Cycle Circle Workshop: Stratford

This is a one-time, two-hour workshop focused on the nature of cycles and our relationship to them.

This is a great fit if you:

-Are yearning for a way to reconnect with the cycles of nature.

-Are curious about the dynamics of living more in sync with the rhythm of nature, rather than a perceived demand to be 'on' all the time.

-Are someone with a menstrual cycle and want to be more aware of its dynamics.

-Love people who have menstrual cycles and want to understand the wisdom of this cyclical experience.

-Engage in creative expression (drawing, writing, music etc.) as a way of processing your emotions and experiences.

How I come to this work:

As I struggle with ‘adulting’, I’ve been reflecting on what it means to mature, what kind of knowledge we need in that process and how we come to know our own selves and, “that which leadeth unto loftiness or lowliness, glory or abasement…”[1]

Every 28 days or so, my body goes through a process much like the waxing and waning moon and seems to remind me that this body, one that society seems to mostly find troublesome or faulty, is connected to nature. As I clumsily tried to ‘balance’ early motherhood, finishing a graduate degree and working, I began wondering what this connection really meant. What if there is more to ‘that time of the month’ (cue eye roll) than dreading it and getting through it? If my body is in fact connected to the inherent wisdom of the natural world, what can I learn by listening to it?

“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the sun.” –‘Abdu’l-Baha

For some years, I’ve been learning from those who are de-stigmatizing the conversation around the menstrual cycle, highlighting possibilities for wellness through reclaiming the cycle and its power. None of this wisdom is new: the original caretakers of this land, my Indigenous mentors carry knowledge, stories and healing wisdom that has been silenced over centuries of colonization.

Like the four seasons we experience in the Northern Hemisphere, each phase of the cycle has both challenges and gifts for us.

As a European-Canadian woman, I continue to learn from and be humbled by the clarity of insight of my friends and mentors who are descendants of the original caretakers of this land.

Leanne Simpson, Mississauga Nishnaabeg writer, musician and academic describes the impact of these teachings on young women:

“Through these teachings, they will then come to understand the Earth as themselves…When our young women understand this, they will understand their own seasons, cycles and moods. They will understand that they are sacred and beautiful. They will understand that they must take care of themselves, and that they are the mothers to generations yet to be born.” [2]

Cutcha Risling Baldy describes the powerful resurgence, continuance and future-looking aspect of coming-of-age ceremonies amongst the Hoopa, Navajo, Yarok and other Indigenous tribes, highlighting both women’s role as life givers and powerful contributors to society and how transitions are integral to community life.[3]

Whether we are in a male or female body, cycling or not, we all have cycles in our lives, work and community. They tend to mirror the high and low tide of the ocean, the in and out of the breath. Every cycling person is unique as well, whether on birth control, through menopause, through birth and postpartum.

What to expect:

-Sharing about how the four seasons manifest in nature and in our human experience.

-Space for discussion and reflection on the notion of cycles.

-Time for creative work that reflects our own experience of our cycle (be it life cycle, creative process or menstrual cycle)

Where and When?

Sunday April 2nd

2-4pm

22 Lightbourne avenue, the Smith-Trick residence

Materials will be provided. Looking forward to being together soon!

[1] Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas

[2] Simpson, L. (2011). Dancing on our turtle’s back (pp. 31-48). Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.

[3] Risling, B. C. (2018). We are dancing for you : Native feminisms and the revitalization of women’s coming-of-age ceremonies. University of Washington Press