Cyclical Motherhood

Hayley Anderson and Marinella Benelli
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Welcome to the Cyclical Motherhood Podcast with Hayley Anderson and Marinella Benelli, where we explore motherhood with the menstrual cycle and wider cycles as our guides. We created Cyclical Motherhood to centre mother's and cyclical wisdom to help midwife the new, emergent story for motherhood that we all need. Our work together has its roots in the ongoing sharing of our mothering journeys with cycles in mind, and how much we feel this territory has to offer when it comes to supporting mothers through times of transition and uncertainty.

Episodes

  1. 12/18/2025

    Following the moon cycle

    Welcome back to the Cyclical Motherhood Podcast! Today’s episode is our final for season 1 and is dedicated to the moon. Together we explore how we can follow the moon cycle as support/guide/inspiration at times when we don’t experience our regular cycle for any reason: pregnancy, postpartum, amenorrhea for medical reasons or unexplained ones, being on hormonal contraception, after hysterectomy, during peri-menopause, menopause and beyond.  This is a huge topic and we offer a short introduction to: the phases of moon cycles and how these relate to menstrual cycle the earth/moon relationship and waters/moon relationship and how these affect our bodiesour stories of times when we followed the moon cycle as an anchor while not experiencing our own menstrual cyclehow the moon cycle relates to our cyclical motherhood journeythe moon/family life relationship: simple rituals and practices for the whole family to connect with the moonWe hope you enjoy this conversation and it inspires you to cultivate your own relationship with the moon or reignite the one that you have already. ___ References and resources: Red Moon book by Miranda Gray  Stephen Harding is the holistic ecologist who talked about gravity as love, and taught Hayley at Schumacher College. He also wrote the book ‘Animist Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia’ You can buy Hayley’s moon log calendar tracking tool here ___ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. Please share with other mothers you know who might enjoy this.  If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly to Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly to Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    46 min

  2. 04/12/2025

    Why is Cyclical Motherhood needed now?

    Welcome back to the Cyclical Motherhood podcast! Today's episode is a shared exploration about why Cyclical Motherhood is needed now: for mothersfor our children and familiesfor the collective and beyondWe found this conversation super rich and inspiring. We leave you with a powerful enquiry to hopefully support you on your own exploration of being a cyclical mother during these times. ___ References and resources:  the definition of 'whiteness' and 'modernity' that Hayley speaks about has been learned from the powerful book 'Hospicing Modernity' by Vanessa de Oliveira Andreottithe concept of emergency that Hayley refers to comes from the teachings of storyteller Michael Meade The poem On Children by Kahil Gibran from the book 'The Prophet' can be read here ___ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. And if you have, we would be so grateful if you could share with other mothers.  If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly to Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly to Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    49 min

  3. 03/28/2025

    Raising menstrual aware boys

    Welcome back to he Cyclical Motherhood podcast! Today's episode, together with episode 7 are at the heart of Cyclical Motherhood, the second foundational piece of this work. In this episode Hayley interviews Marinella on her journey of raising her boy (8 years old at the time of recording), as a menstrually aware and cycles aware boy. We discuss: how we can share about our menstrual cycle with our boys what we can do to bring our boys into our menstrual experiencehow we can share about the wider cycles of life with thema story of a time it was clear that Marinella’s son had the understanding of the menstrual cycle and the wider cycles of lifeHow to begin this conversation about the menstrual cycle and wider cycles with our boysThis conversation is an invitation to normalise menstrual cycle awareness among boys and men too. It is an opening to widen this topic beyond the container that what we have been used to so far (women’s and girls’ circles) and we hope will inspire you in your menstrual mothering of boys. ___ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. Please do share with any other mothers you think might receive something from our conversation. If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly with Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly with Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    37 min

  4. 03/28/2025

    Raising menstrual aware girls

    Welcome back to he Cyclical Motherhood podcast! In this episode (& the next episode - episode 8), we introduce the second foundational piece of Cyclical Motherhood: raising menstrual aware children. In this episode Marinella interviews Hayley on her journey of raising her daughter (4 years old at the time of recording), as a menstrually aware and cycles aware girl.  We discuss:  how we can share our menstrual cycle with our girlswhat we can do cycle by cycle to bring our girls into our menstrual experiencehow we can share about the wider cycles of life with our childrena story of when it was clear that Hayley’s daughter had the understanding of the menstrual cycle and wider cycles of lifehow we can begin the conversation about the menstrual cycle and wider cycles with our girlsIt is a really beautiful, rich and intimate conversation, that we hope will inspire you in your menstrual mothering of girls.  ___ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. Please do share with any other mothers you think might receive something from our conversation. If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly with Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly with Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    39 min

  5. 02/28/2025

    Navigating inner autumn as mothers & carers

    Welcome back to the Cyclical Motherhood podcast! Today’s episode is the final one of our exploration of the seasons, where we explore Autumn: nature’s autumn  our inner autumn or luteal/premenstrual phase  autumn in our motherhood journey  how our inner autumns have changed since motherhood some monthly autumn rituals that carry us through our mothering It’s another very rich conversation - one that we didn’t want to stop - that brings us back full circle to winter, where we began. __ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. Please do share with any other mothers you think might receive something from our conversation. If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly with Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly with Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    39 min

  6. 02/28/2025

    Navigating inner summer as mothers & carers

    Welcome back to the Cyclical Motherhood podcast! In this episode we explore Summer: Nature’s summer  our inner summer or ovulation  summer in our motherhood journey how our inner summers have changed since motherhood some monthly summer rituals that carry us through our mothering  It is a very juicy conversation with some great insights, reflections and stories.  ___ References and resources: Hayley’s Charting Your Fertility Cycle Course Nikki McCahon's work, Seasons of Matrescence: https://www.seasonsofmatrescence.com/, https://www.nikkimccahon.com/ ___ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. Please do share with any other mothers you think might receive something from our conversation. If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly with Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly with Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    33 min

  7. 02/28/2025

    Navigating inner spring as mothers & carers

    Welcome back to he Cyclical Motherhood podcast! In this episode we continue our exploration of the seasons and discuss Spring: Nature’s spring  our inner spring or follicular/pre-ovulatory phase  spring in our motherhood journey how our inner springs have changed since motherhood (and in relation to the perimenopause) some monthly spring rituals that carry us through our mothering___ References and resources: Hayley’s Birth Story Listening Therapy ___ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. Please do share with any other mothers you think might receive something from our conversation. If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly with Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly with Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    35 min

  8. 02/28/2025

    Navigating inner winter as mothers & carers

    Welcome back to the Cyclical Motherhood podcast! This is the first of four episodes focusing on the inner and outer seasons. Understanding and embodying the seasons is one of the foundational pieces of our work with Cyclical Motherhood.  In this episode we discuss: nature’s winter our inner winter or menstruation winter in our motherhood journey our understanding and experience of this season within our bodies and the resonances with this season in nature and in our lives as mothers the importance of the preparation for winter as crucial for a “good winter” and consequently crucial for a good overall cycle how our inner winters have changed since motherhood some monthly winter rituals that carry us through our mothering This is a very rich and longer than usual conversation, as we both love winter so much and we couldn't stop talking! ___ References and resources: Hayley’s moon charts for cycle charting Read more about Hayley's 'crone cloth' practice here Midwife Robin Lim’s book on postpartum: “After the Baby’s Birth: A Woman’s Way to Wellness” ___ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. Please do share with any other mothers you think might receive something from our conversation. If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly with Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly with Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    44 min

  9. 01/25/2025

    At the heart of cyclical motherhood

    Welcome back to the Cyclical Motherhood podcast. In this episode we share what is at the heart of our work through offering Cyclical Motherhood: - centre mothers and cyclical wisdom - acknowledge our whiteness and privileges  - welcome and amplify marginalised mothers - welcome and amplify mothers whose physiological experiences of the cycles are disturbed or medicated and don’t fit in the standard menstrual awareness map - name/rename some of the key experiences of menstruating mothers - promote a body centred approach (your own body) when it comes to experiencing the menstrual cycle - consciously move away from ideas of perfection, niceness and productivity first and let go of the idea of the ‘perfect mother’ myth or even the ‘good enough mother’ - raise menstrually aware and cycle aware children and share our journeys to inspire far and wide This is quite a list. We don’t claim to have solutions, right ways or answers to it all. Please receive it all with curiosity and join us, as we altogether contribute to the new story. ___ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. Please do share with any other mothers you think might receive something from our conversation. If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly with Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly with Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    31 min

  10. 01/25/2025

    An introduction

    Welcome to the Cyclical Motherhood podcast! This episode is an introduction to the mothers hosting the podcast, Hayley Anderson & Marinella Benelli & our journey with Cyclical Motherhood so far.  - Our journey connecting as mothers during the pandemic, whilst going through some big transitions and hardships. - Supporting one another through our mothering & our love & understanding of the menstrual cycle & wider cycles. -  How Cyclical Motherhood was born out of years of almost daily sharing on our motherhood journeys & a vision Hayley received during menstruation. - Introducing our intentions with this podcast.___ References and resources:  Hayley shares a message from the elders of the Kogi people, that she heard via Pat McCabe https://www.patmccabe.net/ “The women must lead. They must now speak, act and move with the authority of the Mother”.  These powerful words inspire us and support us in our own mothering and our work with Cyclical Motherhood. ___ Thank you for being here ♥︎ We hope you have enjoyed our conversation today. Please do share with any other mothers you think might receive something from our conversation. If you wish to connect to us, you can find us on Instagram @cyclicalmotherhood To connect directly with Hayley @_hayley_anderson_ and https://hayleyanderson.co.uk/ To connect directly with Marinella @earthmoonmala and https://www.earthmoonmala.com/ Music is Medicine Tune by Julie Abbé https://julieabbe.com/

    28 min
  • 10 Episodes

About

Welcome to the Cyclical Motherhood Podcast with Hayley Anderson and Marinella Benelli, where we explore motherhood with the menstrual cycle and wider cycles as our guides. We created Cyclical Motherhood to centre mother's and cyclical wisdom to help midwife the new, emergent story for motherhood that we all need. Our work together has its roots in the ongoing sharing of our mothering journeys with cycles in mind, and how much we feel this territory has to offer when it comes to supporting mothers through times of transition and uncertainty.

Information

  • Creator
    Hayley Anderson and Marinella Benelli
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Hayley Anderson and Marinella Benelli
  • Show Website
    Cyclical Motherhood