I BLEED

In this episode I interview Gemma Ireland, director and co-founder fo BodyFlow. We talk about the benefits of bodyflow reflexology and how it can help you have a better cycle.

Gemma Ireland has an incredibly extensive knowledge of the holistic body and has been working in alternative health for over 20 years full time. She believes that if we treat our bodies properly, we will be healthy, happy, confident and live long. Everything in moderation, a healthy balanced diet, exercise carefully, hydrate, breathe fresh air and visualisation will help you prepare for your days ahead. She has helped many clients over the years alter the way they lead their lives with superb life long results.

Gemma trained and qualified as a reflexologist at the Self Centre in Harley Street in 1999 and specialises in helping couples balance their systems to promote fertility and natural conception. This combined with her extensive knowledge of prenatal health gained from her five years as a birth doula enables Gemma to accompany her clients on their journey through pregnancy to the birth of their child with holistic advice on nutrition, pain relief, exercise, breast-feeding and positive thinking. She is also an acupressure therapist.

Gemma believes that many couples are encouraged to go down a 'medical route' (IVF) far too quickly without considering a holistic approach. She was told, at an early age, that she would find it terribly hard to conceive, if at all, which shattered her dreams of being a mother. She now has a wonderful son and reflexology helped her conceive like so many of her clients. This personal experience has motivated Gemma to specialise in fertility balancing and boosting amongst other reflexology ailments achieving remarkable results. She works with both the man and woman creating a healthy healed body.

Over the years Gemma has worked with many clients suffering from cancer, helping them relax as well as restoring energy levels after chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions. Gemma's positive energy and treatments benefit her clients' well-being by making them feel lighter, more energetic and happier.

She also works with a lot of sports injury problems, football teams, tennis players and running complaints...reflexology is so powerful, it opens the structural body, creating space and natural healing.  Reflexology works from within and continues to work after the treatment is given, providing outstanding results.

Gemma has been told on many occasions that she has 'Healing Hands' and that her clients feel a new 'Lease of Life' has been opened after receiving treatments. She is very passionate about her work and loves to help her clients in any way possible. Each client is treated individually and personally.

She specialises in fertility balancing, pregnancy, and postpartum care with amazing results. She treats men and women with any health concerns and has a very loyal and high profile client base, some of whom have given testimonials: Dame Kristin Scott Thomas, Felicity Kendal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jamie and Jools Oliver, Phil Spencer, Alice Temperley, Nicola Elliot, founder of NEOM, Millie Mackintosh, Madeleine Shaw, Madeleine Thomson, founder of MT Cashmere, Rhiannon Lambert, Founder of Rhitrition, James and Christiane Duigan, Founders of Bodyism and many more...

In this episode I interview, Ayurvedic practitioner Rachel Spillane.   We talk about her personal journey into Ayurveda and how it benefited her in regards to her cycle, and how Ayurvedic medicine looks and deals with the menstrual irregularities and how it understand the cycle and how some practises can improve and enhance a women's menstrual cycle on a monthly basis.

Rachel Spillane is an Ayurvedic Practitioner, Yoga Teacher and Board Member of the Colorado Ayurvedic Medical Association. Her practice, Saraswati Ayurveda, empowers women with knowledge, tools and support to heal naturally and feel happy, healthy and balanced.  She offers Ayurvedic consultations and wellness coaching, Panchakarma, Yoga and the Heal Your Gut online course. She loves veggie tacos, gardening and spending time in nature with her husband and two dogs.

IN this episode I talk to Cassandra Wilder, also known as the Menstruation Queen. 

Cassandra Wilder is a Naturopathic Doctor and the leading expert in women's cyclical health and menstruation. 

Cassandra has spent the last 10 years of her life helping  women get to the root of their hormone and cycle-related imbalances to find wellness and a true sense of empowerment in their healing.

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In this episode I interview Jasmine Alicia Carter about her journey into blood art.  We talk about her personal experience, the benefit of blood art, the technical side of it, the taboo around it, and the revolutionary aspect of it. 

In this episode I talk to Mandi Tembo about period poverty, education, culture, and her experience in free bleeding and what it entailed.

Mandi Tembo is a PhD research fellow with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine doing a PhD in menstrual health and hygiene among young women in Zimbabwe. She has worked in implementation research for the past 5 years and holds an MSc in Global Health and Development from University College London and a B.A in Public Health (Biology) and Women Gender Studies. Most of her research work has been in sexual and reproductive health, community-based interventions, and women’s health.

Mandi is also the creator and content creator for The Bleed Read - a dynamic and comprehensive website that covers all things related to menstruation.

In this episode I speak to Dr Purva Gupta,  about things that we can do to improve our skin according to where we are in our cycle.

Dr. Purva is a DHA certified medical practitioner, certified by Sharjah University in Aesthetic medicine, with over 12 years of international experience in Aesthetic, Functional-Integrative, Geriatric and General medicine and healthcare management in USA, UAE and India. She is a member of American Geriatric Society and is practicing at Cocoona Center for Aesthetic Transformation, Dubai.

Dr Purva has tremendous experience practicing skin care and cosmetic medicine combining her knowledge of medicine, dermatology and aesthetics to give the best possible results to her patients.

Apart from this, she is a passionate mother, wife, daughter and friend. She holds other talents like freestyle singing and dancing including Indian classical dance, swimming, racing, and blogging/writing about social causes to be able to help humanity and kids, specially.

In this episode we talk with Saskia Boujo, author of "This Period in my Life" and relationship and sex educator about her her journey which lead to the birth of her book.

Saskia is a relationship and sex educator who has been teaching young people for almost 20 years.

In this episode I speak to Natalie Hobbs, the founder of ModiBodi Middle East, a period proof underwear company that started in Australia. We talk about  the brand’s value, about the benefits of using Modibodi underwear and the story behind those beautiful life changing and sustainable  underwear.

Modibodi period-proof underwear is underwear you can wear when you have your period, without having to use pads or tampons. The underwear has a thin (3mm) padded gusset, and is made from 3 layers of material. There are 3 styles of absorbency, with the heavy/overnight absorbency holding the equivalent of 3-4 pads or tampons. After wearing you simply rinse in cold water till the water runs clear, and then include in your next machine wash of delicates. As long as they are washed correctly, they’ll last 2-3 years.

Modibodi wants to empower all women in our life and caters for all body shapes and sizes (sizes 4 - 26). Refusing to photoshop their models, you’ll see models that look exactly like they do in real life. Modibodi believes that cellulite, freckles and stretch marks are natural and should not be seen as ugly and erased.

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Jo has been practicing yoga for over 2 decades, and her practice has evolved through the years and today she finds herself focusing on the importance of cyclical wisdom in Yoga practice . Her belief is that our primary spiritual practice stems from our own body .  In this episode we talk about yoga, fertility, cyclical wisdom and how they all relate.

Jo Shakti works as leader in the feminine rise, supporting and empowering women through Yoga and Ritual.  Through Return to the Self, Jo offers Yoga for the whole feminine life cycle, including blood wisdom, through her Awakening Shakti retreats and courses.  She also has an incredible passion for supporting women through Yoga to empower Pregnancy, Birth and Motherhood.  Jo is lead trainer of Spiritual Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training, a course setting a global standard as an in-person and online course. This follows her 5 year career supporting 200hr YTTs alongside Peewee Sanchez of Yogafirst.

Jo is creatrix of Shakti Celebration, a global event of sisterhood and the feminine rise as well as her many years of work leading independent Yoga Retreats and Shakti Pilgrimages worldwide.  Jo is a Doula in training and lives with her young children Ananda, Caesar and filmmaker husband in Bali.

In this week's episode I talk to Clio, a sex positivity advocate and we talk about all things related to a woman’s body. As Clio said, it seems that we hide all the realness to abide unconsciously to societal expectation of what a good female body should look like

In this episode I speak to Krista, a functional integrative nutritionist with a holistic approach to the body, where when there is a problem, the question of why this is happening is brought forward, and addressing the root cause of the problem is often the key to the solution. We talk about food, emotions, periods and how to look at our body in a holistic way.

Krista King is a registered dietitian nutritionist, integrative and functional certified nutrition practitioner, and holistic health expert. Through her online practice, Composed Nutrition, she provides virtual nutrition coaching, courses, and resources to naturally heal your hormones, digestion, and anxiety.

In this episode I speak to Marita, the executive director of the Surge Middle East branch and we talk about the the work Water for Surge is doing on the ground to break the stigma around periods and get the girls back to school.

In this episode I speak to Nikki Tajiri, the beautiful author of the unique beautiful and inspiring poetry and art book about our cycle "She Dreams when she Bleeds".

Nikki Tajiri is a writer and artist, who creates through healing her own relationship with her femininity. She Dreams When She Bleeds: Poems About Periods is her first book.

Nikki is someone who discovered the power and beauty of her own menstruation, and calls for women everywhere to fall in love with theirs. She tells us, just like we can love our bodies regardless of our shape, we can love our menstruation regardless of its frequency, flow, or pain.

In this episode I speak to Hannah, an acupuncturist based in London who specialises in dealing with menstrual issues, we talk about the philosophy behind acupuncture and how it can help women reconnect to their cycle in a more positive organic and holistic way.

Hannah Pearn is an advanced fertility acupuncturist specialising in women’s health. She has grown her own practice over the last 8 years and work predominately with women who want support with their fertility and their hormonal health. She has a huge range of patients, from those who have just come off contraception and are beginning to try to conceive to those who have had multiple failed rounds of IVF. She also supports women who may not be trying to conceive but are experiencing hormonal horrors, from painful periods, to no periods, to heavy periods to peri menopausal symptoms. Her passion is trying to change conversations and awareness of women’s health. Hormonal issues; menstrual health, infertility, perimenopause/menopause are often dismissed, under researched, under funded and poorly treated. We have not been given enough education to empower us to take better control of so many issues around these areas and she likes to work together to change this….alongside the needles of course!

In the episode I meet with Meka, At age of 11 Meka started a Sacred Moon cycle circle to teach young girls about how sacred their amazing body is and the blood that flows. Meka wants to change the negative views that the current generation has ….It is weird to think that this generation still experiences taboo around periods

Meka Leach a certified Bhakti yoga teacher of 200 hours, being the youngest in the USA to finish the certification classes. She is a certified Harmonic Waves Healing practitioner. Performing sound healing for adult only as well as children only classes. Meka has also finished all the levels of training and is a Reiki master. Meka is the youngest instructor and facilitator at Soderworld wellness  center and the surrounding area/ community. Mindfulness With Meka is a class, program and book she has hand written from her soul targeting children 10-17 years old. At the age of 10 she teaches and leads an kids only class about mindful living. At age of 11 Meka started a Sacred Moon cycle circle. To teach young girls about how sacred their amazing body is and the blood that flows.

She is also the National Champion in the USA in for Y10 epee.

She is an amazing loving soul and has a passion for holistic health and mindful practice. She loves crystals and she wants to change her generation. Teach people about self love, how to calm their minds, to live present, to live a healthy lifestyle, to understand their body and soul. 

In this episode, I speak to Samantha Charlesworth, founder of simplylisciousoils to find out about the benefits of essential oils for our cycle and what oils to used based on where we are in our cycle.

Sam is a mum of 2 girls ages 8+10. She set up her business Simplylisciousoils in February 2019 and she’s passionate about helping other people with essential oils.

She started my journey with essential oils just over 2 years ago and she was hooked straight away. She now uses oils in all aspects of her family life. Blends to help calm, help with sleep, to energise, to help fight germs and in cleaning products. They have diffusers in every room and don’t go anywhere without oils. 

Want to find out more about oils, reach out to Sam on 

I believe a collective healing happens when people from that collective share their stories out loud, when the story no longer remains untold, hushed, and forgotten.

For many of the women I interviewed, no one had asked them about the story of their first period, it was a forgotten story one not to be brought up…

I was honoured to hear them tell their stories for the first time.

This collection of first period stories, I see it as a healing circle, but also as an archive of stories for those who have not yet stepped into their cycle.

There is a power and beauty in sharing our stories….

WANT TO SHARE YOU 1st PERIOD STORY?

Sharing connects us to each other, and has the power to bind us and heal us.

There are two way to go about it.

You can either send me a video of around 2-3min, looking straight into the camera and sharing your first period story.

Or you can send me a picture of you around the time you got you first period along with your written story.

In this episode I meet with Melissa, a yoga therapist who herself struggled with PMDD and has used yoga practice as a way to heal. Because Melissa has experienced the healing benefits, therapeutic yoga provides, she now offers first hand remedies and practices to help women with PMDD regain their well being

Melissa Sue Vair is a 600-hour Professional Yoga Therapist specializing in therapeutic yoga for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Melissa has always had a passion for women's issues, completing her undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies in 2010. Vair began teaching yoga full time in 2011 and has been dedicated to sharing yoga ever since. With the arrival of COVID-19 and the imperative to move everything online, Vair felt compelled to share how she has addressed her PMDD symptoms and maintained her mental and physical well-being.

For Vair, the practice of yoga is a proactive approach to unhappiness and suffering. She firmly believes that the therapeutic application of yoga can help empower individuals to discover their own self-worth, self-acceptance and self-love: to be radically authentic and accountable to their own happiness. 

In this episode I speak to Shoshana a women’s empowerment mentor and cycle guide, who believes that . We’re cyclical beings living in a linear society but that when we start living according to our feminine flow our life can be optimised. 

Shoshana Sadia is a Women's Empowerment Mentor and Cycle Guide who works with modern, spiritual women who desire to live connected, conscious lives. Shoshi draws on ancient teachings and womb wisdom to guide women into deeper states of self-love, self-empowerment and alignment. She teaches women how to harness the power of their natural rhythms to step into their feminine flow. Shoshi combines powerful spiritual practices, mindset and embodiment work to shift inner states of being that will manifest externally. Her life's purpose is to use her experience, intuitive wisdom and deep spiritual education to serve women on their journeys through awakening.

Follow Shoshana on:

In this episode, I meet with Stephanie Nehme , a registered clinical dietitian working with Aligned Health, with a scientific  and mindful approach to food to debunk myths about PMS weight gain and cravings and to understand how what we eat can contribute to a more positive experience with our cycle.

Stephanie is a Lebanese registered dietitian with 7 years of hands on experience in the clinical and hospital fields. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics from the Notre Dame University in Lebanon and joined Right Bite in April 2018.

Throughout her professional path, she had the opportunity to deal with diverse client cases and managed to improve their diet and physical activities while allowing them to acquire a positive mindset for a sustainable healthy lifestyle.

She added value to her organisations by prescribing meal plans and physical activity plans based on the patient’s medical, psychological and social factors; providing dedicated support for patients which have led to retention of loyal clients; collaborating with doctors to provide a sustainable medical nutrition therapy for patients; managing the clinics’ operations, writing diet manuals and presentations, as well as radio shows; supervising food production, distribution menu planning in the hospital.

Her areas of expertise are weight management, fitness, lifestyle improvement, metabolic syndrome, children/adolescent nutrition, pregnancy/breastfeeding and gastro-intestinal disorders.

Most importantly, she is a caring dietitian with a very encouraging and flexible approach. She believes in having a good relationship with food and one’s own body. Exercising is essential for her since it has protective and healing properties.

Stephanie maintains her knowledge by attending conferences. She consulted clients of different backgrounds since she worked in clinics within several Lebanese regions; besides being fluent in English, French and Arabic.

In this episode I speak to Jessie Madrigal about life with endometriosis, and her personal journey with that illness. 

Jess is  a lifestyle and women’s health columnist who also writes short stories and plays. She lives with endometriosis  and is an advocate of this excruciating illness, Most of her current work focuses on endometriosis and mental health. 

You can follow her on 

In this episode I speak to Line Tabet Masri and Rana Haddad the founders of Dawrati,  an NGO based in Lebanon who has a mission to end period poverty. 

While food boxes and essentials are being handed out, women’s needs are usually forgotten, and thanks to Dawrati 2500 period kits were handed to women who needed them

Dawrati is the arabic word for my menstrual cycle . It was established by Line Tabet Masri and Rana Haddad on the 4th of May 2020 with two key objectives

1. end period poverty by distributing a sanitary kit to girls and women in need. Each kit contains period pads, pantyliners and wipes for a duration of one month. We distribute via NGOs that are already on the ground distributing food boxes.

2. End the stigma that surrounds period and normalize the conversation around it. We were looking to hold workshops for that. But everything is on hold because of covid 19.  With their knowledge, experience and dedication Line and Rana are really pushing Dawrati. 

Since the Beirut explosion they distributed more than 2500 kits. And have now we partnered with Nana to distribute 2 million pads with the help of Beit el Baraka. 

In this episode I speak to Gonzag Odero one of the founders of SafeGirl International.  A non profit organization in Kenya, which main mission is to produce and distribute washable sanitary pads and other related products to low income girls and young women, in order to release and free them and allow them to make wise choices and continue their education unhampered by basic necessity that should be available to them all the time.

I believe a collective healing happens when people from that collective share their stories out loud, when the story no longer remains untold, hushed, and forgotten.

For many of the women I interviewed, no one had asked them about the story of their first period, it was a forgotten story one not to be brought up…

I was honoured to hear them tell their stories for the first time.

This collection of first period stories, I see it as a healing circle, but also as an archive of stories for those who have not yet stepped into their cycle.

There is a power and beauty in sharing our stories….

WANT TO SHARE YOU 1st PERIOD STORY?

Sharing connects us to each other, and has the power to bind us and heal us.

There are two way to go about it.

You can either send me a video of around 2-3min, looking straight into the camera and sharing your first period story.

Or you can send me a picture of you around the time you got you first period along with your written story.

I believe a collective healing happens when people from that collective share their stories out loud, when the story no longer remains untold, hushed, and forgotten.

For many of the women I interviewed, no one had asked them about the story of their first period, it was a forgotten story one not to be brought up…

I was honoured to hear them tell their stories for the first time.

This collection of first period stories, I see it as a healing circle, but also as an archive of stories for those who have not yet stepped into their cycle.

There is a power and beauty in sharing our stories….

WANT TO SHARE YOU 1st PERIOD STORY?

Sharing connects us to each other, and has the power to bind us and heal us.

There are two way to go about it.

You can either send me a video of around 2-3min, looking straight into the camera and sharing your first period story.

Or you can send me a picture of you around the time you got you first period along with your written story.

*** this interview is in Lebanese ***

Part of my journey involved me making peace with my mother and understanding how the relationship a mother has with her daughter can somehow influence the relationship the daughter has with her period. In this episode I meet with Stephanie Ghanem. Stephanie is a Lebanese clinical psychologist and psychotherapist based in Lebanon. We talk about the mother daughter relationship specifically within the Lebanese culture.

In this episode I meet Dr Gael Abou Ghannam, a Gynecologist, based in Beirut. She is also somehow ofan activist and a progressive thinker in woman’s health. I meet her in her cabinet, and we talk about how medicine deals with periods in today’s world, from the pill to medication to PMS.

Dr. Gaël Abou Ghannam is an obstetrician-gynecologist specialized in infertility and fertility preservation in adult and pediatric patients from the American University Beirut.
Gael trained as a fellow in Reproductive endocrinology and infertility in the department of Gynecology and Andrology of “Les cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc” in Brussels. Her training focused on reproductive health with emphasis in andrology, female and male infertility. Gael’s skills include laparoscopic surgeries, ovarian and testicular tissue cryopreservation.
As an expert in her field, Gael counsels patients about the risk to their fertility in case of gonadotoxic treatments (chemotherapy and radiotherapy) and guide them to the best options available in a respectful and sensitive manner.

In this episode I explore the way homeopathy understands and deals with the menstrual cycle. I meet with Dr Javed Hingora. Dr Javed is a leading homeopath based in Dubai. I first met him 10 years go when I was dealing with some emotional problems and was advised to seek help from an homeopath. I didn’t know much about homeopathy but the sessions with him changed me...and I found myself aligned with the natural philosophy of homeopathy.

While doing some research I came across an author who resonated with me ,Chris Bobel, a writer, the president of the society for the menstrual cycle research and an associate professor of women’s gender sexuality studies at Umass. I travel to Boston and drive outside of the city to meet her in her beautiful home. We sit down and have a nice filter coffee and talk about the importance of addressing the menstrual stigma around periods, the links between menstruation and gender, and the impact of body literacy beyond what society and the structure of capitalism think of our body.

*** This interview is in French****

In this episode I meet with Gerard, a writer and literature professor at the University Saint Joseph in Lebanon and the director of the University for all which my parents have been attending passionately. I meet him at my parents house for a coffee where we casually discuss the influence of literature and tales on our current views of periods.

In this episode I meet with Gerard, a writer and literature professor at the University Saint Joseph in Lebanon and the director of the University for all which my parents have been attending passionately. I meet him at my parents house for a coffee where we casually discuss the influence of literature and tales on our current views of periods.

In this episode, I sit with Vanessa Woodthorpe-Wright now known as Willow. Willow sells beautiful hand crafted pads called rose pads which I’ve tried and loved, she also runs circles and workshops helping women reconnect to the power of their cycle in the most unmuystical city ever.. Dubai. She is truly a priestess in her field. We sat down after a circle, that she holds in her living room that she magically transforms into womb feeling and looking space. With every workshop Willow hands out a calendar, redefining the concept of menstruation which she explains in details in this episode.

In this episode, I sit with Suzanne Blake, a life coach, a yoga instructor and therapeutic dance teacher who’s made it her goal to help everyone connect to the wild within and mother nature. We meet in my parent’s beautiful garden in Lebanon in midst of nature, talking about how our current relationship to nature is reflected in our relationship to our cycle.

Suzanne is a rock star businesswoman, as well as a free-spirited dancer, a compassionate healer and a yogi. Her heart beats of wild courage, creativity and a deep love of nature's beauty and zen. She believes in living life with playful curiosity balanced with continuous growth, dedicated to pursuing a peaceful state of wonder.

In this episode, I sit with Deena Dandachangi, a Teacher, Poet, and Spiritual Entrepreneur We meet at night in my apartment in Dubai where she talks to me about the idea of reconceptualising the body, mainly in regards to periods beyond the patriarchal male lens , and the importance of doing so fo our young girls so they can tap into their authentic feminine power.

Deena is a healer, writer and educator whose passion for reflects the belief that everyone has infinite wisdom, capability and power within. By helping people reconnect with their authentic voice, they learn how to embody the sacred power that is their birthright.Currently, she offers workshops, retreats and privates combining ancient rituals with her own style of shamanism.  Deema’s unique approach to emotional, physical and spiritual liberation reflects in her experience through body work, intuitive massage, Reiki, trauma-release and channelling modalities. These have now evolved into The Sacred Path: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Education, her educational curriculum that cultivates the connection to our holistic, sacred nature.