In the past, menstruation was a time of inconvenience and pain for me. But since I began to honor my menstrual cycles by giving myself permission to rest and relax, and by incorporating simple menstrual rituals into my monthly cycles, my experience of menstruation has made a 180-degree turn. Now menstruation is a time of reflection, self-love, connection and celebration for me. It’s becoming my guide to healing and balance, rejuvenation, and regeneration.

Below is a list of 10 simple ideas to help you create your own menstrual rituals. These simple rituals, intended to help honor and love your own body and natural rhythms, will not only help you relieve PMS symptoms, but also help you connect more deeply with who you are, and with your gifts and blessings as a woman.

1.     Track your menstrual cycle with a Period Calendar so you can plan a “lazy day” off in honor of your menstruation, a day without your daily responsibilities and to-do-lists, a day when you can simply relax and just be. If it’s challenging to plan a day off, block two hours of solitary time for yourself.

2.     Make a special tea blend that you drink during menstruation. My favorite is the red date and Goji berry tea, which is excellent for nourishing the blood and calming the spirit.

3.     Make a special meal of your favorite food, or ask someone you love to make one for you. Either way, prepare the food with care and love. Enjoy the food mindfully, and take in the flavors, nutrients, abundance and love from the Mother Earth.

4.     Burn some incense and say a prayer, a special blessing or prayer of gratitude that you create for your menstruation, or something you want to release or create in your life. Imagine that the smoke of the incense carries your prayer into the universe.

5.     Make a special aromatherapy essential oil blend that you use when you menstruate. Rub it all over your body everyday that you are bleeding, sending love and gratitude into every cell of your beautiful body that has done so much for you.

6.     Bring yourself to a deeply relaxed state and establish a connection with your womb, the source of your feminine power and infinite creativity. Ask any question you have at this moment in your life, and write down what your womb has to day to you. Write unedited and unstopped for ten minutes. See what it reveals to you.

7.     Write a period journal. Make a list of the things that were nourishing and made you happy, and a list of things that were depleting and draining to you in the past cycle. Express your feelings and thoughts unedited, freely.

8.     Review your Period Calendar, reflecting on the events in the past cycle – how they have affected your moods, energy and PMS symptoms – and set your intention to bring healing to something that needs to be healed, or plant seeds for something that you want to create and bring to reality.

9.     Honor the heightened awareness and creativity when you menstruate. Paint, draw, write, dance and celebrate... Create a space to tune in and connect with the radiant goddess within you.

10.  Go outside at night and notice what phase the moon is in while you are bleeding. Is it new or full, waning, waxing or hidden? Is it in a different phase than in the last time you bled? Spend sometime outside, connect with and honor the natural rhythms of life and your own menstrual cycle.

By now, you’ve probably had many ideas of your own. Experiment and have fun with it. Call for your inner guidance. It’ll tell you what feels right and appropriate for you. And please feel free to share your rituals. We can all learn from one another.

May we all know our own beauty, trust our own wisdom, and live in love and abundance.