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  • Jun 28

Lessons from Traditional Chinese Medicine About the Menstrual Cycle

  • Evgeniia Iakovleva

Not everything that is non-linear is chaotic. In a man-designed Western frameworks, linear progress is treated as the ideal model of growth, and is based on men's inner perception of linearity, conditioned by their daily testosterone flow. Needless to say, now it is clear that the idea does not fit the realities of women's cyclicity, who form 50% of the population, life, nature, or sustainability.

The oblivion to cyclcity showed up in full spectrum when Western man-dominated medicine got involved with women’s health and the menstrual cycle, and words like “syndrome,” “condition,” and “distress,” among the least offensive, entered and stayed in our language for generations, pathologizing women’s natural cyclicity. Western man-dominated approaches to women’s health have treated menstrual cyclicity as a problem to fix rather than a natural rhythm to understand.

Traditional Chinese Medicine offers a different perspective. Drawing on the concepts of Yin and Yang of ancient China, it views the menstrual cycle as a natural process that is meant to be understood, respected, and integrated into daily life. Thanks to millennia of understanding of Yin and Yang concepts that describe the change in the direction of life energy, the menstrual cycle was referred to not as a problem to fix, straighten up, and make more convenient, but as a natural, never-ending process to respect and incorporate in everyday living, of women and men. No judgment or shame attached to women’s cyclicity.

Phase 1: Menstruation - Change from Yang to Yin

Warmth is essential to ensure the removal of the uterus lining. Slow movement to prevent blood stagnation and warm meals to avoid internal cold. Increase temperature with cinnamon, chilli, and ginger, and avoid raw cold foods and drinks. Move slowly and rest. Use hot water and a hot massage to assist with cramps.

Phase 2: Follicular Phase - Building Yin

Build blood and Yin energy with more protein intake, pre-soaked beans to ease digestion, white meat and fish, leafy greens to remineralize the body after bleeding. Growing energy needs vigorous exercise to flow and creativity.

Phase 3: Ovulation -Change from Yin to Yang

Mix cooked food with raw food. Let energy flow into the world through words and creative activities.

Phase 4: Luteal Phase - Building Yang

Body temperature rises, and with it, social withdrawal. Less cold and more warm foods. Time for quiet reflection. Journaling and time in nature will feel good.

Reaching harmony

Harmony in women’s cyclicity is not reached by searching for quick dopamine highs in each phase of the cycle, nor by dividing them into good and bad. Harmony comes from knowing the good of the follicular phase and welcoming it, and also knowing the good in the premenstrual phase and welcoming it. It is reached by constantly giving space and time to each phase of the cycle to take over and bloom in the way it is supposed to, with grace and patience, and helping your Yin and Yang.

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Written by Evgeniia I. on follicular phase.