Episode 61 - The Connection Between Chakras, Menstrual Cycles & Emotional Health with Julia Rugosa
In today’s episode, I’m joined by Julia Rugosa, transformational coach, Reiki practitioner, and dear friend, for a deeply grounded conversation on emotional expression, nervous system safety, and how the chakra system can support us through the waves of life.
Julia’s story, including her lived experience with bipolar disorder and healing through body-based practices, brings such tangible wisdom to the often abstract conversation of “emotions” and “energy.” We explore how your menstrual cycle and emotional life are interwoven, how to work with blocked energy centers, and why the body is the safest place to process your feelings, if you learn how to listen.
This episode is for anyone curious about embodiment, energetic healing, and how to return to emotional balance without overriding or numbing out. Especially if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your own emotional depth, this one’s for you.
Topics covered
In this episode, we discussed
- How Iris and Julia met on a magical retreat in France and became instant friends
- What the chakra system is and how it connects to our physical and emotional wellbeing
- Understanding the seven chakras from root to crown and their individual qualities
- How to identify when chakras are blocked or imbalanced through internal and external signs
- The connection between menstrual cycles and the sacral chakra (womb space)
- How our cycles naturally change and flow like water, and why this fluidity is beautiful
- Julia's personal journey from bipolar disorder to balance through chakra work and mindfulness
- How emotional expression and feeling our emotions safely can bring us back to harmony
- Practical tools for people who find it hard to connect with their feelings
- The importance of creating emotional safety and self-trust through mindfulness practices
About Julia Rugosa
Julia Rugosa is a transformational life coach whose work is rooted in the yoga and chakra systems. She helps clients understand their lives through a chakra-based lens, focusing on the energy within us that relates to how we feel emotionally, financially, in our homes, relationships, and personal expression. Julia's approach combines ancient wisdom with practical application, helping people identify energetic imbalances and welcome shifts through habits and practices. Her personal journey from bipolar disorder to balanced wellness through chakra work and mindfulness informs her trauma-informed, gentle approach to emotional healing and self-trust.
Connect with Julia
- Instagram: @juliarugosa
- Website: juliarugosa.com
- Programs: "Radiant Self" group course (runs 3x/year), one-to-one sessions including reiki/coaching/yoga, and longer-term transformational programs
Listen to the Episode
Timestamps
[00:01:08] How Iris and Julia met on a retreat in France
[00:05:42] Julia introduces her work as a transformational life coach using the chakra system
[00:08:22] Detailed explanation of what chakras are and the seven main energy centers
[00:14:48] How to identify when chakras are blocked or imbalanced
[00:19:30] The connection between menstrual cycles and emotional landscapes
[00:21:26] How the sacral chakra and water element relate to our cyclical nature
[00:24:35] Julia's personal experience with cycles being different from traditional expectations
[00:27:07] Julia's healing journey from bipolar disorder through chakra work
[00:30:24] How allowing emotions to move through us brings balance and harmony
[00:32:50] Practical advice for people who struggle to connect with their feelings
[00:35:20] Using mindfulness and breath as anchors for emotional safety
[00:39:58] How emotions always move and change, creating natural cycles
[00:41:48] Final wisdom about loving all aspects of our emotional spectrum
[00:45:27] Where to find Julia and her offerings
Understanding Chakras as Emotional & Energetic Centers
Julia describes the chakras as spinning wheels of energy that run along the spine—from the root to the crown. Each one represents a different part of our lived experience:
- Root – safety, security, home, finances
- Sacral – emotion, sensuality, menstrual cycles
- Solar Plexus – confidence, power, decision-making
- Heart – love, compassion, connection
- Throat – communication, truth
- Third Eye – intuition, clarity
- Crown – spiritual connection, stillness
The chakra system can be a practical framework for understanding imbalances. For example:
- Difficulty speaking up? Check the throat and solar plexus.
- Chronic back pain? Look to the root or sacral.
- Always giving but not receiving? That’s the heart.
What’s powerful about this lens is that it encourages listening to both emotional and physical cues.
Emotions as Energy in Motion
A big theme in this episode is that your emotions are not wrong or too much. They just want to move. When we don’t express them, they don’t disappear—they store in the body.
Julia shared how she used to override her emotional needs and ended up in a bipolar crisis. Her healing began when she started practicing yoga, mindfulness, and tuning into her energy system. As she put it:
“The body holds natural wisdom. Just like your immune system heals a wound, your emotional system wants to regulate itself—if you let it.”
This is a reminder that emotional balance isn’t about suppression. It’s about creating safety to feel. That can mean crying, journaling, resting, or just sitting quietly with your breath.
How Emotions and the Menstrual Cycle Connect
Your menstrual cycle is governed by your sacral chakra, which is connected to water, flow, and emotional expression. Just like ocean waves, your feelings and energy change throughout the month.
We spoke about how:
- The luteal phase can bring heightened emotion
- Ovulation doesn’t always mean high energy for everyone
- Menstruation might be a time of clarity or power, not just retreat
Julia emphasized that these phases are not fixed. Every cycle is different, and you have permission to change. Listening to how you actually feel—without forcing it to match a chart—is key.
Practical Tools for Emotional Safety
When you feel disconnected from your body or overwhelmed by emotion, start small. Julia recommends:
- Warm tea – Feel the warmth in your hands and body
- Breathwork – Follow the breath in and out through the nose
- Mindfulness practice – Observe sensations, label thoughts or emotions
- Gentle body scans – Tune into each chakra, one by one
- Journaling – Name what you’re feeling without judgment
These tools aren’t about fixing or analyzing. They’re about creating space. As Julia said, “Emotions just want to be seen.”
Expressing Emotion Restores Balance
Julia shared that healing happens when we allow emotional waves to rise, crest, and recede. This process can feel intense, but resisting it only creates more stuckness.
“Being with emotion is not the same as being consumed by it. You can feel without drowning.”
By building self-trust and slowing down enough to listen, your nervous system starts to believe that it’s safe to be here. Over time, this creates more regulation, more peace, and deeper connection to your body and cycle.
The Bottom Line
Our cycles and emotions are always shifting. There’s no one way to feel, no right time to cry, and no perfect expression of healing. What matters is that we create space to be with ourselves, with gentleness, presence, and patience.
This episode is a reminder that you are allowed to feel it all. And that every wave eventually returns to stillness.
Key Takeaways
- Chakras reflect physical, emotional & spiritual health
- Emotions are meant to move—not be suppressed
- Menstrual cycles are emotionally fluid and linked to the sacral chakra
- Feeling is healing—but safety must come first
- You can’t force healing—but you can create space for it
- Mindfulness + breath + presence = nervous system safety
- Self-trust is built one moment at a time
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:
💻 Visit the Cycle Seeds website
