Sync Up!
Living in Rhythm with Your Cycle.
Summer is here — and so is the wellness conversation your body has been waiting for. Cycle syncing — the practice of aligning your diet, movement, rest, and daily rhythms with the four phases of your menstrual cycle — is the defining body-literacy hack of 2026. It’s been the truth I’ve been telling for 11 years. In case you don’t know me; I’m Chelsea VonChaz, I run a menstrual equity charity, and work as a doula and consultant part-time. I a renaissance woman, and Black liberation is my why.
For my newsletter this month, I’m breaking it all the way down — what each cycle phase is asking of you, how to honor it, and the tools to help you actually do it.
Your cycle has four seasons. Are you living them?
Cycle syncing is the practice of adjusting your food, movement, sleep, and energy output to match where you are in your menstrual cycle — because your hormones aren’t constant, even if the world expects you to be. Here’s what each season is calling for:
Menstrual (Winter, Days 1–5): Estrogen and progesterone drop. Your body is shedding — honor it with rest, warmth, and iron-rich foods. This is not the time to perform. It’s the time to restore.
Follicular (Spring, Days 6–14): Estrogen rises and so does your energy. Creativity spikes. Start new things, brainstorm, move your body with intention. This is your inner Beyoncé warming up.
Ovulatory (Summer, Days 15–17): Peak estrogen. Peak you. High energy, high confidence, high connection. Say yes to the pitch, the date, the presentation. You’re magnetic right now.
Luteal (Autumn, Days 18–28): Progesterone rises and you may burn up to 10% more energy at rest — which is why cravings hit harder. Slow down your workouts, prioritize sleep, and listen when your body says enough.
What Your Cycle is Actually Telling You This Summer
Hot weather hits different when you’re bleeding. Heat can intensify cramps, disrupt sleep, and throw off your flow — but understanding your body’s signals helps you work with summer, not against it.
Heavier flow in summer heat? Normal. Vasodilation from heat increases blood flow. Stay hydrated and consider a higher-capacity option like the DIVA Disc.
Cramps that won’t quit? Heat therapy is your best friend — and it doesn’t have to mean being stuck at home. Wearable patches let you move through your day with relief on.
Sleep disrupted before your period? Progesterone raises your resting body temperature in the luteal phase — which is already battling summer heat. A cool room, magnesium, and early workouts can help.
Mood feels off? Your nervous system is more reactive in the luteal phase. Slowing down isn’t weakness — it’s cycle intelligence. Build in buffer time.
Journaling (tracking) your period is keeping a personal record of your experience every month, every cycle.
The Jellyfish by Chelsea VonChaz
When I got my first period nobody told me about the jellyfish.
Not my Mama, Grandma, Auntie — nobody told me what I was to feel.
I had hands to hold, voices that said it's okay, it's normal, it's real.
But normal didn't have a shape yet, and natural didn't have a name.
I stood up bleeding in the knowing, feeling nothing and everything the same.
Nobody told me about the jellyfish.
The heaviness, slow and secret tide.
The way you learn to carry something
you were never taught to carry with pride.
No tea spilling on the color, texture, consistency or size.
Not even a positive scripture
that praises the magic of your insides.
Nobody told me about the jellyfish.
You know when the clot passes
like you're giving birth
to soft and strange sea jelly — man, this shit gotta be a curse.
For years I lived in the space between
is this normal and nobody told me.
Maybe it's the silence that lives inside of the same arms that held me.
Nobody told me about the jellyfish.
Their lips barely saying it's alright, 'cause nobody told them either.
Imagine a rites of passage where we can all take a breather.
Instead we're living muddled about the in-between,
while our bodies are doing ancient things
in ways that can't be seen — shamed into the dark like a dream.
The jellyfish put me on.
Told me exactly what my body wanted to say.
All the gems and messages nobody told me — the jellyfish passed on that day.
A Terrible Strength: The Hidden Crisis of the Black Womb
If you’ve ever had your pain dismissed, your symptoms minimized, or your womb treated as an afterthought — this book was written for you. Dr. Kemi Doll, a gynecologic oncologist and uterine cancer scientist, exposes how Black women’s womb health is systematically neglected by medicine, and hands you the tools to fight back. Fibroids, endometriosis, heavy bleeding, cancer — she covers it all with the clarity of a scientist and the warmth of a homegirl who’s on your side.
Available now at your local bookstore and online. Support Black-owned bookshops at IndieBound.org.
The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist is my storytelling podcast exploring the intersections of faith, folklore, and freedom through a Southern born, Black Woman’s lens. Each episode features a conversation with a scholar, spiritualist, or storyteller unpacking the sacred technologies that have carried us—from the church pew to the juke joint to the altar. It is my personal series where I share my journey of deconstruction, Hoodoo, and ancestral wisdom. Guests also get to dive into their stories of spiritual development. Check out the latest episodes below.
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