Period, acupressure and a vision of the future for women - Sofia Araujo

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Working and having a period at the same time? Not always easy and, in our opinion, also an employer issue. We introduced ShaktiDays for regeneration 18 months ago and share with you what this means for our employees with periods. Our consultant on the matter, yoga mentor and holistic women's health teacher Sofia Araujo, tells us all about her vision for a working world where women are in harmony with their cycle. The founder of the Swara Yoga School shares why femininity fascinates her so much and gives us her 10 most important pieces of wisdom about being a woman.

  • Regeneration every month - our ShaktiDays
  • Present and Future of Femininity: Interview with Sofia Araujo
  • Work-life balance and menstrual cycle
  • 10 simple but important truths about being a woman

Acupressure for the period, yoga, hot water bottles and so much more out there is tested, recommended and recommended to people with periods*. But are we perhaps forgetting something? 

All of these approaches have one thing in common: The person concerned should take care of himself to remain operational and functional. And sometimes it can't be helped when it's your own children who need you, when you're caring for relatives or mastering other superheroine tasks of everyday life. But at work? It's time for employers to take responsibility, too.

Womans' Month is a month in which we want to take a close look at femininity, its challenges and opportunities in health and work. According to studies by the Charité, half to 90% of women suffer from complaints during their periods. 

Regeneration every month - our ShaktiDays

Inspired and guided by Sofia Araujo, in a collaboration that began 18 months ago, we introduced ShaktiDay for regeneration. But what does that actually mean?

Sofia guided us to implement our ShaktiDays policy. With this policy, we encourage our employees to take a day of rest to face the peak of their cycle with calm and get through it well. As a company, we want our employees not to overexert themselves on this day, but to focus on their well-being. This day is completely optional for the individual, can be taken every month, is not deducted from annual leave and is fully paid. 

Our employees Maryna and Antonia are enthusiastic about ShaktiDay:

"ShaktiDay shows me that my employer really cares about how I'm doing mentally and physically and that I'm taking good care of myself and my body.
This day gives me the freedom to just rest and go without pain medication."

Maryna, Accounting

"I take a walk on the beach every day and every day the ocean is different. We humans come from nature. So why do we expect ourselves to function the same way every day?
I don't think we can function as uniformly as robots at all, but should listen to our bodies more.
ShaktiDay gives me the opportunity to do that."

Antonia, Customer Service Manager

So that we can share Sofia's wonderful knowledge of femininity and her visionary ideas with you, we will now let her speak for herself.

Present and Future of Femininity: Interview with Sofia Araujo

Sofia Araujo is the founder of Swara Yoga School. She shares her wisdom on femininity and her enthusiasm for a holistic approach to one's body in workshops and is a sponsor of yoga and meditation projects in less privileged areas in India, Belize, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia and Nepal. I Photo: Swara Yoga School

Sofia, you are a yoga mentor and holistic women's health teacher, as well as the founder of Swara Yoga School. Can you tell me how you got to this point in life?

I started as a yoga student. I was very curious about this system and especially about what it makes me feel. It was very stimulating - in the sense that it is such a vast subject. One that you can take as many years as you want to study and still have more and more to study, explore and most importantly practice.

I started as a student of yoga. I was very curious about this system and especially about what it made me feelIn the 21 years since I started my yoga journey, I have studied various complementary disciplines besides yoga, all of which can be integrated with yoga, such as Ayurveda, macrobiotics and yoga therapy. After years of study, I finally began teaching. I founded Swara Yoga School, a platform that has allowed me to share these disciplines with people who also want to teach this practice and share it with their communities.t. It has been very stimulating - in the sense that it is such a vast subject. One that you can spend as many years on as you want and still have more and more to study, explore, and most importantly, practice.

Throughout this journey, I have always had to adapt the yoga practice to my own female body and cycle, so teaching women's health and yoga has fluidly become a part of what I share in a group of practicing women.

If you had three sentences to explain your vision for working women with periods to our readers, what would you say?

We have a cyclical body. This means that we have ups and downs, just like any other cycle, and that we can be predictable ourselves if we choose to see these ups and downs as a cycle that repeats roughly every 28 days. (The length of the cycle is different for every woman).

Rest is an essential part of our cycle. When we are tired or/and when the bleeding starts, it is important that we slow down and rest so that the body can recover and our energy levels are restored. We will be much more productive and energized for the rest of our cycle if we give ourselves a few days off.

The source is already within us. We have incredible creative potential. If we give our body optimal practices, nutrition, rest and a positive attitude, we can create anything we want in life. 

You teach women about how to balance their work-life balance with their menstrual cycle. Can you name the most common cycle-related obstacles women face when trying to manage their lives with a full-time job?

The biggest obstacle is our mentality. We still try to work with the attitude of "the more we do, the better," when we should be focusing on the quality of the work we do. As women, we want to do everything, but sometimes doing everything means we burn out and then have nothing left to give. It's about balance. And balance is not static, it's dynamic. It's about constant adaptation and being able to sense what you need and when.  

I have this problem myself and I don't know how to overcome it. What are the next steps I can take to help myself and where could I go for external help?

The most important thing is to find a rhythm that suits you. By this I mean your metabolism, your physical and mental condition and your lifestyle.Move your body in the way that suits you. Yoga is great, but there are other practices like chi gong, dance, functional movement, martial arts, etc. Find something that you enjoy and makes you feel good. Be curious and try different things until you find something that speaks to you. This is where I would start. 

Once you have a movement practice, add some meditation and you have two very powerful practices that keep you present and grounded.

You work directly with ShaktiMat. Can you tell the readers about our journey together and what changes you have already helped us with?

I love the work of ShaktiMat, the concept, the connection to India, and the fact that they consider women's well-being in the workplace. 

For me, it's an incredible opportunity to reach these work environments with my work and help women feel more connected to their cycle and their needs when it comes to choosing a lifestyle that suits them, while working with passion in a place that values them and understands how they function on a biological/ hormonal level.
The most important aspect is the Shakti Day policy that we have developed over the last 18 months: Women can take a day off every month during menstruation to rest and slow down while continuing to get paid. I think that's great!

How can I use my ShaktiMat to relieve or prevent menstrual cramps?

Lie on your back on the ShaktiMat, bend your knees and hold them together while keeping your feet hip-width apart. Place your hand on your lower abdomen resting, connect with your uterus and simply observe your breath. For 5-10 minutes, just stay relaxed and use your exhale to release any discomfort - physical, mental or emotional. Allow the tension to release with each exhale.

This month we focus on femininity: Can you tell me why the female body and the menstrual cycle fascinate you so much? What do you see that people who don't find the cycle fascinating don't yet see?

I find it fascinating that we are endowed with such a complex hormonal system that allows us to experience multiple aspects of ourselves within a month. 

There are 4 different phases in our cycle: before ovulation, during ovulation, before menstruation and during menstruation. They all correspond to different ways in which hormones organize in our body, carefully monitored by our nervous system. 

This, of course, affects the way we experience our bodies and the world around us. I think the most fascinating aspect for me has been learning about these parts and aspects of myself depending on where I am in the cycle. Once you get in the habit of tracking your cycle, you will also realize that we are more predictable than we think. Once you understand that, you gain control of your life and your life energy.

Teach me ten simple but important truths about being a woman and having a menstrual cycle that I can take away from this interview.

  • Your creative power is unlimited.
  • Feeling is a superpower.
  • Your body has many answers that the mind does not know. Learn to listen to its language.
  • Blood is the essence of life, honor it.
  • Setting boundaries is a healthy practice.
  • There is no guilt or shame in taking a break.
  • By taking care of yourself and your well-being, you inspire others to do the same.
  • When women come together in a spirit of collaboration, not competition, the world gets a little brighter every time. 
  • Simple exercises done over a long period of time give the best results. It is better to meditate 5 minutes every day than 1 hour once a week.
  • The basics for women's health are exercise, rest, fresh food and remembering our divine nature. Just as Mother Earth has cycles, we also have our own. Learn to move within these cycles by observing nature as often as possible.

We would like to thank Sofia Araujo very much for the interview and her many insights on the topic of femininity, which inspire us greatly. You can also find more specific acupressure exercises for periods in our article "Alleviating PMS, menstruation and menopause naturally" . You canfind out more about how we work at ShaktiMatat .

We wish you a powerful experience of your cycle with the support of the ShaktiMat. If you would like to share your own tips or ask questions about the topics of cycle and period support with the acupressure mat, feel free to leave us a comment or visit us on Facebook.

Your Shakti Mat Team 

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