Resonance – Episode 19
Verbatim Transcript
Speaker: Viktoria Levenberg
Just being normal and like, there’s nothing wrong with you for being exhausted and not wanting
to do the eight-hour grind. Just as the seasons, the days, the tides, and the moons move in a
cyclical fashion, so does the female hormonal cycle. Can we start to reframe how we treat our
cycles and our periods? Because it is amazing — life is a miracle. This is a really great time to
work from home if you can, and just get ish done.
Listen up, as today I’m going to talk about how I implement cyclical living into my day-to-day life
that helps me feel more energised, be more productive than ever, work with my body and nature
and everything around me.
It’s such a goodie. I live by this day to day, and when I first learned this, it literally changed my life.
I’m so excited to share this with you — let’s dive in.
Welcome to Resonance, a podcast for ambitious, heart-led humans craving more balance, depth,
and aliveness in their lives. I’m your host, Vik — health coach, yoga teacher, facilitator, and fellow
high achiever learning to live in tune with my nervous system, not against it.
This space is here to remind you that you can have it all — the career, the success, the fulfilment
— all aligned with your truth. Through honest conversations, expert insights, and practical tools,
we’ll explore how to work with your body, mind, emotions, and spirit — not against them.
And the best part? You don’t have to stay stuck in survival mode to get there, because true well-
being is not about being perfect; it’s about being in resonance. Let’s dive in.
So to set up, I find it so cool that this episode is going to air during my birthday week. So if you
didn’t know, my birthday is this week. Obviously, I just said it — um — I am a fellow Scorpio. I
actually have — I’m a triple Scorpio. I have Pluto in Scorpio, for those of you who know astrology.
Yep, it’s intense. Um, probably should do an episode on astrology as well.
Anyway, that’s a little random side note for me. Um, and here we are. So I originally was gonna
do, like, your typical cliché episode of, like, the things I learned and what learnings to share with
you — because it’s a big birthday. I’m celebrating a milestone birthday.
It’s a… this is my last episode in my twenties. Um, so there we go. I know — I’m an old soul, my
friends. I’m a very old soul. Um, so anyway, that’s kind of the setup for this week.
And as I was reflecting on it, I was like, you know what? There’s actually no episode that I would
rather do than this one, which is all about cyclical living, and how I implement it, you know, in my
work life, in my personal life.
And a bit of pre-frame, ‘cause you might be like, “What? Cyclical living?” You might not be a
woman. You’re like, “Oh, this doesn’t apply to me.” Well, actually, let’s debunk a lot of stuff
before we kind of get into the nitty gritty.
So first things first — like, we are nature, right? We can all agree with that. We are human beings;
we are a species, just like a dog is a species, just like a bird is a species. We are also a species of
nature. We come from nature — there’s no arguing with that.
And we are cyclical beings too. All things in nature are cyclical; we are nature, therefore we are
also cyclical.
And even though I will touch on the female cycle throughout this episode, just know that this
also applies to those without a female physiology. So whether you don’t identify as female, or
whether you are a male, whether you don’t have a cycle — maybe you’ve already hit peri- or
menopause — or, um, you’ve had some surgeries going on, etcetera — like, this applies to you
anyway.
Okay, let’s just kind of preface with this: what I’m sharing in today’s episode applies to everyone.
And as with everything that I share in this space — if it resonates, great; if not, let it go. There’s
no dogma here. I am not, you know, the one telling you that this is how it is. This is just my
personal experience, view of the world, and the teachings and the wisdom that I have received
that I’m now passing on to you.
So you are a sovereign human being. You have choice and agency on what you do with this
information.
And look — what I’m about to share with you, if you’re super, super new to this, it might feel like
quite a lot. So I just wanted to preface this with the fact that there is no need for you to absorb,
understand, let alone do it all, okay?
We will share some concepts and ideas — and quite a lot of them today — and if you’re like me,
you know, type A perfectionist, OCD-behaviour-like tendencies, sometimes you wanna dive in
straight and execute it all the way to 100%.
Um, like, I’ve got a really great example of this — where I bought this book, it’s this beautiful
book, um, I’ll link it up in the show notes actually because it’s so incredible. It’s on, um, like living
Ayurveda, and it’s got recipes and, like, Ayurvedic teachings and yoga and rituals. It is so, so cool.
I love it so much.
And I remember when I first read it, I was like, “Oh my God, I need to do it all! I’m not doing
enough! Not good enough!” Like, got all in my head. Um, and then I was like, “Oh wait, hang on
— let’s just take what resonates, what doesn’t, and, like, you don’t need to do it all. You don’t
need to do any of it.”
And also, like, whatever you do choose to do, you don’t need to do it right now, tomorrow, or in
the next year. Like, it’s just whenever.
So yeah, I kind of just wanted to preface that, because I will be throwing a lot of ideas and things
out there — so wanted to make sure we are on the same page. No need, just take it easy, slow
down.
Even just being aware of this information and listening to this episode will already start to shift
things for you — I guarantee you that.
So, let’s start with just a really quick overview around cyclical living and cycles, right?
Let’s start with something that most of us can agree on — um, hopefully all of us — but hey, you
never know — is that on our planet Earth, we have four seasons. We have spring — which is the
time that we’re in New Zealand right now — it’s lovely, everything’s, like, perking up and just
really active and coming out of the deep slumber of winter. It’s wonderful.
So we’ve got spring, of course summer — right — peak energy, peak heat, the longest days, kind
of most energy, most socialising, mingling going on. We’ve got the autumn season — right, when
leaves are starting to fall, everything’s starting to turn inward.
And then we’ve got winter, which is kind of that — the days are the longest, it’s the coldest, kind
of everything’s sleeping almost in a way.
So you can probably already start to sense that I’m planting some seeds (pun slightly intended)
on the cyclical nature and the energies that surround that cyclical nature.
So hopefully we all, or most of us, agree on seasons. So let’s move into the day and the sun. As
each and every day, as we wake up, we’ve got the sunrise — I mean, it’s pretty amazing.
I don’t know about you, but my entire life, every single day that I’ve woken up, the sun has risen.
It will continue to rise — it’s pretty great, constant, to be able to rely on in life.
Then we’ve got midday, which is when it’s at its brightest, right? Like the highest peak. My Kiwis
in the house know that that’s definitely when you want to stay out of the sun — get your
sunblock on, get into the umbrellas — because our sun here is ruthless.
It’s actually not the sun, it’s the ozone layer, but anyway. Um, if you wanna nerd out on that, you
can go on your own Google adventures.
Then we’ve got the sun setting, right — so it’s going down, and then we’ve got the night. Okay,
cool. So we’ve got the seasons, the day — let’s talk about tides, right?
Those of us who live by the ocean will be quite familiar with high tide, which is when the water is
kind of at its highest point, right? That’s generally, like, for those of us, say, in New Zealand, when
we’d be going out for a swim, um, or trying to get the boat out into the water — I don’t know, I
don’t own a boat, I’ve never tried to get a boat onto the water, but I assume that’s when you go,
haha.
Then you’ve got, um, the tide ebbing away from the shore, right? It’s kind of moving out. You’ve
got low tide, which is when it’s, like, so far away, and you’ve got all this, like, miles and miles of
sand.
It’s always a fun time to play at the beach, but probably not the greatest time to go for a swim —
although it might be a great time to just, like, potter around if you’ve got a little kid or a dog, and
you know that they’re not going to be, um, swept away by too much water.
Um, and then the tide makes its way back to the shore, right? Ebbing towards the shore. Starting
to see a pattern here, right?
And let’s talk about the moon. This might be when some of you start to be like, what? But hey,
we can all see it, right? There is a waxing moon phase, which is actually the phase that we are in
right now, at the recording of this episode, um, where the moon is getting brighter.
We’ve got the full moon phase, where it is at its brightest — it is kind of the whole round circle
that you can see up in the sky. You’ve then got the waning moon, which is when it’s at, um, it’s
getting darker, it’s kind of falling over to the, um — yeah, to the side, I guess that’s kind of what it
looks like. And then you’ve got the new or the dark moon, which is when you actually cannot see
it.
It’s still there — it is just fully hidden by, relative to its position to the sun and the earth.
And I’m prefacing all this because this is the magic of the female body — just as the seasons, the
days, the tides, and the moons move in a cyclical fashion, so does the female hormonal cycle.
And you may have heard the previous last week’s episode, if you listened to that with Tayla and I
— um, we spoke about that. I highly recommend if you haven’t yet — it was such a great
conversation and really dives into working with your cycle and physical health and skin health and
mental health and all the things.
Like, Tayla was a big catalyst for me learning and diving into this work, um, and this is what
inspired today’s episode. It’s like, actually, like, we need to elaborate, because there’s so much
more to share here.
So, as you would have heard if you listened to last week’s episode — if not, I’ll do a super quick
kind of, um, reiteration — the female cycle really mirrors the cycles of nature.
So, our cycle starts when we menstruate, and that is day one of our cycle. It corresponds to the
winter, the dark moon, the low tide, the nighttime energies of all these other things that we
spoke about.
We then come into our follicular phase — so that would be kind of like our springtime, our
sunrise, our tide ebbing towards the shore, waxing moon kind of energy.
And then we reach ovulation. So ovulation is when we are at our most fertile — it is actually
around this time, it’s the only time in your cycle where you can actually get pregnant. You are
really energetic. I mean, just like, your skin is glowing, you are literally more attractive because of
the pheromones that you emit.
And that time of your cycle is related to the summertime — kind of midday, high tide, full moon
energy.
And then we come back around into the luteal phase, which is your autumn, your kind of sunset,
tide ebbing away from the shore, waning moon energy.
And so hopefully you can start to see these little connection points. And so what I’m gonna do
now is share with you how I apply this knowledge and wisdom in my life — both at work and in
my personal life — to really finally start to work with my body, not against it, okay?
So let’s start with spring. Even though it’s not the start of our cycle, it’s like — we’re in spring
right now, it just feels really relevant. We’re gonna start with spring follicular energy.
And by the way, I kind of also want to preface again — like, which is why this episode applies to
everyone. Like even if you are not a cycling female, you can follow the moon. Like, the moon’s
gravity pull influences the tides, and we are ninety… well, not ninety — I guess it’s up to seventy
percent as we age — um, water.
So if the moon is strong enough to influence the tides of the ocean, which is water, don’t we
think that it kind of, like, influences things within us as well?
And that’s not to say that, like, your cycle would be the same on the same day as the moon —
like, that happens sometimes, but — and we could dive deeper into, like, the meanings of that if
you’re interested — but, um, no, it just happens when it happens.
And if you are a cycling female and your cycle’s pretty predictable and regular, I suggest you go
with that as your guidance.
If you’re not a cycling female — so men in the house, people who don’t have a female
reproductive system, people who are in menopause or perimenopause — follow the moon. Just
go on timeanddate.com — I will link it up for you, it is right there, it is super predictable.
And in fact, that’s how I started. Because when I, um, began working with this information, my
cycle was still healing from, like, twelve years of being on hormonal birth control — um, the pill
— and so it took me some time for my cycle to become regular and predictable.
So in that time, I actually, uh, used the moon a little bit more to guide my energy and where I put
my focus.
So let’s dive in with spring — your follicular energy. It is rising, right? Think of, like, the seeds
sprouting, the flowers blooming.
So, at work, that time in your cycle — or in the month of the moon cycle — is a really great time
to brainstorm new ideas, build timelines on a project, maybe start a new project that you’ve
been, like, you know, thinking about but didn’t feel quite confident or ready to start yet.
It is a really great time to initiate and plan. So, um, yeah, personally, I really follow that. I find that
it is so wild how much more future-oriented and, like, planned and, like, crystal clear I am on
what needs to get done — um, like creating a task board or a project outline or whatever —
when I am in that time of the cycle. It’s so cool.
And then, from a life perspective — which is gonna be quite holistic — I’m just gonna throw
some little bits and pieces out there to keep this episode in harmony with kind of your work and
life dynamics.
So in life, it’s a really great time to refresh and renew, right? Like, think planting a new seed, think
trying something new — whether you’ve wanted to try a new movement routine, or a new dish,
or, um, you know, you’ve been wanting to go and try this new restaurant. It’s, yeah, it’s a great
time for newness.
Also, just on a physical health perspective for females, this time of your cycle, like just after your
period, this follicular time, is a great time to do a breast cancer check. So, um, I’ll probably find a
resource as well on that and link that up in the show notes for you.
And if you are someone who is new — uh, or not so new — into fasting, whether you do
intermittent fasting or kind of bigger detox-like practices, um, this is the time to do it. This is
when your hormone levels are at their most, um, prime for you to put the body under a little bit
more stress — um, which is what fasting effectively is.
And, um, I will share Dr. Mindy Pelz’s book Fast Like a Girl in the show notes. I read that book in
two days — I’ve never read a book that quickly. I loved it, I soaked it all up like a sponge, and I’ve
now since been following her kind of female fasting protocol, and I feel incredible. I really highly
recommend it.
So that’s something perhaps new to play with at that time of your month.
Um, and then we move into the summer — ovulation energy. So think of this as — the energy is
at its peak. So, from a work perspective, it’s a really great time to connect, be visible, you know?
If you have the agency and, um, ability to own your schedule and plan things out in advance —
like, if they’re not pre-planned for you by your workplace — it is a great time to proactively book
speaking engagements if you’re an entrepreneur.
It’s a really great time to batch content — like, you will most likely at this time in your cycle be at
your most fertile, of course, but also most productive. Like, fertile from a creative perspective,
where it feels like you get, like, three days of work done in one. It is wild — use it to your
advantage.
It is a great time to schedule important meetings, pitches, whatever it is that requires more of
you — this is the time of your month where you will be the most prime to do that.
And in your life, um, you’ll be more sociable and communicative. So, especially my introverts in
the house — hello, I am an introvert through and through — this time of your cycle is a great
time to plan to hang out with your friends. It is a great time to have a hot date with your partner.
You will feel a little bit more, uh, frisky as well — because again, the hormones are pumping. So
it’s like, hey — enjoy that energy!
From a physical health perspective, your strength or cardio training will feel effortless, so it’s a
really great time to take advantage of that increase in energy.
There was a period of time where I could really tell when I was ovulating, because I was
practising my handstands at that time. And that was just like, wow — my body just wants to
challenge and move itself. It’s really cool.
Another little hack that I tend to use is — this time in your cycle is a great time to batch-prep
meals ahead of time for your luteal phase. So, you know, maybe that week you feel really
energised, and you cook something new every day.
I tend to cook quite a lot, so then I’ll have lots of leftovers that I can put in the freezer, that I can
then use at later, more autumn-like phases of my cycle — which is the energy that we’re going to
talk about next.
So, autumn — your luteal phase. The energy is starting to wane, it’s starting to decline a little bit.
And your luteal phase is also the longest phase in your cycle, because it’s when we are focused,
we can get things done, we tick the boxes, we finish the things.
So at work, that time of your month is a really great time to dot the i’s, cross the t’s, wrap things
up, start to complete — get things done. It’s a really good time to do focused, individual work.
Things like putting yourself on “do not disturb,” working from home, or closing the office door —
if those are things that are available to you.
It’s also a time where you’re probably less likely to be keen on meetings. So even if you don’t
have agency over the schedule — right, like let’s be real — if we’re employed in a corporate
environment, chances are that a lot of the meetings are mandated or dictated by others.
You might be like, “Oh my God, I really don’t wanna be here.” That’s quite normal, actually. Just
know that it’s normal. There’s nothing wrong with you — it’s just your hormones. You’re not at
that stage of wanting to interact with people, and you may be more direct and irritable, so know
that as well.
And in your personal life — like, on that note — yes, you are going to feel more irritable, probably
more tired and hungry. You might feel like you need more energy, more sleep, more fuel — and
that’s so normal.
Because the thing is, when you’re in your luteal phase, what’s happening after ovulation — after
the egg is being released into your reproductive system — is that you’re literally building uterine
lining. You are creating a safe haven, a warm nook in your womb for a potential baby.
Because that’s what your body is thinking. It’s like, okay cool — I released the egg, and the egg is
gonna get fertilised, so now we need to put all our energy into creating, like, getting ready to
house the baby, so to speak. Even if you are not pregnant — even if the egg didn’t get fertilised
— that is why you’re using up so much of your energy.
And you also might not want to be around people, especially later on in the luteal phase. Because
at that time, your body is — think of it like nesting. You are hypersensitive to people who, like,
your nervous system — this isn’t just you — like, your hormones and your nervous system are
hypersensitive to people who would be safe people to have around to raise your baby with.
Like, even if you never have children, or don’t want to have children — that’s what’s going on in
your body physiologically. So there might be certain people that you just don’t want to be
around.
This is a really great time to work from home if you can, and just get ish done. Give yourself grace
and allow rest in this phase of your cycle.
A really good thing to do that I’ve been implementing lately is to make note of what irritates you,
but just don’t act on it yet. Because you never want to act from that space. You want to make
note of what’s bringing it up, and then in your next phase — your winter, menstrual energy phase
— that’s actually when a lot of the wisdom will come through.
So in this winter, menstrual energy, new moon phase — your energy is at its lowest.
At work, this is when we’re at our most intuitive. If you’ve got some big decisions to make, or if
you need to do some reflecting or research, that is a really good time to do that. But other than
that — honestly — you’re gonna be at your lowest energy in this time of your month.
It surprises me every single cycle, because it’s just so wild. You go through these four cycles —
and you’re like in spring, and then you’re in ovulation and you’re like, “Oh my God, I feel so
amazing!” And then it’s like, “Oh, I’m starting to feel a little bit more chill, and everyone’s kind of
annoying me.” And then boom — you get hit by a ton of bricks.
At least that’s my personal experience.
And it literally surprises me so much every time. Like, I know this now — and I hope that, if this is
new to you, this will also give you a little bit of permission or sensation of just being normal.
There’s nothing wrong with you for being exhausted and not wanting to do the eight-hour grind
that, unfortunately, our male-dominated productivity system is based on — the male 24-hour
testosterone cycle that refreshes every single day.
Your body, if you are a cycling female, is not built for that. You will likely need extra rest, and you
will likely not feel as quote-unquote “productive” at work. That is completely normal. Please
don’t beat yourself up about that.
Because the thing is, at the end of the day — and in the month — you still get the same amount
of work done, right? It’s just that when you were in your ovulation phase — which is the phase
that most of us celebrate — you got like twenty times as much done as you normally would. And
then these things just need to balance out — which is what this phase is.
And your body — because if you’re menstruating, you’re not pregnant — that uterine lining that
we were speaking about just before, that you were building in your luteal phase, is now being
shed. It’s gotta come out so that you can refresh and renew, and the body does its thing all over
again.
Your body is literally using most of its energy to shed that uterine lining. It takes a lot out of you.
And I really hope that workplaces soon will start to understand and accommodate that half of the
workforce is dealing with this every single month — let alone things like perimenopause and
menopause, which I can’t speak to directly, but I’ve definitely had many friends and
acquaintances share about that.
So yeah — you can tell I’m quite passionate about it. Just for you — giving you agency over your
choices — take it easy, and know that it’s totally normal and it’s okay.
And in life — as I mentioned earlier — you will be quite intuitive. So if you’ve got some
challenging questions or decisions to make, or perhaps those things that we spoke about earlier
that irritated you in your luteal phase, now is a really good time to sit and be with those
questions, and let the answers intuitively come to you.
Some of my teachers talk about, rather than “I’m gonna go think on it,” it’s “I’m gonna go bleed
on it.” And I think that is such an incredible and powerful way to own that female nature.
It’s also a really great time to reflect on what you’re ready to leave behind — what you’re ready
to let go of, whether it’s limiting beliefs, habits that don’t serve you, people in your life, or
whatever else. And think about what you want to call in for this new cycle that’s coming up, and
set intentions ahead.
And I cannot emphasise this enough — rest. Rest, rest, rest. Take that nap, go to bed early, sleep
in if you can, take a bath — whatever.
You are at your lowest energy. Please don’t expect yourself to operate at the same level of
efficiency or productivity when you’re menstruating as you do when you’re ovulating. It is just
not possible. It is not sustainable.
So, I thought I’d give you just a super brief overview of what that looks like for me, applied in real
life.
To put it really simply, I know that I have more capacity and bandwidth in my schedule when I’m
in my spring and summer energy — and so I’ll make use of that and try to batch things. Like right
now, recording this podcast.
Like, I saw some friends last night. I’ll schedule interviews — which I did this morning. I’ve got
another catch-up, so I’m really making use of that high-energy time.
I might do stronger workouts or batch-prep meals, and have events or outings scheduled at that
time.
Then, when I go into my autumn — my luteal phase — I start to tune inward. I tend to put more
detail-oriented tasks on my to-do list. So things like logging my expenses — I was originally
thinking about doing it this week, and I was like, no, let’s do it when I’m most prime for it. And so
that’s gonna be next week.
I also know that I’m going to be more irritable, so I’m doing my best to stay mindful of this and
protect my energy. And maybe, if I need to, amplify the practices that help me process whatever
is coming up and stirring things up in the moment.
Then, in my winter — kind of menstrual energy — first of all, day one of my cycle, I always
celebrate. I’m like, oh my gosh, thank you. Thank you again that I get to go through this cycle. It’s
telling me my body is healthy. It’s working exactly as it’s supposed to.
Can we start to reframe how we treat our cycles and our periods? Because it is amazing. Life is a
miracle. If you are a cycling female, your body was literally designed to be a portal for new life to
pass through you. It is so cool.
And so I’m just stoked with myself. My partner jokes sometimes that I’m like a little teenage girl
— I’m like, yeah, this is awesome!
And then I know that, like, day two and three of my cycle, I’m just flat-out rest, rest, rest — if I
can. And I do this in my business: I block out my calendar on the days that I am predicted to be in
this phase, so that I don’t have any interviews or meetings booked, or at least as few as I can.
Because again, the level of agency that we have over our schedule will depend on where you’re
at in your life and business.
And yeah — just celebrating the start of a new cycle, I always find that quite cool.
So with that in mind, hopefully this has given you quite a bit to think about. And again, I’m just
going to go back to what I said at the start: you don’t need to do it all. You don’t need to
understand it all. You don’t need to wrap your head around it all.
This is just planting some seeds. And even if you just start to bring awareness — like, oh, okay,
this exists, this makes sense.
I learned a lot of this from my financial coach and mentor, Kate Northrup, who also wrote a book
called Do Less, which I will link up in the show notes. I love it so much.
She also facilitates a program that I’ve spoken about on this podcast before — it’s called Heal the
Way You Work. And she really weaves that cyclical nature in, and takes what you’ve heard in this
episode and, like, 10×’s it — and gives you really great practical tools and handouts and advice to
implement it into your life.
Like, I use that, and a lot of what I’ve shared is either learned from her or kind of adapted
through my life applications and lived experiences, as I’ve now been living and breathing this
work for over a year.
So, to tie things up in a pretty little bow, I would encourage you — as your next action step, if you
are a cycling female — just start by paying attention to your cycle, if you’re not already doing
that.
Just start to notice how you feel at each different stage. Maybe you feel inspired to experiment
with one of the ideas that I shared today, or maybe you just let that percolate for a little bit —
and just, yeah, really let the information simmer. Both are perfect.
And if you are not cycling, or you do not have a female physiology, just notice whether you can
see these same patterns for you during the yearly seasons — or, if you’re open to it, the phases
of the moon that we’ve spoken about.
Because, yeah — you can totally use the moon to help you do the exact same thing in your
month. As I mentioned earlier, that’s literally what I did when I first heard of this work.
So I’m hoping that you found something new, something different — found value in the episode
that I’ve shared today. And I kid you not: ever since I’ve started to actually honour, respect, and
acknowledge my body and where it is in its cycle, I have been feeling so much more energised, so
much more connected and in tune with myself — because I’m finally working with my body, not
against it.
So give it a try. Have some fun. I would love to hear from you.
Until next time — have a beautiful week ahead. Bye for now.
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You’ll also be the first one to hear about new offerings, events, upcoming episodes of Resonance,
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The links are right below this in the show notes — you can sign up through my website,
lvnhealth.co, or by heading to any of my socials @lvnhealth — links are in my bio. It is free, it is
gentle, and always created with care.
The views and opinions expressed by guests on Resonance are their own and do not necessarily
reflect the views of me, Viktoria Levenberg, LVNHealth, or anyone working within the LVNHealth
brand.
This space welcomes a diversity of ideas, experiences, and stories — and part of Resonance is
learning to take what aligns and gently leave the rest.
Also, while I am a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach and deeply passionate
about well-being, this podcast is intended for educational and inspirational purposes only.
Resonance does not substitute personalised medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. Always
seek guidance from qualified professionals for any physical, emotional, or mental health
concerns.
