Robyn Savage (00:01)
hello friends. Welcome back to the 17 Minutes Podcast. I'm Robin Savage, and today on the pod, we have a really special guest that I'm excited to introduce you to. This is Arielle. She's the founder of Moonsink Botanicals, and we're gonna talk all about Arielle's founder's journey. we're gonna introduce you to her product, and Ariel, I'm really just gonna ask you.
A bunch of questions, but before we do, I wanted you to introduce yourself and to let our beautiful community just know who you are.
Arielle Cohen (00:38)
So, as you mentioned, my name is Arielle. I live here in Squamish, BC. I have a background as a holistic nutritionist, but really I'm just a woman who loves tea and found so much value in learning about my own monthly menstrual cycle and how to connect to it. And just through working with women throughout the years,
in different ways. I've come to realize that this is something that we can all really benefit from. And I've always loved food. I've always loved like combining different flavors. I love to use food and herbs and teas for healing. So that's a little bit more about me and who I am.
Robyn Savage (01:31)
Amazing. So before we dive into a little bit about your story and what got you here, one thing that I was really reflecting on before we dove into today's conversation, you know, I was kind of like what angle, like what a approach do we want to take to this combo? And
One thing that really kept sort of coming up for me was, and you and I sort of touched on this when we went for coffee, was like you're in this moment in your life where not a lot of things felt extremely grounded when things were like g really getting off the ground with this new brand and with this company. And
there had to be these repeat moments where you bet on yourself and where you really thought like I'm doing this and the environment, the moment in time, all the circumstances might not be perfect, but something about this moment feels like the moment that I'm going to place the bet and go all in. And
Arielle Cohen (02:16)
Mm-hmm.
Robyn Savage (02:39)
I'm really curious, you know, as a nutritionist, as someone who had been, you know, using foods and kind of using all of these different modalities and learned about cycle syncing and all of the things, what was this moment in time for you like where you decided that now was the moment that you were ready to bet, like place the bet on yourself?
Arielle Cohen (03:01)
Honestly, it was incredibly challenging and confronting. And you know, there were so many as you mentioned, there were so many things happening at once. I was moving house, which is a really big deal for me. I was going back and forth to Ontario for various reasons a couple of times. I was going on vacation, like there was a I had a mother-daughter vacation, like there were so many I know that's still
not really like a big life thing, but there were just so many life things, heartbreak, all these things going on. And for me, there had I have had a lot of little ideas throughout the years for different creative projects, different creative businesses. And something about this one just felt like it was it. It made so much sense to me. It felt like
just so true to my heart that once I had started once I had started taking the action steps, which by the way that was always what was hardest for me was getting those foundational steps in pr in place. Once I started doing that, I just told myself I'm doing this. I I could see that I was already doing it. But even though things were so hard
You know, I I had also looked other people's stories. There are I've you know, I I'm someone who listens to a lot of like inspirational podcasts myself and just has a lot of really inspiring women around me. And this is often how it goes. It's like everything kind of happens at once. That old saying, like when it rains it pours. Not that this was necessarily like a really like dark season, but like this was really hard. This was not
super light and fun. And I just kind of kept reminding myself of why I'm doing this. And you know, that really is to help. Like I really do love to see women connect more deeply with themselves, connect more deeply with their cycles, and you know, not just treat life, treat every day like it's the same when I do believe that there's so much power in connecting to
the four phases are four inner seasons. So that sh that really kept me going. yeah, throughout what was a really challenging time.
Robyn Savage (05:35)
Yeah, and I'm I'm curious listening to you if you know, I think a lot of my women, a lot of the the people in this community will definitely relate to having a lot of ideas and not really knowing where to start, you know. So my question for you is in that, first of all, I have two questions actually. The first question is you mentioned that this
Arielle Cohen (05:51)
Yeah.
Robyn Savage (06:05)
idea just felt like true to you and real for you. And what I have typically found is that most people who have that sort of like deeper connection to an idea have a personal story or experience with that idea that makes it feel like more weighted, you know, like more important, more
Not valid to the outside world, like not like, I can prove that this is a great idea, but more intrinsically, like this is really important. And I'm curious if you have a personal story with psych like moon sinking. So like syncing with your cycles and understanding your own, you know, rhythms as a woman. Like, were there moments that this really benefited you or what brought what made that idea feel like?
This is the idea for me.
Arielle Cohen (07:06)
Absolutely.
So for me, I definitely have a story with it. I never fully lost my cycle, but I did have a time in my life in my late 20s and early 30s where my cycle was just kind of all over the place. I never knew when my period was gonna come. I sometimes it would be 27 days, other other months it would be
40 days, it was just really unpredictable. I was also having a lot of really annoying symptoms like bloating, low energy, fatigue, inflammation, all kinds of yeah. Right? And it was it was not a lot of fun. And then I remember learning about cycle sinking. First of all, learning that I have a cycle. I mean, I've always obviously known that.
I have a period and there are certain days of the month where I can get pregnant. Like I have an ovulation. I didn't even know when ovulation was until I was like 29 years old, which is kind of crazy that we learn so many different things in school. You know, like we have to memorize the periodic table, which I don't remember any of that. That was completely useless for me. but we don't learn about the fact that we have four phases of our cycle.
That our body's going through something different week to week, and we might not always feel the exact same. And that's part of being a woman. so for me, it was really just learning about different tools, journey learning about different foods, learning about different practices, ways to split up my energy throughout the month. And of course, herbs, I've always I've always loved herbs. I found that in times where my health
wasn't doing so well. Herbs have always been something like a staple that I can come back to. really a grounding foundation. So Moonsink actually didn't it it's not treats right now, but I my original idea had been for tr to do treats, but I decided to do herbal tea blends to start with because I just found that they were so helpful.
And they can really do so much for people, for women. And yeah, so it was really my own journey. And through that, through cycle syncing, through really even just paying attention. you know, I know th there's so much information out there now, like follicular phase, grocery shopping list, or ovulatory phase workouts, and you know, it's kind of very prescriptive. It doesn't necessarily have to be. I mean it
can be if you want it to be, but even just paying attention to where you are, knowing where you are every day, and you know, just reflecting on how you feel, I think can help with regulating a woman's cycle. And for me, that really is what helped was tracking my cycle, shifting slightly what I was doing, and yeah, incorporating herbs and incorporating teas into my life. And so
For me, this idea I had realized that this was, you know, just so true to the core of who I was and something, a shift that was so accessible. It wasn't, you know, there's so many things out there in wellness that just feels super inaccessible. I felt that this was something really accessible and really easy and supportive. And so I I went for it and I I sealed the deal.
Robyn Savage (10:45)
Totally.
Yeah, I I love this and one of these kind of points about just paying attention, you know, I rem I don't remember exactly what day old I was, you know, when I
Arielle Cohen (11:10)
Yeah.
Robyn Savage (11:17)
learned about the luteal phase, but this was like I feel like the every phase has sort of had its moment, right? Like I don't know. It feels like there's been these moments in like my social media feed when one of the the phases of the cycle is like the talk of the town. And lately I've seen so much content about the luteal phase and it's pretty humorous. But I remember learning about the luteal phase and learning and maybe you can say something about
This, I'm not sure, but it's something about like how the closer you get to your bleed, the less confidence you have because the less of the good hormones are actually in your body. So you start self-doubting and you start kind of questioning yourself. Does this sound accurate?
Arielle Cohen (12:01)
Yeah, it is accurate because so after ovulation, estrogen, which is the feel good hormone that gives us all that amazing energy, makes our eyes brighter, makes our face more symmetrical. Estrogen goes for a dip. Like it she dips right down, and then pre progesterone picks back up in case we get pregnant. In case we we just got pregnant during ovulation. So
Robyn Savage (12:08)
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Arielle Cohen (12:30)
Progesterone, you can think of it as the pro-pregnancy hormone. So it starts preparing your body for pregnancy, which means that you it can experience inflammation. and that's you know, it's not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just that that's what your body is doing to prepare for pregnancy right now. it can also cause you to feel more tired. So and so.
Robyn Savage (12:34)
Right.
Right.
Arielle Cohen (12:59)
We love progesterone, we need progesterone, in case we get pregnant, but it doesn't it's not necess I wouldn't call it like the feel good hormone. And so that's why we do like what it's not in our heads. Like there is a hormonal shift that takes place that's significant and we won't we we might not feel as good.
Robyn Savage (13:08)
Right.
Right.
Yeah, yeah. And so for me, when I learned about that, I had this moment of, you know, because in my business, I would go through these cycles where for one week, every single month, I would enter this like, what am I doing? You know, what am I doing? Who do I think I am? This is so stupid. I've nothing to say. Almost I would get like agitated in the relationship between my business and I. And I would start to think like,
Arielle Cohen (13:24)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Robyn Savage (13:50)
You know, am I cut out for this? And these voices or these feelings would just get so loud and so big. And when I learned about the cycle, my cycle, you know, I I started to recognize, shit, this is my pattern. This is my luteal phase showing up. And I would start to predict it. So I would start to write it down. And then I would see, okay, your confidence is gonna start to, you know, get pretty questionable here, Rob. And every single month it would.
And then when you said, I just started paying attention, this for me was such a game changer because then when my luteal phase happened and I started to question myself, I was actually able to be like, I know what's going on here. So the feelings would come and the the sort of like sunken moods and the questioning and self-doubt and all that stuff. And I could say to myself, this is this is the phase of your cycle that you're in. You know, this isn't necessarily true. It's not real all the time.
Arielle Cohen (14:45)
Mm-hmm.
Robyn Savage (14:48)
Yes, the feelings are happening. And also, how can I support myself through this phase so that I don't end up in the trenches every single time, you know, beating myself up, trying to like starting to question what the fuck I'm even doing here? You know? So what I hear is that you got curious, you started paying attention, and then you found all of these solutions and ways to support yourself and
Arielle Cohen (15:05)
Yeah.
Robyn Savage (15:16)
Then you decided to bring those to the people in an accessible way because you're you and that's a beautiful offering that you've given to people.
Arielle Cohen (15:23)
Yeah.
Thank you. Yeah, that that voice that you're talking about that's coming through during your luteal phase, which by the way, we can also we can also think of the four the four phases of the cycle as the four inner seasons. So your luteal phase would be your inner autumn. And during that phase, that's where your inner critic steps out. So like clockwork, you can expect it every single month. That's when the inner critic
Robyn Savage (15:27)
Yeah.
Yeah, talk to me about it.
Arielle Cohen (15:56)
That's its lashes, and that's that's the voice that we're hearing. And I mean, there is, you know, it's there's certain definitely certain things that we can reflect on, like the luteal phase, it starts to thin the veil, as some people describe it, meaning you're getting closer to the spiritual realm. so you know, there is yeah, so there is, there's always like little things to intake. there's always there can be like deeper truths, but
Robyn Savage (16:15)
That's that.
Arielle Cohen (16:25)
that doesn't mean like, you know, I sometimes people want to like quit their job, leave their relationships, all their things. It's we don't want to do that, but we do kind of want to pay attention to what the voice is saying and then reflect on that when we're in our inner winter, when we're taking time to rest. And then usually if we can really be conscious about it and we can really understand, okay, these this is what my inner critic is bringing forward this month.
and then if we can take time and rest with it, by the time we get to our inner spring, we'll have ideas of how to move forward and how to go into the next into the next month when we do have that renewed energy and we do have estrogen coming back online and charging us up with confidence.
Robyn Savage (17:15)
Right. Okay. I've never thought about it in terms of that what you just said. So I'm a very like a manal person, you know. So when the inner critic voice comes up for me typically, or I feel like there's this like inner turmoil or a s like a situation in here, you know, I like to journal about it and try and come up with a a solution pretty quickly. It's it's how I work, you know.
Arielle Cohen (17:25)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Robyn Savage (17:43)
I don't I know that that doesn't always work, right? I know that things need some time and space and room to process. And what I just heard from you is that actually it's best to wait through your fall season to stay open and keep paying attention and have those reflective moments, but maybe not actually even try to ch change it or expand it or, you know,
reframe it or whatever until that energy is renewed in the strength. Okay.
Arielle Cohen (18:17)
Yes, exactly. Yeah, you need
to have that reflection time during the end of your luteal phase and during your moon time. It's really important. I would say don't act on it immediately, but also take that wisdom with you because oftentimes when we go from the from the menstrual phase to the follicular phase, our energy starts going outwards.
Robyn Savage (18:24)
Wow. Okay.
Arielle Cohen (18:43)
And we can become further away from that inner critic. And so we just want to make sure that we take, because the inner critic does have wisdom for us. She's kind of a B-word. but she does have some wisdom to give us. So we just wanna make sure that we take her wisdom with us when our energy opens up again. but we do wanna make sure that we give it time, that we give it reflection, that we give it what it needs.
Robyn Savage (18:44)
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay, I am going to write that down. And I think if it resonates with anyone else listening, for me, you know, it's like I I don't know, you actually hearing you say that sort of reframed my entire cycle for me because I know I have a cycle. I know that I expect my physical body and my moods and and this voice to kind of shift with it, you know.
And though I still stay in the same pattern of like my own reflection, like reframe. Like, okay, here's what's happening, let's reframe it. Here's what's happening, let's reframe it. And now I'm going to give myself that time in between and like that little bit of spaciousness to reflect and restore before I try and, you know, quote unquote fix or problem solve or
Shift. So I really appreciate that. I feel like you just like inhaled into my life. Like you know, when you blow up a balloon and it gets really big, I feel like you've just created this like space in in I know this is a weird thing to say, but like space within me because now I feel like when those thoughts come up, there's all of this space and time for me while I'm in that cycle to actually just pause and reflect.
Arielle Cohen (20:17)
Yeah.
Robyn Savage (20:34)
And not to reframe and fix right away. Does that make sense?
Arielle Cohen (20:37)
That makes total sense and I love that for you and I want that for I want that for every woman. Yeah.
Robyn Savage (20:39)
Yeah. Yeah, so thank you. Yeah. Yes.
Okay. So one of the things that I have always been yeah, just a huge fan of is ritual. You know, I have my own ritual, I have rituals with my kids, rituals that are spiritual, rituals that are like, you know, movement and
Arielle Cohen (20:57)
Mm-hmm.
Robyn Savage (21:07)
One of the things that I have loved since getting your teas, aside from they're delicious and they're so pretty because they have all of the pretty flowers in. Like it feels like a ritual just in making it when you really watch it and look at it and you see the pretty pink flowers like floating in the it's so pretty. So I love that because I love to romanticize all of the little moments. But one other thing that I've really loved is that this
Arielle Cohen (21:27)
Yeah, I think.
Robyn Savage (21:36)
sort of act even of choosing the tea. So we haven't even said this yet, but Ariel has there's actually five T's, I think, right? But there's four T's. There's one for each phase of your cycle. So when I go to choose my tea, I actually have to think, where am I at in my cycle? So that like
The fact that I have to choose the tea that's for my cycle. And I know that you can have the teas whenever you want, but I've really been trying to use the herbs with my cycle to kind of see how it feels and how it like works in my body. And it's been really cool because I've I've been able to get more acquainted and more intimate with my own cycle because I I do actually have to pause and think. Like, I'm in my luteal phase now, you know? So
Arielle Cohen (22:12)
Totally. Mm-hmm.
Robyn Savage (22:28)
Then I make that tea, and then it's interesting what happens because your teas are quite ritualistic by nature. Like you know that you're drinking it for your body to do something beautiful for the season that you're in, and you've intentionally chosen it, and it's like this such feels like such a gift. And then in this moment, there's this like pause and reflection for me that reminds me that I'm
this is maybe gonna sound really cheesy, but it kind of reminds me that I'm a woman. You know, it reminds me of my feminine. It reminds me that I get to give my body this moment of total like nurturing and nourishment based on where I'm at. Like it's not for anyone else. It's I'm not doing it because someone's prescribed it. It's like this is where I am.
I'm gonna drink these pretty pink flowers floating in my tea. And it's just this beautiful cup of honoring where I'm at. And it doesn't require me to go on a retreat, it doesn't require me to go anywhere else. I can just do it here in this moment. And I'm curious when you created the teas, like how you imagined women using them, or if you have advice for me.
now and like everyone else who's gonna start drinking your teas, you know, like how can I enrich this enrich this ritual for myself because I'm really loving it and I'm sure that you have so many more thoughtful ideas in terms of how we can really, you know, just make the most of this like ritual.
Arielle Cohen (24:16)
Yeah. Well, I actually was introduced to the idea of like sitting for tea by a friend of mine. her name is Crystal and she hosts gatherings and ceremonies with people where they do a tea ceremony, which is I might not explain it as well as she would, but it's basically when you sit with your tea, you pour you have diff various rounds, so you pour a few cups of your tea and you met meditate.
Robyn Savage (24:22)
Okay.
hold
on you you broke up a little bit again. So just but just like halfway through. So just when you said like you sit with the T.
Arielle Cohen (24:54)
So you sit with the tea, you have a few you can have a few rounds of it, but in between each round of tea you journal you can journal, you can meditate. I find that even just like I l I like to do this meditation where I gaze into my tea. and I and I don't really think about anything. I don't like I I just kind of like
It's just like an almost like an eye gaze with the tea. And that I don't know, it's it sounds maybe sounds a bit silly, but it's it's really nice for me. And especially if there's leaves in it, I just feel like I can connect more with the with the actual plants that are making up this beautiful medicine that we're taking, which it it really is, I think it's medicine. and
Robyn Savage (25:47)
I feel that. I just want to say that I feel that. You know, like because you intentionally choose it and because like so so to everyone listening, this tea looks like I don't know, it it looks like dried up flowers. Like it's so pretty. So when you put it in the in the tea holder, I don't know what you call that thing, but you know, it holds the tea and then it soaks and steeps. I it thank you.
Arielle Cohen (25:52)
Yeah.
Infuser.
Robyn Savage (26:16)
The infuse it
feels it feels like, yeah, medicinal. And I think that's what makes it feel so ritualistic also. And I often stare at it also. Like I never want to take the flowers out because they always just like move around and then they change color and then some of the petals become like iridescent like you know, it's it's it is beautiful.
Arielle Cohen (26:22)
Yeah.
It is really cool. I will say I feel that way too. I've always felt that way about tea. And I guess, you know, it's always different a lot sometimes. Like I especially with the luteal phase tea and the menstrual phase tea. I really do like to sit with it while it's cooling and hold it, feel its warmth. Just little meditative practices where you're practicing presence. and then there are times when I just have it beside the my computer.
And I'm just drink and there's there's, you Yeah. Or
Robyn Savage (27:13)
had one yeah I just had one today and and
even though it makes it even still in that moment you feel like you're giving yourself medicine in even while you're working on it like that's that's the beauty of it I think is like this is this is something that is just for me. And I think that a lot of women especially busy entrepreneurial women like a lot of and and moms and women with ADH like all of the women in this community
Arielle Cohen (27:23)
Totally.
Mm-hmm.
Robyn Savage (27:39)
I think, you know, we do get so busy giving and outpouring and like filling everyone else's cup. I don't know. To me, the tea really feels like this is a moment for me to really fill my cup with something so beautiful. So I'm gonna keep practicing those rituals and I I'm gonna try a tea ceremony and maybe I'll do it with my girls and just
yeah get even more intentional about it because I've really been loving the ritual side of things. Yeah. So next question is so this is like fairly new for you, right?
Arielle Cohen (28:11)
I love I love that. Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah. starting a business isn't completely new for me. Yeah. Or a product business, I should say. Yeah.
Robyn Savage (28:26)
Starting a business, the tease, yeah, yeah, totally.
So my question is, first of all, I'd love to know like what the journey was like for you because you're in how many retail shops now?
Arielle Cohen (28:41)
I'm in two retail shops now. So yeah, so we're working on more, but Yeah. Two months ago. Yeah.
Robyn Savage (28:43)
Two retail shops. And like this is brand new, everyone, guys. Like, when did you launch like two months ago? I was gonna say four.
So two months ago, and Moonsink is already in two local retail shops here in Squamish. You've been to a farmer's market, and my question is: like, do you have
milestones in mind? Like do you feel like you know exactly where you want this to go? Or are you just or are not just, but are you, you know, winging it? What's what's your plan?
Arielle Cohen (29:21)
So I definitely do have some milestones in my vision. I would like to see these teas not just in Squamish, but I would like to see them all over BC and eventually all over Canada. I would also really like to expand beyond teas. So we're starting with the four core blends, the cycle syncing blends, and the Perry Ease blend.
Robyn Savage (29:26)
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Arielle Cohen (29:51)
which supports women going through parit who are experiencing perimenopause. Yeah.
Robyn Savage (29:56)
Yeah, can you talk about that for a minute? Because I think
think we're cuspin, you know? Think we're
Arielle Cohen (30:01)
Yeah, a
a lot of people are cusping. there, you know, so if you have times where you're like, I don't really know where I am in my cycle right now, my cycle is changing. Peri ease is the way to go. It's also delicious. It's a very simple, it's very simple, but it's super grounding and yummy. It's packed with minerals and adaptogens. so it's yeah, it's just really nice, really replenishing, good for
Robyn Savage (30:05)
Task and
Arielle Cohen (30:29)
Any kind of mood stuff. yeah, I really like it. It's actually my dad's favorite tea.
Robyn Savage (30:33)
Okay. So that feels like something that
we all just need to drink all the time.
Arielle Cohen (30:40)
Yeah, totally. So that and yeah, and it's another, it's a tea where if someone is on the other side, if they've already finished having if they no longer have a cycle, that's what I recommend for them.
so the dream looks like more cycle syncing products. and I mean I do I love the markets. I do. I've only done one so far. I really enjoy it and I want to continue doing markets. eventually I would love to be able to do most of it online and just be getting this out to everyone all over the world. but I do have some other products in mind for the future. I would like to do mocktail infusions.
Robyn Savage (31:21)
Ooh, I love that idea.
Arielle Cohen (31:21)
So
yeah, so just like little bottles full of this delicious. it would basically be like a sweet herbal tincture. so it would have it would be very similar to the teas. It would be made with different herbs that support you where you're at in your cycle, whatever phase you're in. there'll be one for each phase of the cycle and you'd basically just add it to sparkling water with a little bit of lemon and rosemary and yeah, so things like that.
elixir powders, just yeah, more also like salves, bath salts, different, yeah, all different beautiful wellness regimen products, wellness, ritual products. Yeah, expanding exactly and having it focused on
Robyn Savage (32:07)
Like expanding expanding that goodness out.
Arielle Cohen (32:15)
your the phases of your cycle because that is really the truth of who we are as women. We're not the same all the time. I feel that our products should reflect that.
Robyn Savage (32:26)
Can you just say that again?
Arielle Cohen (32:28)
We are not the same all the time and I feel that our products should reflect that.
Robyn Savage (32:37)
Feel like that's the most important sentence of the whole podcast, but also
Arielle Cohen (32:43)
Yeah.
Robyn Savage (32:46)
So important for women and like all women, and again I'm gonna say this again, but entrepreneurs to just really let sink in, you know? And remember earlier when I was talking about like just even how intentional it feels to choose the tea.
Arielle Cohen (32:59)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Robyn Savage (33:08)
I think that when you said that, like we are not the same all the time. You know, before I got the moonsink blends, I was just drinking like peppermint vanilla tea bags all the time. So tea just became this habit that I would that's just the tea that I would drink. And because MoonSink invites you to obviously sync with where you're at and create a ritual around around that.
The reminder for me, and you just put words to this, is like you're not the same today as you were yesterday. You know, not your body's needs are different, your moods different, your temperatures diff like all of the things are yeah, just ever changing. And I love this because instantly it allows us to drop the expectation that we have of ourselves to be the same every day.
Arielle Cohen (33:42)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. And I think that life will get I wouldn't I don't think the right word is easier, but I think life would become smoother and just feel better if we didn't hold ourselves to this exact same pedestal every single day.
Robyn Savage (34:19)
Yeah. That's the thing. It's like yeah, it's like permission giving, right?
Arielle Cohen (34:20)
'Cause it's we're not the same. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. I really feel like this is especially important for female entrepreneurs because this is the way that you avoid burnout. It's the it's when we it's when we really just keep going through, you know, that late luteal phase. We're like, No, I gotta keep going, I gotta keep going. we're grinding into our you know, into the beginning of our next cycle. We don't have the time.
To replenish ourselves and restore ourselves, and we're not gonna go into the next month as refreshed. your follicular phase is gonna start to feel different every month, and you're gonna become more tired. And I've gone through that myself too, when we're in that place of depletion. So, yeah, especially for female entrepreneurs, I really do feel that honing in on your cycle and you like respecting each phase and you know,
scheduling in that rest, especially during your late luteal phase and first through first few days of your menstrual phase is going to serve you in really big ways.
Robyn Savage (35:31)
So w just what would that look like? You know, because I hear you and I'm like I I've gotten way better at doing this over the years for sure. And I do think that some of that is aging and just body awareness and, you know, however
Arielle Cohen (35:37)
Mm-hmm.
Robyn Savage (35:50)
I also look at my schedule and my life, and I know a lot of women are listening, thinking the same. Like that's a really sweet idea, you know? Like slowing down when my when my cycle changes, but also kids' sports don't stop. And also meetings don't like meeting requests don't cut stop coming in through Zoom and client deliverable. Like all of these things keep happening. So I and I'm answering this question for myself in my head as I ask it, but
Arielle Cohen (35:58)
Mm.
Robyn Savage (36:18)
What are the ways that we as entrepreneurs specifically can honor those cycles in our business? And I would really love for you to tell the audience about booking this podcast and what you said to me if because I think that that's a great example of it.
Arielle Cohen (36:33)
So
so I s so because I had just started my cycle, I was literally on day one. I was going to see my best friend. She's the only person that I'll see who happens to live with Robin. I was going to see my best friend and she's the only person I'll see during my moon time. And then I happened to bump into Robin and because I knew that
I knew that in two weeks from then I would be d in my ovulatory phase. I knew this was the time to book it. So if there's any way that you can anything you can do to control your schedule, I highly recommend booking like it's not that you can't do things during your luteal phase. You absolutely can do a lot. It's not a time to just like stay in bed. And I want to make that super clear. But
Maybe it's not the time to be super social. Maybe it's not the time to book your meetings. If you have to book your meetings, then do that. Give yourself extra support. Please don't undereat. Please understand that your body's actually using more calories during your luteal phase. You burn up to 300 more calories. So the reason why you feel hungry a day, yes, during your luteal phase, you burn more calories. So please.
Robyn Savage (37:49)
Eight.
Arielle Cohen (37:56)
When you feel hungrier, allow yourself to eat more. When you feel tired, okay, maybe we have things going on. But instead of taking 10 minutes to scroll on your phone, take 10 minutes to shut your eyes, put on some noise-canceling headphones, listen to binaural beats, lie down flat on your floor. Lock if you're a mom and you have kids, lock yourself in your bathroom for 10 minutes.
Just give yourself that intentional rest. And okay, it might you might not instantly feel a million times better, but it's these little things, it's these little actions that we take over time that are just gonna help us show up better for ourselves and better for our communities and our families. And yeah, we don't have to be perfect and definitely the luteal phase, there's a lot of
You know, there is still action that you can take, but the action is different. It's like organizational. You kind of want to s you kind of want to tie up all the loose ends. it's the time to, yeah, like really get organized. Yeah. Yeah. That's the time where you want to. Yeah, before your rest. So prepare for rest. So finish the projects. you know, send the follow-ups, you know.
Robyn Savage (39:03)
During your video phase. Before you start the next cycle.
Okay.
Arielle Cohen (39:17)
Just kind of organize your desktop or like physically and on your computer. Just get things organized and settled. Don't start new things if you can help it. and prep and prep and prepare for a little bit of rest and then as best as you can. I know we we can't, you know, my first farmers market happened to I think I mentioned this to you. My first farmers market happened to fall on day twenty eight of my cycle, which is literally like
Robyn Savage (39:29)
Right, okay. Okay.
Arielle Cohen (39:46)
one to two days before I start bleeding. and I just I went to bed extra early that night. I made sure I was eating enough carbs. Really important. I got myself a little treat. I had my friend there supporting me. so you know she helped with the setup and just like the high energy output aspects of it.
And I I just did it. And then as soon as I got h I scheduled nothing else. As soon as I got home that day, I unloaded the car and I was done out. Like I'm fin I'm finished for the month type of thing.
Robyn Savage (40:16)
No.
Yeah.
Okay. And so I love that. So it's like knowing where you're at in your cycle and not overscheduling when you know you're gonna have, you know, a a lower amount of energy or your mood's gonna be a bit off, or you're just yeah, tired because you're also burning more calories and you're about to bleed. Okay. I love that. I love all of these tips a lot. Yeah, add.
Arielle Cohen (40:35)
Yeah.
Totally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I just want to add one one more thing.
the the importance during your luteal phase, as I you know, I mentioned, it's not a phase for us to just stay in bed. I would say always show up, but don't
Robyn Savage (40:54)
Please. I'm like, tell me more.
We're like that.
We're all like that would be nice. We're like, can you just if you could tell me to just stay in bed, that would be amazing. Thank you.
Arielle Cohen (41:08)
Yeah, right.
It it would be
great, but it's just not life. Still show up for yourself always, but maybe just like dial down your expectations a little bit. So when it comes to working out, still go for your workout, but also no, you're not gonna be your peak performance. And if you're feeling really tired, don't push through. Don't push through. Take it easy, dial it back a bit, go for lots of walks.
Robyn Savage (41:15)
No.
Arielle Cohen (41:39)
Walking during your luteal phase is amazing. So anything you can schedule in like that will really help.
Robyn Savage (41:39)
Yeah.
Yeah.
So not like ditching your habits, you know. What I'm hearing ladies is like this is not an excuse to just like Netflix and chill and eat pizza in bed all day long for this entire day. It's like still do the things and also maybe give yourself permission to change the way that you're doing them.
Arielle Cohen (41:49)
Я
Yeah.
Exactly. And totally get yourself permission to schedule in that Netflix and chill night because it'll be restorative during your luteal phase. Yeah.
Robyn Savage (42:06)
Okay.
Yes.
Yes. and I was gonna say the other thing that really stuck out for me is like try not to start anything new at this moment in time. And while that sounds so obvious when you say it, it was like a really good reminder for me that yeah, like again with the reflection and then not trying to like problem solve or shift anything until the spring. I think I'm learning a lot about like go through the fall and winter and like
Arielle Cohen (42:39)
Mm-hmm.
Robyn Savage (42:44)
Wait for the spring because you will be rejuvenated. You will have that energy that you wish you had now. Don't drain yourself more by forcing yourself to So this spring thing is really landing with me.
Arielle Cohen (42:57)
Yeah, and it really gives you something to look forward to as well. Yeah, and if you're really feeling in the dumps, you're like, I'll be in my follicular phase in eight days. So yeah.
Robyn Savage (43:01)
Yeah, which I love. Like
It's it's gonna it's
yeah, things are gonna things are gonna look up for me real soon. Okay, I love that. So can you tell everyone where they can go f like where can we get the tease? How can they get them? Yeah.
Arielle Cohen (43:13)
Totally.
So if
so if you're in Squamish, I will actually be at the farmer's market. This will be probably airing after my farmer's market, but I will be at the farmers market intermittently throughout the spring, summer, and fall. you can also find my teas if you're in squamish at Smoke Bluffs Coffee House, as well as Be Clean Naturally downtown. It's a little apothecary refillery shop.
And you can find them on my website at moonsank.ca.
Robyn Savage (43:57)
Yeah, so we will link that in the show notes. I highly recommend if you're looking for a simple but like really stunning and beautiful and nourishing ritual. Go just treat yourself to a T. And I think there's a huge reminder in this, you know, that ritual and like self-care doesn't need to be complicated. It doesn't need to be a thousand dollar red light mask. It doesn't need to be a weekend at this spa.
Arielle Cohen (44:25)
Yeah.
Robyn Savage (44:26)
I honestly feel like I drink the teas pretty much daily. And I really feel like even choosing that tea for myself and sitting with it is just a really beautiful moment. And it's so like I'm kind of chuckling because I'm like, it's so simple, but it's so really amazing. So Arielle, I just wanted to say thank you for coming on and being brave because I know that you've just started this and one of my
you know, values and the things that I care so much about is helping women get their voice out there, tell their stories. so I'm so glad that you accepted my invitation to be on the podcast and just come talk about this because I know that there are a lot of women who are looking for these small moments that they can like steal back for themselves.
And like there's so many questions as we age with like, what is going on with my body? And how can I love this thing that I live in just a little bit more? And I really do believe that your teas are such a gift. So thank you so much for being here with me. I'm I'm just so stoked. And I'm so stoked that you just bet on yourself and you put this out there at an inopportune moment because you saw an opportunity for yourself.
to just follow that idea and go for it. And I'm really excited to see those milestones and your vision just come to life.
Arielle Cohen (45:44)
Mm-hmm.
Wow, what a
beautiful reflection. Thank you. Thank you so much, Robin. This is actually my first podcast ever. So yeah, definitely this was a bit of a milestone for me. And yeah, what a pleasure to get to speak with you and to share the teas and moonsink with your amazing audience. I I'm yeah, I'm just really, really stoked. I'm really grateful. So thank you.
Robyn Savage (45:57)
Yeah. You're doing it. Whoop.
Yeah.
Yeah. I'm so excited for you. And I'm so excited for all the women who are gonna get to enjoy your teas and yeah, just feel that like moment of nourishment because I do feel like it's something that we all just need and are are missing. So thank you for giving it to us. Thank you, thank you. Okay, I love you so much. And to everyone listening, go gift yourself, go gift your friends, your mom, your sisters, your coworkers.
Arielle Cohen (46:34)
Yeah. Yay, you're welcome.
Robyn Savage (46:47)
The gift of ritual and tea. You can check out the links. we'll link Ariel and MoonSinks Instagram in the show notes, along with the link to grab your tea. And yeah, just go fill your cup and take it easy on yourself. I love you and I'll see you next time here on the 17 Minutes Podcast.
