Midlife Butterfly | Identity, Reinvention, Transformation, Grief, Self-Worth, Empowerment & Spiritual Awakening

#37 - Cyclical Living: Reclaiming Your Womb Sovereignty with Nicole Pemberton

• Kena Siu • Episode 37

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What if your menstrual cycle wasn't meant to be painful? What if the wisdom of your womb could guide you toward more pleasure, joy, and ease in your life? These questions form the foundation of my profound conversation with Nicole Pemberton, womb priestess and creatrix of The Goddess Moves.

If you’ve ever felt the whisper of your womb calling you back home, this episode is for you. In midlife, so many of us realize we’ve been living disconnected from our bodies, moving through cycles of doing, pushing, and surviving. But what if your body, your womb, your sacred center—held the keys to ease, sovereignty, and joy?

 In this soulful conversation with my sister and womb priestess, Nicole Pemberton of The Goddess Moves, we unravel the mystery of cyclical living, womb wisdom, and how honouring your body’s rhythms can set you free. This episode is a remembrance, an invitation to reclaim the beauty, power, and alignment of your feminine body so you can rise fully as the woman you came here to be.

  

✨ In This Episode, You’ll Hear:

  • The powerful story that awakened Nicole to the sovereignty of her womb—and how it changed her life forever.
  • Why painful cycles and PMS are not your destiny, and the revolutionary truth about your moon cycles.
  • Ancient practices to reconnect with your womb.
  • The hidden intergenerational wounds carried in our bodies, and how reclaiming womb sovereignty heals you and your lineage.
  • How midlife women can embody pleasure, vitality, and sovereignty by honouring their cycles or the cycles of the moon post-menopause.

  

🦋Soulful Reflection Questions

  1. How do you currently honour or ignore the natural cycles of your body?
  2. What would shift if you allowed yourself to fully rest during your “winter” phase?
  3. What practice from today’s episode are you curious to explore as a pathway to deeper connection with your womb and your power?


Ready to transform your relationship with your body? Visit Nicole at https://www.thegoddessmoves.space and begin your journey to womb sovereignty today.

Follow her on Instagram @thegoddessmoves


Interested in working with Kena? Let's have a conversation. Book your call now!

- - - - -

Learn more about RESET, the Intimate Women's Retreat to pause, play & connect. From October 23-26 in the Laurentians, close to Montreal, Qc, Canada. Check the details and reserve your spot: https://midlifebutterfly.ca/resetretreat - Over 30% discount. DM for details!


If this story touched your heart, share it with another woman who’s navigating her own transition.

And if you’re ready to reconnect with yourself and create your next chapter with more freedom, joy, and alignment, join me on Instagram @midlifebutterfly
or explore The Butterfly Path coaching journey.

Download the Midlife Butterfly Guide with 5 Radical Practices to Heal, Take Your Power Back & Rise

Song: Reborn by Alexander Nakarada

Kena Siu:

Are you ready to reconnect with your womb and your body, to live with more ease and flow? Nicole Pemberton from the Goddess Moves is here to share her wisdom. Midlife butterfly, a woman in the sacred, in between. She's not who she once was and not quite who she's becoming. Yet she's unraveling, awakening, remembering. She's navigating life transitions divorce, loss, reinvasion moves with a burning desire for freedom, joy and solid living. She feels the pull to rise, to fly. She's no longer afraid of her own wings.

Kena Siu:

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Midlife Butterfly podcast. This is your host, Kena Siu, and we have a super goddess in here with us today. She's a sister and also a mentor from Temple Body Arts. We met actually there and I am so glad to bring her here today to share about all her wisdom. She has so many trainings and certifications, nicole Pemberton, and we're going to talk mainly about the womb and femininity and whatever else it flows. So, nicole, welcome.

Kena Siu:

And Nicole is the creatrix of the Goddess Moves. She supports multidimensional women to cultivate deep self-awareness, inner harmony and develop a loving relationship with their womb, space and body so that they can break free from overwhelm, burnout and embody more luxurious vitality, clarity, healing, joy and peace. And among the whole list of certifications and wisdom that she has gained, it comes she's a womb priestess, sacred activist, a master, alchemical movement and ritual facilitator. She's a writer, mentor, speaker, mystic channel, a certified Akashic records reader, reiki and crystal energy practitioners, certified trauma-informed practitioner, as I mentioned before, a temple buddy priestess and mentor, and the list goes on and I'm going to share her details in the show notes so you can, you know, dig in more in case you're interested after this wonderful conversation that is coming through. So, nicole, welcome, welcome, it's a pleasure to have you here, sister.

Nicole Pemberton:

It's awesome to be here and just be in this sacred temple space.

Kena Siu:

Yes, thank you. Well, I would like you to start with where your story starts and how the Goddess Moves born oh goodness where my story starts well, when? Well, you know what I mean I mean whatever is more you know relevant to where you are and the wisdom that you share, to helping women to reconnect to their womb and their bodies.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, it's really interesting to you know, just be present with what is now and then also to recognize the journey, because, I mean, I've been presently, I think, you know, held space and facilitated movement journeys for over 250,000 humans children, adults, being a professional dancer at a time and, you know, holding space for hundreds of women to really be in their liberation and create their own path to power and know the resources and have hope to bring balance and nourishment and sovereignty to the womb space. Um, and sovereignty to the womb space, um, it's quite, it's, it's like it's quite a something to say that this is what. This is what I'm doing. Yeah, um, because it it wasn't to be in a space of leadership. I never, you know, at one point I never wanted to be in front and I never wanted to be the leader.

Nicole Pemberton:

And this work really brought me literally on a steel sheet. It brought me on a steel table sheet and it was. There's fluorescent lights everywhere and you know, I'm looking around and there's people just moving about and you know, and just being busy, and then I'm seeing steel instruments and then I see a person with a mask saying hi, nicole, this is so-and-so, I'm your anesthesiologist. I'm going to count from 10 to 1 and we're going to support you know, and we're going to do what we need to do. And so in that moment they were saying, okay, we're going to count down from 10 to one. I was just praying that my uterus was going to be intact and there was a possibility that I could wake up without one. And I was in that moment with like this is just like surrender, this is told us, I can't go anywhere again, like there's no backing out, it's here it is. And they say 10, nine, eight and a seven, six, five, four, three and a seven, six, five, four, three. And I'm out.

Nicole Pemberton:

And I made a prayer before I was out to just like, please, let me just wake up, let everything go well, let them do what they need to do and let me keep my uterus. And so, when I woke up, I was hearing babies. I was hearing, I was literally hearing cries of babies and I realized later they told me that I was in the cesarean ward, on another side. They had run out of room and I'm on the one far side and then on the other side, babies were being born. And as I'm waking up, and I realized, okay, yes. And then they told me yes, they got everything out. Took a little longer than they thought, but it got everything out.

Nicole Pemberton:

And in that moment I realized that you know this, I was forever changed. This process of, of, of really under tuning into my, my womb, my belly, like what? The belly button below the uterus and all the processes it does, and all the, the, the experiences that I went through to get to that landed me in that space. I realized in that moment that my womb was going to be one of my greatest teachers and it's and it inspired to, to um, share about the, the, but also advocate for the womb, wellness and also the cycles of our bodies, and offer hope of other resources that can help to bring harmony, bring easeful menstrual cycles to, you know, release energy, like, create a nourished environment for our bodies so that we can, for our bodies, so that we can be in a thriving state.

Nicole Pemberton:

When somebody told me that my menstrual cycle was not, I was not supposed to have pain. I thought he was a unicorn. I was like, yeah, get out of here. That doesn't exist. And little did I know that there are. So there's so much that that, in this rite of passage of the, the feminine, and being a woman and and really advocating and and and standing for our bodies. Um, a lot wasn't told and it wasn't, you know, to the fault of anyone. It's just that our society really does it does it's like put it away, fold it neatly, keep it clean and don't tell anybody.

Kena Siu:

Oh my God, so true.

Nicole Pemberton:

You know, and it's such a disservice for a body that is responsible for humanity, for creation of our human existence, why wouldn't we want to protect, nourish and keep the center space of our bodies um, sacred and uh uh, with vitality, but also with respect as well, you know? Yeah.

Kena Siu:

so when you ask, when did it start this womb advocation, it started from my own journey of my own wound clearing wow, what a potent story, and I mean, just when you were telling me the prayer that you said I just hope that I'm gonna wake up still with my uterus on and just gave me chills like that's all so powerful because I think we're so disconnected from our bodies and we take them for granted most of the time and I guess, probably when we get to those situations is when we really realize that they are working for us 24-7 and most likely we don't have anything to do.

Kena Siu:

Right, and then realizing that, yeah, they are there for a reason and they need respect and they need to be honored and there are better ways for us to live. We are not unicorns. That's supposed to be the way the body should between quotes work if we will know how to treat it properly and we will have, and if we will have the knowledge on how to do it. And I think one of the things that we missed in our society is having that knowledge about our menstrual cycles that you said, because when I was working with the mentorship with you and Sophia in Temple Body Arts, learning about our menstrual cycles and how women operate in a complete different way of the masculine, it just changed my life literally. So I would like you to talk about the menstrual cycles and how we can actually live with more ease when we connect and honor and respect our body while going through these processes.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, I mean it is, it is a, it's like it's not even a trifecta, it's like a, it's a quadrifecta, if that's even a word. If it's not, I'm breaking it up. Sounds good, but it's because it involves, like I like to call it, our moon cycles, because we are connected to the moon. The feminine is connected to the moon, the masculine is connected to the sun, sort of like when you see Superman, right goes up and he goes to the sun and gets rejuvenated and he's like boom, he's ready to start. Well, our feminine bodies, we get rejuvenated by the moon, right by the night sky. Um, and and like every like, you know, in the year, 13 moons, well, we have our 13. You know, every year we have a 13 moon cycle right.

Nicole Pemberton:

So when we're looking at our moon cycles and I'm going to call that from now on when we're looking at our moon cycles and how we flow, this is where the term cyclical living comes through, because if we honor the energy of our you know the different parts of our cycle we move in a more harmonious rhythm within our bodies, and so part of the problem that we have with, for example, pms and you know, and how we can feel completely depleted or we try to move through our bleeding time, is because we're going against our cycle. Our society very much loves it and we see it everywhere when we are in our ovulation phase, because this part of the cycle is when our pheromones are like, hey, we're kicking. Our body is just like we're ready. We're just like we have our partners. It's like come here, we're juicy, we're fertile and we're expressive and we're like, yeah, woo, it's good. Right, this is the images we most likely will see of a woman commercially, whatever that type of energy of a woman is in the ovulation phase. Now I'm going to back up a little bit, but that's what we see, that is what we're expected to be in all the time, and our body's rhythms are not designed that way, to be, in that expressiveness all the time. And here's where we run into resistance, you know, with our rhythms and with life, because life is life. If we've got, you know, we've all got things going on work, family, kids, you know all the things, right, right. And so here's where we get to be a bit radical and revolutionary in this advocation of like, ok, really understanding those rhythms.

Nicole Pemberton:

So when we bleed, when we go into the bleeding time, which is referred to as wintertime or in the scientific, you know, scientifically, that's your menstrual, that's your bleed, right, our body in that space, this is where we have the least energy, this is where our body is shedding. We have a natural detox that happens every month. So we have cleanses, we have all these things and whatnot, right, which they have their place. But our bodies, naturally and biologically, have a detox every month, which is pretty cool, right? So this is our time, where we're designed to go in, we're designed to go internal and we're designed to rest. Now, and if we follow that and we say to our job or wherever our families and say mommy is bleeding, this is her time off, we are going to encounter resistance. What do you mean? You understand. Our bodies are designed to rest at least a couple days so the body can to shed the tissue, shed the lining, shed the blood, so our bodies can naturally flush itself out.

Nicole Pemberton:

If we're not getting pregnant, this is what is happening, right, and so that is our time to really slow down, eat warm foods, nourishing foods, lots of minerals, and really and and and notice the dreams, because our cycles will um affect us. Their cycles affect us on the emotional, physical, spiritual, um and mental, right, and so we have to honor all of them. We can't just honor one or the other. So the, the, the, the bleeding time, that's when we want to take as much rest as we can, right, then? So this is where we want to put your feet up, lie down, watch some movies, get takeout, do what you need to do right, tell, put people on notice, right, I'm working for. Tell, put people on notice, right, I'm working for, even if you have to work from home or just tell, tell your spouse or whatnot, I'm not doing anything.

Nicole Pemberton:

I need my body's resting, okay, and this is one of the hardest things to do in our. This was, this is the hardest thing for me to do. Right Is to like, notice and be like what's happening. Oh, what am I doing? Okay, how am I going to make this fit? It's, it's challenging in our society. Yeah, most it is. It's the most supportive to allow the rest of the cycle to flow smoothly, right and less pain, because we're in an epidemic where pain is accepted. Oh, that's so true, right.

Nicole Pemberton:

Take a couple Advil and get on with it.

Kena Siu:

Why? Yeah, if it would take that time to pause, take a little nap, yeah, then you don't need a pill.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, right, the time to pause. Take a little nap, yeah, then you don't need a pill. Yeah right, we're in this. We have this epidemic of like okay, well, there's no time to rest, there's no time to, we've got stuff to do, but and then we pay for it later.

Kena Siu:

Yeah, and it's so true. It's just not making the time. The time is there. It's about prioritizing what we want to do. I mean, of course. I mean, if we have a nine to five or something, yes, you said probably try to work from home or another way to sneak in, to take it a bit slower during those days, that the body really needs the rest and I think, as you said, it has a lot to do with how society works and you know we are so into the doing.

Nicole Pemberton:

Doing all the time and the productivity, whatever you know, mentality that is like no, like I'm at full fault of of this, of doing the opposite of what I just said we need to do. You know, and I've been, I've been, I've, I've it's been a hard lesson, it's been a hard practice to really integrate because, you know, there there was no, there was no um, there was no example of like to to slow down. There, just every it was like, um, okay, life doesn't stop, so I don't. So so, mom, dad, don't stop. I got to, you know, from when I first got my period, I still got to go to school. There was no stopping. You would have a tea, I'd have a tea at night and maybe rest or get go to bed a little early, but you, but you still still went, went, went, you still still got, did the things that needed to do. I was an athlete. I remember having to run a track meet and my period was full on on day like day two, and I had wicked cramps and I put on everything under the sun so I didn't have to feel the pain, so I could go and run. You know that that was the mentality that I was in. So then, you know, later, and going deeper into this work and then getting the guidance really clear.

Nicole Pemberton:

The hardest thing you're going to have to do is to, when you bleed or on certain days of your cycle, sit down and lie down and don't do anything. So this is so vital during our moon time, during the bleeding time, and that's why the energy is low, because our hormones, everything is shifting in the body, everything is emptying out. Now, when we move on to what we call the follicular phase, or we say connecting to nature, it's spring, right. This is when the energy now starts to rise. This is when, okay, we've shed everything. Now we need energy to build back up, build the lining in our, in our vaginal walls, build the getting ready because there's a possibility of making a baby, right. So all the resources are now starting to, you know, churn and the hormones are starting to percolate and and get, and and start to rise again, and then we're starting to get more energy right, and so, spiritually and mentally, we're starting to cook with ideas, Some of the things that came through during the bleeding time. Now it's like, okay, I got some energy, now let's go. We're starting to rev up and the body is in that spring phase, freshness, like ready to go out. You're not at the peak of like, but it's starting to right. So that rest period is now the energy is elevated right.

Nicole Pemberton:

So spring and summer are the best times. Like I said, summer is, like you know, ovulation juicy. We're fertile, we're just like you know, we're very. We have more energy to be expressive external right. So, spring and summer, if we're looking at cyclically, this is where you want to be out, this is where you want to make plans, this is where you want to schedule out. This is where you want to make plans, this is where you want to schedule things. This is where you really want to amp up that creativity. If you've got these ideas that are like ba-bang, ba-bang, ba-bang, get it down, because I promise you, once you start to get into the luteal phase, it's all gone. And then you're like I had this great idea. I was like cooking the other day and now I was like cooking the other day and now I was like yeah, yeah later. And then you go back to it and you're like wait, why am I not so I should have? You know, I should have. This is your, this is your space. This is your space because you've got that energy right. You can take more fresh fruits and and raw and smoothies. You know you can the, the, the, you can, you can have the food that that you, that you have at this time, your, your body can, can, body can take more because it's that fresh summer energy, it's that energy and your body is more can adapt to that, right.

Nicole Pemberton:

Once the ovulation phase starts to the summer phase, transition into the luteal phase, right. So let's say, okay, summer, you're all cooking and everything it's great. But no, you know you didn't conceive, right, mm-hmm, um, the follicle, the egg, starts to, uh, you know, disintegrate, starts to, um, you know, uh, go into the lining and we're getting ready to shed, right. So in that luteal phase, here's where, um, here's where the body is now starting to go in again, right. So you may notice you want to to go in again, right. So you may notice you want to have a little bit more sleep in the mornings.

Nicole Pemberton:

Emotions may start to come up, because this is a time where anything that needs mentally, physically, that needs to be processed to really look at, here's the time where it's really good to do that. So by the time you get to the bleeding time again, your body is flushing that out right, and so this is when we want to start to slow down. This is crucial for us to start to slow down, to not be as active as we were in the spring and summer, because the body is now preparing to bleed right. Conception didn't happen. The body's now slowing down. It's a little less energy. Start to integrating those worn foods again. Um, castor oil pack on the belly is so beautiful to help prepare the womb to the, the uterine lining, to start to shed right and honor the cravings yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nicole Pemberton:

See, here's the thing if we do this right, those cravings will lessen. But if we're not in harmony with our bodies, this is where all the stuff starts to happen the swelling in the breast, the sugar cravings, the, the like, like, sometimes lashing out if we're not properly processing our emotions. You know, this is where, like the wild can sometimes, if they, if the, if those emotions don't get addressed, then it's like, unfiltered on, burnout, exhausted, like there is that, that messy side to the wild, you know, um, and so, yeah, it means that.

Kena Siu:

That's why, when they said that we're in a pms, when we know it's it wild you know the wild women coming out it's really because we're not honoring the whole cycle. If we would really follow accordingly, those symptoms between quotes will not be that explosive or that evident.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kena Siu:

Yeah, yeah.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, because we're more in harmony with our body yeah right, you know, like, just that alone.

Nicole Pemberton:

Like there's, there's a there's, you know more to it of. Like, you know what we eat and our environment, the stress levels and, um, you know just how we eat and our environment, the stress levels, and you know just how we are community, you know things that we clean our house with and all that stuff. But if we're just looking in action, right, of how to move more into cyclical living, if we just have those principles of like, okay, when we're bleeding, we're going to start to really just take time to rest and go internal, save the outdoor, save the gatherings and the get togethers and whatever. Just tell people I'm not available and that's okay, they'll get over it. You're not available? Yeah, right, you're not available, right, uh, cause this.

Nicole Pemberton:

This is one of the ways, like what it doesn't mean to truly take care of our bodies. Um, there's many factors to that, but as a feminine body, um, this is how we can start. If we understand just those energetics alone, right, we start to move more into harmonious balance and this, this, this, um, this paradigm of having painful of, of the acceptance of debilitating pain in our womb and then being brushed aside and saying oh, oh well, that's common for X, y and Z. Or just take this and hopefully it'll go away. That's the acceptance of well, this is what women go through. Yeah, we go through it, but we're not supposed to be in so much pain.

Nicole Pemberton:

It's funny. I see some Instagram videos and people. There's like a simulator. I don't know who made this, but it's a simulator that mimics the contraction or the pain that women have either in their cycle when they bleed or, you know, contractions while giving birth.

Kena Siu:

Oh, the men are putting sound devices or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, and you know, and I find it really, you know it was, I think it was just a demonstrate, like yo, you think this is easy. Oh, you think you just get over it. You need to really experience and feel what women are experiencing. And then, once they do, they're like oh wow, you know, yeah, you know, they go level one. Oh my gosh, what is this? Okay. Then they're like that's not there yet we go into level 10. What? And by level two, three, take it off, take it off, take it off.

Nicole Pemberton:

Oh my God, oh my God. You know it's a real thing, but at the same time, we're not meant to have. You know, labor is labor labor is labor but during our cycles are not to be in. We're not supposed to be in so much pain. And when we have that pain, there is underlying. There's underlying physical, emotional, mental, um mental components to that that we can address.

Kena Siu:

Can you mention some of them, or the more common ones with the clients that you work with?

Nicole Pemberton:

There's ancestral, there's a lot of ancestral wounds. Um, there's mother wounds. It's so big, the mother, the father, the father relationship, it's, it's, it's a thing, but the mother relationship it is a big one. Um, people pleasing and martyrdom, like the exhaustion and burnout, uh, the survival mode, where you know there are some, there are people, people have no choice but to do x, y and z. You know, like, if you're working 10, 12 hours a day, like um you, you know it's really challenging, you know, and so, working with that, so you know the martyrdom of having to do the it's almost like a badge of honor that we celebrate, of, like, oh, she can do it all, or you did all of that and get support and it's like the no supporters.

Nicole Pemberton:

It's like, wow, you did all that all by yourself, look at you, right, but that's not really a badge of honor. It's like the person needed support, yes, and they had to step up and do it because there was no other choice.

Nicole Pemberton:

You had to make the money to feed your family, you had to do X, y and Z right, and so stress, huge Stress is a huge thing and self-love like really what it is to really um, honor yourself and put yourself first as a priority you know, it's not, not in a like. We're not talking narcissistic way, we're talking in a way that you know, you again, what does it mean to truly take care of yourself, saying yes when it's just like you really shouldn't have, because now you're overextending yourself and you're burnt out?

Kena Siu:

yeah, but yeah, filling up our own cups first yeah, yeah, yeah, um.

Nicole Pemberton:

there's a lot that has to do with um intergenerational trauma. I mentioned ancestral, ancestral, um lineage, um, because there are things, there are energy, stories, experiences in our bodies that aren't ours. They are ours but at the same time, it's things that have been unknowingly passed on, so, for example. So, for example, I got really curious and also frustrated with when I was initially diagnosed with having fibroids. I kept hearing that, oh, this is really common, for you know black and brown and people of color, and I kept asking well, why is that? Nobody could give me an answer, right? Nobody in the medical profession could give me an answer, and that bothered me because I'm like well, what's the difference between me and a Caucasian person? And they're like, we don't know.

Kena Siu:

And I'm like, why don't you?

Nicole Pemberton:

know why isn't there something you know? And like, when I was looking about fibroids, it was like, okay, had to do with. They were saying hormones, estrogen dominance. That was a big thing, a big talk, or it's just common. You only had a couple of auctions of hysterectomy or like a surgery where they take the uterus out, or there's certain procedures where they take it out by cutting it out, um, or you just wait it out until menopause, right, uh. But if you're wanting to have if, if it, uh, if you want to be conceived, and the if, the if the fibroids are there, that it can hamper conception, um, and it can also, depending on when they where, that it can hamper conception. And it can also, depending on where they are, it can interfere with the processes of the kidneys, the liver, the bladder, you know. So I was really curious about why. Why does it affect more Black and brown, indigenous people of color, more than our Caucasian counterparts? So I thought about it and here's my take on this the way our environments are, because one of the things that we that, uh, that is a factor is our cultural upbringing and our environment and what you know, what are? We personally go through what our parent, what our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and so forth and so on. What is the environments that they were in? What was the culture? What was you know? How did they work, how did they live? How did they go through there? What was their relationship with their womb? What was you know, sex, whatever, the relationships and all that, yeah, and and and you know. And if we look at that from that perspective, we can start to see that, even with the science of epigenetics, things live in the body until they are cleared. But we can also influence that within ourselves. If I look at, okay, what was the environment like, what was the like, the, the, the culture? Right, I'm a brown skin woman, right?

Nicole Pemberton:

History has shown that our lives were highly, were extremely devalued, right, and we were suppressed to the 18th degree. And so life was survival do or die, comply or die, right, you do what you could for your family so they could eat and survive. You have a little laugh here and there, but life, life was highly stressful. So here we are in this society where we're like follow your bliss, follow your dreams, go self-care Mondays and all of these things, right, there was none of that, right, our ancestors would be laughing at it be like, okay, great, that's not how we lived, right. So there was a huge amount of stress. There's a huge amount of emotional, physical and mental violence.

Nicole Pemberton:

There was a huge amount of trauma on the body, right when we look at also how the practice, the intimate practice, of gynecology came about, the foundation of gynecology was based on the extreme, gross trauma and violation of young Black and Indigenous girls. Young Black and Indigenous girls I don't say women, girls, because these girls were just under 18 years old, between 16, 17, and 18, the ones that we know of, right. And so their bodies were put through experiments without anesthesia there was no anesthesia, whatever you know and procedures where they cut into the womb and multiple times to figure out, to do how to do these procedures. And then they did these procedures on Caucasian women with an anesthetic, with whatever pain relieving medicine, right. So you have that imprint in the body, right? You have that imprint in the body. You have that imprint of many of generations of women having to give birth or having to birth or having gross mispractices on their bodies, just based on the color of their skin and the inferiority conditioning that was placed upon them. So when you have all of that in the cells, in the DNA, right. You can now start to see the pattern.

Nicole Pemberton:

We are still in a space of yes, we've evolved a bit, but we're still in this space where black and brown bodies are still having to deal with huge amounts of stress, survival in a different way. You know, it's evolved. We're in a space now that we can unpack this. We can unpack this and really start to look at okay, you know, what are we doing right now? Right, what are we doing right now? How are we living? How are we repeating what our ancestor, what our lineage was doing, what they were surrounded with, you know, are we getting the care that we have access to, you know?

Nicole Pemberton:

And so those are some of the factors that I that's my theory, it's not, it's not the be all and end all, that's my investigation. I'm like, huh, you know, we have, we have, these are, these, are these factors that have contributed, you know, to X, y and Z, right. And so how can we give ourselves the safety? Now, somebody else giving ourselves the safety, how can we give ourselves the safety of really nourishing and honoring our bodies and moving in a harmonious rhythm that supports our bodies, that supports our wounds. That supports our you know our creativity like blah, blah, blah boom and also supports our existence.

Nicole Pemberton:

Right, this is what it means to create your path to power. Because when we understand and know these resources that are there, you know there is more empowerment there. So when we ask, there is more empowerment there. So when we ask when we can tune into our bodies and be like, okay, things are happening, what's going on? All right, I need this tea. Oh, I need to take a couple of days off here. Oh, I know my period's coming. Okay, I'm going to get some more castor oil. Oh, this is happening. Okay, what's the date? Okay, yes, I'm. You know, I'm in this phase, right, this part of my moon cycle, perfect, yeah, let's go out on that date, you know, then it happens. Kind of subtle, but things start to move in a more cohesive way.

Kena Siu:

Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, oh, it makes the difference. Because then we give us I mean, you know, the inner critic is so harsh in our heads that when we realize, okay, this is happening in my body, it's like, okay, I'm in this part of my moon cycle. And then when we get to honor it and say, oh, okay, I'm about to bleed, you know, and then giving ourselves that permission, that grace to, okay, I am feeling this way and I want to do this or that because of where I am at this moment in my moon, as you said, there is more flow and ease and life gets better because we change the relationship with ourselves, we change the relationship with our bodies.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, bleeding. What I've been taught is that when we're not bleeding and we're in that wise woman season, is that you follow it by the seasons of the moon. So the new darkest time, that's that's, you know. One can follow that, you know, and acclimatize to that we can. We can acclimatize and shift our cycle to the seasons, to the, to the, to the light and darkness of the moon. But if there's a marker, especially those who are in menopause or just not bleeding anymore, that is where you can like tune. One can tune into is like really paying attention to the seasons of the moon.

Kena Siu:

Okay, so what do you mean? Like when it's full moon, then we're going to relate to the summertime.

Nicole Pemberton:

Okay, yeah, yeah, because it's light. It's yeah, it's light, yeah, it's bright. We're celebrating, we're like there's more energy. You can you notice that the full moon is just like full moon, let's go. Yeah, so much energy and also are you know, there's a lot that's going on energetically. Kids are just wired up, you know, on the on the full moon and you know there's a lot of energy, right?

Nicole Pemberton:

And then, when it starts to descend, it's just like all right, here we go. Well, not descend, but the light starts to gently start to transition to the new moon.

Kena Siu:

Yeah, yeah. I would like to ask you you talk about this at the very beginning how can we gain the sovereignty of our own space?

Nicole Pemberton:

I think it's the expression. It's the expression, it's really just standing our ground and not being afraid to talk about certain things, especially our, for example, the time that we bleed. It's very hidden, right, it's held in judgment. Well, not judgment, it's held in like you don't talk about it. It's held in shame. Or it's like don't let people know about it, like hide your tampon, hide your pad or whatnot. Don't tell anybody that you're bleeding. You know, keep yourself clean. You know it's like the shame of like oh, you're messy, now I'm not touching you.

Nicole Pemberton:

I was like, who said I wanted you to touch me? No, but you know, it's like. It's like, all of a sudden it's like, oh, you're bleeding, okay, get away from me. And it's like, you know, like, like, just even shifting the conversation of like this is such a, this is such a potent time for a girl, for a woman, that should be able to. Our girls should be able to talk about it freely, you know, with their friends or their mother, or even with their father, you know, and not be like oh, you're a guy, I can't talk to you about this. Yeah, you know, we should be able to have that support court, you know, and that sovereignty as well of like.

Nicole Pemberton:

Let's say, a person wants to conceive or not to conceive, they under once, when someone understands, okay, the processes of their bodies, you know as to like, okay, this is the biology, this is the science of like you know the temperature of the body when we're so attuned to our cycles, like, you know when you're going to ovulate, or you can feel it or you can track it right, that is power. That is it right. That is power, that is sovereignty, right, because you know. You know, okay, I know when I'm fertile, juiced up, yeah, let's get it right. And then you know that on the other times, you're not Just biologically, you won't be conceiving a child. So you know, for like, for those that are, you won't be conceiving a child. So you know, for like, for those that are, you know that are really concerned about like, okay, I don't want to get pregnant, Okay, great, then you know, know the cycles of your know your body, right, that is autonomy, that is power for yourself. You know, then somebody else telling um what is going on in your own body. Yes, we need we owe what we need that allopathic support you know, for tests and things like that.

Nicole Pemberton:

But also it's really powerful to know intimately, you know, um, where you are in your cycle and uh, where um like, knowing even the, the nectar from our, from our yonis, like, even understanding, like, okay, um, the, the smell, the consistency, the, um, uh, that that you know where you are. You know, yeah, that's power. You know To understand, just even understanding one's energy, right, and knowing when you are the most creative, knowing where you know you need to take time to rest, you just know it. You're not as productive, so you know X, y and Z, right, knowing what like, what turns you on, what makes you juicy, what makes you like, um, just very plumping and just like. Yes, you know um, understanding and harnessing the energetics of, of, of, of your connection to the, to the land, to the plants, to the herbs, to, to, um, to, to, to to the, the feminine system, feminine masculine systems of the earth.

Nicole Pemberton:

You know, um, this is, this is knowledge that was taken, that was systematically taken away from us, or they tried to take it away from us, yeah, but this is systematic knowledge that has been reduced to certain ways of talking and expressing about the feminine body. There is still so much in the medical field that has not been researched or done properly on the feminine body, but yet we have so much on our male counterparts. Yeah, you know so, the more that we know and we understand our bodies. This is body sovereignty. This is really, it is. It is really, um, revolutionary in itself.

Nicole Pemberton:

When you see people with the feminist way, you know, like women we're awesome and everything. Yeah, I mean it is. It is radical to to, to keep to. I'm taking a day off because I'm bleeding. I know my head is. I'm taking the day off and you want to see how much ridicule I already saw it in I think I don't know where in the world, but they put it in a corporate policy that women can have flex day when they bleed, and the amount of just disgusting comments from people rejecting the idea, you know, is just baffling.

Kena Siu:

And I guess that includes women, because if we don't have that culture, if we don't have the knowledge, we're going to keep rejecting it until we don't know and we don't experiment it.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, so we are being revolutionary in advocating for change, the care of our bodies and of our womb space. It is revolutionary and it is life changing.

Kena Siu:

Yeah, what are some of the of the practices that you offer to women to connect back to our womb?

Nicole Pemberton:

My practice is largely movement based Cause I, just because of my dance background um, you know, I was a professional dancer for a good while. Good chunk of my you know professional career and dance has always been there, so, um, so, the embodiment piece the dance piece is is huge, because this is where we really get to connect and move the energy, move our bodies and unearth traumas or emotional responses using the voice, really like, letting the voice, the vocal activation is really powerful because a lot of the times things are, you know, energy is stuck here and when they're stuck, they're stuck in our, in our, in our yonis. They are connected, right, yeah, vocal or activation being able to say the things that maybe weren't able to say, or restricted. Or then we all feel it that contraction on our throat and we're like, okay, and it's like if you're contracted here, you're contracted there, right. Or then we all feel it that contraction on our throat and we're like, okay, and it's like if you're contracted here, you're contracted there, right, there's no safety. No safety to say what we want to say, and so you know that practice of like, okay, this is a space that we are creating together what needs to be said, what sound that needs to come out. And so there's dance's dance, there's breath, there's, um, sorry, vocal activation, uh, breath work, um, just that breath.

Nicole Pemberton:

Because, again, we're moving energy right, yes, the body is not, is not designed to hold in stuff. This is, this is part of what this ease comes from, because but, but, yes, there's the physical, but we're holding emotional, right. So we've got to get that energy to flow right, and so we got to move the body right. We notice that when we go to the gym or we run, or we're in one stage and you know, and then we run and we go, and then, all of a sudden, we're just emptied out. We're just like, okay, we flush it out, we're sweating, we're like, oh my gosh, but the mind is clear, right. So dance does that right. Dance allows us to access those emotions, to let it go to say fuck you to whatever, to let it go to say fuck you to whoever you know, to allow, to allow that to get unleashed. So we can, we can, we can cry, we can get angry, we can get, you know, sacred rage and bang a pillow and get those emotions out. Right, we can lie down, yes, absolutely, it's great, but the energy needs to move, and so that's a big part of my resource tool, val, is movement, breath, work, breathing, really getting, just helping to process and alchemize that energy and sound Also. So that's on the embodiment side.

Nicole Pemberton:

We do medicine, spirit journeys where we really go into the ancestral line and really look at, okay, where did the root of these things, root patterns come from? Right, and it's an investigative process and so we get the lineage and the spiritual component to really work with and harness that faculty. We also look at the tangible resources that can help to support the womb yoni steaming, or what is also called vaginal steaming, where you use medicinal herbs, medicinal herbs from the earth, specific plants that help to nourish, tonify and and give um harmony and balance to the womb with with beautiful warming steam to help really bring back uh balance to the, to the womb space. So it really supports, it supports uh the processes of the of the womb and of the yoni in the uterus, um. So yoni steaming, um. I mentioned castor oil pack. Castor oil during the luteal phase is fabulous. It like I, I, I, I'm mystified at how on how this oil works, but it really does help the liver, it helps to detoxify?

Kena Siu:

Is it the one that is put in the belly button?

Nicole Pemberton:

Well, you can put it on your organs, your kidneys, your liver, your spleen, and that oil just gets in and it helps to detoxify, it helps to flush things out. So you know, you get up in the morning the next day, you have a good elimination and you know the, the, the custard oil really helps that. So it really helps to detoxify. So when there's extra excess hormones, you know it really helps to. You know, flush that out, out. And we need the kidneys, we need the, the liver to be optimal to help to bring things to. So to give it support so it can come, bring more harmony into the body. Um, so castor oil is great for that johnny eggs I.

Kena Siu:

I used the johnny egg for a long time, uh, when I started my process of healing, and that definitely helped me.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, it was a rose quartz, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's really, it's really powerful. It's not really my area expertise. Our dear sister, uh, sabrina vedetti, is like um queen, oh yeah, she's the queen of it. She's actually been my teacher and also in yoni steaming, and her sister Ariel is very knowledgeable and she's a clinical herbalist and really helped to bring the knowledge of herbs and just like even to like understanding how they support the body, and so the other resource that we have is medicinal herbs teas. Right, like if you were to have three herbs to have a relation, to start a relationship with stinging nettle. Um, stinging nettle, stinging nettle is a is a mineral powerhouse for the entire body, but it is so supportive to the womb space.

Kena Siu:

Okay.

Nicole Pemberton:

Red raspberry. It helps the flow, it helps to to nourish the blood and helps to tonify the yoni, the uterus, it is so. And also it's also mineral rich. It's very, very potent. Oh gosh, what was the other one? Now I was saying to a sister I said my herbs are taking over my pantry. You know, I'm building such a, such a, such a, uh, um, a library of herbs, um, oh, hibiscus, oh, okay, oh okay. Hibiscus is so such a beautiful, nourishing herb, um, for the body, and I and you know it's funny, I remember, I like if, if, if, you're in the caribbean, um, there's a plant we call sorrel and it's another variation of hibiscus, right, and we would. And hibiscus is red, right, plants have signatures. So here's this red plant.

Nicole Pemberton:

Red is associated with the blood, right, so we would drink this all the time you know, especially when we go visit, you know, go because I was born in Canada but my background is in the Caribbean. But when every time we visit there and we go, we'd, you know we'd have. I couldn't wait to have sorrel, you know, and it was with sugar and cinnamon and orange and whatever. Sometimes it was carbonate, it's just like yum, you know, I never knew that it was a variation of hibiscus. Okay, you know, we drink this thing all the time. I'm like, wow, this is part, this is like, this is part of the medicine that we get from from our families, from our, from our lineage. Right, this is, this is the plant medicine, right? So hibiscus is beautiful for the blood, right, red clover is beautiful for the blood as well, to really help.

Nicole Pemberton:

But I said three and I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna just highlight nettles and red raspberry. Okay, if even just these are beautiful herbs to start with. There are so many other herbs that really support the body. Um, but these are like like you can't go wrong unless you know a person is taking medication and things and you know is always want to be aware of. Like any contradictions with with herbs started with, you know, with the discernment of making sure it doesn't interfere with person is taking prescription meds or anything like that.

Kena Siu:

Thank you, wow. Well, that's a whole package of practices that we can do. Thank you so much for sharing. I mean, I was taking notes, and I'm sure whoever is listening is also taking notes because this is very, very powerful and it is needed. It is needed for women to connect back to our wombs. It is needed to come back to that energy of our womb, that is part of our body, because we have been fragmented. You know, the womb and the heart is there and the mind is there. No, we are one. Our body, it's it. It has all these elements. That it's about putting that wholeness together and by honoring our wombs. Yeah, it's a, it's a life changer, that's for sure. Yeah, absolutely.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, it's, it's life changer that's for sure. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I mean it is it completely, is it's a game changer. When we really honor that, when we honor it because you really get to tune into your body, and when you do that, like I noticed in myself, I do feel it. I feel it when I know I'm about to bleed, I feel my energy going. Whoa. And I feel that rise when spring and summer season comes through.

Nicole Pemberton:

And you know like it, just like even just being able to, when, like, like intimacy just becomes even more, like woohoo. You know, it's really like things start to it's subtle, but you start to really notice, like how your body, energies respond. You know when you're in certain parts of your cycle.

Kena Siu:

Yeah, yeah, it's so beautiful, yeah, so yummy. So yeah to our listeners. If you're a man, now you know more.

Nicole Pemberton:

And if you're a woman, please start.

Kena Siu:

Yeah, I mean, don't take this information for granted, because it can. It can change your life. I mean, I'm a witness of that, and yeah. So, nicole, before you can share, what can people find you? Would you like to add something else to this conversation?

Nicole Pemberton:

Oh yeah, and just just to just to piggyback on the men piece and like these are healthy conversations that we need to have with our men, with our boys, our sons, oh yes, others, you know, like especially young girls, um, that are just having their cycles. They need to be comfortable with talking to dad about this and dad, even though you and our fathers, fathers need to be it may not be the most comfortable thing for them to talk about, but at the same time, it's like they need that support just as much. You know, that nourishing support I keep saying nourish, but it is that loving support where they don't feel shame, they don't feel that judgment of being like, just ask, I'm not a girl, but you know I'm here for you. That is gold, you know. It really is gold for them to feel comfortable to say, daddy, I need a tampon or I need a pad right now. You know that that just just those little things is just really really, really valuable.

Nicole Pemberton:

Um, so, yeah, that's uh, men don't sleep on this conversation either. Um, because it's good for you to get comfortable with it. Um, especially if, like you know, a guy is brought up with like like four or five sisters.

Kena Siu:

They're like well, you know, yes, you know Exactly. Yeah, no. But then also for women to understand yeah, this is your cycle, there's nothing wrong with you, nothing, just get the knowledge. Know yourself, connect to your body, because the truth is, the wisdom of the body is infinite.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I just wanted to just bring that out there before I forgot. But, yeah, you can find me, um, on my website, wwwthegoddessmovesspace. Yes, space, okay, like that. And yeah, I'm on socials Instagram and Facebook is where I'm most frequent, and so you can just direct message me or send, uh, send me an email, um, if you'd like to connect, um, and so, yeah, those are the places you can find me.

Kena Siu:

Okay, I will put them on the show notes so people can just click directly in there. And two last questions. How would you call this stage of your life, in of your midlife, ripe?

Nicole Pemberton:

like like a good um, oh gosh, like a good mango good mango, I love that.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, like a good mango. I'm just I'm ripe, I'm not, you know, and it's not like oh, ripe, and then you're going to go down. No, and just like, it's just, it's just, it's like it's that that perfect state of a mango where it's just it's just the right about a sweetness. You dig into it and it's just like juicy, it's yeah, perfect. You just sit down on a, on a, uh, you sit down outside on a on the front porch and you just you got your napkin and whatever and you dig in and it's like yes, oh my God, my mouth is watering.

Nicole Pemberton:

Oh good, it's just like. You know, michael, I remember Michael Jackson saying I'm just getting started Like let's go. Yeah, it's just yeah, it's that type of energy.

Kena Siu:

Awesome, oh, I love it, I love it.

Nicole Pemberton:

And what's a pleasure you enjoy the most?

Kena Siu:

Oh, the same thing I was thinking.

Nicole Pemberton:

actually, I thought about that. It's probably going to be the same thing. Oh gosh.

Kena Siu:

One thing I enjoy the most Besides dancing because of course you're the goddess moves.

Nicole Pemberton:

Yeah, I just I think you know those moments where it's just like, oh, it's good. Like you know, life is good right now, like in this one was like you're just looking around and like is life is good right now. Like in this one was like you're just looking around and like is this my life right now? Oh, you know, um, we, uh, I have the gamers of life.

Nicole Pemberton:

They call them like when you but I I noticed those happens like when I'm with you know, know when I'm with other women and we're just doing stuff, or you know, with a group of people or having food, music is on, or outside at a concert, like outdoor music festival or something, or it's just simple things, sitting on a patio having, you know, just having a nice drink and some good food and just having good conversation. You know it's just those, those moments and like, let's say, the weather is just like, the weather is perfect, and you know it's just the perfect amount of heat, the sun is setting, and you know it's just a good night or a good day and you're just like man or a good day and you're just like man, this life is good right now.

Nicole Pemberton:

I love those moments you know.

Kena Siu:

Yeah, yeah, I love those moments Beautiful. Thank you so much for this amazing conversation, nicole, for sharing your wisdom, your presence, your beauty, your energy. I am so grateful to have you here and, yes, much love to you.

Nicole Pemberton:

Thank you, kenna, blessings on all that you're doing and all that people are receiving in this podcast. I hope you all that are listening and watching really enjoyed it. Yeah, thank you.

Kena Siu:

Thank you, I hope you all that are listening and watching really enjoyed it. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for tuning into Midlife Butterfly. If this episode lead a spark in you, hit that subscribe or follow button on Apple Podcasts, spotify or whatever you love to listen, so you'll never miss the magic. If you're feeling generous, drop a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps this empowering content reach more souls ready to transform their lives. And don't forget to take a photo of you while listening and share it on your socials. You can tag me at Ken as you, so I can celebrate you and your expansion. Until next time, keep spreading those wings and living in joy, growth and pleasure.

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