The Inner Rhythms Podcast

Episode 58 - Menstrual Traditions in India with Mehvish Khan

• Iris Josephina • Episode 58

Share episode

🐚Topics covered

  • Mehvish's personal journey into menstrual health and her cultural background in Gujarat, India
  • Ancient Indian practices around menstruation, including celebrations of first menstruation in South India
  • The concept of menstrual seclusion and its original purpose of providing rest and healing
  • Sacred materials like Darbha grass mats used during menstruation for their healing properties
  • The impact of colonialism on the preservation and misinterpretation of ancestral practices
  • Food myths and restrictions during menstruation in Indian culture
  • Ancient temples in India dedicated to menstruating goddesses, including the Kamakhya Temple in Assam
  • The sacred view of menstrual blood and respectful disposal practices
  • Challenges in rural areas regarding menstrual education and product access
  • The ongoing "menstrual revolution" happening across India


About Mehvish Khan 

Mehvish Khan is a Functional Nutritionist, Menstrual Cycle Coach, and Women's Health Practitioner based in Gujarat, India. Coming from a rich cultural background that blends ancient Ayurvedic wisdom with modern nutritional science, Mehvish is passionate about helping women understand their menstrual cycles and connect with their bodies. She conducts menstrual awareness sessions in schools and rural communities, working to bridge the gap between ancestral healing practices and contemporary health education. Her work focuses on preserving the sacred aspects of menstruation while promoting practical health education and access to menstrual products.


Where to find Mehvish

Instagram: @corehealthbalance 

Website: Coming soon


About the Host

I’m Iris Josephina—functional hormone specialist, orthomolecular hormone coach, and entrepreneur. Through Cycle Seeds and The Inner Rhythms Podcast, I support people in reconnecting with their cyclical nature, deepening body literacy, and reclaiming hormonal harmony from a place of sovereignty and embodied knowledge. Most people know me from Instagram, where I share stories, tools, and inspiration on cyclical living, menstrual cycles, fertility, hormones and more. 


Let’s stay connected:

📸 Instagram: @cycleseeds

📧 Join my newsletter: https://www.cycleseeds.com/

💻 Visit the Cycle Seeds website: https://www.cycleseeds.com/

📝 Check out the blog: https://www.cycleseeds.com/blog

🎓 Holistic Hormone & Cycle Coaching Certification Training: https://www.cycleseeds.com/hhcc-training-2025-selfstudy-vip

📚Join my courses: https://www.cycleseeds.com/courses-masterclasses

📊 Chart Your Cycle Masterclass: https://cycleseeds.plugandpay.nl/checkout/chart-your-cycle-97



[00:00:00] Iris Josephina: You are listening to the podcast of Iris Josephina. If you are passionate about exploring the menstrual cycle, cyclical living, body wisdom, personal growth, spirituality, and running a business in alignment with your natural cycles, you're in the right place. I'm Iris. I'm an entrepreneur, functional hormone specialist, trainer and coach, and I am on a mission

[00:00:29] Iris Josephina: to share insights, fun facts, and inspiration I discover along the way as I run my business and walk my own path on earth. Here you'll hear my personal stories, guest interviews, and vulnerable shares from clients and students. Most people know me from Instagram where you can find me under at cycle seeds, or they have been a coaching client or student in one of my courses.

[00:00:52] Iris Josephina: I'm so grateful you're here. Let's dive into today's episode. 

[00:00:57] Iris Josephina: Welcome to this special of my podcast Cycles Across Cultures. I'm so glad to have you. I'm honored to be here and to discuss and share like how cultures and how different traditions are specifically for menstruation and how people are still following specifically in India.

[00:01:16] Iris Josephina: I can't wait to learn. So before we dive into all of that, can you share a little bit more about who you are and what is the work that you're currently doing? So I'm Mehvish Khan. I'm a functional nutritionist. I'm a menstrual psycho coach and women's health practitioner. So everything and everything about menstruation, women's health, and this is something that honestly I did not figure out when I started working or when I started starting nutrition.

[00:01:45] Mehvish Khan: This just happened as a course. You can say like how I got influenced. And the women that I was, the people I were working with. And it was more like, there's so much to do about menstruation, so much to know. And that led me to do courses about menstruation. Like, okay, I want to do this. I. It has also come from my personal experience.

[00:02:06] Mehvish Khan: I haven't shared this before, but then I just, before this podcast, I was just reflecting how much I, I knew about menstruation as a teenager, and I know I shouldn't be sharing this, but I'm sharing this because I was so curious as a teenager. I remember when I was in my eighth grade and lot, like my best friend and a lot of my friends started getting the first plea and I was like.

[00:02:29] Mehvish Khan: I was very fascinated. We had this girl talking, oh, when? When I'm gonna get my period? And I don't know, I was a bit disappointed. I was like, I was eagerly waiting for my periods to happen. And what I did, I bought a pack of sanitary pads and it started wearing it just to see how it feels like. And I know, I know this is something very funny, but I was so just so curious that I want to know how it feels.

[00:02:52] Mehvish Khan: Like how are you? And for some reason I did not put it. The right way. It, the sticker side was on the, not on the panty, and I was like, oh, I messed it up. Yeah. I remember like, and I'm, I was just laughing on this and I don't know, like, I feel like back then I was not even aware that I'm gonna take this as a full, dedicated, passionate stream of my career.

[00:03:14] Mehvish Khan: I was like, I'm so happy that that curiosity has led me year to this path where I'm helping women understanding more and more, researching more about menstruation. And supporting people, and specifically teenagers to know more about your periods and connect with their uterus, connect with their bodies, and yeah, that's there.

[00:03:32] Iris Josephina: Thank you so much for sharing that story. That's funny. But yeah, I wanted to share it. Yeah, and you know, it also shows so much how we are so completely not educated. Like it's really not that hard to put a pad, but if nobody shows you how to do it, it's quite complicated. Yeah, that's there. Yeah. And can you share a little bit more about your background and the lineage that you come from?

[00:04:01] Mehvish Khan: So I'm based in West India. You would say like Gujarat say. So I'm a Gujarati as we say. And more like, I would say like I am just, I'm a foodie and I'm a Muslim. I, that's my religion that I practice. And in my religion, it's, again, if we talk about menstruation, there's a lot of, there's a term called, which is cleaning, which happens when you are, you're done with the period.

[00:04:24] Mehvish Khan: So a lot of things which I even researched what happens in my religion, and this is just, I'm just, I'm gonna say I'm a foodie and this is what. It's simply about being into India, eating more food, being connected with your culture, with the youths and ancient practices, which is Aveda, and I think you must be knowing about it.

[00:04:44] Mehvish Khan: So yeah, that's there and that's where I come from. Thank you for sharing that. Yes, I do know about Ayurveda and I think it is such a rich healing modality that we can learn so much from. Yeah, and that also brings me to my next question, like what according to you is the role of ancestral healing modalities that are still very present in India.

[00:05:11] Iris Josephina: What role do they have in like our modern. Like, how do you, how do you see them? Like blending and influencing each other? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So they're still, there're still practices and I would say ancestral healing and taken from abitha if we focus on which is happening. So they, for example, in southern India, which is the south Asian, south part of India, when the girl gets her first milat, like first period, they actually celebrated and it's looked as much of an or annual, like more of a celebration.

[00:05:43] Mehvish Khan: She is given more foods to focus on. Like, like sesame is given more coconut based foods, coconut oil or something. Coconut. Sweet. More turmeric. I, I've also researched this and I know like for someone who's based in South India, like you ha, they give this turmeric water and then when I ask the reasoning, what's the reason behind it, then explain that it's antioxidant rich.

[00:06:06] Mehvish Khan: Again, something which can be inflammatory and you need to give the goal when she's having a first plate. And I see like there's a connection with modern science and ancestral healing where this is what we do as well. Like seed cycling is there giving more nourishing warming foods. And I see that the same kind of reasoning and healing practices is integrated when we do modern science and ancestral healing.

[00:06:28] Mehvish Khan: And then the next part that comes, which is a bit controversial, but I feel like this is important, which is even observed right now, is menstrual secm. Like just, you know, mm-hmm. Give men more time, more resting, more origination, kind of for more time to reflect and have some time part from people from work.

[00:06:48] Mehvish Khan: And in earlier times, this was again, a reasoning from our ancestors and people who used to do this practice is because they wanted to give the woman the kind of rest. Right now we have access to so many things, technologies, gadgets, which make our life easier. But back then it was more, I would say, hard work.

[00:07:06] Mehvish Khan: Like for example, if you, you had to walk from one place to another, basically a temple as well. It was so far away. For example, whales were there like to bring a portal. So looking at all those perspective, they wanted the women to rest. And then there are a few, I would say, people who are, do not understand the reasoning and they just kind of mock it or they kind of just tell it, oh, women don't need to rest.

[00:07:29] Mehvish Khan: Like we, we don't need this. But then again, if you see from their perspective, there was always a reasoning behind all this healing powers. Then, um, there's again, in South Asia, sorry, south India, we have this, when the woman starts bleeding the period of phase, which is there, we have this DBA match. DBA is actually kind of a grass, which is more like it has healing properties.

[00:07:51] Mehvish Khan: So. Basically they tell the woman not to lie on bed or not to sleep on the bed. More like you have to use the mat because that same mat is used for yoga, for sitting, and that grass has some healing properties. It's more like very cooling, very warm. It gives you that warmth and it's just given that kind of fist and sacred kind of thing that, okay, fine, you can use this.

[00:08:12] Mehvish Khan: You can use this to rest and just be a part and. Reflect on yourself. And I feel that's beautiful because if we see at little, little practices, there has been certain reasoning. And right now as well, when we combine the mode in science, like as as coaches, we also tell women that you need to rest, you need to do some kind of, like some light yoga and stuff like that.

[00:08:33] Mehvish Khan: Don't do more of HIT workout. There's a reason behind that. So I feel like that's beautiful and there are still communities who are practicing it. So I think that's, that's just wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. And. Also for bringing up that some people misinterpret what they see and like give their own meaning without really, yeah.

[00:08:55] Iris Josephina: Without really understanding why people do certain things. Because I believe there's always a reasoning behind it whether people consciously know something or not. But this also brings me to a more. Like harsh topic because I feel colonialism has played a very big role in how certain practices all over the world, but specifically now because we're talking about India, in India, that things just have been so.

[00:09:25] Iris Josephina: Misconstrued. Yeah. Could you speak to the role of colonialism and specifically the role of colonialism in potentially destroying and misconstruing the preservation of these ancestral practices? Yeah, I mean like it has shaped the entire narrative as we are talking about where the misinterpretation stems from.

[00:09:49] Mehvish Khan: And I would say like, um, I would not say it has been always been negative. There is a lot of modern science and everything which has blended in, but at the same time, there is a lot of vague talks. There's no much, I would say, uh, not research, but not more proof or validation where it comes from. And when we look at the earlier times.

[00:10:09] Mehvish Khan: Again, look as we are, uh, going from one era to another, there were differences back then. There are differences right now as well. But then again, there are certain, I would say communities or people who just look at it from a very negative point of view. Like, I understand there is cultural preservation, there is heritage, and we have to honor it.

[00:10:28] Mehvish Khan: And, but then again, uh, you cannot just ignore the fact that we are also moving ahead with modern science. For example, uh, I like how you, how you told me like this is how there are some people who just not. They look at it from a very negative point of view. I, when I basically, I do co counseling sessions as well.

[00:10:46] Mehvish Khan: So when I go in remote areas, there is more kind of, I would say, mixed kind of population where, um, the elders, I would say people who are from, from a very, uh, previous part of life and they believe that practices this, believe that we don't need the mobile phones, we don't need this. We know we have to follow what we've been told from our ancestors and from.

[00:11:09] Mehvish Khan: And I feel that has also stopped a lot of. I would say growth that is happening. Mm-hmm. Because then again, they are, if we talk about specifically about menstruation, they're still there. Many remote, I would say villages, remote part in India, which they are, the women is only using rags or cotton, clo, not even pads.

[00:11:27] Mehvish Khan: I would say cotton, like some waste clots and. She, because she's been told this is normal for you. There's no awareness, because there's no awareness, because there are no people to educate them what, what is right. They've been told this is right and you have to do, and there's a lot of limitation. So when we go, it's very hard.

[00:11:42] Mehvish Khan: I, I would say like they just, it's a blank face when we try to make them there and we have to use pads. There are not, like in India, there is more, I would say, more. I would say majority of people who use pads, then tampons or menstrual cups. And there's a reason which I will cover later, but then again when I show them the pads and how you have to use, it's more like they just don't want to accept it because they've been told this is wrong or you have to just use it.

[00:12:09] Mehvish Khan: The the rags and the cotton plots, which we've been using, which is right, and the correct way, passed away from generations to generations. So I feel there's a lot of gap. The gap is, would be built by awareness, more counseling. And there are NGOs, there are people, there are people who are doing this job to educate.

[00:12:26] Mehvish Khan: And I feel that would be, it'll take some time. I agree. Look from a practical point of view, but then there's always hope, there's always healing and hope that is happening. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. And um, yeah, I've definitely seen that when I was in India as well, I spent a lot of time in a very small village in Tam.

[00:12:48] Iris Josephina: Um, but they eventually started their own like path. Um, I, yeah. This is also growing. There are a lot of see women who are making in, in very like small scale, I would say women who are just doing it at homegrown kind of products. And it's good to know that it's happening and this is there a lot of work to be done.

[00:13:11] Mehvish Khan: So this is like a real life story and a listen, I would say to Lauren and my grandmother shared this to me. When I was more like as a teenager and I had that kind of maturity to understand about periods, so we were just chit chatting. I got my periods I remember, and we were just sitting, she was just telling me about that in earlier times.

[00:13:29] Mehvish Khan: There were no pads. We, we were made to use prags and the cotton CLOs. She started laughing and I was like, why are you laughing? And she remembered that your aunt, so basically her daughter, she was not aware about periods menstruation. There was no awareness. So that's what I'm telling you about. There was no awareness, no school talks, no friends were talking about that.

[00:13:49] Mehvish Khan: She got her, she started bleeding in her school and her best friend just started teasing her and she just made a joke about it that you've got cancer. Because just first instinct, she told her that you've got cancer, and she was so traumatized that when she came home. She was educated about, period. Her mother, my grandmother, told her that this is normal.

[00:14:11] Mehvish Khan: Every woman goes through it and she was like not having it. She took it so seriously. She had to be hospitalized and there were doctors also trying to tell her that, ma'am, or this is normal. This is what a woman goes through. But then again, she was so traumatized that I'm having cancer. She started crying and the whole family had to comfort with it.

[00:14:29] Mehvish Khan: So I feel like again, that was a joke, but then this is why awareness is important. If you like, even like girls, who are they? And teenagers, they're very smart, I would say, compared to people who are back then they have that access to, again, technology, girls talk. But then again, awareness should be a must.

[00:14:46] Mehvish Khan: We should not take that as acknowledged that, okay, fine, this is Gen Z generation, or everybody knows about periods. No, still there should be a proper not out. Talked about menstruation. I would see and I would feel that I'm gonna educate my daughter on the same level before even that happens. I don't know if it's, again, this is, I, I know this is funny, but a lesson to even remember that how awareness impacts a lot on younger minds as well.

[00:15:14] Iris Josephina: So this happened. Definitely. Yeah. Wow, that's so intense. And if awareness would've been there, like she wouldn't have had such a Yeah. A traumatic experience. Like it must have come like a shock for her when her friend was joking about that. Yeah. The same friend tried to comfort her that, you know, no, I was just joking, but she's not having it.

[00:15:38] Mehvish Khan: She's like, okay, I'm having cancer. Just telling me to feel like it just not get me panicked, but I'm feeling it and I just know, and you guys are lying and all that stuff happening. Aw, poor a woman. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Anything else that you thought you forgot to share or that you want to add?

[00:16:02] Mehvish Khan: I think the black bag thing, like taking a bag is it's again like, uh, not a necessity, but then again, like it should not be a black bag. That is my how I see it. If you're taking sanitary pads or tampons or menstrual cups, tell the chemist or tell the person that, just give it to me like in a simple bag.

[00:16:22] Mehvish Khan: Don't make it a black bag or a bag to hide it. And I would accept it as it's, and I would want teenagers and even girls who are going to purchase a pack, just do it that way. So it'll be kind of a revolution because I see this is happening. You know, you just put a black bag. Okay. It's sanitary pads. We have to hide it.

[00:16:39] Mehvish Khan: I have to give it to you. I don't want that happening. I want people to embrace it, you know? Okay, fine. I'm menstruating. I'm, I'm proud of it. I'm gonna accept the bag from the chemist that way. Yeah. Thank you for, for speaking to this. And if we're talking about these more ancestral views on the body, what do you know about.

[00:16:58] Iris Josephina: More ancient approaches to the cyclical body and also periods in India. Yeah, so ancient approach, approaches that we've talked about, like menstrual seclusion is there also, there is this one thing which is also done like practice in my family not to take a bath during period days, like first two, three days.

[00:17:20] Mehvish Khan: And there's a reasoning, again, a reasoning that comes like when you take a bath, it's more like your, it's more about. Not, not being dirty, but then you have to just, that's the time you have to preserve your own healing, womb healing kind of thing, and resting, and you can take a bath later on. So there are even people, and I know families who practice this, not to take a bath from the head.

[00:17:41] Mehvish Khan: You can take a bath, you can clean yourself up, but. Just to wash your head after your period gets over. And I've been told this from my, like from my grandmother as well. So I kind of practice it. And I don't know, like there is this belief, I, I don't have much research or data on this, but then there are certain reasonings and people who tell me that the reason why I don't have to take a headbutt is because the flow would get scanty or you'll have, have really slow bleeding and I'm not sure like how it is influenced, but then again, we need more research and I'm not seeing.

[00:18:12] Mehvish Khan: I don't see the connection there, like how it'll actually directly influence the flow. But then, yeah, that, that's, that's the reason. Reasoning that they have. Another thing which I've observed is, it's not even a myth, but again, this is how we talk about how one thing gets interpreted to something negative.

[00:18:29] Mehvish Khan: So not as a ancestral practice, but then this is very widely practiced in India, and this one myth that I get is very, very common. Don't take papaya or pineapple during your period taste. The reason why, because it's a very warm food and they have this enzyme like papaya and bromelain. So it had this, this, they have this concept that if you take papaya more during your periods or before your periods, so you'll get the periods early or maybe you'll have a lot of pain.

[00:18:57] Mehvish Khan: So there is a lot of mixed reasoning. So. I've got this like so many times when I go to school for menstrual awareness and this, there is one girl who always ask me this month that, ma'am, we've been told not to take papaya. If we eat a lot of papaya, we'll get our periods. Again, there's, for certain foods, there is a restriction, like cold foods, sour foods, like again, it'll cause you discomfort.

[00:19:21] Mehvish Khan: There's menstrual pain that would happening. I have, I, I'm, I'm not gonna say I relate to it or agree to it because I don't believe a certain food would directly influence so much. We have to look at the perspective and quantity. If someone is taking papaya the entire day, like morning, breakfast, lunch, evening, snacks, dinner, then it's gonna maybe affect, you gonna have some kind of reaction.

[00:19:45] Mehvish Khan: But I don't see the reasoning. Like if you can have just one bottle of papaya and you've been told No, don't take papaya before periods, or you'll get your periods or get menstrual pain. And that is where. This gap is happening because again, fruit is something which is you require it whether you have periods or not.

[00:20:03] Mehvish Khan: And just telling the girl who's maybe a fussy eater or she's avoiding fruits to not have the foods which are actually antioxidant rich, which has the vitamins and minerals. So again, people are, the girls are not eating. And there's this, another thing about iron rich foods. Not to have iron rich foods during periods because it'll, again, more iron means more blood loss.

[00:20:25] Mehvish Khan: So you have to avoid dates, you have to avoid you like prunes, you have to avoid pomegranate, be truths. So again, if you see all the good foods, which actually have to be taken being told not to take. So I would say like there has to be a proper counseling, proper approach. I would say proper, like it depends on bio individual as well.

[00:20:47] Mehvish Khan: So sorry for the back. Yeah, like how it person to person, it defers, like if we look more into the M imbalance, I would not give the same advice to other girls. So I think a lot has to be taken into consideration before giving any generalized advice. So yeah, that's there. Have you come across any myth like I'm, I'm curious to hear from you as well.

[00:21:10] Iris Josephina: In my culture or about India specifically? Yeah. Any, anything like your culture, India that you food? Um, yeah. I think like a few generations ago in my culture, women were also taught not to cook while they were on their periods or not to cook specific foods. I can't remember specifically what it was, but I remember my grandmother speaking about this, like when we were on our periods, we couldn't cook X, Y, Z.

[00:21:39] Iris Josephina: Or we couldn't be in the kitchen for a certain amount of time. So this is definitely something that, you know, that has like roots in every culture. Yeah. So I believe every culture has their, like myths and rules and regulations about periods. But I'm curious, you know, because there is definitely a, like a difference between like.

[00:22:08] Iris Josephina: pre-Christian ways of life and then post-Christian ways of life. I feel in my country that is predominantly Christian, a lot of the ways that we treat our bodies are informed by how the church looks at bodies and what we're, you know, what we're supposed to be doing with our bodies because it's very much the root of our communities.

[00:22:33] Iris Josephina: Like it's not like that anymore, but. Our ancestors were very informed by the church and, and rules and regulations were made up by the church on how to live life and how to do things. So I believe that that has a big impact. But then I also know there is a very big difference between the Christian way of looking at how we treat our bodies compared to maybe like a more pagan, earth-based religion or a way of life.

[00:23:05] Iris Josephina: That was existing before Christianity came to my lands. I'm still like diving into this, like, I dunno everything about it yet, but I do believe that, yeah, every culture at some point had a way to honor menstruation. And I personally believe that menstruation and the experience of menstruation potentially could have been like the first mystical spiritual.

[00:23:31] Iris Josephina: Religious experience of humanity because it's very weird. You know, at a certain point you're suddenly bleeding. Like that must be something of meaning in some way, and humans give meaning to their experiences. So I personally believe that menstruation must have been one of these experiences as humans that we ascribed a certain meaning to.

[00:23:55] Iris Josephina: That was not humans, but like more divine or. God. God is whatever. But that's my personal view on this. And um, I know before you know, we started this podcast, we also spoke about, um, certain places like actual physical places in India that are actually dedicated to Yeah. Menstruation that are dedicated to goddesses that are bleeding.

[00:24:23] Iris Josephina: Could you share a little bit more about that and where they're located and, and. What you found about these temples. Yeah, so there's this one which is more like, I would say more popular, like others are even popular, but this one's more popular. It is an Assam, it is called Kaia Temple. It is de devoted and dedicated to Goddess Kaia, so it is more like worshiped because she was like.

[00:24:47] Mehvish Khan: And it, there's a special festival as well, which is called Ambu Bachi. Mela, which is kind of a gathering. It's an annual gathering, and I would say it's, it was celebration of her bleeding. Plus, there are folk dances, there are artists, and there's a lot more happening in the gathering. And the temple is actually closed for three days.

[00:25:06] Mehvish Khan: During this period, and it opens the forte and there's a lot of, I would say, belief. And there's this, I don't know, I don't know how much of this is true, but then the belief that the God is bleeds during this time more prominently, and the water, the temple water turns red. And there's, yeah, and there's a very beautiful, I would say, sculpture of her with showing that she's bleeding and it's very beautiful.

[00:25:30] Mehvish Khan: You just have that goosebump and there's another temple, which is in Kerala, the Maha Temple. So again, it is dedicated and devoted to Lord Mawa and, and it is again, a celebration and worship of her bleeding. Then there's one in Nepal, but I feel like the more, um. More popular and the more kind of a huge celebration happens at ATE Assam.

[00:25:56] Mehvish Khan: And that's just fascinating. So I'll share you the link as well so I can have a look and how the, I think it, it just happened in June, the annual celebration, which was last June 24, 25. I don't remember The dates keep changing, but it's very massive. It happens on a very massive level and there are few, like more ancient temples, which are in India, which are in remote areas.

[00:26:18] Mehvish Khan: So again, there is no like on Google or site documentation, but you can just see like very remote, smaller temples, which are again, like they have this beautiful sculptures and of the goddesses and how the yogi temples, which are there again for the Wawa and everything like that. So that's just beautiful and it's just, I would say like half people again.

[00:26:39] Mehvish Khan: In that part, the population or the community preserves the ancestral tradition and it's been going on for years without any discrimination or anything. And I feel that's just very beautiful that we all know menstruation as a secret practice as well. Mm-hmm. I really love how that is just preserved because this is not something that they started doing like 50 years ago.

[00:27:03] Iris Josephina: Like it's a really ancient. Do you happen to know like when these temples were built, like how old they are? Think it was very old. I would say, I think thousands of years ago, like every, every temple has a different history. So I think it's, it's very old. Like I somewhere like before even the 18 hundreds or 16 hundreds, very, like I would say before the time, like.

[00:27:30] Mehvish Khan: For Christ, I would say like these are that old. So I would say like the tradition has been going on for years and years from that. Wow. Yeah. That's really special. And it really shows how, how in ancient times there was a whole different experience and whole different meaning giving to the whole process of, of menstruation.

[00:27:53] Iris Josephina: And it's so beautiful that this practice has been preserved. Even though a lot of the world has changed, like we both know that there's also a lot of taboo around menstruation, but then apparently it can coexist with these ancient practices that are like, no, we're just gonna honor this blood. And that's it.

[00:28:13] Iris Josephina: That's what we do. Um, so I love that. And yeah. Is there anything else you'd like to share? Maybe your like, personal view on these temples? I've seen like not just the temples, but then in my, because I just realized I've been doing this practice, so my grandmother taught me, and I've seen this. This is common thing that I've seen in all religions in India, like.

[00:28:36] Mehvish Khan: Mostly like even the remote villages when we were talking about the rags and like educating them and making them aware. I, there's this one female who came to me is like sharing her experience and she wanted to use the sanitary pad and she, I had a very good question that can we wash the blood before disposing it off because the cows or some animals would eat it.

[00:28:56] Mehvish Khan: And I just realized, and it strike me, that even my grandmother has taught me that many. Because I usually use sanitary pads mo mostly during my period day. So when I was just a teenager and started getting my first bleed, she told me that always wash the blood a little bit. Just don't throw your pad directly or dispose it of because the animals will be there and if they eat it or something, like if they even touch your blood.

[00:29:18] Mehvish Khan: It's something that has viewed as sacred and not dirty. But as of you do respect the animals as well, you do not want the animals to eat or just. Have that kind of thing. So I think this is also practice in a lot of communities, not just me and my family, like I've seen in remote villages. So I feel that's even more respected.

[00:29:37] Mehvish Khan: Like we see that as a sacred thing, not just a dirty thing, but to respect the animals as well would be in touching or maybe by chance come and contact the the menstrual pet. So that's there. Thank you for sharing that. And also. You know, this brings me back to what we spoke about earlier, that things are so easily misconstrued and people project their own ideas, like, oh, you have to wash it off.

[00:30:03] Iris Josephina: So probably it'll mean that it is dirty and it needs to be clean, but that's not the case. It's because it's so sacred that you don't want anyone else to touch it. It's basically you want to reduce the sacredness of it so other people are not influenced, or other animals are not influenced by the sacredness of it.

[00:30:23] Mehvish Khan: Yeah. That's there even I've seen that when we co coming back to that mixed thing, like people have taken it in a very negative way about touching someone who's menstruating. Like I've seen this a lot. That, for example, a woman is menstruating. You're not supposed to touch the woman as menstruating. And this was a kind of a practice, ancestral practice where she was just secluded and a separate time was given.

[00:30:47] Mehvish Khan: There are menstrual hearts in India as well for the same purpose, but then there are certain. I would say the mindset also matters and the way they think that, oh, okay, why you being racist or why you being, she's dirty or menstrual blood is dirty and all that narrative starts. Why can't, why can't I touch someone who's menstruating?

[00:31:05] Mehvish Khan: But the thing is, it's more rooted in the belief of energies. And when we about I with her, as we're talking about the WhatsApp with the doshas, and there is something called as the energies. This is Prana energy, which is upward energy and all this energy concept, which was there back then. And that's the reason they were told that, okay, fine, you have to be separated for this is the reason she has a logo, energy, she is, she's resting and we don't want someone to get in touch with us.

[00:31:30] Mehvish Khan: But again, that was taken in a very different narrative and a very different mindset. Oh, you cannot touch someone who menstruating. Is she dirty or menstrual blood is taken as dirty. And I think that there's, there's a lot of, again, mindset. Counseling that would take into place a lot of perspective change with that would take into place, but that's there.

[00:31:51] Mehvish Khan: We cannot just, and I feel like that's the reason it'll take some time. It's already happening in India. The menstrual revolution, if I see, I would not say it. There's gonna be a year or a month. It's happening. There is a slow, steady pace. I see communities, I see NGOs, we are talking about the women who are making pads.

[00:32:09] Mehvish Khan: It's already happening at somewhere and it's, it's gonna be a change as well. I love that. And yeah, I can definitely see that also with the pads. Like I think I was, yeah, I was in India in 2013, like that's a long time ago. And that was already when they were making pads from their local plants. Hmm. Like all organic in a little like super tiny like factory.

[00:32:34] Iris Josephina: Everybody doing everything by hand with these like manual machines. So yeah, I can totally see that. Things are shifting and changing for the good. Yeah. Yeah. And how do you feel that people are like preserving the more ancestral practices? Like is that something that is just, it seems to be that it's just embedded in how society is.

[00:33:01] Mehvish Khan: It's more about, I would say, comfort as well. Mm-hmm. As I've told you, it depends on accepting new things. And for example, if I am liking something for years and years and you, it's just giving me comfort, I'm very used to it. I would be a little reluctant to use something which is newer. So it all depends how open the community or the people are.

[00:33:22] Mehvish Khan: And I would say more influences from the family. For example, if. There's this person, there's this woman who wants to change. Then again, there's a lot of influence from family members, from a mother. It's gonna be difficult, but then again, it'll be great for a change. So when we go counseling, we do counseling sessions and there's, there's a lot of different groups.

[00:33:44] Mehvish Khan: So usually the mother is also in the group, mother-in-law. So it's, it's a lot of counseling. The whole family as well. And again, it has to be very careful because sometimes people take it in a insulting tone that, okay, fine, like that. That's what I'm trying to tell you. When we are trying to do menstrual counseling, it's not difficult.

[00:34:03] Mehvish Khan: It's more about acceptance. That what you're telling, we have to be comfortable or we have to be open to do that. I see like, and again, if we talk about the gender, like male gender, I've seen a lot of men as well who are very open, supportive and helping their wives, helping their daughters, having an open conversation about periods and stuff.

[00:34:22] Mehvish Khan: And I feel that is changing in India earlier times. It's still there. I would say it's still prevailing so. There's this hiding and hide and seek thing going on in families. Like, okay, fine. If I'm menstruating, my brother should not know that, or my father should not know that. I just, I just feel shy or I just feel not good.

[00:34:39] Mehvish Khan: Like if he's aware and I don't know, like there's very hesitation that's happening, for example, in like I feel, see there are memes going around this or just concept on this, that. If I'm not menstruating because I'm bleeding, like, uh, if I'm menstruating, sorry, I cannot fast. So my brother should not know that.

[00:34:57] Mehvish Khan: And if he, if he comes to know, he is like, he, he is gonna mock me. Why aren't you fasting? Why are you eating? So it's, it's, I think, rooted around that belief that it should, it should be more open. There should be open conversation, but again, it, it, it'll take some time. Like you cannot just. Throw yourself on someone that you have to do this, you have to do, you have to accept menstruation.

[00:35:16] Mehvish Khan: It'll take some more counseling and more acceptance on that comfort level. Okay, fine. It's gonna happen. That's fine. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that and also acknowledging that it's a slow process. Like we cannot expect from people to, you know, 180 degrees change their ways when things just have been the way they are for a very long time.

[00:35:41] Iris Josephina: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. And, um, what is your, like, let's, let's pull it like a little bit outward towards the entire world. Like what is your vision for the cyclical experience and ancestral healing for communities worldwide? Like, what would you like to see? I would see, again, like honoring and preserving the ancestral base.

[00:36:06] Mehvish Khan: Not, and I would not, I'm, I'm not someone who's gonna. Go out of the way and just push the modern science. I feel this should be a very harmony and balance of modern science with ancestral ways and respecting the culture, respecting the traditions, and taking it forward. And I feel like, um, if, for example, as I told you about the sesame seed, the girl who gets a menstruation and she is given sesame seeds.

[00:36:31] Mehvish Khan: Same concept. We have a seed cycling. So I think they, I, I want to respect that and I want to bring that link to make them aware that, okay, fine, this is not something very different. This is also we, we should be doing. And just drawing those connections where people will understand and have that kind of balance.

[00:36:48] Mehvish Khan: So I feel, I see a world when, and I don't see just the women or the females or menstruated. I feel the whole family and. To even counsel and make them aware. And surprisingly, there are even more and more communities. And I would say as I'm talking about genders, people coming forward to know about menstruation, whether I'm going in a college, university lecture, there are even men sitting there like brothers or boyfriends just wanting to know about menstruation, how I can help her.

[00:37:16] Mehvish Khan: So I feel like I see it. As a whole body, not just differing it, that only menstruation should be knowing it, or only women should be knowing this. I feel that it should be as important as we have a textbook lecture or this is an important subject that we cannot miss, I feel, and even starting from the schools and I feel like.

[00:37:35] Mehvish Khan: There has to be this change. There has to be the subject on menstruated menstruation, not just one workshop. Because I remember when, during my time, I just had one workshop on menstruation. We are just given a pamphlet and, and there were no tasks and there were, there was nothing. Where we could feel or we could just go to someone, okay, I know this person, I know this teacher I can talk to about menstruation.

[00:37:58] Mehvish Khan: I feel like it should start from there. The schools should be more and I feel more and more people are doing it. I see the change as we are talking about, I see it's already been happening. There are more, I would say, seminars are happening. People are even coming forward to make you aware about menstrual pads.

[00:38:14] Mehvish Khan: How are the different products you can use? And I feel like it's beautiful and it's, it's again like a menstrual revolution. I love that and it's, um, yeah, the beautiful thing is that the vision that you're holding, you're already seeing it unfold, and I think in your country you are like a very important person for that as well.

[00:38:38] Iris Josephina: So if people are hearing this and they want to learn more about you and your work, what is the best way to find you online? So I'm on Instagram at at the rate core health balance. My website is still on the process and it'll be live soon, but you can find me on Instagram and uh, that's the best place to reach me out Core health by balance.

[00:39:03] Iris Josephina: Thank you so much. I'll make sure to paste that in the show notes so that people know where to find you. Thank you so much for enlightening us on. Thank you so much for Yeah, inviting me. This was amazing and this was like wonderful experience and I just feel that energy and I feel like very excited to go menstruation with someone who's, you know, in the same field and hardworking and doing the same work.

[00:39:31] Mehvish Khan: So very excited for this episode to go live. Yeah, we need to support each other. Like in this field it is still growing. Like the world is not fully, fully on board yet, so I feel we need each other and support each other to make sure that. We make this mainstream, basically. Yeah. Thank you again so much.

[00:39:54] Iris Josephina: Thank you so much. 

[00:39:56] Iris Josephina: Okay, this wraps up today's episode. Thank you so much for listening. Want to know more about me? The best way to reach me is via @cycleseeds on Instagram. And if you heard something today and you think, oh my God, wow, I learned something new, feel free to share the podcast on your social media and tag me or leave a review of rating in this way, you help me reach more people like you. Thank you so much.