mission and philosophy

Our Mission

So many menstruators still live genuinely believing something is wrong with them.
Moon Cycle Sanctuary exists to change that.

Moon Cycle Sanctuary’s mission is to provide heart-centered, mindful, and integrative menstrual cycle education, coaching and community that helps menstruators live healthier, more conscious, and more connected lives — in body, mind, heart, and spirit.

The Problem

For most of human history, the menstrual cycle has been silenced, stigmatized, and misunderstood, and today, many menstruators still lack a clear, lived understanding of how their cycle actually works — and how deeply it shapes everyday experiences: energy, sleep, appetite, emotions, libido, creativity, pain, pleasure, sense of self… and more.

We have been taught to override our signals, dismiss our instincts, and power through pain.


This disconnection doesn’t just keep us from ourselves — it keeps us from each other.

The Cost of Disconnection

When we don’t know what’s happening inside us, we can’t meet our needs — physical, emotional, relational, and beyond.

We lose clarity on when to rest, how to move, what to eat, when to speak, or where to say no.
And without that inner knowing, we struggle to express our needs, communicate our limits, or hold others accountable with compassion.

We mold ourselves to meet the world, instead of also asking the world to meet us.

The Relationship

We are not our hormones.
But without a grounded understanding of our body’s rhythms, it’s too easy to mistake normal hormonal shifts for something being fundamentally wrong with us.

Instead of using these cues as vital information, we misread them — and lose the chance to move deeper into alignment, health, and wholeness.

At Moon Cycle Sanctuary, we believe it’s possible to build a different relationship — one rooted in rhythm, choice, and connection, and balanced in both listening and action.

Reclaiming Rhythm, Reclaiming Self

We live in a culture that values the mind and surface-level pleasure above all else: the logical, linear, and instantly gratifying.

But the body — and life itself — is cyclical, fluid, ever-evolving, and moves on its own sense of time.
And true pleasure comes from the kind of presence that’s only possible when you know yourself and treat yourself well.

That’s a lot harder to do when a key piece of the puzzle — your cycle — is missing.

The Cycle as Teacher

The menstrual cycle is the container — and the highlighter — that makes room for both.

It gives us the space to release into the feminine — its depth, wisdom, and wildness — and then pulls us back when it’s time to return to structure and clear action.
And it does this on repeat, until we’re ready to listen.

Because it takes understanding, awareness, and practice to learn how to read its signals — and courage to actually do so.

Walking the... Spiral

This isn’t about choosing one state over the other — but learning to live in the flow between, and to trust the synchronicity and alignment that arise from staying present with the process.

To remember that real life and real connection happen in the moments when we let go of control, but remain centered within ourselves.

And then leap into the wild joy that arises from embodying this truth — and seeing what comes next.

The Portal

Because the real gift of the menstrual cycle is that it reminds us of the true sacred essence of life: the ups and the downs, the beginnings and endings, the highs and lows

With practice, it teaches us how to stay. With ourselves and with others, no matter what phase we are in.

And it shows us that we are powerful and wise and messy and wrong and human and loved — over and over again.

Until it finally sinks in: this is not just a menstrual journey, but fundamental to the human experience.

But not everyone is lucky enough to have a cycle to guide them.
Your cycle is not the problem. It’s the portal.
And Moon Cycle Sanctuary is here to walk it with you — every phase, every time.

The original “surrender and open,” circa 2012, that now serves as the inspiration for the MCC logo and general guiding philosophy

MCC encourages students to explore cycle and self through a variety of techniques including journaling, artwork and music.

Moon Cycle Sanctuary: Coursework Overview

  • Interdisciplinary Approach:

    • Coaching and courses integrate information from somatic + nervous system practices, neuroscience + mental health, education and leadership, fertility awareness, holistic health tracking, Buddhism, Taoism, sacred sexuality and dance, ecosystems approach and the natural world

  • Contextual Framework:

    • Taught within historical and cross-cultural perspectives

    • Highlights how societal narratives shape personal, physical, emotional, and spiritual experiences.

  • Course Design:

    • Balances new information, self-inquiry, and group engagement.

    • Prioritizes groundedness, connection, and presence.

  • Collaborative + Community-Based:

    • Features guest experts from diverse fields:

      • Ayurveda, herbalism, fertility, nutrition, yoga, research science, movement, dance, farming, wilderness, breathwork, sexuality education, astrology and more.

  • Inclusive Invitation:

    • Designed for anyone with a menstrual cycle — past, present, or future.

    • Welcomes all drawn to cyclical wisdom: rhythm, rest, action, yin-yang — applicable across life roles.

Professionals:
If your work aligns with MCC’s vision and you’d like to explore becoming part of the teaching community, please contact moon.cycle.sanctuary@gmail.com.

Menstruators:
Explore the current offerings list or contact me to work together 1:1 to find the right entry point for you. If there’s something you’re longing for and not seeing, let us know — we’re always evolving in response to the community.

about me

My Story

Hello and welcome ~
My name is Rae (she/her), and I am the founder of Moon Cycle Sanctuary.

I have been studying the menstrual cycle from a variety of perspectives for over ten years now, and living as a menstruator for over 15.

I first became aware I had a menstrual cycle in my sophomore year as an undergrad, 2012, when I stumbled upon a hormone tracking app one fateful fall evening. Learning that my body was on a monthly hormone cycle that affected every part of me differently at each point in time — not just that I had a period and then it was over (as I’d thought before) — was revolutionary to me.

I was hooked — and started steering every research project I could (I was studying neuroscience at the time) toward menstruation and hormones. I wanted to understand how this constant but unspoken rhythm was shaping my life, and the lives of other menstruators.

I started with the most zoomed-in focus — how menstrual hormones interact with brain structure and psychology — but quickly found myself exploring everything from birth control and hormonal development to pleasure, pain, cultural history, and the cycle’s connection to mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health.

I also began exploring my personal relationship with, and experience of, my cycle. Once I started tracking, it became clear to me it was showing up in — and dominating — so many areas of my life, and had been since its onset.

Gaining this new knowledge was exciting and inspiring, but, at the same time, I was also confused and angry.

Why had this information not been available, or even mentioned (!!!), to me before?

I began to wonder how I might have approached myself differently over the years since I started menstruating if I had known this cycle was present from the start.

And I began to wonder,

What is the impact of having a menstrual cycle, but not knowing about it? In a culture that repeatedly dismisses the female experience as unimportant, crazy, or unreliable….

I didn’t realize this at the time, but, we know the answer to that. We’ve seen it, and research has shown again and again: when we don’t see ourselves reflected and validated in the external world our:

  • Sense of self suffers, our self-worth diminishes, we internalize oppression and form our sense of self based on how we believe others see us

  • We underperform in school and work environments due to emotional strain and struggle to take in new information

  • We experience chronic stress, increased risk of mental and physical illnesses, and physical pain and inflammation

  • We struggle to belong, to relax, to connect…

And perhaps most importantly, we miss the opportunity to become our truest, boldest, most empowered, most connected, most able to give back, selves.

I was also longing for guidance:

Where were the experts, teachers, guides, wise women, on the menstrual cycle and the female body and experience?
— I couldn’t find any.
And I could feel, deep in my bones and body, that this was something that was needed — for myself and for other menstruators as well.

Because of this lack of guidance and reflection of my internal experience, I struggled for years and years with my cycle.

I experienced extreme emotional swings, mental health struggles, body dysmorphia, obsessive and addictive eating habits and weight gain, low self-worth and more.

Eventually these patterns turned into chronic pain that would flare up during my luteal phase and subside to just bearable in my other phases. There was nothing actually wrong with my hormones. Instead, my inner pain was expressing itself through my cycle.

But throughout this, I remained connected to my cycle. I tracked, I noticed, I adjusted, I listened.

And as time went by, healing began. I reconnected, I received, I honored my body and its needs, I used my voice, I reclaimed my power, I found my center.

It took time, and my journey and healing didn’t happen in a straight line, but the cycle has taught me that the best things never do.

And along the way, I learned from following the rhythms of my own body that this life is not about having all the answers or knowing exactly what to do next — It’s about engaging with the questions and the process in a way that feels authentic and sustainable and connected — and allowing our paths to unfold along the way.

I do not claim to have clear answers to all the questions and pains that come up around the cycle.

Sometimes my clients find the underlying answer to their struggles or questions in physical things, like mineral deficiencies or adjustments in physical routines and diet, sometimes in relational or emotional wounds or communication barriers, sometimes in the surfacing of old traumas and ancestral stories, sometimes in their lack of inner self worth and direction…

Every story is unique and requires us to follow the thread of your unique being.

But I can say — that the act of asking the questions, the process of building conscious awareness and understanding, and the connection we create when we share our experiences, are transformative.

Thank you for being here. I am so excited to bring this work into community with all of you.

-Rae

Beyond my ever-present obsession with the menstrual cycle and its intersection with just about every part of our lives, my education and professional experience land primarily in the fields of:

  • somatic and depth psychology, neuroscience, mental health

  • spirituality, sacred sexuality

  • outdoor and wilderness education and leadership,

  • and small-scale farming/agriculture.

I am passionate about education as a tool for empowerment, and believe that delivering educational content that is relevant, engaging, and meaningful is equally as important as delivering well-sourced and accurate information.

I also love music, singing, art, dancing, acro yoga, being a goof, and all things expressive and flowy in the world — and actively seek to incorporate all my areas of expertise and exploration into my work.

If you have any questions about my personal story or professional background, please don’t hesitate to reach out:
mooncyclesanctuary@gmail.com

core values

Moon Cycle Sanctuary seeks to embody and deliver these core values

  • Education and Empowerment

    When we understand how our bodies work, we feel safer and more confident in ourselves. Moon Cycle Sanctuary seeks to provide a foundational education and understanding of the menstrual cycle and how it interacts with our physical, mental, emotional, social, cultural, spiritual (I could go on) selves. The more we know, the more we build trust with ourselves and bring together all these parts to live our most authentic and fulfilled lives.

  • Openness and Curiosity

    How do we apply new knowledge to who we are now while remaining curious and open to the change yet to come? Learning the science of the menstrual cycle is important, but equally so is learning to embody the ebb and flow of the menstrual cycle, and life, with openness and curiosity. Moon Cycle Sanctuary seeks to provide tools and community to support participants in grounding in their knowledge of the now while simultaneously developing a practice of mindful curiosity for all the future cycles of life, one step at a time.

  • Connection, Play and Balance

    Neurologically, we learn best when we feel safe, connected and are having fun. We live best that way too! And yet, as the menstrual cycle teaches us, everything is a balance of ups and downs and ebbs and flows. Moon Cycle Sanctuary seeks to create spaces that encourage learning through play and connection, while also honoring (and not hiding from) the reality of the challenges and inherent pain present in life. Whether daily, menstrually, or throughout the stages of life, we are always cycling. We make these realities sustainable by finding our own balance and connection in it all.

  • Giving and Receiving

    Moon Cycle Sanctuary seeks to create spaces that encourage participants to be open to the many gifts of life that are always available to us through the practice of finding joy, gratitude, and opportunities to give and receive within community.