Women’s health, fertility and conception are some of the concerns that my patients will come in for, I think this aspect of acupuncture and herbal medicine is actually a bit more well known, second to pain treatments, and there’s a reason for this: it works. If you were ever a fan of the HBO show Sex and the City you might remember Charlotte’s experience with Dr Mao the acupuncturist who helped her learn how to tune back into her inner peace and eventually get pregnant for the first time. This side of acupuncture often gets talked about in a kind of whimsical miraculous type of way, where people hear about one person who had success and tout acupuncture as the ‘miracle cure’ for all fertility woes. And while yes, for some people acupuncture might just be the missing link to having a healthy happy baby, it’s often a piece of a multi-pronged approach. We’ve seen through scientific study that acupuncture improves the success of IVF treatments, so it’s not just an old wives tale, it really does work.
Where my work comes with fertility patients is less focused on direct hormone and menstrual cycle support, although this is definitely a part of the treatment protocol, but more focused on what we think in Chinese medicine as ‘cultivating the baby’s first home.’ The womb and the mother are essentially your baby’s first home, and we need to make this place a calm, nourishing, warm and supportive environment for the baby to thrive and develop in before birth. Part of this often revolves around cultivating new stress management practices, accessing our inner peace and learning how to truly listen to our body. If our outer world is highly stressed, our body also takes on this energy and it can make a pregnancy become difficult, particularly if we are wanting to call in an intentional pregnancy.
What is Intentional Conception?
Intentional pregnancy and conception is what I call the process of tuning into our higher self, releasing society programs around the birth process, pregnancy and fertility and truly calling in a spirit to come through into this world. The world is changing a lot, and the spirits who are choosing to come in at this time have very strong intentions for their process and purpose, as such they also want to be matched with parents who share this type of commitment. The society programs we tend to run are based around scientific understanding of physical biology (i.e. you should have kids before you’re 35), the general structure of society expectations that people should get married -> have kids -> work -> retire, etc and that having children is expected of all people alongside the shame and judgment often placed on those who choose not to. It’s quite the pandora’s box when it comes to society programs around the birth process and fertility and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
When a new patient comes to me seeking help with fertility I will ask them “what is your intention for this pregnancy?” and the answers are always interesting and telling. Anywhere from “I’m 30 and I should have kids now because my friends do” to “I just want to give a new being a loving home” and anywhere in between. I think when looking at those two statements we can feel a big difference, the first is like a script from the society program whereas the second is more tuned to an aware intention. Intention is not a reason, it’s actually more like a tone that we can hold to allow ourselves to open up to what is most aligned for us at this time. Everyone begins somewhere, there may be anxiety, fear, stress, physical issues, among many other things that are roadblocks to conception and healthy birth, but that is not to say they cannot be healed, worked with and moved through.
How Do We Set an Intention?
Setting intention starts with awareness and healing, first we have to center ourselves and clear and heal the parts of us that don’t align with the direction we are heading in. If there is a lot of anxiety around pregnancy this needs to be addressed first, then working on conception and pregnancy itself can come more easily. Intention, as I mentioned isn’t a reason, it’s more diffuse, a tone that encompasses everything you want, everything you need and everything you don’t know you want and need. When we set an intention we are saying ‘yes’ to the unknown, to our higher selves path for us, for our greatest aligned experience, and this might not always look exactly how we planned it with our mind. To help aid this process I like to use colors, symbols and tones to set intentions, because this takes the mind’s planning ability out of the equation. The mind’s planning ability is ultimately a limitation, because it simply cannot account for our greater purpose, particularly if it’s in a way we don’t know we want! How can we envision something that we don’t even know exists or is possible?
This meditation is designed to take you through all of the steps to get to setting an intention for your pregnancy, from healing and clearing, to being centered and to calling in and connecting with a spirit and intention for what you are working toward creating. This process can also be used for any creation, maybe you’d like a new job or home, you can use this process to connect with the highest aligned intention for you for that!
If you are interested in working with me directly, I offer in person and telehealth sessions which we can use to help in any step of this process. From directly working with the body and hormones, herbal medicine, meditation, energetic healing and intention setting and so much more. I also offer a complimentary 20 minute consultation call to see how we might work together!
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