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3:32

Hello

3:36

and welcome to the Wellness Mama podcast. I'm

3:39

Katie from wellnessmama.com and this episode

3:41

is all about the moon's

3:43

influence on your biology and the dark moon

3:45

phase and how to benefit from it. And

3:48

we hear a lot about the sun and

3:50

how important it is for health and today's

3:53

guest brings an amazing complementary perspective to this

3:55

and shares the science and the data about

3:57

how the moon really impacts our health as

3:59

well. And I think for women,

4:01

sometimes we start to feel it a little

4:04

bit intuitively because our monthly cycles can line up with

4:06

the moon phases at times. But she

4:08

explains how this actually is relevant to

4:10

children, to post-menopausal women, and to men

4:13

as well in this really fascinating conversation.

4:16

And Masami is a health intuitive and

4:18

a functional nutritional therapist who leads women

4:20

in rediscovering the wisdom of their lunar

4:22

cycles, especially beyond menopause, through a blend

4:25

of Japanese medicine, science, and

4:27

proven clinical modalities. And

4:29

she works in both private and group

4:31

classes and reveals the root causes of

4:33

imbalance by using intuitive insights, clinical experience,

4:35

and scientific analysis to provide

4:37

her laser-pointed guidance. And she

4:39

really focuses on a whole-person approach in

4:42

translating the subtle language of our bodies

4:44

into practical daily advice and tips that

4:46

help people in any aspect of their health journey.

4:49

She's also just a very fascinating person.

4:51

She was born in Japan to a

4:53

bicultural family, and so she draws from

4:55

a blend of East, East, West, culture,

4:58

language, and energy medicine as well as

5:00

years of professional training and experience in

5:02

functional nutritional therapy, yoga, positive

5:04

neuroplasticity, and much more.

5:07

She's a fascinating guest. I cannot wait to share

5:09

her with you now. So let's join Masami Kapi.

5:13

Masami, welcome. Thank you so much for being

5:15

here. Thank you so much. I've

5:17

been so excited to speak to you. Oh,

5:19

I'm excited too. And researching for this episode, I

5:21

realized how much I'm going to get to learn

5:23

from you today and hopefully all of our listeners

5:25

as well because this is not something I've covered

5:28

directly on this podcast, nor is it something I

5:30

know a tremendous amount about. So I'm

5:32

extremely excited to step into the childhood curiosity and

5:34

learn from you about this today. I read a

5:36

quote recently to sell your knowledge and purchase bewilderment.

5:39

And I think this is going to be one

5:41

of those amazing instances when I get to do

5:43

that and to just learn from you. And

5:46

the first topic I'm really excited to talk to

5:48

you about is essentially the moon's

5:50

influence on our biology. And I feel like

5:52

this is something we've maybe become so disconnected

5:54

from in the modern world that we've never

5:57

even considered. I

6:00

know that it's actually really far reaching impact

6:02

on our biology but I don't know the

6:05

depths of that. So to start off, for

6:07

some basic understanding, can you walk us through

6:09

the connection of the moon to our biology?

6:12

Yes, I will. And maybe

6:14

before we dive into the science of it

6:16

and a lot of the studies are finally

6:19

coming out, luckily finally, I wanted

6:21

to mention that when I was

6:23

starting to get into this moon

6:26

cycles and lunar cycles but also

6:28

it's called circular lunar cycles, there's

6:31

so many more studies around circadian

6:33

rhythm as you know. And I'm sure

6:35

you've interviewed many, many people about the

6:37

importance of the sunlight and living with

6:39

that kind of 24-hour cycles and things

6:41

like that. But it is actually a

6:44

lot harder to research the moon influences

6:46

on our bodies and a lot

6:48

of the research, researchers are

6:50

coming from more like countries

6:53

that honor the lunar cycles

6:55

as a calendar. So

6:57

if you are just in the Gregorian

6:59

calendar, which is really honoring the solar

7:01

and the sun, and if

7:04

you're not used to the lunar solar calendars

7:06

like I am, so I grew

7:08

up in Japan, I was born and raised in Japan, right,

7:10

and I've lived part of my life

7:12

in Korea as well. So I

7:14

have a lot of influence from the lunar

7:16

cycles. For me it was an easy step

7:18

forward to learn about the lunar cycles because

7:21

I didn't have this kind of a

7:23

feeling of I don't want to learn about this as

7:26

nothing to do with me kind of idea. So

7:28

that's, I just wanted to set the

7:31

stage that there is

7:33

such thing as cultural bias,

7:35

I think, between studying only

7:37

about the solar rhythms and

7:39

not enough on the lunar,

7:41

the moon influences. So,

7:43

but that's a challenge that I

7:45

wanted to take on and I

7:47

have been studying a lot about

7:49

how the moonlight but also the

7:51

moon's gravitational forces that will impact

7:54

our bodies. And number one,

7:56

I think it's important and

7:58

interesting, it's like a, it's really For me,

8:00

it's like I wonder. I do a

8:02

lot of wonder. I wonder. And I

8:04

get very curious. And that's really good

8:06

for the brain also, because when you're

8:09

curious, your amygdala will start to

8:11

calm down as well. So I've been wondering a lot.

8:13

One of the things that I wondered about it is

8:15

that lunar day cycle is about

8:17

24.8 hours. And

8:20

circadian rhythm is actually longer than

8:22

24 hours. So

8:24

it's about 24.5 hours is the kind of average circadian rhythm is.

8:33

So I thought that was interesting that it's

8:35

not actually intrinsic

8:37

circadian rhythm is not

8:40

actually 24 hours, but it's actually

8:42

a little longer. So could this

8:44

have some influence from the moon

8:46

cycles? I'm just wondering at this

8:48

point with this one. And

8:50

so let's do dive in. You know,

8:52

what does the moon cycles and these

8:55

lunar movements of the 29.5 days are

8:57

doing to us? Number

9:00

one, this is a study that's been coming out more

9:02

and more in the last, I would say, five

9:05

years. So it's been fun.

9:07

But it's the melatonin production. So

9:09

melatonin production and the function of

9:11

arpino gland are in sync with

9:13

the lunar rhythm. And

9:16

melatonin content in the eyes

9:19

were higher during the new

9:21

moon compared to the full moon in

9:24

various species. And it's

9:26

not just other like mammals

9:28

or maybe other, you know, they've done

9:31

a lot of studies on fish and

9:34

ocean based animals and

9:36

species. But now the studies are

9:38

coming out that this is also

9:40

true for humans and all living

9:42

creatures, animals, even algae.

9:45

They share the daily ebb and

9:47

flow of melatonin, so dark and

9:49

light. And you know,

9:52

it's just kind of interesting to see that

9:54

all of us are sharing this rhythm together

9:56

waxing and waning. So Let's

9:58

go into the Melatonin level. Decrease

10:00

during the full moon phase and

10:03

ah, that's gonna impact all of

10:05

us from young. Children to

10:07

elderly right? So in.

10:10

Does. Indeed, in this is so

10:12

they get some. Sorry though the

10:14

word is basically the Melatonin's at

10:16

the youth produce within yourself. The

10:18

levels do lower near the full

10:20

moon compared to the Newman said.

10:22

like leading up to it three

10:24

to five days prior to the

10:26

former, it's the melatonin levels do

10:28

go down. And that means

10:30

that it is impacting all of

10:33

us that there's this brand new

10:35

study that came out last year

10:37

that I was so excited about

10:39

is that insists Circa Lunar read

10:42

them is impacting young children's evening

10:44

melatonin levels. Drain and would

10:46

leading up to the full

10:48

moon. an inner. Melatonin levels vary

10:51

significantly across the Lunar phases. The

10:53

I think what's important for all

10:55

of us listeners to know is

10:57

that lowest level of the Melatonin

10:59

is around leading to the full

11:01

moon rights and if it's impact

11:04

game. Even the young young age

11:06

group of kids they studied actually

11:08

up to six year olds kids

11:10

and it was very much. Straightforward.

11:13

Basically that melatonin levels go down

11:15

and therefore kids are sleeping less

11:17

around that time. So I'm curious.

11:19

You know, with you having six

11:21

kids like if you ever experienced,

11:24

I and I love to hear

11:26

the vases of finish up on

11:28

the melatonin. A little Babbitt's Military

11:30

and as you know it's unnatural

11:32

hormones, but it's also like a

11:34

neurotransmitter like compounds that. In.

11:36

A release is made in your pin

11:38

your gland but also it's is converted

11:41

from serotonin in got to melatonin also

11:43

and melatonin is so important for your

11:45

gut feeling for I B S or

11:48

see though. A impact shared

11:50

temperature like a core temperature. as

11:52

well and the court as a

11:54

level it balances your quarters or

11:57

level blood pressure news and brain

11:59

health and immune function and sexual

12:01

function as well as we go

12:03

into not just menopause, perimenopause and

12:06

postmenopause, but for kids that are

12:08

going through their puberty too. So

12:11

when the melatonin level is

12:13

down, we can actually suffer

12:16

and struggle with a lot of

12:18

immune issues, gut pain, and cancer

12:20

cells can actually grow during this

12:23

time too. I think

12:25

it's a nature's perfect way of

12:27

saying, okay, during the new moon,

12:29

catch up to your sleep, even though

12:31

catching up to sleep is a little

12:33

bit tough. I think we do have

12:35

this monthly cycles that the nature has

12:37

been giving us. Mother Nature

12:39

said, okay, sleep a little bit more during

12:42

the new moon. And

12:44

so then I start thinking about if that is

12:46

the true rhythm of who

12:48

we are, then maybe the school systems,

12:50

maybe government, maybe

12:54

just the businesses, they all need

12:56

to be looking at this as well because it

12:59

is impacting our melatonin, it's

13:01

impacting our sleep, and our

13:03

monthly sleep cycle is synchronized

13:05

with the lunar phases regardless

13:07

of your social, cultural, or

13:10

location background and where you live.

13:12

So there are these really

13:14

great studies that are coming out that urban

13:17

Seattle students, they study this with

13:19

full on, you know, phone right

13:22

by their faces and looking at

13:24

the computers all night too. They

13:26

study the minimally electrified

13:28

indigenous communities in the

13:30

Northern Argentina. One

13:33

had almost no artificial lighting,

13:35

maybe they use candles. And

13:38

the other one had just a one single source

13:40

of light. And what they

13:42

found is that leading up to the

13:44

full moon, the drop of melatonin, but

13:47

also the sleep qualities

13:49

went down. And on

13:51

average, people slipped a lot less like

13:53

deep sleep decreased by 30% leading up

13:57

to and during the full moon

13:59

phase. So I think these are

14:01

so interesting if you could really pay attention to it.

14:03

And I'll pause here and I want to hear what

14:06

your thoughts are and then we can go from there

14:08

too. That's interesting that you

14:10

said that because I have noticed a difference in

14:12

sleep with my kids, especially when they were babies

14:14

and also with pets leading up to

14:16

the full moon. And I've also noticed

14:18

anecdotally in my own life is for a long time,

14:21

I know that I talk a lot about avoiding artificial

14:23

light, especially at night. And so for a lot of

14:26

years that meant having blackout curtains and not

14:28

having any light coming into my room. And

14:30

now I'm grateful to live in an area where

14:33

there's very little artificial light outside because we live

14:35

near the Gulf and to protect the turtle population.

14:38

So we have amazing night skies, but it

14:40

also means I don't have to use blackout

14:42

curtains as much to block artificial light from

14:44

outdoors. And so I'll often leave

14:46

the curtains open and can feel that light from the

14:48

moon. And so I love that you brought that up

14:50

because I think it's an important distinction

14:52

of the difference of light exposure at night when

14:54

it comes from the moon versus from artificial sources,

14:57

just like blue light exposure from the sun during

14:59

the day is different than blue light exposure from

15:01

our phones at night. There's a difference based on

15:03

where it's coming from. And I

15:05

don't know if there's data to back this up,

15:07

but I've also noticed a different or noticed that

15:09

my menstrual cycle has synced up to the moon

15:11

since doing that. And then I tend to menstruate

15:14

right around the full moon and to ovulate right around

15:16

the new moon. And I don't know if that's

15:18

a common thing, but I do know from being a doula and

15:20

a student midwife that more babies tend

15:22

to be born around the full moon as well.

15:24

So I have a feeling there's a deep hormone

15:26

connection here potentially that maybe we're missing out on

15:28

in the modern world. Yeah.

15:30

And if you do live in an urban

15:33

setting and you want to

15:35

start to synchronize your body a little

15:37

bit better in your kid's life, give

15:39

it at least 90 days,

15:41

you know, so three months, just

15:43

really work with it, maybe expose

15:45

yourself to the moonlight, moon gazing.

15:47

You know, there are a lot

15:50

of great practices out there, right?

15:52

The moon bathing is a wonderful

15:54

Ayurvedic practice that you go outside

15:56

during the full moon period and

15:58

it actually expose yourself. skin to

16:00

that infrared light that is being

16:02

reflected back to your body. So

16:05

the moonlight is a lot less,

16:07

obviously. It's only about 15% of

16:10

that strength during the full moon

16:12

time of the sunlight, but it

16:14

still can impact your easy water,

16:16

your structured water. So

16:18

I think it's really good that

16:21

these ancient 5,000-year-old practices are

16:23

actually proving to be true and

16:25

being exposed to that moonlight that

16:29

maybe you didn't get enough sunlight during

16:31

that week or something. You can actually

16:33

go out there and enjoy, and I

16:35

mean, just be naked if you can,

16:37

and enjoy the

16:39

full exposure to the

16:41

full moonlight. And that has been

16:43

known in Ayurvedic community to

16:45

lower your infections. It can help

16:47

you to smooth out your

16:49

mood swings and things like that too,

16:51

because the full moon has

16:54

been known to really kind of

16:57

agitate people and make people a

16:59

little bit more aggressive, and anxiety

17:01

in children and adults can actually

17:03

increase during the full moon cycle.

17:06

And this is a really interesting

17:08

study, because more people will –

17:12

psychiatric administration will go up

17:14

– admissions, I'm sorry,

17:16

not administrations, but admissions will go

17:18

up during the full moon, and

17:21

it'll go down during the new

17:23

moon too. So what are we

17:25

experiencing, right? This isn't just about

17:27

people with mental – maybe

17:30

needing some mental help, but maybe

17:32

to a smaller degree, it's all happening

17:35

to all of us. And

17:37

the moods do get worse, and anxiety

17:39

really do increase during the full moon.

17:41

This is a study of things. And

17:44

maybe as mothers and fathers and

17:47

children and adults, we all need

17:49

to be a little bit aware of it. And,

17:51

you know, my clientele are mostly perimenopause,

17:53

postmenopause, and menopausal women, but they –

17:56

many of them are working with their

17:58

grandkids. So maybe you know attending to

18:00

the grandkids, they can learn that, wow,

18:02

okay, this is the time that the

18:05

kids are going to have a harder

18:07

time going to bed early because the

18:10

full moon, it just makes it a little less

18:12

easy for them to go to bed. They don't

18:14

stay in bed as much and

18:16

the mood and aggression and maybe anxiety

18:18

will go up. So you want to

18:20

be a little bit more aware of

18:23

that. And during the full moon period,

18:25

this is not just like a fork lore,

18:28

but or you know something that your great

18:30

grandparents have taught you kind of

18:32

thing, but the parasites and biological

18:34

organisms have been known to

18:36

get more active during the full moon

18:39

period. So I would say three to

18:41

four days prior to ending going into

18:43

the full moon. And that's, you know,

18:45

around the time that the hormonal cycles

18:47

really change as well. And

18:50

this is when the testosterone for

18:52

women and men will go up,

18:54

estrogen levels do go up and

18:56

those combinations can really impact not

18:59

just your parasites, but things

19:01

like viral expressions, like herpes and

19:03

things like that could come up

19:05

and resurface again. So

19:07

you know, you want to maybe pay attention

19:09

to some of these cycles, like get the

19:12

calendar that says, okay, when's the full moon?

19:14

When's the new moon? And

19:16

we do produce less melatonin, like I

19:18

said, during the full moon period.

19:20

But what's interesting is the

19:23

parasites really love serotonin,

19:25

and it can get stimulated,

19:27

the parasites get really stimulated

19:29

in their muscles, and they

19:31

can move around the bodies

19:33

so easily or yeah, it's

19:36

an exciting time for the

19:38

parasites and other organisms. So

19:41

maybe this is when you want

19:43

to work on up leveling

19:45

some of the immune supports, you know,

19:47

maybe work on not feeding your kids

19:49

with too much sugar and address

19:52

things like gut

19:54

permeability issues and food cravings

19:56

and things like that. And

19:59

really no. that you are part

20:01

of this cycle. And I often say to

20:03

my clients that you want to up your

20:06

intake of hydrochloric acid, so

20:08

be tain hydrochloric acid, so that

20:10

to support the digestion. So you're

20:13

not eating really good, just

20:15

wonderful foods and organic and

20:17

then protein intake can go up during

20:19

the full moon for post-menopausal menopausal women.

20:21

I like for them to eat more

20:24

protein, but maybe the digestion gets

20:26

a little bit slowed down around

20:28

this time. So then upping that

20:30

hydrochloric acid support can be really

20:32

really helpful and maybe digestive enzymes

20:34

as well. And what's

20:36

great about what mother nature does for us

20:38

is that as you're heading

20:41

towards waxing the light, this

20:43

is when we tend to absorb

20:46

the nutrients better. So

20:48

maybe you know just made perfectly,

20:50

this is when we do need to

20:52

support our nutritional intake and

20:55

not doing the supplements every day the same,

20:57

29.5 days the

20:59

same, taking the same thing all the

21:01

time. But this might be a good

21:03

time to say, hey let's up our

21:06

some of the support in minerals, maybe

21:08

let's up our zinc, maybe up our

21:10

melatonin if you do

21:12

take melatonin. But also like magnesium can

21:15

be a really good thing to

21:17

be taking around this time, maybe

21:19

much more than other phases of

21:21

the moon. That's so fascinating, especially the

21:23

idea of, I've actually had several podcast guests

21:25

recommend HCL, especially in the modern world with

21:28

our food supply in general, but it makes

21:30

sense in light of everything you just explained

21:32

why you'd want to especially look at maybe

21:34

HCL and magnesium at the time of the

21:36

full moon and or for anyone who's maybe

21:39

having some of those issues consistently that you

21:41

talked about and that isn't in sync with

21:43

the moon in general, but maybe just has

21:45

heightened estrogen or has things out of balance.

21:47

I know like those seem to be almost

21:50

universally helpful supplements in general and it is

21:52

another reason I would put in the category, I

21:54

have a rule with myself not to do anything

21:56

every single day except for hopefully good sleep because

21:59

I don't want the best. body to ever totally adapt

22:01

to something. And I think there's a benefit

22:03

nature is cyclical. Nature has rhythms. And so

22:05

I think there's wisdom in cycling the things

22:07

that we do instead of becoming so regimented

22:09

that we do the exact same thing every

22:12

day. And as you just elaborated on, it's

22:14

also our bodies are not the exact same

22:16

every day. They're constantly shifting and especially women's

22:18

bodies are shifting throughout the

22:20

month and in a similar timeline as

22:22

the moon cycle. Is there

22:25

anything scientific that you know of to

22:27

back that link between women's hormones, especially

22:29

when they're menstruating and the moon cycles? Yes,

22:31

I mean, they are. And, you know,

22:34

we do want to go back to

22:36

the melatonin as well, right? Because melatonin

22:38

isn't just a hormone, but it's really

22:40

a modulator for all your other hormones

22:42

as well, because it's so tied to

22:44

the gut, but also your pineal gland.

22:47

Right. So it's like a control center

22:49

really kicks in here, too. And

22:51

before I answer some of the

22:53

hormonal things, it might be

22:55

worth it. And it is connected to

22:58

the hormones as well as the glymphatic

23:00

system, you know, the lymphatic system of

23:02

the brain. So as we know that

23:05

the poor sleep quality can lead to

23:07

glymphatic system congestion, you know, because the

23:09

glymphatic system is what helps

23:11

us to remove metabolic waste and

23:14

toxins and can lead to mood

23:16

swings. If you're not releasing the

23:18

toxins, it can lead to congestions

23:20

and compromised brain. So when you're

23:22

compromised in your brain, then it's

23:24

going to be impacting your hypothalamus,

23:26

your pituitary and, like I said, pineal

23:29

gland and all the other areas of

23:31

the brain. Then these toxic build ups

23:33

within your central nervous system can really

23:36

impact your hormonal balance as well. So,

23:38

you know, one of the things that

23:40

I just want to give you a

23:43

quick maybe tool for the

23:45

moms and and grandmothers and, you

23:47

know, fathers and grandfathers are listening

23:49

to this is that working on

23:51

I call it the Mohawk line,

23:54

which starts right if you draw the line

23:56

from your nose and go all the way

23:58

up to your hairline. That's

24:00

where the imagine like your kid wants to have

24:03

a mohawk, you know, when they're younger, you know,

24:05

I used to do that. But

24:07

you're going to massage the mohawk line all

24:09

the way to the back of your neck.

24:12

That can be and then I imagine that

24:14

I'm separating like an orange. So

24:17

between the right hemisphere and the left

24:19

hemisphere of my brain, I'm just going

24:21

along this line of that ridge. That

24:24

can be really important to do during

24:26

the full moon, but leading up

24:28

to full moon. So the first quarter

24:30

moon into the full moon, that kind of

24:33

like a wonderful massage can be good. And

24:35

also, if you are having sleep issues,

24:37

you know, the sleep issues going to

24:40

impact your insulin. And

24:42

insulin resistance is

24:44

probably, I would say, one of the

24:47

main reasons why we live

24:49

in a society that there were

24:51

not hormonally very balanced anymore. You

24:53

know, so I think it's good to know

24:56

that, okay, during the full moon period that

24:58

especially from the first quarter to the

25:00

full moon, maybe my eating habits are

25:02

going to change a little bit. And

25:05

one night of sleep deprivation is

25:07

going to increase your ghrelin. So

25:09

it's like a hunger hormones, right,

25:11

that cannot regulate the leptin. So

25:14

then that's going to throw

25:16

off your estrogen productions and

25:18

progesterone productions and also even

25:20

oxytocin. So I will

25:22

go into this right now. But

25:24

one more maybe recommendation that I have

25:27

for maybe young adults and all of

25:29

us is that – and the little

25:31

kids are probably going to have a

25:33

hard time with this. But during the

25:35

leading up to the full moon time,

25:37

you may want to play around with

25:40

sleeping on your sides a little bit

25:42

more. So changing your pillows around that

25:44

time and promote the side sleeping around

25:46

that time because then that's going to

25:48

help you to drain that glymphotic system

25:51

and help you with it. And I

25:53

also recommend that you do elevate the

25:55

headboard side to about five inches, a

25:57

little bit higher than the feet part.

26:00

and that can play into supporting the

26:04

full moon time but you know especially

26:10

when it comes to the hormones, yes

26:13

the estrogen

26:16

appears to increase during the

26:18

waxing moon cycle so heading towards the

26:21

full moon and it's also progesterone is

26:25

interesting because as soon as you're done with the

26:27

full moon and give it about two

26:29

to three days then that's when the

26:32

progesterone appears to increase again during the

26:34

waning moon cycles so I think

26:38

it goes a lot to work with perimenopausal

26:41

women who are starting to feel like their

26:43

hormones are all getting a

26:45

little bit wacky but also

26:48

menopausal period and post-menopausal women

26:50

who have kind

26:52

of lost up you know monthly I

26:54

mean they have totally lost the menstruation

26:56

cycles but they're really yearning to get

26:59

back into the kind of the cycles

27:01

again and they're all

27:03

wanting to come back to how do

27:05

I live with the moon, how do

27:07

I live with knowing there's these cycles

27:09

in me so what I teach them

27:11

is that there's this tendency for estrogens

27:13

to increase going

27:16

up into waxing moon into the full

27:18

moon so this is when you might

27:21

want to support your estrogen by giving

27:23

yourself certain supplements you know maybe

27:25

I do oil cycling so using like evening

27:28

primrose oil can be really helpful for

27:30

supporting the natural production of your estrogen

27:32

endogenous that's the word that the early on I was

27:34

tripping over my own

27:37

tongue but endogenous production of your estrogen

27:39

can be really helpful there. Also

27:43

certain teas and maybe

27:45

helping prior to that the

27:48

second week of the leading to the

27:50

full moon support your liver a little

27:52

bit so your zenoestrogen can clear out

27:54

a little bit so from the new

27:56

moon to the first quarter moon support

27:59

your liver maybe doing milk thistle

28:01

tea, maybe doing dandelion tea,

28:03

maybe doing some other ayurvedic

28:05

herbs to help deliver detoxification

28:07

can be really set the

28:09

stage to help your endogenous

28:11

production of estrogen leading to

28:13

the full moon. And

28:16

also using things like flaxseed

28:18

capsules. So I'm

28:20

not a huge fan of flaxseed oils

28:23

much anymore unless you're using it maybe

28:25

topically kind of a thing but even now they

28:28

do oxidize very quickly. So

28:30

I do like the capsule

28:32

forms, dark capsules and

28:34

what you want to do with

28:36

evening primrose oil and flaxseed oil

28:38

is to bite the capsules in

28:40

your mouth because your

28:42

saliva is the

28:44

first line of starting to

28:47

the digestion of the fats because lipase

28:49

is actually produced in your saliva in

28:52

your mouth. So maybe do something like

28:54

that to support the estrogen. In

28:57

a progesterone period of time, I

28:59

like using blackcurrant seed oil and

29:01

also doing things like a sunflower

29:04

oil. That can be

29:06

really good. I do recommend that

29:08

you look for cold pressed that

29:10

come in capsules so they're not

29:12

oxidized. And I like to

29:14

support progesterone like I usually wait about three

29:16

to five days after the full

29:19

moon to begin to support the

29:21

progesterone production. And this is when

29:23

you can do like

29:25

certain teas like hibiscus

29:27

tea can be really good, passion flower

29:29

tea can be good and I'm going

29:31

to correct myself there but the hibiscus

29:34

tea is actually better for

29:36

the estrogen production. So

29:38

you might want to use that kind of a tea. You

29:41

could actually put it out in the sun

29:43

and make a sun tea with hibiscus during

29:45

that estrogen period to support your young

29:48

women and also grandparents,

29:50

grandmothers. Oh, so many

29:52

more directions. I want to go with you on

29:55

this because it's so fascinating and I feel like

29:57

even just mentioning cycling the oils and the teas

29:59

and the herbs. I feel like another thing we've moved

30:01

away from in the modern world is the

30:03

power of certain natural substances like that and

30:05

how much they can actually really support the

30:07

body. And if we think

30:09

about it, many pharmaceuticals are derived from plants,

30:11

from flowers, from herbs, and

30:14

we consider those very powerful but we've

30:16

missed the natural version of those that

30:18

still exist and how profoundly they can

30:21

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33:50

You mentioned melatonin several

33:52

times. any

34:00

tips for supporting the body's melatonin cycles

34:02

naturally for people who don't want to

34:04

take exogenous melatonin but want to make

34:06

sure that their rhythms are strong? Well,

34:09

melatonin as you probably know

34:11

is the darkness essence

34:14

basically. So really enjoying the dark

34:16

moon period to support that production

34:18

of melatonin is going to be

34:20

helpful. And I also, you know,

34:22

I used to stress about the

34:24

fact that I wasn't sleeping as

34:26

long or my dreams are a

34:28

lot more vivid during the full

34:30

moon period. But I have actually

34:32

relaxed into that nature's cycles,

34:35

you know, this is just a natural

34:37

thing. And so I do

34:39

use the darkening curtains and maybe eye

34:41

masks and things like that. But perhaps,

34:44

you know, knowing that this is just a

34:46

part of it, because no, the

34:49

studies are basically showing that it really

34:51

doesn't matter whether you live in a

34:53

part of the world that is

34:55

completely dark or you live in

34:57

an urban setting, the lunar cycles

35:00

are impacting our melatonin productions no

35:02

matter what. So as I started

35:04

to kind of relax, I started to

35:06

enjoy my vivid dreams and you

35:08

know what the dreams are teaching me and

35:10

the nighttime kind of experiences a

35:13

little bit more and I stopped worrying

35:15

about it. And I started to promote

35:17

a little bit more, maybe

35:19

naps during the time that you're

35:21

leading up to the full moon.

35:24

So this may not necessarily

35:26

help you with the melatonin

35:28

productions, but instead of fighting

35:31

and to make sure you

35:33

have enough melatonin, you

35:35

know, 365 days a year kind of

35:37

a thing. I like the living with

35:39

the event flow a little bit more.

35:41

And some other, you know, recommendations for

35:43

producing melatonin, obviously is to make

35:46

sure you're exposing your forehead, especially

35:48

right around and we call it

35:50

the third eye and the yogic

35:53

world, but to the sunlight first

35:55

thing in the morning, that's very important,

35:58

exposing your skin to the sunlight very.

36:00

important and really learning

36:02

to enjoy the darkening. So this

36:04

is when my husband

36:06

used to take his kids when he

36:09

was teaching at a school on

36:11

these dark moon night walks. So

36:13

he will take them up to

36:15

the, to, um, maybe camp

36:17

out for three days. He, he worked for

36:19

the independent schools so they can do these

36:21

things kind of thing and learn to feel

36:24

safe in the dark. And does that really

36:26

help with the melatonin production? Maybe

36:28

there isn't like a quite the

36:30

exact correlation between walking in the

36:32

dark and enjoying the

36:35

moon and what the dark skies are

36:38

teaching us. But I do think that

36:40

when you feel safe in the dark,

36:43

these hormones can balance themselves

36:45

much, much better. So, you know, doing

36:47

the night walk with your kids, or

36:49

maybe you take your flashlight with you,

36:51

but at some point see if you

36:53

could just stand there and give it,

36:55

giving your eyes a little bit of

36:58

time to readjust that darkness. And

37:00

that also has a beautiful way of

37:02

learning how to balance your boundaries as

37:05

well. And because you

37:07

begin to explore your own personal

37:10

boundaries in that darkness. And

37:13

I find that very, very helpful for kids

37:15

and for adults as well that they have

37:17

forgotten what it is to enjoy the darkness.

37:20

And I think we can build much

37:23

more inner trust by exploring

37:25

that. So that's, those are some of the ways that

37:27

you can learn to increase your

37:30

melatonin during the dark moon period and

37:32

really honor that time because you're going

37:34

to need it. You're going to need

37:37

some reserves of melatonin that you need

37:39

to tap into as you head

37:41

to the full moon. I love the

37:43

way you framed that and the reminder to

37:46

embrace the rhythms of nature and not feel

37:48

like we need to control everything to be

37:50

exactly the same at all times. And hearing

37:52

about the three days of camping reminded me

37:54

of the camping study, which is talked about

37:56

a lot now, but how even just a

37:58

few days spent in nature. with

38:00

the natural light cycles had a really

38:02

amazing impact on the circadian rhythm and

38:04

the production of certain hormones and on

38:06

deep sleep and how even people with

38:08

chronic sleep issues seem to equalize quite

38:10

a lot from just a few days

38:12

in nature, which is again, just a

38:14

reminder how maybe we've become disconnected from

38:16

nature in the modern world and how

38:18

often getting back to nature

38:21

or creating more of that environment of nature within our

38:23

homes can really help our body to do what it

38:25

needs to do naturally, which it sounds like you find

38:27

a lot in your work as well. Our bodies want

38:30

to live in nature, to live in unison

38:32

with nature and to live in unison with these

38:34

rhythms. It's just there's a lot of competing factors

38:36

in the modern world that make it harder than

38:38

it might have been for our ancestors long ago.

38:41

I know we're going to get to do another episode and

38:43

go deeper on this topic, but before we end

38:45

for today, can you let people know where they

38:47

can find you to keep learning? I know you

38:49

do this work one-on-one, but you also have a

38:51

tremendous amount of resources available for people to keep

38:54

learning. Yes, so you can

38:56

go to mesamikavi.com and also I post

38:58

a lot of videos on YouTube under

39:01

the same name, MesamiKavi. So

39:03

you can look that up and I

39:05

do a lot of workshops these days

39:07

as well. So you can join a

39:09

menopausal group or postmenopausal group and do

39:11

these cycles together and I think doing

39:13

it for not just one month, but

39:15

doing it for 90 days, three months

39:17

can make a huge difference for all of us.

39:20

I will make sure those links are included

39:22

as well. I love the photo behind you

39:25

for anybody who's not watching on video, a

39:27

beautiful photo of the moon and a woman

39:29

and that kind of balance and interaction between

39:31

the two. That's absolutely gorgeous and

39:33

I'm excited to learn from you again in our next

39:35

episode, but for today, thank you so much for your

39:37

time and for everything that you've shared. Thank

39:40

you for listening and sharing your time with us

39:42

today and I hope that you will join me

39:45

again on the next episode of the Wellness Mama

39:47

podcast. If

39:49

you're enjoying these interviews, would you please take two

39:51

minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes

39:53

for me? Doing This helps more

39:55

people to find the podcast, which means even more

39:58

moms and families could benefit from the information. I

40:00

really appreciate your time and thinks has always

40:02

for listening.