What are you
trying to understand?

Progesterone and estrogen have dropped to their cycle low, signalling the uterine lining to shed. Prostaglandins contract the uterus to move the flow — the same compounds behind cramping and looser digestion. Energy and iron are genuinely lower; this is physiology, not weakness.

Menstruation is governed by apana vata — the downward-moving wind. The work of this phase is to not obstruct it: warmth over cold, oil over dryness, stillness over striving. Ayurveda treats the bleed as a monthly clearing, and how it feels as a report on the month that preceded it.

Heavier limbs, a quieter mind, thinner boundaries, low appetite early and hungrier later. Wanting to be left alone is common and reasonable.

How heavy is this compared with my normal? More pain than my baseline, or the same? What did the two weeks before this bleed look like — and what would real rest look like today?

The pituitary releases FSH, and follicles in the ovary begin to mature. Estrogen climbs steadily, rebuilding the uterine lining and lifting mood, energy, verbal fluency, and skin. Insulin sensitivity is at its best of the month.

The follicular phase carries a kapha quality — building, moist, anabolic. Ojas (vital reserve) is being replenished. It’s the right time to build: new food, new movement, new projects, while keeping enough steadiness that the rise doesn’t tip into scattered vata.

Lighter, more social, more capable. Ideas come easily. The desire to start, tidy, and reach outward often returns almost suddenly.

What wants to begin this month? Where can I use this energy on purpose, rather than letting it leak into busywork? Am I building reserve, or already spending it?

A surge of luteinizing hormone (LH) triggers the mature follicle to release its egg. Estrogen peaks just before; testosterone gives a small lift to libido and drive. Cervical fluid becomes clear and stretchy. The fertile window spans the few days around this.

Ovulation is the cycle’s pitta-bright apex — transformation, heat, radiance. This is the fruit of the ojas built in the follicular phase. Ayurveda would say: shine, connect, create — and begin, gently, to turn back inward as the light starts to fall.

Confident, warm, verbal, drawn to others and wanting to be seen. Libido often rises. Some feel a mid-cycle twinge or light spotting as the egg releases.

What or who am I drawn toward right now? Am I letting myself be seen? And can I enjoy the peak without expecting to sustain it — knowing the luteal descent is natural, not a failure?

The emptied follicle becomes the corpus luteum, producing progesterone to hold the lining in place. Progesterone is calming but also raises body temperature, slows digestion, and — as it and estrogen fall in the late luteal phase — can bring the mood, sleep, and appetite shifts known as PMS. This is where PMDD lives, too.

Late luteal is when vata rises — dry, mobile, cold, the wind that scatters and worries. Much of what we call PMS reads, ayurvedically, as aggravated vata meeting depleted ojas. The medicine is the opposite of the symptom: warmth, oil, routine, rest, and less input.

More sensitive, more inward, less patient with what isn’t working. Cravings, tender breasts, disrupted sleep, a sharper inner critic. The truth-telling phase — often uncomfortably so.

What is this sensitivity pointing at that deserves a real look — and what is just the wind? Am I resourced enough to meet the descent? What would it mean to slow down before my body forces it?