We have many exciting books releasing this year, and while each is unique and powerful in its own way, it is always interesting when a common theme emerges as it reflects back to us the energies and movements that are emerging in the world.

This year, one of the strong themes that we are seeing is the reclamation of the divine feminine - women all over the world are rising up, reconnecting to their own power and wisdom and speaking their truth, and courageous guides are stepping forward to support them.

One of those guides is our incredible author, Lisa Lister. Lisa is a menstrual, fertility and reproductive health practitioner who is on a mission to get us women talking about our 'lady parts' - how to care for them, how to reclaim them, and how to trust them.

Lisa Lister

As women, the world around us does not teach us to feel comfortable with our bodies growing up, and far from being something that we celebrate and revere, for many women, connecting with their amazing female body and its cycles can bring up feelings of guilt and shame. However, as Lisa shares in her upcoming book, Love Your Lady Landscape, due to be released in July 2016:

'There was a time, roughly 5000 years ago, when lady landscapes were revered. A time when the space between a woman’s thighs was considered a power portal with a direct hook-up to source. But for over 2,000 years now, the potent powers of our wombs, our cyclic nature and our menstrual cycles have been disregarded, and we’ve lost our daily connection to Mumma Earth, to the moon, to the seasons and their cycles.'

Lisa with HHUK's commissioning editor Amy after a cacao ceremony

Lisa goes on to explain the serious consequences that this denial of our true nature is having on every aspect of our being:

'We ignore our deepest needs as women because we no longer trust ourselves and our own body wisdom. We apologise for our tears, suppress our anger and self-medicate with whatever will numb the pain of not being heard or telling our truth. Worst of all, we have an epidemic of ‘down there’ pain and dis-ease – PMT, polycystic ovaries, endometriosis, fibroids. Overwhelm, anxiety and infertility are at an all-time high and we manage our menstrual bleed with synthetic hormones, denying ourselves the experience of living fully in our SHE power.'

While this imbalance that Lisa describes has sadly become the norm for many women, the good news is that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and Lisa has used her own painful experiences in this area, and her journey of healing and reconnecting with her body, to show readers that it is more than possible for them to come back into alignment with their bodies.

Lisa is extremely passionate about getting women talking about all of this, and bringing humour and realness to the conversation too, because she has seen first-hand the healing, empowerment and transformation that this work brings.

She really practices what she preaches, and when I spend time with her, I'm always struck by how fiercely she honours her own body, heart and spirit. This fierceness, rather than being about pushing through, is a gentle, flowing fierceness, that bows down to the power that moves in all of us, and holds this as her true sacred compass.

In a world where most of us are more connected to and ruled by our iPhones than our own inner rhythms, there is a deep and urgent need for the work that Lisa is doing, and I couldn't be more excited to be supporting her to share this message with women all over the world!

Connect with Lisa on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or over at her website.