What Your Period Is Trying to Tell You: Understanding Hormones, Emotions & Feminine Rhythm with Ellora from Lady Time Learning

Hey, beautiful souls.

Welcome to Reclaim Your Inner Rockstar, the space for high-capacity leaders who lead boldly yet often feel overstimulated beneath the surface. I'm Amy Robinson, aromapsychologist and cognitive coach with more than 25 years of helping others find emotional clarity through scent and science. My work began when I realized scent could instantly shift my thoughts and regulate my entire inner world. And I knew women like me needed access to that same power. Each week you will receive grounded tools and conversations that help you steady your nervous system and think more clearly. Are you ready to feel like yourself again? Then you're in the right place.

Hey, beautiful soul, welcome back to the show. Today's conversation is one that you're going to feel deep in your bones because we're diving into something every woman experiences but so few of us truly understand— our menstrual cycle. I'm joined by Elora, the founder of Lady Time Learning, who made it her mission to help women understand how their bodies actually work. After discovering in grad school that the menstrual cycle is considered a vital sign, just like the heart rate or breath, she went deep into the biochemistry and nutrition of it all. What I love about this conversation is how Elora bridges the science of our cycles with a deeper invitation to reconnect with our feminine rhythm, something I also guide women through aromatically inside my membership and private coaching. So whether you're drawn to the biochemistry or the emotional healing side of balancing your hormones, this episode will help you see your body with new eyes. Let's drop in with Elora and explore what it truly means to be in tune with Your body.

Elora, I am so excited to have you on our podcast today. We're going to be talking some really, really exciting things about our menstrual cycle. I cannot wait to learn about your perspective on what goes on with the menstrual cycle because I am 51 years old and I'm just figuring out what my menstrual cycle is like. I know you have a lot of good information coming our way today. You created that Lady Time Learning. After realizing that your menstrual cycle was actually a vital sign, like our heart rate or our blood pressure. I had never known about that. Can you take us back to that moment when you realize that realization and what really shifted for you and what— when you first really learned about all of that?

Yeah, I would love to. Thank you so much for having me. So This journey really began for me in grad school, and I was already on birth control by that point for several years. But when I was in grad school, I was introduced in our second trimester biochemistry class that birth control and other prescriptions and over-the-counter medications can have something called a drug-induced nutrient depletion. And then I started getting more curious and started going down the rabbit hole with that. And I started contemplating the risk-reward ratio of that and started learning about how women are experiencing these monthly occurrences, but we're not taught that when we do something to alter it, there can be a downstream effect that affects other things in the body. And then I started thinking like, what about just baseline in general? What can it tell us about things that are going on in the body without, you know, not having that influence of birth control? So that's really where I started diving in is once I discovered about drug-induced nutrient depletions and then started reevaluating my relationship with birth control and if that was something that made sense for me. And then I learned that you're only fertile during a very narrow window throughout the whole month. So when I started thinking that, there could be a downstream effect of depleting vitamins and minerals that my body needs in order to do all of the things, and I'm only fertile during a short period of time, and birth control doesn't actually fix anything, it just suppresses communication from your brain to your ovaries, I started reevaluating, you know, what can I do to figure out what's going on with my body and what can I learn about what my body is telling me instead of like just trying to shut it all off, which is kind of exactly what birth control is. It's the chemical equivalent of just turn it off and then we'll turn it back on and hopefully it works again. So that's where it all began for me.

And that's exciting to actually just hearing you talk about it. I'm like, I know nothing about it. And but I do remember being in my early 20s, being on birth control and the how it affected me so much. So much, but I had no idea. My doctors had never even explained what you just said in a minute. They never said— they never told me any of that, the depletion of hormone, or, you know, how that affects your body, the nutrients in your body. That makes so much sense.

It's powerful. It does make sense. And it's, it's really frustrating because sometimes it takes a long time for stuff in academia to become standard knowledge. So we've actually known since the '80s that birth control depletes certain nutrients, and some of those nutrients are correlated with depression and anxiety and all sorts of different stuff. But then for that information to actually become a part of standard clinical practice takes more time after it's been accepted by the literature. So it is a bit frustrating, but I think we're getting better.

I think so too. And I think a lot of women, especially women coming into their— that age where they have to think about these type of things, to have that level of education now is really, really important for them. I know I don't have a daughter, but if I did, I would be so happy to know that at least this information is getting out there for her, because she wouldn't have to go through what I went through, because I went through a lot. And I had— it is— that's a story for another time. So, you know, so many women, they do— they grow up disconnected with their cycles. I know myself, I did. And a lot of shame around them, a lot of shame. So from your perspective and from your research, what's that real impact of not understanding how your cycle works, whether it's physically or mentally or even emotionally?

Yeah, all of the above is impacted for sure. Uh, but ultimately one of the things that I am a really big advocate for as far as learning how to track your cycle is knowing when to call in a member of your healthcare your team. So one of the biggest implications of not knowing what normal looks like is delayed medical intervention and delayed care, because if you don't know what normal looks like and you are experiencing abnormal, or you're normal and then you start to experience abnormal, you're not going to know to seek help if you need to seek help. And the interesting thing is too, is there is some somewhat of a genetic component to this as well. So women will talk to their mothers or other women in their family who are also experiencing the same thing, so it becomes normal within this closed environment, but not normal in the of like a zoomed-out macro perspective because everybody in the family is experiencing the same thing because of genetic similarities. But that doesn't mean that's actually, quote, "normal." So knowing what normal looks like can then provide us the opportunity to do things to support ourselves, to bring it back to normal when it falls out of normal ranges. And that is so tied to, you know, all of those things that you had mentioned. And I really like to think about things from the chemical, physical, and emotional perspective. And the example that I always like to use with the overlap and interconnection between all of those is that a lot of women with their PMS and such, they experience muscle cramps and spasms and that kind of thing. We also know that magnesium— thinking about like the biochemical perspective— when you're depleted in magnesium can contribute to muscle pains, aches, cramps, spasms. So supplementing with something in a strategic time during your cycle, if you experience experience symptoms that also, also have that overlap with that, it just really makes sense. But if you don't know that insane pain during your period is not actually normal, you won't start to explore some of the things that you can do to support yourself because you're already in the mindset that this is how it is. But there is another way. And if we know what normal looks like, then we can start to try to, you know, bring ourselves back into harmony if we've fallen a little bit out of that.

Mm, that is so deep. As you're talking, I'm actually thinking of women in my life who had challenges because they didn't understand the normal, because they were never— and these are, you know, it, it's not something that maybe a 20-year-old would really figure out, but maybe in the 30s or 40s you start seeing symptoms of things like you were saying nutrition, like nutrient deficiencies that really start coming out very differently as your hormones fluctuate as we get older.

Oh yeah.

So what you're saying is incredibly powerful.

We can get a lot— we can get away with a lot more when we're younger than when we get older, for sure.

Absolutely. I feel some of the effects of it even now in my 50s as I'm going through the menopause transition. Because that's a new normal, right? But I loved what you said. I want to, I want to emphasize that getting support as soon as possible from your doctor, getting— and if you don't, ladies, if you don't have a gynecologist or a doctor you can trust, please keep searching for one because there is one out there. So invest in your health because that will affect you as you get older. And as you know, you want to be able to have that smooth transition. So I loved what you said there. Thank you for sharing that, Elora. So you've made menstrual education accessible, right, through your course, your course In Tune. I want to hear so much about this, which women can really decode what their period is saying about their health. Can you walk us through what that process looks like and why that information is so empowering?

Yeah, absolutely. In Tune has definitely been a labor of love. So In Tune: What Does Your Period Say About Your Health? Because the menstrual cycle is a group of biosigns, signs of life, they are external things that we are able to decode about internal things that are happening in our system. And so I talk about cervical mucus, which is not a topic that I would imagine most women grew up learning about because there's actually a large por— portion of women who end up going to their OB for cervical mucus thinking that something is wrong, even though it's totally normal and there are shifts throughout the cycle. So learning what those shifts in cervical mucus mean as far as hormonal health inside. I talk about anatomy for both women and men, internal and external. And then we start talking about some of the hormones and where they come from, where they go, because hormones are chemical messengers. They communicate from one cell or tissue to another to tell it to do something or to not do something. So we learn about that whole cascade, because if you are somebody who's experiencing a, quote, abnormal cycle, we can kind of reverse engineer the process and kind of understand, once we know from point A to point B what hormone is sending what message, we can try to start reverse engineering. Is this a sender issue? Is this a receiver issue? But knowing all of the parts that are involved is what helps us to start trying to unravel some of those mysteries. If we know all of the players, and then we can decide where is this a communication breakdown? Is this a sender thing or is this a receiver thing? I also talk about one of the top causes for early pregnancy loss in my course, because that's, that's something that Unfortunately, a lot of women navigate. So having some information to empower them through that is important, I feel like. And cycle variations, whether they're really long cycles or really short cycles, what does that mean? What can that tell us? And then ultimately, like I said, knowing what normal looks like and knowing when you should call in a member of your healthcare team to work with you to figure out ways to support yourself, whether that's through nutrition or pharmaceuticals or an exercise routine, because honestly, that makes a big difference in hormone health too. But knowing what normal looks like so that you can identify abnormal and know when to call in somebody for your support.

Oh, this is great. This is great. So make sure— I want to let everyone know, you will find out information on Intune in my show notes. So please take a look at the link to be able to connect with Elora on this, because she is a wealth of knowledge, y'all. This is good. I can see your eyes light up when you have this conversation. And in all transparency, when you mentioned about early pregnancy loss, I can relate to that, and it made me really emotional because I know a lot of women in my life, personal friends of mine, who can absolutely relate to that. And those are feelings that don't go away very easily. So thank you for what you're doing. This— everybody needs to know this, and I want to share it with as many people as possible. So I'm glad we're having this conversation today. Anything else you can add? Like, what is it about the Intune, about the decoding and the program itself that you, that you love so much and you really want to emphasize to the women that are listening that makes them want to, to be in this with you, this program?

Well, from like a tactical perspective, It is available from like a self-paced course. So it's a lot of information. It's easy, but it does take repetition and practice. So having the accessibility to like, okay, 30 seconds back, 30 seconds back, what did she say? Whatever, like, you know, go back and learn that from a tactical perspective. But what makes me excited about this is it really helps women learn again how to trust their body and to learn what their body is telling them about what's going on. So this is a huge like self-trust, self-discovery piece, in my opinion, because sometimes we don't realize how stressed or depleted we are until we're already in it and we've already gone past a certain point. So once you start learning this information, then you have another, like, visual reminder that you can see that something's going on and get out of your head a little bit because you're doing XYZ and you have to go here and you have to go there. But you can get into your body and you can see what your body is trying to communicate with you about what's going on inside, because we can get distracted. So that's my favorite part about Intune.

Oh, I love that. Thank you for sharing that. And I love the self-paced approach. That's brilliant. Brilliant. Thank you for sharing that. So I love that you have a mantra right now, that progress over perfection. I personally lean toward that too. Love it so much. So how does that truth really show up in the way that you teach women to reconnect with their bodies? —because you talked about trust—a lot of us women, especially in our 30s, well, 40s, 50s, we haven't learned how to trust our bodies. So especially those who are feeling they've ignored or fought against that cycle, uh, for years, what would you say? How do you—how does that truth show up in, in that way, in the way you teach women?

So the progress over perfection, I like to think about kind of, again, zooming in and zooming out and like micro perspective and macro perspective and understanding that even just 1% of change every single day is going to lead to a massive macro change. And even 6 months of just doing 1% change consistently is going to lead to over a 500% improvement in whatever the thing is that you do. And let's say you just look at progress over perfection and you only get half of those days out of that 6-month period. You're still going to have over a 100% improvement on whatever the area is that you're focusing on. And if we hyperfocus on the smaller of the day and making sure that we do everything perfect and everything right, that feels like an expectation that we're not really ever going to be able to achieve. Like perfection is not really attainable and unrealistic expectations put those on yourself is just unkind. It's just not kind to yourself. So if we can zoom out and realize that, okay, every day is going to be different and your energy level is probably going to be different depending on the day that you are in of your cycle. It's okay if we take a zoomed out perspective and just realize if we keep moving forward and we keep learning and we keep making that 1%, it's going to have a compound effect over time and be exponential what we can do. But if we we hyperfocus on the little tiny things, we're just going to drive ourselves nuts. So progress over perfection.

I 100% agree with you on that. I actually— I hear Atomic Habits in the background there because of the right habit stacking a little bit at a time. You build over time. But also too, I want to second what you said. There is no such thing as perfection. And the sooner we recognize that, the, the, the more graceful our life will become. And that's what I'm hearing you say. I'm hearing you say, hey, give yourself some grace, ladies, because our feminine bodies are gifts. They really are. They're such gifts to us. And the more we learn how to nurture them with, through progress over time, then it will become easier. Our bodies will feel it and they'll respond in a, in a more positive way. Right? Is that what you're saying? Absolutely. I hear you, girl. I hear you. And it's, it's something that it takes a lot of— it takes so much effort. I know with the, the women that I work with, uh, my clients, they're just so hard on themselves all the time. And it's just like, just take a, take a breath. So it's nice to know. Um, actually, just heard something recently too, not to get off subject too much, but wanted to reel it back in, that a majority of our moods and emotions are based on hormones from time to time. So when we don't know if we're depleted hormonally because we've maybe been on birth control or haven't been able to figure out how our cycle works, we're beating ourselves up for having depression and anxiety and all of these things. That's not even the cause of our issues. Those are some of the results. Those are some of the byproducts of the deeper layer stuff. So this is powerful information to understand. Yeah, absolutely. Really good. It's really good. Um, so I love that you mentioned that you want to collaborate and expand your reach through affiliate partnerships. I'm totally game for that. I think it's great. And for ladies who listen and who want to collaborate with Elora. She— I can attest, she is just the most wonderful, genuine person to work with and be with and be friends with. So what kind of creators or communities do you feel most aligned with, and how can you help amplify this mission to bring this menstrual literacy to more women? Because women need to know this stuff. They need to know it.

Yes, it's life-changing, literally life-changing. Honestly, if you're a lady and you're interested in bringing this information to your group of lady friends, collaboration. Like, if you are somebody who helps women and you're looking for a little bit of an edge on like learning how the physiology affects any of that, I would love to collaborate because I feel like, just like I talked about the hormone communication piece, like if we know all of the players to all of the things, then we can reverse engineer the process. And honestly, once I've started learning about how my body works, I see how that influences all of the things, like all of my life altogether. Like even this particular podcast or even how I run my business, I try to cycle-sync some of that, like not ridiculously minute details. I personally try to break my stuff up into like 3 different phases. I know a lot of people talk about 4 phases or they talk about 2 phases, but I think of things kind of in more along the lines of 3 of Amy Robinson, um, planning, sprinting, and then resting. I try to do a lot of my life things during the time where hormonally I just feel really good during that sprinting phase, and then I just tie in other life things during that phase that feel good during that phase. And then like the rest phases and the planning phases where I don't have as much energy, or maybe after I've mastered a skill, I put it into those other areas of my life. That is a concept that I can— like, you can tie that into just everything that we're doing. And if we learn to live in flow with our hormonal fluctuations, it just feels easier instead of trying to fight against your physiology. So if you are a woman who does anything and you have a period and you want to know more, let's talk about how we can tie that into your normal and natural flow of energy already.

Oh, I love that so much. Yeah, we'll be talking. You and I will be having a conversation after this episode for sure. And yes, ladies, if you need information, please check out the show notes. I'm going to give you Elora's information, how to reach out to her and to reach out to her on Instagram as well. Is Instagram your main way or do you have other links as well?

Yeah, Instagram. Instagram is my main place that I hang out and then I have a podcast on Spotify, but yeah, Instagram. Oh yeah.

Yeah, she's my fellow podcaster friend, girls and men, and men who listen as well. I know that there's some men sneaking in here listening, which is totally great. I think a man who's able to really understand what his woman is going through, his partner, his life partner, his wife, whoever she is, his daughter— I think, man, that's an amazing thing. Do you notice, like, just because as a side question, do you notice that there's more and more men who are starting to become aware of this for the women in their lives. I think that's so important, especially the days where, like, we're living in days where it's just awareness is just right in front of you.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yes, 100%. And I mean, a lot of people use fertility tracking for family awareness or natural family planning. So if you are a woman in a relationship with a man, like, he's, he's got to know if this is what you're doing. But from a support perspective, like you had alluded to, just knowing, like, your partner knowing what's going on with your body to just even divide tasks and to know grocery shopping, you know, if you're going to do any sort of support for nutrition, eating something at this time of your cycle versus that time of your cycle. And then your guy being able to help you do the grocery shopping, you know, to plan for those things. Yeah, I love that.

It's, you know, that would bring so much ease to a relationship, things that people fight for. They can understand. It's just amazing to have this information and really just say, hey, now I know. It's taken my husband years to be able to understand my process of what I'm going through. And man, a lot of fights could have been avoided if we would have just known this information sooner. This is great. So as we, as we close up for this evening and we just really wrap up this podcast. Is there anything else you'd love to share with this beautiful community on your perspective? What brings you passion? And really anything that you want to go ahead and share with us, feel free to do so now. Mm.

Thank you. Be nice to yourself. Be kind to yourself. I know when you start to learn a lot of information, sometimes there can be these feelings of like not enoughness that comes up because you're like, I'm not doing this or I'm not doing that. But just like we said earlier, try to go back to that progress over perfection because now that you know differently, you can choose to do differently. And just even 1% shift in any direction is going to have an exponential effect. So just be nice to yourself while you're learning and going through life.

Oh, I love that, Elora. Thank you. And that is a beautiful way to end this this gorgeous episode. Thank you for joining us today, and thank you for sharing your wisdom and your knowledge. And again, for those of you who are looking for Elora, I'm going to go ahead and have all the info you need in the show notes. So please give her some love and give her a follow as well. Thank you, sweetie.

That conversation was such a gift, wasn't it? I love how Elora reminds that understanding our cycles isn't just about tracking symptoms. It's about reclaiming our power through awareness. If this episode opens something inside you, go explore her course, In Tune: What Your Period Says About Your Health. It's such a grounded and science-backed entry point into your own rhythm. And if you're feeling called to balance your hormones from a more emotional and aromatic lens, The way your body communicates through scent, energy, and nervous system healing— that's the space I hold within my transformation membership and private coaching. It's where we explore the deeper emotional undercurrents that affect your cycle and feminine flow. You can find all the links to connect with both Elora and myself in the show notes. Share this episode with a woman who's ready to to feel at home in her body again. Because when one woman remembers, we all rise a little higher.