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.

We hope you will take the time to read this wonderful article by Jenny Rough from Bethesda Magazine.   In the article Jenny shares her personal journey, interviews Reproductive Endocrinologists and speaks to women who used techniques like yoga, nutrition and Traditional Chinese Medicine to support their fertility journey.

We’re also excited to share that Jenny will be offering a FREE writing workshop at Pulling Down the Moon in Rockville on Saturday March 26 from 1 to 4 p.m.  Read more about this event here.

When you walk into our new River Walk center you will see mehndi designs on the walls.  Mehndi is the name for the temporary henna tattoos that women from India and Pakistan wear on their hands and feet at weddings and other celebrations.  The mehndi tradition is synonymous with women, community and joy.  Our new River Walk center is “tattooed” with mehndi designs as a celebration of women, their beauty and their innate ability to support and heal each other through community.  We thought we’d share this video, from the movie “Monsoon Wedding” because it is filled with that kind of joy.

We will begin seeing patients at our new space on Sunday, January 23.  Call 312-321-0004 to book your fertility acupuncture, yoga for fertility, FEM protocol or nutrition consult.  We are Chicago’s specialists for the holistic care of women’s health, fertility and pregnancy.

I have a candle problem.  Votives, tea lights, pillars, travel tins and even lanterns – you light it, I love it.  I collect candles for every mood.  I have frilly girly candles for around my bath tub, tall serious candles for my table and of course romantic candles for my bedroom. I do scented candles, too.  Since smell is intimately connected with the primitive brain, a candle’s aroma can impact emotions without the involvement of  conscious mind.  This is because our sense organs are linked to the limbic system, the primitive part of our brain that governs what we perceive as friend or foe.  Maybe it’s a cave-girl thing but I also find the flickering of a flame – any flame – irresistible.  Strike a match and the safety and security of cave and clan burst into being.

So, imagine how upset I was to learn that scented candles may actually contribute to fertility and health problems! Unless a candle is scented with 100% essential oils it is likely that the aroma blend contains  a group of compounds called pthalates that can interfere with the function of our reproductive system.  In addition, candles apparently create soot and for that reason they are now under investigation by consumer health groups as a cause of breathing problems and allergies.  There’s a heated debate about soy vs. paraffin wax and which burns cleaner (both make soot, but apparently soy makes white soot, or less soot, or something like that.  The debate is confusing and there’s isn’t a lot of concrete research for either side). If that’s not enough confusion I recently learned that despite regulation against the practice, the wicks of many candles still contain lead.  When burnt, lead wicks may raise the amount of  lead in a living space to unsafe levels.

If you’re an occasional candle user I don’t think there’s a huge need for concern.  However  I’m not an occasional user of scented candles – I am a heavy user. While I don’t feel the necessity of going cold-turkey, I have implemented some steps to cut down that I can share:

1.  Burn only candles made with 100% essential oils.  Most “all natural” candles will be made with a soy or beeswax base.  Until a more definitive answer arises, soy seems to be the choice of environmentally conscious candle makers and users.  Look for soft (cotton or cloth) wicks rather than stiff wicks.  The good news/bad news is that this step comes with a built-in deterrent.  Candles made with soy and essentials are expensive!   At an average of $20 a pop for a small pillar candle, these high-end beauties get a promotion to “special occasion only.”

2.  Switch to essential oils for your everyday aromatherapy needs.  The soot output of a soy-based tea light is less than a bigger candle.  Better yet – use an electric essential oil burner to diffuse aroma throughout your home.

3.  For that cave-girl desire for flickering fire?  Experiment with electric candles.  Like stevia, no one is going to believe it’s real sugar, but the design of electric candles is getting better every day and we do use them in our centers.  They flicker and glow – and can add mood in a pinch.

4.  Finally, I have found that Christmas lights aren’t just for the holidays any more.  A string of little Italian lights hung around my bedroom on a special night provides a bit of spice that may even surpass candles.

So that’s it ladies.  For that anniversary, that special special romantic dinner and for make-up sex, it’s still going to be real flames for me.  For other occasions I think I can find ways to create mood without fire.  Any Martha Stewart types out there have any suggestions for me?

by Beth Heller, M.S.

I got reiki yesterday – and I liked it so much I woke up today determined to write about it.  In fact, I left the treatment thinking that this is a something I should probably do more often.  I’ve written about reiki and fertility previously – I received reiki sessions throughout my fertility journey – but I had forgotten how gosh-darn good it feels to lay down on a table and have someone move life energy into my body.   Okay – so I read that last sentence and admittedly it sounded kind of weird.  You had what channeled into your body?  And how, exactly, did that work?

I feel I should now attempt to answer these questions in a way that doesn’t sound too woo-woo.

Q:  What was channeled into your body????

A:  Life energy.  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.

Q:  And how exactly did does this happen?

A:  A reiki practitioner, in this case Ann Michaels at PDtM, has been attuned to reiki energy and can direct this energy through her hands.  During the treatment I was fully clothed and lay on a massage bed.  As I rested with my eyes closed, Ann would rest her hands very lightly on different parts of my body (head, shoulders, belly, feet, etc.).  Unlike massage there was no body manipulation, just a sort of gentle touch.  Often Ann would remain very still as she worked, other times I could feel her hands moving above the surface of my body, not touching at all.

Q:  How did you know that it “worked”?

A:  As I mentioned previously, unlike massage reiki does not involve rubbing, stretching or other manipulation.  However, in my own experience with reiki I have felt physical and mental release both during and after the session similar to (and often deeper than) the release I get from massage. I also find my “mind’s eye” is very active during reiki.  I see colors, flash back to memories, faces and my body will feel rushes, tingling and sensations of release, hot and cold.  I also experience waves of emotion.   Sometimes I fall asleep or slip into a deeply relaxed twilight space that I find to be incredibly enjoyable.

At the Moon we are lucky to have two wonderful reiki practitioners – Ann Michaels and Lisa Espinosa.  Ann and Lisa are two of only eleven practitioners in the US trained in Sacred Childbirth with Reiki (SCR) a reiki program aimed specifically at fertility, pregnancy and childbirth (stay tuned for an upcoming blog about SCR).  There is a body of clinical studies that support the efficacy of reiki for different medical conditions and for stress reduction.  However, no specific studies to date look at reiki and infertility.

Now, to wrap up this blog I also wanted to share a bit about my experience with the practitioner, Ann.  She started my session by asking me to set a short term goal and a long term goal for the work; and these goals were something I could choose to share with her or not.  After the session Ann shared feedback from her perspective and related what she felt from my body during the session.   The setting of goals was very helpful.   For the fertility journey the answer of the long-term goal is usually pretty easy – a baby.  But the short-term goals (whether to do another cycle, to make it through the 2ww without a melt-down, to let go of needle phobia during the injection phase of an ART cycle, become less stressed, eat better) are also very valuable and can greatly improve day-to-day life.  The act of setting these intentions prompts self-study.  What is it that we want to create right now?  What do we want our lives to look like in six months?

As a yoga teacher I have a strong belief in life energy and its relationship to stress, fertility and disease.  Reiki really works for me – and I will often recommend it for women who, like me, experienced a lot of grief, failure and loss in the fertility arena.   If you are interested in reiki and would like to learn more about it, we are offering a free Patient Education seminar at PDtM in Chicago this Sunday, October 31 from 1-2:30.   You can click here to register.

Dr. Chris Sipe of Fertility Centers of Illinois gave a great talk on Infertility Prevention at last night’s STEP UP event.   He provided a “Top 10 List” of the best  ways to avoid infertility.  We thought we’d pass them along.

1.  Don’t wait

2. Don’t wait

3.  Don’t wait

4.  Don’t wait

5.  Practice safe sex

6.  Healthy lifestyle (normal weight, exercise, healthy diet)

7.  Yearly doctor visits (health maintenance, vaccines and disease treatment)

8.  Know your family medical history (see our blog on PCOS and your mom)

9.  Pick the right guy (unhealthy men have lower sperm counts!)

10.  Don’t wait…but if you’re going to wait, consider fertility preservation.

If you’d like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Sipe, you can click here.

By Breea Johnson, MS RD LDN

Going through a loss can have a huge impact on our nutrition. We know that the mind and body are intertwined, with an even closer connection between the brain and the gut (otherwise known as the digestive system). Do you ever notice when you are nervous you feel it in your stomach? Or when you drink alcohol you feel it in your brain? Dealing with a loss can affect appetite; foods you typically like may seem tasteless and just trying to eat three meals a day may seem challenging. But the connection between what we eat and how it makes us feel and think is also perpetually linked. The brain is the most complex organ, as everyone knows, and it requires proper nutrition to function well.  Beyond nutritious sources of protein, carbohydrates and fat, the brain needs the complete spectrum of vitamins and minerals to properly function and for brain cells to communicate effectively. Most vital are neurotransmitters (i.e. dopamine and serotonin) which are made of amino acids—found in protein foods (meat, fish, dairy, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains) which makes protein essential in improving mental performance. While the comfort foods may be calling your name – be sure to add some protein to keep you thinking clearly and feeling healthy.

Last Friday I was riding home from work with our wise-beyond-her-years Chicago admin/receptionist Jenny when our conversation turned to coping with loss.  This had not been an easy winter for Jenny, who had lost most of her earthly belongings in an apartment fire that left her homeless in February.  During the catastrophic event and the aftermath, Jenny remained steady and positive, giving support and compassion to our patients while maintaining an impressively professional demeanor in her work.  Everyone at the Moon was inspired.

Since I had been noodling a blog about loss around in my head, I thought it would be useful to ask Jenny about the fire and the strategies she used for recovery.  I thought it would provide a foil for the losses I could write about from personal experience (miscarriages and a stillbirth) and for the kinds of losses we encounter at the Moon.  These are largely emotional losses – hopes and dreams of pregnancy, failed cycles, miscarriages and stillbirth.  At times these losses are coupled with the loss of resources, in cases where couples have paid out of pocket for unsuccessful treatments, but they are largely emotional.   Jenny’s loss was concrete – literally valuable possessions as well as priceless mementos that were completely destroyed by a bolt from the blue.

“I kept telling myself that there is a bigger picture,” she said.  ”It was the old saying that ‘things happen for a reason’ that gave me strength.  I really focused on staying positive and looking for the good that might come.”

If you smell a cliche here, keep reading.  Jenny’s next words were profound.

“I think it’s human nature to contract when we experience loss.  We contract around the pain, we avoid situations that remind us of our loss and we try to avoid the emotions – sadness, anger and envy- that come when our life seems to be in shambles compared to those around us.  More than anything I tried to remain open.  To emotions, to help from others and even to situations that could be painful.”

As Jenny shared her experiences of loss and healing, I was instantly struck by their similarity to my own journey. When my first full term pregnancy ended in a stillbirth of a little girl at 38 weeks, I received one strong message from the universe:  STAY OPEN.   Take every condolence call, accept every offer of comfort from friends, eat every casserole that was delivered and, above all, cry every tear that I needed to cry.  For a very introverted and private person (at least before the creation of Pulling Down the Moon) this was indeed a radical strategy.  My entire being wanted to crawl in a hole and avoid contact with others and with my pain.

In Jenny’s case, this call to open was an intuition.  In my own case, I believe the message came through my yoga practice.  The simple practice of stretching that has been part of my life for so many years kept calling to me to use the same techniques that keep my body healthy to heal my mind.  If you’ve ever been a beginning yogi, you know it can be an uncomfortable business at first to stretch tight muscles.  Yet, with practice, the discomfort eventually releases and gives way to spaciousness and calm.  This holds true for emotional challenges, too.  When we choose to stay open and experience our loss we can actually release pain and suffering.  When we “close” around these painful emotions we may not ever let them go.  In fact, we will often consciously or unconsciously go to great lengths to avoid the aspects of life that trigger past trauma and in doing so greatly circumscribe the scope of our experience.

There seems to be an energetic rule in play here, and the similarity of Jenny’s and my experience drove this home.  In the face of loss, rather than constrict, we must look for ways to open.  Begin with a simple physical practice of stretching and breathing.  Find support where you can tell your story and cry tears with people who understand.  Eat the casserole.  Like George Costanza from Seinfeld, do the opposite of what feels comfortable and stretch instead of hunker.

These are not easy words of advice.  Yet, there is a promise of courage and self-discovery in them.  And if you need help getting there our classes, teachers and gifted practitioners are here to help.  Have you experienced loss?  What worked for you?

Kimberly Wong, RD, LDN

Spring, in unbroken tradition, has long been a celebration of the fertility of the earth. Similarly, this glowing season marks a time of renewal and revitalization in one’s fertility journey. Thus, in new hope and anticipation, what better way to welcome the coming months than by improving your fertile body with the natural nutrients of Mother Nature.

While it seems like the path to parenthood may at time be paved with difficult words upon deeply scientific concepts, the movement for local foods, dubbed with the endearing, folksy name “locavorism,” is much less esoteric and was spawned in the mid-2000s in an effort to promote sustainability and eco-consciousness.

Fertility vocab 101: locavore, (\ˈlō-kə-ˌvȯr\, noun), one who eats foods grown locally whenever possible.

Repeat. Memorize. Embrace.

Here’s the 411 on why becoming a locavore can aid in optimizing your preconception nutrition status. In short, locally farmed foods a) provide more vitamins and minerals per serving than do their grocery store counterparts b) encourage increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and c) frequently boast a pesticide-free label.

Local foods travel far fewer miles than your average megastore produce. While it seems convenient to run to the corner store and buy a pint of strawberries to meet our daily quota for our 9-A-Day, what we end up with in hand is quite the reverse of nutritious and fresh. In fact, a food is only considered local if it is grown within 100 miles of where it is sold. Conversely, the average carrot will travel 1,838 miles from farm to table.

While this particular carrot travels the rough equivalent of DC to Mexico City, greater than 50% and up to 90% of its vitamin C content will be lost within the first day of travel. Other essential nutrients fall prey to time-, temperature-, and light-sensitivity: the vital B vitamins, particularly folate, and vitamin E. These particular nutrients are all antioxidants that not only protect from an array of disease, but also help prevent harmful oxidative stress that has been linked to both male and female infertility.

Next, shopping for local foods is a calming, rewarding, and positive experience. Sifting through the wagons of crisp kale, chatting with its grower, and breathing fresh air may be considered so pleasurable that it increases the frequency of fresh fruits and vegetables, and grass-fed/cage-free proteins in one’s diet. Even without a drastic increase in servings per day, the mere substitution of local foods decrease the amount of commercialized foods in the diet. This, in turn, essentially cuts back the amount of processed foods, refined carbohydrates, saturated fats and preservatives in the diet. Just think—a mere trip to a local market can bring you one step closer to an anti-inflammatory, lower-glycemic, fertility-friendly diet!

Finally, local foods tend to offer pesticide-free and organic varieties. The upside to directly dealing with the foods’ producer ensures the elimination of any confusion. Pesticide-residues on fruits and vegetables and hormone/antibiotic-residues in meats and their by-products are of concern to fertility because of the accumulation of such toxins has been linked to reproductive damage.  

The Environmental Working Group has developed the infamous “Dirty Dozen,” which notes the foods that are likely to be highest in pesticide residuals. Do try to buy these foods organic and locally when possible. Conversely, they have released the “Cleanest Twelve” which indicates the produce lowest in pesticides.

Words of caution: the label “organic” does not mean that the produce was grown locally. While it may lack harmful toxic chemicals, it may have travelled several days to arrive to your location and thus also lacking in vital nutrients.

Although the warm summer-like weather donned upon us this year with as much surprise as our back-to-back blizzards, take this opportunity to explore new grounds in your fertility journey and tune into your inner locavore and enjoy the one predictable mainstay this spring: the flood of fertility-friendly, nutrient-rich produce into our fresh markets.

Check out http://www.rawdc.org/dc/fruitDC.html, an excellent online resource with more details and links to local farmers’ markets, CSAs, and organic retailers scattered across Northern Virginia, Washington, DC, and Maryland. For nationwide information, check out http://www.localharvest.org/.

Click here to schedule a fertility nutrition consultation with Kimberly Wong at Pulling Down the Moon in Rockville.  For more information about nutrition counseling visit our website at www.pullingdownthemoon.com.

 By Anna Pyne, L.Ac.A TCM

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a common reproductive endocrine disorder and something we frequently treat at Pulling Down the Moon. Up to 75% of women with this diagnosis do not ovulate, which is hardly ideal when trying to conceive.   In fact, it’s not until they have trouble conceiving that many women learn they have PCOS, which in addition to causing infertility can also have negative long-term health consequences including heart disease and diabetes.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, PCOS is considered an anovulation disorder related to ovarian insulin resistance.*  Chinese medicine initially acknowledged PCOS in the 1200′s describing it as a “Tian Gui” disorder, meaning a genetic disorder with the main symptoms being cycle irregularity and infertility due to anovulation.  There are a number of TCM patterns of diagnosis to describe PCOS, the main one being a (Chinese) Kidney Deficiency. The kidney in TCM is the organ system that is regarded with any genetic disorder and considered the root cause in PCOS.  The absence of the period, and therefore the absence of ovulation is a kidney pathology.  Interestingly, modern science has just recently identified a genetic component to PCOS and now think of PCOS as a hereditary problem in which symptoms often do not present until later in life.

A secondary pattern in TCM is Spleen Deficiency, which has to do with the insulin resistance part of the PCOS diagnosis. The Chinese spleen is responsible for the metabolism of nutrients from foods, as well as the transformation and transportation of fluids in the body. In patients with actual cysts in the ovaries, TCM considers the spleen to be dysfunctional. This is also the organ that relates to weight gain. Obesity is seen in 30%-60% of patients with PCOS. By improving the function of the spleen we help regulate blood sugar and resolve the excess fluid accumulation from ovarian cysts and/or fat from weight gain.  A third, related TCM pattern is Liver Stagnation, which can manifest as blood stasis or excess heat in the channels. Blood Stasis in the channels causes hair follicles to be nourished excessively creating coarse unwanted hair. This represents the hirsutism symptom, of which 70% of patients with PCOS have. Excess heat in the channels also promotes the acne component of PCOS.

When trying to improve fertility in patients with PCOS the primary focus is to induce ovulation.  According to TCM pattern diagnosis, the main organs treated for this condition are the kidney, spleen, and liver.  Treatment using TCM pattern diagnosis is greatly successful in inducing ovulation and a skilled TCM practitioner can use a combination of acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, moxabustion and herbal therapy to treat Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. 

*Different phenotypes of polycystic ovary syndrome by Rotterdam criteria are differently steroidogenic but similarly insulin resistant. Fertil Steril. 2010 Mar 1;93(4):1362-5. Epub 2009 Sep 26.

Book an initial consultation with Anna Pyne in Chicago here.