Have you struggled with painful periods or irregular periods? Have you been looking for a hormone-free birth control option? Would you like to optimize your chances of getting pregnant naturally? Are you currently dealing with symptoms of PMS, PMDD, PCOS, fibroids or endometriosis?

Like many of you, I struggled with heavy, painfully long periods when I was a teenager. In an effort to bring me relief and comfort, my mother took me to the GYN in 1995 and they resolved to put me on hormonal birth control to lessen my period symptoms. While the hormonal birth control did indeed reduce my heavy and painful periods, I also developed softball sized cysts on my ovaries. The ovaries would burst and cause excruciating pain. After a year of repeated ovarian cyst episodes my GYN changed my birth control 2 more times before the cysts subsided. Then came the abnormal pap smears which led to biopsies, cryofreezing and a multitude of other gynecological procedures that were meant to figure out a problem that didn’t even need to exist. 

After another abnormal pap smear and biopsy in 2001, I was completely exhausted and had decided I never wanted children and would just get a hysterectomy. I decided that periods were evil and my uterus hated me so I switched to Depo-Provera to cease my periods completely… worst decision ever because I began dealing with not only physical side-effects but also emotional and mental side-effects of hormonal birth control. I went to see a psychologist thinking that I was literally losing my sanity and the first question she asked me was if I was taking hormonal birth control. I told her that I was and she replied, “Stop taking it”. I looked at her like she was the mental one, but she just reached into her filing cabinet and handed me a folder of papers. I took them home and read through them all, it was all information about the negative side-effects of hormonal birth control. The next day I skipped my pills and within weeks of stopping hormonal birth control I began to feel like a normal human being again. I was absolutely relieved that I was “okay”, but then I needed to deal with avoiding an unplanned pregnancy.

This led me to research and teach myself how to use the fertility awareness method and cycle charting. While I had good intentions, I was using an old antiquated method, the rhythm method, which uses calculations based off past periods. Well, I had irregular periods and missed periods up until 2003 after hormonal birth control, so the rhythm method didn’t work for me… and I had an unplanned pregnancy in 2003. Getting pregnant ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me because it led me down this path of self-healing, empowerment and liberation. While I was pregnant with twins, I decided to empower my menstrual cycle and reclaim my reproductive health by taking fertility awareness charting classes with a qualified instructor. I knew that after having twins that I did not want to have anymore children unless I made the conscious decision to conceive. What I learned in that class empowered me, I felt confident in using ecological breastfeeding and cycle charting to prevent pregnancy while I breastfed my babies. After my children weaned I continued with the fertility awareness method as a form of birth control until I decided to consciously conceive my 3rd child in 2010. I then used ecological breastfeeding again to prevent pregnancy while breastfeeding and was back to cycle charting for birth control after she weaned. I had taken control of my reproductive health and it felt amazing! Fast forward to 2020 and I’m now teaching other women how they can empower their menstrual cycles and reclaim their own reproductive health.

My story is similar to the millions of women out there in the world, who are struggling to understand their natural rhythms, their menstrual cycles and their hormones. We trust that medical professionals know better than we do, and most times they do, but they aren’t in your womb space and they don’t live in your underwear (if you wear them), so they don’t always know what is best for you. They are well meaning and want to relieve your symptoms and suffering, but covering up a problem with a band-aid is not the solution. Understanding why your body is responding the way it is a solution. Realizing that your daily life choices, your external and internal environment and how your mental state can all affect your menstrual cycle is the answer that you need. You can discover ALL of this through charting your cycle!

Learning to chart your cycle is THE most important thing you should consider BEFORE you take hormonal birth control, go in for that gynecological procedure or use assisted reproductive technology to conceive. Learning to chart your menstrual cycle allows you to be an active participant when it comes to your reproductive health decisions. You have the information that you need about your body and your cycle to make the decisions that are right for you!

Whoo, now that we’re through the heavy stuff, I invite you to take the first step in reclaiming your reproductive health with my FREE Introduction to Menstrual Cycle Charting Mini-Course. This free mini-course is designed to give you the details about how charting your menstrual cycle can benefit your health and well-being. You will also learn how you can use the method to reach your personal reproductive health goals.

Here’s exactly what we’ll be covering in the free mini-course:

• A brief history of menstrual cycle charting
• The different methods of cycle charting
• The scientific research behind cycle charting
• Benefits of charting for conception (achieving pregnancy)
• Benefits of charting for contraception (avoiding pregnancy)
• Benefits of charting to tracking overall health & well-being
• Physiology of the female reproductive cycle
• The female hormonal cycle
• How to chart your fertility signals
• A checklist to help you decide if menstrual cycle charting is right for you

This free mini-course includes videos and a PDF workbook to guide you through 3 lessons. Once you begin the course you have 72 hours to complete it. Why the rush? Because it’s important that you have the information you need to empower yourself. Many times with self-paced courses, students watch the first one or two videos then stop because they have access forever. They tell themselves that they’ll get back to it eventually, but never do. So, you’ve got 3 days to complete the course, hop to it!

Start the free mini-course now!

With love my yoni sisters,