BELONGING BEGINS IN YOUR BODY

Cyclical Mindfulness Foundations

a methodology & self-paced course, practice + workbook to help you find center & direction in times of change and uncertainty.

I know I'm not the only one...

Maybe you also feel the spiral of the cycles in your head, de-centering your body;
getting lost in the layers, and reaching out elsewhere…

forgetting to remember that you are the center for the answers.

• • •

The familiarity of feeling frozen, uncertain, and feeling less than helpful…

how do we get off of this harmful cycle and into true compassionate action or reducing harm through non-reaction?

We cannot always find solutions, but we can find space for a next step to surface...

When I return to this space (center) from the spiral, it feels safe to trust in myself even just for this moment…

it creates a ripple of hope and inspired action in me, and I want that for you too.

It creates not just another thoughtless re-action, but an intentional response.

This is all built into the practice:

not just a space for rest and contemplation,

but also a process to help us process.

I just did this very practice after doom-scrolling and reading news headlines...
thinking about the state of the world, and all the people who are suffering…

and it led me here,

to write this to you and to remind myself too,

that moments are fleeting, and time keeps turning,

but the only thing we have control of

is our choice or not to follow the currents of change.

I know there's another way, that doesn't ignore the way of the individual or the collective.

& I envision...

...a world where we are more connectedto our body's intrinsic connection and belonging in relationship to ourselves, others and the Earth.

...a time when we are not disembodied from our sense of place, and in which we have personal, communal and collective support to feel seen and give space to our feelings.

...a space in which we can honor our fears and pain with presence not pressure for perfection.

Yet we live in an age of linear-time, where "mind over matter" blocks us from listening to what truly matters most.

You are not alone in this fault that is not of your own, but has been bred continually for centuries by colonialism, capitalism, and the whole cocktail of oppressive structures that affect us all.

We are often taught...

...to seek solutions outside of ourselves before even checking in with what we want or need.

And we are taught that this is selfish.

But receiving your own consent first is life-affirming.

No one can give you that other than your own body, nervous system and spirit - the very elements you are made of.

Living mindfully and cyclically takes practice,

especially as the tides in our capitalistic world push against our efforts to just exist...

This is why I've been developing a methodology

intended to fill in the gaps of the intersections of cyclical, seasonal living and mindful embodiment;

a technique that helps us access and harness our innate resources we already hold within our senses.

If you'd like to be guided in practicing this foundational method

to deepen your roots

and strengthen your center through simple, practical and versatile techniques...

Cyclical Mindfulness can help support you in any (or possibly every) area of your life. 

From mental health,

to menstrual cycle tracking,

to nervous system triggers,

to collective crisis where you feel stuck and uncertain...

there is never just one answer or way... Cyclical Mindfulness helps you find YOUR way.

I believe this is one doable, personal action that brings us a step closer to collective change & healing.

There is a way beyond what we were taught... and it lives within your body.

Practicing Cyclical Mindfulness is...

  • ...like laying down in your warm bed after a long day, because you know this familiar yet adjustable space is here to restore and support you.

  • ...like lounging in a warm bath, leaning into the trustbecause you know this practice is as fluid and adaptable to support you day-to-day throughout your phases.

  • ...the friend who notices you're triggered and reactive, and inside of biting back, asks if we can talk outside of the room of dis-regulation to hug it out and find out what the root problem is.

  • ...like letting yourself lay on the couch for a few minutes during a non-stop dayfinding a moment of reprieve to find restored clarity.

  • ...like a tap on the shoulder from your guides reminding you of what you already know you can do to help yourself and others.

  • ...realizing that getting stuck is now a lightbulb opportunity moment where you sit up on the couch from doom scrolling and assuming you're not doing enough, and turn to what actually helps you feel clear.

  • ...like looking up at the sky seeing all the stars and realizing wow this is all temporary.

    It's that momentary relief from the reminder that I can honor both the micro and the macro, the personal & collective.

  • ...the loving friend who asks you the pivotal questions to bring you out of a spiral.

What is Cyclical Mindfulness?

Cyclical Mindfulness is a practice of finding our center of awareness within the ever-changing nature of life.

It's honoring all parts of the whole, through noticing patterns, connections, and intersections.

Because finding center in all cycles is a practice.

Cyclical Mindfulness is related to but not the same as the cycle tracking we do in Cycles Journal.

It can support such practices and many areas of your life.

It encompasses the moment before and between the larger cycles, and beyond.

Cyclical mindfulness is specifically focused on aspects of change, seasonality and phasic processing.

Through combining sensory, cognitive and contemplative awareness,

we can create more self-understanding and acceptance

to adapt and find more choice within change.

When you’re stuck in a loop or feeling flatline,

it’s time to step out of the linear and into something wholistic to feel back into what’s true.

When you’re feeling frozen because there’s a million things to do,

or you’re stuck on that one thing you feel you said wrong…

When you’re triggered and itching to react...

This is your sign to pull away and give yourself the space to unravel and reflect.

Between internal spirals and external dependence exists an in-between of forming new pathways

with wholistic, healthy patterns and anchors to return to when the going gets tough.

There are many practices that can be done in a moment, minutes, hours, or over longer spans of time.

This a method that is malleable,

both micro and macro,

embodied and adaptable

helping you return to center and clarity within your experiences of chaos and change.

…I call this Cyclical Mindfulness.

This is one way to help us find a better way...

Through a simple cyclical & recyclable technique and guidelines you can apply to any area of your life... 

the adaptability of Cyclical Mindfulness reflects the very nature from which it stems;

rooted & fluid presence and practice.

Inspired by devotional practice, reverence for spiritual paths of practices rooted in

Earth-based lineages,

the seasons & cycles of the Earth, moon & wombs,

and other practices of impermanence –

Cyclical Mindfulness helps us reconnect to our roots

and the omnipresent support that exists through our inherent belonging.

Cyclical Mindfulness does replace or substitute therapy, religion, or your existing spiritual beliefs.

It can be a helpful supplement and practice that molds to your existing beliefs and lifestyle.

We are on a journey of personal and collective liberation

through interconnection and communion with ourselves, one another & the Earth.

Finding center in all cycles & change is a practice.

Finding center in all cycles & change is a practice.

Practicing Cyclical Mindfulness helps me feel more resourced with what I already have, and less alone.

It has been an anchor in my day-to day. It gives me a starting place of trust and knowing when I pick up my pen or stare into space.

Cyclical Mindfulness does not ask you to conform to strict guidelines,

but to expand and adapt its framework to benefit you.

Practicing Cyclical Mindfulness is like a loved one's hand on your shoulder,

or a warm cup of tea in the midst a hard day.

It's a compass that helps you navigate your inner world and day-to-day experiences and encounters.

It's a map to the radiant wisdom and guidance that is already within your reach, hiding behind the clouds of overwhelm.

Why this, out of all the other things you could do?

1. it can be applied to many/any areas of your life, so you can feel more supported and less scattered trying to "remember more".

2. it's flexible & doable no matter where you are or how much time you have, so you can practice in the car ride to work, at your altar in silence, in the shower, while cooking for the kids, or on your walk outside...


3. it will layer on and connect to your other practices (cycle-tracking & beyond), so you're not taking on more, but supplementing through expanding your presence and capacity to process and center.


4. it's a relatively simple practice that helps you retain it through embodied repetition rather than the strain of memorization.


5. it helps you find center and connection and all the in-betweens, so when you're pacing back and forth thinking in decision making or spiralin, you remember you have a tool that actually helps you quickly (like an ethical cheatcode in a video game).


6. it's not your average mindfulness practice - it's integrative and embodied and wholistic.


7. it is both personal and communal/collective - creating ripples of large scale and small scale change, so that you don't have to feel like you're not doing enough when you realize that this is a first step to being able to help anyone, INCLUDING YOURSELF!


8. it helps you embody and practice with your natural seasons and cycles, so that you're not wasting energy going against your own tides or that of the planet's!

9. it's a small but mighty practice that has helped me feel a full body shift; from stuck on the couch to jumping up into inspired, mindful action.

10. there are both passive & active components to this to integrate and reflect, so that in the midst of resistance to everything and anything, this practice has helped me find exactly what my body & mind are needing.


11. it's taught by me, Rachael Amber! your artistic, neurodivergent, deeply caring, ever-researching and learning, intuitive guide - so you can learn from a new, multi-faceted perspective.


12. it’s a gentle yet powerful rebellion against linear, colonial-capitalism, transforming the change you want to see in the world from the inside out, one breath at a time.


13. this activates and cues all your senses, the disregulated and neurodivergent brain can learn and integrate more swiftly and wholistically engaged.


14. it's meant to meet you and your nervous system where you're at, so you can shift out of fight/flight/freeze with more frequency and ease.

15. it's ever-changing, growing and transforming just like you and me!

a written, somatic & sensory practice to recentering and responding.

Additional Resources

More Info & Writings

I write a lot about my own experiences, analogies and more on my substack!

You're welcome to read more there:

Free Sample Practice

I'd love to gift you a practice that is just a taste of the whole buffet you'll get inside the course.

I hope this supports you regardless!

Find it inside our free community:

Q&As

I've compiled a list of collected questions we've received so far at the bottom of this page!

Check it out below, and if you still have questions after that - just contact us!

Meet Your Teacher

Hi there! I'm Rachael Amber (they/she) (or Rae) and I'm so excited to be here with you on this journey. :)

As a true Sagittarius rising with Jupiter there on my ascendant, I LOVE learning, reading, exploring, ideating and connecting the dots of the bigger picture with the minutia.

Over the years I've followed my extensive passion, practice and studies through fields of art & design, creative writing, deep ecology, Earth-based spiritual lineages such as various Buddhist traditions, Espiritismo/spiritism, nature-centric art as activism, visual guidance...

I also care, A LOT. Which is why I need this tool myself to stay sane and grounded in this surreal world, and it's also the gift of why I have the desire to share this with you today. <3

My devotion to intersectional eco-feminism, somatic mindfulness studies, nervous system regulation, wholistic wellness, and cycle-tracking experience.

These are all parts of my whole, which color my work & offerings that I'd like to share with you here. I'm so excited to finally be sharing this whirlpool of intuited and learned wisdom! <3

P.S. This is not a one-size-fits all method.

This is a malleable, fluid, and adaptable framework to help apply to your specifics - not the other way around.

This is a practice, not a finished product.

I struggle to even call this a "course" - it's more of a guide (but it's more than just a booklet) and a "template", a shape of a practice and essence of a mindset and way of living...

It's not a magic wand, it's a launchpad, a landing pad to return back to when you're floating too far from home...

Cyclical Mindfulness is something that will not just change you, but change and shape as you work with it - without having to mold it, it will support you like water shapes to a swimmer's body.

This practice is the surface "tension" which allows you to buoyantly float in a pool on your back if only you relax into it.

It's simplicity and complexity in one.

It's succinct and clarifying.

It's a synthesis of so many practices and aspects of what I've learned and processed... into a set of repetitive support guidance.

Let's not mistake simplicity for lesser - let's recognize it as a blessing in this world of way too much.

I've sucked out all the distractions and given you a formula to sit with.

Just like no-thing is the same each orbit the Earth laps around the Sun, no part of you will be the same after each time you practice with it... even if you don't notice it right away. Subtle shifts and practices are sometimes the most powerful.

Think about how often something makes sense only when you're spaced out in the shower, or when you're staring at a sunset... that clarity when all the clouds have faded, and how blissfully simple it feels.

That's the place Cyclical Mindfulness helps you access with more ease than effort.

And I want to give it for you for the one-time exchange, because the world can't wait for more of us to feel centered and resourced within ourselves and our place.

How can we help?

FAQ

Is this course self-paced or live?

This is a self-paced course which includes recorded audio and visual lessons, as well as written lessons and practices of all types. There are also printable guide & workbooks.

There will be no live content included in this course, which is how we keep it at such an amazing price!

Is this a specific practice?

It's a specific framework and there are specific practices to help you establish a familiarity with it, but it's also malleable and adaptable.

It's also really a reflection - an alchemized method inspired by all cycles to help us find choice within our cycles and better access to our intuition and instincts.

How do you identify what cyclical mindfulness is?

Cycle-based awareness in general can be a form of practicing intentionally with any planetary or biological cycles, o we can become aware of their patterns, changes and turning points.

This can be super fluid and flexible, but also vague and hard to practice without a structure.

So that's why I developed this specific method I'm calling Cyclical Mindfulness, which uses nature-inspired frameworks to serve as an anchor to help us remember to return and practice.

So we can find more acceptance in the cycles we can't control and make space for change through what we can recognize and utilize our birthright to choose.

I think this practice is more focused on identifying our patterns and moments we need to pause and re-center within a cycle instead of being caught up in it, so that we can gain perspective through observance, rather than being stuck in the orbit.

Picture being at the center or at the controls of a ferris wheel rather than on the ride when it's going too fast or being stuck at the top when you have to pee.

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask follow-up questions too :)

How is this different from mindfulness in general?

It's a specific lens and way of practicing a type of mindfulness,
It's earth-based,
It's written and somatic,
It uses visual cues and analogies to support remembering,
It's a practice of acceptance but also choice and change,
It has some very active and conscious components as well as subtle.

Meditation doesn't work for me. Is this different?


I hear you, meditation can be tricky to find the right practice and I get why it's not for some people.

Mindfulness is a bit more general and this isn't (just) about a seated breathing practice.

The Cyclical Mindfulness Method is first actually a written or verbal practice so that you don't have to be seated on a cushion in designed time to do it. It really helps me to work on the "medium of common communication" first, and then implementing the somatic layer too and other variations of the practice inspired by the same framework.

I often practice this on the couch or when I feel like I can't sit still but my mind is racing and I just need
something to ground me or move through a nagging worry.

Is this about menstrual cycle awareness?

Not specifically, but it can definitely be related and its inspired by lunar cycles as well.

We're focusing more on mental cycles, emotions, experiences and sensations in this practice - so it truly is for anyone!

It can definitely be a supportive layer to MCA and it can of course apply to whatever you're experiencing in your menstrual cycle!

Is this practice religious?

Nope! This is an open practice.

Cyclical Mindfulness does replace or substitute therapy, religion, or your existing spiritual beliefs.

It can be a helpful supplement and practice that molds to your existing beliefs and lifestyle.

While the teacher practices in various spiritual lineages and Earth-based practices, this course is non-dogmatic.

It is up to you to take or leave what feels aligned with your life and spiritual beliefs.

Is this a replacement for therapy?

While this is a gret practice to use in addition to therapy and other professional support, it is not a replacement for therapy or any medical or psychological help.

Cycles Journal & all related Cyclical Roots products/offerings is not a clinical or medical organization or tools – it is not a replacement for consulting professional resources. We are simply a guide, connection point & sharing resources.

Cycles Mindfulness is a space for being present with your own experiences and cycles. It is a stepping stone and general guide that is full of suggestions and not requirements or claims.

Our disclaimer for this course and teachings aligns with our website's statements you can read in detail here.

We want to explicitly state that we are NOT providing medical, psychological, legal or commercial advice through this course and related materials.

How long does this course take?

This course is not really about completion, since it's something you will hopefully reuse throughout your life!

The initial materials can take your anywhere from 2-5 hours to complete. But you could easily spend way more time revisiting things, or way less time just focusing on the essentials!

That being said, you are more than welcome to skip around and just focus on what's most important! For example, you could spend about an hour doing the Essentials Practice Class, and have a great baseline to be able to continue with the practice ongoing.

Long answer short - you can interact with this course in a short timeframe or long timeframe. :)

What platform is this hosted on?

This course is hosted within our Cyclical Community, which lives on the Mighty Networks platform.

We love this because it provides a space to both learn and connect with others!

The course is fully interactive and easy to navigate. There is both a sidebar and fullscreen version that works on any smart device!

How long will I have access to course contents?

Lifetime access! If anything ever changes with our platform, we will give as much notice as possible so you can export whatever materials you need, and we can be sure to send you the rest.

Do you have scholarships for this course?

We've done our best to make pricing as low as possible in efforts to make this course widely available!

We understand it's impossible to make it accessible to everyone for this price, which is why you are welcome to apply for our Pay it Forward Program to receive financial support as our funds allow.

I have another specific question...

Great! Feel free to contact us!