Staying aware and educated so you can make conscious choices is key this day and age — and even more so if you are on the fertility journey. It has been discovered that harmful chemicals such as BPA’s (Bisphenol-A), phthalates, pesticides, and parabens (just to name a few) are found in plastics, metals, and even in our cosmetics and cleaning supplies. What we are learning is that these types of products are not only linked to cancers, but they are also showing as hormonal and endocrine ‘disrupters’ (especially the BPA’s). This is extremely important information for someone trying to get pregnant, especially if she and her partner check out A-okay but are being thrown into the category of “unexplained infertility.”

Furthermore, as Wikipedia explains, ” …a dose of disrupting chemicals can do substantial damage to a developing fetus (baby)… Endocrine disruptors are substances that ‘interfere with the synthesis, secretion, transport, binding, action, or elimination of natural hormones in the body that are responsible for development, behavior, fertility, and maintenance of homeostasis (normal cell metabolism)’.”

I ran across this article last fall (Sept. 2011) and wanted to share, as there as some interesting new discoveries.

Remember: knowledge is power.

“Guided visualization, also called guided imagery or even hypnotherapy, is the act of using the brain’s imagination and the brain’s “seeing ability” to proactively relax, reduce the effects of depression and anxiety – and even bring about real physiological changes for improving health, well-being – and of course fertility.

The mind and the body are constantly chatting back and forth. 99.9% of the time this is something that is done completely on autopilot. Your brain tells your body to breath in oxygen. Your brain motivates and supports your immune system to attack invading illnesses. Your mouth waters when you visualize something very juicy to eat. It has been shown that our thoughts work in images or pictures and it is the way our mind and body communicate with each other.

So is it possible to consciously direct the functions of the body? According to Dr. Andrew Weil, a powerful mind-body connection is activated when you turn the power of the cerebral cortex inward – or using the mind’s eye visualization ability. In layman’s term – the body doesn’t know the difference between something that you are only visualizing versus what you are actually experiencing. This was proven when Olympic athletes were connected to EKG machines and imagined running through their athletic performance with their eyes closed. The exact same muscles fired as when they actually performed their event. If the muscles fired by only visualizing the body running and moving, then what else can we direct the body to do using our mind’s eye?

Candace Pert, author of Molecules of Emotion, comments in her book that she was able to consciously direct the release of endorphins running through her body by visualizing her hypothalamus releasing endorphins. Her knowledge of the physical aspects of her body allowed her to perform this easily and directly. She also was a pioneer in the field of Psychoneuroimmunology – or the study of the mind-brain-body connection and identifying how molecules of our emotions are literally translated throughout the body in complex feedback loop mechanisms.

So what is the possibility of turning this visual capability inward and using it to “see” our reproductive cycle and fertility being balanced, healthy and even seeing the sperm and the egg meet right after ovulation? Granted we only have our anecdotal stories at this point (no formal study of our programs have been completed) but what we hear truly amazes us. From women reporting restoration of ovulation, feeling empowered and in control even through a very stressful IVF cycle and – yes – to becoming pregnant (one woman finally got pregnant after six years of  trying to conceive the first month she used our Natural Cycle program).

We believe it’s possible based on what has been studied using guided visualization and therapy in other areas of medicine…”

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- Max Strom (Yoga Teacher & Author of ‘A Life Worth Breathing’)

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

“we can’t stop lives anymore than we can a freight train.  these bonded masses of molecules wandering life and the world, searching for themselves.  what is it about climates and inclines that we seek our souls out for? can we chart our heart meters while watching the ebb and flow of tides?   does our rhythm find its solace, in the waxing moon?  but perhaps for one night it makes the hurt a little easier to bare, that  moment where we can drown in memories and forget about the television screen that is 10 feet in front of us.  those moments where it can just fade into oblivion.  but sometimes, we can’t sleep without that noise.  that distraction, the constant hum and turmoil of some revolving thought, some eternal question that we can’t answer.  the who the why that what…the noun.  that singular form that we can’t fit our fingers around.  that reasoning that we can ‘t seem to escape from in our minds.  somehow we try to rationalizing our lives, that he left me because, she made me cry because I…  we can’t just accept that our hearts break, and that hurt melts into us as lividly as a lava flow.  leaving the tattered remains and shards of a personality left adrift in a sea of thought.  but there is always the restoration, that moment when peace can absorb into our minds again.  when the heart learns that it can beat without skipping.  that butterflies return, and that spring can thaw any blistering winter.  it’s all a life.  it’s all a path and it’s this constancy that keeps us driving away toward some notable or cosmic end.  one that can put a smile on our face, if only when we dream….the circumference of hope.”