The full moon is here, shall we celebrate together?

The full moon is one of four significant moon cycles that happen cyclically, over and over, just like the four seasons. It has strong ties to our planet, like the tides of the ocean, but it also has strong ties to our inner universe, like the tides of our energy.

The fullness of the moon at this time mirrors the fullness that lives within us.

What’s extraordinary about the moon is that it aligns with natural, well-known cycles that many of us experience, like the four seasons, women’s menstruation, and the four stages of life. It marks the peak of the lunar cycle and it also marks the inherent peaks that happen throughout our lifetime. Monthly, the full moon correlates to ovulation, fertility, creation, and self-expression, seasonally the full moon is like summertime (bright, light, magnetic, energetic), and over a lifetime the full moon represents the period when we have a period (aka we’re bleeding), when some of us might have and raise children, and mostly all of us are devoted to the creation, growth, and nurturance of our life. 

This is a powerful time, especially for women, as we are most primed to be in the light, to be in the public eye, to express ourselves completely, to be heard and seen, to create and support our dreams, to feel like we are enough and we can simply be. Just the like the summertime, we are ripe and we have the opportunity to step forward and shine so damn bright.

Now I have to share, this moon talk is very new to me.

I’ve always been intrigued, dabbled a bit here and there, but thanks to a moving and meaningful goddess awakening menstrual meditation course, I’ve come to more fully understand and appreciate how the moon can inspire and inform our actions, while supporting us as modern day women. 

….. and I have to thank my many ocean passages too, as moon gazing definitely allows for increased interest and introspection.

But prior to this very recent experience, I felt as though the moon cycles were a bit petty, a bit all over the place, too many rituals, too many interpretations, too many products to purchase,  and nothing that really resonated. However, I now feel very differently and I hope you will too as I continue to share my moon insights and discoveries with you. If you too think the moon cycles are petty, I invite to you suspend your disbelief, just this once, or maybe twice, and gift yourself the permission to believe.

Especially on a full moon, but also during the entire week, you’re invited to embody the fullness of your being, the fullness of the moon’s energy, and the fullness of this season.

What does this look like in real life? Great freaking question.

To begin, let’s release ourselves from the grip of perfectionism and allow forgiveness to become present. Forgiveness starts with us, it must begin from within, and it must include two important practices – mindfulness and compassion. Mindfulness is the practice of awareness, it’s the acknowledgement that we’re in the throes of self-blame, self-judgement, and even self-hatred. It’s the pause to stop the self-deprecating process. Once we embrace mindfulness, we can shift to compassion and kindness. We can choose to be gentle with our negativity, shortcomings, judgements, or disappointments. As this process evolves and we strengthen our connection to mindfulness and compassion,  we can also forgive others, especially those we’re in close relationship with, as well as situations that didn’t manifest as intended.

To do this step, I recommend using my full moon forgiveness worksheet, it’s a community favorite here!

The next step is to let go of doing and make room for being.

The doing phase (waxing moon) precedes the full moon and its characterized by springtime energy, new beginnings, and the follicular phase of menstruation. This is a time to be very goal oriented and tap into doing, doing, doing, but as the full moon rises high and arrives, we too can transition and arrive. We can trust that we did enough and we are enough, we can trust that the seeds we planted in prior phases and seasons are fruitful and abundant, and as such, we can turn towards self-care and present centeredness.

What exactly do I mean by that instruction, turn towards self-care and present centeredness?

During the menstrual moon course mentioned above, Aluna Moon shared the qualities of each moon phase, but they also shared the light and dark components that come with them. This was especially helpful for me to understand and make connections. Below is a snippet of what they shared regarding the darkness one can experience during your monthly full moon time and the full moon phase of your life (aka motherhood and raising children or the period where you’re in the thick of building your livelihood).

• We give too much
• We selflessly give our energy, body, time, and sleep
• Forget to nurture ourselves
• No longer take time for ourselves
• Reserves become too low
• We feel empty
• Easily exhausted, overworked, overwhelmed
• Feelings of guilt for wanting alone time
• Lose sight of who we are
• Become resentful
• Overprotective of children, family, career, or projects as we think that’s all we are
• Forget that we embody the other cycles too

Is any of this sounding familiar to you?

I’m not a mother yet, but I can deeply resonate with feeling like I’ve created, birthed, and now nurture a child who needs a lot of my energy, attention, and time (that child being this amazing community and business). I have fallen into the trap of doing, doing, doing, and not allowing myself to be present, to take care of me, to put myself first….to the point of everything mentioned above – exhaustion, fatigue, resentment, overwhelm, guilt, and even a loss of identity. But this is good news, because you’re not alone, I’m not alone, and we’re not alone in this mess. We can band together and use the full moon as a reminder to practice self-care and presence, even if it’s only for a few minutes.

Below are a few recommendations to start this practice:

• Spend time outside with the full moon
• Practice alternate nostril breathing which is great for yin/yang energy balancing
• Write a quick forgiveness list at the end of your day
• Do any small self-care act, like taking a bath or applying a face mask
• Gift yourself a gentle, restorative yoga practice
• Connect with other women during this time
• Make time for romance and intimacy, this is a heightened state of sexual energy

Finally, let’s talk about self-expression and how the full moon can support our endeavors (the entrepreneur in me loves this piece). Because the full moon has reached its peak and because it’s high in the sky and shining so bright, you can mimic this behavior too.

Here’s what I mean.

I’ve mentioned four cycles a few times, but haven’t given much of an explanation, so let me explain this in the context of a creative project.

Phase One • New Moon

Characterized by nothingness, complete freedom to begin from scratch, poised for introspection, inner wisdom, imagination, and intuitive hits, most potent time to answer questions, ideas and dreams naturally surface, time to set intentions. 

Phase Two • Waxing Moon

Build upon new beginnings and ideas from previous phase, time to brainstorm, able to easily plan and set goals, take initiative, innovate, full of warrior like energy.

Phase Three • Full Moon

Allow yourself to be seen, share your message, thrive in the public eye, be the host of an event or party, this is your most magnetic time (hormonally), communicate your ideas, be in the limelight.

Phase Four • Waning Moon

Culmination moment, time to complete projects and fulfill your commitments, pay attention to administrative like details, cross items off your list, get prepared for the next phase to allow for rest, relaxation, reflection, and introspection.

These four phases have a lotttttt more to them and each deserve their own blog post, yoga class, and worksheet (oh haiii, this is coming), but for now, let’s remain centered with relating them to a creative endeavor. If by phase three (the full moon) you’ve done all of the above, then you’re absolutely ready to be seen and heard. You’re ready to express yourself and your creative efforts.

But what does this actually look like? Give a girl some context!

Let’s use my work for example.

Every month I create new content for the BMS Studio community and that content is definitely marked by phases, just like the ones above.

The content begins in absolute nothingness and it’s through my inner wisdom, intuition, imagination, and outside inspiration that ideas begin to percolate and take shape. Once I grab hold of an idea, I then shift into brainstorm mode where I play and experiment with yoga class sequences, worksheet content, and how the curriculum can blend into an impactful experience.

Then, if I were aligning my energy with the full moon or my ovulation phase, it would behoove me to film my yoga classes, to create video or audio content, or to go live on social media and share my message. And if I was really on top of it, I could even plan my yoga retreats during this time to take advantage of my natural energetic fullness and be my most magnetic!

…..huh, that’s not a bad idea actually!

Finally, in the last phase, I could work on writing my weekly emails, scheduling content inside various software programs, editing videos and photos, working with contractors to finalize materials, and checking off final to-dos before all my hard work is published and sent into the universe!

Is this making sense yet?

That was a rather long example, but I wanted to truly paint the picture of how these four phases can unfold through the lens of project creation and management, which now brings me back to you and your full moon moment.

This is an aligning time to schedule presentations, give a sales pitch, teach a class or workshop, lead a retreat, be on camera, participate in an interview, host a party or event, or anything that involves being seen and heard. Try to remember this and if possible, begin to shape your important objectives around the fullness of this organic, natural moment.

Okay, wow! We covered a lot about the full moon here, let’s recap, and then get on the yoga mat together.

The full moon is……

• ovulation phase within the menstrual cycle
• yang or masculine like energy
• bright and light like summertime
• opportunity to release perfectionism
• invitation to embrace forgiveness
• reminder to prioritize self-care
• be present with being, stop doing
• time to be seen and heard
• your most magnetic, radiant moment
• a mirror for your innate fullness

I don’t recommend putting all of the above into motion because overwhelm is not the intention here. Instead, choose what you need most for this specific lunar cycle, knowing that this need can easily shift from full moon to full moon, so revisiting this post and the suggestions can be especially helpful as each full moon rises high and arrives. And with that said, let’s seal this conversation the best way I know how to, with a moon salutation yoga sequence and a full moon forgiveness worksheet.

• Click here to unroll your mat and salute the moon with me.
• Click here to download the full moon forgiveness worksheet.

I hope that your interest is now piqued and maybe, just maybe, you’re beginning to believe.

May the fullness without guide you to embody your fullness within.

Allie, xx

p.s. – Be back next week to explain the entire lunar system and how we can live seasonally and align our energy with the moon’s wisdom and our own instinct and intuition.