Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the beyond aesthetics podcast. We are so happy you're ah here. i am your host, Tiffany, or this is my beautiful co-host. I'm Jessica Peterson. And today we are joined by, one of our, one of my very good friends, Randy Godfrey, and we are so excited to bring her to you and all of her wealth of knowledge and insight and incredible value that we're going to talk about today. Welcome, Randy.
Speaker: Thank you. So happy to be here.
Speaker: Randy, tell us and our listener just a little bit about yourself. Fill us in. Yeah, there's a lot to know about me. um So I, well, I'm there. So first and foremost, i think that my biggest passion in life right now is that I teach movement and namely that's Pilates and hot Pilates.
Speaker: I also, ah i consider myself a cycle educator. So I've gone by like the name of hormone health coach. It just doesn't like really feel as resonant to me as cycle educator because that's more what I do is educate women about the cycle um and help women like try to find balance within that and also try to heal from all the stories that have been created about our cycles and periods and taboos and the stigmatization of it and all that.
Speaker: um I'm also an astrologer and ah an herbalist and I work in corporate events as well, which is like a whole other world, but I also plan wellness events and retreats and all the things. So that's kind of, that's like my shtick right here.
Speaker: That's a really beautiful resume actually, and we could probably just continue to schedule episodes with you. One thing that i feel really excited about is as I'm out working with estheticians, they have been asking so many questions about women's hormonal health and cycles and periods. And I think that we are noticing as women that we're being more open about the conversation, more conversation is being had about cycles, about the aging process, about our hormones. And so for estheticians,
Speaker: I feel like they have no baseline necessarily to work with when their clients are coming to them, having these conversations and the spaces that we're in are so intimate. You know, we're in a quiet space, the doors closed, the the lights are down and there's the physical touch involved. And there just ends up being that beautiful emotional connection that really allows women to to open up about these conversations. And so what we're so excited about is to have you here helping our community of esthetician just gain some baseline knowledge. so that we can really help women and support them through this journey and even just you know listening to the first parts of your course they were so resonant with me and so we're really excited about this because it is such a huge topic of conversation that estheticians need some support with and so i really wanted to lead in with that and just let our listener know that you're really in for a treat when it comes to having Randy with us and, and really welcoming her to beyond aesthetics and the value that you have to share. So thank you really, truly. I think on behalf of estheticians everywhere, we need you so much and we're very grateful. Very, very grateful.
Speaker: Well, thank you. That's really sweet to hear. And I am so happy to spread like all of the knowledge and all the information and as much as I can with anyone who will listen. So thank you both for bringing me on board and yeah, letting me just have this voice.
Speaker: Absolutely. so we would really love to dive into your background and tell us anything and everything that you want to share that has led you to where you are today, especially now understanding your resume even better. you know, how how did you land here? Because it clearly is something that is so authentic to you and you're so passionate about it. And so we would love for you to just let us in on that.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, as with all stories, I think it's like a lot of things is a culmination of many things that led me here. um the The place that I usually start with and what got me kind of into the health journey or like the health and wellness space for me actually, and not just ah like being more interested in what I was eating or, um you know, trying to go through different diets to look good or to like slim down. Like I feel like so many of us get caught in this hamster wheel of diet culture and what that looks like.
Speaker: And when I actually started thinking about it in terms of more like, no, this is my health and my wellness that we're talking about. It's not necessarily what I look like, but it's how I want to feel on the inside.
Speaker: um and it actually came in a moment where I was so focused on aesthetics. And so it's kind of ironic in that way, but uh, ah It was during the pandemic and i was just like having the best time, honestly. Like I know that it wasn't a really great time for a lot of people. So sometimes I feel a little bit guilty about sharing my experience, but it really, I had the best time during the pandemic because for once in my life, there was no stress.
Speaker: Like I didn't have the stress of going to work. I didn't have the stress of like knowing where my money was coming from because I was furloughed at work and I was also getting you know, the stipends from the government.
Speaker: um And i didn't have the stress of like social interactions with people. Like it it was just the one and only time that I think I felt an absence of stress in my life. And so I was kind of thriving.
Speaker: i was doing macrame. i was like being super creative. I was doing so many arts and crafts. i was like renovating the rental that I lived in. Um, was also working out like two times a day and just like eating really well. Um, and so I ended up somehow getting into like the best shape of my life and probably the best health of my life. Like I'd never felt that good before.
Speaker: Um, and then I just decided on a whim that I was going to enter a bodybuilding competition because of it, because I'd always wanted to. And I had been in and like heavy weightlifting for a really long time at that point. Um, I was like,
Speaker: Well, I'm at like the best shape of my life. So this is a good starting point for me if I want to do it. And I had friends who have done it and I i just decided to jump into it right away. i did not have a coach. I did not have like a nutritionist. um I had a friend who had done it and she like gave me as much guidance as she could.
Speaker: um And we would practice like posing and stuff together as much as we could. But i like trained for probably two months for it and ended up dropping a lot of like more weight than I think I needed to. I got down to, i think it was like 9% body fat by my own calculations.
Speaker: And ah that's like pretty low for women. That's really, really low. Like for a man, like six to 9% is probably okay. And he'll still be pretty healthy for women. That's really, really low. Like we're designed to have more fat on our bodies. It's protective for us.
Speaker: And Uh, my health just deteriorated after that. And so I did the competition. um I don't think that I ever want to do it again. Like as as soon as I went through it, I was like, that's probably not for me.
Speaker: um but my hair started falling out, like in clumps, my skin was like pallid and gray. ah I had no life to me. I would get easily exhausted just walking around. I would get easily fatigued doing almost anything.
Speaker: um i had no energy to speak of. And i had a really hard time with the diet culture that was then like, I'd done such a good job during the pandemic of like erasing that from my life and then getting into bodybuilding and like doing the dieting and the cutting and then the reverse dieting of coming out of it.
Speaker: It puts such a huge weight back over my shoulders. And it took me years to like claw my way back out of that sort of mindset of like thinking I need to track my macros or track my calories or whenever I'm eating something being like, there's 12 grams of fat in this. Like, you know, like you just start to think about those things and it becomes almost second nature to you. And then it it's just a, it's such a heavy weight.
Speaker: um And so that was the first indicator to me that like there was something wrong with my body. And then the second indicator to me that actually made me take things seriously was that I lost my cycle for seven months.
Speaker: And i was like, this is not normal. I know that this is not normal. And it felt like the piece of me was just gone and missing. And it was for whatever reason, the one part of that whole journey that I was like, okay, I need to take this seriously. Like I need to get this back.
Speaker: And so that kind of like led me into learning about the cycle and learning more about hormones and hormone health. At the time, I also had a food company that I had just started and it was revolved around like health and wellness.
Speaker: Um, and they were called, um, I called them like moon bombs. And so they were these little like energy balls sort of things that were made with a bunch of different super foods, um, like dates, figs, nuts and seeds. Um, and then superfood powders, some herbal powders.
Speaker: And I started playing around with making them for the cycle instead of making them just for like stress or energy, um, or I think I had one for like mood support. And I had one in there actually already that was for the cycle. And it was called, that was where the original moon bomb came from was that one was called the moon bomb.
Speaker: And i got so much incredible feedback from women about it helping them in their cycle and how they used to never be able to do things like in the days leading up to their cycle. So in that late luteal phase, when we usually have those PMS symptoms arise and they were like, I went on a hike.
Speaker: this time, like I went on a backpacking trip and I didn't have any cramps. They didn't have any symptoms whatsoever. Like, i don't know what you're putting in these, but it's working for me. And I was like, wow, really? Like, that's crazy. Like that's really wild that one thing that you're adding into your day every day could have such a significant impact on the cycle.
Speaker: And so that just really got my gears turning and yeah, long story short, i I ended up making four different moon bombs, one for each phase of the cycle. I did three different studies with about 50, 50 to women. i want to say, um where I just had them change nothing else about their lifestyle, but I wanted them to take one of the moon bombs for which, whichever phase that they thought they were in, even if they weren't sure which phase they thought they were in, i would just have them start it
Speaker: Um, and i would have them track their symptoms three times each phase and that the results were really great I had like 98% of symptom improvement within just the first two months of women taking them. And I entered a pitch competition. I did all this stuff. I got like a bunch of recognition from a really big brand that wanted to work with me. And it just ended up kind of like fizzling out.
Speaker: Oh my gosh. So sorry.
Speaker: It's okay. Okay. You're fine. We welcome children and animals are welcome. The mailman just walked by and she like walked in just at the right time to see it.
Speaker: Oh, I love it. Anyway, um it ended up kind of fizzling out and I got a little bit burnt out, if I'm being honest. So it I didn't really go anywhere else with it after that. But um I continued down the path of hormone health and I took an herbalism course that was specifically geared for, um women's health.
Speaker: and i And that like ended up taking a little bit within nutrition. And then i got certified as a menstrual cycle health coach and, started taking on clients.
Speaker: Wow. Wow. I'm kind of speechless. It's really, well, it just seems like everything really is so aligned with you, you know, like how everything just, it was like,
Speaker: this happened and then this happened and then this happened. And so you obviously had a lot of trust in yourself to heed those callings, if you will. Yeah. Yeah. but I don't know if it was trust in myself or just trust in like the path, like things just kind of kept coming in and kept happening. And it always just seemed like ah the right sign. Like it was just enough of a sign that I needed to keep going because by no means was it easy. And there were so many times when I was like, I don't think this is,
Speaker: the path for me like I feel like I should just give up here like this maybe yeah i should go back into the corporate world or something but um I it was just like enough that I was getting from the universe for me to keep going with it and then when it felt time to stop and pivot I did it takes a lot of trust exactly I'm like and Yeah, no, that is really cool.
Speaker: I've been in the bodybuilding world for 11 years. Okay. And so I've been there so many times. And you know, it's so interesting. And Tiffany and I have talked about this before. Your cycle is so important and you don't know it until you lose it.
Speaker: Yeah. and it feel And I know that not everybody feels that way. you know, and everybody's situation is very different, but I can really just relate to what that experience is like. I remember so vividly knowing that I wasn't going to feel better until my period came back. Like emotionally, it's just such an interesting thing, how your cycle works and what it really does for you. And I will never take it for granted again. Every time my cycle starts, i feel gratitude. I'm like, thank you. Thank you. I'm so grateful. And that's such an interesting place for a woman to be because there is so much stigma and there is a lot of discomfort and there's a lot that comes along with it. But so I really can't wait to dive in a little bit more into getting into the cycles. But before we do that, where are you now? Okay. So you teach
Speaker: You're a cycle educator. What does that look like? Like how do people book with you? What do you do? Yeah. um i I kind of took a little bit of backseat in the cycle education space.
Speaker: um And so I used to have a website. i used to like talk more about it I used to promote myself more on Instagram and I have kind of shifted gears into really focusing in on Pilates and doing retreats for women. um and trying to bring in that cycle education in the retreats as well.
Speaker: um I do still take on clients and I have like one client that I'm working with still at this moment. But um like if people wanted to work with me based off of this podcast, like they could just reach out to me and we could talk about it.
Speaker: ah But it's not something that I'm like advertising opening openly, I guess, anymore. It's more of just like a word of mouth sort of if like tunnel funnel, I guess. And so, ah and i don't I don't think that it's because of any one reason, like I didn't have a bad experience with it or anything and I still really love to do it. And it, I do feel very passionate about helping women, but it's more of the side of having to sell something online, which I'm sure you guys, maybe you felt this as business owners as well, but it's just so hard sometimes.
Speaker: feeling like you have to sell yourself online. And like, this was, it's so, it was so much different than the food company where that felt like outside of me. It was something that I created. Yes. But it was like outside of me versus health coaching was like, this is a me thing. Like I'm selling myself here to you. And it just felt, i don't know. It gave me the ick. And so I stopped doing it.
Speaker: And that, I mean, yeah, we could go down that, but we don't have to. So um this is more of a word of mouth sort of funnel now. I love that, man. I think you would be so incredibly valuable for estheticians. I really do. i mean, and by the way, Randy is doing our continuing education for September and October. So all of her education, she put together.
Speaker: specifically for our membership. So if you are a member, you're aware of that. If you're not a member, now you know. If you want more in-depth on this, Randy's courses are available there and they're free to you as a member.
Speaker: um So that is really interesting to to hear that because i guess from my perspective, because we need this knowledge so much, I'm like, Randy, sell yourself. like But it's not necessarily selling yourself as much as it is like, I think inviting in the right people or just finding those people, which is why word of mouth works so well, right? You just kind of automatically know that these people are for you. But gosh, it's it's just so valuable. So if you're ready, we can go ahead and dive dive it into it. um
Speaker: Because a lot of what we wanted to talk about today is the emotional aspect of the the cycles. And so I'm going to let you take that away because I think that that is kind of first and foremost on everybody's minds. And so anything that you have to share with us, we'll just hand it over to you.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. This is one of my favorite parts to talk about when it comes to hormone health and the cycle and our relationship to our periods and to our room space specifically. um because there is a relationship and there's meant to be one.
Speaker: And a lot of women divorce themselves from their womb space or from their period and kind of disconnect from it to the point where it's not even a part of them. Like it's just something that happens to them.
Speaker: And ah that it's it's a really big disservice that we're doing to our bodies because that disconnection, it can actually it can foster more symptoms. So there is a correlative study that was done.
Speaker: I don't remember the exact year, but it was recent, like with within the 2000s time period. and the study was looking at women's relationships to their cycles and how much PMS like pain or symptom or dysregulation they experienced during their cycle. And there was a direct correlation between women who like had more negative feelings about their cycle and experiencing more PMS symptoms.
Speaker: And then women who felt more positively about their cycle tended to have less symptoms. So there is a really large emotional aspect to it. Oh my gosh. Okay.
Speaker: Yeah. Which if think about it, of course there is. Yeah. I'm kind of like, why are we surprised? yeah That makes a lot of sense that we don't think about it that way. Yeah.
Speaker: I know, of course it does. like So, i mean, if you're thinking about it in terms of the energetic body, the womb space is in our sacral chakra and the sacral chakra is the gut. It's like our gut space, but it's also our intuition space. And it's where our kind of eternal flame burns. It's where a lot of our creative energy comes from. It's where a lot of our like power as women comes from.
Speaker: And so the disconnection is not just from the womb space, then it's from the sacral chakra. And if you have a blocked sacral chakra, the likelihood that you are feeling like happiness or creative or joy for life or um even listening to your intuition and being able to connect to that part of yourself, like the likelihood of all of that is a little bit lessened.
Speaker: That's just what a blocked sacral chakra can look like. And so as women, we have this innate power to be able to feel into those gut instincts or intuitive hits or intuition, however you want to think about it.
Speaker: um and to allow that to kind of lead us through life and to allow that to make decisions for us. And to tell it, I mean, it tells us not just like when it's safe and when it's not safe.
Speaker: It also tells us what move to make next or where we should be going on any daily basis. It's like a blueprint that's kind of been laid out for us and we have different options always we always have choices but our intuition might lead us into a certain space where we meet somebody and it just changes our life forever and that's that's the power that we have within our sacral chakras and within our womb spaces and within our bodies as women like there's so much magic to be held here and um i'm i'm doing a teacher training in pilates right now and so we just did a like a little like spiritual opening ceremony sort of thing and i was talking about all this with them too and they were just all like
Speaker: Like that's crazy. um But I just think that the cycle itself is so magical. Like we have four different phases of the cycle. There are four different phases of the moon. We have four elements in nature.
Speaker: Like the numerology of four is the number of foundations. It's everything that is built upon. Like that is the table of the legs. You have four different tables to the leg. So, or legs to the table and um you build everything upon that. And like, that's, that's women. That's,
Speaker: our power, that's our magic. So anyone who's ever like, there's no connection between the moon phases and our cycles. I'm like, there is, let me tell you. ham But kind of going back into the emotional aspect of it, i think one of the big emotions that can really get stuck and we hold in the body. So in yoga, we always think about like we hold stress and trauma in the hips.
Speaker: Um, and that's, that's also true because like, that's our seat of the womb and that's the seat of the sacral chakra. Stress is like the number one thing that I always talk to women about whenever they first come to me.
Speaker: Like what, what's going on in your life? Like, tell me about a day in your life. And they'll talk about like all these different things that they have going on, all of these issues at work, um, things that are going on at home. And I'm like, that's a lot to,
Speaker: fair. That's a lot to handle. Like, and all of us are feeling this. This is not just the women who are coming to me, but we live in a stressful world these days. There's a lot to think about. There's a lot of responsibility on all of our shoulders.
Speaker: And a lot of women will disconnect from their stress to the point where they're like, I'm not stressed. I don't feel stressed. I'm fine. And then the next session, maybe, or maybe two sessions later, they'll come back to me and they'll be like, you know, i was thinking about it. And I actually think that I am really stressed out.
Speaker: I'm like, yes, so let's work on it. let's Let's try to find some mindfulness techniques that we can work on to try to like mitigate the stress or figure out how maybe we don't take all of this energy on and energy in so that it's not just sitting in the body and we can kind of like move it out somehow or not take so much in.
Speaker: But stress is always the number one thing. And this has happened to me too. i When i was a river guide, um the very first couple of weeks that I was guiding, I got hives all over my body.
Speaker: from the moment that I got into the warehouse to put all of my stuff on until stopped working at like 3 p.m. And I went to the doctor and she was like, are you feeling stressed?
Speaker: And I was like, no, I'm not stressed at all. Why would you say that? Why would you even think that? And then I thought about it more and I was like, yeah, no, that's it. That is what it is. Like this, it happens as soon as I get to work and it stops as soon as I leave work. I'm just stressed out about river guiding and like,
Speaker: the likelihood that I could potentially throw someone out of a boat over like there are people's lives on my hands in some way, you know? So it was just stress, stress hives.
Speaker: Oh my gosh. yeah I believe it. It's so true. And it's especially, i think we've just gotten to a space as a society, but especially as women, that the stress is just normal.
Speaker: You know, we just, we're, it's part of our daily lives. We've just learned to adapt to the stress in our lives. And so when like, it's a knee jerk reaction and it's almost offensive, When someone asks if you're stressed, cause you're just like, no, i that I, I, this is just life. I'm fine. But deep down, we're just like carrying just a certain layer of stress all the time. And so, it is a thing for sure, especially for women. We carry so much.
Speaker: I think especially because we feel this responsibility to carry so much. Yeah. We feel that so much is on our shoulders and that if we don't do it nobody else is going to do it.
Speaker: yeah Like, or they won't do it correctly or they won't do it the way that we want them to do it. Like there's, there's so many opportunities for us to ask for help and to ask for assistance, but it's almost that it's more, I think sometimes that we don't trust other people to be able to do it versus that we can't like actually ask for the help, even though that is also a struggle for a lot of women is just receiving, receiving is such a huge part of it. Um,
Speaker: the act of being able to receive help from somebody or receive anything from, we're always going to be the first ones who are like, no, no, no, like I got it. I can do it. but like, even if we receive a compliment, like just think about how you take in a compliment. Like, do you actually feel it in your body and you allow it to come in and you are just like, thank you. That means so much to me. Or do you just kind of brush it off immediately and not even let it touch you and just say, thank you or move on or try to give them a compliment right back.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. A lot of it is the receiving as well. um But coming back to the stress, we, there is a baseline that we have.
Speaker: And so as we continue to build our, not our stress resistance or our stress tolerance in the body, but as stress continues to like infiltrate our body and we're not doing anything to manage it or mitigate it,
Speaker: that baseline starts to go up. And that means that either our cortisol levels are going to continue to rise, or if we get to a point where we can't take on anymore, and we've been in this fight and flight mode for way too long, our cortisol levels will actually drop and become almost negligible.
Speaker: And both of those things aren't good for the body. They're not good for the hormones. Like cortisol isn't hormones. um that we think about a lot when it comes to the cycle. And it's just something that we have to learn how to start receiving help. First of all, we have to learn how to start like asking for assistance or to delegate things to other people.
Speaker: That's a really big one. And then mitigating stress, finding mindfulness techniques that actually work for you. Or like when you get home from work, maybe you take a couple of minutes just to dancing is one of my favorite ways to like move energy out of the body but just like literally shaking your body and jumping up and down for a minute listening to one of your favorite songs or maybe it's in the car ride home and you just turn on one of your favorite songs and you just sing at the top of your lungs and that's a way to move energy out of the body as well but we have to find ways to be able to come back into state
Speaker: state where maybe we're not in the parasympathetic state where that's the um the rest and digest phase, but we at least are below the baseline that's been building up in our bodies. Cause every time we can get below it, the baseline will hopefully like come down and down and down. And the more that we can stay in a parasympathetic state, the better.
Speaker: Randy, can you explain for our listener who doesn't know why too high of cortisol or it like you explained, if that cortisol gets too high and then actually like drops, why that's a bad thing for our, our cycle health or hormone health or mental health, all of the things.
Speaker: and Yeah. Cortisol has a a pretty direct relationship with a lot of our hormones. um So if we have super high cortisol,
Speaker: Sometimes that means that we're just existing and living in a stress response at all times. We're always in that fight and flight response. And what that can feel like in the body is you feel tired, but you also feel wired.
Speaker: So you can't go to sleep immediately at night because you're exhausted and you feel exhausted, but your brain is actively moving all the time. And you also feel this kind of low vibration. Like it does feel like a wiring or some sort of like electricity moving through you, but it feels slightly uncomfortable, but not like to a level that we would be like, oh, I need to go to a hospital or anything like that.
Speaker: um It's just, it's a very low level thing, but it's tired and wired is like the best wording that I've ever heard about how you feel in this state. um And if you have high cortisol, then it's likely that you maybe either have estrogen dominance, which means that there's more estrogen being produced in the body than progesterone.
Speaker: um or your body is not producing enough progesterone, which can also kind of lead to estrogen dominant symptoms. But estrogen dominance can also come in from like environmental factors, xenoestrogens, different chemicals that we basically come into contact with that mimic estrogen in the body. And then a lack of progesterone can look like having a really short cycle or spotting.
Speaker: Spotting is usually one of the main indicators that like your body's not producing enough progesterone. Um, so that's high cortisol. If you have low cortisol, that could also be so many different things. Um, but low cortisol often comes in hand in hand with like, there's something else going on in the body. Maybe there's some sort of thyroid issue.
Speaker: it could also look Addison's disease is a really, um it's a hormonal kind of issue and disease, but it it's sparked by having almost zero cortisol being produced in the body.
Speaker: And we want cortisol like cortisol is a healthy hormone for us. It's our wake and, like focus sort of home run. So when we wake up in the morning, cortisol has a natural peak and it's what makes us feel alive and alert in the morning without caffeine.
Speaker: And then as the morning goes on, cortisol slowly starts to dip down and towards the afternoon, when we start having like that afternoon sort of slump, that's usually when cortisol is like at its lowest.
Speaker: And then cortisol kind of has like another little mid peak during the day. And then usually it kind of starts to go way down towards ah bedtime because that's when our body's natural melatonin and relaxation chemicals start to turn on to help us go to sleep.
Speaker: So we want cortisol, like it's there for our protection and cortisol is one of the hormones also that spikes when there is some sort of fear response that's happening in the body. So you know, back in the day when we were being chased by saber tooth tigers, like our cortisol was one thing that helped us actually escape from that because it makes us so focused so that we can see exit paths all around us.
Speaker: Um, and so that we can focus on what's happening in the body. And then we also have like the increase of adrenaline and norepinephrine and all of these other chemicals in the body that help us start to flee from that situation of whatever that is.
Speaker: But cortisol is not evil. um it's important, but we want it to be at a, you know, normal, normal rate within the body and not too high and not too low. And we don't want an overproduction and we don't want an underproduction.
Speaker: Hmm. Question then. How do you feel about cortisol supplements?
Speaker: I didn't know that actually there were cortisol, so like you can supplement cortisol for the body. no supplements that control your cortisol level. Oh, I see. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker: Um, I don't know. That's such a tricky space because you'd really have to know like what's going on. Like you need to have testing done. Um, and cortisol testing isn't always the most accurate. Um, I mean, really you should be doing like a 24 hour spit test. If you're doing a cortisol test, um, a lot of them are just like,
Speaker: you do one during the day and maybe they don't even specify what the time is. And that's not going to be an accurate, like an accurate indicator of what's going on with your body. Totally. so my favorite, ah not really a supplement, but these are like herbs that you can take that are usually pretty well tolerated within the body and by most people at least, and are generally really safe as well are adaptogens and adaptogens are just the best. I love them so much. They're a really cool class of herbs and like ashwagandha is one that probably most people I've heard of by this point.
Speaker: Um, but adaptogens help your body adapt to the stress response. So if you are constantly in a fight or flight state, did adaptogen over time. They work cumulatively, cumulatively. So, um,
Speaker: it's not going to work like on day one, but after like maybe two months or three months of you consistently taking it, you're going to start notice noticing that, um, the body and the stress response starts to go down and you can handle more stress because your stress tolerance starts to go up. So adaptogens are really cool because they work with whatever your body needs. It's not necessarily just to help your body like adapt to stress, but it comes into the body and it looks at what it needs and it says, okay, we're either going to move left or right up or down, like whatever you need. i got you, babe. Like it's, I love them.
Speaker: Yeah. I do hugh I'm really passionate about adaptogens. Eminence has adaptogenic ingredients all over in our collection. so I love talking about them. I, so a cortisol supplement is usually adaptogens. Um,
Speaker: Okay. Yes. Yeah. And so I've noticed, ah taking them at night for a lot of people is really helpful. Um, some people will take them in the morning, but I, I kind of feel like if you were to take that in the morning, cause I used to do that, then that is going to kind of mess with your own natural kind of cortisol levels and what they're really supposed to do throughout the day. um And so i don't know, I take them at night and they help me to just relax and go to sleep. And they've really helped with the like balances in my body, but I'm also on HRT. So I don't even know if I know what I'm talking about anyways, but, but I know that they're really common to take cortisol supplements, but they are adaptogenic. so I love to hear that you are pro adaptogenic. I think more people need to take more adaptogens. Yes, I agree. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, there's like there's different classes within the adaptogens as well. And so ashwagandha is one that's more relaxing. So it's good to take at night. Yeah. something like rhodiola is more energizing and stimulating. So that would be something that maybe you would take in the morning if you find something that has rhodiola in it.
Speaker: Oh, that's so interesting. I actually didn't know that. You know, what's so funny is that some people take ashwagandha during the day if they have a lot of ADHD and it like helps to kind of calm them. And I always thought that was really interesting because I always tell people to take it at night too, but I'm like, oh yeah, I could see how that would make sense now that you say that.
Speaker: Yeah. I love that. That's really cool. So how does stress affect your cycle? What do you notice the most with stress affecting the cycle?
Speaker: ah So stress similar to like adaptogens with what we were just talking about, it has a cumulative, um, kind of effect on the body. So one day of stress isn't going to affect your cycle, but Over time, if you continue experiencing high stress peaks throughout the day where your cortisol is spiking like consistently over maybe a few months, maybe it takes a few years, it's kind of different for every single person.
Speaker: um But over time, it's just going to kind of wreak havoc on the body and something is going to happen. Something's going to fall out of place, something is going to start underproducing, something is going to start overproducing.
Speaker: So it's hard to say, like, i don't have like an exact, um, like method, ah method, logicic well, what's the word methodical methodical. Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker: I don't have an exact methodical approach to like stress does this to the body. And then like this thyroid hormone hormone starts to go down and then this hormone starts to decrease.
Speaker: um maybe someone else would. But from what I've noticed with my clients is that it just has an effect on the body. Yeah. Like it, it's either going to show up as something like PMOD or um PMS symptoms, or potentially something like PMDD, or maybe it could even like after a really long time of not like really taking care of the body and a lot of issues with the body, it could be potentially something like endometriosis.
Speaker: Um, so it just does have an effect on the body. We see it in the skin. i see a lot and skin care professionals Yeah. Um, also I've noticed with me, so I'm wondering if this is common, like cycle length,
Speaker: or the timing of your cycle. So like I've noticed if I'm under a lot of stress and like say it has been going on for the three to four weeks, my cycle will be drastically delayed. And so that's always an indicator that i am stressed.
Speaker: You know what I mean? So where I think like we're saying as women, we do disconnect from our cycle so much. I think if you're good at tracking your cycle, which I would actually love to talk to you about that as well and your recommendations, but If you're really good at tracking your cycle and all of a sudden you're, you know, two days late, three days late, four days late, and you know, you're not pregnant. That's how I know that there's something really wrong that maybe I'm not paying attention to, if that makes sense. So have you noticed that that is common, that the length of the cycle or the delays in a cycle are usually related to a stress response? Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Speaker: It's either, yes, it could either be a physical stress response. so things like in the workout world, back when I was doing a lot of bodybuilding, like if you start to lose weight too quickly, or you're being incredibly active for the first time in your life, maybe, and you weren't maybe as active before that, your cycle could be delayed.
Speaker: You might even skip your cycle. Yeah. um or it could be an emotional stress response. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, what's interesting about stress, and I would love your take on this, is that what I've learned throughout the years is that your body doesn't really know how to differentiate between different types of stress. It's just stress. And I think that people are astounded when they learn that, you know, so it could be physical, it could be emotional. Your body is going to respond the same way. It just sees stress. Is that true as far as you know? I'm sure that there are nuances there, but I think that's important to recognize.
Speaker: A hundred percent. Yeah, it's absolutely true. I talk about this in classes a lot. Um, our, yeah, our bodies do not know the difference between good stress and bad stress. And like an example of good stress would be like a workout, um, moving your body in some way, but maybe there's a peak of intensity to it. And that is, that comes into the body as physical stress, but your body can't differentiate between this is good stress.
Speaker: Like this is stress that's helping me in some way. And this is bad stress. Like, um, having a lot of responsibility on your shoulders or like a really big project, do it work. That's just like keeping you up at night.
Speaker: And there, I mean, the body just doesn't know how to differentiate it. And so we talk about this a lot in class because the important thing with after a workout is the cool down and coming back into that parasympathetic state afterwards.
Speaker: And so even in all my Pilates classes, we always start with grounding and we always end with grounding. We're just lying on our backs and we are focusing on our breathing and we're really trying to release the mind, um not use the storyteller mind to try to create like intellectualization around what we're feeling in the body or to try to create a narrative about what we're feeling, but we're just feeling like what exists in the body. What are the sensations? What does it feel like? What does it look like? Does it feel heavy or dense? Does it feel light? Does it feel like it's moving? Does it feel like it's swirling? Like really trying to get that connection back into the body because that's where the parasympathetic
Speaker: like stress, parasympathetic response comes back in. um There's also, it's really cool. So at the top of our lungs, we have what's called a sympathetic receptor.
Speaker: And at the very bottom of our lungs, we have parasympathetic receptors. So when we're shallowly breathing, like we do for most of the day, it's actually activating the sympathetic system. And when we are taking deep belly breaths,
Speaker: we can actually activate those parasympathetic receptors to get our body back into a parasympathetic state. Oh my gosh. I did not i did did not know that.
Speaker: So can you clarify just for our listener who maybe is not aware of sympathetic and parasympathetic, can you just give us a brief explanation? Yeah. So sympath the sympathetic stress response is that fight or flight yeah response. yeah And then the parasympathetic is the rest and digest state that we want to be in most of the time.
Speaker: What is your favorite way to activate parasympathetic during the day? Deep belly breaths, like really trying to use those parasympathetic receptors at the bottom of the lungs and also using our diaphragm muscle because it's our main breathing muscle and we don't use it very often, especially as women, because we are all focusing on holding in.
Speaker: It's so true. As I like take a big deep belly breath right now. Yeah. Such a good reminder.
Speaker: have oh I love it. um I have a question before we move forward or something that I would love before we move forward is we have not talked. So we had a guest. I can't even remember the last time we talked about the phases of the cycle.
Speaker: I think it might be really helpful to lay a baseline of what the phases are. If you can do that briefly, if you're comfortable or willing to just walk us through that.
Speaker: Yes. So are The first phase of the cycle is the menstrual phase, the bleed phase. um so day one of your cycle would basically be the first day of your period. And by period, if you spot, it has to be more than a thimble amount of blood. Oh, okay. So spotting is not actually considered the first day of your period. Okay. Okay.
Speaker: So day one, we have the menstrual phase, and that can last anywhere from three to seven days, depending on the person, depending on the cycle. And then we go into the follicular phase. and um this usually goes like up until about halfway in the cycle, maybe like day 10, 11, 12-ish. then get into the ovulatory phase, which and then we get into the ovulatory phase which Ovulation is not a phase. Ovulation is an event that happens in the body. It happens in a moment it's there and then it's gone. Um, but because the hormones are so different in this, in four day stretch, like right before ovulation happens, we consider it to be a phase, um, because your hormones are at their peak basically for about three to four days before ovulation even hit.
Speaker: So there's the ovulatory phase. And then we also have the luteal phase, which is the longest phase of the cycle. And this happens directly after ovulation all the way until your next bleed phase starts.
Speaker: Which cycle do you find women feel they're happiest or like their best, less stressed?
Speaker: it's it's most It's like so different for every single woman, but for the most part, we like tend to feel our best selves during the ovulatory phase. or in like that later half of the follicular phase. Okay. Start to get more energy in the follicular phase because our hormones start to increase. So estrogen namely starts to go up in the follicular phase, which just increases our energy levels. And then in the ovulatory phase, we have super high estrogen. we have super high testosterone as well.
Speaker: And it just makes us feel alive and a little bit more motivated, a little bit more social usually. We tend to be more attracted to ourselves. Actually, when we look at ourselves in the mirror, our skin tends to be the best during the ovulatory phase yeah because estrogen is also directly linked to how like plump or firm our skin appears.
Speaker: And then in the luteal phase, like women can still feel good in and the luteal phase. It's the late luteal phase, which are the last like maybe three to four days before our period starts that gives the luteal phase a bad rap.
Speaker: Yeah. I always see all of these things on Instagram everywhere and they're like women in their luteal phase. and you're like, no, like it's not all like that. Well, and I think it's so true that it's how you think about it that it's going to affect you because I actually don't have issues in my luteal phase.
Speaker: You know, sometimes I'll be emotional the night before my cycle or something, but for the most part, I'm like pretty smooth sailing. So I think I am like really starting to tie that to what you're saying the beginning. It's like really how you feel about it. It's your beliefs. It's your like approach to it that is going to have the effect that it is going to have on you.
Speaker: I also think it's how well you've been taking care of yourself. leading up to maybe that, that month, that full cycle or the couple months before, i think that has an effect on it. You as well during that luvial phase, because some months I, it doesn't affect me. Like you said, i might get a little emotional and then like my period starts. I'm like, Oh yeah, well that makes sense.
Speaker: And then some months I'm like, Oh my gosh, like I don't even recognize myself. And, and it is, it does have a direct correlation to how just I've been taking care of myself and how I feel my body. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's connected so much to like how we're nourishing our bodies and not just with nutrition, but how are we're taking care of ou ourselves and stress, I think also has a direct impact on it.
Speaker: What a lot of women don't know is that it takes about three months to actually see changes in your cycle. So even if you start something like a supplement or an herb or a new practice, like it could take three months for you to actually start to see results from that.
Speaker: Interesting. a good reminder. Makes sense. um Yeah. Each cycle kind of builds upon the last one.
Speaker: One thing as I was putting is loading your course that i am obsessed with is just your discussion about the stigma yeah behind the cycle. If you can touch on that for a minute in your thoughts, because I felt like that was one of my favorite parts about what you were talking about. And it just really changed my perspective. And I think when it does come to changing your perspective on the cycle, that does kind of lay the foundation for you to be able to do that, if that makes sense.
Speaker: Yeah, man, I kind of, i feel like I went on some rants in there about the stigmatization of the cycle. of it We love that kind of stuff because it's a group of women, you know, that, and so i think that I mean, honestly, it was so valuable for me. I think about it all the time still. So yeah, if you can rant about it if you want, or you can give us some like touch points, but I was really obsessed with that conversation.
Speaker: i i honestly don't remember what I said. I kind of just like go into a blind great like rage almost when I'm talking about these things. yeah But ohll yeah, I'll leave it for the those who are taking the course, I won't like, i won't ruin it for them. Cause who knows what I said, but the stigmatization around the cycle, I mean, it's just something that all of us carry. It's something that all of us have, it's been passed down for generations. First of all, um, it may, I mean, it goes back so so far, like, it's just crazy when you think about like how, how many generations of women have carried this burden and
Speaker: of feeling like the cycle is something to be ashamed about or feeling like period blood is disgusting and gross or feeling like we shouldn't be able to talk about our periods at all. yeah One of my favorite examples that I will use a lot is I'm sure that we've all seen it. I'm pretty sure it's a Tampax commercial, um but it's this, it's probably like an older commercial too, but it's this woman and she's like maybe in her young twenty s And she's wearing all white and she's in like a tennis skirt and a tennis top. And she's like playing the best game of tennis of her life. and she has a little Tampax tampon that she just like slides into the pocket of her skirt. And it's so discreet and it's hidden and nobody can see it. And nobody knows that she's on her period and she's wearing all white. And there's like, you would never know that this woman is bleeding and is maybe in like the lowest energy phase of her entire cycle.
Speaker: And Just the messaging around the commercial is so poignant for how the media, how the world, how everyone kind of thinks and feels about the cycle in general, because everything like white is the color of purity. So it's like women are meant to be pure. Women are meant to be clean.
Speaker: And then the fact that we have to hide the tampon is that's because it's shameful. That's because we don't talk about it. That's because it's dirty and it's unclean. and just like that messaging alone, you're like, obviously this is why we feel the way that we do.
Speaker: Like, this is something that we see almost every day. Like, especially when, you know, we used to watch a lot more like live TV and it was less on streaming services. Like when we were all growing up, like, of course, that's why young girls grow up feeling so ashamed of their cycle and feeling like they have to hide their pads or their tampons or like now cups and stuff from everyone. and ah why there's so much shame around like even asking a friend for an extra tampon or how how humiliating it is to be in the bathroom without one and to be like does anyone have anything in here and as women we're always going be the first ones to jump on that and be like oh my gosh yes i have one here you go like no problem at all but that one person who had to ask for it like
Speaker: they carry that humiliation with them. And it's just so sad to me because it's not anything to be humiliated about. Like this is something that happens to 50% of the population or 51% of the population because there are more women than men on this world.
Speaker: And like, why are we, why are we so ashamed of it? And then I think I talk about this in the course, but there's a really beautiful poem by Gloria Steinem. That's called if men could menstruate.
Speaker: And I just have an excerpt of there in the course, but basically it's like men would parade this around, like it would be the topic of political discussion. Like they would have, they would have, you know, cures for everything. Like they would put so much money and so much development into fixing all of these like menstrual issues that we all have to face every single day. And that the world for better or for worse, just started studying really. Yeah. um and
Speaker: like how men would have like, basically like bleeding contests about whose blood was the darkest and who bled the most and whose cycle is the most regular. And it's just hilarious and also really sad.
Speaker: Oh my gosh. I wonder how often you run into how, yeah, how so Our generation, it was pretty taboo to talk about it. And so I feel like a lot of us are trying to heal and kind of work through a lot of that because our, you know, moms or parental figures were so uncomfortable because their parental figures were so uncomfortable. And I but just want our listener to know that if that was you, i think that's fairly normal that that happened to a lot of us. That was certainly my experience. And it was really freeing when I started working with women to be open about it and not be ashamed of it. was It was just so wonderful because it is so normal. But I do think that a lot of us are dealing with a lot of just healing the generational shame about it because,
Speaker: our moms did not have those discussions with us or our our dads or whatever. Do you find that to be kind of common? Oh yeah. So common. I don't think I've ever worked with a woman or ever.
Speaker: Maybe I've had like a conversation with one woman in my life now at this age where she has done a lot of work on herself. um But I think every single conversation I've ever had with any, any woman about her cycle is like, it's rooted in shame. Yeah. It's some sort of like,
Speaker: desire or to hide it. yeah um And I remember like my first cycle, my mom never warned me about these things, but I do remember being really young and like a bunch of my friends got their cycles before mine. And I was so jealous and so envious because I was like, it it was almost like a right foot or like a rite of passage into um becoming a little bit more grown up, like not necessarily becoming a woman maybe, but like becoming a little bit more grown up. And that was all you want to do when, at least for me, that was all I wanted to do when I was little. I just wanted to grow up yeah and become an adult and be able to live my life. And then you become an adult and you're like, no, I just want to be a young child forever. I'm actually not an adult still.
Speaker: It's so true. It's so true. But I think that speaks really to volumes about like, the shame that's imprinted on us once we start having our cycle because I was excited to get it. Yeah, that's true, actually.
Speaker: and then it happens and then you're like, it's immediate shame, which I think speaks to that generational trauma from it that we all do carry inherently. um But you're right. There is a sort of like pull and desire to have it. And then it happens and you're like, oh, this is terrible. But I think we all too,
Speaker: can relate to just that feeling of like, especially being young, you know, and as a teenager or a preteen of like bleeding through your clothes or being like at school and just that just absolute fear of even bleeding through your clothes. You know what i mean? and it's just, Oh, it's hard to heal from. It's so hard. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: And um my heart goes out to like all of the young girls of this day and age because everything is online now. And I don't even wanna know like what kind of harassment comes from everything being online. But i just really hope that like the younger generations are starting to grow up with like moms of like our generation and are feeling so much less ashamed about it and like don't feel the need to hide everything about it and maybe openly talk about it more, um, figure out like what's normal and what's not normal and when they should maybe go talk to somebody about their cycle.
Speaker: Cause just getting on birth control, isn't the answer for everything. It's an answer for birth control. Yeah. That's what it's the answer for, but it's not necessarily, it's not going to fix your cycle. It's a bandaid.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's part of a much bigger conversation that I think I'm so passionate about as well. um So when you start working with a woman who on their cycle health, where do you typically start with them?
Speaker: So typically we do a food journal to start and i it can be really scary for women to like, be that vulnerable because it kind of feels really intimate to allow somebody into your life and be like, this is exactly what I eat every single day and everything that I drink also.
Speaker: And so there's a lot of conversation about it beforehand about like, this is a judgment-free zone and i want you to be as thorough as possible. And I don't want you to change anything because this is just a baseline. Like I'm just getting an idea of where maybe nutrients might be lacking in your diet of what we might need to focus on. And then usually when I get that back, I usually see something in there. Like no one's, no one is perfect with their, I'm not perfect with my nutrition or my diet. Like I, I may be influencers that you see online, maybe they're perfect, but I even have a hard time believing that they are perfect.
Speaker: I think it's all for show. So we start there. um We start with the food journal, we start with nutrition, and then we look at stress and lifestyle and what's been going on um We start to find answers or we start to try to like puzzle things together.
Speaker: um There are like kind of different symptoms that I can look at that usually correlate with either progesterone or estrogen being too high or too low. And then there are really easy like fixes and little tricks and little things that we can do to try to like mitigate that.
Speaker: um And then we'll kind of get into like the emotional aspect of it. Like how do you feel about your cycle or what's going on emotionally in your life? Because a lot of women there there's, there's either something going on in their life that they just have, they're having a hard time walking away from it, or they're having a hard time letting go of it.
Speaker: And if they can either walk away from it or let go of it, usually everything kind of repairs itself. Like it's it's based around um something that's going on in the life a lot of the times. And so maybe that's like an ex, maybe that's a toxic friendship, maybe that's a toxic relationship with your family, maybe that has something to do with your job and you're just not feeling fulfilled or feeling like you have purpose. Like it it could be a number of things, but there's usually something going on there.
Speaker: That's a loaded subject. I was just thinking that. It really is.
Speaker: Because we all have something, you know what I mean? But it kind of goes back to the conversation of like those things are affecting us and our biology so much more than we're giving them credit for. And we don't really realize it when we're in the midst of it.
Speaker: Yeah. So you have found when somebody is able, like let's just say it is... toxic family members, toxic friendship, um toxic relationship, once somebody walks away or lets it go you find that things will start to balance out in their cycles is what you're saying. Yeah. There's ah there's always an emotional like reason for the body to be in balance.
Speaker: So in traditional Chinese medicine, they don't call it, like they say dis-ease in the body instead of like a disease in the body. It's because there's something that's weighing on you. There's something in the emotional body that is also connected to the physical body.
Speaker: um And that's not to say that every single client I've ever had, is that's easy for them and that they've been able to walk away or let something go and they still do see results. But it's probably, it's going to manifest as something different. Like it shifts in the body. It'll change into something else.
Speaker: So maybe it won't be cycle related anymore. Maybe it'll be something like ah an ache or pain in the body or an injury that flares up or something like that. 100%. think that is so common, so incredibly common. And people don't quite associate those two things as going handin hand in hand.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. It's a big part of the work. But I mean, just as, just as big as the nutrition and nourishment and the things that we're putting into our body, because that's all information that we're just feeding our body.
Speaker: Randy, how do you feel about sleep? Oh my gosh. I mean, it's so important for so many reasons. um Yeah. Women need more sleep than men and we don't get it.
Speaker: um Like our bodies just need more time um to be able to rest and recuperate and like heal all from all the things that we're doing every single day. And then there's like the subconscious aspect of what sleep is doing for the brain.
Speaker: Um, we have, so you guys are familiar with the lymphatic system as estheticians. So we have in the brain, something called glymph, which is like lymph for the brain. And only during our, I think it's our REM sleep cycle is when the glymph kind of clears from the brain and it's like taking out the trash of the brain and it drains down into the body and it is cleared out through the lymphatic pathways.
Speaker: Um, but if we're not getting. like deep sleep or REM sleep every single night, then that glimpse just stays there. And like all the toxins that have accumulated in our minds and our brains kind of just like stay there. And that's, I think that's where most of our brain fog probably comes from is just i our brain being like washed in toxic fluid essentially all day and not being able to clear it.
Speaker: Which it feels that way when you've got brain fog, actually, it feels like you've just got this big halo of gunk up there. Yeah. hu I did not know about the glim. That's very interesting.
Speaker: Yeah. So sleep is important. Try, but that's another part of like the lifestyle section with clients is like, how much sleep are you getting every single night?
Speaker: Yeah. What about the other basics like sunlight and movement? um Yeah. I mean, well, our circadian rhythm is like, has a direct correlation with our infradian rhythm, which is the 28 day cycle, essentially like 28 ish. It's different for every woman, obviously, but we usually refer to the infradian rhythm as being about 28 days, which is funny because it's actually, that's not even the, um, that's not even the average length of a cycle.
Speaker: The average length of a cycle is 29 and a half days. But for some reason we've just, we've held onto this 28 days. cycle Yeah. um But I always find that interesting. But yeah, the circadian rhythm. So sunlight, getting sunlight directly on the skin.
Speaker: Honestly, one of the best things that you can do for yourself if you're really struggling with sleep and like energy and wakefulness and you've tried everything else. You're not drinking coffee first thing in the morning to try to like mitigate all of the sluggishness that you're feeling. You're trying to allow your cortisol levels to just like naturally flow.
Speaker: um sunlight in the eyes, very first thing in the morning. No sunglasses, like no protection, but trying to get, you mean, you're not staring at the sun, but you're trying to get the sunlight in the eyes and maybe going for like a little walk and just being out in bright light that's natural um very first thing in the morning. And then allowing yourself to either be out at the time of sunset because the red light that's being like cast out from the sunset is, um, a trigger to the body that it's time to start increasing our melatonin production. And then it's time to go to bed. Interesting. Okay. So even if you can't get out for sunset, you could replace your light bulbs with red light bulbs, or maybe it's like a dual light where it's like white during the day and then red at night. And that could help with your circadian rhythm.
Speaker: I actually do that in my bedroom and my lamps. I have red light bulbs for that reason. Yeah. And it actually is quite helpful. i don't even remember where I learned that, but um it does make a really big difference. Actually. It's been really nice. One my favorite things. Yeah.
Speaker: So cool.
Speaker: So basically, what I wanted to get at is the basics actually matter the most. This is a conversation I love even having with my health and fitness coach because she's so passionate about like, just get your steps get your sunshine in, follow the diets, make sure you've got your fruits, your veggies. And those things seem so boring and so simple you know to a lot of people. Like you want some shiny magical equation.
Speaker: And that is the shiny magical equation is the boring basic things really are what make the biggest difference in our daily lives. Yeah, that's so true.
Speaker: Yeah, usually clients will come to me and they're like expecting me to hand them over some herbs immediately. And like maybe I recommend some sort of device for them to use or something along those lines or some sort of like supplement that they can get.
Speaker: And it's never those things. Like those are never the things that actually move the marker. It's always the most basic, boring lifestyle, stress, food, nutrition, sleep, health, all of these things. That's what moves the marker.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. thing It's never true. It's never about like all the crazy supplements that we can get. Yeah. but Supplements can help, but they're exactly what they are called. They're the supplement to your lifestyle. It's not a replacement for your lifestyle.
Speaker: Yeah. Yes. I love that so much. So to tie this into skincare, what type of advice or what would you tell estheticians when it comes to helping clients through what we're experiencing in the skin during our cycles?
Speaker: Yeah. I know that's broad, but. um Yes. So we kind of touched on it earlier, but there's a correlation between estrogen and like firmness or plumpness in the skin. And then there's also a correlation between progesterone and how much sebum the skin is producing, which sebum is not a bad thing. Like we want our skin to be producing its natural level of sebum, but there can sometimes be like an overproduction of sebum.
Speaker: And usually women will experience this if they experience it at all in the luteal phase when we have a little bit higher progesterone, but they also could be experiencing it if they have excess testosterone because testosterone can show up as more oil, like an oily sheen on the skin.
Speaker: It's an excess. And so during our bleed phase, like our skin can sometimes feel a little bit more dull. It's usually like, it feels just kind of lifeless and dull. And like, there's a lack of color there. It's because our,
Speaker: our hormones are at the baseline. um That's lowest that they get is in the menstrual phase. And then it slowly starts to increase as we come into the follicular phase. And we start to feel like it's starting to come back a little bit, like the dullness is disappearing. um Our skin becomes a little bit more firm, a little bit more plump as estrogen continues to rise.
Speaker: And then usually in the ovulatory phase or that four-day window around ovulation is when feel we feel like the most attracted to ourselves, we feel like our skin is at its best.
Speaker: Um, unless there's some sort of excess going on, then usually that's the phase where our skin feels like we don't need anything. Like we could use zero products at all. And our skin would still look amazing right after ovulation happens. Uh, estrogen starts to drop and then progesterone begins to rise. And so those first like four ish days right after ovulation,
Speaker: you might notice that there's just a little bit of a change. It might not be that noticeable for some women. um Cause the drop in estrogen, it's like significant, but it's not all the way down to the baseline level. Again, it like stops about halfway ish.
Speaker: And this is all assuming that we're having a normal cycle, of course. um And then in the mid, so I kind of, I, I break apart the luteal phase into three other subcategories or sub phases.
Speaker: So we have the early luteal phase, the mid luteal phase and the late luteal phase. So in the mid luteal phase, we have a little bit of an increase of estrogen again. It kind of like does a small, like halfway sort of pump. we might feel if we did lose any elasticity or we did lose that feeling of firmness in the skin, we might notice that it's kind of back, but progesterone continues to increase throughout the luteal phase.
Speaker: throughout throughout the luteal phase So seabram production might start to turn on a little bit more. And that can sometimes mean that we do feel like we just have oilier skin in this phase.
Speaker: And then in the late luteal phase, that's when hormones begin to drop again. And so this is when PMS symptoms can happen. This is when breakouts can most often happen, especially if it's related to the cycle. It's like a sort of cyclical breakout that you get every four weeks or so.
Speaker: um That's usually when it happens is in the late-level phase. And why is that happening? Because of the drugs in hormones, mostly.
Speaker: i mean, it's related to a lot of different things. So if you are experiencing some sort of like cyclic acne or cyclic breakouts, um there's a really cool technique that's used in traditional Chinese medicine that's called face mapping.
Speaker: And along the jawline, usually is hormonal around the mouth usually is hormonal. And it can signal that there's maybe an excess of estrogen or an excess of testosterone, especially if there's acne appearing on like the back or the chest, usually that's excess of testosterone. um And so it could be that there's some sort of imbalance going on.
Speaker: um But usually it's just like the drop in hormones can lead our skin to not feeling as great or maybe being in the best health. And maybe we didn't take as good of care of it because we weren't taking as good of care of ourselves in the luteal phase because we don't feel as good in the luteal phase.
Speaker: So it could be a, it could be a huge variety of things. Interesting.
Speaker: Do you then, like, would you recommend possibly that during the different um phases of the cycle, we treat the skin very differently? Or do you think it's better to just keep it pretty even keel unless things get really extreme?
Speaker: i like thinking about the phases in terms of how we treat our bodies. And so for me, skincare would be no different. um in terms of like, I'm going to change my skincare every single phase of my cycle a little bit.
Speaker: So there are there are certain times in the cycle when our skin is just more reactive or our skin barrier is maybe a little bit um more susceptible to outside agents, to being to feeling like more irritated or to getting more red.
Speaker: So the menstrual phase when our hormones are the lowest and the late luteal phase when our hormones are decreasing, coming down to the lowest. Those are the two kind of phases where using things like acids or using things with a lot of chemicals in them or using anything that maybe could like potentially produce some sort of reaction in the skin might not be the best idea just because our barrier functioning isn't quite at its best during this time.
Speaker: Hold on. yes So you're saying, cause this is just blowing my mind, Tiffany, I don't know why your face doesn't look like mine right now. So well I am have half thoughts too.
Speaker: Okay. So you're saying, okay I did not know. And I am kind of a hoe about the barrier. There's times in your cycle that your barrier actually does get Yeah.
Speaker: know And that is during your menstrual phase. Yep. When your hormones are the lowest, essentially.
Speaker: So it has me thinking, my mind is at the absolute importance of having the conversation with our client when they're coming in for their facial. And I'm thinking of regular clients who we see on a monthly basis.
Speaker: We see them every month for their facial. And yes we're consulting with them on how their skin is doing, but having that conversation about where they're at in their cycle, where they're at specifically in their cycle And then basing our treatment that day around that as well, you know?
Speaker: Yeah. Because obviously what we do in the treatment room is going to have an effect on their skin anyways, right? And then we're treating certain, we're we're helping treat their skincare goals, any concerns they have, but then adding in that piece with where they're at in their cycle and basing our treatment off of that.
Speaker: absolutely is going to have an effect as well. Yeah, I would say yes.
Speaker: So during the menstrual phase, what I do with my skincare is I try to keep it as natural as possible. So instead of like using any sort of mask with any sort of chemicals, because I do have semi-reactive skin and it does get worse when I am in my menstrual phase or those last few days right before I start my period.
Speaker: um I will do like a yogurt mask instead of some other sort of mask. Or maybe I'll do like a fruit enzyme mask with that actual fruit, like a kiwi. Like I'm just like spreading a slice of a kiwi over my face for like a vitamin C mask. yeah um And I just try to keep it as natural as possible and use as minimal products as possible during that time.
Speaker: And then in the luteal phase, like right after ovulation or the follicular phase right after the menstrual, like you've finished bleeding, maybe this is when I start bringing like more products back in. Yeah.
Speaker: It's so interesting because it seems pretty common, right? And would make sense that during, so if you are somebody who breaks out during the menstrual phase that you would bring in like salicylic acids and menda and different things like that, like that's completely common. I do it myself. And so really we want to potentially switch that mindset to bringing in those more natural products and barrier supportive products.
Speaker: Because, you know, also when your barrier is a mess, you're also going to be breaking out. Like that's just so common. Those two definitely tend to go hand in hand.
Speaker: And so it has me thinking that like, realistically, if you are somebody who breaks out during your cycle and you start using more harsh products, you're actually potentially making that problem worse.
Speaker: Maybe, yeah, I mean, maybe it's helping in the long run, but like during that phase, your skin could become more reactive. And I guess, yes, I guess it could be making the problem worse because yeah, yeah. If your skin is more susceptible to any of these chemicals that you're basically going to be putting on it, like salicylic acid, acid um it is sort of compromising the barrier in some way.
Speaker: So Randy, what is your best advice on how to help a woman actually like learn how to track her cycle? Yeah. Yeah. Uh, well, okay. So there are so many different apps that are available now.
Speaker: Um, one of my favorites, which is the most accurate and it's an FDA approved form of birth control as well without any hormones is called natural cycles.
Speaker: Um, and it but it uses your temperature to track your cycle. So it either has, they have a wearable like wrist sort of watch bracelet thing that you can wear now. the thing that Yeah, it's really cool. Um, so before it was just always like they would send you a thermometer and you had to take your therm, like your temperature underneath your tongue. First thing, when you woke up every single morning and if you hit snooze, it had to be before you went back to sleep. Like that was, that's when your basal body temperature reading is the most accurate.
Speaker: So it was a process a little bit, but, um, I did it and it was great and it was still really accurate for me. Um, and now it also, like if you have an aura ring or if you have the Apple watch, one of the new Apple watches that does temperature gauging like that can connect into natural cycles, but they also have the wearable that they made themselves now.
Speaker: Um, So it use uses BBT, basal body temperature, to be able to track your cycle because ah progesterone is a thermogenic hormone. So when you start to produce progesterone, your basal body temperature starts to increase. So in the last half of your cycle, like you might notice this now if you didn't notice it before, but you're usually the most warm. And when you're in the menstrual phase and your hormones are at the lowest,
Speaker: you usually feel the most cold. Like my toes and fingers are always freezing in the menstrual phase. And in Chinese medicine, they always say like cold feet means a cold womb. So they always want you to wear socks just to keep the womb space warm, keeping the circulation flowing. Like blood flow is very important in Chinese medicine.
Speaker: um So that's my favorite way probably to track the cycle. But if you have like an abnormal cycle, you could still use natural cycles and it will try to help you figure out like what's going on with your cycle. Like it works for irregular cycles as well.
Speaker: If you're on birth control already, then it depends on what kind of birth control there on as to how well you can actually track your cycle. If you're on the pill, um the period that you're experiencing is not a period. It's a withdrawal bleed from the hormones.
Speaker: So you're not actually having a cycle still, but you could still track your cycle. You could still, because Similar things are sort of happening with your hormones because you're on a low rate of hormones during the time that you're taking the pill. and then when you go onto the sugar pill or the placebo pill, whatever you want to call it, like the hormones are no longer being released into the body via the pill. And so it's kind of similar in a way, but it's different.
Speaker: um IUDs are all a little bit different. You could still track your cycle technically. ah One of my favorite moon, I think it's called the moon journal. It's a book ah that is a compilation of incredible artists and incredibly gifted healers and practitioners that all share these little tips and tricks um throughout the entire journal about how different things happen.
Speaker: play into the cycle. And so there's like stuff about nourishment, there's stuff about like nature, there's stuff about sleep, there's, there's so many cool things that I've found in there over the years, but they also have a cycle tracker inside the book. And you can track so many things with that, like it's asking not just like basal body temperature, but it's also asking about cervical mucus. And it's asking about mood, it's asking about symptoms, it's asking about like, libido, it's asking and so many different things. So that's that one can be really fun if you like to do analog style tracking.
Speaker: Um, and then there's a, there's a bunch of other apps, but I don't, I, I never recommend any other app other than natural cycles because it's the most accurate one. Okay.
Speaker: How would a woman know track their cycle who has an IUD and doesn't have a period? Is that possible? so I had, um, one such woman in one of the studies that I was doing and she was like, I really want to be a part of this, but I'm on the IUD and I do not have a cycle.
Speaker: And I was like, okay, what do you feel? Like, do you feel like there's a time of the month where you feel more energized? Do you feel like there's a time of the month where you feel more fatigued? Like what, how are you feeling in your body? I want you to just pay attention to that.
Speaker: And so we basically just had her start taking the day one. So the one for the bleed phase um at any time. And then as she was going through it, she was like, I actually am noticing like maybe I'm not ovulating.
Speaker: well, she isn't ovulating, but like maybe um I like this is similar to what I would feel in ovulation because I'm just noticing like more of a fullness feeling and like a ripening feeling and I'm noticing more energy in my body.
Speaker: um So I think it takes a little bit of um like that proprioception and that awareness yeah ah and really tuning into like what's going on in the body. It's not impossible, but you're also not having a cycle. So like not everything is going to apply to you. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. So i never want to speak too ill of birth control by any means. And I certainly have experimented with it too.
Speaker: What is the importance of having a cycle? Oh, Wow. Just hit me with the biggest question. Well, I mean, so Tiffany and I often talk about how, I mean, that is like a detoxification also. like So I think that there's those little nuances that can change the way that a woman feels about her cycle by understanding why it's so important and what it really does for your body. Just like you and I in our fitness journeys, when we lost it, it was like, hold on a second. Yeah.
Speaker: I don't feel like myself and things are not working correctly. And I don't, you know, like this. um So, and I mean, even if you had to say like, what are the, the two or three most important things that your cycle really does for your body, but also like your mental and emotional health?
Speaker: I mean, I think the biggest thing is that the cycle is natural and it, If we're trying to heal our bodies in any way we want to be as close to nature and as close to like what, you know, the creator, whatever you believe, like gifted us as possible.
Speaker: So coming off of birth control, if you're trying to heal, it'd be like the first thing that I would probably do. And then trying to figure out like, are you, is this a fertility journey for you? Or are you still like trying to not get pregnant? Because those would be two different pathways.
Speaker: Um, but not impossible to do without birth control. I have not been on birth control now for, I think four years and I still haven't gotten pregnant. So I'm doing pretty well. Like this is how, this is how women originally did birth control is through the fertility awareness method, which is tracking your cycle and knowing when you were most likely to be fertile.
Speaker: So, um, not impossible by any means. So that's the biggest one. The second one is that the cycle is an indicator of health. So a lot of um like more new age or like verbally trained or women's health physicians are starting to look at the cycle as their sixth vital sign.
Speaker: And if there's something going on in the body, the cycle is one of the first places that it shows up. So again, it comes back to like healing and being as natural as possible.
Speaker: um And then I think the third thing I mean, this is more about like what birth control does to the body, but it alters our brain chemistry in a lot of ways. So when a lot of women come off of birth control, and this is mostly like the mini pill coming off of the mini pill, but it can sometimes be the IUD depending on what you're on.
Speaker: Like not the copper IUD, but one of the hormonal IUDs. So women can come off of it and they can not recognize their life in any way, shape or form. They're like, how did I get here?
Speaker: I don't even know what I've been doing for the last however many years. Like I'm actually not attracted to the partner that I have anymore because our cycle alters, the or sorry, the the birth control alters the brain chemistry and that natural sort of like attraction that we might have to somebody, it disrupts that pathway.
Speaker: And we might not actually be attracted to that person. And then you come off of birth control and you're like, wow, I have to change my entire life. I've heard of that before. i don't think that that is uncommon um because it also happens in perimenopause when your hormones start to shift again. And so I think that that's kind of what I wanted to get at and wanted you to share is that your hormones are very much directly related to your brain and your brain chemistry. And that is also responsible for a lot of your hormones and, or sorry, your your moods your
Speaker: emotions, like everything. I think that is what is so fascinating about the body just in general, but especially as women, is it such an, what was the word that I'm looking for?
Speaker: it's such a, it all goes together. Yeah. it's Everything goes together. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and apart from that, like what you were talking about detoxification, I mean, it's a natural cleansing system for our bodies.
Speaker: So the shedding of the uterine lining and then the flushing of it out through menstrual blood, it's naturally cleaning for our bodies. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. It's not dirty. It's actually the opposite. Yeah. Yeah. Actually it's very empowering and it you know, on the other side of like, you're like, yeah, just in that lead phase, when you're like through that discomfort stage, it does feel really good to be on the other side of it. um And yeah, it's like it does connect you to like, being a woman and being a creator of life, even if you know, you're not a mom, it's just like that very empowering space that as women we carry. So yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, so true. So if you could give our listener esthetician one piece of advice when it comes to hormonal health, the cycles and their clients, what would that be?
Speaker: yeah It could be or a couple.
Speaker: I think my I mean, I think my biggest piece of advice is um try to find some connection back into it. Like if you've noticed that you have negative thoughts towards your cycle or you're dreading it starting or you do have symptoms and maybe they are like really challenging symptoms, like try to find some connection back into it and try to understand what's going on with your body.
Speaker: um This isn't like an opportunity for like the challenge isn't the opportunity for us to just disconnect further. Yeah.
Speaker: It's an opportunity for us to like pull in and ask what's going on. Like what sometimes you can even like ask your room space. Like, what do you want me to know? Like maybe just connecting with a meditation and be like, what do you want me to know? Like, what do I need to do? Like, is it forgiveness? Is it love? Like what, what am i holding onto? What do I need to let go of?
Speaker: so Similar to what we were talking about before in order to move past this or in order to accept you as part of me. And then finding that acceptance that could change so many things, or that could lead you down a pathway, at least at the very least to where you start to experience change and you start to experience like wonder and magic again healing.
Speaker: healing
Speaker: I do have a question. What, what's your best advice for, or somebody who like experiences or who has PCOS or who has really, really tough cycles?
Speaker: There, there are so many things that you can do to try to mitigate, um so much of it, but like, ah so tough cycles. Okay. So if you're experiencing like a lot of cramping or pain,
Speaker: um Ginger tea is one of my favorite like natural remedies that can just help with this. And so literally just go to the grocery store, buy some ginger, slice it up and boil it in some water and then let it steep for like 20 minutes. And then just drink this in those days when you normally have cramping or normally your symptoms are the worst and see if it helps. Also peppermint tea can be incredibly soothing.
Speaker: But like teas don't, don't think that they're just like Lulu or like just, a just like little pieces of water with some herbs in them because they can be really magical for the cycle and for our health in general.
Speaker: um And then i would look at like how inflammatory is your diet? Like what's are are you eating like a lot of fried foods or is there a lot of like greasy foods? Are you eating a lot of spicy foods? Because sometimes just the spiciness can be, um, an irritation or can foster more inflammation in the body. If there already is some, um, are you eating the rainbow? Like, where can you add one of my, one of the things that I always do for my clients is like, add a seed into your diet because they're high in omega threes. They're high in omega sixes. They're,
Speaker: anti-inflammatory naturally, and they have so many like micronutrients that we don't often get any other way. Just hemp seeds, like chia seeds, flax seeds, like hemp seeds are one of my favorite because you can add them to anything. You can add them to something sweet. You can add them to something savory. You can put them on your eggs. You can put them on your smoothies. Like they're super easy to add into almost anything. And they're so full of nourishment and nutrition and omega threes are like a natural,
Speaker: like anti-inflammatory basically for the body. And they're really, really helpful, especially if you have challenging periods. Most women need vitamin d most women need omega threes most women need more magnesium. Also magnesium and calcium are two of the minerals in the body that become the depleted the fastest when we are in high levels of stress.
Speaker: So stress just eats magnesium and calcium out of the body essentially, and we need to replenish them. um Those are three supplements that I usually recommend, but you can get them from food sources. You do not have to swallow a pill.
Speaker: Like it's, it's not impossible to get them from food sources. Sometimes with magnesium, it is still beneficial to take a magnesium supplement just because our bodies do require so much of it at this point.
Speaker: um With PCOS or PMOD, it's, um it's there are ah a lot of different supplements that I would recommend a client to start taking pretty much right away.
Speaker: i and again, it will probably take like two or three months for them to see changes, but as long as they're consistent with those supplements, like you can find healing from it, you can have a normal cycle again.
Speaker: um and then gluten and dairy are two of the biggest food intolerances that usually like wreak havoc on the hormones. And, um but I mean, it's just, they're overly processed in the world that we live in these days.
Speaker: There's a lot of chemicals, especially in gluten and um dairy. We were just never meant to eat as much dairy as we currently do. and most people with a European descent are lactose intolerant to some degree.
Speaker: So even if you like eat dairy every single day and you don't notice it, try taking it out of your diet, try taking gluten out of your diet for at least a month, at least. And then like add in one thing at a time and just notice if it affects you at all. Notice if anything changes.
Speaker: um But i those are the two like food groups that I usually have clients start with when it comes to trying to heal through nutrition and through food.
Speaker: okay um One thing you didn't mention is sugar. oh my gosh. Yes. Which is probably like number one, right? Even as an esthetician, I'm like, let's, you know, cut that back. yeah Processed refined sugars are a no-go for me.
Speaker: Yeah. um Yeah. Usually when like, like my clients come to me and after they do the food journal, they're like usually pretty wary about sugar anyway, because they know that I'm going to say something about it. yeah.
Speaker: um It doesn't come up as often as gluten and dairy like those feel harder for people to take out of their diets. But once they do it, they're like, wow, I actually do feel a lot better. i have i mean, I so and when we were going back to the bodybuilding story, of my hair falling out and me just feeling like absolutely fatigued and having like gray skin and like no energy.
Speaker: um It was a thyroid issue. And so I was diagnosed with autoimmune thyroiditis. a few years ago and I've cut out dairy and gluten. I hadn't really eaten dairy for a long time anyways, but I cut out gluten completely, even though I had done a couple of like gluten tests in the past where like a a food elimination sort of test where I just take it out for four weeks and then add it back in and see if anything changes. And I never noticed anything, but I took it out for a year and then I just got my test results back and i no longer have autoimmune thyroiditis. I've like completely healed it. Like my antibody...
Speaker: levels for thyroid, at least are normal. And my TSH levels are normal for the first time since 2021. Oh, wow. That's crazy.
Speaker: So that's just like the power of sometimes like making these decisions and sticking with them and the consistency of it. And, you know, I'm obviously doing a lot of other things as well, but I think that gluten really was one of the major things for me. And I've heard a lot of different, um, like more thyroid levels health coach people talk about this, um, like connection between gluten and thyroid health.
Speaker: Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, sugars are just an absolute no, like as much as you can, we need to cut out sugars and then yeah, the fried foods, the, uh, seed oils, like trying to trying to mitigate those or eliminate those as much as possible, trying to eliminate alcohol as much as possible because alcohol is incredibly inflammatory for the body. It's a toxin. We are literally like putting toxic waste into our body every time we drink, which is, I mean, I still have a cocktail every now and again, but you know, like we got, it we got to mitigate it as much as possible. We're trying to heal. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker: You know, it's interesting. It's not as hard as I think a lot of people make it but I do think it takes time and it's just a habitual thing. um But, you know, I have, I've always found that when you figure it out, you feel so good and that's your motivating factor. It's, I think most people, and I'm sure our listener would agree and you guys would agree that most people don't even know how good you could actually feel. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: you know, and then you do and you're like, Oh my gosh, I had no idea. And so once you can kind of nail that down, that is your motivating factor. Cause it does feel so good. Yeah.
Speaker: That was a hundred percent. My experience. um Yeah. Just like cutting out a lot of foods that I was very reliant on and they're, they are addictive foods also like sugars and addictive food. The,
Speaker: the chemicals and the additives that are put into a lot of processed foods are meant to be addicting because they want consumers to continue to buy them. um It works. It's like a whole other conversation. But like, as soon as I took all of those out and I really focused on like mostly food from plants, eating the rainbow,
Speaker: like eating three meals a day, maybe with some snacks at normal and regular times, not drinking coffee first thing in the morning. And then like just seeing what that did to my body. i was like, I didn't know how bad I felt until I felt this good.
Speaker: yeah And it is, you're right. It's not as challenging or let's say it's not as hard as we make it out to be, but it is challenging in the fact that it,
Speaker: it just feels hard sometimes. Like it's not, it's yeah easy in that it's simple. It's not easy in that it's without challenge. And so that's what like things like health coaches or um like me, like that's where we come in is like, it's the accountability and it's the support and it's the trust and it's the level of being able to like actually talk to somebody about what's going on and where the challenges exist for you and trying to figure out how to move through it and I mean, it's also the education like factor of it, but a lot of it is just, I'm a support system for my clients.
Speaker: I love it. I love that. Is there anything else you feel like you would want to share with our listener before we wrap up this conversation? Anything that you haven't shared? Oh, there's so many things that I haven't shared, but but I feel like this is a really good place to start.
Speaker: for a lot of people, especially if they are struggling in some way. And whether that struggle is like you have a challenging cycle, you don't have a cycle, um or you're just struggling to feel a connection to your cycle again, struggling with you know that stigmatization and that taboo around it.
Speaker: I think that this is a good place to start. And I hope that the course is also equally as helpful for your members and for everyone and in your community, because there's, there's so much information in there. Like it's a lot to take in. Um, but I think that it, it's really valuable information. Yes.
Speaker: Most definitely. yes Really appreciate it. Yeah. Super grateful. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right.
Speaker: Well, if you are interested in learning more and really doing a deeper dive, then we definitely invite you into the membership. But also, Randy, please tell our listener where they can find you, your social media or anything like that. How do how do people connect with you?
Speaker: Yeah, um my Instagram handle is just my name. So it's at Randy Godfrey, R-A-N-D-E-E. G-O-D-F-R-E-Y. A lot of people spell my first name wrong. And then I haven't launched it yet, but maybe by the time the podcast comes out, I will have launched it. But I'm hosting a retreat in Baja near Todos Santos at the end March. it will be like Pilates and movement, but we're also going to talk a lot about this kind of stuff there.
Speaker: And it's very self-care and wellness focused. So Yeah, if they want to learn more about that, they can definitely find it on my Instagram page. and And yeah, feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Speaker: Very cool. Thank you so much for joining us. and And you can find us at the beyond aesthetics on Instagram and TikTok. We also have an email address. It's hello at the beyond aesthetics, coaching.com. And we look forward to seeing you in the membership, or we look forward to seeing you in our next episode. We are so grateful for you. And we hope that you all have pretty dreams and we'll see you in the next episode.
Speaker: And bye, ladies. Thank you again, Randi. Thank you so much. Bye. Bye. bye a
