by Margaret Wertheim, MS, RD, LDN

There is clear evidence that a healthy body weight maximizes fertility and IVF success rates, but when it comes to specific foods or vitamins and minerals, the evidence gets a little murkier. There are a number of reasons for that, but perhaps the most important reason is that diet changes don’t happen in a vacuum; you can’t change one thing in a person’s diet without something else changing. For example, you decrease the carbs while keeping the calories the same and the fat and/or protein in the diet must increase.  In the era of evidence-based medicine, nutrition recommendations to support fertility aren’t always clear-cut. I can’t say “eat almonds, and you’ll definitely get pregnant,” but I do know if you eat healthier you’ll probably feel better, have more energy, and it may help you get pregnant.

In my work as a nutritionist at Pulling Down the Moon, I’ve worked with women that are at a completely normal weight and outwardly look healthy, but they’re overwhelmed and exhausted, and using sugar and caffeine to make it through the day. They are filling their bodies with low-calorie pre-packaged “stuff” masquerading as food in order to avoid weight gain. I would argue that just because they have a normal BMI doesn’t mean they are “healthier” or more likely to conceive than a woman who is somewhat overweight, but eats really well. There are overweight women who eat very healthfully and normal weight women who don’t and vice versa. Does weight matter – absolutely, but I would argue there is much more to it than that. Dietary quality needs to be considered in all women and men, regardless of weight. Here are three ways to improve the quality of your diet to improve your overall health and vitality, and they just may also help you conceive:

1. Follow a Mediterranean diet pattern. Following a Mediterranean diet pattern may increase chance of pregnancy when undergoing IVF, according a 2010 study in the journal Fertility and Sterility. The Mediterranean diet pattern is characterized by high intake of vegetables and plant oils like olive oil, fish and legumes. In this study, women who were most adherent to a Mediterranean diet pattern were 40% more likely to become pregnant via IVF than women who were less adherent to this pattern. The authors suggest that the higher intakes of folate and vitamin B6 in the more adherent group may explain the benefit of the Mediterranean diet on pregnancy.

2. Focus on Nutrient Density. Nutrient density means that you want to try to get as many vitamins and minerals as you can from the food you’re eating. This means the grains you eat should be whole grains. For example, experiment with different types of bread. “Whole wheat” bread that is really soft and spongy is probably not made from 100% whole grains, and thus isn’t as nutrient dense. The refining process in taking whole wheat to white flour strips the wheat of valuable fiber, protein, vitamin E, and B-vitamins like folate. Try sprouted or 100% whole grain bread as well as other whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, millet and oats. Other nutrient dense foods are legumes, nuts and seeds, fruits, and vegetables along with appropriate portions of high quality meat, fish and dairy. The idea is to minimize empty calories found in sodas, sweetened beverages and desserts. They offer only calories and sugar, which may cause unwanted weight gain, low energy levels, and also may negatively affect your mood.
3. Eat a wide variety of different colors. Research indicates that oxidative stress may play a role in endometriosis, PCOS, male factor and unexplained infertility. Increasing dietary antioxidants may help to offset this increased oxidative stress. Many vitamins and minerals have antioxidant functions including vitamins A, C and E and minerals like zinc and selenium. Does this mean you should start popping supplements of these vitamins and minerals? Not without the recommendation of a qualified nutritionist or healthcare professional, who understands when it’s appropriate to supplement and when it’s not. More is not always better when it comes to supplements. Instead focus on food.

Eating a varied diet is essential. In addition to antioxidant vitamins and minerals, phytonutrients, which are naturally-occurring compounds found in plants, also function as antioxidants. Certain phytonutrients give color to plants, and many have additional benefits beyond their antioxidant value, such as anti-inflammatory actions. Eating a varied diet that includes a wide variety of different colored fruits and vegetables is essential. Leafy green vegetables are incredibly healthy, but if you eat leafy greens at the exclusion of other vegetables, you miss out on the nutrients provided by yellow, orange, red, blue, and purple fruits and vegetables. We all get stuck in ruts where we feel like we’re eating the same things day after day. Let the changing season inspire you to start visiting your local farmer’s market or branch out at the grocery store by trying some new vegetables. Buy a new cookbook and try out some new recipes.

While I can’t tell you that eating specific foods is absolutely going to improve your fertility, a nutrient poor diet is definitely not going to help. I’ve worked with many people who expressed their initial reluctance to schedule a nutrition appointment, and then had a change of heart. One woman told me, “What’s the worst thing that’s going to happen from my changing my diet? I’m going to feel a lot better? That works for me!” This attitude always makes me smile. I find it inspiring to work with women who are really trying and succeeding in improving their fertility by hitting it from all angles – exercise, nutrition, acupuncture, stress management and relaxation in order to really maximize their chances of natural conception or success with ART.

 Click here to schedule a phone or in-person consultation with Margaret.  

Margaret Wertheim, MS, RD, LDN is a Nutritionist at Pulling Down the Moon, Integrative Care for Fertility, Inc.

References:

1. Vujkovic, et al. The preconception Mediterranean dietary pattern in couples undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment increases the chance of pregnancy. Fertility and Sterility. 2010;94(6):2096-2101.
2. Ruder, et al. Oxidative stress and antioxidants. Human Reproduction Update. 2008;14(4):345-357.
3. Mendiola, et al. A low intake of antioxidant nutrients is associated with poor semen quality in patients attending fertility clinics. Fertility and Sterility. 2010;93(4):1128-1133.

by Beth Heller, M.S.

To fully comprehend the latest research on omega-3 fatty acids and embryo quality it’s important to understand that the goal of medicated fertility cycles is not simply to make a lot of eggs.   In fact mild ovarian stimulation that results in fewer follicles seems to provide the best results.  This approach allows only the healthiest follicles and oocytes to develop.  Since developing follicles produce estrogen, fewer developing follicles also mean lower estrogen levels during the cycle.  This is also potentially beneficial as higher estrogen levels may negatively impact uterine receptivity and deter embryo implantation.

New research suggests that a higher intake of omega-3 fatty acids ALA, DHA and EPA may support this objective (1).  In 225 women undergoing IVF diet data was collected using a food frequency questionnaire.   Intake of  the omega-3 fatty acids ALA,EPA and DHA were calculated, as well as omega-6 (LA) intake and the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in the diet.

In this study, the women with the highest dietary intake of omega-3′s had lower estrogen response, developed fewer follicles and had better quality embryos, even after controlling for confounders like age and BMI.  A higher omega-6 to omega-3 ratio was associated with higher numbers of follicles.  If the goal of fertility treatment is to help women produce fewer, higher-quality eggs, this research suggests that women undergoing ART  should strive to increase consumption of omega-3 fatty acids and decrease the amount of omega-6 they consume.

As a result of these findings, the research team recommends that twice-weekly fish intake should be encouraged in women during fertility treatment.  While generally useful, this recommendation does not take into consideration the risk of toxicity from fish consumption – especially in the perinatal period.  In fact,  the fish richest in omega-3 fatty acids are the ones most likely to contain mercury and other contaminants.  For this reason, our recommendation at Pulling Down the Moon is that women work to lower their intake of omega-6 fats (found in snack and fast foods, factory/grain-fed red meat and processed oils), increase  their intake of leafy greens, nuts and seeds and supplement their diet with a high quality, purity tested fish oil supplement.

Supplements are only a small part of fertility nutrition, however.  For more information about fish oil, diet and egg/embryo quality, schedule a consultation with one of our nutrition specialists. Learn more about omega-3 fatty acids here.

1.  Hammiche et al. Fertility and Sterility. Vol. 95, No. 5, April 2011 1820-23

My husband and I started trying to conceive right away after our July 2009 wedding due to my severe case of uterine fibroids. We jumped right into fertility treatments after an initial surgery to remove the fibroids. It has now been almost two years. I have undergone two more surgeries and we have had 4 failed IVF cycles. Upon the recommendation of our Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. Angie Beltsos, of Fertility Centers of Illinois(FCI), we decided to pursue gestational surrogacy as a way to bring our biological child into our family.

This was not a decision that we took lightly. I still remember the time period between our third and fourth IVF cycle when we started to look into surrogacy in case it became our “plan B”. We met with an Infertility Consultant named Mindy Berkson, of Lotus Blossom Consulting. I will never forget that day. As we rode down the elevator from her office, my husband said that there was no way we could ever afford this. I remember crying the entire drive home. I knew it would be an expensive process. It can range between $60,000-$100,000, but I wanted and needed to find a way to make it work. Throughout the course of our fourth and final IVF cycle, my husband and I grew closer than ever and talked a lot about “plan B” We came to the agreement that we would figure out a way to pay for the surrogacy process.

When our final IVF cycle was not successful, I immediately began researching financial assistance for family building. In all of my Internet searching, I found that there are some varying options for couples without insurance or those that choose adoption, but nothing for couples that choose to build their family through surrogacy. I did, however; come across an event called Birdies for Babies that FCI had sponsored the previous year. Birdies for Babies is an annual golf outing that was started by Todd and Melissa Trader to raise money for a couple that has to pay out-of-pocket for fertility treatments. I immediately contacted the Traders to find out if this event might be able to help us raise money for the surrogacy process.

One thing that I have come to learn throughout this journey is that the infertility community is very inclusive and supportive to all. The Traders were no exception. After several emails back and forth sharing our fertility journeys, we realized that we did not qualify for the annual outing. However, the Traders said that they would be happy to help us plan our own golf outing. Since both of them are in the golf business, they would be able to guide us and give us the tools necessary to plan a successful event. And so the July Charity Birdies for Babies Golf Outing was born.

The past two months have been occupied by sending out fliers, sponsorship letters and donation requests. My husband and I have been truly overwhelmed by the amount of support and positive feedback we have received thus far. So many people (family, friends and complete strangers) have stepped up to the plate to help us gain support and spread the word. Throughout the course of our fundraising efforts, I have made some wonderful new connections with the doctors at FCI. Dr. Beltsos has been supportive from the moment she found out that we were going to have our own golf outing. She is helping us with the planning and promoting of our event. Another doctor at FCI, Eve Feinberg, who I have recently gotten to know is running a half marathon in June and has offered to dedicate her run to us and use her race to fundraise for our cause. You can visit her fundraising site at http://evefeinberg.chipin.com/katie-and-greg-obrien.

It is amazing to see the support that those around you are able to give when they are called upon. It truly will take a village to bring our child into the world.

by Beth Heller, MS RYT

The first time I experienced Shiva Nata, or the Dance of Shiva (DOS), was in 2002 when Andrey Lappa, a visiting yoga master from the Ukraine, introduced this practice to the Chicago yoga scene.  At the time I thought it was very interesting and exotic, but with Andrey leaving town there was not much opportunity to study the system so I never continued with practice.

Flash forward to 2011.   Out of the blue, our friend Neil Keleher sent a message from Taiwan where he practices and teaches DOS to ask whether Tami and I had considered sharing the Dance of Shiva with our students at Pulling Down the Moon.  Neil had studied Shiva Nata extensively with Andre in Chicago back in the day, and had continued to work with it in his personal practice these many years.  Neil was finding that this practice repeatedly helped his students move past stuck points into more positive life situations that aligned with their heart’s purpose.  In essence, Neil suggested, the Dance of Shiva was helping to “birth” his students’ intentions.  Needless to say  I was intrigued.

Symbolically this practice is spot on for fertility.  In the Hindu pantheon Shiva is one third of the Trimurti, the primary aspects of the divine represented by Brahama (the creator), Vishnu (the sustainer) and Shiva (the Destroyer).  In this tradition, Shiva governs the shedding of old patterns, structures and beliefs to make room for new life-affirming directions.  Much of the deep work we do at the Moon comes through re-evaluating the habits and beliefs our students have brought with them to the point in time in which they are experiencing crisis (infertility).  The techniques we use at Pulling Down the Moon – yoga, Traditional Chinese Medicine, therapeutic massage and nutrition – work to make us aware of patterns of harmony and disharmony in our lives; to consciously choose what we want to keep and what we want to discard.  On a visual level the symbolic connection of Shiva to fertility is even more obvious.  Shiva is often represented as a lingham and his partner Shakti is represented as a yoni.  They are often depicted together as a divine representation of procreative energy.

So what is the Dance of Shiva?  Basically it is a set of movement patterns that you learn that becomes a form of moving meditation.  It looks like the love-child of yoga and martial arts and DOS practitioners claim that the practice stimulates insight, creates a sense of mental calm and helps the practitioner enter a state of flow where she is present in each moment as it arises.  Epiphanies that arise from practice break down outmoded structures and lead the way to change, calm and flow help us move in life-affirming directions.

I asked Neil how he felt the DOS could help with fertility and here is his response:

“If a woman is struggling with conscious or unconscious negative thought patterns about her fertility,” says Neil, “Doing the Dance of Shiva may help her become more aware of these thought patterns and move beyond them. ”  This is because the practitioners of DOS believe the initial memorization and practice of the movements creates new neural pathways.

Furthermore, the Dance of Shiva is very grounding and returns a woman to her body.  The practice may also have a profound physical benefit as well.

“The concentration required to do the DOS requires you to focus on feeling your body and this focus forces you to be truly present and in your body,” Neil continues.  ”Another benefit for fertility is that the DOS helps you practice knowing what you want to do (intention) and helps you arrange things so you can do it.”

Over the past few weeks I have begun a DOS practice in earnest and, surprisingly, have found these spiraling movements to be meditative and interesting.  I have even experienced a few powerful epiphanies.  Placebo effect?  Perhaps.  But I think not.  The DOS is mathematical, which I am NOT, so I find that my brain is both challenged and energized by new neural connections.  The movements haunt me during the day and I find myself imagining and visualizing these spirals as I wait in line at the grocery store or drive my car.  In my experience this means this practice is penetrating on an energetic level and having an effect on my physical and energetic body.

Regarding fertility, my hunch is that this IS a very powerful practice for helping us reach our goal of creating family so stay tuned over the coming weeks for more updates, video and further commentary.

If you need more now, visit Neil’s website and blog at http://thedanceofshiva.com.

By Beth Heller, M.S.

Cauliflower is a fantastic fertility food.  Walnuts, lean protein and berries are terrific too.  But if you do not consume, digest and assimilate these foods effectively they cannot help your fertility.   This process of consumption, digestion and assimilation  (and we’ll also add elimination) is what nutritionists call gut function.  Good gut health is important for many health conditions, including fertility. Let’s take a closer look at these variables:

Consumption: Both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda place a great deal of emphasis on how we consume our food.  On the surface this means mindful eating, not eating in the car or standing in front of the microwave.  In addition, choosing food that is locally grown and in season is recommended by these traditional systems.  The taste buds, too, are an important part of the gut.  To be fully satisfying, traditional medicine systems teach a meal should contain six vital tastes:  sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent.  In fact, “western” scientists are now learning that certain tastes convey specific health benefits.  For instance flavonoids, the powerful antioxidants found in red wine, green tea and citrus that are believed to convey important health benefits, are bitter in flavor.   Interestingly, our taste for bitter foods increases with age – as our body’s innate antioxidant systems are losing their efficacy.  Nutrition researchers even hypothesize that a preference for bitter taste in aging animals may be evidence of an evolutionary advantage.  Sadly, our Western diet emphasizes primarily the salty and sweet tastes – leaving the pungent chilis and bitter melons and fruit to other cultures.   Bottom line:  we should consume food mindfully – from eating in a calm environment to paying attention to the range of flavors in the food we eat.

Digestion: In yoga’s sister medical science Ayurveda, we are taught to stoke “agni”  (digestive fire) prior to meals.  This can be done with yoga, exercise and in cases where the digestive fire is weak, an herbal aperitif. The digestive fire is so important that Ayurvedic lore says “if agni is strong we can convert poison into nectar; if agni is weak, we convert nectar into poison.”  Eating too much can also dampen agni, just like throwing a big log on a fire.  Eating too many cold foods can also dampen agni.  Use the Appetite Scale at the end of this blog to help you use agni to your advantage.  For optimal digestive power, eat when you are at a level of 2-3 and stop eating when you are at 7.

Assimilation:  The old adage is true.   The best way to get optimal amounts of vital nutrients is to eat a balanced diet filled with minimally processed fresh foods.  This is because the macronutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrates) as well as the micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and other beneficial chemicals) in food work best in combination with each other. Food sensitivities, health conditions and even chronic stress can impact how we assimilate nutrients.   For instance, when we are very nervous we may find that food just “sits” in our stomach like a rock.  This is because the flight or flight stress response has down-regulated the digest/nest body functions and is shunting blood to the skeletal muscles rather than the stomach.

Elimination:  When food rushes through the digestive tract (diarrhea) or stagnates there (constipation) we experience discomfort.  Poor digestion may also put us at risk for disease.  Diarrhea may speed food through the gut too quickly for vital nutrients to be absorbed.  It can also wreak havoc on the beneficial bacteria in our gut.  Constipation, on the other hand, allows for potentially toxic substances (including hormones and carcinogens) to be “re-digested” from fecal matter and returned to the body.  Imbalances in the intestinal and vaginal flora can also make women vulnerable to conditions like bacterial vaginosis that are associated with infertility and early pregnancy loss.  We can support gut bacteria by eating sources of soluble fiber (oats, lentils and beans) that support “good” bacteria and limiting the consumption of refined sugar and saturated fat, that nourish “bad” bacteria.

So, this week as you fill your refrigerator and your plate with fertility-friendly foods, notice  how you are consuming your food and  pay attention to your gut function.  Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full.  Enjoy a full range of flavors at every meal – searching beyond your habits for pungent, sour and bitter flavors.  Finally, pay attention to how your body is eliminating waste and strive for the Goldilocks’ approach of “not too fast, not too slow.”   These actions can be truly transformative.

Working with an integrative nutrition specialist trained in fertility can be very helpful for resolving issues related to menstrual and reproductive function.  Call 312-321-0004 to learn more about Pulling Down the Moon’s nutrition specialists.

Agni Gauge:

0 Starving

1 Hunger Pains

2 Very Hungry

3 Hungry

4 Could Eat

5 Neutral

6 Could Stop

7 Full

8 Uncomfortable

9 Over-Filled

10 Stuffed

Anna Pyne, LAc, MSOM, FABORM

A question I frequently get asked in my acupuncture practice is “Can acupuncture help improve egg quality?”  From my own clinical experience the answer is, it can.   Acupuncture and herbal therapy help improve the environment of the ovary enabling it to function optimally and properly, therein allowing it to make good quality eggs.  An example of this is with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) where the problem is a functional disorder of the entire system that is affecting the ovary.  In other words, the issue is not with that single organ alone.  Since the body systemically is not working properly it is not able to nourish the ovary.  Therefore many immature follicles develop within the ovary impeding the process to fully grow one or two healthy quality eggs, as is the case in a normal cycle.  There are many treatment strategies that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) offers to help regulate the body’s functioning in PCOS, so that the ovary is being supplied the energy and blood it needs to be able to produce an exceptional egg.

Another instance in which I have seen an improvement in egg quality is with endometriosis.  The explanation is a bit simpler to understand than in PCOS.  Generally speaking, with endometriosis the condition is one of blood stasis, a problem that can hinder fresh, oxygenated, nutrient rich blood from reaching the ovary thereby having a negative effect on its function of making a good quality egg.  Here again there are many options in which TCM can help treat blood stasis so that the ovary is being thoroughly supported to produce a good egg.

Though there is no data via research studies presently to support this claim directly, there is much that I have seen in my clinical experience to believe it to be true.  If you have any questions regarding egg quality and how TCM can help please feel free to contact me or book an appointment!

Spring is a powerful symbol of fertility, rebirth and renewal.  In our upcoming book The Infertility Cleanse, we spend a fair amount of time writing about the role of symbols in health and healing.  Warning:  this is one of those places where what we do at Pulling Down the Moon moves into the more mystical realm.  As you read the rest of this blog I will ask that you put your skeptical mind temporarily on “pause.”

To understand how symbols can help us to heal and to thrive, let’s understand a few basic concepts.

1. Symbols are images that describe a thought or belief.  Symbols can be personal (something in your life that means something specific to you) or they can also be societal or universal.  Symbols tend to gain power when the “resonate” for more than one person, i.e.  when they evoke the same thought or belief in more than one person.  However, your own personal symbols can be very powerful as well because they have meaning that is uniquely understood by you and can be very specific.

2.  If we look closely at symbols we will often find that it’s difficult to describe them in words.  The experience of trying to put a symbol into words is similar to trying to describe a vivid dream soon after waking.  Words cannot truly capture the power of the dream images and often the act of putting a dream into words drains the “power” one initially felt in dreaming.

3.  Finally, symbols act most powerfully by conveying a feeling state.   For example, to non-car aficionados, the Porsche logo says “power” or “money.”  But witness the power of Porsche for car lovers who have invested the Porsche symbol with a lot of energy.  For these folks the mere thought of owning or driving a Porsche can evoke a visceral feeling of speed or mastery.  Remember the hormone-happy  Tom Cruise character in Risky Business (Porsche – there is no substitute)?

Amazingly, brain science is beginning to shed some light on why symbols can evoke visceral reactions.   Apparently, the different hemispheres of our brain process sensory input differently.  Our left hemisphere is oriented toward linear reasoning and serves to organize sensory input in order, choosing details and constructing a reality that is based on a perceived “past” and projected into an imagined “future.”  The left brain thinks in words and numbers.  The right hemisphere of the brain thinks in pictures and is engaged primarily in the present moment.  It experiences, but doesn’t organize, sensory input.  Time does not exist for the right brain.   Nor does separation of Self from Other (for a striking depiction of right/left brain hemisphere function watch this video of neuro-scientist Jill Bolte Taylor).

This piece of neuro-science is very interesting from the yoga perspective.  In yoga, our aim is to create a state of whole-ness (yoga means union) that is experienced by our witnessing consciousness (we call this Awareness). We start with yoga postures that integrate the different parts of the physical body through balance, strength and stretching.  Yoga breath work (pranayama) brings awareness to our breathing and creates shifts in our state-of-mind.  Finally, meditation trains the mind to let go of the “chatter” that is primarily generated by the detail- and time-obsessed left brain and gives equal attention to the whole-ness of sensory input generated by the right brain.   Meditation does not aim to annihilate the left brain or glorify the right brain – it creates whole-ness and transcendence by unifying input from both brain hemispheres and allowing it to reside in a welcoming awareness.

While this is all well-and-good from a sit around and talk philosophy kind of way, what’s it got to do with symbols, healing and fertility?

Good question.  Fundamentally, we live in a left-hemisphere-driven  world that feel like the only “real” world.  We have lost the ability to connect with the right brain and the “Now-ness” it imparts to us.   However, the Now is enormously important.  Everything that ever happens happens in the Now.  New thoughts and new solutions arise in the Now, positive change happens in the Now, and healing, too, must also arise in the Now.  If we’re obsessed with negative thoughts and beliefs, the Now is a bummer.  If we’re open to positive thoughts and input the Now can be quite lovely.

Meditating on a symbol is like striking a tuning fork for the “Now” our right brain is experiencing.  Since the right brain thinks in pictures and symbols, a symbol can create a shift in the quality of the right brain awareness.   A positive or inspiring symbol can create  a positive and inspiring Now.  Take for example a simple meditation on Spring.  Spring is a powerful symbol of fertility and renewal.  The feeling you get when you “experience” Spring is visceral.  There’s a churning aliveness that feels as if it’s even making our hair grow!  We can use meditation on the symbol of Spring to bring these qualities into the “Now” of our lives.   If you don’t believe me, try the following simple meditation.

• Sit quietly, with a straight spine on the floor or in a chair.  Close your eyes and tune into your breath, simply feeling the inhales and exhales as pure sensation.
• When you begin to feel still, call to mind an image that symbolizes Spring - this could be a tulip, a leaf-bud or any image that calls to your heart and mind the energy of Spring
• As you hold the image/symbol in your mind’s eye allow the feeling of Spring to arise – the newness, the sense that winter is over, the sense of fertility and expectation, the smell of damp earth and green things growing.
• Rest in that feeling state for as long as you can – working up to 15 minutes.
• Upon coming back from your meditation, bring the feeling state of Spring back with you and practice holding this energized state as you move through your day.

This last part of the meditation is the most important.  Symbols can help us stay attuned to this happy (higher) vibration.  I use symbols in this way every day.  In my home I have a simple altar (actually it’s a shelf) where I place symbols that have a powerful personal meaning for me.  Whenever I am quietly going about my business at home, I light the candle and welcome the vibration of the inspiring symbols to permeate my “Now.”  Throughout my day I will often visualize lighting that candle and accessing these symbols in times of stress or need.

Reiki is an ancient Japanese form of Natural Healing.  Rei is the Japanese word for Universal (the Energy that is available for everyone) and Ki (chi in Chinese) is the Japanese word for energy. Reiki moves  the Ki that is abundantly available in the universe into the body for health and wellbeing.  Of the many holistic techniques for fertility (yoga, acupuncture, massage, nutrition) reiki is probably the most unknown.  That’s unfortunate because a session with a gifted Reiki Master has many benefits for the fertility journey.  (You can read more about reiki and fertility in Beth’s blog on the subject here).

We have many different ways to experience reiki at Pulling Down the Moon.

Yoga + Reiki = Bliss.  Join us for a Restorative Yoga + Reiki workshop on Saturday March 12 at Pulling Down the Moon in Chicago from 1 to 3 p.m.  Fertility yoga expert Jenilyn Gilbert and Reiki Master Lisa Espinosa will help you experience a deeply healing session of supported yoga poses and healing touch.  Pre-registration is required and space is limited.  Click here to register.

One-On-One Reiki for Fertility Sessions with our Reiki Master.  Call 312-321-0004 for more information.

Starting April 7 join us on Thursdays for a drop-in Reiki & Meditation Women’s Circle from 5 to 6 p.m. every Thursday.  Call 312-321-0004 for more information.