The menstrual cycle has been the subject of great myth and fear over the centuries, distinguishing women from witches; the cursed from the gifted. We have moved beyond the taboos, but we may have put too much control of our cycle into the hands of medical experts. Menstruation is not a medical ‘condition’, but a natural pattern in a woman’s life. In Eastern medical terms, it reflects the state of yin and yang in her body.
Authors of Wild Power (Hay House, £12.99), Alexandra Pope and Sjanie Wurlitzer, believe that within our menstrual cycle lies the architecture of our emotional, physical and spiritual health and that, each month, we have the chance to connect with how we are really feeling. In this theory, suppressed feelings can present as symptoms that would be categorised as premenstrual tension, for example.