Think about your closest friend for a moment.
Some days she’s full of ideas, buzzing, wanting to be out in the world. Other days she’s quieter, more inward, needs an early night and her own company. Some weeks she’s sharp and discerning, calling things out that she’d normally let slide. Others she just needs stillness.
You wouldn’t tell her she was broken. You wouldn’t expect her to show up exactly the same every single day of the month.
So why are you expecting that of yourself?
Here’s the truth nobody told you: your body was never designed to be consistent.
If you have a menstrual cycle, or you’re moving into perimenopause and feeling those shifts in a new way, your energy, your mood, your creativity, your need for connection and rest, all of it moves through a rhythm every single month. A rhythm that is completely predictable once you know how to read it.
The problem isn’t you. The problem is that you’ve been navigating without a map.
You’re not two people. You’re four seasons.
The framework of inner seasons comes from the work of Red School, pioneers in menstruality education, and it’s one I come back to again and again in my own life and in my work with clients.
A quick but important note before we go further: what I’m describing here is archetypal. It’s a map based on the patterns many people experience, but your cycle is your own. You might feel these phases in a completely different order, at different intensities, or not at all in the way I describe. That’s not wrong. That’s your body doing exactly what it needs to do.
Here’s the shape of it:
Inner Spring arrives after your bleed. Rising energy, fresh ideas, a sense of new possibility. Things feel lighter. You want to begin things.
Inner Summer lands around ovulation. Outward, confident, clear. This is often the version of yourself the world has decided is the “correct” one. Always on. Always available. Always giving.
Inner Autumn is the pre-menstrual phase, and this is where so many women have been getting it wrong. Your intuition sharpens here. Your tolerance for what isn’t working drops. You see things clearly. This isn’t hormones making you difficult. This is your body asking you to pay attention.
Inner Winter is your bleed. A time of deep stillness and self-knowing. Your body is asking you to slow down, turn inward, rest. And most women spend this week fighting it with everything they’ve got.
Where does breath come in?
Your breath is one of the most direct lines you have to your nervous system. And here’s the thing, it shifts across your cycle too.
In your inner spring and summer, when your energy is naturally rising, the breath wants to match that. More energising practices. Ones that feel alive and expansive. Ones that lean into the momentum your body is already building.
As you move into autumn, things change. This is where slower, more expansive breath comes in — practices that gently bring you back down into yourself. Not fighting the shift. Supporting it. Meeting your body as it starts to turn inward.
And in winter? Your breath wants to be really gentle. Soft and restorative. Not pushing, not forcing. Just meeting you exactly where you are.
The breathwork practice that feels grounding and supportive in your winter phase will feel completely different from what you need in your summer. And that’s not a problem. That’s the whole point.
When you understand your cycle and you know how to use your breath within it, you stop guessing. You stop pushing through when your body is asking you to soften. You stop reaching for another coffee when what you actually need is five minutes and the right practice.
Small. Consistent. Timed right. That’s where the real shifts live.
What actually happens when women start this work
One of the women on my Breathe With Your Cycle programme came in only seeing two versions of herself. Bleeding and not bleeding. No real connection to what was happening in between. No language for any of it.
Then something clicked.
She started to understand every phase. She started to see herself completely differently. And as she put it: “Things begin to make sense in a way they never have before.”
Another woman shared something that stayed with me: “It’s already changed how I speak about myself and how I communicate my needs, especially with my husband. Even he has felt the shift. And the impact on how I show up for my daughter, she’s only 5, but I’m already passing this knowledge on in small, meaningful ways.”
This is what happens when you stop fighting something you never understood and start actually working with it.
A small place to start
You don’t need to overhaul your life. You just need to start noticing.
This week, before you push through the afternoon slump or reach for something to get you to the end of the day, pause. Put one hand on your belly. Three slow breaths, in through the nose, long and easy out through the mouth.
Then ask yourself: what do I actually need right now?
That question, and the willingness to sit with the answer, is the beginning of everything.
Your body has been talking to you your whole life. You just haven’t been given the language to hear it. Yet.
Want to go deeper?
If you’re reading this thinking yes, this is me, I’ve been fighting my own rhythm for years, I’d love to invite you to come and explore this properly.
Breathe With Your Cycle is my 8-week online group programme. Each week we meet live, breathe together, and slowly build your understanding of your own inner seasons, what they feel like in your body, what they’re asking of you, and how to use your breath to support each one.
At the time of writing, the next round starts 6th May 2026 and there are just 5 spaces left. Payment plans are available, and I always hold a small number of subsidised spots, because everyone deserves access to this work.
Find out more and book your place here: BREATHE WITH YOUR CYCLE
This is your body. This is your rhythm. And you deserve to finally understand it.
Much warmth,
Harriette
