Ash McDonald (00:00):

Hello, hello, my sweet friend. Welcome back to the podcast today. I am coming at ya from a luteal phase. And as you know, on all these episodes, I, I find it really important that we have these conversations. So today we’re going to start by talking about the luteal phase, because if you listened to last week’s episode, which by the way, if you have not definitely go tune in, it was super, super awesome, all the fire. And also you could probably listen to that one. And then this one and notice an energy shift. And that is cyclical. My friend, I am in luteal phase right now. I am a post-retreat by the way, I’m going to give you a recap, cause it was extraordinary, but I am in luteal phase. So my energy is lower. My criticalness of myself and others is higher. If I’m being super honest, my cravings are up.

Ash McDonald (00:51):

My bloat is up. There’s all these different things. And it’s a pretty massive contradiction to the energy that I had last week and the energy that I have now now, before understanding this fundamentally understanding this being so quote unquote, lackluster in my energy right now would have made me feel as though I was broken. I had done something wrong. I had failed in some sort or maybe all the things that I shared with you last week. Weren’t really true. I have I kid you not. And I know you have felt this. I know there have been moments when you were incredibly motivated and inspired and aligned and all these things and not, not too late after you didn’t feel those because you were at a different energetic capacity. Without knowing this, we suffer the risk of living in a constant state of shame, not even mentioning the fact that in knowing this, I can serve myself better.

Ash McDonald (01:50):

I can care for myself more. There’s so many things that go into it. So today I come to you from my luteal phase and my gratitude is 100% knowing that I’m in that video space and giving myself all of the grace, all of the permission, having a schedule that really aligned with my energetic attunement, I’d say, that’s my, that’s the thing I’m most grateful for when it comes to cyclical. Alignment is having a calendar that day in and day out. I look at it and go, huh, like breath of fresh frickin air, because it aligns with my energy. Ovulation has me out like being social and doing back-to-back things and just really flowing and creative, creative energy. And ludial, you’re not going to see as much on my calendar pink Jason, cause I would not be doing SWAT today because I did just get back two days ago from my retreat.

Ash McDonald (02:41):

I actually had every intention. And this is funny because I had every intention to record episodes on my retreat, but I even brought my mic. It just did not happen ever have that happen. I know I’m not alone. So I didn’t record anything. So I’m here recording and holy moly, it was a whirlwind getting back into this life of mine. I, my phone blew up the moment that we landed in Colorado because my daughter was puking. So came back to that. And today I gotta be honest. I am not my best self. I have not felt great. But then I was thinking about it and I was like, I was going to pass this up and do this, this recording tomorrow. Assuming that I feel better, which there’s no way to tell. And then I thought, no, this is it. This is literally why I created this.

Ash McDonald (03:24):

No, not to like push myself and work when I don’t want to work. I absolutely want to be here. And there are certainly things that I took off my schedule today. However, this podcast is absolutely for me to show up and show you the behind the scenes in the good, in the bad and the ugly. And it’s really funny because last week we were thriving environment on this podcast. I was screaming at you. I said a whole bunch of cuss words. I had to filter out my stories to replay this for you because I was on fire. And this week I’m like, oh God, why did I have so many kids? I’m so tired. Maybe I don’t want to do anything and lay in bed, all the heating pads. Right? And I just want to say you are normal. I am normal. We are normal.

Ash McDonald (04:11):

We were actually way better than normal, pretty freaking awesome sauce. And we’re killing it. And there are going to be weeks that call for you to be more kind to yourself in what you plan and what you expect and how you love you. Right? And we live in a world where living in what is really essentially our masculine energy. I E go, go, go, go, go get all the things done. Never stopped to feel the emotion. It’s like, just get through it. We have, we live in a society that has taught us fundamentally to stay in that space. Like push through, you know, rise. Don’t let anybody knock you down. But what if I’m just having a crap day? Well, my friend, I want to give you that permission slip right now. And we’re gonna talk a lot about that today. We’re going to talk about how to understand your energy, right?

Ash McDonald (05:08):

Particularly, I’m going to give you a tiny, tiny little intro into masculine and feminine energy because of something super exciting coming out that you may be interested in. But more importantly, we’re just here to reduce the shame, the shame, the shame that comes with not understanding your own energetic capacities, right. And allowing yourself to sway in and out of what feels good when it feels good and how it feels good. And ultimately, just to tie back to last week’s episode, living a life you are in love with, right? So as a reminder, last week, I said, take a real hard, look around, have you built a life and or business based on somebody else’s life and or business because they seem successful, but you actually don’t want any of their life or their business. Whew, I’m telling ya that is a mic drop, but don’t drop this mic because it was not a small investment.

Ash McDonald (06:03):

Seriously, though. This is the burning of the things down. Really funny story that I’m going to tell you, nothing about if you haven’t noticed yet these podcasts are super candid and not at all like pre-plant, but my husband and I made some really crazy decisions while into them. And I cannot wait to share more later, but now’s not the time. Because burning down my business was just not eating enough because dang it. This is the only life we have to live. So hopefully you’re inspired by that. But I want to give you a little recap first little retreat recap. Holy moly. If you have never been to Tulum, it’s like they call it the energy for tax and they are not kidding. I’m so grateful. I really, really, I did great. I did great. I’m planning this, having a few days with my team beforehand to really get settled into loam, to just spend a little bit time exploring was so good for my soul.

Ash McDonald (06:57):

I have some incredible people that come alongside me. My best best friend in the whole wide world is my bookkeeper, which is super awesome. So she handles all the finances and make sure that everything is going good and simplifies something that I’m not totally in love with, which I’m always grateful for him. I’ve got Moe. Who’s my personal assistant and just a gem of a woman. She’s you just love her. You meet her, you love her, you can’t live without her. And she also was the retreat chef while we were out there. So it was really exciting. And then Shana, Machina girl, I have her and I have worked together for a year. Now. She is my OBM, which also stands for online business manager, which is just a fancy way of saying she is my right hand woman. And we got to celebrate one year into loon, which was so exciting.

Ash McDonald (07:38):

And I got to just honor her as a person, which felt awesome. And to do it in person, especially because we work primarily virtually. So we spent some time together. We went on this crazy bike ride, I will say until loom that the roads are super, super cratering. That’s what you could say. Bumpy crazy. I don’t know. We decided to ride our bikes through there when I end, while not everybody enjoyed it. I had the time of my life because if you know me, you know, I love living on the edge and fear and excitement and adrenaline. I freaking live for that stuff. So I, it was pitch black. It was so dark. So that was scary. It was super dangerous. So that was fricking awesome. And it took like 10 times longer than we expected. And that was incredibly painful, but it was so good.

Ash McDonald (08:22):

We had so much fun going out. We had so much fun going to the beach. Oh my gosh, the water is out there. Crystal clear. And then Katie like I said, my bookkeeper, my best friend, she took me out for a little spa day as a gift, which was just, oh my gosh, we got a clay massage where they literally covered us head to toe hair in all in clay. And I have to tell you the most hysterical thing. If you can imagine this, we were laying there and we get this claim massage. And when you’re laying on a bed, right, they’re going to pull your hair up to like put the clay in there. Well, you know, after they’re done with this, so like, okay, sit up and go take a shower. And so Katie and I are in a, like a couple’s room just because they didn’t quite understand that we are not a couple, obviously language barrier there.

Ash McDonald (09:02):

And so we sit up and our hair is sticking straight up with clay. I so wish I had that on camera, but I did not such a good time. And then the retreat began and it was at this extraordinary Villa that was mostly outside. So I did have to adjust to the bugs, have to live, but it was so beautiful. Truly. I couldn’t have asked for more and just the beauty of this place. And I got to spend quality time with three of my four mastermind gals. I like to keep it intimate. And one gal couldn’t make it, which was so, so sad, but we were all there together. Everything from massages to adventures, including cliff diving into no days to amazing meals inside from our chef and amazing meals outside. Cause I will say, oh my gosh, Tim has the best food, the best food, the best food.

Ash McDonald (09:48):

It’s so amazing. So yummy, so awesome. And so we had a date in where we did all the inside stuff like intuitive card reading and massages and all the things. It was so good. And then a day out and then we ended it at the beach and it was the clearest. I had seen the water since I’d been there, which was so amazing. And then my husband and my best friend’s husband flew in to meet us for a little a foursome, if you will, of a weekend, a little foursome of a weekend with the four of us. And it was such a blast. We did some more Sonata exploring, which also included swimming with a crocodile, nobody to, again, living on the edge, you’ve got to hear that we did beach, laying more bike riding my husband and I went and got a couples massage and all the amazing food.

Ash McDonald (10:38):

So if you just have not been to Tulum yet, that’s my first invite. Get your booty to Saloom. It is so extraordinary. I cannot wait to go back and to if you’ve never been on a retreat yet, what’s the matter what’d you do in there is nothing quite like coming together with other women who you’ve grown together. Especially I love this piece in my masterminds. We’ve grown together for a while before we go on this retreat. So amazing. And actually I’ve hosted it before where the retreat was first and then we grew together either way. It’s just extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary. So good. So, so good. So the reason why I wanted to record now, as I mentioned, I was one to give you this incredible recap of the retreat, because I know everybody wants to hear this, but to, to remind you that it’s okay to have weeks where you are energetically, vibing and feeling all the things and just on fire. And it’s okay to have weeks where you’re kind of in a weird spot and you’re questioning some things. And I want you to know that it’s really easy to look at others in any circumstance to look at others and think she has got it together. I don’t ever want to be that person for anybody. I don’t ever want to be the person that people say she

Ash McDonald (11:53):

Has got it together. I really, really, really hope to always be the person that is so true and honest about my experiences that I create normalcy and shamelessness for you. There are days when I have got my together and there are days equally as many where I want to throw in the towel and then stomp on that towel and run as fast as I can in any direction that I can find safety from my current experience, both are okay. I am okay. You were okay, but it’s really important to understand these nuances. And it really boils down to our masculine and our feminine energy. Let me break it down a little bit. Masculine energy, as I mentioned is very much a time where we are at a higher point energetically, where we are giving, giving, giving, and we don’t need a whole lot more to fill our cup because we kind of already started at full right.

Ash McDonald (12:51):

And the truth is us women. We’ve got this biological like blueprint within us that says that those times typically happen during our fully clear and oblation phase. So the week after our period, the week after we have blood is our fully clear phase. And then the week after that has population. So that time in there, we are just thriving and have so much energy and it’s so great. And we can live in that masculine, but then there’s other times, which is our menstrual when we’re bleeding and our luteal phase, which is right after ovulation, when we are going to feel more tired, more energetically tapped, this doesn’t mean everything stops and halts and quits. It means that we show up differently for ourselves. And the truth is even outside of the cyclical piece of this, there is going to be natural ebbs and flows in our life where we need to have the intuitive spirit to go.

Ash McDonald (13:45):

I’m too masculine right now, or I’m too feminine right now. Right? And the ability to shift between the two, which is why I’m super excited, that very, very soon I will be opening doors to my newer program called synergize. And it’s actually just a one time live masterclass that will teach you all the things that you need to know about masculine and feminine energy, how to recognize it, how to see signs from yourself that you’re living in one too heavily when you need the other, and then how to activate them accurately. You need this, I need this, we need this synergized. Ah, I’m so excited, so excited. And if you want to be a bad-ass and reach out and get that link before it even goes live, do yourself a favor. Cause you will get exclusive pre-launch pricing and you deserve it. Otherwise you’ll see me talking about it over on Instagram. Ultimately today, friends, I want you to know that you deserve to live in alignment, but alignment doesn’t start by looking outward. It starts by looking inward, but building a life and a business that’s fun that you love. And by truly managing your energy to a point of understanding what you need most and giving yourself all the dang grace and permission. So today I am, luteal, I’m going to go rest and I hope that you will rest as well. If that’s what serves you best.