The Mind-Body-Fertility Connection
This week’s article is courtesy of Joanne Verkuilen, Founder and Co-CEO of Circle + Bloom, a company that offers Mind + Body Programs to help women get pregnant. Circle + Bloom’s programs use proven mind-body methodology to harmonize and balance a woman’s reproductive cycle.
Through relaxation and guided visualization, it promotes hormone balance, healthy egg production and successful ovulation. And it is enjoyable, easy-to-use and non-invasive. The comprehensive audio programming is segmented into daily tracks that follow the body’s natural fluctuations associated with the reproductive cycle. Each daily session is approximately 15 minutes of a unique combination of music, words and guided instructions, designed to help your body manage stress and understand what it needs to do to get ready for conception.
I am an absolute advocate of body-mind medicine and I truly believe in its value for helping couples prepare their bodies and personal environments to welcome a baby into the world. The power of the mind in helping to create positive mental/emotional balance in one’s system is a critical step in creating positive reproductive change—And for this reason I bring to you a truly awesome program I am proud to endorse.
Joanne’s article is an education around mind/body science and an interview with Bernie Siegel MD, NY Times Best-Selling author of “Love Medicine & Miracles”. Enjoy!
With Fertile Blessings,
Gabriela Rosa
BHSc, ND, Post Grad NFM, DBM, Dip Nut, MATMS, MNHAA
Natural Fertility Specialist & Naturopath
The Mind-Body-Fertility Connection
By Joanne Verkuilen
Bernie Siegel MD writes about a little boy who was diagnosed with brain cancer and it had progressed to the point that Doctors said there was no hope and stopped all treatment. The boy however continued to “treat” himself and daily visualized himself going into is his brain with his space-age laser gun and killing the cancer cells. One day he told his Father that he couldn’t “see” any more cancer cells in his brain and he had “nothing left to shoot.” His Father was not sure what to make of his claim, but when the boy fell down some stairs he needed to get a brain scan and the medical professionals couldn’t believe their eyes: the cancer was completely gone. How did this happen, and can we learn something from this inspirational boy?
There is actually a medical term for the self-treatment that they boy did, he was practicing Mind + Body medicine. What is Mind + Body medicine, and how can we use the techniques to stay well, heal ourselves and improve our overall lives?
Mind + Body medicine, or Psychoneuroimmunology, has been studied and discussed over a long period of time and researched under a wide variety of methods. The research has ranged from advanced medical research currently being done at top colleges and universities, to eastern-based highly spiritual philosophies and everything in-between. The research and discussions span an enormous amount of history, significantly predating modern medicine with historians pointing to Descartes as the turning point of how we think about our brain, body, and soul. Mind + Body medicine holds the keys to understanding the link and interconnections between our emotions, immune system, levels of stress, health conditions, diseases and life-span. Some professionals call it the future of medicine, even though it is centuries old, and it is being brought back to life because of a combination of the disastrous state of our Healthcare system and the ability to scientifically prove credibility because of technological advancement.
We are fortunate to have a legend of Mind + Body medicine, Bernie Segel MD on our Board of Advisors and had a chance to ask him a few questions about Mind Body medicine:
In summary, how does the mind/body connection work?
“Through consciousness. One can create images and program the body, which will then began to act like the event is truly happening. Like rehearsing for a performance, when you act as if you are happy or sad your chemistry changes and the body believes you are. The body communicates to the mind via images and feelings so dreams and drawings can reveal one’s anatomy and state of health. The feelings relate to the chemistry caused by emotions, so laughter enhances one’s health and well being while fear does the opposite.”
How can we use it to bring our bodies back to a healthy and natural state?
“Just like actors and athletes, rehearse and practice becoming the person you want to be. As AA says, fake it till you make it. Ask people to guide and coach you and help you become who you want to be. It also means abandoning the messages from destructive authority figures. I call it re-parenting yourself.”
How long does it take to work?
“It can happen in a moment. Learn you have a short time to live and you start doing what makes you happy and prolong your life. Your body loves you and when it knows you love your life it does all it can to keep you alive. Monday mornings have more heart attacks, strokes, suicides, etc. because your body is responding to the lack of joy in your life.”
Learning how we can use the other 99% of our brain in an effort to heal ourselves, we essentially begin to have executive power over our own health. We no longer give the keys over to an expensive and over-stressed Healthcare system. We start now – even though we may be relatively healthy – and take control over our bodies.
3 simple ways to integrate Mind + Body into your daily wellness routine.
1. Become curious about how your body works.
The knowledge – and therefore the ability to visualize – either the wellness of your body, or your health problem is absolutely key. A central theme in our fertility visualization program works everyday to provide the correct visualization of what the monthly cycle is accomplishing during that time of the month. The little boy had the imagination to go inside his brain, visualize his cancer and subsequently killing it. Once you have that knowledge, you can essentially leave it up to your intuition to tell you how to go about the most effective visualization.
2. Become the observer of your thoughts.
Our minds work tirelessly. It’s almost impossible for most of us to stop our brain from its chatter. What can happen when we start to become the observer of our thoughts, something inside begins to shift. One of the things to remember when doing this, however, is not be judgmental of your thoughts. Don’t try to change them, just be curious about them. Observe the emotions that bubble to the surface, how your body feels when you have such thoughts. This could be an entire article in and of itself, and many people have written spectacular books on the subject…most notably, Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Wherever You Go There You Are and Ekhart Tolle’s A New Earth.
3. Visualize, Meditate, and/or Practice Yoga
In combination with becoming aware of your thoughts and having the knowledge of how your body operates, you can begin to integrate this practice into your everyday life. By simply taking a moment during the day to take a deep breath, open your senses to take clues as to what you are feeling, and then visualize the inward balancing of your physical state. Letting your intuition be your guide. Don’t judge yourself, just accept what your body is telling you. Again, it’s amazing that this little boy was able to heal himself intentionally, but what’s just as amazing is that his body spoke back to him. He saw no more cancer. He didn’t need his doctor to tell him that it was gone. As you begin this practice, you will build trust within to strengthen these inward connections.
By understanding at a high level how the human body works along with an understanding that we can listen to our bodies – we already begin to make a difference. Our focus at Circle + Bloom is applying these techniques to infertility, but essentially the sky is the limit with what you can do to help your body heal itself. You can find more information about Circle + Bloom here.
