Get to know your flow with this sassy masterpiece, which is packed with true stories, funnies, feels, woo-woo, science and useful extras.
What is it?
Code Red: Know Your Flow, Unlock Your Monthly Super Powers and Create a Bloody Amazing Life. Period.
I was very excited to start reading this book, finally, after promising myself that I would order it for a very long time.
I am in love with Lisa’s mission to reclaim menstruation, both for women and dude-kind. It’s so very needed.
But if I was expecting it to be all spiritual mumbo-jumbo, yonis and womb steaming, I underestimated the book, and the author.
Who is it for?
It’s for women. Women who bleed, and women who don’t. And it’s a little bit for guys who want to unravel some of the mysteries of their partners’ changing moods (or in my case, personalities) throughout the month.
Things I love about it
What I loved most of all, (apart from finding out the origins of the c-word), was learning that it’s OK to be inconsistent.
For me, the message that, as a woman, I am not designed to be consistent from one day to the next, has been clearly and gratefully received.
I was fascinated by “the science bit” – the hormones at play throughout the menstrual cycle – not just the PMT that, culturally, we have been conditioned to focus on.
I also love Lisa’s punchy, unique writing style. It’s great to read what might be called a “self-help book” that’s full of swearwords, slang, sex and sass.
Things I don’t love about it
There’s nothing I don’t love about it, but I will say that it goes deep, and I don’t think I’ve done much more than skim the surface. It clearly needs to be worked with longer term, so be prepared to commit.
Luckily for Code Red readers, there are a ton of resources both inside and outside the book for continued deep-diving – yoga, menstrual charts, book lists, websites and more.
There’s a lot of emphasis on blood and bleeding in this book (which is great and necessary), and it could be easy to feel excluded if you don’t bleed or have stopped bleeding. But don’t be put off! Lisa is keen to point out that it’s for all women, because we’re cyclic in nature whether we bleed or not.
All-in-all?
Five fabulous stars.
I want to buy this book for all my girlfriends and get them started on the road to loving their periods.
I found charting my cycle extremely useful in pinpointing days when I will feel in the flow, and days when things are less than flowy.
Get this book if you ever find yourself wondering (as I have) why on some days you’re afraid of your own shadow, while on others you’re “Queen of Freakin’ Everything”.
Let’s all have more of those days.
What do you think? Let me know!