In her book “Frauenblut” (“Women’s Blood”), Manuela talks about learning to love one’s own menstrual cycle. But how can you do that? By getting to know your own cycle, finding out what your body needs and how you can actively help it. In her cycle guide, Manuela talks about the biological and energetic processes as well as historical and cultural background, tips and tricks for self-care, the most important remedies for natural treatment, and taboos and facts about menstrual products. In our interview, she now explains to us the best healing and home remedies for cycle discomfort for a healthy and natural cycle.

Can you please introduce yourself briefly?

My name is Manuela and I work with people as a Hara Shiatsu practitioner, psychologist and herbal expert. My main focus is on women’s discomfort, childbearing and psychosomatic issues, and I also host workshops on primordial feminine power, herbal medicine and bodywork.

How did you come up with the idea for the book?

I found it frightening that we menstruators are always suggested only painkillers and hormones as a therapy for menstrual cramps, – as if there is nothing else. But there are many effective alternative healing and home remedies for menstrual cramps! My heart’s desire was and is to reach as many menstruating people as possible to show them what they can do themselves for their cycle health. They should trust in their own body again and find self-empowerment for a healthy menstruation. This is how the idea for “Women’s Blood” was born.

What was your journey like from the idea to the finished book?

Phew, what a question! 😉 It was a long, work-intensive, but also very educational and fulfilling process totaling about four years. I have read just about every book on menstruation and women’s health since the 1970s that I could get my hands on. I have questioned my clients and friends even more intensively than usual about their experiences and attitudes towards lunar bleeding, and I have surrendered even more consciously to my own cycle phases in order to really savor them and to gain deeper access to my primal femininity.

In addition, it was also a gathering of the most successful herbal recipes from my practice and trying out more techniques. It was like a small initiation into “womanhood”, – also like a pregnancy. At times I felt that if I didn’t bring this book into the world, I would burst or my body would get sick. It simply had to be that this heart project could be realized. And so I quickly found the right publisher for “Frauenblut” in Herbig.

What was your most beautiful moment during the project “Frauenblut”?

As I said, the work itself was very fulfilling. But the best thing is always to be able to directly experience the success with your own clients. That is, when menstrual cramps decrease or disappear, menstruation finally flows again after a year, and the client finally becomes pregnant naturally after a long time of waiting and hoping.

In relation to “Frauenblut” in particular, there were actually three moments:

1. when I had finished the rough manuscript,
2. when the first offers from publishers came in and
3. as soon as I finally held “my baby” in my hands.

What made you take a closer look at your cyclical rhythm?

Again and again I suffered from cycle discomforts myself – cramps, PMS, strong ups and downs in my mood. For a long time I probably also wanted to prove to myself and the world that I was “a better man”. As a result, I unconsciously ignored or suppressed many aspects of my femininity and cyclicality. As I turned to bodywork and naturopathy, I realized more and more that the supposedly linear world we live in is actually an illusion, because everything in nature is cyclical. We are subject to a day-night, seasonal rhythm, lunar cycle, etc., and precisely also the menstrual cycle. I wanted to live my true nature, and so I just couldn’t get around my very own body rhythm. 😉

How do healing and home remedies for cycle discomfort work? 

The greatest advantages of the healing and home remedies for cycle discomfort presented in the book are probably the following:

1. They can heal the cause of the discomfort and are not just pure symptom fighters like painkillers or artificial hormone doses. Thus, they help us to regain a healthy and natural cycle. 
2. They have no (negative) side effects, because they regulate very gently, but no less effectively. The word “negative” is in brackets because there can be many positive side effects.

Not only does cycle discomfort disappear, but we feel ourselves more clearly, get to know our own body better and learn to listen to its signals. We become more in tune with the natural waves of our cycle, life often becomes more harmonious and our environment often magically changes its behavior. But this is a very natural and logical process, because the more we live in harmony with our true nature, the more positively our environment reacts to us. 

What natural remedies and home remedies for cycle discomfort can you recommend? Why?

This is probably the hardest question to answer because there are so many! I love the support from the plant kingdom, for example, mugwort, yarrow, lady’s mantle, goose cinquefoil and shepherd’s purse are very dear helpers and allies to me. However, for the herbs to work well, they need to be well matched to the particular ailment and the particular person. In “Frauenblut” you will find several recipes that have proven themselves in practice, but also on my blog I always present recipes, healing and home remedies for cycle discomforts and medicinal herbs. In case of cramps before or during the period, daily ginger compresses often help wonders. You should start one week before your period. How to use them exactly, you can find here.

Do you have any tips on how we can come into harmony with our own cycle?

First and foremost, we should reconcile ourselves with our menstruation and accept our cycle. A good way to become aware of our own cycle waves in the first place is self-observation. A cycle diary is a good companion here. Simply observe and note if and how we feel in the different phases, what we like to do, etc. Further methods as well as a description of the energetics of the cycle phases I present in “Frauenblut”.

What other practices, apart from healing and home remedies for cycle discomfort, help? 

Besides healing and home remedies for cycle discomfort, there are many great methods from the field of bodywork (Hara Shiatsu, yoga, breathing exercises, Qi Gong, etc.). Nutrition, exercise and lifestyle obviously play a role, but meditations, body journeys and imagination work are also very helpful. In addition, we should honestly ask ourselves if we allow ourselves enough time for rest, sleep and dreaming.

Our creativity, our creative potential as well as a fulfilled sexuality naturally also want to be practiced and our menstrual magic can be rekindled through large as well as small rituals and ceremonies. In the first place, however, is usually something very simple, which is not infrequently very difficult to implement. Namely, a positive attitude towards one’s own menstruation as well as one’s own body or reconciliation with both. I present many more methods and healing and home remedies for cycle discomfort in “Frauenblut”, so that you can pick out exactly the techniques that suit you best. 

Is there anything else you would like to tell or say?

As a little goodie, you’ll find an additional chapter on the spirit of menstruation through the centuries exclusively on my blog or on the Facebook page of “Frauenblut”. I look forward to your “Like”, wish you a healthy menstruation and much joy in discovering your very own rhythm!