Hi, I'm Amanda Brown.
I'm a certified menstrual cycle coach, and I'm here to help us remember what's always been ours: the ancient wisdom of our bodies. You can't know what no one ever taught you. Once you know it, it feels like coming home, like you finally belong to yourself.
My cycle hit me harder than most, and I didn't know why.
I always felt like I was missing something everyone else knew. Things seemed so much harder for me, while other people just seemed to breeze through. I have ADHD, which I wasn't diagnosed with until my 30s, and that means the hormonal shifts in my cycle hit me harder than they hit a lot of people. When estrogen drops off in the second half of my cycle, the shift is so big that I started looking into whether it could be a mood disorder, because I knew something wasn't right.
When I learned about the hormonal shifts of the cycle, I finally understood how they were impacting me, and I could resource myself for the sticky moments instead of getting blindsided by them.
Cycle awareness anchored me into myself and into my body's wisdom. It gave me a way to advocate for myself with my providers and say, "No, listen. Look at what I've been able to track and quantify." That data is what helped me get diagnosed with PMDD, along with my other diagnoses. It took me a while to get there, but when I did, it changed my life.
It all started with a podcast.
For years, the week or so before my period was the hardest part of my month. That's the luteal phase, and it's sometimes called the truth-telling phase. It was the time when I couldn't compensate anymore, and everything I'd been holding together the rest of the month came to the surface. For a long time, I thought that meant something was wrong with me. I'd been tracking ovulation since I was 18, but no one had ever explained how much the cycle impacts every part of your life.
Then I heard Claire Baker on the Goal Digger podcast talking about the four seasons of the cycle, and my mind was blown. It was the first time I'd ever heard of a period coach, and I knew right away that's what I wanted to do. I trained with Claire at the Cycle Coach School, and I've also studied trauma and how our experiences impact the body.
Now I know what's coming. Usually about five days before my period starts, I have a pretty hard mental health day. Because I see it coming, I give myself extra love and grace, and I use my tools.
Pain is usually a signal that something is wrong.
I've had painful periods my whole life. Doctors told me it was anxiety, and in the healing community it was almost like pain was just a sign you were working through an emotion. Some natural care helped for a while, and then things got much worse. Nobody was listening to me, so I had to push.
This year I was diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis, and I'm still in it, figuring out treatment. I'm keeping my treatment decisions private, because I don't want anybody making decisions based on the decisions I make. What I will say is that your pain is real, and it deserves to be taken seriously.
Your rhythm, not the textbook one.
I don't believe in generic cycle syncing advice. Every woman is different, and my own cycle doesn't follow the typical advice at all. So I give you frameworks and guidance, and then I help you figure out what's true for your body. Like I learned from Claire, who learned from Red School, you're the expert on your body.
I'm a coach, not a doctor. I'll help you see your patterns and notice when something needs a closer look, and I'll tell you when it's time to bring it to your doctor.
Where I learned this.
- Certified menstrual cycle coach, trained with Claire Baker at the Cycle Coach School
- Certified peristeam facilitator through the Peristeam Hydrotherapy Institute
- Ongoing study in trauma and how experiences impact the body
Whatever you are doing as a woman in this world, understanding your cycle will help you do that better.
Come say hi on Instagram.
I share cycle tips, workshop dates, and everyday cycle awareness over on Instagram.