The tail end of a long summer, and a looming wet winter

This was my garden back in July before everything got frazzled by days and days of high temperatures and months of no rain. We’re still having very warm days and a peculiarly long fade-out of summer, with temperatures regularly in the low 20s, and the leaves persisting on all the deciduous trees. I’ve still got tomatoes ripening, and just ate the last cucumber. It’s lovely to have such a mild autumn but also unnerving because it’s not normal, and the predictions for weather this winter are all over the place. It looks set to be very stormy, so stocking up on candles, food and bottled water is a sensible thing to do. Not that I’ve done enough in that direction myself yet.

When I lived in California it was pretty automatic to have a go bag in case of earthquakes, and emergency supplies to hand in the home, and to understand that natural disasters are a part of life to be prepared for. But here in the UK we are used to such relatively benign conditions that the dramatic effects of climate change are quite something to get one’s head around. I guess this is a parable for life. As the I Ching says, shock can be a good thing if you let it wake up your consciousness and rise above the understandable human attachment to the expected and the known. I’m not of course saying that climate change is a good thing, rather that if it, or anything else, rocks your personal boat, then how you approach the very fact of shocking change in your own life can make a huge difference to how it affects you. 

Being present in shocking moments
 
I heard an interesting program on disaster psychology the other day. Studying the minutiae of behaviour immediately following a shocking event, the main finding was that people try to reestablish the norm before they eventually gather their wits and do something that will actually help them and others. So the first thing people do is run around helplessly trying to find something that looks like they expected it to look. If we can bypass this reaction by even a minute or two, and move more quickly into acceptance and then relevant action, we do better. One way to do this is to learn to control one’s breathing and to slow it down when panic arises, not to let the panic build and cause a mindless adrenalin surge. This is counterintuitive to the conventional kind of psychology that says feel all the feelings, because feelings are not always 100% reliable, or are doing what we think they are doing. (As anyone who has ever fallen madly in love with someone who turns out to be an unsuitable partner for them can attest.) When a shocking thing happens, the people who cope with the crisis most effectively are those who have learned to control their feelings and think clearly, and accept the reality of what is happening as quickly as possible.

Shock, surprise and spiritual practice
 
I attended a wonderful Tibetan Buddhist retreat in Devon a few weeks ago, with my longtime teacher, Lama Tsultrim Allione, who was here on a very rare visit from the US. (If you want to know more, she has written some wonderful books including Women of Wisdom and Feeding Your Demons.) I first studied with Lama Tsultrim in 1988 at one of her first Dakini retreats. Over the years I have had the strongest of my spiritual experiences with a teacher with her. Again, sometimes of a shocking variety that has taken time to process but has born great fruit. Looking back I can see the spiritual strength these female-oriented Vajrayana teachings have given me, along with specific hints about the female body and spirituality within their encoded and hidden wisdom. After the first transmission and subsequent practice, I learned to overcome fear and I changed the way my body processed difficulty. I found the strength to take my nascent thoughts about menstruation and began turning them into something, which became Her Blood Is Gold. After the next batch, a succession of teachings between 2008 and 2011 and doing a ngondro, which is a long period of intense practice, I learned to turn anger into powerful action in the world. I moved to Australia and began full-time research on menstruation, which became Reorganizing Menstruation and the Contemporary Menstrual Studies program. After this last one, well, I don’t know yet!

I don’t talk about the details of any of this much, because some things, especially hidden and sacred things, get reduced by being discussed. However, 40 years in, I have more of an idea of how a practice and a system and a teacher can be a significant influence on one’s effectiveness, even when one is a somewhat sporadic practitioner like me whose vocation has needed to straddle the mainstream world as well as the contemplative one. I’ve had some prolonged phases of doing two hours of practice a day but it’s hard to do that and make a living and be a voice in the socialised and secular world as well. So immersive retreats are super important as a time away from it all. At the same time, we also benefit from finding daily ways to incorporate not only practices that support mental calm but also generate the enormously beneficial effects of clearing the subtle channels and encouraging bliss at the cellular level. 

As a mini break and a healing opportunity for the psyche and body every month, menstruation is a natural time to deepen. Post menopause, this facility doesn’t go away. It only gets stronger if we can encourage it. I’m in the process of turning the course I taught in 2024 on Menstruation & Spirituality into a video series that anyone can access at any time, so stay tuned for news of that. It will also include some newer material. Meanwhile, here is some information on the CMS courses in 2027 and two upcoming live events.

CMS courses in 2027

We just opened the registration pages for Contemporary Menstrual Studies Years One and Two, which is always an exciting moment in the year. This year we’ve had applications for Year One from some outstanding prospective students who are already working in the field, and wonderful Year Two students are coming back in for another year of study. Go here to find out more and to apply for Year One. Anyone who has graduated from Year One is eligible for Year Two with no need to apply first.

Since the course began in 2022, it’s fascinating (and confirming proof of social progress around menstruation) that, year on year, students demonstrate increased levels of certainty and clarity about their vision of and commitment to their future work, whether it be in menstrual education, or menstrual research, or menstrual advocacy, or menstrual coaching, or some other means of applying menstrual knowledge to their work. Having a career centred in or significantly augmented by menstrual expertise is increasingly seen as a legitimate and entirely possible career path, which is just so wonderful to see. 

If you are interested in taking either year, we recommend early registration as there are just fifteen places in each cohort. If you can’t take the full course for whatever reason, I will be doing some open Q & A webinars next year (details and dates to come), as well as making the Menstruation & Spirituality content available as previously mentioned. 

Live events in October

1. October 19, 19:00 hrs GMT, Ludlow, Shropshire.
This month I’m going to be a panel member for the after show discussion of a new film on menopause. For these events in various parts of the country, the makers of My Cinema Clinic: Menopause are combining an hour-long documentary with an hour-long panel discussion and Q & A. Do look out to see if there will be one in your area. I haven’t seen the film yet so I can’t vouch for it but the discussion angle is intriguing which is why I agreed to be involved. Go to https://www.mycinemaclinic.com for more information. I will be appearing at the Ludlow event, and you can book a ticket here.

2. October 29, 13:00 hrs EST (USA). Online. I’m giving a lecture on Time, Capitalism, and the Menstrual Cycle: What the temporal biology of the female body teaches us about health, wealth, and the value of taking time. This event is organised by the Association of Fertility Awareness Professionals and is open to all. Tickets available here.

Okay, that’s it for now. Hope to see you at an event or in class soon.

Love to all,

Lara