Burnt out? Maybe you’re just out of sync with your cycle
It’s a question that quietly lingers beneath the surface of our unstoppable, fast paced lives. Somewhere between early morning alarms and late night deadlines, women have been asked and expected to show up the same way every day, focused, driven, and consistent. Treating PMS just as an inconvenience and pushing through fatigue, we’ve adapted to work through discomfort and have lost the connection to our body’s rhythm.
The now normalised hormonal imbalances, mood swings, painful periods are often quiet messengers of a deeper disconnection. The new age hustle culture glorifies constant motion; consequently, we’ve adapted to override our signals and dismiss rest as laziness. But ignoring the body’s need for stillness only ripples outward, leaving us burnt out and unbalanced.
At Mokae, we believe that true beauty begins with vitality, and vitality is born from harmony. Harmony with the body, with nature, and with oneself. And nowhere is that harmony more mirrored than in the menstrual cycle.
Long before hustle culture took over, women knew the power of a pause. In many ancient and indigenous cultures, menstruation was held as sacred, a time to step back, reflect, and reconnect. Across global civilisations, from the red tents of the Middle East to the moon lodges of Native American tribes and the rites of Africa, this time was marked by rest, reflection, and deep listening. In India too, traditions like Raja Parba in Odisha and the Ambubachi Mela in Assam honoured this pause, creating space for women to withdraw even from daily chores and rejuvenate. More than just a reward, rest was a necessity. The stillness was about listening to our body’s calls and adhering to Mother Nature.
Just like the Earth cycles through bloom and decay, our bodies move through their own internal seasons every month...
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Follicular Phase (Day 1 – 13)
The initial days post your bleeding ends are slow and tender, there is a sense of spring returning, clarity sharpens, energy begins to lift, and ideas take root. It’s a wonderful window to plan, set intentions, and ease into light movement as your body slowly wakes up again.
- Ovulation (Day 14 – 16)
This is the high summer of the body, when energy peaks, confidence blooms, and there’s a natural pull to connect and express. It becomes the perfect time for conversations, collaboration, presentations, and any work that calls you to be visible and outward. - Luteal Phase (Day 17 – 28)
After ovulation, the season begins to turn. Like autumn, this phase draws you inward; progesterone increases, sensitivity deepens, and the pace softens. It’s a good time to finish what’s on your plate, organise, and give yourself grounding rituals that create calm before the next cycle. - Menstruation (Day 1 – 5, overlapping with the start of follicular)
The winter of the cycle, when the body sheds and asks for stillness. Energy drops and the invitation is to rest—curl inwards, journal, meditate, eat warm food, and let yourself reset before it all begins again.
Even the smallest acts like swapping intense workouts for gentle walks during your bleed, cancelling plans, saying no, lying down when your body calls for it are acts of power. They’re ways of saying I’m listening. They’re how we come home to ourselves. When we recognise that these cycles aren’t a burden to manage but a map to follow, life begins to flow. To sync in is to allow softness without shame, to build trust within yourself, and to let the body lead. That, to us, is power.
When we align our lifestyles, our rituals with our cycles, we’re no longer working against our body, but with it. And that changes everything. Because we were never meant to perform at full capacity every single day. We were meant to bloom and retreat, expand and soften.
Our power was never in constant motion but in knowing when to be still.
So this is your invitation. To soften. To slow down when needed. To reclaim what the world asked you to forget. Come home to your rhythm. Honour your moon days.
