The 3-cycle Challenge
Objective: Identify your ovulation day and fertile window by observing The Whole Cycle at work within yourself
Observe your next 3 cycles using The Practice, attempt to pinpoint ovulation and menstruation dates
Share your experiences with other women through word of mouth, Facebook, twitter, blog content
#knowyourcycle
It is just that simple.
Take the challenge and you will be better for it. If after 3 cycles you don't choose to continue charting, you have gained invaluable insight into your own biology. But if you are like most women who have discovered The Practice, this will be the beginning of a dramatic shift in your thinking. You will become confident that when you are sexually active you can consciously avoid or attempt pregnancy through easy and natural methods. You'll want to shout it with joy to every woman you come across, for who among us would not benefit?
For the millions out there who have already come to this sacred knowledge through the daily ritual of taking their temperature I offer a platform to voice your stories, and I know you've got 'em.
What I Know
The answer is hidden in each individual woman and only you can see it at work in yourself.
I discovered the practice when I was 28- plagued with anxieties about taking the pill, I was seeking a natural and effective way to avoid pregnancy. I had been menstruating for over half my life and I had never given any thought to ovulation or The Whole Cycle. I was skeptical at first, but once I internalized the information it blew my mind wide open. I was shocked by what I didn't know that I didn't know. I was scared to trust it, and yet a part of me knew that it was true- so I began to track.
I've always been regular and after three cycles I was accurately estimating my next ovulation within two days. To my delighted amazement, I discovered the cramp I randomly felt always occurred around the same cycle day and I learned to recognize the sticky stuff in my underwear for sperm-sucking fertile cervical mucus. We are all too familiar with the miserable part of our cycles, but for the first time I experienced true joy at watching my body at work. With time I came to rely on the regularity of my own rhythm and I found peace in the assurance that my body was telling me what I needed to know.
My then-boyfriend-now-husband and I educated ourselves on the Fertility Awareness Method of contraception, and for 4 years we consciously and successfully avoided pregnancy while enjoying unprotected sex during the any of the 20 plus non-fertile days of my cycle. And when we decided to take the scary plunge into parenthood, we did it twice around my ovulation day and I became pregnant. Two times.
Were we lucky? For sure- the presence of an egg, sperm and fertile cervical fluid alone do not guarantee fertilization. But tell me how much you think it helped that we knew exactly when to try?
Strength in Numbers
My story is not unique- millions successfully use awareness to avoid or achieve pregnancy- yet people will find it hard to believe. Only when mass amounts of women and men become aware of The Whole Cycle can we all come to trust it's truth. The ignorance must end and the first step is to prove the truth to ourselves on an individual level. The only way to have evidence on paper of ovulation is through measuring BBT, so we must begin here.
Never before in history has this information been so easily accessible and proven. Never have women kind had a stronger voice and been so poised in positions of real power. Never before has humankind had the means to spread information with lightning speed.
It is at our fingertips and the tips of our tongues- our time has come.
So let us do what we do best: observe and talk- once we collectively believe and spread the word, we can begin to effect real change across the globe.