Story of how I ended up here… (part 2)
Becoming a Fertility Awareness Educator
I can’t remember when I first started having conversations about radical, self-empowered, earth-honoring menstruation, but I’ve been informally learning and sharing this information for a long time.
In 2008, my life changed when I found the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) in an online search for alternative birth control options without side effects.
When I learned Fertility Awareness and started charting my cycle, I had a huge awakening in understanding my body.
My personal moon cycle expanded from my period showing up unexpectedly a few days a month, to the beautiful ongoing ebb and flow in the wholeness of the menstrual / ovulation cycle.
Like many FAM discovery stories I’ve heard, I went through a range of emotions:
starting with amazement…
then shock and anger that I had never learned this basic information about my body…
which led to passionately telling anyone who would listen random facts about: cervical fluids, ovulation, that you can only get pregnant on these specific days of your cycle, and the surprising conditions for sperm surviving for days inside a cervix vs. instant death.
I taught myself from the book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, and supported a few friends in learning.
Friends encouraged me to do a more formal class, but sharing this on a bigger scale felt intimidating.
I didn’t feel ready to bear the weight of responsibility of teaching someone who could potentially go on to get accidentally pregnant.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling of how important it felt to be spreading the word about FAM:
an empowering form of birth control without side effects
a way to consciously time pregnancy
a path of opening to a lifestyle of deeper embodiment, healing, and connecting with ourselves through the magic of our menstrual/fertility cycle
In 2017, I completed a 2 year Holistic Sexual – Reproductive Health and Fertility Awareness Educator training program.
I was amazed how much more there was to learn about FAM that I hadn’t picked up on my own. I was grateful for mentorship and a supportive learning community of others who have been called to do this work.
I’m excited to be part of a movement, each of us playing a role in contributing to the greater cultural awakening of expanding body literacy.
In the decade+ since I gained holistic ovulation/menstrual cycle awareness, I’ve been fascinated by the endlessly deepening spiral of learning.
I’m always understanding more about how to hold the full spectrum of cycling, contraception, and conception, from a place of informed choice, self-love, and embodied personal power.
I want to share in community ritual space to heal shame, repression, and cultural violence towards menstruation, sexuality, reproductive rights, and bodies overall.
Let’s honor the menstrual/fertility cycle as a powerful path through a symbolic death and rebirth, waxing and waning in ever changing seasons, as a microcosm of all natural cycles.
Let’s expand the definition of fertility, as not only relevant when wanting to prevent or achieve pregnancy, but also acknowledging the ways each of us can experience the flow of universal creation generative energy that can be channeled towards anything we want to bring forth.
What do you think or feel when you hear the word “fertility”?
Did you know there’s only certain days each cycle where there’s a chance of getting pregnant?
What are your associations with the menstrual / ovulation cycle?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
Download this FREE E-BOOK to find out if Fertility Awareness is the path for you!
Includes:
Overview of Fertility Awareness.
Story of how the Fertility Awareness movement began.
Benefits of cycle tracking for SELF-CARE, BIRTH CONTROL, and GETTING PREGNANT.
Resource list on how to learn.