Fertility And Your Fertile Soil

Author: Laurie Morse, L.Ac.

What are the ingredients for the fertile soil in a woman's body that will support a healthy pregnancy and birth? This is an important question for a woman trying to conceive.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has some solid contribution
on the topic...First, a woman's blood must be ample, nutritionally and hormonally healthy, and flowing unimpeded throughout the body and in particular, the uterus.

Second, her Chi needs to be flowing smoothly in all her organs, muscles and channels (including the uterus).

Third, her mental and emotional energy system needs to be balanced in such a way that a woman trying to conceive is enhancing her overall health versus burdening her overall health.

Whew, that's a mouthful. And what does it all mean? Well, let's look at each piece individually.

Ample, nutritionally and hormonally healthy, as well as flowing unimpeded throughout the body.

Blood: In Chinese Medicine we refill our tank daily with energy or life force, via our food, drink and breath. We must sleep at night in order to repair, rebuild, regenerate and rejuvenate our entire system. This repair work requires a foundation of nourishment that we supply ourselves each day.

One of our energy systems in Chinese Medicine, The Earth System which includes the spleen, pancreas and stomach, is responsible for receiving the food and drink we ingest, breaking it down into usable nourishment for the blood (called transformation in TCM), and then transporting nutrients, via the blood, to our entire body.

Optimal function of our body can only be as good as the quality and quantity of the food we eat. Quality refers to how healthy, vital and nutrient-rich the food we eat is. Quantity refers to the eating of food in proper portions. If we eat too little, we become deficient in nutrients. If we eat too much, our system becomes burdened in having to deal with the excess that cannot be transported or is unusable, for example excess sugar. If either deprivation of necessary nutrients, or over-burden becomes the norm, our system suffers greatly.

If deprived or over-burdened, at night, during rebuilding and regenerating, our system is mostly trying to keep up with robbing "Peter to pay Paul," or figuring out what to do with the
excess and repairing the breakdown in our system from the excess. This is quite a wasteful expenditure of our energy when we need our energy available each day and night for the
important job of keeping our organs, tissues, hormones, and cells operating healthfully.

If misuse of our energy goes on over time, our soil may become infertile. We absolutely need healthy blood on a regular basis and we need this rich, nourished blood flowing throughout the
uterus. When our blood becomes tired, lacks oxygen, or is nutritionally deficient, it can become sluggish, slow down and even stagnate. This means our smooth flow of blood is compromised, thus compromising fertility.

Enough Chi flowing smoothly in all organs, muscles and channels (including the uterus):

Chi is a Chinese word for life force, or energy, or molecular energy. It is what we are made of in that, if we have no Chi, we have no life force. Simply stated, when we are born we have a full tank of Chi, and when the tank is empty, we die. While alive and during the reproductive years,
it makes sense that in order to create a new life inside of you, you must have a reasonable life force yourself. If you don't have enough Chi or life force in your own system, where do you think the Chi will come from to create a new life for 9 mos.? Nature, and infinite wisdom, just knows that if a woman's Chi tank is too low, then reproduction falls below the line of possibility. It's
a no-brainer, in that, for a fetus to grow it needs a certain amount of Chi and blood.

Mental and emotional energy systems need to be balanced in such a way that a woman trying to conceive, is enhancing her overall health versus burdening her overall health:

Thoughts and emotions are as much Chi as your elbow or liver is. They are just a more subtle form of Chi. Much like the wind, in that, we don't "see" wind, but it exists because we see the effects of wind even though it is invisible. This more subtle form of Chi, like our thoughts and emotions, are just as important as the food we eat. Every time we think a thought or have an emotion, there is literally a chemical reaction in our body. To put it in simple terms, the by-product of these chemical reactions are either toxic and thus, burdensome to our system; or the by-product of these chemical reactions align with optimal functioning of our system.

When I teach a woman to observe herself in this more subtle form of Chi, it is often surprising to her that she is much more plagued with thoughts of fear, worry, or depression, in relation
to her fertility, than she realized consciously. Some of it she was aware of, but the extent of it is more the eye-opener. The chemical by-product of these thoughts and emotions over a
prolonged period of time, become burdensome to the system, contributing to a decreased flow of Chi and Blood. It requires practice to become aware, and then become intentional about our
choice of thoughts.

"Ingredients," or choices, are either enhancing or inhibiting our fertile soil. Either our fertility switch is 'on' or 'off.' No woman purposely turns her fertility switch off, but, unknowingly, she could be making choices, day after day, that are preventing optimal and fertile soil. Start where you're at and begin making the best choices you can in order to fertilize your soil in such a way that pregnancy and healthy birth are a natural outcome.

About the author:
Laurie Morse, L.Ac., author of the e-book "7 Strategies to
Fertility Success," provides skills to help women turn their
fertility switch on. For information go to: My Fertility Success

Boost Your Fertility While You Sleep

Lunar Fertility

Author: Sheryl Lyon

Everyone is aware of cycles of the sun and moon. They give structure to our days, months, and seasons. But did you know that the sun and moon can influence your fertility?

When you are in sync with the earth's natural rhythms and cycles you can boost your fertility. If you work against nature's rhythms as many of us do, then you may be harming your delicate fertility balance.

Your biological clock is intimately linked to your reproductive system by utilizing the same hormones that trigger ovulation and sperm maturation. Therefore both women and men are affected by respecting or ignoring their natural rhythms.

Importance of Bright Light

Getting adequate sunlight or other full spectrum light during the day is key to optimum fertility for many reasons. Vitamin D is created in our bodies when we are exposed to sunlight and Vitamin D deficiencies have been linked to infertility.

Adequate sunlight also helps regulate circadian rhythms which allow you to sleep better at night. Regular exposure to the sun also helps you maintain a strong immune system which is necessary to maintain a healthy pregnancy. Women who get more sunlight also have consistent and stronger menstrual cycles.

Finally, bright light prevents your body from overproducing melatonin which suppresses fertility. This might explain why it is easier for women to conceive in southern regions and during the summer months.

Importance of Darkness and Full-moon Light

Many researchers believe that prior to the introduction of electricity into our homes, all women menstruated during the new moon and ovulated during the full moon. This has been proven by studying cultures today that do not use electricity. Women in these cultures sleep in close to total darkness except for the days surrounding the full moon.

The small amount of light from the full moon is enough to halt melatonin production long enough for ovulation to occur. Most women can synchronize with the cycles of the moon in about three to four months by altering the light level while they sleep. Coordinating menstruation not only strengthens your cycle in many ways but it also makes it much easier to pinpoint the optimal timing for intercourse.

Darkness also plays an important role in optimal fertility by triggering melatonin, on most dark nights, which leads to a good nights sleep. Just make sure to prevent overproduction with bright light in the morning.

Deep sleep helps restore and rejuvenate the reproductive system. Lack of sleep can increase cortisol levels, lead to an increased use of caffeine and other fertility reducing substances, disrupt your hormone balance, cause depression which in itself can affect fertility, or it can lead to relationship problems with your partner. In extreme cases sleep deprivation can stop ovulation altogether.


How to synchronize with nature

• Get at least one hour of bright sunlight a day
• Try to get bright light soon after waking
• Use full spectrum indoor bulbs during the winter months
• Use a light simulation device 15-30 min morning and night(particularly in winter)
• Aim for total darkness at night. Use room darkening shades. Avoid the use of any lights whatsoever.
• On the three days of the full moon, try to bathe yourself in soft light while you sleep. A light from a closet, a 75-100 watt nightlight or even opening your blinds to the street light should do the trick.
• Try to go to sleep with sun and get up with the sun. You might be surprised if you do not use lights or TV, how sleepy you get.
• Make love during the full moon
• Keep sleep and wake times consistent and avoid shift work. If you are tracking ovulation signs, then you should taking your basal body temperature at the same time every morning anyway.

Efforts to conceive can be challenging and heartbreaking. The fertility enhancing methods mentioned here are easy, free, and painless. They will boost your overall health as well as your fertility so if you are trying to conceive it can only help and not hurt to synchronize your cycles with the earth.

Fertility Focused Intercourse: Mission Impossible?

Author: David Picella

When it comes to a discussion of human fertility, the saying
"life is not fair" seems to have extraordinary significance.
Couples who don't want to get pregnant seem to be the ones that
do and the ones that do--don't. Nobody knows this better than
the couples that desperately want children but fail to conceive,
month-after-month. As the biological clock keeps on ticking, is
there anything more that these couples can do? Absolutely!

Having interviewed hundreds of couples who have meticulously
documented the woman's fertile days and the days on which
intercourse occurred, it has become crystal clear that: (a) most
couples think that they are doing a good job of having
intercourse on all the right days, while (b) the vast majority
are completely missing the boat!

What is so difficult about Fertility Focused Intercourse?

Let's start with the basics of female fertility cycles. First,
Women of normal fertility are not fertile very often. From a
biologic perspective, the most fertile woman on the planet can
only conceive between 5 and 6 days per menstrual cycle. A woman
with reduced fertility might have significantly fewer days that
are truly fertile, perhaps 2 or 3. According to simple
mathematics, if there are only 3 days per month to conceive,
that is only 36 days at the end of the year. Second, not all
fertile days are created equal. Intercourse that occurs on "the
day" of ovulation can be assumed to be the most fertile day of
the menstrual cycle, but even then the probability of achieving
a pregnancy is never 100%!

When does ovulation occur?

Frequently, ovulation occurs approximately 14 after the first
day of the menstrual period. In a classic study by Vollman[1] of
14,848 menstrual cycles, ovulation as detected by a shift in
basal body temperature occurred on exactly day 14 in only 1,591
cycles (10.7%). Thus the exception here is far more common then
the rule. The 28-day normal menstrual cycle is simply a myth.
The first step in fertility focused intercourse, therefore, is
to do away with any notion of a calendar and to adopt a method
of detecting when ovulation actually occurs.

There are many ways to "detect" the day of ovulation such as
monitoring LH and estrogen in the urine or checking for cervical
mucus and changes in the basal body temperature (just to name a
few). Unfortunately, however, there is no way to "observe" when
ovulation actually occurs. No matter what method you are using,
the margin of error is at least plus or minus 2 to 3 days
(sometimes more). This means that if you rely on your favorite
indicator of the day of ovulation to tell you when to have
intercourse you may be missing the most important day to
conceive on a regular basis.

What is the best way to time intercourse?

So what is the best advice? Unfortunately, healthcare providers
frequently offer some of the worst information. For example, "we
were told to have intercourse 'every other day' in order to
'save sperm.'" "Have intercourse every month starting on day 6
for 12 consecutive days." Or even worse, "because you do not
know when the most fertile day is you would have to have
intercourse every day to maximize your chances." - nonsense!

From this brief discussion, the best advice is: (a) choose a
method of fertility monitoring that will give you a few days
notice that ovulation is going to occur. This means monitoring
estrogen levels directly or the effect of estrogen on saliva or
cervical mucus. (b) When fertility begins, intercourse should
occur daily until at least 2 days after ovulation is detected.
Once released, the egg can only be fertilized during a narrow
window of approximately 24-hours. You want to make sure that
intercourse occurs on "the day" of ovulation in order to
maximize your chances.

Intercourse Patterns

By now you have figured correctly that fertility focused
intercourse is truly a "labor of love." It is not easy! It might
mean having intercourse as many as nine days in a row. Even
among couples with the strongest convictions for attempting to
achieve pregnancy a few fertile days always seem to be missed.
Here are some helpful suggestions:

1. Plan in advance. If you were going to go on a fancy date with
your spouse you would give a few days notice. If you know the
fertile days are coming, then you likewise will have time to
prepare for them.

2. Get your priorities straight. If the doctor scheduled a
procedure to test some aspect of your fertility you might take a
day off work. Furthermore, you would probably follow through
even if you had a headache! Should you not subject yourself to
similar inconveniences when your most fertile days arrive!?

3. Get professional help. Believe it or not, there are
professionals who can help you make sense of all this and give
you real good advice. The American Academy of Fertility Care
Professionals is an excellent place to start.

If you and your spouse have been having difficulty achieving a
pregnancy, then just remember--knowledge is power. In this case,
the right knowledge may even give you the power to procreate!
You may as well consider the question of when to have sex to be
the single most important issue. Why? Because there is no
diagnostic medical procedure, test, or surgery that is going to
make you pregnant. If you just had surgery to correct a
fertility problem, for example, and you are not following these
instructions you could very well be making out badly on your
investment. Fertility focused intercourse may not be easy, but
it is not mission impossible--it is mission responsible--and the
responsibility falls upon both you and your spouse.

Have fun!

1. Vollman, R.F., The Menstrual Cycle. 1977, Philadelphia: W. B.
Saunders.


Article:
Copyright 2006 Majella.us

About the author:
David Picella helps couples who are trying to conceive naturally
without the use of expensive artificial reproductive techniques.
You can read more articles by him and by other experts in
Natural Procreative Techniques (NPT) and NaProTechnology or
NaProSurgery at: http://www.majella.us