Rain & Menstruation: Two Ovaries in a Pod

Kimberley Dancing in the Rain outside Impact Hub Oakland
As I think about sending you all some love via this newsletter, I’m walking in the rain to the co-working space where Natural Flow is based and I’m suddenly struck by a profound sense of awe and gratitude for the fact that I am bleeding right now as I am enjoying this life-giving rain.
In a flash, I realize something I had never quite put together before:
My love of rain is connected to my love of menstruation!
The raw yet elegant power of the flow of life… on me, in me—through me! Each a beautiful force to experience on its own, yet somehow my joy and felt sense of being alive was amplified by the two flows coexisting for me in that moment. The mysterious yet familiar sense of power generating from my womb that I’m starting to cultivate as I move through the world while menstruating harmonized with my joy and gratitude for the rain and my natural expression through dance to create a new yet ancient way of being. I have danced in the rain many times as a child and an adult, yet—really for the first time—I knew why I was dancing.
Understanding how vital water & rain is to my being and thriving ecosystems, then expressing my longing to feel part of and intimately connected to this flow of life force through the world, I practice gratitude for the water around me and use the oldest method I know for being present without being in my head & intellectual mind—dance. Even so, when I dance in the rain, up until now my joy, gratitude, and knowing has largely been centered in my head as the connecting point of my body to the rain and the rest of life. This is similar to how my sense of self is largely framed around the space of my head, and not my whole body, most of the time. Off and on, I remember the power of practicing feeling and being in my whole body no matter what I’m doing or may be going on in my life. In fact, one of the reasons I appreciate my menstrual cramps is how they serve as a very visceral and practical reminder of this new way of being I am practicing. So when I dance in the rain and feel my bleeding uterus with the same breath—beyond thought—my sense of joy, gratitude, and connection to the universal life force deepens and expands in my body to include, if not largely source from, my womb space. I dance because I know in my body that my being is directly connected to and channeling the power of all life.
I’m still landing in this profound personal realization, and I wanted to share where I’m at with all of you now to support your exploration and connection.
Even though the rain is cold and wet and menstruation is bloody and uncomfortable, we can be in it, and present to that discomfort—feeling the flow of life in and through and around us. Neither menstruation nor rain are the conditions we picture on a typical day walking down the street, yet both are natural flows of life and in fact necessary for life. We can tap into that core power of our birthright and use is as a guide for fully & authentically living.
What comes up for you as you read this?
How are you connecting menstruation with rain, snow, and winter in your own life?
Please let me know:
kimberley @ naturalflow.us