Menstrual Literacy.

FAM, i.e., the Fertility Awareness Method, refers to the practice of learning how to read your body’s observable signs of fertility.

 

The method is rooted in an awareness of the infradian rhythm, the ~28-day clock which plays a vital role in every woman’s health and well-being. Whilst the innate timekeeper of the male body is the 24-hour circadian rhythm, women are guided by both the circadian and the infradian rhythms. FAM is a means of learning how to read one’s physiologic signs of fertility in order to reveal whereabouts in this dynamic dance a woman is at a given time.

 

I teach the Symptothermal Method of FAM which integrates cervical mucus, basal body temperature, and cervical position as fertile signs. These signs vary noticeably throughout the menstrual cycle in response to fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone secretions. When in tune with these signs, a woman is able to identify her fertile window, i.e., the 6-7 days in her cycle when conception is actually possible, and with this, step into power over her reproductive choices whether her goal is to achieve or avoid pregnancy. 

But FAM is about so much more than periods and getting pregnant. It is the comprehension and appreciation of an accurate biomarker of your health. It is the process of learning to work with your body, rather than against it thereby cultivating a sense of ease and flow into all that you do.