Introductionso There s A Code it s Ancient It s Deeply Spiritual And More Than That It s Powerful fiercely Powerful so Powerful That It Has Barely Been Spoken For 3 000 Years menstruation yep Your Period Is Way More Than The Pms Carb Cravings And Fierce Rage That You May Experience Each Month Your Menstrual Cycle Period Bleed Insert Whatever You Choose To Call Your Time Of The Month Here Is Actually A Four-Part Code That Once Cracked Will Uncover A Series Of Monthly Superpowers You Can Use These To Enhance Your Relationships With Lovers And Others Build A Better Business Have Incredible Sex And Create A Bloody Amazing Life until Now Your Monthly Bleed Might Simply Have Indicated Whether You Were Pregnant Or Not You May Get Such Painful Cramps And Suffer So Much Discomfort That The Idea Of Finding Love For Your Cycle Makes You Want To Punch Me In The Face And Many Of Us Have Been Taught It s Shameful And Or Embarrassing To Bleed Tampon Adverts Tell Us Our Period Is Mother Nature s Curse Some Advertising Campaigns Turn Our Blood Into Blue Water To Sanitize The Process To Distance And Disconnect Us From Our Own Blood While Others Have Made Our Bleedtime Look Like It s The Perfect Opportunity For High-Energy Pursuits Like Rollerblading Sailing And Riding Rollercoasters While Wearing An All-White Ensemble it s No Wonder So Many Of Us Have Such Resentment Toward Our Menstrual Cycle Which Is Why I Totally Get That Beginning To Appreciate Or Even Dare I Say It Enjoy Our Menstrual Cycle Is A Really Big Ask but Hear Me Out there Was A Time When Women Totally Honored And Celebrated Their Monthly Cycles for Real it Was The Cycle That Moved A Woman Through The Archetypes From Girl To Mother To Wise Woman Through To Crone back In The Day When Girls Began To Bleed A Beautiful Menarche Ceremony Would Be Held To Initiate Her Into Womanhood she Was Celebrated her Bleed Cycle Became A Part Of The Natural Rhythm Of Her Life And She d Gather Together With The Women Of Her Family And Community To Bleed At The Dark Phase Of The Moon This Was Her Time To Go Inward To Reconnect With Herself Her Sisters And Mumma Earth This Quiet Time Dictated By Her Body s Rhythms Refueled Her Filled Her Up So She Could Pretty Much Rock Out In The Weeks Ahead in My Own Traveler Culture Men Knew That Women Were At Their Most Powerful During Their Bleedtime So Took Care Not To Offend A Woman Through Fear Of Being Rendered Mokadi Having Something Of His Soul Taken Away Basically These Men Knew We Were Badass And Capable Of Serious Magic-Making When We Bled So Kept Their Distance Ha Our Cycle The Bleed And Everything That Went With It Was Sacred but For Over 3 000 Years Now Our Stories Our Truths And Our Wisdom As Women Have Been Distorted Censored Burned And Unheard Because Those In Charge Of Creating The Systems And Structures Got Fearful Christianity Changed Up Its Teachings To Totally Disregard The Potent Power Of Our Menstrual Cycle Along With A Fair Few Other Things Along The Way Because Of This We Lost Our Daily Connection To Our Body To Mumma Earth The Moon The Seasons And Their Cycles now We Reside In A Society With Masculine Constructs That Has No Guidance Or Structure For The Feminine Menstrual Experience this Complete Disconnection From The Cyclic Experience From Our Power Source Has Caused Many Of Us To Hate Cut Add To And Mutilate Our Bodies As We Endlessly Strive For An Advertiser s Idea Of So-Called Perfection We Ignore Our Deepest Needs As Women Because We No Longer Trust That We Know Ourselves Better Than Anyone Else We Look Outside Ourselves For The Answers We Spend Time And Money On Self-Help Books Personal-Development Courses And Feel-Better Workshops Trying To Find A Way A Spiritual Practice That Helps Us To Makes Sense Of Ourselves As Women Yet We Find Nothing That Actually Fits When We Get Emotional Or Dare To Feel We Apologize For Our Tears Suppress Our Anger And Fear Being Called Hysterical And When That Happens We May Self-Medicate With Drugs Food Alcohol Shopping worst Of All We Have An Epidemic Of Down There Pain And Dis-Ease Pmt Polycystic Ovaries Pcos Endometriosis Fibroids And Overwhelm Stress Anxiety And Fertility Issues Are At An All-Time High We Manage Our Menstrual Cycle With Synthetic Hormones Denying Ourselves The Experience Of Living Fully In Our Power In Essence We Are Stripping Wonder Woman Of Her Lasso this Is A Code Red Situation And I Want You To Consider This Book Your Call To Action a Rallying Cry To Any Woman Who Has Ever – Found Her Cycle Annoying And An Inconvenience- Been Disgusted By Her Blood And Felt Dirty And Shame-Filled At Menstruation- Wanted To Hide Away And Pretend Menstruation Didn t Exist- Talked About Her Period In Hushed Tones- Been Crippled By Premenstrual Or Menstrual-Related Pain And Dis-Ease Hated It Because Her Bleed Meant That Another Month Had Passed And She Wasn t Pregnant When She Desperately Wanted To Be- Thought There Must Be A Freaking Reason As To Why We Bleed For Five Or More Days Each Month And Don t Die It s No Secret That Most Women Aren t Entirely Happy With Menstruating But That s Because Most Women Don t Know That Their Cycle Has A Much Bigger Purpose Than They Have Been Led To Believe as Women We Will Experience 350 500 Menstrual Cycles In Our Lifetimes Code Red Will Dare You To Get To Know Yourself Better Through The Wisdom Guidance And Insight That Each Cycle Provides each Cycle Takes Us On A Journey Through Both The Light And The Dark Parts Of Ourselves The Masculine And Feminine The Yin And Yang As We Move Through Each Of The Four Phases Pre-Ovulation Ovulation Premenstruation Menstruation We Get The Chance To Renew And Refresh Our Entire Being Physically Mentally Psychologically And Spiritually Every Freakin Month that s Pretty Cool Right Now I m Not A Medical Doctor But I Am A Woman Who Hated Her Period In Fact 15 Years Ago I Hated Everything About My Life i d Binge In Secret And Hide The Wrappers Down The Side Of The Sofa I Strived So Hard To Be And Do In A Job I Thought I Wanted But Instead Of Feeling Success And Happiness I Became Jaded And Stressed I Was In A Relationship That Was Going Nowhere Yet I Didn t Dare To Demand More And My Periods Were Heavy All-Consuming And Hurt Like A Motherlover Sex Was Painful And Orgasms Were Non-Existent life Was Pretty Sucky Total Understatement After Three Years Of Misdiagnosis I Was Told I Had Severe Endometriosis And Needed Surgery To Remove My Womb At This Point I d Never Heard Of Endometriosis I Also Had No Love For My Lady Parts And The Idea Of Having My Whole Down-There-Ness Removed Was Momentarily Tempting But Walking Out Of That Hospital Appointment With A Handful Of Literature As To The Next Steps I Felt A Pain In My Belly This Wasn t The Pain I d Previously Experienced But Fiery Anger Stirring In My Womb My Ovaries And My Vagina she Was Pissed And It Was At That Moment That I Knew A Hysterectomy Wasn t An Option In Fact So Driven By Deep Anger At Modern Medicine s Quick-Fix Whip It Out Response To Women s Health My Womb Ovaries And Vagina Took Me On A 10-Year Exploration Of My Own Lady Landscape it s Been Quite An Adventure And Through Writing Code Red And Reliving Some Of It Within These Pages I ve Found Something Far More Powerful And Potent Than Modern Medicine Menstrual Medicine A Deeply Cleansing And Healing Self-Love Practice That Works Predominantly With The Creative Spiritual And Psychological Energies Of The Four Phases Of The Menstrual Cycle It Has Become The Very Essence Of In-Your-Body-Ment A Movement Practice That I Teach And Share With Women Both In-Person And Online And Has Brought Me Into A Rather Incredible Relationship With My Lady Landscape My Menstrual Cycle My Body And Myself this Shouldn t Be Something We Have To Discover It s Our Birthright As A Woman The Menstrual Cycle If We Work With It And Not Against It Is An Incredibly Potent Experience And My Big Heart Wish For This Book Is That It s Your Call To Power i Now Live My Life Totally In Sync With My Cycle My Business Relationships Sex Life Health Money And Creativity Are All In Complete Alignment With My Rhythms And The Good News I Still Have My Womb Despite The Doctor s Best Efforts To Take It Out My Endometriosis Is Currently Manageable Yes It s Possible And Through Finding Fierce Love For My Cycle I ve Found Love For Myself As A Friend As A Lover As A Creatrix As A Woman i Want This For You Too i Want This For Everyone That Bleeds code Red Is My Invitation To You To Explore Navigate And Love Your Lady Landscape It s A Book It s A Self-Inquiry Practice And Most Importantly It s Your New Best Friend An Opportunity To Reconnect With Your True Nature As A Woman To Use Your Menstrual Cycle As An Ever-Unfolding Map To Crack Your Code And Create A Bloody Amazing Life big Big Love Lisa X