I have worked with women and men trying to conceive for the last ten years in clinical settings using these research proven techniques.  Some women I’ve worked with get pregnant immediately (six weeks to 6 months of practice) even after years of assisted reproductive treatments or trying naturally. For other women, the work is to establish a daily practice to optimize their mind-body health while they go through a longer process;

For example,

When Ben and Maria started the program they were sure that if they did not conceive naturally, they would rather live without children. Maria was 39 years old, Ben was 45. Ben felt like his life was good as it was and he could not imagine having a child if the child was not biologically theirs.  Maria felt differently. The Mindful Fertility process made conscious that she was depressed. She had to relieve the symptoms of her depression so she could begin to communicate her desire more clearly with her husband and move the process forward in a way where she did not ignore her needs (she was taught to do this as a child) and instead take an active role in advocating for her longing and also listen to her husband’s desire for a biological child. In the process of overcoming her fear of speaking up and disagreeing with her husband, they came up with a solution to ask Maria’s sister if she would donate an egg for them to use so the genetics of the child would be almost identical to Maria’s. This brought up some feelings in Maria’s sister’s husband who needed to work through a process as well. Eventually, they all agreed. Through addressing everyone’s fears and needs, we eventually found a solution.  Maria and Ben now have a beautiful, healthy baby boy.

This work is comprehensive, and asks you to examine closely your physical and psychological process. Sometimes we simply have to change our perceptions or our physiology, other times we must examine our unconscious beliefs, at times we must learn to accept a prohibitive diagnosis and move forward in a way we couldn’t image when we began trying to conceive, other times we need to learn how to grieve so we can conceive etc…..

Our fertility does not exist as a static physiological process. It is a complex matrix of political, cultural, lifestyle, genetic, environmental, psychological, physiological and inter-personal processes practiced over time. I work with these many aspects of fertility, that is how I achieve the success rates I do.

The creative ways women and men who practice the Mindful Fertility method have found to create the families they long for ALWAYS inspires me. How people think and behave when they begin the process is transformed and it is the transformative process, both in body and mind, that really creates the opportunities.

Of course, some of the women and men who use these practices are still on the path or have chosen to live without children, adopt etc…… For others, I do not know the ultimate outcome of their process.

Bottom line: if the ways you are thinking and behaving right NOW are working for you – keep doing them.

If you are ready to change HOW the brain works and heal the root causes of infertility, then this program is for you.

I cannot answer this question for you and I’m not sure giving you a number does the process justice.  I’ve had women get pregnant one month after beginning the program. I’ve had women get pregnant after 5 years of practicing the tools in the program. I recommend using the program for 3 to 6 months, DAILY (consistency is key) for sustained and lasting change. If you are trying naturally and preparing for an assisted cycle – begin 3 to 6 months before you plan to begin the protocol for an assisted cycle.

A better question might be, “Are you committed to your longing and how do you express this DAILY through your beliefs and therefore your practices?”

Or, “What are you willing to let go of so new insight, new life can emerge in you?”

Or, “Can you consciously mother yourself, the vulnerable child within YOU, in the face of continued great loss and stop the cycle of blaming and shaming yourself?”

Or, “Can you take responsibility for metabolizing your own pain, clearing the way, literally in your uterus, for future generations?”

All women have powerful conditioning that automatically governs their reproductive process. Many women start trying to conceive believing it is easy to get pregnant. Many women believe everyone is fertile – it is a birthright. Many women believe they are not worthy of being a parent because they had an abortion. Many women believe it is their fault they are not pregnant. Many women don’t believe they have an ability to influence their reproductive health. Many people believe specialists have a greater ability to help them conceive than they do themselves. These beliefs have been taught to us, over time, and they are just a few of the processes that govern how we feel about ourselves and how we behave while trying to conceive.

This program is about bringing thoughts, feelings and body sensations regarding our reproductive health into the scope of conscious rather than automatic processing. By deliberately bringing an interested awareness to our inner experience, even if it is difficult or unpleasant, we strengthen the approach tendencies of the mind and weaken the tendency to avoid challenging feelings and realities or realities that don’t align with our longing or our beliefs about what should be happening. When approach tendencies are strengthened and we stop physically resisting not being pregnant, fertility blossoms and by this I mean new possibilities become CLEAR to us – in both body and mind.

When we say we’ve tried everything, generally women mean that they’ve DONE every kind of intervention. I’ve done acupuncture, meditation, yoga, nutrition, assisted reproduction etc…

DOING every type of intervention is a practice in WHAT the mind is working on, rather than HOW it is working.

In the Mindful Fertility process, we shift from DOING mode into BEING mode. The emphasis is taken away from WHAT the mind is working on to HOW the mind is working. BEING mode re-sets the autonomic nervous system, shifts catabolic hormone metabolism into anabolic hormone metabolism, optimizing fertility. When DOING emerges from BEING – women have astonishing results.

Also, this program is virtual, cost-effective, comprehensive, research-based and clinically proven!

Three experts and fertility specialists in the fields of Chinese Medicine, Mind-Body Psychology and Nutrition, with a combined 30 years of clinical experience, bring you the best mind-body practices proven to help you get pregnant and stay pregnant.

You can practice everyday, wherever you are – which absolutely matters in terms of REAL change in your physiology and your psychology.

You get lifetime access – which includes all updates.

There is a 30-day money back guarantee – so if the program doesn’t satisfy you – you get your money back!

What you practice DAILY can be more powerful than what any specialist can do for you weekly or monthly in a clinic!

This program is designed to optimize your fertile health. Increasing blood flow to your uterus and ovaries as well as balancing hormones and reducing stress and depression will profoundly affect your egg health. You cannot influence your ovarian reserve or how many viable eggs you have (you were born with your entire egg supply). However, you can have a dramatic effect on the health of the eggs you have.

I’ve had many clients who conceived naturally when a doctor told them their egg health was too poor.  With everyday practice and commitment, you can change the health of your eggs in 3 months.

No one. And I mean NO ONE can tell you what your body can and cannot do! When a doctor tells you they cannot help you due to age or egg health, it can be an opportunity to take your fertility into your own hands. This can be the most empowering step in your process and it is a crucial INNER step. YOU have a profound ability to affect your fertile health. YOU DO.  Whether or not you BELIEVE this – matters.

Your mind and body are RESPONSIVE, they respond – to you. They respond to the doctor saying you are too old. They respond to what you eat. They respond to how much you sleep. They respond to how you feel. They respond to what you ultimately believe and therefore, do.

I have had clients diagnosed with premature ovarian failure in their 30’s. This program has helped them optimize their fertile health and ultimately conceive with a donor egg cycle.

I have had clients in their 30’s and 40’s diagnosed with high FSH and low AMH conceive naturally.

Each person is unique and each path is different.

*This program is not to be used in place of an appropriate medical diagnosis and treatment.

I recommend to all of my clients who are 35 years old and younger and who have been trying to conceive for 1 year regularly to see a doctor to determine a diagnosis.

For those aged 35+, I recommend a full medical workup if you have been trying to conceive regularly for 6 months. In both cases, both partners need a full medical work up to determine a diagnosis.

All of the protocols we use in the program are taken from the research in the field of acupuncture, mindfulness, yoga and nutrition for fertility. They are research based and clinically proven. They are safe to use even during early pregnancy.

You can safely begin the program wherever you are in your cycle. If you are new to mindfulness, it may be easier to begin at the beginning of your next cycle. I recommend using the program for 3 to 6 months, daily for best results. If you are trying naturally and preparing for an assisted cycle – begin 3 to 6 months before you plan to begin the protocol for an assisted cycle.

All of the practices help you remove the physiological and psychological obstacles that may prevent you from ovulating or having a regular cycle.
*This program is not to be used in place of an appropriate medical diagnosis and treatment.

This is a great question and new research is emerging in this field.

The most common treatment for depression in the US is antidepressant medication, usually with a class of medications called SSRIs. However, in a recent literature review by Dr. Alice Domar, PhD, along with two infertility doctors and a high risk obstetrician, they came to the conclusion that SSRIs may well not be the best first choice line of treatment for the following reasons:

Antidepressant use during pregnancy is associated with increased risks of:
miscarriage,
birth defects,
preterm birth,
newborn behavioral syndrome,
persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn and possible longer term neurobehavioral effects.

There is no evidence of improved pregnancy outcomes with antidepressant use. There is some evidence that psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy as well as physical exercise, is associated with significant decreases in depressive symptoms in the general population; research indicates that some forms of counseling are effective in treating depressive symptoms in infertile women.

They concluded that women who are trying to conceive who have symptoms of depression and are contemplating taking antidepressant medication should speak to their doctor about trying other non-pharmacological approaches first.

The Mindful Fertility Journal is a non-pharmacological approach to treating infertility depression.

They also recommended that women who are trying to conceive and are already taking antidepressant medication should speak to a psychiatrist or other mental health professional about the pros and cons of remaining on their medication, versus tapering off their medication after they have successfully learned other strategies to treat their depressive symptoms.

There is little evidence that infertile women benefit from taking an SSRI, therefore they should be counseled appropriately about the risks and be advised to consider alternate safer treatments to treat depressive symptoms. SSRI use is associated with possible reduced infertility treatment efficacy as well as higher rates of pregnancy loss, preterm birth, pregnancy complications, neonatal issues and long-term neurobehavioral abnormalities in children.

*This program is not to be used in place of an appropriate medical diagnosis and treatment.

This program helps thicken the uterine lining and lengthens the luteal phase of your cycle if your luteal phase is short. It helps to balance hormones and down regulate stress which affects the production of progesterone – a critical hormone that helps the uterine lining establish and maintain a healthy nest to implant and then grow the developing embryo.  It also helps increase blood circulation throughout the entire body which is a significant factor in supplying nutrients to the developing embryo as the pregnancy progresses.

The program also helps you work with the emotional conflicts that may prevent a pregnancy from carrying to term. Our emotional conflicts are mediated in the limbic brain. The limbic brain is the home of the master neuroendocrine center that regulates our hormonal processes as it works with the pituitary gland in the brain to influence the functioning of the entire body. Involved in the release of cortisol, the stress hormone, this limbic region is a fundamental part of the “HPA” axis—the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that is the core of our response to stress.  So in this work we bring mindfulness to our feelings of loss, our fear of losing another pregnancy, our conscious and unconscious fear of becoming pregnant (for fear of losing it again) etc….

*This program is not to be used in place of an appropriate medical diagnosis and treatment.

This program helps regulate your cycle after long term synthetic hormone use.  Many women do not ovulate when they stop taking birth control, their uterine lining is thin due to long term use of prolactin hormone or they have irregular cycles. All of the practices in the Mindful Fertility Journal help to regulate your cycle after extended synthetic hormone use.  All of the practices are intended for a trying to conceive cycle. You can begin them when you come off of synthetic hormone use and begin trying to conceive.