Promoting Fertility

This happens to be National Fertility Awareness week (4/24-5/1). For those of you faced with infertility, every week is fertility awareness week. For those who have never thought about fertility, one week of ‘awareness’ certainly will not begin to even touch upon the deep struggle that one goes thru trying to remedy this situation which embodies every aspect of one’s life. Nevertheless, let us appreciate that there is national awareness of this dis-ease which so many couples are faced with.

I will share with you some of the things that I believe are important in promoting fertility. We certainly know that fertility is not logical nor linear and that we ultimately do not know who is going to achieve a take home baby and who is not. Whatever the case may be, let us focus on increasing your creativity, health and vitality and fearless approach to life.

• Creativity to free pelvic energy. As Dr. Northrup says, “We as women must use our inherent creativity-our womb power-to regenerate our planet as well as to produce the next generation.” Although creativity is more closely connected to the energy of one’s ovaries, it certainly is an entire second chakra concern (see “what is my second chakra entry for more info. In what this is). If you are feeling blocked creatively, then the energy of your pelvis will feel, hold and store that block. Often it is how we define creativity that can keep us blocked. We need to open our definition so that we can be free to incorporate this important part of our daily lives, and not think of it as separate. Lavinia Spalding, in her book “Writing Away: a creative guide to awakening the journal-writing traveler” says that “you might face a seemingly insurmountable obstacle: the conviction that you’re not creative or artistic. The problem is that we’ve hijacked a word so multilayered that it’s difficult to define, and we’ve quarantined it to the exclusive realm of “fine arts.” Actually, creativity has a much wider scope. You can be creative in how you cook, throw a party, landscape your yard, play with kids, troubleshoot at work, dress, make love, travel. You can be creative in philosophy, religion, relationships, politics, or personality.” Thank you Lavinia for freeing our minds and ultimately our pelvis to allow this energy to travel with no hindrance.

•Making time, becoming fearless. Creating time in our lives-to just be, to feel and to be receptive takes a considerable amount of courage. I know that I historically have filled up every moment of my schedule to stay busy, keep on the move. God forbid that we have open blocks of time during the week with ‘nothing to do. ‘ As we settle down, settle our minds and learn to be still, we can receive the messages that we need to grow and nurture ourselves. I highly recommend reading Mika Brzezinski’s memoir “All Things at Once” where she chronicles what happened to her when she was just completely spent from overdoing. Becoming fearless is also learning to embrace not only what we don’t like but that which we want the most. Let’s face it, if you want a red sports car, most likely you will go looking at red sports cars, sitting in them and test-driving them. I think the same is true with babies. You know that when you want a baby, all you see are babies and pregnant women. (just like with red sports cars, suddenly everyone else has one)! I encourage you to love babies. Whenever you see one, go touch their little feet, send them love and see if you can hold them. This is particularly easy in restaurants where distraught and exhausted parents are trying to shove food in their mouths, pretend to be normal adults and wish their parents where there to hold their baby! Whenever I have risked asking to hold a baby in a restaurant, the parents beamed with joy!

•The inside job of fertility: plenty of good blood (uterine lining), balanced hormones and a good location for your condo to be (as in location of your uterus). If your period is scanty, your PMS is off the charts and you have a fair amount of brown discharge at anytime during your period, then we know you have work to do. Thank gosh we have our periods to let us know how things are going internally. Best ways to build blood: food, nettles and red clover (Susan weed says the only way to conceive after 40 is red clover...the #1 fertility promoter) www.blessedherbs.com to buy these amazing plants. The way I think is the best way to balance hormones is ‘doing nothing everyday for at least 10 minutes [as in meditation) and drink female tonic tea for 1-3 months or longer (www.arvigomassage.com). The only way to help your uterus get back into proper position is hands on therapy. There are excellent PT women who specialize in this moreover MAT practitioners (Maya Abdominal Therapies, see Arvigo massage to find someone near you).

Advice to Preventing Miscarriage

Although there is no guarantee to bringing a baby full-term, there are many things that one can do before conception and in the early stages of pregnancy, to prevent miscarriage and ensure a 'take home baby'.
• First step you will want to take is to check your hormone balance via saliva test with a DC or Naturopath. Saliva panels are an excellent way to determine what is
Pgoing on with you hormonally. Depending on what you find out, you will need to treat yourself for your internal balance before conception. Follow the advice of the Naturopath or DC you are working with. Ideally, you will want to use foods and plant material to create the hormone balance you are looking for.

• Second, find a Maya Abdominal Therapies (MAT) practitioner(www.arvigomassage.com) to feel for location of your uterus and determine if you have any symptoms of a mis-aligned uterus. This MAT practitioner may also suggest using the Female Tonic tea to benefit your hormonally and to do a 'uterine detox'. Female Tonic tea is a uterine lavage and will clear out old endometrium that may affect the strength and health of your uterine lining.

• Third, consult with an acupuncturist who also uses Chinese Medicinals. Do not be afraid to use high quality Chinese Medicinals before, during and after pregnancy. Women have been doing this for thousands of years and they are very powerful in chaning your underlying, internal pattern. I would plan on receiving frequent, regular acupuncture treatments post conception to prevent miscarriage throughout your first trimester. Ideally, this acupuncturist will specializes in fertility and can fearlessly support you during this precarious time.

• Additionally, Red Raspberry Leaf Infusion (www.blessedherbs.com) is a wonderful uterine tonic and i would plan on using this after your uterine lavage/cleansing. Once any signs of a displaced uterus are eliminated (see www.happyuterus.blogspot.com entry: Signs of Misplaced Uterus), you can begin to tonify her and make her very strong.
This combination of remedies is very powerful and works. It should all be quite affordable and mostly done right in your kitchen with your own two hands. Many acupuncturists are open to package deals for any pregnant woman trying to prevent miscarriage. Ideally, you begin this journey to strengthing your uterus months before you actually conceive.
All the best and think orange!

Can breathing alone reduce fibroids?

I have been on a quest for mastering the breath for who knows actually how long?? Many, many lifetimes I'm sure! I recently found a book that is very encouraging, extremely informative and potentially life changing if you engage in the techniques they share.

Having involved myself in the nasal vs. mouth breathing debate many times, this book, Free your Breath, Free your Life: How conscious Breathing can relieve stress, increase vitality, and help you live more fully by Dennis Lewis, addresses this widely debated topic very clearly.

Reasons for nasal breathing:
• The hairs that line our nostrils filter out particles of dust and dirt that can be injurious to our
lungs.
• Nasal breathing maintains the correct balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our blood
(the opposite of hyperventilation)
• The only way to fully activate your para-sympathetic nervous system or, relaxation response
• The only way to contact the olfactory nerves to stimulate your brain and put it into its
natural rhythm. If you don't breathe through your nose, in a sense you're only half alive!
• The only way to fully activate you lungs and reach down into the lower portion of the lobes

Thank you Dennis for your hard work in compiling this valuable information!

Prevent disease by clearing out internal heat!

This dietary preparation for Winter comes directly from John Doulliard DC, author and director of www.LifeSpa.com. It makes sense that late summer is the time when we have acummulated the most heat internally and that we need to actually clear out some of this accumulative heat before winter begins. Dr. Doulliard says, "If we do no-the heat will turn to dryness and the drynes of winter will accujulate and irritate our sinuses." This can potentially lead to sinus infections and a cyclical dryness pattern which allows the body to create excess mucous.

Dr. Doulliard suggests that we " follow natures lead and begin eating 2-4 apples per day from now until Halloween, along with more pomegranates, and other ripe seasonal fruit and veggies." This is natures way of cooling us naturally and internally.

If you want to take a late summer cleanse and prepare a bit more seriously for what is to come, you may want to partake in his suggested 4-7 day cleanse whereby you drink ghee (see previous blog post about this) every morning. This forces fat metabolism along with a no fat diet. You can eat kitcheree, veggies, hot cereal, fruit, crackers, rice and beans but NO FAT or FATTY foods. During this time of dietary adjustments and ghee first thing in the morning, the body will begin to burn its own fat.

Ghee Cleanse (Not indicated if you have gallbladder trouble or difficulty digesting fat)

First AM

Day One 2 tspns. ghee
Day Two 4 tspns. ghee
Day Three 6 tspns. ghee
Day Four 8 tspns. ghee

(Dr. Doulliard suggests using Herbal Clay (for my suggestion visit www.happyuterus.com/products.html) externally before showering to further the detox process.

Eve of Day Four

Take a hot bath

Mix 4 tspns. castor oil with the juice of an orange and hot water. Hold your nose and drink castor mix and quickly suck on the orange. 1-4 hours later you should experience a laxative effect.

During the cleanse you can also take additional Liver detox supplements and do other exercises for detoxification: colonics, sweating, castor oil packs and/or massage. I like LIVAmend by www.bodyecologydiet.com

Please let us know your experiences with this cleanse!

Mushrooms rather than anti-biotics!!

If you view the word anti-biotics as "anti-life", you may be reluctant to include them in your wellness regime. Most especially if you are pregnant, trying to conceive and aiming to "include-life" and not repel it. I am happy to share with you this incredible product

Exerpted from Myco Herb: Full Line of Nutritive Mushroms, distributed by www.craneherb.com

Myco-Forte is a five fungi blend of some of the most nutrient-rich musthooms known to modern and traditional science and medicine. They contain active ingredients specific to the immune system which promote one's innate ability to detect, isolate and destroy foreign entitues which are believed to cause sickness and disease. These medicinal fungi possess antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic, and anticarcinogenic properties, which means that they are indicated for treating conditions ranging from common cold to cancer. In Traditional Chinese Medicine terms, Myco-Forte stokes the Ming-Men fire (the Gate of Vitality), clears toxicity, revitalizes Blood, and nourishes Yin.

As if that were not enough!! Here is a list of the actual properties of these unique mushroom blend: Replenishes moisture of the lung; fortifies the kidneys, supplements the defensive qi (immune system) and blood without generating excess heat or damp, dispels phlegm, fortifies the bones, strengthens the intestines and internal organs, nourishes the brain, allays cough accompanied by dryness and heat, eliminates food stagnation, allays hunger, lightens the body, soothes and elevates the spirit. WOW! I can honestly attest to this being true. I have been a myco-junkie now for 3 years and it saves me every winter!!

Active compounds include (for all you science types out there): polysaccharides, glucosides, sterols, amino acids, glutamic acid, cordycepin, enzymes, lipids, volatile oils, vitamins, proteins, trace minerals!

Who will benefit from this formula? Anyone with:
•Immune deficiency
•Chronic viral illness
•Chronic fatigue
•Auto-toxicity
•Respiratory weakness, cough accompanied by Dryness and Heat
•Frailty, weakness, exhaustion
•Symptoms of poor digestion and food stagnation
•Depression and Anxiety

Five Steps to Great Health

Premier Research Labs (www.prlabs.com) an extraordinary company that sells, among many other wonderful products, the worlds greatest nutritional yeast. Yes, nutritional YEAST!! Those funny, yellow flakes that usually lie dormant in plastic bins along the floors of health food stores across the country. Anyhow, included with my last order was an info. sheet titled, "Five Steps to Great Health".

5 Steps to Great Health:

1. Restore an Alkaline Body pH: I love this as the first step because as much research suggests, the body can not heal in an acidic state; and most of us are very acidic. There are many ways to alkalize and my favorite ways are with spirulina tabs and/or with liquid chlorphyll. I suggest you ask a local practitioner to give you a kit that will test pH in your urine and you will be able to monitor exactly how fast you can regain the pH balance you need.

2. Normalize Hormone Balance: Looking into the hormone balance, we know that it is our thoughts, feelings, internal organs, foods and every aspect of our lives and what we take into our beings that create hormones. The questions becomes, if one is hormonally out of balance, how to regain that balance? Where to begin? Do we begin changing thought patterns? What do we do when we need more help? Things that I rely on to immediately begin to make changes towards more balance in the body: meditation, pranayama (breathing) are two that will all the mind to soften towards a much more peaceful state; Castor Oil packs for the liver to help soften the liver's tough edges and Female Tonic, which acts as a uterine lavage to help clean out the uterus of any old endometrium that is hard pressed to let go.

3. Detoxify the Body: Identify where exactly you have accumulated toxins in your body/mind and begin to slowly and steadily pull them out. This is a very common misunderstanding that goes often to one extreme. It is most often the case that one's own thought pattern is what most needs to change. If you pull toxins out of your colon and never address what is happening to your mind, it will be time wasted. Detox Tea from www.rainforestremedies.com is a very powerful tea, extremely bitter and wonderful and you can instantly feel the astringent nature of the plants pulling toxins.

4. Eliminate Chronic Infections: This is a tricky one because it is difficult to determine the best diagnostic techniques. However, I highly recommend using Colloidal Silver in many cases of chronic infections.

5. Rejuvenate the Body's Systems: When in doubt, I always rely on Nettles. Nothing quite comes close to building the body up like nettles. The blood building, mineral rich plant based infusion.

Ways to treat Endometrial/Uterine Polyps

1. Use your monthly cycle to clean out the "old".
Your uterus is designed to 'Let Go'. The lining (blood) accumulates (if there is abundance) and ideally, fully releases this accumulation monthly. I like to think of menstruation as a time of "letting go", a deep, lasting exhalation; deflating the balloon and a time to watch that balloon soar endlessly into the sky. Your uterine blood (endometrium) is a reflection for what is going on with a your entire blood system. If there is brown, dark, foul-smelling blood, then we need to pay attention to a disruptive pattern that your body and mind have been adapting to. Changes in diet, self care routine and emotional patterning will all support your uterus to become stronger and and in a better position to fully let go. Uterine massage (MAM) and vaginal steaming are also highly recommended for creating an environment within yourself so that your uterus fully clears out the 'old', without beginning the next cycle on top of the last. Visit www.arvigomassage.com for more info. regarding this.

2. Dive into the energetic function of your uterus/2nd chakra
In her book, The ABC's of Chakra Therapy: a Workbook, Deedre Diemer explains in depth your energetic vortex called the second chakra and says, "The 2nd chakra, located in the lower abdomen, contains stored memories, emotions, and information about how you relate to other people, the quality of your relationships, the day-to-day physical aspects of living, the use of your sexual/creative energy. The pelvic and reproductive organs are located in this area and are most susceptible to disease when there is a blockage or imbalance in the 2nd chakra." Need we say more? I would add to this that due to the emotional layering, unexamined beliefs and judgemental projections that most of us are walking around with, we are susceptible to having blockages in this power center. For more information from Deedre Diemer, visit her website at:
http://www.theauthenticjourney.com/index.html

3. Daily choices support an on-going, daily detox.
In the now community of complementary health care practitioners and patients , the idea of 'detox' is widely subscribed to. This is very interesting if you can look at it in more of a cultural context and less of a health context. Where did we get the idea that we are "dirty", full of toxins and need to be cleansed? Sounds very judgemental to me! Now, of course if your diet has been mainly processed foods, and you have never done anything intentionally to benefit your health, you will want to determine what sort of plan will will adopt to clean yourself up from the inside out. Donna Gates's "Detoxification Training" (visit www.bodyecologydiet.com for more info.) is full of valuable information with a no-nonsense approach to radically shifting your body towards wellness. Our daily routine and diet should facilitate the liver, blood and bowels to gently, slowly and steadily cleanse every single day. Through eating a lot of greens, alkalizing, avoiding poisons, drinking clean water and including fermented foods and drinks in our daily diet, the body is going to detox and therefore continually regenerate itself in a healthy way.

4. Using your moon time to actually rest and reflect: the 3 day rule
If you have not yet read the novel "The Red Tent", by Anita Diamant, a wonderful tale of women living together in the days when you could actually retreat from the world of cooking, cleaning, parenting and relating, I highly encourage you to. It reminds us of the time when women were honored and respected during this time; to enter the red tent for 3 days and let your uterus have the time and space to do her job of releasing, cleansing and preparing for the next cycle. Without this time of conscious rest, because the uterus is put under a lot of strain everyday, she may not fully cleanse herself. This can result in a multitude of symptoms, endometrial/uterine polyps being one of them. Without the proper attention during this time, the uterus will not fully cleanse.

5. Female Tonic can be used to facilitate the "clean out" of old endometrium.
If you decide that you would like to call upon herbal support in 'cleaning out your uterus', then Female Tonic is an excellent choice. Although you can buy it as a ready-made tincture, there is something quite powerful when making the tea. I love the tea and feel huge benefits while drinking it. Female tonic warms your reproductive organs by lessening tension in diaphragm muscle, has a mild anti-spasmodic action on uterine muscles and, among other qualities, it acts as a uterine lavage to remove accumulated debris caused by incompletely flushed menstrual fluids. Visit www.happyuterus.com and/or www.rainforestremedies.com for more information on this product.