Mission, Approach, Core values

Moon Cycle Sanctuary’s Approach to the Menstrual Cycle

Integrative:

All MCC curriculum integrates science, psychological, somatic, spiritual, historical and multi-cultural frameworks to support whole person transformation.

Scientific and Physiological:

  • Menstrual cycle awareness and hormone physiology

  • Neuroscience of stress, emotional regulation, the cycle, and health

  • Psych neuroendocrinology

  • Gut-brain axis and nutritional science

Somatic and Body-Based Practice:

  • Somatic psychology and healing

  • Nervous system and polyvagal theory

  • Dance, sacred sexuality, pleasure activism

  • Embodied anatomy, fascia informed body awareness

  • Breathwork and womb work

  • Nourishment based healing

Psychological and Developmental:

  • Depth and archetypal psychology

  • Parts work and shadow work (IFS)

  • Attachment theory and relational healing

  • Trauma informed and compassion based

Spiritual, Ecological and Collective

  • Rites of passage and earth based cyclical wisdom

  • Feminine embodiment and mythic descent frameworks

  • Ecological consciousness and human-nature reciprocity

  • Buddhist mindfulness and consciousness

  • Group witnessing and community practice

Multi-Cultural and Historical Perspectives

  • Honors ancient and cross cultural wisdom while staying grounded in realities of modern life

  • Recognition and integration of global menstrual traditions across cultures

  • Awareness of how colonization, patriarchy and industrialization impact the cyclical body and wisdom

  • Reconnection to earth-based, community centered models

  • Recognition that menstrual cycle reclamation is part of a global movement toward healing and reconnection

Holistic:

Moon Cycle Sanctuary honors the interconnectedness of body, mind, heart, spirit, relationship, culture and collective and approaches menstrual cycle healing as a pathway of reading our many parts and using them to return to inner balance, alignment, and authentic living

Body:

  • Food and movement as nourishment and medicine

  • Attune to your body’s signals as sources of wisdom

  • Physiological effects of the cycle on energy, digestion, strength and more

  • Sexuality and pleasure based healing

Mind:

  • Develop mindful awareness of your cyclical patterns for greater consciousness and understanding of self

  • Tracking and observation tools

  • Frameworks to understand the self and cycle and how to use these to guide health and purpose based living

Heart:

  • Emotional literacy and attunement

  • Ground in the baseline assumption that all beings enough, worthy, whole, inherently loved

  • Healing from shame, healing for wholeness

  • Exploring relationship and love across the cycle

Spirit:

  • Using the cycle as a pathway to spiritual awakening and soul-based, authentic living

  • Radical aliveness and vitality

  • Aligning personal rhythms with natural cycles (personal, lunar, seasonal, ecological)

  • Inviting ritual, meaning, ceremony and reverence into everyday life

  • Honoring life and death, ancestors and collective healing

Collaborative:

core values

Moon Cycle Sanctuary seeks to embody and deliver these core values

  • Close-up view of a crescent moon in the darkness of space with illuminated lunar surface showing craters.

    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.

  • A close-up view of the moon showing its craters and surface details against a black background.

    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.

  • A close-up photograph of the moon's crescent phase showing detailed craters and surface features, set against a black space background.

    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.

  • A clear night sky filled with numerous stars.

    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.