Charting Your Cycle

December 11, 2017

Charting (tracking) your cycle by the 4 Seasons in 4 Weeks (4s4w) approach to the hormones is different from tracking your cycle with a method for charting fertility. 

We're charting for a different purpose.

Here, we're charting your experience as a woman because you are hormonally rhythmic, (even if you are a Blood-Keeper).

IMPORTANT!

When you're starting out, starting over, or doing a refresher, the best way to do this is on paper, by hand, manually. As opposed to phone apps or tracking in your head, by using your hand, eyes, and mind to make letters and marks, you are slowing down to your body's natural rhythm, and consciously, physically, and vibrationally tuning into and embodying that rhythm. 

Discovering your patterns is two-fold: You can look back on former charts to compare to what is happening today, however, what I found to be true was that the actual act of putting your conscious awareness onto paper each day is enough to have those patterns come to you ~ they will continue to surface; be presented in the form of insights. You'll just begin to see and understand your patterns without having to go back and do research. In this way, you begin to become a Seer; you begin to become your Higher Self,expanding your vision of your life; becoming a more active participant in the creation of your desires. 

Let's Get Started:

1) Get a Clipboard:

• Find one that you actually really like and find ergonomically easy to use. Office supply store or garage sales. Decorate it with stickers or other, or leave plain.
• Place it next to your bed, or the place you will be most successful at using it.

2) Download a FREE Chart

Go to the 4s4w website. Here, you can either download a chart for free or purchase a Daily Tracker and Journal. 

• Free Charts: https://4s4w.com/tools/
• Charts come in a zip folder with customizing options.
• Daily Tracker and Journal: https://28moons4s4w.com/collections/books-such/products/4s4w-daily-tracker-and-journal-a-companion-guide  (look at the bottom of that page for other options).
• If using the Daily Tracker and Journal, watch the tutorial on the same page.

3) Prep the Chart

• Note the month/months and year at the very top.
• USE A PENCIL for this part (you might need to erase!). Beginning with the first day of your last period, write down the date in the box above Cycle Day 1. Then map out all dates from there, to the end. If you don't know, wait until you start your period to prep the chart. 
• When you start your period again, stop the current chart and create a new one. toward the end
• If you go longer than the chart allows, but you know your period is coming, then just wait until you begin and start a new chart.
• If going longer than 31 days is normal for you, then consider switching to the Excel version of the chart and adding more columns to add more days. For starters, divide those days into 4 equal phases to give you a general template until you have a better idea of your own patterns.

4) Figure Out Which Day You're On

• Based on the first day of your last period, figure out what day you're on today and begin marking the chart each day.
• Decide what time of the day you're going to mark your chart. 

5) Charting for Fertility and Ovulation:

• By staying consistent with your charting, you will most likely eventually become more interested in diving deeper into the science of your hormones, wanting to understand more precisely your fertility zone and day of ovulation. At this point, I highly recommend taking a Fertility Awareness Method class, or other accurate method for charting your fertility.

You can choose to just do the basics with 4 Seasons in 4 Weeks and it will serve you well. Or, you can take it deeper and deeper and deeper over time. After almost 20 years of discovering this system for myself, I continue to have epiphanies around it. And just so you know, I charted on paper for 17 of those years (I am one of the business people you'll ever meet, but I created time for it, which was literally 1-5 min/day). The benefit was daily awareness, moment-by-moment awareness, of what day I was on, and what that meant for utilizing the fuel of my hormones. 

Enjoy!

~ Suz

PS: To find tracking info in the book, 4 Seasons in 4 Weeks, read Chapter 10, Daily Rhythms.

Please note: There is no tracking app at this time, but it is part of the bigger plans. :) 

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Also in 4s4w Cycle-Tracking Sisterhood Blog