About | Cyclicool

ABOUT ME

Hi, I'm Zoe Brownrigg!

🏞 I was born in Brighton but grew up in the countryside nearby until I was 20, then I moved out of the family home and back to...Brighton! It's just too great not to live here.

🎤 I write songs and perform under the name Sun Daughter - I released my first single, called Blood (click to listen), in 2023 and I'm working on the next one.

🛼 I love roller skating! In the summer's I'll be skating alongside Brighton beach under a dreamy sunset

📱 I'm also a freelance social media content creator, and have been for the last 8 years. I give consultations and create content for Independent businesses and creators. Check out my website for that, here.

MY MENSTRUAL JOURNEY

Menarche (first bleed)

I started my period age 13, I don't remember the exact date, but I remember the first time I woke up in the middle of the night with blood on the sheets. Gratefully I knew what it was, and my dad who came in to help me was kind and reassuring. Between school science lessons and my parents I knew roughly what to expect. I remember my parents seeming happy that I had started my bleeds - their little girl was growing up. I just felt it was a nuisance.

Then, only a couple of years later, like many girls, I was first prescribed the birth control pill aged just 15.

At first, I was taking it out of fear of me falling pregnant young as I had a longterm boyfriend, and then as acne and low mood/anxiety developed, it became a never-ending rollercoaster of trying different birth control pills to see if they improved my symptoms.

They never did.

FINDING MY CALLING

POV: it's 2020 and I had been following some Menstrual Cycle / Cyclical Living coaches and professionals on Instagram for a year or so, thinking that was something I'd look into properly 'one day'. I'd heard that the pill can affect people's mental and physical health, and had come off it a few times to see if it made a difference - but I never lasted very long before going back on due to fear of pregnancy. I hadn't yet found the resources to help rebalance my hormones, so I never saw much of a difference with my mental health, acne, or digestive issues, and I didn't know that it was possible to track fertility to avoid pregnancy naturally.

Then a couple of month into lockdown I ran out of my birth control pill, and decided that lockdown would be a great time to come off the pill and focus on getting my hormones back into balance. I bought a few books (Dr Brighten's 'Beyond The Pill' being one), took a load of free online courses (from Claire Baker and Zesty Ginger) and learned that I could track my menstrual cycle as part of the Fertility Awareness Method to avoid pregnancy.

My mind was blown. And every conversation with friends proved that not enough of us knew any of this valuable information. I knew I needed to spread it far and wide. A fire had lit me up inside, I knew I had found my calling.

I knew what I had to do this time - I bought books (Dr Brighten's 'Beyond The Pill' being the first), online short courses (from Claire Baker and Zesty Ginger) and scoured the internet for help in balancing my hormones, tracking my cycle, and living cyclically. l literally could not stop researching, learning and sharing - I am just so fascinated by the mind, body, energies, and the universe! So I thought about how I could pass this knowledge onto as many people as possible, and came up with the idea of mentoring women on Menstrual Cycle Awareness (MCA).

I led two month-long groups at the end of 2020 which was a massive learning curve and a very rewarding experience. I loved it, but I wanted to learn more and get some qualifications so I could better support my clients. So I enrolled on Claire Baker's amazing 'Cycle Coach' course, and graduated in 2021.

At the beginning of 2023 I made the leap to reduce my hours to part-time for social media work, and follow my joy to become a menstrual cycle educator, workshop leader, musician, and coach.

And here we are!

Since beginning to practise Menstrual Cycle Awareness, I've:

*found peace and gratitude in consciously experiencing cycles of all kinds - menstrual, seasonal, creative, etc

*Feel more connected to and accepting of my body and its functions

* Adjusted my diet and lifestyle to rebalance my hormones and ease my PMS symptoms

* Begun the process of healing my gut and rebalancing my microbiome after long-term hormonal birth control pill and antibiotic use (both of which can damage the gut's microbiome)

*Graduated Cycle Coach School and I'm working towards accreditation

*Hosted 2 month-long group mentoring programs, and I'm currently organising workshops and retreats, as well as my coaching offerings.