, physical, spiritual means to improve? I mean, how does that work with your business in particular? Yeah, so, so no cycle thinking is never where I start. Cycle singing is just kind of another. Kind of like we were just talking about, kind of another tool that I give my clients to help them with. Everything else where I usually start minerals are where I usually, I wanna say 99% of the time is where I start minerals. And I talk about minerals a lot. Like on my podcast, on my social media, all that. Minerals are really at the foundation of everything. So minerals are where I start and I, I really believe that so many of the hormonal issues that women deal with are because of mineral imbalances or mineral depletions are just. Yeah, just overall and balances with minerals. Minerals are the spark plugs in the body, so everything that's happening in the body minerals are involved, whether they're the catalyst for that or the cofactor. But every hormone, every enzyme, every neurotransmitter, like everything in the body, it starts with minerals. So for me, that's the starting point and mm-hmm. The cycle sinking is just a tool we use along the way throughout everything we're doing. So we're addressing minerals. Mm-hmm. We're addressing. The gut. We're dress, you know, all the physical things we're doing the emotional work, we're doing the spiritual work. We're looking at all the, but the, the cycle singing is just a tool to use along the way with, with all of that. Gotcha. Okay. I gotta have a better understanding now. Next question. What are some common mistakes women make when it comes to cycle sinking or understanding their cycle, especially as they're probably first getting into it? Mm-hmm. I think going back to what I said before, understanding your specific cycle, I think that's the first thing because they just assume that my cycle's 28 days'cause that's, you know, standard. So it's like, oh, I just assume it is, but, but then it's not, and so if your cycle's 25 days or I've even had clients where their cycle's like 31, 32 days, like that's actually going to affect things pretty substantially. Mm-hmm. And so I think that's probably the first thing is just not understanding. Their cycle specifically and tracking, you know, I started on this day, I started my period on this day and it lasted this long. And then I know this part of the my I ovulated on this day. So just tracking and understanding that part. Um, and, and I do wanna say this too, as just like a, a side note for those listening who either you don't have a period, like if you're on some sort of birth control or something, if you're menopausal or postmenopausal, you can still, you can still cycle sync. You just and know, and I know for a lot, this sounds very woo. But you can cycle sink to the moon. The moon, it goes on a 28 day cycle and the moon is the feminine energy and the universe. And that's the whole, that's the whole point. That's the whole reason. And so you can still cycle to the moon. And so it's the, the full moon, you know, going to the new moon as the winter, the full moon as the summer and going in between so you can still cycle, sink to the, to the moon and, and keep your 28 day cycle. But anyway, I wanted to say this a side note, but going back to your original question. Yeah. I think the biggest thing is. Not understanding your cycle fully. And I would say probably, like, Expecting too much of yourself during the times where we need to give ourselves that grace and compass, like we were talking about the menstrual cycle. I feel like there's a lot of, I guess judgment is the word that's, there's a lot of like, judgment around that. Mm-hmm. You're judging yourself like, oh, I can, I just get it together and, you know, do my thing and do these things that I wanna do. Right. And oh, oh, the other thing, I do wanna say this too, the other thing I find my clients, and I always have a laugh on this, so during your ovulation phase, or like spring summer, we talked about like late follicular into ovulation. Right. You're feeling energized, you're feeling social. You're feeling like, yeah, I can do whatever, and then you're committing to things that are. Happening in your winter part of your cycle, and then you get to winter, you're like, crap, why did I say yes to this? Like, keep that in mind.'cause that happens a lot. Like, I didn't wanna do this. Why did I say yes? So that's another thing, like recognize where you're committing to things and when it's happening and, and just recognize maybe you, maybe you don't give people a definitive yes when you know you're making plans or to do things and yeah, that's just keep it in mind. Yeah, as someone that is an introvert and I like hate being flaky with people or canceling, I feel like that's gonna be life changing for me. Totally. Totally. Because there's definitely times where I'm like, yeah, I just wanna like go out and be social. And then there's times where I'm like, Nope, nobody talk to me. I wanna stay in my house this entire a hundred percent. I'm hundred percent. I'm the same. I'm very introverted and I'm the same way. Like you don't have to say yes or no in the moment. Like you can be like, oh, okay, I'll let you know. Like it doesn't have to be a, because I think that's your thing too, you feel like. Well, if you say yes, I can't go back at my word.'cause then I feel like, you know, so you don't have to say yes in the moment or you could just say, no, there's that too. That helps. She is always there. Yeah. Yeah. We've talked a lot about being like people pleasers and learning the power we have and just saying no to things. That's it. And yeah, that's very important there, especially now when we're talking about our cycle. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, I, I think it's a great side note you included for women that don't have periods because. That would include me because I do have an IUD that removes my period, and so I was wondering how that was all gonna come into play. So I can just go with the moon for real. Yes. Follow the cycles. That's it. Yeah, it's, it's really simple. Just follow the cycle of the moon and you can follow like the waxing and waning the full moon, the new moon. Let the new moon be the winter phase, the full moon is the summer and you know, fill in the inbetweens with the waxing and waning moon and yeah, you just follow the moon, it's easy. Okay. That's very good to know. Mm-hmm. Awesome. For a beginner, beginner tips, how can someone begin seeking their workouts, eating habits, or productivity with your cycle? Yeah. So I know you've kind of given us little, little teasers here and there. Mm-hmm. But if you can just talk about that a little more in depth. Yeah. Yeah. I think the biggest thing getting started is as like not exciting as this sounds. It's like not the really exciting answer, but it's really just listening to your body. I, I think if we, as women especially, just really were intentional about listening to our bodies that. So many things could change. Like we don't even have to think that hard about things if we were just listening to our bodies.'cause if you listen to your body, you know that during your menstrual phase, your body wants to take a rest. Now, I'm not saying you have to just veg it on the couch, which is also okay by the way. But you can still move, right? You can still move and exercise and movement typically does help when you're feeling crampy and bloated and all that. But point is. Like maybe your menstrual part of your phase isn't when you wanna go do your really intense, crazy hit workout, right? Maybe we save that, let's wait a few days. Maybe we do that after you know it, it's that at least, you know, five, six days in or whatever, mm-hmm. Maybe you're feeling like, oh, I can, you know, I can go run the six mile run or whatever, when it's this part. So I think it's just listening to your body and recognizing when your energy is fluctuating. And when your body is saying like, Hey, I really want you to slow down, or, Hey, I really feel like I don't wanna do that today. Or, Hey, I really feel like I wanna be pushed today. So I think that's the biggest thing is just listening, because sometimes our body does wanna be pushed, sometimes it doesn't like it, it goes both ways. Yeah. So just listening and honoring what your body body's saying, I think is the biggest advice I can give on that, especially as beginners. If, Tracking all this seems like one more thing you have to do. Like it feels like it's overwhelming. Sorry. Just, just recognize that like, can I just tune into my energy throughout the month and recognize when I don't have as much, when I have more? Right. That, that's a, that can be a huge game changer. Okay. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. You know, I'm a woman in, in perimenopause or menopause and think that's probably a whole nother show that we should do, but I'm listening intently to see how I can possibly, use some of these tools. For sure. Yeah. It's another great chapter. To do the sinking with the moon. Like if you have irregular periods, if you're in perimenopause and you're like, I don't know, my period's all over the place, just start there. Just start with the moon and tracking it there, and I think it'll help kind of manage your energy as you're navigating that. Like really irregular part of. Yeah. Your cycle. Yeah, So we, one thing we like to do for our listeners is like really like practical application tips. And I'm just like thinking about how I'm gonna start incorporating this into my life, especially because I don't have a period right now. And you emphasize the importance of really listening to your body. So would you recommend like journaling every day, just like jotting down, like, I feel like this today, and then going back through that to kind of see like. Okay. I'm probably at this phase in my cycle, especially for someone that doesn't have the period to help them really schedule it. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. I think journal, I think that's always a good idea, is to journal out how you're feeling and, and doing that for, you know, more than just one month. Like, letting that be something you do for a while. Yeah. And, and tracking, you know, how do I feel physically, mentally, emotionally? Like what are my eating habits? Like, am I, do I have more of an appetite? Do I have less of an appetite? Do I feel like I want a bunch of carbs or I feel like, like it is just tracking all those things I think is a great way to get started and just to kind of feel out what's happening throughout the month. I think that's a great, a great tool to do, to use. And, there's all kinds of, Like cycle tracking apps that you can find too. And you can, you can track it in there. And then they also let you take notes in the app too. If you're like a digital person, you don't wanna write it down. Um, you can go track on the apps and you can also keep notes in the apps and that can help you track things too. And a lot of times those apps will kind of put it together for you to kind of help you figure out like, you know, what phase of the cycle it is. So those are also the tools. Okay. Yeah, that's probably definitely a good tool for me and my whole generation in general. Yeah, for sure. Totally. Totally. We're very technology reliant. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. I think y'all are analoging things anymore. Y'all need the digital stuff. I, I do both. I'm a fan of both. Yeah. But what, however you like to keep track. Yeah, one question quickly on eating habits, and I've seen a lot of like, not necessarily like diets, I feel like we're kind of moving away from diets in, in some ways, and I. Like intuitive eating. I've seen a lot lately and I've also seen a lot of things too on like what foods specifically you or you should be eating in different phases of your menstrual cycle. But I've also seen like other things as well. Like for example, my brother, and of course he's a man, so he's not in the same boat as we are, but he's actually been following this blood type diet and is. It's, it's based on some book, but he was just saying like how tremendously it's impacted him just following a diet based on his blood type and eating specific foods. And it was like revolutionary for him in terms of like. Productivity, energy, mental health and stuff like that. So can you just tell us a little bit more about like, eating habits? Is it more specific to the individual and how you're feeling or is there generally like foods you should be sticking to at different phases? Yeah, that's a good question. And there's a lot, I mean, people have all kinds of thoughts on all this, so it's probably, you know, you can ask different people, they're gonna tell you different things.'Cause you know, some people like, you know, there's this, this school of thought around fasting around your cycle and how you do intermittent fasting during certain phases of your cycle. I. I will say first and foremost, this is never, I will never give a prescriptive thing for diet ever.'cause it's always individual. Every body is different. Mm-hmm. Everyone at a cellular level is just different. And so it's, it's never gonna be something where I have like, everybody should stick to this thing. Now I do think that there are things that are like common threads throughout all the diets, like eating whole foods and getting protein and fiber. Like there's those kind of things I think are pretty generally. Widely accepted and should be included, you know, across the board. I will say this though, I do think that specific types of eating can work for different, but I've heard of the blood type diet and there's, I, I think I might have read that book years ago. I was thinking, I know what you're talking about with the book. There's the blood type diet. Mm-hmm. You know, there's people like the Keto or I like the Mediterranean, they like the paleo. Like there's all the diets. I think. For women. And then there's the intermittent fasting thing. I have very strong feelings about intermittent fasting for women specifically. Um, and, and mainly because I have worked with so many women and I've worked with so many women in full on burnout. That have wrecked their metabolism by trying to do intermittent fasting. So I've seen firsthand how it's just not, it just doesn't serve women. Because to your point, you were talking about your brother, like, well, he's a man and he's not the same. Right. That's, there's so many studies about it around intermittent fasting and all of them have been done on men. It's, it's not studied on women. So the findings that are out there, it's just very misleading. And now granted, I know there are women like that. You can go on their Instagram page and they've had these crazy results that intermittent fasting. So I'm not saying it can't work for everybody'cause obviously it can. But my point is. The science behind it is based on men's bodies. So it, you can't say that this is something every woman should do because the science doesn't tell us that.'cause it just tells us that it could work for men. So I think that when it comes to eating specific things, I think for women especially, I think protein and fiber are the top two. That should be our, top two priorities, protein and fiber. Most women don't get enough protein. Most women are people. Humans actually don't get enough fiber. So there's that. But women, you know, so many women are afraid they're gonna, you know, get fat or get bulky. I had this conversation with my mom a couple weeks ago, about the protein thing.'cause she's like talking about this and, oh, I'm gaining weight and I'm, and I'm like, okay, well I don't know how many times I can tell you that you're not eating enough calories like that. I don't have any to tell. You're not in a protein. Like, as you get older, your metabolism's gonna slow down because you're losing muscle mass. We lose like three to 8% every decade of life. So the way we hold onto that, wow. Is protein and strength training. So with the food is your question specific specifically about food, protein and fiber, I would say should be the top two priorities for women. And the fiber thing. Fiber helps with satiation, keeps us satiated. Fiber helps with blood sugar regulation, so that's another thing that we as women have to be concerned about.'cause the way our estrogen fluctuates is going to affect how our blood sugar fluctuates, which is another stress around the body. Um, fiber helps with gut health, so there's so many benefits to fiber. So I think if anything I, I'm gonna give like big nutrition tips. I think I would just say those would be the two, like prioritize protein and fiber. Most women should be getting like, you know, about a gram per pound of body weight is typically the recommendation. And most women aren't. So I think that's the other thing too. And I think, you know, I, I had this conversation in this other group of functional practitioners and we were. Somebody was asking, like sent questions about this patient's labs they had, and we were talking about the labs and their estrogen levels were kind of all over the place. And we were talking about this, and actually I had a guess in my podcast, um, a couple weeks ago, we talked about this as well. I really feel like so many women deal with so many estrogen driven symptoms and estrogen driven diseases. Because we're under calorie and we're under protein and like this patient we were talking about in the My functional practitioner group, and some of them were using their own stories, like my estrogen levels and my progesterone levels were at their best. When I had more muscle mass and more body fat, like holding onto more body and muscle, I'm not telling everybody to go put on body fat, but as a female, your body requires a certain amount of body fat to function optimally. You have to have a certain amount of body fat to have a baby, like that's, our bodies were made for that, whether you have'em or not, that your body was built to have a baby. And so our bodies have require a certain amount of body fat for our hormones to be able to function optimally for that reason. Which is why so many, there's so many women who struggle with, you know, issues with their periods and all sorts of things if you're undernourished and under calorie. So anyway, that was a long answer to your question, but I think the protein and fiber are such crucial pieces, and this is, as you know, at any stage, whether you're a menstruating, woman, perimenopausal, menopausal, postmenopausal, like across the board, protein and fiber is where we should be focusing. that was a great answer. Thank you for being so in depth. And it was really interesting to hear you talk about intermittent fasting.'cause we've actually both done that. I mean, somewhat recently, I do have a history of disordered eating, so diets are a no go for me. Same. Like, it's just it, it gets me back into a very negative mindset. Yeah, same. And I've always been very self-conscious about weight, like probably any other woman. And I actually felt like intermittent fasting was like. The easiest way to manage my weight. Mm-hmm. Without getting back into like a disordered state of mind around food. But that being said, like was I gaining any weight? No. In fact, I even lost weight, but I don't feel like my energy was there. Mm-hmm. Because like I was fasting until like later in the morning and I was also. Trying to work out during that period of time, which I've heard is like a big no-no for women. Like we have to have food in our bodies when we're working out. We can't just do it like men do. Mm-hmm. So it's very interesting to hear that all the studies have been done around men and then also just to bring this all back to the cycle sinking. Like it's just not sustainable for us to do that. Like. The whole period of our cycle. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, and I think very interesting. I don't wanna say like demonize it all together and say like, nobody should ever, but I think if you're gonna do it, I really think it should be just according to your cycle and there's books on that. Mm-hmm. Like fasting with your cycle and doing it specific parts of your cycle. So think if you're gonna do it, yeah. It's during specific parts of your cycle so it's not, you know, all year, all the time. I think that's the more sustainable way in a way where it's not gonna jack up your hormones and mess up your metabolism. So I think that's, mm-hmm. Probably the better way to do it. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So next question. I wanna talk about the role of stress, because I feel like honestly, all the generations were more stressed out than ever. At least it feels like that. What role does stress play in disrupting our cycle and hormones? Because I know, like when I used to have a period, I could tell when I was stressed that it would not come on time, it would be late, it'd be early, it would just totally mess things up. So. Can you kind of ex explain the role that stress plays in that, and then how we can maybe manage that holistically? Because sometimes we just have to deal with massive amounts of stress whether we want to or not. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, stress is the reason that anyone's cycle is gonna be off. I mean, let's be honest, stress is the reason for everything. So I think, you know, you're right. We do live in a more stressed out society, stressed out generation. There's multiple stressors. The stress of, you know, what's going on in the world, or you know. Politics or life and family and like, there's so many things for us to be stressed about, so, mm-hmm. I do think that stress is the biggest reason that so many women deal with, you know, energy issues, hormonal issues, chronic health issues, you name it. The biggest thing for me I can say there is I, I do feel like one way to help. Battle the stress within our bodies is cycle sinking because it's taking one less stressor away because to, to what we've been talking about, it's, again, it's that working smarter, not harder. So can I optimize the energy I have in each phase of my cycle so that I'm not working against myself and feeling this resistance all month long? So I do feel like this cycle sinking is a big, really crucial tool that we can use as women to help battle the stress that we're dealing with every day. Yeah, I think that. You know, with my clients, we do a lot of nervous system regulation. I'm sure y'all have talked about in the show, we, you know, we, I, we use energetics and you know, there's a lot of tools we can use, which is really the reason why I use all the modalities that I use in my work, right? You can't compartmentalize the body, right? You can't separate the physical from the emotional, from fundamental, from the spiritual. Like we are, we are multidimensional beings and so to. You know, just focus on the physical and, you know, throw a bunch of supplements or do this diet, like that's not gonna solve everything. And, and I know everybody listening probably knows that by experience. Like how many times have you been like, oh, I'm gonna take these supplements and it's gonna fix everything, and then it doesn't, and you're like, what the heck? I'm doing all the things right. So you, you have to be able to put all the pieces together and it's because it's, for that reason, what you're saying, it's the stress piece. And whether you feel like you live, you know, a stress-free life or not, you're still like, there's stressors, whether even environmental stressors, that's a stress in the body, right? It's, you know, relational stress. Mm-hmm. There's situational stress, there's, um, you know, chemical fit. There's all kinds of stress that we're exposed to, and I think it's just. Understanding what tools we have at our disposal to be able to combat that.'cause we're not gonna eliminate it, right? We're, we're humans, so we're not gonna eliminate it altogether. It's just having the tools and being able to know how to mitigate it as much as we can. And I really think that cycle sinking can be such a huge, just a game changer for women in, in that part of it, just managing their energy. Yeah, it sounds like it. So it's kind of like. Almost that's part of the answer. The whole answer in itself is to like mitigating how stress can affect our cycle. Yeah. Is just understanding and sinking our cycle. So that's it. Yep. Okay. That's it? Mm-hmm. All righty. So what is your hope, no pun intended for women when they do learn to work with their body instead of against it? Yeah. My goal for women is always. Just to understand their body. Again, I know that's kind of a boring answer, but I I kind of to what we started this conversation with at the very beginning and recognizing that so many of us don't understand our body and we weren't, you know, given the manual to understand how it all works. And a lot of women will go through their entire lives without understanding how their bodies work and they wonder why they're anxious or depressed or whatever. So I think my hope for them, and my goal is for them to just understand their body at a deep level, understanding it physically, physiologically, what's happening in my body with, you know, my hormones and my gut, right? Understanding physiologically what's going on, understanding emotionally, energetically, how my energy flows, like how I interact with other people and the world around me, and how my energy's meant to move, mentally, spiritually, like, understanding all of those. Aspects of wellness, like understanding those pieces of the body. For me, that's my goal, is just have that deep understanding so that you can make empowered decisions for your body, and that's the goal. Like I, you know, the, the medical gaslighting thing is such a real thing and I, I would say 90% of the women that I have worked with have experienced that. They've been brushed off, ignored, told that it was all in their head, like the stories I could tell on that. And so I want women to be able to own what's going on in their body, to trust their bodies, most importantly, so that they can make empowered decisions for themselves. So they don't have to rely on somebody else to tell them what's wrong with their body or somebody else to tell'em, no, this is what's actually happening. No, I understand what's happening with my body'cause I know how my body operates so I can advocate for myself. Mm-hmm. And make the best decisions for me because I know I and I trust what my body is telling me. That's my goal. I love that. And the medical gaslighting is, it's very real. Yeah. Yeah. I, I've heard like countless stories of women just not being taken seriously or pain not being taken seriously too, like circling back to my IUD, like, I definitely think there should be some kind of like you get put to sleep or, I don't know what it is. It's ridiculous what they expect. Yes. Oh my gosh. I heard so many horror stories with the IUDs. Like, what the heck are we doing? gosh. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty terrible. I've had two put in and like, especially the second time, because I knew how terrible it was. Like I was just like literally like shaking because I was so afraid of how much it was gonna hurt. I believe you. So, yeah, it it's crazy. It's terrible. But yeah, I mean, I a thousand percent think it's so amazing what you're doing and I'm really excited to share all this with our listeners and hopefully that they can start working with their body and empowering themselves instead of going against it. It's awesome. I don't know if you listened to any of our episodes, but our signature kind of closing statement or whatever is called what she said, usually we will like read a quote or something that pertains to the episode, but during our interviews we like to get it from the source. So you, so far what she said, segment, I want to hear like a mantra mindset or just something you wanna share that's helped you most on your personal healing journey or your journey to help others heal themselves. Hmm. I think for me, what's coming up for me immediately is that everything is just a season, which I feel like is relevant'cause we just talked about our cycle of seasons. But for me it's recognizing that everything is, it's just a season. The good parts, the bad parts, like it's all just a season. The bad parts never last forever. The good parts never last forever. But that's the part of the human experience is to be able to take the good with the bad. The wisdom and the lessons from the bad and the joy and the wisdom from the good, but just recognizing that it's all just, it just all happens in seasons. Yeah. Yeah. That's really great. And I tend to like, get into bad seasons and feel like it's gonna be there forever. Mm-hmm. But that's, it's definitely not the case. Yeah. So that's a, that's a good mantra to keep at the forefront of your mind. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Sounds like you do fantastic work for others and we appreciate you coming on this podcast to help women understand their bodies more. And we wanna honor, honor that in your time. So if someone wants to get access to your resources or just learn a little bit more about what you do, where can our listeners find you and those resources if they wanna dive deeper into. Whether it's cycle syncing or the functional holistic wellness. Yeah, for sure. So I'm most active on Instagram, so you can find me on Instagram at the Hope Praza. Uh, have a YouTube channel as well. Same name. And I also have a podcast called Hopeful and Wholesome, and it's just. It's all wellness, nutrition, energetic spirituality, all the things that I've been talking about today, seeing if I'm more there. Awesome. And then I do have a resource, if you wanna put a link in the show notes. I have a cycle sinking guide if that helps people. So I can give you that. It's just a little free guide to help people. So if you wanna get the guide and have like kind of a step by step of getting started with cycle sinking, it could be helpful. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'll, I'll go ahead and put that in the show notes. I know you sent me, I think some other links too. I'll put in the show notes as well as your. Social media handles so people can find you. But yeah, I I'm definitely gonna check out your podcast. Yeah. I feel like I am so much intrigued into going like even to all the deeper layers that you do, so Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on Generational Tea. And ladies, it's time to empower ourselves and understand our bodies and work with them. That's right. Thank you so much. Hope. Thank y'all. Yes. All right. 3, 2, 1. And that's the, the. Yay. Love it. Yay.